habuspasha

Thank you both.  Good advice.  Guess I'll have to go back to plan A:  meeting in Thailand.  Maybe there's some hope if I spring for the elite visa.

In addition, I've learned that WHO says that the incubation period can be up to 21 days and one study from China reported an upper limit of 24 days.

One of the few places I can fly to from New York is the Maldives.  For my GF, Thai AirAsia lists flights between Bangkok and the Maldives. Are they for real?  (Bangkok Airways is no longer doing it.)  Is it clear that Thais can travel internationally to some places if they quarantine on return?  If so, are their other places we could meet?  She is willing to do the 14 day quarantine on return to BKK, but now she says she would feel the need to do another 14 days at home.  Are their reasons for that degree of caution?  Thanks for any info  or advice.

3 hours ago, 2 is 1 said:

Hmm good you are leading doctor from this matter! Maybe all other is wrong like all from these artickle!

And im not talking your balls i was talking testosterone!

Hope your get your balls working ,man normaly need it sorry them i have both in one sack. And working fine! 

Thanks for the articles.  Wish I could just copy and paste to get them.  On a more anecdotal level, I have been taking Androderm (brand) patches (4mg each) for over ten years now.  Carried me through my 70s (and my gf in her 30s).  In addition to increased sexual confidence, it has made me feel stronger, happier, and more vital.  I prefer two a day, but even one makes a big difference.  Originally diagnosed with low t and these boost it to normal range (though maybe not normal for my age).  Just get prostate checked every six months.  Also exercise more than I ever did before and dropped belly.  All highly recommended.

47 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Who mention "domestic"..?
International passengers can be in transit in Bangkok, bit not allowed to stop over – i.e. leave the airport for a trip into Bangkok – that's what's said in the article.

Exactly.  But the only way an international passenger to one of the islands would stop over in Bangkok is if they flew in from another country.  You are correct in pointing out that there are some international flights that do not require a stop in Bangkok, but the member's question was whether or not you had to fly direct to the island.  The answer "that is correct" from another member is what I tried to correct.  It is not correct.  I'm sure you would agree this is not an insignificant matter.  This proposed August reopening would be pretty slight if it was limited to the few international flights that bypass BKK or DMK.  I for one have hopes of flying in from New York (I know).  

3 minutes ago, khunPer said:

That is correct...???? – but I answered about international flights...????

This does not say domestic passengers only.  And a domestic passenger would have to travel through Bangkok to get to either airport.  Clearly this is about international passengers.

6 minutes ago, khunPer said:

–And Koh Samui, scheduled from Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore; charter from China...????

“We plan to allow tourists to board a plane to a specified destination. If they have to take a connecting flight via Bangkok, for example, they will be prohibited from travelling in Bangkok,” he made it clear.

1 hour ago, HerbyJFlash said:

That is true . Which islands take international flights? Phuket only ?

3 hours ago, Starmocihc said:

Obviously the islands will only be open to direct flights. Which means red locusts, the preferred guests. 

No.  The piece said that international passengers could transfer through BKK.  It said they would not be allowed to travel in Bangkok.

8 minutes ago, billybog said:

I religously send my GF 50 baht every month...she had asked me several years ago if I would sponsor her...I said yes, and so am now stuick with sending her that stipend every month. These girls make a killing doing nothing...

I assume you mean 50k baht that is doing the killing.

To make a point of saying "all lives matter" in the current context is not just a statement of the obvious. It implies a denial of the fact that black lives have been particularly precarious in modern American police and public custody.  It denies the existence of institutional or systemic racism.  

Thank you, Rooster.  Great read--as always.  As an American I've been struck by the way George Floyd's death has triggered responses throughout the world.  Surely long overdue in the States, but why everywhere else?  My first answer was that it reflected global angst and anger about America's new isolationism and disavowal of responsibility--a chance to deflate American claims to exceptionalism.  But I am pleased to see other countries taking the opportunity to explore their own traditions of racism: Australia and the Aborigines, Britain and the Raj, France and Algeria.  Are their no similar developments in Thailand?  

3 hours ago, Phil McCaverty said:

And how would you get into Thailand from Cambodia? Border is closed to non Thais.

I'm imagining possibilities when the border opens, but likely does so initially with mandatory 14 day quarantine.

Does anyone know if couples are allowed to quarantine together?  I see that Cambodia has just opened for visitors from the U.S. among other countries, on the basis that they show health certificate, have insurance, and quarantine for 14 days.  I don't expect anyone knows about Cambodian quarantine, but I am asking about the range of procedures more generally, including provincial and national policies in Thailand.  Assuming Thailand allows similar entry with 14 day quarantine sometime soon,  I'm wondering if we met in Cambodia and came into Thailand together, could we quarantine together? Could we choose and pay for the hotel?  Does anyone know about procedures and flexibility?

15 hours ago, Phil McCaverty said:

They'll deny people on the grounds of which countries they have visited recently and the Covid status of those countries. Its going to be a while before visitors from the UK and US will be allowed free passage. Can you blame them?

 

 

I can blame them if we have tests for measuring infection or antibodies.  As one of the millions of New Yorkers who has not contracted the virus, having spent the last two months in my apartment, missing my May-June trip, still desperately hoping to keep my late July/Aug flight to be with my GF, I sure hope they can be more discriminating than to rule out entire countries. 

8 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Contact your credit card company and request a chargeback as the airline is not going to provide the service you paid for.

Thanks.  Worth a try.

 Thai Airways cancelled my flight from Mumbai to BKK on May 22 and they refuse my request for a refund.  They offer to reschedule that flight or provide a voucher good for a year.  Where else can you pay for something, not get it, and be denied a refund?  It would be called theft or extortion. I know they are in dire straits but this is not a policy to breed loyalty.  And IATA declines to regulate this.  Caveat emptor (with the caveat that you're not even the emptor).

2 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Thank you was the first words my GF now wife, said to me when we first met, after

I told her she was beautiful.

Thanks for reminding me.  That is the other time my Other says "thank you."  Almost every day I tell her how beautiful she is and she smiles and says "I know that.  Thank you."

On 4/11/2020 at 3:29 AM, moe666 said:

This has been a topic here over the years as well as the one about Thais never laff, and the one that they do not work. The same old verbage to say that Thais are not good enough because they do not say thank you 40 times a day or what ever else people dream up to knock down Thais even the ones we are married to.

Making cultural generalizations is tricky but it is not necessarily hostile, or even critical.  Cultures exist and they are not all the same.  You just have to be careful to recognize exceptions and beware of over-generalization.  Also some cultural differences may map along economic, regional, or other non-national lines.  I remember for instance an Egyptian friend telling me that when he grew up in communal Alexandria in the '50s no one would say "thank you" because it would indicate the end of a transaction rather than natural communal behavior.  He thought it is modern commercial societies that insist on "please" and "thank you" because the true feeling of reciprocity has been replaced by rote signs of politeness.  Maybe politeness is, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "virtue gone to seed."

My Other says she believes that falang care more for "thank you" than Thais and that we say it more often.  She rarely says thank you, but she says it with feeling when I regularly send money or give her a present (not surprising) and often after sex (for which I have never been thanked before).

7 hours ago, KruZik said:

I think we'd better throw in hot and humid weather into the mix. I know Singapore has similar weather to here..so I don't know. I also think a lack of active testing is another factor.

A number of people have already pointed out that life in Singapore is much more air conditioned and in enclosed spaces.  Indonesia might be a better comparison to Thailand,  Their relatively low level even in places like Bali might be a result of the outdoor, hot, and humid life.

Of course, heat and humidity doesn't protect everyone,  Certainly not a taxi driver who gets a cough in the face.  The heat supposedly affects the spread, not the severity.  As I understand it from the NIH and Harvard studies, the outer shell of the virus protects it better in cold weather, allowing it to move further and longer,  Then when it is absorbed by a human body, the heat opens it up, allowing infection.  In hot weather, the outer shell melts, limiting movement and transfer-ability.

On 2/19/2020 at 3:04 AM, Yinn said:

Yes, your interpretation is ok. 

But it just the song.

 

Also Issan “thinking” is different to other region thing, generally speaking IMO. 

Different region Thailand have different food, language, culture etc. Not the same. 

And not all Issan women are the same thinking.

 

IMO thaivisa topics talk about thai people like have same brain. Is stupid.

Everyone different. 

 

I think most member have Issan family, wife, girlfriend etc. So a lot of “Thainess” TVF talk about is really “issanness”. 

 

 

 

Thank you, Yinn.  Your distinction between "Thainess" and "Isaanness" is very interesting.  How might Isaan people think differently from Thai people about age and big age differences?

5 hours ago, Gecko123 said:

 

Thank you for sharing this video. I really enjoyed the song and the singer's voice. I was also intrigued by what the song might reveal about Thai attitudes about older man younger woman relationships.

 

After watching the video a bunch of times and trying to decipher the Isaan lyrics, the conclusion I came to is that the song is not the celebration of older guy/younger women relationships that I initially thought it was. What the song turns out to be is a light-hearted but nonetheless pointed caution to younger women about being seduced by money and wealth into a relationship with an older guy. 

 

The older guy's age is mocked throughout the song. The man is described as "being the same age as the mother" and the girl is described as a "teenager." Her love for him is described as "loving a wrinkled heart." The older guy has heart palpitations and a fainting spell when he gets a close look at her boobs. When he meets the mother for the first time he's wearing old fashioned clothes and geeky glasses, but when he shows up for his first date with the young girl he has a new wardrobe and sun glasses, and tries to appear young and cool by making hip hand gestures in response to the girl's hand gestures. The guy is again mocked by showing him plucking out his gray hairs every night in order to stay attractive and having to drink aphrodisiacs to make sure he can sexually perform. There are also lines in the song about her being lonely, and about him sometimes being cheap despite having money.

 

His appeal to her is depicted as based entirely on money. He woos the girl by taking her on a clothes shopping trip and wins further gifts for her at a county fair. His appeal is his new pickup truck and 700,000 baht bank account. 

 

Their relationship is not actually that of husband and wife. The young girl is depicted as joining the guy's household as a minor wife or mistress (gik). Note that there are other women around after she moves into his household who appear to be older wives.

 

EDIT: for some reason I missed the final sequence of the video where she is lured away by a guy her age at a concert, and then is torn between going off with the young motorcyclist or staying with the older guy and ultimately chooses to stay with the older guy. Despite the 'happily ever after' ending of the video, I'd still say the song's message is largely cautionary.

 

Anybody has a different take on this, would love to hear what they have to say.

 

 

 

 

Thank you Alex and Gecko.  Entertaining and informative.  On 2nd viewing I think Gecko's interpretation holds up (through viewing because my Thai is very basic).  But there is a note at 4:33 that seems to establish a sound reason for spurning the young guy: she remembers him pushing her down from the motorcycle.  He beats her; papa cares for her.

I started taking Androderm (brand) patches well over ten years ago because of low testosterone (in my 60s).  I credit it with considerably improving my strength, vitality, mood, and sexuality.  I take 8 mg a day (4 mg is recommended).  I have not noticed any negative side effects and would be hard pressed to give it up.

I want to thank so many of you for being so supportive about our age difference.  Your responses made me feel among friends. Not what I expected, I must admit.  The few barbs were ok.  I’d rather people spoke their minds than played nice.  However, this kind of truthful interchange works, I think, partially because we are anonymous.  So without giving too much away, I’d like to return the favor by answering your questions.  1, I am the same bloke who wanted more kissing, but I didn’t want to muddy the waters on that thread with an old-man confession that would have given many of the doubters a false positive (or should I say a false negative).  I was asking about cultural differences.  The loving and sex are fine, even pushing 80.  2, We’ve been together more than 5 years, since our early 30's and 70's.  And 3, I do intend to take care of the children (they are hers).