ChrisP24

With regard to the requirement that "Travelers entering Thailand under the Tourist Visa Exemption Scheme must possess adequate cash of or equivalent to 20,000 Baht per person or 40,000 Baht per family", I haven't been checked and don't know anyone who has. If you're worried about her taking that amount in cash, I'd feel 99.999% safe coming in with less cash but an ATM card and (if you truly want overkill) a printed bank statement or cell phone that can log in on arrival to show how much is in that account. I'm guessing that the law is more to prevent migrant workers entering by land from pretending to be tourists, rather than to screen for potential under-funded visitors arriving by air.

Menstruating person

PTSD is a documented mental health condition. You don't know what people have been through, or what their prior life experiences were that caused them to develop PTSD from a traumatic when some others can tolerate a similar traumatic event with less ill effect. There are a whole lot of ways that people can become mentally messed up through no fault or weakness on their part.

Book her!

In Phuket I've seen some perfectly acceptable modern condos, including large swimming pools, in the Kathu district (10 minute motorbike ride from either Patong Beach or Phuket Town) for 4500 - 5000 per month.

Happy to help. Sorry that I can't speak to Malaysia. One parting note on safety, I've been to the Philippines many times and to Thailand a few times, and in my opinion/experience, the two are very comparable on safety, with Thailand being only slightly more safe for a solo middle-aged female traveler staying in a relatively urban area where foreigners are common. And I think that non-urban areas are actually even safer in both locations (with the exception of the far southern parts of both countries). Good luck and enjoy your travels.

I lost a wallet when I was in my 20s. It had $2 in it along with my driver's license, some other ID and a credit card. Someone turned it in to a convenience store, which took the time to find me in the phonebook using the info on my drivers license (this was before the internet). The $2 was gone but the ID and credit card were still there. This was in the midwest in the U.S. Also in the U.S. I was on a very early (pre-sunrise) morning bicycle ride and saw a woman's purse in the road, actually quite a way out in a street T-intersection and not really in front of a house. I picked it up and took it home, and then opened it to see if there was a way to find out who it belonged to. There was a ladies' wallet inside with some money and ID, and also a small daytimer (this was also before the internet or cell phones) with some contacts in it, so I called the first contact and was able to connect with the owner and get it to her at her work, she was a young lady working in a nearby grocery store bakery. She was super-thankful. I never found out how it got in the road, but figured that based on its location and that it must not have been there for very long or a motorist would have spotted it and stopped, that maybe she was leaving a party in the wee hours and put it on top of her car, but forgot and drove off, then it fell when she made a turn at that intersection.

Sorry, I don't recall whether hard boiled eggs are commonly available at convenience stores. There are over a thousand 7-11s in the Philippines, plus Family Marts, Ministops, etc. and also numerous small sari-saris, like a 10x10 foot stall operated as a family business. I think some of them sell hard boiled eggs or will know of another one nearby where you can get them. Yes on the imported butter, I took a liking to Lurpak butter which was available in many of the markets as both sticks and single-serve packets. For a kitchen, there are lots of apartments and condos available for short-term rental (even just one or two days) via Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com etc. and some hotels offer rooms with kitchens, they are called "condotels" there. Then boiled eggs would be easy. ????And honestly once you can shop in a market and prepare your own food, you won't have any food troubles at all, and in fact the variety and quality of fresh produce available might be a pleasant surprise to you. Baguio for example has several supermarkets, (SM Market, Robinson's, Savemore), all of which will have a wide variety of local and imported products. The brands might be different than what you're used to but you should be able to find what you want, plus know for certain what ingredients are used. For local corned beef the Philippine brand Delimondo seemed to be the best of what I tried, but the New Zealand brand Palm and Australian brand Ox & Palm are top quality and popular there and often available in the larger markets. On sardines I prefer Portuguese or Moroccan in EVOO, and they are available at larger markets too. There are many Philippine brands but in my experience they tend to be packed in either tomato sauce or corn oil or soybean oil. Regarding safety, a condo would probably be safer than an apartment due to on-site security and restricted access past the lobby. In general an area with a modern condo I think is mostly safe, but as a foreigner you may be hassled by beggars especially small kids running up to you with their hands out. You get used to just saying no and not stopping or engaging with them in any way. The main thing to worry about is pickpockets or snatchers targeting a handbag or cell phone, but basic precautions such as not taking more money/cards/ID/extra items with you than you need, and being alert for snatchers both on foot or on motorbikes, the same as in any larger city. I've visited many times and never had anything stolen, just a few attempted taxi scams overcharging, which is easy enough to avoid once you know about them, it just becomes part of the cultural experience. Ditto on walking around, I walk a lot for exercise, but have found that (with some exceptions) cities in the Philippines often have sidewalks that are damaged or obstructed so you have to continually look down for holes or broken patches, and also up for wires or objects you might run into, and often have to step down into the street (and dodge traffic) to get around where someone has put something or even built something out onto the sidewalk. Can I ask, what are your goals/planned activities for this trip? Baguio is a good choice (I think, I have not been there but have passed it several times and have heard lots about it), also Cebu. 30 days is a long time.

I can't speak to Malaysia, but with regard to the Philippines, although it has a reputation for having poor quality food, my own experience has been that this reputation is undeserved. Yes there is a lot of junk available, and that junk is popular there, but there are also healthy options especially soups and grilled meats /grilled seafood. And if you're able/willing/interested in getting a place with a kitchen, that opens up a world of options as you can get fresh meats and produce from the market and prepare it to your liking. In the Philippines I've never had trouble finding good food in the cities, both at restaurants and markets. When I visit the province though and am not sure if there will be a chance to go to the market, I take some durable food with me such as canned sardines, tuna in water, imported corned beef, mixed nuts and other things that go well with rice, as on occasion I've had a few meals that just didn't sit right with me. I have an aversion to organ meat (liver etc.) and they seem to mix that into dishes and sauces sometimes.

"I see lots of people do same things over and over. Dont they get bored doing the same things?" The chains of habit are too light to feel until they become too heavy to be broken. But there is comfort in routine. I have coffee first thing in the morning. Sometimes it's different coffee, sometimes it's in different places, but coffee is an important part of my morning routine and gets me grounded as I start my day (no pun intended). Beyond that, I've found that getting out and doing things with friends is a great cure from becoming overly set into a routine. It is fun and stimulating to add variety and live in the moment, but not all the time. Falling back on a routine actually frees my brain up to focus on more important things.

Yeah my teen son has been recommending Elden Ring for me, as I need a new game and nothing new that's interesting to me has been released for quite some time. He says it suits my play style, exploring/grinding preparing instead of jumping right into the main storyline. But it looks a bit too cartoony for me, and I like more strategy than what I have seen, so I have not played it. It does look beautiful though.

I've used a hair dryer before when it's too damp outside for clothes to dry fast enough to not get funky. Works on small items/small quantities, and then you save doing big laundry for when weather is better. I suppose if the damp weather lasted for weeks and you had to wash and dry bedding, then rigging something to suspend it indoors over furniture and using a box fan would work just fine. Then there is always the laundromat as one poster pointed out.

Yes. In March 2022, confirmed by symptoms, two home tests, and four other family members also testing positive with similar symptoms. Vacc status was fully vacced 2x Pfizer plus Pfizer booster. We're pretty sure we got it on a family trip to Las Vegas, 5 out of 6 caught it. The one who didn't was a teenager, same vacc status as me, had not caught it before. Odds seem high that it was Omicron because that was the predominant strain circulating at that time where I live. My main symptoms were a severely runny nose for four or five days and one night of fever with chills on the second day after testing positive. And some mild aches. I self-treated with normal over-the-counter cold medicine and decongestants. Same story for the other four with regard to symptoms and treatment.

Always happy to help. Thanks also for that stoner emoji, haven't seen that one before. ????

Might be planning a one-way flight, that actually would kind of fit the controlling dominatrix theory.

Yeah but maybe he can't, or she has some sort of way to track what URLs he visits independent of the browser, like from the router or whatever (yet he has a way to post here without her finding out what it's about). Yes I know, doesn't add up, but neither does posting about it while being unable to just search it directly using google flights etc.

I was thinking overly suspicious and controlling girlfriend/partner/Master.

Protecting browser history maybe? Going be very hard to book online or pay online without leaving tracks. Hitch-hiking however, virtually untraceable especially if you wear a disguise.

Well now that last one would be a giveaway for a German........????

I suppose it's possible but I'm not sure why anyone would try to mask their nationality on an expat forum by altering their writing style. Brits generally give it away early on with their spelling of certain words. In my expereience Scandinavians have a particular pattern with word order when writing English. Americans fall across the whole spectrum depending on their education level and whether they've been drinking. For Australians, just assume they've been drinking from the get-go and maybe have a couple yourself before reading their posts. ???????????? Ditto Kiwis except only have one or two (and assume they have also). Any of the above of course is anecdotal based on just my own experience, and not stereotyping in any way.???? I also find it interesting to read (and even more to listen to) English writtten or spoken by people who have traveled extensively and picked up language habits from multiple English-speaking countries even one where English as a second language is widely spoken.

Potatoes come to mind, but you might have to experiment with what size/shape to cut them into. Or use baby or fingerling potatoes. Also maybe drizzle a bit of olive oil or sesame oil onto them before cooking. Maybe also experiement with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots or corn on the cob.

Some people have a talent for learning other languages, but many don't, especially as they age. I took a very short (two-week) Thai langauge class while on vacation there last year, and I think I could pick it up, but it would take time and sustained effort, while also immersed to retain vocabulary and learn everyday conversational context, pronunciation and grammar. And the word logic is so very different from English, for example Thai classifier words, there is apparently even one specifically applied only to round fruits (!!!???). I've read that the real breakthough comes when a person starts learning to read Thai. I think that a foreigner who lives there ought to make the effort if they have any aptitude for languages, more to enrich their own experience living in their host country than to acclimate or "try to become Thai". Same as most of us view expats from Asia to our home country - - if they make no effort to learn the local language they will miss out on a lot, and be helpless in doing even simple things like renew a driver's license without help from someone who speaks the local language.

Tragic. And preventable. I try to be a good example for my own kids by making it a point to give them my cell phone and having them read texts to me (and send texts for me) and NOT text while driving, even when there is time-sensitive chatter related to school pickups. Hopefully when they are old enough to drive they'll adopt the same habit of not fiddling with a cell phone while driving. And on a motorbike? No way.

I have friends I haven't even USED yet......

I brought one (an echo dot) with me on a trip from the US last year, and it worked fine, other than at one of the places I stayed that required a new wi-fi login each day, which meant I had to connect the Alexa device to my laptop to log it onto the wi-fi each morning. Later I moved to a condo without that restriction, and after the first connection I didn't have to do anything differently than I do at home. I'm surprised that they're not more common there by now.