Richb2004v2

Good one Mrs Mills.

I don't think we have even bought from there before no.

Like I said, if we hadn't seen it we would have eaten it and all would probably have been ok.

It's not coming up through the tiolet. Last night it rained heavy but there was no smell. The shower has one of the cup seal things on it. When it's really bad I run the shower in the hope that a water seal will be created.

When I first came to Thailand several times when I visited Thai houses the bathroon would have an inch or two of water in them. I wonder if this is why?

It is a rented house that we move out of in a month or so. The land lord is away on holiday though, but once back I will get her on to it.

I've noticed the stench in stored too, even big new department stores. It's a little offputting in food departments I find.

Has anyone any idea what this is? There were half a dozen of them hanging over my pond. After observing them for a week or so I realized they had gone hard and looked to be spent. I opened one but it was already empty. I think that they are maybe hatching nests for tadpoles which then drop into the pond but not sure. Maybe tree frogs?

Any ideas?

I was sat in the car with the kids by an outdoor market today, waiting for the wife to buy some som-tam, when I saw a fish BBQ vendor fire a wad of snot onto the ground by his stall, wipe his nose on the back of his arm and then return to tend a cat fish on the grill . It was quite disgusting. After ten more minutes of staring out the window of the car my wife got back in to the car with bags of food, including a cat fish that she said was from the stall. From my groan she figured something was wrong so I told her. I also halfheartedly said that if we hadn't seen it we would not know and would have eaten it none the wiser. When we got home she put it directly in the bin and I ended up with chips & pasta. The cat fish would have been preferable.

Should I have kept quite?

They are so good they even make me want to revisit it, and I'm already here and desperate to leave

Why does so much of the drainage system, or streets, smell so bad here? Do other counties with similar climates have the same problems? There are some Soi that I use that have been this way for the past 10 years with no improvement.

I will try to check the system for the points mentioned later.

Ians pictures are great, but I remember being fairly unimpressed with the area when I visited years ago. Actually all of Ians pictures are incredible. He should work for the tourist authority. The pictures make Thailand look like the country that I want it to be.

Wow! That seems strange.

Didn't it happen in your old house? It does in mine.

And in the condo building I live in, and also in a mate's different condo building.

The missus just plugs up the floor drain which is where it seems to come from.

Only very rarely and it wasn't too bad. In the new place it is unbearable.

Were you a child soldier in Sierra Leone?

Wow! That seems strange.

The OP seems to have managed a lot in his 40 odd years. 25 years here as well as living in a several west African countries.

I'm not sure there is a solution to this problem. When it rains heavily a stench emanates from one of our toilets. This is normally during the night and is very bad and very strong. Although I doubt anyone would be interested to do anything about it I wonder who is responsible. Would I call the owner of the village or the local council?

I'm skeptical. If he can do it then probably so can we. I can believe skin that is resistant to slightly higher temperature, but not this extreme difference.

It's amazing to me that someone would try a dozen different countries and then settle on Thailand, without being part of the sex thing! Which were the other countries tried before? To retire here when one could retire somewhere nice is amazing. It must be the sense of grandeur as one drives around the broken roads in ones luxury motor, that's all I can think.

Not difficult for me. And not difficult for the thousands of Swiss who have decamped to Thailand.

Absolutely no attraction whatsoever.

Would that be thousands of mainly Swiss men of a certain age?

Add this to the fact that you will be downgrading the standard of your environment a great deal and it does not really make sense.

Depends on where you come from and where you intend to live, really.

I guess so. If you come from an Indian slum you will have a good chance of being in a better location here. However if you are from western Europe I think that you will certainly be in a less clean, quite, safe, organized and generally more chaotic environment. There are exceptions, but they are in the minority. You can be in a ghetto castle here but there will always be a slum, miles of broken pavements, and five people riding their scooter in the wrong direction without lights on, all within a stones throw. It's hardly paradise.

I think Switzerland would be perfect for you.

Quite possibly yes, I agree. Probably less chance of getting electrocuted in the shower, run over, food poisoning, or struck by countless other third world hazards. I very much think that if asked the majority of people in the world would favor Switzerland over Thailand on almost all counts.Hmmm, Switzerland or Thailand. That's a difficult one.

She has no children, i not sure if i'm just being stupid as i would have to give up my house, job and nicer things in life just to go and try and live out in another country.

But i would love to give it a go.

That's what I thought when I moved here 7 years ago. I'm also about the same age as you. If you see yourself as having a normal monogamous relationship with your wife and not frequenting bars I would seriously say to think very carefully. You do not fall into the average category of 'old with young wife' who normally thrive here.

I would die of boredom if I had to live in either California or Australia.

I don't understand what you mean. I die of boredom here. Outside of tourist hubs I can not find any activity's. Until I moved to Pattaya I could not find the things I like to do, which include squash clubs, badminton clubs, running clubs, remote control clubs or a half decent gym. These are all available back home. There are also few good concerts or theater here. Good book shops are few and far between too. The countryside is largely inaccessible here too. Also my running is limited due to terrible drivers. Mountain biking isn't advised due to lack of tracks and apparently snakes. The pool is off limits for large parts of the day due to the sun. There are plenty of places to eat for sure, but I find many are substandard. Also the beer is ten times better at home. Driving is a painful experience here but a pleasure at home. It's even hard to walk from point A to point B here thanks to appalling pavements and the heat. At home we can walk from the house to pretty much anywhere. What is it that you do here that makes your home country boring?

I'm not being presumptuous but is it the women?

How old are you and how old is your wife?

Just how Thai do people want to be, and why? It's like wanting to belong to the society of a white trash trailer park, and makes no sense at all.

What makes "no sense" is why would a person who feels this way want to live here? Perhaps you need to get out and meet a better class of people. You attempt to insult the Thai people says a heck of a lot more about you than it does about them.

My suggestion to you is don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.

Actually my post was a little harsh and I probably should not have said that. The Thai people are not the equivalent of white trailer trash. However, I do find it amazing that so many people see Thailand as some sort of utopia, or at least interesting enough to prefer it over Australia or California. I see it as a developing country, and not a particularly good one, which mean it is essentially got a long way to go before it meets the standards of almost all the countries we have left behind. I can not imagine that should your home countries decent to the state of Thailand but become a lot cheaper you would all suddenly run home.

Before anyone repeats the 'why be here' mantra I will again repeat that I am leaving in two months.

Just how Thai do people want to be, and why? It's like wanting to belong to the society of a white trash trailer park, and makes no sense at all.

Richb2004vTiT.

It just shows though that accidents actually do happen here.

No this is not an accident, live electrical wires on the pavement do not appear by magic.

They are the result of someones negligence, the shopkeepers indifference to the welfare of the children playing in the area should be a criminal offense.

I was kind of being sarcastic. I'm not sure the cable belonged to the shop keeper to be honest. What I meant was that considering the number of dangerous looking cables all over this is the first time I've seen an accident with them.

I remember the Duke of Edinbrugh comenting 'this looks like it's been wired by a load of Indians' when examining an electrical box at a youth training centre. I think he could easily have replaced Indian with Thai.

(still no spell check on this internet cafe machine)

My advice, if you want everything just like home, stay home. I am here because it is different, it is an adventrue for me.

I lived in Oregon, Colorado, California, and Hawaii. in every location, some things were more and some things were less.

Same here. I love the weather, I love to ride motorcycles without always worring about the police around the next bend, I like the adventure living here brings to me and makes my life more interesting.

There's worse things than police round the next bend when you ride a motorcycle, wherever you are.

SC

Some folk love the freedom of being able to drink and drive and endanger the lives of others, and stuff like that. In the west the peskie police would put a stop to that type of fun for sure. Thailand is just so free like that.

people come here forgetting they are in a 3rd world country where everything and I mean everything should be at least 50% of the price you pay at home.

A totally ridiculous assertion

Why should gold be less expensive here?

Why should your iPad (or all imported devices/products) be less expensive here?

And more: looks like you don't know what the 3rd World is (or was)

and that Thailand is indexed as a developing country...

Ridiculous!

i-pads are high quality items which are the same item no matter where buy or use them. Thai built house, not so much.

I really should not be permitted on a machine without spell check.