Tropposurfer

I think there must be lots of unqualified beauty experts going around cause every time I go into one of these joints I'm expecting to come out looking like 'very hansum man', but everyone is utterly disappointed with the results after I fork out all that cash ????????????

I fly out of Sydney back to LOS when we visit back home and there are 4 great airlines, that I know of, which fly direct to Swampy most every day, and multiple times a week. I'm sorry to say my experiences (last time was a few years ago, so maybe things have improved markedly???) with Thai were always low standard (and that's flying business class), food poor, boring and little menu choices, lousy wines, planes old and past their use-by date as were the seating standards, cabin staff and service not up to scratch.

Oh Look! The traitors are arguing amongst themselves.

Lets hope they experience a miracle and find the brains to install poles that sit far from the kerb and arch over the road/pathways instead of putting 'death pillars' right on the road edge.

slow walk to a rope for the lot of them ...

How naive, and if not naive then cowardly and or complicit (e.g North Korea and Syria's vote to abstain) to think anyone can negotiate with a man who is hellbent on expanding his nations borders at the murderous expense of other human being and another nations sovereignty. Appeasement with despots and tyrants has never worked in all of human history.

If you change your mind and decide to ditch the car and use the MRT - very convenient, and cool after hours at the market, fast way back to BKK. Go one stop past Chatuchak Station. You simply go up the escalator and walk about 20 yards straight into the markets. If ya get of at Chatuchak station you have to walk hundreds of extra metres along the narrow (crowded) footpath and through a park in the sun to enter the markets.

Haha yep it sure is lol ???? But, I'm sure along with your quick wit you get the point the sky is the sky BritManT ???? ????????

yeah I'm totally WOKE; I believe in people being who they chose to be, for women to have the right to decide what they do with their own bodies, that history should be taught as it happened (no matter how unpleasant that factual timeline is) not censored to make WOKE white people feel happier, that we are all of one race, that gay people are people just like me, that fighting for the freedom of all is fundamental to mine and the entire human races existence, that racism is a vile cancer on the entire planet just to name a few of my woke beliefs and lived attitudes. You see i am secure enough in myself to not be bothered or threatened buy any of the above. What I am threatened by is people who hide their evil, violent, hateful intents behind the tropes of anti-wokism and through tjheir oh-so obvious pure, unadulterated paranoid, neurotic projection claim to be championing humanity.

Yo ozi I think maybe your adult, mature, critical thinking is going over people heads. A fact is a fact. That's why its called a fact folks. It is not a subjective matter but purely objective e.g. the sky is blue, water is wet, the sun is so many kilometres away from the earth, a lie is a lie because despite the weight if clear evidence a person or entity choses to offer up a falsity in contradiction of said fact, e.g Trump is a lifelong serial sex offender and corporate criminal, ands as it appears from the mounting weight of FACTS a traitor to his nation. How amazing, and damaging to the whole planet (given we now live in a globally instantaneous communication matrix) that so many so-called adults are so wedded to delusional thinking that despite the clear weight of irrefutable facts they persist in believing otherwise.

If Putin had the capacity within his army to take Ukraine he would have managed that in short order post invasion a year ago. He didn't. Why? Because his troops are poorly trained, veery poorly equipped, and poorly led. Unmotivated at best. The Ukrainians on the other hand showed their battle mettle and drove then back over large areas of the nation, despite being almost straight to the lines from office and other civilian jobs, and with little equipment in those first vital months of holding lines and denying easy gains to Russia. Yes they have superiority over Ukraine in sheer numbers of troops and arms but much of these advantages are inferior in functioning of arms and their agedness, poor support and supply inventory and lines for repairs spares etc. Most importantly the fighting will of the Ukrainian troops is far superior. Putins also Russia has less capacity to simply turn-on war production than NATO or the US (even though for the West it will take many months to do). This imbalance in the field is evidenced by the slog and creeping gains made by Russia despite what appears to be much greater superiority on paper. The routing that began with the Ukraine counter-offensive dating back some six months or so proves that Russia is not as dangerous in the field as once believed. If Putin manages a successful Spring offensive he will possibly retake ground of significance for some time but in the event this happens then NATO will upsurge and add new inventory to counter this. I have spoken with some Ukrainians in Phuket and it appears to me they will show a metal that never surrender and for Putin that means the Ukraine will be another Afghanistan for him if it drags out. Putins armies capacity to hold ground under concentrated counter-offence has proven to be impotent to date. The Ukrainians have shown their superior skills in outthinking tactically and prosecuting offensive, and counter-offensives and simply blind siding the Russians at every turn. Ukriane air forces despite being tiny by comparison have smashed Russian assets every time they have taken to the air. Putins expending of a lot of ordinance in random bombing of civilians, and deliberate targeting of infrastructure which my Ukriane friends tell me won't deter the Ukrainians from fighting one bit ... on the contrary. It simply pokes the hornets - he's making a big mistake expending his arm stockpiles doing this too. The Ukrainians are the feared Cossacks remember with centuries of fierce fighting history and reputation. The Russians know this to a man too. This has been proven by Ukraines killing in numerous contacts en mass both Wagner and Chechen mercenaries whio are said to be extremely fierce fighters. The threat of a huge offensive may be an illusion as far as ground troops and armour is concerned, because so far Putin has fielded a lot of older and far less capable armour than the west previously believed he had, and he has sustained huge armoured losses. The influx of updated T-tanks and Leopards from NATO will prove a powerful killing force. It appears from diverse and reliable sources Putins filling airbases with planes outside Ukrainian firing range which seems to support the notions of an ever increasing Spring Offensive as already starting and about to ramp up according to people on the ground and actual serving, and recently ex-military commentators.

Ho! Stupid Award alert ! ????????????

Don't get all hot n bothered by that. If ya' get bit ya' go have a first shot then a series of easy painless shots over about 14 days (I think it is?) ... and its all good. No need to worry as the shots guarantee no infection. I was bitten once a few years back, had the shots, had zero problems.

Thai attitudes to death are often strange and unfathomable for falangs. I've been to a few funerals here. Some from road accidents, one from a form of leukaemia (21 year old lass) which was filled with crying and pain, and old folks in their late years where as others have reported folks came together in ways that baffle falangs. For young folks people appear to cry openly more and express their grief and loss more freely, especially if death came by a sudden misadventure. I don't 'know' how Thai's see death and how they experience familial love and the leaving of those they love. If I feel sad at such events I allow myself to cry. Often these moments for are intermingled with my won family grief's as much as about the person lying there in permanent slumber. This is entirely ok for anyone to feel. I lean back into the Yogic teachings I've had over my life, ('Sadhguru' has interesting things to say about love and loss). My yogi's talked of many things to us all and can see how death and on a far more cosmic scale than what took place inside my small, yet divine from. As some here have written so well, death is a moment of transition to another life, life is an impermanent experience, and as Buddhists one must practice non-attachment towards, as with all temporal things. It seems to me to try to define Thai's experiences of attachment, love, and death in simplistic terms does no service to them or me. I am going to be sitting with some Thai friends (educated, excellent English speaking folks) tomorrow and I will ask if we can then or at some time soon sit and talk about how they view death and how do these views gestate. I shall try to remember to post if anything of particular interest of enlightenment arises from this hoped for discourse.

don't ride bikes EVER and drive a large, high safety standard SUV - always with seatbelts. Head on a swivel at all times, never drive fast, and never make sharp direction changes. Anticipate bad drivers. Who cares. - see # 1. Who cares see # 1 - if in an accident with a cabbie and you can't speak decent Thai, sit in the car doors locked and speak through the window, never argue with or blame the other even if they're in the wrong. Let the BiB and the camera's you have in your car do the talking. Yeah there's lots of wacko tourists (and Thais too) riding bikes here - see # 1 ... to my knowledge a bike always comes of a serious second best when hitting a 2 tonne SUV. If you haven't broken a road law, and if need be have a decent lawyer your cool. See previous guffawing post ???????? Yep lifeguards aren't much chop and have lousy equipment - Never swim alone unless you are a excellent swimmer, never swim in conditions beyond your capabilities, never swim with alcohol or other drugs in your system - this applies to the day after getting plastered! Never swim with a full belly. Never let your male ego (yes this is for the boys reading this) push you to show-off, or swim beyond you capabilities. Don't swim on west coast during wet-season swells - it's extremely dangerous! Surfing if experienced and the water is clear enough to see the huge trees that abound here during these swells, yes. The coral and weed life has been all but destroyed except in depths that require 'open water' aqualung skills, in most of the Andaman Sea - this applies to all accessible tourist free-diving areas across the globe. The pandemic (2020 to now) has seen a big uptick in sea-life and even some spots showing signs of coral and weed species returning close to shore (Nai Thon) was coming back and amazing with the amount of sea-life I saw swimming my beach laps there a few times a week, but these won't survive with the resurgence of the power boats, their anchors, and people in the water. I come from Aussie where the beaches have been cleaned up to a huge degree from coliform's. It was, for many years, in many cities, shocking and very dangerous. Coliform's and other bacteria contaminants are almost worldwide to some degree. Swimming at crowded beaches with dense residential populations anywhere in Asia means poo in the water. I swim mainly at Nai Thon and have a good trained eye and nose for sewerage in the NaCl. I haven't smelt or felt the a-typical greasiness/scum sludge on the water - yet! I haven't gotten any illness's ... yet! For the last 3 years the water quality has been superb. But like # 7 this won't last. For the rubbish waste we take biodegradable bags in the car everywhere and we spend a short time collecting some every time I/we go to the beach and put it in the garbage bins. I alwyas grab bags I see when swimming and put them in the bins. Its a pleasant time to wander silently and caringly collecting beach trash and getting a bit of sun. I've hasd soem hot women come and talk to me and join me in doing so over the many years I've done this. Yeah sadly the entire world is like this. We buy local caught fish from a few small-catch hand and rod line fishermen for our home consumption. Restaurants its as you say often shipped in mixed with some local catch. Give blood regularly throughout the year (if below 60 years old) and help fix this problem. Get together with your mates and families and take a trip to the bank and donate and make an outing of it. Encourage and take any staff you have or neighbours too. I keep my own blood at BKK Hospital for use if needed. There's always ways to see and negotiate life. I'm only as restricted as I allow myself to be. Creativity, flexibility, and a nurtured sense of humour, and, for me, letting go of the 'victim' persona is 'good-form'. Letting go of my appalling level of assumed Caucasian privilege and huge ego lol ???????? helps me a great deal too. One thing I have learnt and am still learning about is its not 'I, me, my, and myself' but 'us and we' that makes life beautiful.

# 5 hilarious ... mad n dangerous yes but hilarious ????????????????

Sick n sad n infuriating.

What sort of total 'ning-nong' would put a huge load of cash on full display intro a cab and send it off?

Regardless of this refuge discussion my honest, straight-up comment on the barbaric cruel war in Ukraine is that the Russian ORCS lay in the soil of Ukraine forever and feed the Spring flowers for decades to come.

Aren't those fleeing only conscription aged males and their young families? Other than ED, and border bounces, these folks don't qualify for much else in terms of visa options. AS far as i am aware there is no official political/war refugee p[olicy in place here at this time forRrussians. For those who hold dissident views and fear persecution they're fleeing and have been for years now? The rest are simply (maybe?) the usual Ruskie tourists. You have to be 50 or over to meet the criteria for an Elite plus funds to sustain life for the entire duration of the visa (need solid proofs of this).

DH has very good Duty Free shopping from super high end to 'cheap charlie' ... plenty of choices

Subscribe to and Use a VPN e.g. NORD. This way you can direct your terminals URL point of origin anywhere you choose in the world and thus appear to be in Australia, or Katmandu LOL ???? if this serves your purpose.

My thoughts too. If the wall is allowing water to migrate through it then what about waterproofing it with a paintable liquid membrane? As for gaps in the wall do as 'laang k' saiid simple infill with bricks (if ya need to use a narrower width brick profile to match the existing wall you can hire a brick saw and cut them to the required width. To add structural strength to the wall attach chicken wire along the entire wall surface area using mortar nails then render over (add Silasec) to the render mix to water proof the wall. You say adding piers isn't possible? Why is that? Surely you have enough space between wall and house to add them. If not how about adding them on the other side of the wall from your property? If there's another building on that side maybe approach the owner and see if this is possible. I'd post here that any wall that has not enough structural elements to withstand reasonable building standards re: lateral force needs to be added too or torn down and rebuilt to eliminate this absent necessity. It is common in the Thai press to hear of walls collapsing and injuring and killing people ... don't invite this on yourself or others. Sadly the ground moisture won't be amended by the additions I suggest as possible amendments but they will help prevent it somewhat from going though into the space between wall and house and creating damp and the mould n smells associated. If possible could you install a slot drains along the entire length of the side of your house, and or an underground agg. pipe either side of the wall to collect water and moisture and divert it away from the side of the house? This would remove rainwater, and roof runoff quickly.

Crikey mate! Wheres this bloke been hiding?! You can hire a live sex-doll (long time) for a couple of thousand baht, for a whole day and night a tad more. Latex never replace tha' real silk pocket ! Although there's no need to put up dozens of children's soft toys being brought home and in the house, and tales of sick buffalo's I guess.

Too right! The post was covered in pustules in my opinion and made me almost wretch.