DEKEM

maybe instead of holding the water, allow it to work it's way to the ocean naturally via canal.  build a platform above the canal for people to move around. something along the lines of what they have in chinatown bangkok near the megaplaza mall.

buddha..  the more you want, the more you suffer.  so, to achieve that state of "empty" mind, try to eliminate all desire.  the less desire you have, the more content you are. gambling, drinking, whoring, smoking, drugs, etc.  these are things that make you happy for a short time.  but actually cause you pain in the long run because you become addicted to the behavior.  I am still a long way from achieving nirvana.  but I can see that I am much further up the ladder then many others.  my problem is I like accummulating material things.  pack rat.  I envy people who can live with nothing more than what they have in a backpack.  and are content with that.  I know a couple of people who have reached that level.  the closer you get to nirvana, the easier it becomes for you to recognize it in others.  it's all in the eyes.  where the eyes of a dead fish are cloudy, the eyes of someone aware are sharp.  when you look in their eyes, it's like you can see through them.  an endless hole.

Just now, DEKEM said:

I registered with 3 hospitals via expatvac.  the first hospital was bumrungrad.  after successfully registering, the system said I would get a response within 3 days, that response never came.  so, I then tried registering with medpark.  after successfully registering, the system said I would get a response within 24 hours.  on the 24th hour, I got a text saying my appointment was approved for the next day.  just for insurance, I still registered with another hospital.  one on sukhumvit soi 24.  I never did get a response from them to this day.  but then, it didn't matter anymore.  ..medpark did.  so, I went to medpark not expecting anything.  was surprised at the vip treatment I received.  in and out within 45 minutes.  15 minutes for paperwork and the jab.  30 minutes for the waiting period to make sure no negative response to the jab.  I'm scheduled for the second jab september 11.  I highly recommend medpark.

oh.  forgot to mention.  received the pfizer vaccine.

Just now, joecoolfrog said:

Well I certainly agree that the likes of Germany , France and the UK are laughing at Trump and his deluded moron army.

they won't be laughing when we leave the battlefield to them to deal with alone.  lol.

15 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

The reason why you have that 20 years of relative quiet was due to America working with their allies to contain ISIL, Taleban and Alqueda. Trump has change that equation genius. 

I see it differently.  the reason for the 20 years of relative quiet was because the west paid the jizyha to the muslims in the form of TRILLIONS of dollars in aid.  in other words, we submitted to the muslims.

2 minutes ago, Opl said:

ISIS is a network, that is not limited within borders, to make it clear to you, not only national jihadists can target your country. It's even the opposite for it's then more difficult to track them.   

let's get real.  the muslims in ISIS are the same as the muslims in jordan, egypt, iran, etc.  hell, there are muslims in ISIS that came from france, germany and many other western countries.  that's why this war won't end in the near future.  people have yet to acknowledge what the source of the problem is.  and they will probably never acknowledge it until we get nuked.

2 minutes ago, Sujo said:

So let me get this straight.

 

US asks kurds to fight isis. Kurds do it whilst losing 11,000 troops. US now says thanks for the help but your on your own now. Bye.

 

so now all isis is released and US is in more danger.

 

And all because of 50 US troups that were holding it together.

 

You do realise that returning 50 troops has started a genocide against a US ally that fights on behalf if at the same time 3000 extra troops are sent to Saudi.

 

please tell me how that helps US citizens.

1 minute ago, Sujo said:

So let me get this straight.

 

US asks kurds to fight isis. Kurds do it whilst losing 11,000 troops. US now says thanks for the help but your on your own now. Bye.

 

so now all isis is released and US is in more danger.

 

And all because of 50 US troups that were holding it together.

 

You do realise that returning 50 troops has started a genocide against a US ally that fights on behalf if at the same time 3000 extra troops are sent to Saudi.

 

please tell me how that helps US citizens.

that's like saying someone got shot because he was standing in the way of the gun.  don't you hold any blame for the kurds that have been murdered to the muslims?

5 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

If war or terrorists reaches your borders, it will be too late to stop the carnage. A simple warfare strategy is to stop your enemies from reaching your borders. If USA and the allies didn’t stop Hilter in Europe, you may have the Germans at your door steps. If the ISIL is not defeated or managed in the Middle East, they will creat more havoc in for the land of their eternal enemy America. You have been brainwashed by the divisive Trump. 

the war has reached our borders already, genius.  and we aren't doing so bad so far.  it's been almost 20 years since 911.  right?

when we eventually get a nuke delivered on us, we will know EXACTLY what needs to be done to resolve that problem from never happening again.

no more kid gloves.

6 minutes ago, Opl said:

Trump in his reelection process is signaling  to autocrats like Erdogan it's open bar, go ahead, help yourself.  

so, let me get this straight, you want us to send in our troops and have them die for the kurds?  in other words, you care more for non-usa citizens then you do for usa citizens?

3 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Russia will forever be thankful to Trump for vacating Syria for them and Turkey. Trump has been duped by Erdogan and Putin. 

we shouldn't be there in the first place.  that's how I see it.  why are we fighting other people's wars to begin with?  this problem is with all the countries in the EU and the middle east.  NOT THE USA.  we spend all this money protecting other countries and they don't even want to acknowledge all our sacrifices.  ingrates.

the other day, president trump asked the french and the germans to take back all the ISIS fighters that are citizens of their countries.  and what did they do?  give president trump the finger.

I totally agree with president trump.  dump these terrorists back in the countries in the EU where they are citizens.  we should leave NATO.  let the EU deal with the communists and the muslims.  good riddance.

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Yep, makes one wonder (yet again) about the real motivations behind 45's actions. 

President trump came out with this book in 2011 titled "time to get tough. make america #1 again."  in the book, he basically details out all the things that he plans on doing if he were the president.  so far, he has been keeping his promises.

bringing back all the troops was one of his promises.  mind you, the usa has around 1000 military bases spread all around the world.. AT OUR EXPENSE.. for the most part.  

do you think the usa should have a 1000 military bases stationed around the world at our expense?

I feel sorry about kurds.  but they are not our responsibility.  those who should have responsibility for protecting them are the french and the other countries in the EU who are closer to turkey.

as I see it, this is just like the game of thrones where you have countries using other countries to fight their wars for them.

countries like france, germany and the UK are all laughing at the USA for how stupid they are.  fighting their wars for them.  with the money they saved, the spend it on social programs benefiting their people and then bragging back at us saying why they better then us.

as I see it, we should let them fight their own wars and then, we can spend the money we saved not protecting them on social programs.  then, we can brag back at them.  lol.

8 minutes ago, observer90210 said:

Wonder how Europe and Russia will react when Turkey finally  "abdicates" their invasion, but retaliates by letting through all the thousands of migrants, refugees etc to storm into the neighbouring nations ?

war

2 hours ago, wombat said:

what were they going to do with them?

new recruits

before you can resolve issues, you must FIRST understand what the issue is.

the koran says that muslims must always side with other muslims where non-muslims are concerned.  non-muslims are so despicable, they are not even worthy of being told the truth.

on the other hand, the koran also says that it is acceptable to commit genocide against it's own people if it resulted in the greater goals of the caliphate.  namely survival.

in the western world, deception and lying are considered bad traits.  in islam, they are virtues.  taqiyya

https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/taqiyya.aspx

9 minutes ago, JamesBlond said:

Easy to blame one man for the world's troubles, but circumstances always produce the man. Leaders are as much of a symptom as a cause - and don't forget that Erdogan has a big majority in Turkey and this action will probably strengthen it. We need to ask what underlying circumstances have produced this situation, and address that at source.

 

We don't have to think about the Kurdish problem for more than a minute to realise that there's no solution other than compromise on both sides. As pride won't allow that, the only other solution is to maintain an uneasy status quo with occasional fighting (as per human nature), such as we see in many places (like Kashmir) - and that is what we are seeing now.

 

The real danger is that the world's bleeding hearts will take the Kurdish side - as they misguidedly took the Syrian 'rebels' side - and stoke another full-on war.

star trek had the borg.....   "resistance is futile.  you will be assimilated."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg

for the years 2016 and 2018, I paid 7200 baht at the vietnam embassy in bangkok to get a 1 year visa to vietnam.  no problem.  just paid the money and waited 5 days for the visa to get processed.

I plan to go there next month sometime to get another 1 year visa.  not sure what if any changes have occurred since my last 1 year visa.  will find out and post it.

I bought a round trip ticket to the PI for january.  cost me about 200 dollars on skyscanner.net  the cheapest tickets are come by if you buy a few months in advance.

33 minutes ago, Solinvictus said:

1.      Yeah you are Asian, so do me a favor, share your Asian experience with someone who can relate. My experiences and how I was brought up probably isn’t the same as you nor how you react/behave in this country.

2.      I don’t think you read my post/words with consideration as you have typed out some individual experience that in all respect...IMO, is a bit lame not to mention a bit cliché. You can’t even spell ‘fat’ in an English phonetical way to come near how it’s said in Thai. “Uuing,” for fat, come on now.

3.      AUA? I didn’t learn my Thai from being held up in some school or group for teaching.

4.      And my last and maybe most important point aside from that you are Asian;you used a single example/experience to say you ‘disagree’ with my post that included multiple experiences over time, particularly, repeated behaviors/views, at least, implied and that’s what I meant.

 

You then finish with ‘moral of the story. Adapt or die.’ Relate much? I don’t just mean with being a non-Asian in Thailand but when quoting someone to then disregard its contents and details provided for your own short-sided advice to adapt. You may need to adapt to keep your job and your boss happy…maybe that social circle that you value so much, being Asian.

 

I chuckle at your single experience typed. But yeah, I guess we can agree to disagree. Even though I never said anything about how much Thai people can remember. ????  I will take your point that “Asians have long memories,” sure. Can be quite petty and nosy too if you ask me. Just saying. Don’t mean to come off as negative. I just find the use of single instances to counter someone who was talking about continued views/behaviors experienced, again, ‘short-sided.’

sorry you got upset.  just my opinion.

7 minutes ago, cerox said:

dekem, thanks very much. You posted really good examples to open all our eyes again about the "salary talk".

Whenever I get asked about my salary, which does not happen often, I will either not answer or quote some low key figure - something that is still realistic but not high.

This is I think how we can spot a tourist or expat with little experience, when they walk around SEA and shout "that is so cheap" all the time.

glad I could help.  after living in thailand for 22+ years, I have a lot of stories.  enough to fill a book.

and yes, you are right.  the tourist or expat with little experience talk too much.  back when I first moved to thailand, haircuts were 50 baht.  and for that 50 baht, I got a haircut, a shave, my ears were cleaned, and I got a 5 minute shoulder massage.  then, I posted a story on nanapong, and the next thing you know, haircuts are 100 baht with no shave, ears cleaned and 5 minute massage.

loose lips sink ships.

you think it's silly???  people would kill for the job you have.  no joke.  if I were you, I would keep it low key.

a story...  when I was still working way back in 1997, I made about 50 dollars a hour.  typical month was 12k dollars when you include the overtime.  I told this story to someone in the PI.  there was this electrician working on my apartment replacing some electrical sockets.  when he heard us talking about our monthly salaries, he had this really sad look on his face.  out of curiosity, I asked him how much he made.  he replied 50 cents a day.  the minute he said this, I stopped talking about salaries.

another story...  when I first moved to thailand, I rented this small apartment near nana that rented for 70 dollars a month.  it was 24 sqm, had cable tv, and internet included.  I loved the place.  lived there for 2 years.  everyday, I walked out of that place with a smile on my face.  what a deal!  everyday, thais would ask me where I was going and what I was going to do.  not having a care in the world, I told them.  going to the gym.  meeting a friend.  etc.  I never said I was going to work.  one year later, the manager got mad at me for what I thought was silly.  she said you should not live here.  this place for poor people.  so, I left.

31 minutes ago, Onestepforward said:

For what reason? 

jealousy to start with.  imagine how you look to someone who works 12 hours a day to make 8 dollars?