Hervey Bay

Actually, Australia does. Norway is not too bad either.

It took me a while after living in Thailand to notice the way Thai people, especially mothers, use mock anger instead of actually getting angry the way Western people do, and I think it is actually a psychologically very sophisticated way of dealing with emotions and unwanted behaviour. But I am sure some Westerners living in Thailand have not even noticed it. The mother raises her voice in a falsetto and pretends to hit the child, but never does so. Thereafter all that is needed is to raise the voice in that falsetto and the child knows they have overstepped the mark, and to rein in their behaviour. I have tried it on adults here in the West and it works, but only if you make it over-exaggerated and obvious that you are play acting. In fact we do it already, but in quite a different way. Does anyone have thoughts or observations on this phenomenon ?

Danny Kaye, Gene Kelly

A desperate move and akin to what Putin is doing

The Thai psyche will never change. Thais do whatever they want, and nobody, even the police, can change their behaviour.

No, they should be starved until their physical condition resembles the cat in that photo.

I caught one of these once, and apart from the fact that they are very small, I recall that even when you cannot see the blue rings, there are a number of brownish circular patterns on them. The overall size of the octopus is a giveaway. It is apparent that they are not a juvenile but a tiny adult.

"The collision’s impact badly dented the sedan’s door". It bent the car frame. That car would be a write-off in any Western country.

They are news reports from many different sources, all around the world. You are behaving like either a troll or an idiot. Or both.

On second thought, here are the first of many, many reports . They are hardly random. And these are not even the first page of Google results. Would you like me to post all the links from pages 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 ??? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/health/teen-vaping-death.html https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/03/victorian-student-found-unconscious-after-vaping-and-taken-to-hospital https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/teen-nearly-dies-from-vaping-left-with-permanently-damaged-lungs/news-story/a557d95fe2c62837883b242ef6147c93 https://au.news.yahoo.com/boy-12-dies-and-two-teen-girls-hospital-after-vaping-session-052607594.html https://www.foxnews.com/us/north-carolina-woman-warns-vaping-dangers-teen-stepsons-sudden-death-we-had-no-clue https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/russian-boy-dies-teen-sister-in-hospital-and-friend-in-coma-after-sleepover-vaping-session-c-5293943 https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-show/sydney-teenager-dakota-stephenson-treated-in-icu-for-evali-a-lung-conditon-linked-to-vaping-c-4232124 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/boy-dies-teen-sister-two-25927962 https://www.insideedition.com/north-carolina-mom-warns-about-potential-dangers-of-vaping-after-15-year-old-stepson-dies-82403 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12352437/Solomon-Wynn-North-Carolina-football-star-dead-vaping-saw-develop-heart-condition.html https://www.insider.com/15-year-old-died-vaping-youngest-vaping-death-2020-1

I am not going to hunt around to look for evidence to try to convince you, Bob, as I suspect that you are either a closed-minded person or one of the forum trolls. I have read quite a few news articles on Yahoo News and other news sites about young people having very sudden and serious lung issues due to vaping. I'll let you search for them yourself.

That is not at all true. In the short term, some young people develop very serious lung problems as a result. And furthermore, vaping has become a HUGE problem amongst teenagers here in Australia.

You should see my passport photo ! But yes....the hair ! aaarrgh !

I have a friend who is going to Thailand to be with his long-term girlfriend, and possibly get married in her hometown in a Buddhist ceremony. I just found out that he has a heart condition. This is not covered by health insurance as it is a pre-existing condition. He's not broke but not flush with money either, so is probably going to be reluctant to go to hospital if he has problems when he is there. In the past, people have died or developed serious problems as a result of not going to hospital promptly. When I was married to a Thai lady I remember that I went to a public hospital for a minor matter and as we were married, I either didn't have to pay or it was a nominal charge. But I can't recall if that was on the strength of our being married in the Buddhist ceremony or if it was later when were were legally married. Can anyone please advise which type of marriage entitles a foreigner to free or nominal charge health care for something as serious as heart problems ? Or can any foreigner....even a tourist....front up at a public hospital and get treated along with the hordes of locals ?

There seems to be debate about whether the smoke is caused locally or by neighbouring countries. The answer is simple : There is a constant background level caused by other countries. Then that is made far worse by local burning and the topography of Chiang Mai. Cut out the local burning and things will be much better, as evidenced by people who say they have gone elsewhere in the region and it has been not been nearly so bad.