JensenZ

Well said! Thank you!

On my iPhone I always get ? when I dictate "question mark"... but I often have to edit the words that come out. Maybe it has trouble with my accent.

I just found some information on it. They are trying to change the law to allow unidentified or unclaimed bodies to be cremated, but at the moment, they are still buried. They are running out of space to bury them. Law change sought for unknown bodies

If they cremate your body, that's cool, but I don't think they do. Do you have any references to the procedure?

What happens if the deceased has no family in Thailand or abroad? The Embassy would have no one to contact in the home country. From what I can gather, they dump the body in an unmarked grave. I'm asking, because I'm in this situation after a divorce.

It's a wild animal doing what wild animals do - get food when and from wherever they can. The only way to solve the problem is to capture and relocate it. If it was near my restaurant, I'd start feeding it regularly as it would be a crowd-pleaser for tourists. They feed soi dogs here daily, but begrudge one ape a decent meal?

The monkey can't pay, so what else can he do? It's not stealing.

No problem whatsoever - I'm an avid weightlifter with good joints who trains 6 days a week - I can throw you out! Just tell me where you are and I'll come and get you and throw you in a cab headed for Bangkok. Fortunately, you won't be able to see my toes as I wear shoes when I go out.

You have no idea about food courts. Food courts are places where people who shop in busy shopping malls go to pick up a low-cost meal on their shopping trips. It's about convenience. The Thai customers (at Big C Extra) outnumber expats and tourists by a large percentage. The OP is trolling here to wind up expats. He's the "Cheap Charlie". There are other restaurants there for higher-priced restaurant meals - Fuji, MK, Santa Fe Steakhouse, Black Canyons, along with KFC and Subway. There is no need to eat at the food court. Fuji and MK sell good quality food, but his bill will be closer to 1000 baht (for 2).

The sooner the better - would you like a hand?

Dude - I'm living in Thailand and don't give a sh*t - nothing is going to change, so just relax and watch the show.

I'm not a US citizen, so I have no skin in the game, but I hope Trump wins. The never-Trumpers provide endless entertainment.

Nonsense! It was ugly from the very start.

No, you're a social snob who thinks you're superior. I've eaten in the Big C Extra food court since back in 2006, and never had the problems you claim to have... It's just bs, pure and simple. Stop being a creep and watching people so closely. The crowd there is the same as it is anywhere else. Best you eat at home.

I completely agree - I would rather you starve too. You're another "Falang" with a holier-than-thou attitude taking the ridicule of other people to another level - making jokes about people with advanced diabetes who are trying to enjoy a meal before they die or have their legs amputated. Do you really spend your meal times watching other people that closely - observing their feet? If I caught you looking closely at my toes, I'd tell you where to go.

There is a genetic aspect too. Some people are genetically disposed to it. For example, black adults in the U.S. are 60% more likely than white adults to be diagnosed with diabetes. However, I'd like to see some evidence that people who "eat like crap" all their lives will never get type 2 diabetes. It is an interesting question.

I do a weekly shop at Big C Extra. I roll my shopping cart into the food court and grab a quick meal before going home. The atmosphere there is relaxed and pleasant. The food is normal fare for a typical food court. The sellers are lovely and friendly. It is not overcrowded and everyone keeps to themselves. yet this pr**k comes on here suggesting that the "Falang" are dirty and riff-raff. Who does he think he is?

I was there today, and you're calling me a "dirty Falang". F you too! Another "Falang" with a superior attitude. All I see at the food court is a lot of foreigners (and tourists) enjoying a low-cost meal along with a lot of Thai people.

Definitely, since 2020 with covid, more people have been tested, inflating the statistics. I'm not sure if the doctors in Thailand will mention anything if the levels are only pre-diabetic. I know in Australia doctors will tend to say you have insulin resistance if you are in the pre-diabetic range. The reason is simple. If the "diabetic" word is used, that's a red flag for health insurance policies.

It's only a guide and an average of the glucose levels over the last 2 - 3 months, and athletes or very active people process red blood cells faster and can get irregular readings... too high or too low depending on how they eat. A higher-than-normal reading is a good starting point to analyze an individual's glucose metabolism. One example - you can have higher spikes after meals but lower average readings and lower fasting levels, giving lower HbA1c values, but you can still have a problem. There are a lot of different problems within the scope of insulin resistance. The constant monitoring devices are the gold standard of testing. There is a problem with using blood glucose levels for diagnosis too. For example, for years I've had high fasting levels from pre-diabetic (low 100 mg/dl) to diabetic levels (over 126 mg/dl). I can exercise and make dietary changes that will show me to be normal. I've had perfectly normal HbA1c levels below 5.0. I could be tested and diagnosed as perfectly normal, but I am not. I have insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance. In the early stages of diabetes, you can control your glucose levels to be in the normal range - and people think this means they are cured. A C-peptide test will help to determine an individual's insulin production. A person's resistance to insulin and its production are key to determining if you are diabetic.

It's nonsense that it has doubled in 3 years... if some numbers have doubled, it's only because the detection of existing diabetes has doubled, not the actual number of people with it. Where are your sources? You shouldn't post things like this without references. The numbers would be much higher if they tested every person in Thailand. More people would be pre-diabetics and diabetic without knowing it than people who have been positively diagnosed. A lot of people reading this don't know they are diabetic because, in the early stages, you won't notice the symptoms. Most people who find out they have it are advanced and have been pre-diabetic or diabetic for many years. Diabetes Type 2 is a complex disease and is hard to quantify. What tests did they do?

I know the area well... I was born in Southland and spent much time in Queenstown in my youth. Back in those days (1960s), you'd hardly see any international tourists. You're a competitive athlete, so you're at a different level; I'm just a 65-year-old trying to maintain muscle mass, strength and fitness to keep the body functioning as best it can. The only thing I don't like about Thailand is the weather LOL... I also used to do a lot of cycling and swimming. Cycling is out as my knees are no longer up to it. My main cardio exercises are rowing, ski-erg and Cybex Arc Trainer. It's a good combination of upper/lower body and core conditioning without any impact stress on the joints... and I get to do it all in air-conditioned comfort. I still sweat a lot, but I can work much harder in lower temperatures & humidity.

First of all, I commend your exceptional ability to train in these conditions... quite remarkable actually. What is your size and body weight? Having exercised for many years in NZ, that would be my choice of places to do it, of course, the climate does vary quite a bit throughout the country. It's a lot easier to stay warm than cool down. You mistake being able to exercise (adaptation) from optimum conditions to exercise. I'm a muscular 100kg, so I do hard cardio sessions in my air-conditioned gym (27 - 28C with fans). Running is out of the question. I can work up a sweat with night walking (6km/h pace) when the temperature is still around 30C. I don't even need to exercise to sweat in this climate. I miss the NZ weather. I haven't experienced a winter for 25 years; the last one was in Australia.

It is also worth considering the power savings of a new, more efficient unit, especially if you splash out for an inverter model.

It's hard to know who is serious and who isn't, but this topic is quite important and some factual information can be useful. I've been in Thailand for 18 years, not in the north, but in cooler Pattaya. If I'm lucky, there are some comfortable weeks in November to January. I used to live in a sub-tropical climate in Australia. Large-bodied foreigners are not suited to this climate, which is also a factor. The larger the body, the more difficult it is to cool. Some light-weight people might find the climate more suitable. Here's an interesting fact - when the room temperature exceeds 35C, fans can heat you up...kind of like a fan-forced oven.