Tropposurfer

Orban. Fox News et al., Tucker Carlson, and the GOP seem to think he's a real peach.

Ahh the great USA. A land where rape victims are forced to give birth to their rapists babies. A land where medical practitioners are murdered, bashed, blown up, shot, harassed, threatened and civilly charged for giving care and treatment to women.

Wonderful! hooray ????????

I'm concerned that there aren't enough of the mob pointing. Letting the side down ? hahaha????

sails don't work if theres little to no wind

7 x 3 = 21 m/2 that's a sizeable slab. You must put reo-bar in and add at least 1 expansion joint x 2 minimum. To be sure of no random cracking, also use a heavier gauge e.g no less than 4 mm than the tiny gauge reo-bar Thai's tend to use - which is not anywhere near Oz standards and if at the lesser gauge invites random cracking. The issues with mixing and pouring small amounts i.e.a wheelbarrow at a time with a small mixer like you've got is the cure time between pours compromises the structural integrity of the slab - melding of each barrow load at the pour boundaries creates this weakness. Remember your in a hot country where MPA needs to be quite high to slow the quick drying time of any pour whether truck or barrow styled mixes. If you get your crete from a reputable supplier they can/will add cure-slowing agents to the mix to help with the fast cure time due to the inherent heat here. If the slab is under cover, and against the house then maybe add a waterproofing agent to deter ground moisture rising through it.

I know folks from my parents wartime generation that hated the Japanese, and would not even enter any conversation about them unto their death. Man's propensity to embrace imperialist/fascistic perversions is age old, and not the sole purview of the Japanese of the 30's and 40's.

I think our friend is trying to assert that Koreans were in the employ of the Japanese as collaborator/conscript guards on the Death Railway which to my historical knowledge would be true to a point and that they were used as guards and meted out 'punishments' (?) and brutalities on orders from their Japanese seniors. https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/burma-thailand-railway-and-hellfire-pass-1942-1943/enemy#:~:text=Around 12 000 Japanese and,Army during World War II.

No new news in this at all. Addicts will do anything even to endangering the lives of their own unborn children inside them to get high. I treated many dozens of women in Australia and the US doing this exact same thing year after year when I was in practice. A tragedy yes, but the reality of life when in the cycle of drug addiction.

Maybe its like many posters have commented in their own ways here so far; it depends on what you can afford, justify, and like. Speaking to the laundry story; I lost a beaut $120 Fred Perry t-shirt at a local laundry ... I shan't name on Surin Beach Road when I first emigrated. Shortly thereafter I did my own laundry. I get the thoughts and practicality of cheap, easy to buy, fractional cost stuff. I would say if one can afford such things the fit, quality, and durability shine through. There's the often unique colours, weaves, etc too that make the clothes so good. I wear clothes for me, not for others, well, ... except to please my darling and compliment her great taste. I enjoy dressing well. But on the island while its pretty casual I still like good clothes when we go out. I get it too that buying and wearing one piece a lot because its so expensive for you you can't afford other pieces is false economy and you will wear the piece out. I don't wear clothes over and over. I cycle through things to rest the clothing just as I do my shoes this way they last many, many years. Careful washing and out of sun drying helps preserve too. TIP: For black clothes rinse in 1 to 1.5 parts white vinegar to water to rinse out all the detergent and to restore the black of black before rinsing with fresh water. I have and enjoy the comfort of quality clothes. I don't wear the large advertising labelled stuff, just not my style. Subtle French-type style is my moto. I've worm cheap knock-off stuff and prefer the quality of designer stuff. Value, fit n durability is far better from my experience for the later. But to garden or wash the car etc its old boardies and a raggy old t shirt. My shoes, I still visit and get from MBK (ground floor) shoe store area for slip ons. Most others are custom made ... well for the last ten years or so anyways. If you can afford handmade ... Once you've bought quality custom made shoes its hard to go back to off the shelf boats. They last many decades too.

I agree with you DunR about a waste of money ... I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to car waxing lol ???????? Time between waxes depends on the 'wax' you use, the climate, the time out in the sun, the quality of the paint at application, the brand of car ... "once a year"? Polishing once a year is nowhere near enough if you want to preserve paint, deter rusting, and keep a deep shine and provide hydrophobic surfacing. Carnauba in an ideal world needs to be applied roughly every 2 to 2.5 months. Polymer waxes last a tad longer than Carnauba - there are devotees of both. Polymer/synthetic's [especially liquids] are easier to apply in my opinion. I bought an expensive car in BKK a year and bit ago (my first here) and I looked very closely at a possible ceramic coatings straight from the dealer to be applied before delivery but decided against it. I checked both with contacts in Oz and BKK just in case there was a product I was unaware of that might be amazing. Ceramics don't stop chipping or scratching (micro swirl scratches from washing to a degree yes, as all waxes regularly applied will do [none will protect against micro-scratching if you use a rubbish wash and washing system e.g. dirty cloths, no rinse bucket between applying new soap to the mitt, if you use quality cleaning products e.g. like a pressure washer & around 2000 PSI no higher to blow the dust n grit off the paint before the soap is applied, using a foam gun and the pressure washer really helps with preserving the previous wax coat]. Properly applied quality cleaning products are always best. Fine dirt flying past the paint will be deflected by a ceramic or good wax layer to a degree but heavy impact contaminants - no. Stuff like hot brake dust and sharp gravel particles will embed no matter what coating you have on the car. In my opinion of owning and detailing cars for 40 odd years (and I'm damn good at it) I'd say Carnauba waxes produce the best depth of shine of all 'coatings'. Regular clay-bar decontamination before waxing is also advised to help promote a mirror shine. This stop dragging of the imbedded micro-fine gunk across the paint as you wax which simply adds more scratches. if you want to take care of your cars paint ... NEVER use an automated car wash. I clay bar my cars 3 times a year here and this seems to work very well. I lived in one of the toughest countries on the planet for UV rays etc so I got some idea what I'm talking about. I also had a successful business detailing exotic cars. Carnauba doesn't last quite as long as polymer/synthetics but looks deeper and better in the shine in my opinion. Some say Carnauba wax is better on dark colours while synthetics on lighter colours. My experience of waxing cars has taught me with light or dark colours Carnauba gives a depth of shine others do not, is well-hydrophobic, deters micro-scratching from drive-by particle strike too. Carnauba over a year or so of regular application and buffing fills in really persistent, buffing compound resistant micro scratches far better than synthetic waxes do.

"Currency exchange? VISA's? Health and Medical? Air Pollution? Flooding? Running out of Money? Country changing attitude towards expats for the worse? Asia War - China/Taiwan? Cost of gas, electric, food continuing to increase? How do you think the country itself will change in those timelines?" Q1: I have little control over that. I do own my home and savings so even if the baht to AUD and other currencies was to plummet to say 12 baht to the $ I would manage. Q2. I hold a 20 year easy-peasy visa and it works beautifully so unless this is revoked or drastically changed I see no issues there. There's always a risk living anywhere as far as residency is concerned as a foreigner when you live in a country other than of your birth, so if I was to be told to leave I am able to accept that. I wouldn't like it, but if I had to simply leave everything I could return to Oz or the UK and live very comfortably [I have a British passport too]. Provided I am actually allowed to leave by the powers that be here that is). Q3. I'm mid 60's now but fit n healthy. I get great healthcare here. I pay a very reasonable premium, in my opinion, for the top level of cover I hold which by the way is international not just domestic. I see great care here for me as I age. I am open and flexible as to if I will stay here as I go into the last few sedentary years of my life but I sense I will stay here to die. I have a loving partner, her family are well educated kind, only mildly semi-neurotic lol ????, lovely folks, and love/like me a lot. There's a few other good people to call upon to take good and gentle care of me so I guess staying here and being driven around when too old to drive, taken to the beach for my old age swims lol ???? will be easier here than in uber expensive healthcare Oz. Q4. Its very clean and pollution free on the island in part we live in (zero nasty stinking toxic rubbish burning-off, mild to little road traffic, no road noise at all so given the predictions of tourism and population size predicted we should have a really clean place to live for at leave the next 10 to 15 years. Q5. Our estate is in a flood-safe area (I checked this very carefully before signing my build contract). Tsunami safe too. Q6. I/we could run out of doe but unless I go absolutely nuts, or the entire world banking system collapses we'll be fine. Even if this did happen the real estate stuff will sit and eventually come back to value and in the meantime we'd just dig up our beautiful gardens and grow as much as could to live and I'd go catch some fish. Q7. Refer to Q2. Q8. Hmm? There is a closer proximity to conflict here as opposed to my old home of Oz I guess. Q9. We're ok for this but as a citizen of the world I see the difficulties it holds for many. We built an almost water-independent home, a fully independent electricity home, a home with excellent thermal rating so were good for these. Q10. Carbon fuel prices will continue to rise. Water availability (maybe ? even in heavy monsoon SEAsia will change) with dry seasons becoming more intense (or so the scientists modelling predicts). I don't think LOS is percolating in the same way European and other western nations are around democratic ideals and freedoms so the struggles to quasi socialist/democrat government with a broad sociological movement to fairer distribution of wealth and resources is something I cannot really comment on here. Pollution will get much worse in my opinion. Poorer nations (on the world scale of national wealth) such as LOS is closer to 'survival line' living and so polluting activities will go on because folks gotta eat n can't afford clean energy sources. The richer, amoral western nations will continue to expel and fund production of ever larger amounts of filth into the environment. Flooding will get worse as the eco-system is affected by the melting of the icecaps resulting in changes in the seas water temperatures connected to the carbon emission issues. Money is a world business and while I can do my best to insulate and insure my money I have little control other than to micro-budget within acceptable parameters of 'common sense' ... I think its time to go order some new golf clubs l????ol The gods only know what will happen in the future with attitudes and laws towards us falangs. I don't have a bunker system or survivalist set-up so like most of the rest of the planet I have zero control of this. I don't live in so don't vote in Australia or anywhere else for that matter now as an emigre so other than listening and sharing with others about level headedness and a common sense in our world I got no influence beyond that. The world food issues are badly tilted that's for sure (this is a subject for more discussion amongst us as citizens of the globe). Food, water, fuels [firewood, coal, gas, etc] will become much more expensive and if some pundits are to be believed see wars break out over their control and access (we've already seen 2 bloody, heinous, horrific illegal, false narrative wars in the middle east over oil [not the lies about WMD's). The issues with singular dependence on Russian gas bodes ill for all of Europe now and going forward). We grow a good veggie garden here now, it is getting better every season. We're planning to use some of the common land here to create a commercial amount of produce to sell (profits to the local people) and to give away. As to buying food we can eat what we want, when we want, at this stage of national and international supply systems and the cash to pay for same.

ahh ... the usefulness of the unwashed proletariat ????

If you have the cash you can PRE-book a limo from; https://www.aot-limousine.com/ prior to flying you'll have a car in a few minutes after selecting your preferred vehicle at the kiosk. If you fly some airlines in business class e.g Emirates you can pre-book a limo as part of your ticket free of charge to Swampy to & Bangkok to Swampy. For a BMW or a Benz it was about 1600 baht if my memory is correct (one way) to pretty much anywhere within reasonable range of BKK centre areas. This is of course is double a cab (unless you allow yourself to be ripped off by the cabbies) but you have comfort, convenience with baggage help, no queues (you go to a different car concourse to take up your ride), room to sit comfortably, free water, masks (if ya want to wear), and a safe smooth drive. The driver will stop for you if you want to hit a 7Eleven or something on the way without any charge. You can also simply arrive, and go to the AOT desk without pre-booking and be fine to get a car especially since the tourist traffic flow at Swampy is still at a low level. Very easy to find AOT Limo kiosk. - after you exit baggage claim (either domestic and international sections > then walk on through the customs section > walk outside from the customs check area (international arrivals) and out to the general pubic concourse where there will be lots of limo service personnel, van, hotel, and other specific client carriers with their signs waiting to collect clients. Just past them is the AOT desk. It's a kind of circular kiosk with the blue n white AOT sign on and above it a few yards past this mob of carriers. Always a few AOT attendants right there to help as soon as you walk up. The cost will be perhaps close to a hotel provided car traveling to and from the airport. These drivers are courteous drive safely and deliver you exactly to your place of abode without issues. You can tip the driver if you like or not; 'up to you' as we say here.

Catch this creep coward and serve him with life in prison and advertise it widely that he was given this sentence and a promise from the courts and police to give ZERO quarter to such gutless 'so called men'.

I have a reasonable degree of wealth and as a wise and loved mentor of mine told me many years ago (he's a savvy and well off and [once] hard working man) ... "Money does not make you happy Phil, it does however make you busier." I spend and enjoy my money (and share it with others). I know what it is to live from pay-check to pay-check, with zero security, and I thoroughly enjoy not having to worry about that anymore. I have kicked the brainwashing of Calvinistic self-denial and penal attitudes of rigid frugality to the kerb.

Is it not entirely illegal to earn any income in LOS unless you have a specific visa permitting you to work and earn said income?

I agree and disagree with you Jerno. yep you're right when you say "It's not the ordinary people." and yet Russia like many nations has a strong faction of ultra-nationalists, verging on ultra-right fascism that believes as Putin does. Russia has a long history of anti-semitism, and an aggressive racism running through it. Marry this to power mad people like Putin and those who surround and enable him and you've got a nasty recipe for what we see in the Ukraine. How do I know this? Because I have moderate liberal thinking, worldly, highly educated, critical thinking Russian friends (most are journalists and scientists) who have educated me on their experiences of Russia pre-and post Glasnost, and Putin era.

Could be a nice, peaceful, and breezy cool way to travel between.

Give Integrity legal a call. The principle Benjamin is a Yank so I'd say he's most familiar with international issues for Yanks in LOS. I have used him for wills, and checking house-build contracts etc and he was always solid with those.

Not my area of knowledge but, ... maybe try messaging Chad @ Utube 'CB Media'. He's a car photographer and into all things 'mod' for cars. he spends a heap of time around the mod scene here and can probably give you a few referrals for exactly what you're looking for.

Lavrov; A real peach of a guy

There's a really easy, and novel fix for this. Go to the classes a few times a week for an hour, study for an hour a day for say 5 days a week. then when you go the I.O. office to get your next extension you can address the officers with your new baby Thai skills and all will be well.

Response; a straight left to the chin. Result; no more assuming he can go about slapping people with impunity

Its very nice ????