JensenZ

I've seen a lot of Thai people riding motocycles with no helmet but wearing face masks, so I would say Covid is the main concern.

Think again. It's causes a lot of suffering which I won't describe here as it's quite distressing. Look it up. There are much better ways to expire. If someone caught you before you expired, permanent brain damage is likely, depending how long you were exposed.

Really? I used to live in Brisbane and the Gold Coast and remember people dying in night club brawls. (I can think of two such deaths on the Gold Coast). Maybe it has improved since I was there in the 80s and 90s, but everytime there's a crime in Pattaya, all the haters latch onto the story with a reprisal of how bad Pattaya is. Overall it's still a safe place to be. I would be quite happy to walk anywhere at night, including Beach Road and Walking Street.

Why does everyone get so distraut when animals die? Most us eat them everyday. Where's the sympathy for your meat? As for the lady, she decided to take own her life - it's her choice. We're all following her sooner or later. They call it "commiting suicide" as though it's a crime... but it's a brave way to go for people who have had enough. I hope I can pluck up the courage when it's my turn to check out.

The OP hasn't got any change of kicking her out the house. He'll have to move out... and as you said, why would he want to stay there anyway. There are better places for old guys to live.

I wouldn't be hiring a lawyer while still in the house with her as she might become nastier than she is already - she's clearly not in her right mind, so therefore very unpredicable. Also, she will get a lawyer that is on her side, and that will be a lot easier than the OP finding a good one (in the province). She'll tell the lawyer all types of BS stories to get them on her side. Apart from making things worse, his own lawyer might rip him off. I've been there and put in a lot of jeopardy using a bad lawyer. Apart from wasting my money, I had to defend a counter suit which cost me even more money with another lawyer. This was in Pattaya. The usufruct is actually a big problem as it's an invitation to speed up his departure, which won't be difficult at age 75.

To be quite frank, the worst than can happen is that you won't get to live the rest of your life and she'll find some way to cut it short, either directly, or with the help of friends. Your life is in danger. I'm not joking - you might want to prepare your own food and under no circumstance should you fight and give her any excuses to end you sooner - such as self defence. She's already old herself and doesn't have many options left, so she could get very desperate. Considering your age, I think the best option is to walk away and get far away. When you've disappeared and she can't find you, hire a good lawyer.

It's a good question. When you live in a popular tourist place like Pattaya, your concept of normal behaviour will definitely take a hit. Wherever you go, you'll find people who don't give a sh*t about Western behavioural norms. You definitely need to pactice tolerance. If people try to push in at queues, you need to be active and stand your ground. You've got a mix of Chinese, Indian, Russian and Middle Eastern tourists, to name a few. That can make for an interesting experience for people who think everyone should behave the same in public.

This doesn't have much to do with visas, but allow to me to explain... Every nationality has their own particular behavioural patterns. Why would you judge the whole world by what you consider normal. Take a trip to China or Hong Kong to discover what is normal for Chinese people. What you consider to be rude is not rude for them.

"normally", yes, but sometimes they go beserk. It's the abnomal behaviour we need to be concerned about. Remember the massacre of 34 by an ex-policemen up north. Policemen are people, and there's always a chance someone in the force might be unhinged. There have been many examples in the past.

It's weird, isn't it? I get upset when other humans, even ones I don't know, die. It's called empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Of course you don't have it, so you don't understand it.

Another amazing one-liner from you... "That's life"... 10s of billions have died in human history, therefore I should not get upset about a young Aussie guy dying in a Thai jail under mysterious circumstances. Ok, that's real deep thinking. When members of your own family die, just remember what you just said... What you don't seem to understand is that this incident happened in a place many of us call home. These police are part of our community. It matters - a lot.

You're a weird one - getting upset that people are suggeting possible foul play by the BiB... even the police department are investigating the incident to rule out foul play. There will be no fair investigation because the police department should not be investigating themselves. One correction, the Embassy are also coordinating with the deceased family back at home to have the body repatriated. they have been a great help.

No, I did not say that.

Nature doesn't have soap, but there's water. Nature also doesn't provide toothbrushes, but people lost their teeth a lot earlier hundreds of years ago... and infections in the mouth from rotting teeth used to kill many people. It's not a bad idea to give nature a helping hand.

Why don't you care, is more the question. It's a tragedy. I don't even know the guy, but I'm upset about this.

I'm sure they'll be doing another autopsy when the body arrives in Australia, if there's anything left over after they cut him up here. The Police "promise" to investigate? The police should not be investigating this. Where is the Australian Embassy on this? Just reporting the death to his family? Talk about lame. Someone outside the police departement needs to investigate. It should be considered an International incident and treated accordingly.

You have to laugh at the excuse given for cutting off natural skin that serves a purpose - If you can't keep it clean, cut it off.

After reading a report about this in the Australian media, I can't accept he committed suicide. He came to Thailand to get more tattoos. Had a good looking girlfriend in a good relationship back at home. He seemed to be a healthy, upbeat guy with lots of energy. I'm starting to think he was getting very boisterous at 11:30 am (as you would expect a young Australian to be in a small holding cell at the cop station after 5 hours) when his guard went for lunch and the police touched him up, accidentally killing him, and strung him up to cover it up. He probably insulted the police who couldn't resist getting stuck into him.

You really are grasping at straws. You just can't stop. You managed to take a photo of business with no soi dogs around. You're a regular genius. Anyone could do that. I could show you photos of hundreds of soi dogs in front of businesses around Pattaya... but it's just a waste of forum bandwidth.

But dude, according to the report, they found him hanging. Either way, plastic bag or rope, the cause is asphyxiation.

Tim Ward is still around in Pattaya, just getting a bit older and more bedraggled. He's more low key than he used to be. I don't know where you got the idea that businesses are concerned about soi dogs being bad for business. You have to step over dogs at most 7Elevens. They all have their pets.

Sure, there are soi dogs in nearly every soi in Pattaya, but that doesn't mean there are soi dogs in front of every house. When I moved to a townhouse awhile back, there was a soi dog outside. After I moved in, there wasn't. It's not difficult to shoo them away - most are quite timid.

Dude, I've been here 20 years, and still, despite that, the only possible way he died is by asphyxiation. It's one of the most pleasant ways to die too. You can do it from a door handle.

You've just hit upon the best and most humane way to get them to move on. Spray them with a garden hose. It won't take long before they find another place to hang out and sleep. If no hose, a bucket of water will do the trick.