Tropposurfer

Baby elephants are as silly as a wheel. Delightful creatures and so gentle. Lets hope they'll live a long, safe, and spoilt life.

How is that humanly possible!!! My goodness. Folks here are umbilically connected to their devices as it is ... hahahaha ????????????????

I too wear glasses; graduated lenses, which I wear all the time except when swimming, golfing, driving, reading, surfing etc - I am short sighted. I began wearing glasses in Australia in about 2005 and was advised at a quality chain in Oz called OPSM that they can fit me with cheaper lenses but advise strongly against this as the optical accuracy of the lenses are poor e.g. distortions in the curvatures at the point of manufacture and that they will deteriorate your eyes more quickly than high quality as near optically perfect shaped lenses e.g. Essilor. The rate at which rubbish lenses will increase the rate of degradation of sight is quite alarming just as poorly prescribed lenses do e.g. too strong or too weak, not balanced properly for each eye (many of us have eyes that are slightly weaker on one side and require careful testing to define and prescribe for). I checked this stuff about poor quality lenses online, with other optometrists, and my GP back home before pulling the trigger on the Essilor lenses when I began to first wear glasses. Cheap glasses are cheap for simple reasons; i.e. cheap poorly made frames, but most importantly poor quality lenses. Theres also the issue of how you use your glasses e.g looking straight ahead like reading or peripheral vision needs such as driving sports etc - aspherical lenses and all that techo stuff. There are only a few brands of lenses worth their salt; Essilor and Bausch & Lomb being two. My advice is NEVER buy cheap lenses. I have had glasses made here (but I usually get them made in Europe or back in Oz on visits). I did get some few pairs made at Paragon in BKK. I always get my eyes tested each year when I visit back to Oz as I know and trust my optometrist from good experience with her. I can't remember the name of the salon in Paragon but they did a good job. I did have recent OPSM prescription from Australia with me which they said was helpful. Seeing as they are classed as a luxury import are a heap more expensive in LOS than I pay in Oz or Europe. Many opticians here while reasonably trained will automatically offer cheaper lenses like Hoya, Canon etc which are not anywhere as good as the two I mention above as excellent optical quality lenses. At the prices you quoted, I am not surprised that you are finding the breakdown of their efficiency happening so soon after being made. I can't say for you, but there are varying periods of decline in our focal length i.e. some years its faster and others it slows or stops altogether and we need to hold objects further away to focus. Long range isn't effected quite as starkly as trying to focus on a small object like threading a needle for example. If you're finding blurriness at different distances short medium and long with your lenses it may be that your eyesight is deteriorating at a faster rate than you are renewing your lenses. This is not necessarily something to be alarmed about. I was told as we go through periods of increases in focal length at different times in our lives as wearers. But, to wear poor lenses that aren't 'set' for us is very bad for our eyes. I for example don't have much increase in 'strength' of my new glasses for the last few years where in years before that I had increases of .25 in lens strength added for a few years in a row when I went to the optometrist. Good luck, and may you see clearly into your future.

Alas "ignorance" is not the sole privy of Thai's

The games afoot Watson !

He was so off-his-face he saw her handbag and thought she was an imminent threat so he stabbed her to make sure she didn't koch him with the offending fashionably coloured carry-all. Poor woman! Its a bl.ody dangerous world these days me thinks.

CRAZEEEEEEE!???? Ya set up an electrified deterrent like that in my homeland and you'd be charged with manslaughter (and be in serious trouble) - no envelopes, or privilege get-out-of-jail-free cards there.

I'm probably suggesting an unworkable and laughable idea but here goes; Mass program to clean and then dredge the entire canal system of man dumped detritus and natural silt. Use a fleet of those skimming garbage boats (I know they have some sort of these craft but I suggest a fleet of different sized for the sized khlongs) and have them run regularly to clean the waterways of both hyacinth and man made flotsam and jetsam. To help relieve the annual flooding dig new drainage canals around or out of the greater Bangkok delta directly to the sea. (I know the delta is a low lying area so flooding is natural and complicated by the mass of concrete called Bangkok dumped right in the middle of the delta but with sufficient depth the lateral water movement can be amended. Possibly water purification to use the water for drinking and grey water uses. Return water traffic to the khlongs with small, medium, and large electric taxi systems A huge new (rejuvenated old-Thailand industry to employ folks). Resume land on the sides of some of the khlongs. Sink new piers/sides to create stable load bearing perimeters, remove the cross beams that hold many khlong sides up that forbid any traffic. Rebuild khlong-side homes and green spaces with walkway/cycleways along the sides of these resumed khlongs and new, small low height green apartments for those relocated. Open some of the khlongs covered by roads in the 70's onwards and install regular running water transport for commuters and maybe light-rail/tram (like in Euro cities) alongside. Plant masses of small street trees along these new larger commuter waterways. Pay for it by taxing the uber rich of Thailand. Now, queue the naysayers and those who wanna tell me I'm a complete idiot n' nuts lol ????????????????????

Its three stops before Chiang Mai ???????????????? (e,f,g)

No ... never, not in 12 years of multiple per year entries.

I had lots of Ivermectin (cause Dr Rogan told me it was just super!) and never got it yet. I am however now eating all the grass around the housing estate and the missus has had to buy in bales of hay for me ... hahaha????

Poor young lives ended so violently. RIP. I feel for their families and their grief. I may be incorrect but is it not the law here when exiting a premises/property - of any sort (if the car went into the driveway of a property in one direction and exited out of another) that vehicle must take care to not endanger either pedestrians and give way to all traffic on the roadway as they enter that road the car crosses? I imagine the driver is shattered at what happened. The speed or slowness of the bike is irrelevant to the lack of clear view of the roadway, or judgement in pulling out into the traffic stream by the car driver.

Why not invite Shaolin monks from China to teach them some chi kung martial arts exercises that'll strip the fat off them quick-fast.

Poor mite???????? I hope he recovers ok. Makes ya blood boil huh?! Its not on a private property either!!! but in a public access-way! How hard is it to do a decent job; Lift the pavers, lay the electrical conduit at least under the pavers, then cut into the side of to introduce the conduit into the drainage conduit and re-mud the cut. I know this 'dodgy brothers' stuff is 'normal' here but dear mother of !!!!! I learnt from older wiser members here never touch anything when out and about here e.g. brush against low hanging wires. I still (like my dear old dad electrical engineer taught me) when in possible suspect places (old buildings and building sites) never touch metal gates, railings, etc but always with the back of my hand first before clasping any metal with my hands. Bali is a death trap too from such dangerous compromised wiring.

I will have to go and look at the 'Falang Rule Book' again but I'm pretty sure not commenting on politics in LOS is about number 2 or 3 of what not to do here if you wanna enjoy your freedom and keep your visa intact. I get it about social activism, goodness me I spent 3 decades working in social services so I aught to have learnt and had some contact with this notion of activism, supporting change, owning your truth / being heard, and freedom of speech BUT ... and here comes the but. We live in a society that is not western, we live in a a society that is run by a military government the other nomenclature (j word) to describe it I will let you finish for yourselves. The landscape here is different. This is a reality. Fail to appreciate it at your own peril. As a foreigner, a guest here and a happy contented and amazed one at that, I practice the good ol' therapeutic practice of observing, actively listening, and speaking little, and when I do so, quietly and very selectively when it comes to politics and social structures here no matter how strongly I feel about it ... rule 2 or 3 applied.

Disgusting sexist misogynist female objectification ...., where can I buy some tickets?!! hahahaha ????????

Ditto ! ????

Maybe make a regular habit of buying full bottles and handing them to your poorer neighbours as a kindness ????

True. We are the only animals to drink milk beyond weaning. Cows milk fat is not compatible with the human gut post weaning. Goat, camel, and buffalo milks are however assimilated in the human gut.

Sheer necessity ... the mother of invention

Not the Malays I know ... they're great fun and party animals ... haha

We drove past Bangla 2 nights ago and the crowds were decent. Nothing like pre-Covid of course but it appeared there was a moderate flow of customers. Tim of 'TNT' uTube vlog did a vid there this last week and pretty much all the bars were open and doing moderate business. I go to and through Patong maybe once a week or so and the business is definitely picking up. Further south (Kata, Karon etc) its really still very, grim.

Correctamundo ????????

The reality of our existence is there is little to no justice in this world and even less for those without the means to ensure it moves in their favour. This is indeed a story of disgusting repulsive proportions.