markwhite

We already do this both to keep it restricted in place and for some home-grown food. The main issue here is that the leaves from grown shoots still drop and smothers the grass, and the OP likes his lawn.

Admirable when that is the case, though I've had to accept the difference between a monk and anyone else is they have taken vows and wear an orange robe. They are still people who screw up in any usual way that people screw up. Taking the vows can be a threshold to a life focussed on practice, but sadly it can also be an escape for the criminally accused and those who have no intention of living a life of practice. I wish the Sangha would self-police in a way that resulted in there being no place for those who are not truly committed. Sadly, it doesn't and Thai Buddhism has suffered as a result.

You seem to be referring to Anapanasati? If a long relaxed breath happens, it's because conditions are right for it to happen. "Achieving" suggests setting a goal, which leads to a result of either success or failure, which is "my success" or "my failure" which feeds the ego. Usual guidance is to observe and let go, not to "achieve". (semantics aside)

Dunno about giant bamboo, but whatever variety we've planted in our garden drops a lot of leaves, which hasn't been good for the grass that grows around them. Definitely fast growing, and spreading though easy to pull shoots to keep them trained in a smaller space, but OP should be aware of the effect of the leaves if he wants to keep his lawn looking nice.

Possibly, they will remain dead.

Same as you in that I resisted the need to move to a "phone for everything" as opposed to using a PC where I could control the environment the software ran in. But after Krung Thai removed their web front-end to online banking and went app only, I've installed and activated the app. And notwithstanding any insecurities which are not immediately obvious from casual use, it is useful. Booked some plane tickets in person on Sunday and scanning a QR code on the counter-top device and checking the transaction was right before hitting "Confirm" was a lot easier than making 4 withdrawals from the ATM and giving them cash. Same with household bills. I'm reluctantly seeing the benefits... Anyway (for Krung Thai app) 1) It'll work over wifi or mobile data, so if you're only using wifi you should be fine (don't remember if it was mobile data only for install as suggested by OneMoreFarang) 2) Wifi only is fine. There is no OTP. On install it requires a Thai ID card number, and should accept the NDID thing that farang can't get, so I did have to visit the bank branch to get it activated. The cashier knew what she was doing and it was painless. By default she set it to a fingerprint check for each transaction, though I changed that to use a PIN instead. So no OTP, but other secondary permissions are needed (though possibly could be disabled completely).

We like this: https://shop.doitung.com/en/product/ground-coffee-classic-roast/

Support her while she goes through the breaking point. She will either break with you, or she will break with her family. You know her best and you know what is more likely. And she may need to go through the breaking point more than once before she gets to a place that's healthy for her. I think this sort of thing happens in healthy, supportive relationships, for a variety of reasons. It's just that with Thai-farang relationships, it's particularly because of this issue of how relatives view the relationship and money. She is talking to you about this in a way that seems fairly open and honest. There are many similar stories here where that is missing, and they don't always end so well. Good luck.

It went from being a bit overcast to sudden, very strong winds in the space of about 10 minutes yesterday morning. There may have been some forecast warnings based on what was coming in from the east, but on the ground this was a sudden, sharp squall. All over in about an hour.

Not sure of the usual prevalence of these around the country, but I just had my first home visit in Nakhon Si Thammarat. This is after 17 years in Thailand and about 10 years on a non-imm type O (currently for retirement, previously for dependants) visa, with no changes or issues that should have flagged anything with immigration as being suspicious. It turned out to be a form-filling exercise which took no more than 10 minutes. Two immigration officers in attendance, one filled out a form confirming my residency at the address and taking ID numbers from my passport/visa and my wife's ID card, which was signed by me and my wife and witnessed by the other officer. A few photos were taken, including one of me, my wife and one officer at the front of the house showing the house number. When asked, one of the officers confirmed that was as a direct result of the number of Chinese visitors found to be overstaying and/or running illegal businesses and had been ordered by on-high. It was suggested that this could be an annual visit. They were working through everyone in the area and had already visited other ex-pats in the area this morning including two foreign teachers at the local university. So just a PSA in case this becomes a thing, and if people are wondering if that thing is happening to others. It may be perfectly usual for some, but this is new to me. That's all.

As said, it depends where he's borrowed money from. If it is from a bank or other reputable organisation, they do not tend to be in the business of deliberately taking possession of secured property just for the sake of it. It is a very last resort, and usually one that is taken when all other options have absolutely and irretrievably failed. There is more money to be made from keeping a borrower in their house and milking them for interest for the next 20 years than taking possession and selling the property. IME there are two categories of deliquent borrowers: those who won't pay and those who can't pay. You get the "won't payers" out as quick as you can, but you give every chance to the "can't payers" until they prove repeatedly that they are not capable of keeping to any payment agreement in the long term. So possibly your neighbour has just burned too many chances and the bank no longer believe him. Source: 15 years in retail banking in the UK, but admittedly all experience in the past in a different country may not be relevant to how things work here. Though I suspect the principles are somewhat similar.

On a beach on one of the islands, walking back to my room, drunk, during a power cut, with no torch. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face it was so dark, so I was feeling my way (badly) with my feet. And didn't account for an unexpected drop from broken concrete on to the beach itself. So I went face first into the sand. No real harm done, so got up and went on my way. Next day, I went back and looked where I fell, and it was just full of jagged rocks and other broken bits of concrete. My face had landed in just about the only place where it was safe to land. Missed a bad injury, and probably death, by inches.

4x90 days is usually a bit less than the one year visa renewal date, especially when a 90 day report falls due on a weekend or public holiday so it gets pulled forward by a few days. I find this comes up every year, and I just did a 90 day report at the end of April, then a full renewal a couple of days ago. If you want to pay the fine (or whatever penalty) for missing the 90 day report it might make no difference, but if you're not wanting to do anything that might cause problems with your visa renewal, just accept you'll be making two trips to immigration in quick succession* and get it done. *or online reporting, though I have no experience of this.