Lacessit

I forget who said " Sex is the most beautiful, uplifting and pleasurable experience money can buy." I know it was Oscar Wilde who said " The expense is abominable, the position ridiculous, and the pleasure fleeting." Right now, I'm about halfway.

You raise a very good point, I sometimes wonder if a poster is a Walter Mitty clone.

Apologies, transiting between the village and condo. "Keeping up" is for insecure people. We are not at it like rabbits, just when we are in the right mood. As far as health goes, with normal blood pressure and a resting pulse rate of 51 bpm, I have no concerns. I can think of much worse ways to die anyway. "In my own bed, at the age of 80, with a bellyful of wine and a girl's mouth around my c#ck". Bonus points and a Hoppy badge if you can tell me who said that. My son is very happy to have me in Thailand. He approves of my choice of GF, I should have listened to him with the former defacto in Australia. That's because he has to care for his mother, who has advanced Alzheimer's, and he does not need me on his plate as well.

Careless of you, it's billabong. Admittedly we are only 27 million people. However, history shows we punch well above our weight in fields such as sport and medical science. Kindly note, it is an Aussie who has just beaten America's best golfers to claim the British Open at the home of golf, St. Andrews. The first antibiotic, penicillin, was developed by an Australian after its discoverer, Alexander Fleming, discarded it as of no medical significance. My reasons for preferring Thailand are not hard to understand. I live as I want to here, in Australia more than 50% of my income would be going in rent. I also have a Thai GF who is 23 years younger than me, not feasible in Australia unless I was a multi-millionaire. I am not yet ready to embrace celibacy. Yes, I could easily get bored in Australia, as I have been over most parts of it. Here, every day is a new adventure for me. The world may be passing me by, a lot of it is welcome to do so.

Try listening to a Kiwi, they interchange vowels far more than we do. I don't know what a real Englishman is, what with Saxon, Norman, Scots and Welsh in the mix. That's just on the Caucasian end. Not to mention the 30 - odd accents and dialects you guys use. I still remember our Latin teacher, who hailed from Northumberland. He sounded like he was talking with a mouthful of butter, took us a few months to understand what the hell he was saying.

Not being an astrophysicist, I would not know. I do know what was deemed impossible 100 years ago is now commonplace in our lives, and we probably have not changed our mindset. I understand Dyson is a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners and dryers.

I don't see any reason to hide my Australian nationality on this forum. I've read literature from all over the world, although translations probably detract from the impact and subtleties of a book in the original language. Having said that, most non-Australian posters have probably never heard of authors such as Henry Lawson, Arthur Upfield, Henry Handel Richardson, Dal Stivens, Marcus Clarke, or John O'Grady. I suppose Edward Dyson's " The Golden Shanty" would not be published nowadays, being racist in some eyes.

Perhaps you have forgotten I put you on ignore. Nicky woop.

I still have a good store of Strine aphorisms, don't come the raw prawn is one of them. DEFCON is an invention of your Joint Chiefs of Staff. Some of us do keep track. I cannot claim to be a former member of the SAS, Marines, Delta Force, Sayeret, French Foreign Legion etc. as so many posters on ASEAN do. I have been tempted to post I was a former Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopaznosti agent, just to see the reaction.

I already have one, behind my eyes. It goes to DEFCON 2 with Americans, and DEFCON 1 with women.

Americans do some things very well, in others most Australians think they are bats##t crazy. As do many other nations. I suppose we do admire the American ability to maintain the greenback as the world's reserve currency, when the US debt level is reaching to the moon. A triumph of marketing, advertising, or public relations. As someone who last owed anybody money back in 1974, it's quite bewildering. The Australian aphorism is BS baffles brains.

You have dogs that speak English? What a pity the only circuses in Thailand reside in government.

My Thai GF speaks to me in English, I speak to her in Thai. She has not said she wants me to use English. It's not essential to be able to speak Thai to professionals such as dentists and doctors, IME they speak better English than I do Thai. OTOH, if I had a car breakdown in the boondocks, or a cardiac arrest on the golf course, I should imagine being able to speak Thai to someone with zero English would be very useful. Can't say endearing myself to the locals was an objective of mine, although they appear to enjoy some of the lame jokes I make.

For me, the problem with COD is I have to be around to receive the goods, with prepayment I don't. I don't buy expensive stuff on Lazada, I think the most I have paid is 1200 baht. Only had one problem with a seller, which they rectified without Lazada input. If I am buying more expensive things, I want to see a brick and mortar shop behind the sale.

Another Trump bankruptcy, what a surprise.

It depends on where the seller is located. I always look at that, if they are outside Thailand I go no further.

Too old to be bothered now, but I do have fond memories of some really hot women in Chiang Mai.. Dark skin, white skin, tall and slim, short and solid, tiny. If they were pretending, they did it very well.

Agree. In secondary college, I learned Latin, French, and German. The last was by far the easiest to comprehend. Perhaps the poster was talking about compound words, such as schadenfreude. Or gesamtstickstoff.

IIRC, Billy Joel was one of the first Western musicians to tour in Russia, and was greeted with wild enthusiasm.

Difficult to turn an ocean liner around quickly. It depends on whether his successor has the same intestinal fortitude as Gorbachev..

It depends on whether Putin's successor subscribes to the same insanity of restoring the Soviet Union to its former "glory". Hopefully a pragmatist, any Russian with two brain cells would realize withdrawing from Ukraine, and restoring normal relations with the rest of the world, would be a win for Russia.

You're right, I was in Myanmar a few years ago. Current Australian Government advisory is do not travel to Myanmar. I've heard good things about Luang Prabang in Laos, although it may be too rustic for the OP.

I will never be fluent in Thai, my vocal chords cannot reproduce the tones with any accuracy. I am somewhat baffled by foreigners who flatly refuse to learn any Thai, do they expect every Thai to speak English? How would they explain they have just had a car break down, or are having a heart attack? Would they be able to ask a Thai to call an ambulance? I can communicate with the Thais who know me quite well, strangers sometimes have problems with what I am saying. When that happens, I find another choice of words to express myself. Admittedly elderly people have more difficulty in learning languages. I persevere with Thai, for two reasons: I want to be able to communicate, and it is good mental exercise in helping ward off Alzheimer's.

Celebrities massage is permanently closed, Absolute Paradise may still be open. Expensive, but it does have some beautiful women.

I've taken my GF to Australia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Laos and Vietnam. I'd rate Vietnam and Myanmar as easiest to travel to, not expensive, Australia was by far the worst. Myanmar is probably closest to Thailand in terms of culture. If you both want a cooler climate, Dalat in Vietnam or the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia are both good. Hong Kong is expensive, and after Thai food I found the Chinese cuisine quite bland. Laos and Vietnam both have French -style breakfasts. I would suggest Myanmar first, it was very cheap to hire a driver and car to take us around. Hong Kong has possibly one of the best public transport systems on the planet.