JensenZ

I'm not complaining about the temperatures and have lived here for nearly 18 years, but... I was showing that the temperature in Thailand is as hot as it gets (not max, but average annual). What you THINK of the temperature is irrelavent as the facts speak for themselves. It's a very hot country.

If that is your philosophy, then the smart move is to stay single. To go into a serious relationship with such a philosophy would be rather stupid.

You didn't say what the current replacement is for "surfing the Internet". I can't think of any better terms. Please catch me up.

Temps are not that hot? The best way to determine temperature in any region is using "average annual temperature" and the hottest place in the whole of Asia is Bangkok. The data is a bit old (1981 - 2010), but the comparisons still valid: WARMEST LOCATIONS IN IMPORTANT SUB REGIONS8. Asia (outside of the Arabian Peninsula): Klong Thoey, Bangkok, Thailand: 30.3°C/86.5°F (POR 1981-2010).13.59°N, 100.42°E Warmest places on earth - average annual temperatures

In the defence of 7Eleven staff, I've mostly found them very helpful. I'm a frequent customer and have had mistakes corrected and "I'm sorry" many times over the years. I've also come across unhelpful staff and even been ripped off a few times. They are all people with their own personalities, both good and bad. The 'friendly vibe' depends a lot on the store and the owner. I have 2 stores closeby to my condo and both stores have a completely different vibe. One hires good-looking staff who are usually thin and the other store hires overweight, less attractive staff. Guess which store has the friendliest, most helpful vibe? You cannot and should not draw conclusions about the hospitality of Thailand based on a 7Eleven experience. It varies with each franchise too. For example, I've found that the staff at Lotus's Mini stores are generally very unfriendly and unhelpful. This leads me to the conclusion that staff training is the reason.

When will people who don't have to rely on these agent services stop complaining in these threads and find better things to do with their spare time.

I have a Daikin unit with such a feature, called "comfort", to direct the airflow up high away from humans. Sometimes, during hot season I direct the airflow toward me as it allows me to use the aircon at a lower setting (higher temperature) to save power. I've never seen an aircon unit that doesn't have air direction blades. Even the oldest archaic units should have them. I did have to get air direction blades for an outdoor unit though. They installed it so close to a wall in a corner that the hot outflow was deflecting off the wall and back into the unit, causing it to overheat. You'd think the installers would be aware of this problem. Other times they installed them too close to the mounting wall to impede cooling inflow to the back of the unit.

A bit more information about the condition of the mother would have been appreciated.

I'm not suggesting not to leave a tip - that's up to you, but I don't follow the logic of being concerned about what the staff are making per hour. It's a job - they took the job and were aware of the salary when they did. It's a business, they need you to buy their food. If the business owners are not concerned about the salary they pay their staff, why should you be? This is the mentality of a lot of tourists. They are not getting paid in USD. They are paid in baht and can do a lot more with 34 baht than you can with USD 1 back at home. Judging on what I see around Pattaya, all these poor restarant staff own motorcycles and cellphones. They are not as poor as many are suggesting.

Talk about an endorsement for Pattaya. I suppose you're comparing your experiences from 20 years ago, but I've been here for almost 20 years and prefer it now.

Obviously the vehicle is purpose built to work in a specific quarry where it will working for many years, saving a fortune in fuel. It could be adapted to many other quarries with similar profiles.

All this blah blah about what allegedly happened, but not a single mention about the condition of the boy, which was all I was interested in knowing. This was all we got: Do you gasp for breath if you're unconscious? He must have survived as they mentioned "attempted murder".

I don't review any products on Lazada though, just to be sure... yet Lazada keeps nagging for reviews after every purchase.

I don't suppose you understand who gave the pardon. It's sacred and not open to discussion or debate. Give Thaksin some credit. He could have continued his life of luxury abroad, but returned to be imprisoned.

Yes it is true that my days all have structure. It's just the time of day I do stuff that varies a lot.

Seriously? More generalizations about Farang from all over the globe. It might be true of drunken guys who have been out drinking all night. I suppose it depends on the sort of company you keep but sober Farang probably shower on average more than once a day due to the climate. This Farang is fastidious about smelling good when he goes out as he's very aware of how much he sweats. My wife also insists that I always smell nice too. LOL I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Yes, but when you go to war, things change a lot and the ability to be alert on short notice and at any time becomes very important. Don't you train for this too? I've found that a 2-hour timed sleep is amazing for regenerating and getting back to action at a time I would not normally be awake. When it's over 2 hours it's more difficult to wake up again.

I have calendar reminders so I don't forget important events/activities. I'm never late for anything as I set timers or alarms. You'd be surprised how well you can perform without a routine. I've found that too much sleep is the worst thing for me. I'm ok with 4 - 6 hours on average. I feel really bad or groggy if I manage to stay asleep for 7 hours.

I understand that a tight routine is necessary when you're working a paid job, but most expats here have probabaly spent most of their lives doing that, and retirement is a time for change. My main daily work (more a hobby than a job) is online trading, which means I'm often up at all hours of the night monitoring trades and I need the ability to be mentally alert at any time of the day or night. Flexibility is very important, and you don't get that by sleeping at the same time everyday. I can't really say if this lifestyle is healthy or not as I've been on this non-routine for a long time. I'll push up daisies when I'm ready.

Obviously each situation is different. In some jurisdictions prostitutes don't give blow jobs without condoms, so that's one less consideration LOL. In places like New Zealand it is a taxable occupation and quite professional. I don't think a girl would be tongue kissing her clients, but I'm not sure. It probably depends on how well she knows the customer and if she likes them or not.

I believe too much structure and routine is a bad thing as it makes people too inflexible and any disruption to the routine causes stress and difficulty coping or performing. I have only one structured activity, my daily exercise routine, but even that is not performed at the same time everyday. Sleeping time, duration of sleep, eating time - all else is flexible. When I'm hungry I eat. When I'm tired I rest, when I'm sleepy I sleep.

You stated it as an established fact that we should remember. Thanks for the clarification.

Maybe you had problems and they don't like you, but Thais are not stupid and can distinguish a hygienic person from a dirty one.

That's what you do? You conduct surveys of working girls? Which tourists are they most fond of?

For sure the expat volume on the bright side of Sukhumvit is much higher than on the dark side, but tourists are the predominant "business" of the Jomtien office, which is in a very good location, just off 2nd Road Jomtien, so the Dark Side expats will be able to get there quite easily as most expats living way over there have their own transport.