Tropposurfer

Drowning the entire world in plastic and other non-biodegradable stuff. Lovely lot aren't we?

Mine regularly dresses to impress, whats wrong with that? She tries her best (pretty good efforts too) to look like a bordello superstar lol ????????

If you want to take the real risk of being physically close to this unknown person and his place of business (remember if Thai men see a threat to them, are full of guilt and confronted ... simply by your presence there, and their face is compromised they can attack and in numbers) then I'd suggest you go and employ some the local Muay Thai school maybe the principal to help you out to go with you to stand as 'sentinel' and 'persuasion' tool to make the meeting go safely and as leverage to cough up your money. I learnt here to not buy this way here - EVER but only buy face to face, get proper receipts, and take some happy snaps with the goods and the vendor, shop signage etc as a part of the 'friendly' free advertising' they'll get from my taking pics to post. This way there's tonnes of evidence as buyer protection and the vendor knows this too. Sadly there are a lot of scammers everywhere in this world. Covid has made people desperate too and led to some folks who would have not done anything sleazy in the past to now out of desperation do such stuff.

Yeah get a lawyer to phone, and write to him and put the frighteners on him big time.

Whether they check or not to ride a bike anywhere in the world without a good quality, well-fitted helmet is just plain crazy. Have any of you ever heard the sound of a head hitting and cracking on the roadway?

There are lots of expert certified repairers and service agents in LOS. Try the 'Hourglass' chain. They have shops in all the larger Central Malls, Paragon etc. I had my Tag Link serviced beautifully at the TAG service centre just near the Kempinski Hotel in BKK a few years back - perfect work and a great free satin finish polishing on the case and bracelet which I never asked for. Remember shipping a valuable like that runs risks no matter how you ship, not to mention the crooked Customs here ignoring your doc's and then out of the blue demanding you pay duty no matter what documentation you have or they confiscate your watch. I know cause this has happened to mates of mine (in other countries this is called extortion).

having spent almost 30 years treating many of the folks who haven't 'made a good fist of it' I can tell you all, most people have a definite lack of empathy, and capacity to stand outside their social brainwashing far enough to consider the depth of pain that they themselves face let alone another's plight in life. No offence meant to posters or original our OP, but rather an honest therapeutic experiential considered opinion. Especially when we can look outside and tell ourselves; 'Oh look there, there's someone who's less than me.' Judging by the lack of money, possessions, the car they drive or don't drive, their habitual lack or mature self-control e.g. instant gratification, appearances, speech patterns, colour of skin, and then say 'loser / less than' in our heads. It is very easy and convenient to judge how others live or have lived. It is especially inappropriate, nay callous to do so if I have little to no idea or insight into what their life has been like. Then I reflexively say to myself; Whats wrong with them and why don't they handle life? I have indeed suffered as a human being in life but my pain is my subjective experience it is not the same as another's pain. Pain yes but experienced through my lens not another's. Quick and convenient for me to judge and categorise yes, but still inappropriate and judgemental. For many, not some, but many (take a look at the stats for all manner of mental illness, mature male suicide, DV, murder, socialised violence) life is a struggle not a joy, dangerous and dark, with no safe-place that restores and nurtures. Their shame and next-to nonexistent self-worth leads them 'as a dog to its own vomit' as Nietzsche said. I will offer one word that lives at the cellular level and to such a degree for some that existence is so intolerable ... that word is shame. Shame at toxic levels. Yes A.N. fellows life is for some a struggle which they never seem to find functional ways to coping with. This is especially the case when one is poorly equipped from birth (despite what family appearances may seem to show), emotionally retarded, and cognitively immature. A wise man once said; To grow up later in life rather than through the healthy normative timeline process is perhaps the single hardest thing a human being can do. The use of chemicals, sex, violence, and likewise chronic inability to form healthy relationships with themselves - (shame), and with others sees a form of crowed isolation which is like the relative in the prison, a prison within the self. To find and medicate their life experience with drugs or something that produces an endocrine system outpouring is always about amending pain not self indulgence, although it is easy to imagine such medicating the self as selfish seeing as substance abusers do seem to use with relished abandon. The narrative that laziness is a primer of such 'failing' in life likewise is a far more complex issue that that. I ask you to trust me on this. Most habituated criminals have substance abuse problems, and exhibit as the poster described a teenage or infantile way of behaving and seeing the world i.e. fantasy as oppose to mature calculated, subjective, experience.

FOUR!!!!!!

No lottery tickets on that event I guess.

It's another indictment on the way things in LOS aint' all smiles. Sad huh?! Its sad to see how some locals are just amoral sharks and have a less-than stellar moral code, hurting the reputation of their own nation and incomes in the long-run, aided and abetted by those in authority they co-grift with or buy-off. I've learnt, at times the hard way which as driven me to practice great circumspection when it comes to interactions with and getting close (being indebted/vulnerable to most Thai's on the island. There are lovely kind Thai's here but I'd hazard a guess not many frequent the airport and near vicinity. I've used a local family from Surin for quite some years who'd come at the drop of a hat any time of day or night and drive me (sanely and safely) to my abode's over the years at 500 baht. I now have an Elite car to and from airport as part of that program so thankfully unlike (probably millions of passengers coming and going) I pass through this shameful sad stuff. I feel for the industrious self-actuating Thai's who have Grab businesses, work hard and long hours, and other small private freelance van businesses (although the later I'm willing to bet a few pennies on, have to grease the palms of officials at the airport to get a look in). I'll never forget the first time after 30 years absence from LOS and the island how I took a cab and paid about 1000 baht holy cow! and the idiot nearly killed us both about 3 or 4 times on my journey to Merlin Beach.

Copper. If your well water is high in minerals such as sulphur, organic salts, or iron then 'plaque' buildup is not uncommon throughout the entire system no matter what pipes or tank you use. We have copper in all our pipe and tank system ... we also have a top-grade water filtration system before water enters the heaters or any taps so mineral (or bacterial) load isn't a problem for us. Melting is an issue as mentioned (especially if the systems is not installed correctly e.g. wrong diameter piping which restricts water flow) at correct specs, and if the thermostat is set too high. The horrible taste of plastic in the water (despite it supposedly being stabilised so as not to 'leech' like that) is another yucky thing. Copper all the way every time. Costs more but ...

Give Khun a call at Botanica; https://www.botanicaluxuryvilla.com/about.php He's a great developer and builds really beautiful top quality western spec villas (none of the weird Thai, mind bogglingly wasting space terrible flow houses). He's got a few projects in and around BTao and a touch north to Layan. He'd be at the top end of your budget for a new/recent build but he does have a few places a few years old (still gorgeous) at cheaper prices I think. If you want help with the contract support, building inspections by a western engineer etc give Veronique a call at Ocean Worldwide Real Estate (BTao) +66 98 542 8512. This mob know the market extremely well and are very well established. They deal with both high end to more moderate (in the range you mention).

Am I working under a misapprehension here? Or ... was it back around 2010'ish that the Eastern Euro mafia's began a concerted effort to dig in like ticks in Pattaya and take over part of the illegal trades that flourish there? I seem to remember (pre-emigration by me) the RTP made short work of these groups and showed a no-mercy and violent intervention style with them and ran them out of town more or less. I would like to see any sort of imported, as well as localised organised gang activity treated in the same manner here on 'our' (oops) 'the' island. This extends to the taxi mafia's, the hi-so land grabbers, and the tamban's who grift so effectively in this parasitic relationship at local level. But, in the vein of my two-feet-planted-firmly-on-the-ground A.N. fellows ... I doubt that will ever become a policing and socialised norm. Like my fellows I see the reality of Thai culture (and the worlds diaspora's) and how while there are many fine and morally directed folks there are as many living in absolute polarity to that. As to these folks hoping for some 'effective' asylum here that seems a rather nebulous, hazy matter (am I being too pessimistic? or projecting too heavily in my remark?). (I refer to what to me seems very realistic postings by others here to inform this) simply being in an often too-corrupt, and a crippled-by-it social system that underpins and supports that parasitism / symbiosis. What if anything i.e. asylum or law enforcement intervention of foreign gang anarchy is ever truly possible either short of long term here or anywhere?

No

Thanks for stating some FACTS and data proven TRUTH Lacessit ????????

My gut tells me theres no negotiating with the malicious nutjob and jumped up despotic neo-Czar Putin.

Dr Lily Poncheron @ 'Bangkok Dental Spa'. https://bangkokdentalspa.com/ Tell her Philip referred you. She's a superb dentist, and very, very well respected as a senior dentist in Bangkok. Perfect English and plenty of experience serving falangs. If anyone can solve your dental problem/s she can.

If you are retiring and on a retirement visa then you are allowed a one-off import of all personal goods (this could be a huge house load of things) or a few crates, all are complete import tax exempt. There is no limit on volume of import (a 40 or 20 foot sea freight container no problem) so long as it is 'personal and personal household items and not amounts of things that could be considered as commercial import e.g (trying to bring in 300 sets of bed linen or some such mass import). I imported all my tools, lots of furniture, garden tools, mowers the lot, new golf clubs ... hehehe, BBQ, surfboards, paddle-board, surf ski ... everything ! from my 4 bedroom house and we had zero issue with Customs. I 'used the system' a bit knowing how shockingly expensive imported goods are here and bought new furniture and other items to place in my/our new build home and thus I saved the frightening luxury good tax which to me is one of the scourge that hurts LOS reputation and greater revenue collection. Saved myself tens of thousands of dollars by not buying those things here e.g. an imported leather large module lounge cost $30K+ AUD here instead of 10K in Australia! This Customs law was in place when I emigrated as a retiree when did it a few years back from Australia.

Yep I agree with Grumpy. If you don't have the bucks to remove it entirely which is the optimal solution then as Grumpy suggests. Make sure the holes in sides (low down) and bottom are decent sizes (I'd say 200 to 300 mm diameter) so the water can flow away without settling and collecting in the remnants of the pool. If you fill the pool with ruble of different sizes, compact with a compactor plate, then geo-fabric cover to separate the topsoil from the rubble so it won't slump so much. i.e. As the coarse fill settles the soil will want to work its way down through the large pore spaces of the rubble. Geo-fabric over the rubble before adding the top-soil will stop this and prevent slumping. Light compaction of the soil as you lay it down also helps prevent slumping later. Only lightly compact the top layers of the soil and leave the level a bit proud. If you're going to remove a metre down the sides (which is a reasonable depth to remove the sides) and go to the trouble of punching decent sized holes, a sufficient number of them, might as well pay the extra and have the whole thing broken up and removed. I'd suggest just break 300 mm off the sides in nowhere enough of a demo ratio. If you've got access problems then the lighter demo work option with a compressor and big jackhammer will do the trick in quick time. Trying to bust up a steel reinforced pool is hard work with small underpowered tools. Personally I would never leave any of it behind, unless you consider others ideas of a pond and converting with landscaping, fish, decorative boulders, rocks, aquatic and boundary plants. If you go this way you could install a water spout fountain to agitate the water surface and provide nice tranquil sound. If not to the pond idea ... personally I'd remove the lot, but thats just my old school-pedantic Oz builder preferences speaking.

Russian women; botox'ed to the nines, huge fake eyelashes, plastered with so much makeup they look like some sort of character out of a Tim Burton movie, and as shallow, materialistic, grasping and climbing as you'll ever meet.

A decent nation caring for others. Not a perfect nation by any means but a nation that reaches for and strives to be better every day. Well done my Commonwealth brothers and sisters and shame on LOS for nabbing this woman up and detaining her.

We felt a bit of wobbling up at Layan. I checked the Asahi intake and was pretty sure it was the earth moving not my brain awash.

From experience, I would suggest organising such events on boxing gyms across Thailand for all students, as a matter of normal life would stop a huge amount of the random 'kid on kid' street violence, and produce less violent adults. Question: how many ex-boxers do you know or hear of that go about whacking people unless for self defence (I exclude those who bounce on doorways). Such organised boxing training impacts the desire - specially the knife bat turf junk that we are seeing. Bullies will always get sorted in the gym - real quick. 'Weak' (?) sensitive, and smaller kids, timid kids, will be lifted up and helped through their timidity and victim stuff (it did for me). Yes there will be fighting as kids grow (this is part of learning about their male energy) but they learn about 'controlled aggression', speaking up for themselves without needing to go form 0 to 10 without deciding to and managing their own fears (which boxing teaches you to do). I'd say its far preferable than king hitting people with all your force in a rage as untrained people do. If defending oneself against such a person boxing training may very well save your life and even remove the need to hit unless absolutely necessary i.e. its hard to hit somebody who isn' there. I enlisted boxing trainers in a few places I lived and worked in Oz to dampen and channel youth energy frustrations and their socialised move to random street violence, and it worked every place we began such programs. My dear older friend John in Oz had a program he developed that used boxing training for abused and victimised people and it worked like a miracle for decades.

Great movie????

As an actual expert in addiction; Folks having pre-existing (latent) comorbidity issues show marijuana use supports and promotes onset of apparent (obvious) metal health issues after they begin using marijuana. Data (collected over many decades now) across the world clearly shows very early i.e. (early teens or even younger) and continued use of marijuana (especially very high THC content hydroponic strains of the drug) appears to show clear, stark connections to marked increase to the risk of mental health issues in the 20's and early 30's e.g. early onset schizophrenia. If used early enough in childhood neo-cortex frontal lobe area brain development can be severely impaired e.g. the areas of the brain that deal with speech can be so severely impacted that the patient can appear to be 'mentally deficient', and not just when that person is high and sedated by the drug. If you or anyone you know has any propensity to struggle coping in life, has other obsessive compulsive proclivities apart from e.g. gambling, alcohol, sex, or has suffered from sexual abuse or severe violence (especially) in early life then I would move cautiously when considering adding any or another drug to your system. I would certainly advise parents not to allow their developing-brain children anywhere near marijuana or alcohol.