Tropposurfer

'Since man first crushed grapes'

Thankfully I don't suffer this anymore from experience, other set-ups for my transportation, and in-country savvy growing over the years. But imagine, (if it hasn't happened to you yet) what its like for a first, or infrequent visiting tourist to fly for 8, 15, or 30 odd hours to get to Phuket and leave the terminal and be told the fare to Patong is around a thousand baht, or more if the driver thinks he's got a 'live-one' in the backseat and can get away with asking for more? What an insulting, infuriating, unsettling scam to be greeted with as you arrive in a nation that is reported to be laid back, the 'land of smiles' , and a great happy place to holiday in. How to 'shoot yourself in the foot' so to speak LOS.

There's lots of places here with minimal pollution levels (compared to the global pollution index). BKK is often bad, and Chiang Mai in burn season is pretty <deleted> of course. We live on an island and the air is wonderful. Mind you we live in an area sparse in local Thai village life, close to the beach so less pollution. The problem of plastic rubbish burning needs to stop asap thats a really dangerous pollution problem here. The <deleted> regulations, and enforcement around vehicle emissions don't help much either.

Yep mate! I love mine to bits and its effortless ... The I.O. and everyone in government circles I come across part the waters for me at every turn. Slide in and out of the country at will and with nary a blink from officials. Elite concierge does everything for me. Its superb. Not to mention the awesome golf perks I get throughout LOS. The whole bl@ody visa will be paid for just from that over the life of my Visa ???????? I still believe these trolls and naysayers are just p!ssed off because they can't afford such a visa and so have to rubbish it. hahaha ???????? Happy toxic hating to them lol ????????

I know this story is a super relevant unfolding saga ... but being the pervert I am I cannot get past the thought of how much pussy this guy must have had access to during his stellar massage / soapy executive career lol ????????

Hahahaha ???? Reminds me of how in 2009 on my first trip back to LOS since the early eighties I went with a gal to the same markets (first time to the markets ever) by boat and the boat fella just left us there after we paid for a round trip lol ????????

It seems that with the advent and proliferation of social media apps we see many more folks a day doing all manner of things than we would never be able to see in normal moving about in the world. A long time ago, as as young man I shared houses with a folks. One of the guys in one of our rented houses came from an orphan background and was adopted. He'd had almost no social etiquette training. He chewed with his mouth wide open and made a good deal of sound and would talk like that at the table with complete lack of awareness . It was not pleasant to see the masticated food on full view. Maybe its not cared about now, but then, if you were with a woman wouldn't have a bar of you. I was taught some reasonable table manners in Aussie by middle class parents; Elbows off the table, never sit with cutlery in hands and wave them about, point them up in the air or gesture towards others with them, chew with mouth closed, never shovel food into your mouth but finish each mouthful, don't crash and clatter utensils and plates when eating amongst other things. As a child it was a lot to learn but gentle kind instructions from my parents and grandparents sees me be able to eat in any environment anywhere on the planet and manage well and do so with consideration of others and with politeness. Manners are a good thing, they remind us to hold our boundaries and to consider others not just ourselves.

I/we get stopped occasionally on the island but its very rare now. Usually any road stops we see is random license checks/sweeps for falangs around Patong or Phuket Town, the occasional random-booze checkpoint, or when the BiB are looking for a specific crim after an incident it seems. I haven't seen any incidents of shake-downs or had any expats share with me hearing of any but that's no definitive measure of that not happening. Most of my friends here are law-abiding, boring, straight living, folks lol ????. If you ride a bike then yep you'll get stopped more often for sure and if there's a problem with your licensing you'll get 'worked over' for sure. If you have a valid Thai license, have a decent tidy looking car, don't break the law, aren't full of guilt about something and smelling of that, speak respectfully and with a little Thai thrown in my experience is usually a good one. I always go and smile and shake the hands with the officers if its a real solid stop, ask how they are in my pom pasa thai pood mai dee and give them bottles of iced water from the car-cooler, which they are grateful for and love. The cops here on the island are okay with you if you're cool. When we drive off to play a round of gold on the mainland usually travel with a few Thais friends so any contact with the BiB is always fine.

Oh man that's a painful story. Sorry you got taken. Rule 3: Never get involved with expat folks who offer you 'great, safe, secure, guaranteed, good-idea investment' opportunities in LOS.

Maybe it was da mansion and the stable of supercars that gave em' away lol ????????????????????????????

Yeah the awareness, care and compliance with the very poor regulations for coral life her is a total shower aint it?! The National Parks people and government ... have no idea at all it seems. Dive sights and island parks Like James Bond Island etc needed to have very carefully placed permanent moorings away and off the reef itself with floating mooring lines strung out for the tourist boats to tie too and then small Rubber Duckies with water jet engines to ferry to beaches with designated lanes for the to and fro traffic, no props anywhere near the coral decades ago like they did on the Great Barrier reef to stop hull, anchor, and motor damage. The ban on the sale of those types of sunscreen products that are damaging also needs to be put in place. The boat behaviour and littering I saw pre covid in the Similan's was truly appalling and sadly seemed to be done by the large Asian contingent flocking there when we first visited. N.B. No quota to slow the damage we all did to the eco system there at all! The huge twin and triple engined outboard powerboats coming directly onto the beach and churning the shallow waters up all day every day was equally horrifying. The upsurge in recreational fishing in my home country has exponentially increased the fishing tackle dangers in the waters of Australia. Maybe we can begin an expat initiative as a collective of divers to clear waters all around Thailand as a regular systemised endeavour ... ala 'Clean Up Australia' ?? https://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/ It was a joy amidst all the sadness and horrors of Covid period for the sea here on the island. Water teaming with schools of fish, seaweed and coral growing anew ... which I had never seen before in the swimming and snorkelling I do here. Stingrays, and turtles swimming and nesting on the beaches.

I used a mom n pop corner shop machine for a year before moving into my home with my big 4 litre bottles - I asked my well educated Thai condo manager back then where close by was a safe machine to grab my water from. Water was perfect every time. If you have a car then you can go fill up a bunch of large bottles and store in dark cool place so you always have a supply. Drink art least 3 to 4 litres of water a day here cause its hot n you will dehydrate much faster than you would in Europe. We have a 'Purensafe' German, built-in 6 stage home system throughout the house which is computer monitored and checked so guaranteed to be impossible to get any, any contamination in the water. The system has failsafes beyond belief so if at any stage the system drops below safety parameters it won't dispense a drop. Its even got a cool app that gives heads-up on performance which we can look at anytime, with service period and warnings if system is compromised. The pool has its own 4 stage system. Cost a penny but the water is delicious to drink. It tastes even better when we carbonate it! We see it as a good investment in health and I imagine as the years pass and the worlds water gets harder to get and dirtier if I want to see the house it will add to the appeal for any Westerners who might be in the market for a palace. We have big underground tanks for rainwater catchment, so we take very little from the mains. Its wonderful to just turn on the tap clean your teeth, wash your face, shower without having to make sure no water enters your mouth or if anything is going to enter through your eyes into your body (yes there are such gremlins! which can mess ya' up big-time apart from the rather mild Cryptosporidium & Giardia, stuff like Ecoli bacteria and other nasty micro-organisms.

As a now practicing 'urban monk' I speak from past experience as a 66 year old man lol ????. If you work in LOS specifically BKK then the central area around Siam, Central World etc at lunch hours in the food halls is dripping with lovely 9 to 5 er's. Many of them highly educated, and sexually quite 'fresh'. Learn the language fast and get to these places and you can catch a lovely woman who might not ever have done the 'freelance thing'. If you're out in Huay Kwang area where theres lots of office admin complexes same same. If you're in Phuket and looking for really stunning freelance women the expensive Euro styled 'beach clubs' is top of the list. Of course there is the reality and fact that some LOS gals who work in offices banks mall sorts of jobs will 'freelance' because they need money as will uni students so they have play-money and fees, some of these gals do this a lot - like every weekend, some occasionally. One would by popular definition NOT call them 'bar-girls'. Levels in Soi 11 is an example of one very good place to find some gorgeous freelancers if you want to 'get your groove on' by sampling such delights. Its a fun place to dance too with a variety of good dance music not just house or acid. My ex was a linguist with the World Bank, with degrees and post grad masters in languages up the wazzoo and a very smart, demur charming gal. She knew more about english grammar than i will ever know! N told me that many of her colleagues (50%) in this BKK offices and in their counterparts in the Asia Development Bank (ADB) were still virgins. Yeah, I know, folks here maybe won't believe me but 'she who won't be named' was dead serious about this. Being a curious and somewhat lecherous man I sought more depth of info about this disclosure of purity in her coworkers. Miss N said many were like her i..e. upper middle class to hi-so girls who had led very sheltered - chauffeured to school and uni, sheltered from the grimy street level of BKK and the possibility of crime e.g. late night taxi abuses (she had never ridden a motocy taxi ever, hardly ever in a taxi - and never ever at night, never walked as we did at night to eat or enjoy the quiet sights of some of the soi's here and there, or random stuff because they simply didn't go anywhere at all suspect or mildly dangerous, they lived lives of studious focus, didn't drink ever or drank very, very little and had never slept with any man. So if you want to find a 'nice' girl there and tonnes in LOS. Of course if your intent is 'fast and casual' with no want of being open to love and permanency then this is what you will find.

Oooo you are naughty????????

I always listen to Mr Garrison. He's got his head screwed on.

As an adjunct to the god-awful stink of this (no shock to those who are even vaguely semi-conscious in LOS) are the BiB still congregating on the freeways and overpasses just past the toll gates in BKK at the end of the month when their meagre, meagre wages run out and they pull Thais over and extorting hundred baht notes out of them for bogus stops? I aint' no Policing expert but I wonder (I know, I know I've said this before in posts about this as well as the I.O. graft n grifting BS behaviours I've known in the past) but, if they paid Police decently, vetted during selection, then trained much better, then monitored with independent checks n balances and gave ongoing training and support then the culture of the RTP might improve. But perhaps I am still hoping to see porkers fly one day.

Paying for the VIP BS is still a bribe or extortion of sorts in my humble beer soaked, pussy addled brains opinion lol ????????

Robinsons sell them, Central also, theres also lots of Thai made cotton and like others have said Bangladeshi and Indian cotton around. Go look around at older local village Thai men and you'll see then wearing pure cotton short sleeved shirts wth open neck and button up fronts. They wear them for good reason; These are the coolest to wear in hot climates. I wear lightweight linen and similar weight cotton and silk. In my long experience of living and working in hot and humid climates cotton, linen, and lightweight silk are the coolest of all materials. I get my silk often-times from Jim Thompson, a few linen retailers worldwide, and cotton from Pacific Island suppliers via mail. In my family we call the cotton flower and other print patterned shirts 'Bula shirts' from our heritage in Fiji. I play golf in them, they are far cooler than woven polos or those horrible static synthetic things. Synthetics are good for action/repetitive movement sports in so far as they wick away moisture and stop chaffing and rashes. They aren't good at letting the body breathe like natural fibres though thus they are hotter to wear. This is not conjecture but scientific fact. If you don't believe me work out in synthetics then cotton and you'll know the difference. As far as underwear is concerned keeping cool is imperative for sperm health, so wear cotton undies only boys.

What a joke; Trust us???!!!!! (no pun intended towards the Big One) ... I needed a good laugh today.

He was, and from his own mouth.

Ahhh ... note to self; Don't visit the Pilbara any time soon.

No way ... Chamberlain did it ????

Manslaughter a few decades in jail ... but that aint' gunna happen is it?!

As corrupt as the day is long. Good on ya girl don't take their junk!!

yeah sick huh Bkk Brian?! Then after it happened the sicko right including that vile propaganda network Fox started saying that Pelosi had let the guy in and implying, inferring he was his gay lover. How perverted do you have to be to do that?!!