Tropposurfer

Yep its tough in some ways. I feel for the Thai's very much, and those poorer than me. I'm very fortunate unlike many, many Thai's. I have my garden and veggie patch, great gym to go to every day if I wish, a lovely woman friend, an uber--comfortable, safe, peaceful life and home (until I play Led Zeppelin at max volume that is lol ☺️), glorious beach a few minutes easy quiet ride away, lots of toys, a great workshop set-up, wonderful Thai's to help out about the place-and for me to help, a few friends, money in the bank, good health (although getting older now). I don't live in a war-torn place. I am left alone by the Thai authorities and nearly always treated well by officials, police if stopped for a license check. Colds beer in the fridge which is super cheap, a wine cellar growing steadily, a great Aussie BBQ set-up .... bliss ???????? Fresh fish whenever I want it. Let's help those around us with food and other things. Go pay the bills for some poor Thai's, fill their gas tanks, recharge their phones, take a family to dinner and Macro afterwards for a shop, take a family for a drive and lunch somewhere. Go buy a bunch of gaffee buran's for hard working Thai's and hand them out. There's lots to do.

Or USA, Saudi mega oil conglomerates, Bayer, Monsanto, Tata, BP, Unilever, Gasprom, and other individual multi-nation oligarch's.

Yahoo! Top shelf from here on in lol ???? now to deal with the insane car import BS!

In my country they allow this but without proper caveats in my opinion. So I agree with those here who speak of a problem with no boundaries in selling land to falangs. simple idea. Allow 99 year lease, with a lawful judicial bulwarks e.g. if you engage in crim activity by you in-country or abroad it’s nullified. Some simple restrictions like amount of land to each person, no developmental buying and building over a set amount of land and dwellings etc.

Don't forget to take your best elbow and sweep techniques to ensure prompt movement through the line.

Ahhh! So it's not just not mad dogs and Englishmen who have such proclivities ...

Great idea! Which means under the current despotism that this marvellous, sane, and civilised idea won't float at all lol ????

Oh! You mean THAT paper lol ???? It's akin to; 'don't mention the war' lol ????????????

Agree! Its a fun place to play-swing, try, and buy.

Good breakdown of the fundamentals. Lots of amateur problems identified and addressed. I always listen to other golfers when making comments and tips (don't get too many now as I play off a fairly low handicap) but as the writer says all too often they're coming from people who can't analyse their own swings let alone another's. I pay careful attention to what my pro teaches me though ☺️ I practice all of what is described, as best I can, as a part of my natural game now, and practice these every time I play and go to the range. I particularly like the remarks on "sliding" and pausing momentarily at the top of the swing, and about the 'light, feeling' grip. The mention of too fast a take away is really important (Norman, Nicklaus, Davis all use this slow take away -so do I from watching over and over their teaching tapes), turning with the shoulders and leaving the wrists out of the swing until they naturally break on the backswing and then downswing is also absolutely vital. I would add the phrase; get back to and onto your left side (orthodox swings) at or before you begin the downswing i.e. "activate the legs" as Norman describes it. The few biggest mistake I see are: Poor positioning of stance at address to the ball and the target at address - if the stance is <deleted> so will be the swing! Moving off the ball - "sliding" as our writer describes it. Too fast a swing. Too vertical a lifting of the club. No pause at top. A weak right hand on grip, swing and strike (orthodox swing). Strangling the club - not enough papers in the grip will really help 'strangling' by the way. Poor, partial rotation of the shoulders - the back/centre of the shoulders should point to the target at the end of the backswing (for a long club, for shorter clubs this is amended by the naturally shorter swing-arc e.g. wedge). It's the swing that should bring the head and eyes around to the target, not the head pulling the swing around. Trying to use the wrists to get the club back and up to too vertically compensate for the lack of body rotation, shoulder turn. Which is easily seen as a partial, shorter swing arc and very 'flicky' wrists. This is often seen as trying to "steer" the ball with the hands. "Low and slow" Norman says. Hitting off the back-foot not the centre and front side of the body - to have any chance of hitting the ball where its meant to go and with distance and avoid amateur slice one must get back to the ride side very early in the downswing. This is easy to see in pros as they activate, power-up in the legs at the top-pause and then beginning of the downswing. I'd recommend Normans teaching tapes for anyone. Very simply, easy to understand and transferable over and over on the course. Not swinging fully, and pulling up and out of the swing which keeps one topping, hitting behind, skying, slicing. All these prevents hitting through the ball to the target point seen in the minds eye at address.

Hahaha ... what not to look like hahaha. A powerful hitter when he meets the ball well yes, but one of the most inconsistent hitters on The Circuit.

I don't get debit bills ... I have solar and batteries ☺️☺️☺️☺️, well except for the years of payments I need to make to break even and then make money from my awesome Solarhart and Tesla systems ???????? that is.

Importing Personal Goods: Can do as a Non Immigrant O retiree - (one-off import - conditions apply see link ) http://www.customs.go.th/cont_strc_simple.php?ini_content=individual_F01_160426_01&ini_menu=menu_individual_submenu_02&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individual_submenu_02_160421_01. I imported a 20ft container; Tools, boxes of bedding linen (way too expensive in Thailand), special pieces of used furniture - some antiques I had wanted all my life and for my new home - I bought in Australia i.e., used and new electrical appliances. NOTE: all new stuff's were taken out of packaging, used a few times, then repacked in generic packing boxes so to appear as used items, mattresses, crockery, cutlery, hifi, boxes of wine and beer etc etc. I even bought boxes of car cleaning stuff as this too is ridiculously expensive here (I like to take car of my motors ☺️????. save thousands of dollars doing this instead of paying horrendous import rates in-country e.g. bed linen at $1500- $2000 AUD for a decent quality bed linen set! You can also import personal possessions if married to Thai her/him. Other visas allow this importing of personal goods too (I think work visa - but check this as I didn't access importing via this criteria?) There are solid legal services in-country who help falang's with this and all manner of stuff - Integrity Legal in BKK is one such legal firm I have heard of - principled by a Yank. Retiring: I did this almost two years back - as a single (hansum lol ????) man I chose Elite (have pals who have them and heard, saw first hand their perks and helpfulness. NOTE: Elite Visa are NOT the Thai government so don't expect them to be a fix-all for any issues you might have with IO or Customs. Having said this I had them support me on a few confusing things after I began settling here in Phuket. I get an awesome golfing freebie with my Elite too - I save about $6 to 8K (depending on how much travel the country to play) a year on my golfing trips around Thailand. The airport greeting service is lovely. Having your personal rep there to great you at the plane and escort you through IO & Customs is nice and makes movement in and out of the country feel almost as if you are Thai lol ☺️ with fast seamless service at IO counter. The buggy ride through those long long BKK airport halls is always welcome too. Also the limitless in-out transit's per year is nice without worrying about visa stamp dates and expiry's etc. Money talks here so when you show your Elite Visa Card, your passport things just happen very pleasantly I have found. There's other perks with 'The Card' as far as some hotel chains, stores, malls like Central and Emporium chain too. Personal Health Insurance: A must have! You can arrive in-country on a decent travel insurance policy if you like and deal with a permanent one when here as you settle - just make sure you are within the Thai Govt. lines for Covid because some insurers are considered not kosher under these Thai laws and aren't acceptable. I setup mine up in conjunction with my retirement visa before I left Australia. Plenty of insurance providers to choose from. I spoke with Compare.com while still in Australia and learnt a whole lot about what's what from them and carefully narrowed the insurance down with solid advice and watching the fine print with my Compare.com support. I did so because one; I wanted to make sure I was coming under Thai law acceptable parameters, two; My policy would 'work' for me and cover my needs, and three; I would have an underwriter who's policies were considered excellent in the Thai medical system. Some insurers won't insure past 80-85 or so, Other providers have a whole-of-life policy (mine) with reputations for not slamming you along the way with massive premium hikes. I have a policy for whole-of-life (I'm over 60 so a tad more expensive but superb Platinum 'everything' coverage at the best hospital of my choice. So far I've used it for few things at Bangkok Hospital, Bangkok Nursing Hospital (BNH), and Bumrungrad, and its been easy, seamless, and accepted graciously by all hospitals as well as my superb dentist without question. Accommodation: Rent for a year, maybe 2 before thinking about buying anything. If owning a place doesn't really grab you, or isn't on your priority list then simply rent. It's pretty cheap unless you're looking at a high end place. If you amortise across say 20 years renting even at 30-40K a month for a palace it's cheaper than spending a million $, and if you want a change you can simply move. Travel around see where you really like before thinking of settling/buying. I spent about 4 years on many long period tourist trips, and on a work visa, carefully visiting and checking out provinces and locales before buying.

My pleasure fabruer. Being a retired dude I now have plenty of time to slow down, and make the small effort to respond to posts like yours ☺️???? Glad it was helpful.

They have very good quality and selection in Central Food Halls, 'Emporium Mall' Phrom Phong (P.P. BTS) downstairs foodcourt is really good. (great beef steak and other goodies too). Online this is a good resource: https://www.winestoreasia.com/ Yep Villa and Tops sell but I don't buy there as their selection and quality, in my humble opinion isn't as good as I hope for. ** There are lots of online providers in Thailand. I've only bought French and Italian wines so far from winestoreasia and they've been good to excellent. Wine Connection - all outlets - they sell some decent wines. We visit WC in Bang Tao regularly and they surprise with some really decent world class wines. We had a delicious French Pinot Noir from there a while back ☺️ Gourmet Market - Siam Paragon is very good and can source pretty much anything for you if you don't mind the price of special orders. You can get assorted wines, and champagnes shipped in from O/S as well.

If you're a smooth water swimmer only then I would suggest only swimming with a floatation device of some sort (see link below, flippers like a poster says he uses in the pool are a good idea too). Swimming in turbulent water is completely different to swimming in flat calm water, and far more dangerous! Drop-offs in the bottom Cross tows (cross-rips running parallel to the beach) Rips Undertow-rips removing your feet from under you, or the bottom-sand from under you very quickly Wave action knocking you over and off the edge of a bank into deeper water Waves hitting you, throwing you down injuring your neck or back People underestimating the depth of water and in attempts to dive under or through waves, instead diving headfirst into the bottom Always check with the lifeguards before entering the water, and follow their advice (yes even Thai lifeguards know a little on safety). If you aint' a strong swimmer then I would suggest exercising extreme caution anywhere that you aren't entirely familiar with the beach, the bottom, and the conditions. Never swim alone if you're as poor swimmer on a full stomach and NEVER with any alcohol in your system. This includes a heavy night before and swim the next morning. Men drown from alcohol associated death a lot! Machismo bravado as another cause of drowning is another! I swim a kilo or so about 3 or 4 times a week as part of my workout regimes. Laps of the beach usually at Nai Thon (close to my home) but previously at Surin when I first moved here, and lifesaving-paddle-board for miles from one beach to another on a regular basis. The beaches here are really, really clean now (sewerage outfall here isn't such a bad issue except in Patong area) due to a mass exodus of Thai's and almost no tourists for over a year or more. I'm a beach born Aussie surfer, and ex volunteer lifeguard of decades of service, so swimming is in my DNA. I've swum in the Med all around its edges both on the African and Euro sides, and most of the oceans of the world. Phuket right now is really clean (like it was 30-40 years ago!) although the wet season and storms makes the water dirty with detritus run-off and its definitely unsafe sometimes not because of rips (for me) but the crazy amount of trees and logs that will kill ya for sure if ya collide with them. I haven't ever really enjoyed swimming in the Gulf of Siam. although Samui when I visited last time was ok. There's a slower passage of water in and out of the Gulf, its relatively shallow (about 60 metres at max depth) which adds to turbulence and murkiness, as well as being a horseshoe shape tends to trap the pollution. I agree with others about Pattaya etc - don't swim there cause the water is heavily polluted and with streptococci and other nasties associated with direct discharge of faecal matter into the ocean. As for nasties in the waters of Phuket there aren't any large pelagic sharks that I have seen, reef sharks yes but they're harmless unless your half-dead, bleeding profusely, thrashing in the water. Being eaten is a very, very, very rare possibility. Some sea-lice on west coast as in all oceans, and the odd jelly fish (rare that I have seen), rays of course which it is always advisable to admire from a distance as their barbs are very nasty indeed and when crowed but dumb tourists or silly Aussie adventure-men (Steve Irwin) they will flick that tail and could spear you. Not been hit by an 'irukandjii or box jellyfish' in the years I have swum there. Some folks seem to be scared-off about them (others found in Phuket as is to be expected but not the box jelly) but I have never seen or heard of anyone since I've lived in Phuket being stung ... well definitely by one. For me the waters of the west coast of Phuket are some of the safest I've ever swum in - monsoon season is a different time though. I ride surfboards in wave-times all over the west coast and I've never had any trouble with dangerous rips or the like, but I know how to read the water, and being on a board if I were to get swept out I know not to worry and can paddle for miles if I have to. If you aren't a strong swimmer I would suggest always using a towable floatation device which is easy to wear and doesn't interfere with swimming. If you cramp-up or a rip grabs you you can simply tuck it under you armpits, lay back, rest, breathe put one arm straight up in the air - the universal rescue sign ... float until rescued, let go of by the rip, or until you have stretched the cramp out and rested enough to swim to the beach. We used these floaties in Australia, along with rescue boards as standard piece of lifeguard equipment (just as valuable as your radio) as a rescue device for drowning swimmers (and ourselves) - these floaties save a lot of lives. Swim safe and sensible mate ????☺️

Ditto stay wherever you are and be unvaccinated. Don't come to this country unvaccinated thank you very much.

When you know who Kenny Everett was. (I miss his amazing humour mak mak) When every sit-up and press-up is vital. when I stopped playing chasing's with my dogs on the beach When I stop throwing the dogs favourite fetch-balls and start using a ball-woomera When I wake up next to a beautiful women and want to swim and do yoga instead of the horizontal mamba When I started eating lots more vegetarian food. When afternoon naps became a regular thing When getting in the ring for half a dozen rounds turned into 3 rounds. When I started getting someone to clean my house When I knew I couldn't fly economy anymore When it took me 30 seconds to scroll to find my birth year on those d.mn.d auto-select calendars When I learned I had to replace both my hips

poor fella, what terrible and OHS avoidable end rip mate ????

I look at living in LOS this way; In my home country if you have money you have more privilege and can avoid, and negotiate many things to have a smoother life. Money buys both ease and some degree of momentary, worldly materialistic control. Same same in LOS. I am a visitor here, never will be anything else ... I acknowledge this and accept this as how it is. Oh yes I may be lucky to be loved and befriended deeply by some Thais if I offer the same. Damn lets be straight here, I have no more control in my country of origin, I'm a bl..dy visitor in my own country as soon as I step outside some governmental control and edicts! I hold not expectations I will live the balance of my life in peace here, although this is what I hope for ... I just go along day at a time. Obey the laws and social rules, be kind, smile a lot, don't walk about with that ridiculously and laughable white privilege rubbish swimming about in my thick head. I laugh at the paradox and contradictions of life both here and elsewhere (they're no less present and annoying in Australia), and practice a Buddhist process of non attachment. I can (and do) default to my grumpy old man persona so I gotta watch it and check myself and be bl..dy grateful I am reasonably well, still get-it-up nicely, am such a hansum man lol, and have so much ease and comfort ... with as much security in these fleeting things as any human being has in this temporary life. If I want to be around white people then I can simply go back to where I came from, or visit Bang Tao for a short while to see why I prefer a Buddhist way of life as opposed to a Judeo-Christian way. Thankfully so far I see far more benefit to expenditure in my daily life here to leave or to wax whingy about how Thais see me in whatever way they wish to see me, which I suspect has a lot more to do with my projections of my own opinions of myself than how any Thai sees me. S..t happens, and will happen, and despite any of my neurotic tantrums in attempts to deny it, whether in my country of origin or here in LOS, I have zero control about almost everything except how I chose; either to respond or react. I invested some millions in a new home cars etc here and if I should find myself being told to leave and loose the lot then s..t happens and I will simply return to my country of origin ... ridiculously over priced place that it is, breathe in and out, and remember the beautiful sunsets, the breathtakingly beautiful dawn swims along my local beach, the silky skinned women with gorgeous almond eyes I have held, the icy cold beers, the delicious foods, the cheap (almost everything), and the warmth and kindness of the genuine Thais I have known.

Money ... just as it is in the rest of the globe

Money ... just as it is in the rest of the globe

Say what !!!!! I can think of a dozen island that <deleted> all over the island mentioned along with Samui as jaw droppingly more beautiful.

Not in my baan ... amen ... crack a tube! lol ????

Let's hope somehow, someway these inane behaviours and procedures are changed i.e. as you mention new 'saner' visa rules an d procedures. I often think that some of the systems are simply there to give people jobs. As to the contradiction, meanness, and pettiness you describe it seems to be real too, and the only way one has any chance to circumvent, avoid, or to deflect it is to pay more money ... to someone, somewhere. Jingoism sure isn't just a western malady that's for sure lol ! I watch/ed the goings on when buying my villa, car, drivers licenses, etc etc and it does seem like some time-warp colonial time revisited. I have retirement visa - Elite and find this great, as I do the support from Elite in anything I am unsure about (I've called my support contact a few times about IO stuff and they helped negotiate 'face' and other things on the phone asap and with good spirit and happiness on all sides.