KhunLA

$20 an hour ... nice. If you live away from the metro areas. A couple, working at McDs could have a household income of $83k a year. That's mind boggling. My best salaried job (23 yrs ago), never broke 50k a year, base salary <$45k. Topped out between $22-23 an hour. Sad part is, they went belly up, got taken over, and almost 20 yrs later, they were still making the same salary, due to earlier concessions to keep working. Fed law minimum wage is $7.25 ... "The federal minimum wage will remain at $7.25 an hour next year, the same rate that it's been since 2009." Fed govt employees, and contracted companies have to pay $15 an hour, I think I read somewhere. Over 20 states are jacking up their minimum wage for 2024

That would be all fine & dandy if you were retiring within the next few months, but 5 years away from it, wouldn't work for me. I've been in a long distance relationship, in country, USA, worked for an airlines, and it still sucked. Basically a 2 week rotation at locations, and flew basically free. Couldn't get any easier and still was hard. How often can you realistic visit the next 5 years ? I guess she'll be expecting 5 yrs of some sort of financial support, little extra for kids, especially if near Uni age. If all goes tits up before you retired, you wasted a lot of time & money. Do you really want to help raise another family after doing once already. Limits your play funds, and time to enjoy your retirement. Leaving one grind to another. Lastly, since never been here, TH is not for everyone. Weather might seem like a nice break from damn & cold, but it gets brutally hot & humid here, and wears on you at times. Definitely not for everyone. Half the country has horrendous air pollution 4-6 months a year, from Hua Hin and northward. There's quite a lot to consider.

Shy a few provinces (bottom 3), but been to most, and slept in the majority of them. As the chart shows, most live detached homes or townhouses, even at the few large metro areas. Udon Thani, 5th or 6th largest, depending what chart looking at, didn't have any condos complexes till Nov. 2014, and remember when they broke ground & opened. You drive less than 1 kms off the ring rd at UT, and it turns into rural TH real fast. Mind boggling what people think they know.

Old stats, but really can't image much has changed; 2013 study @Lee65

HEY ... I'm on #4 Stupid would have been staying married with #1 - 2 or 3. Two years, one year, 6 months respectfully, was long enough. Guess I'm less patient as I age

Ditto with the Mazda 2. Luckily the wife never needed a car, as previous ones were in my name. A bit eye opening, as having that much & more taxes on a domestic made car. That tax alone about 20% of MSRP, on entry level version.

I was in my daughter's car last week, (our Mazda 2 she inherited), and it still runs fine. Only 180k kms on it. Good for her knocking around the city, as doesn't do many O&As. But ride wise, when we were on highway, and getting in & out, what a POS. Embarrassed I owned it for about 7 yrs. And that was a step up from our previous Vios (now Yaris). When I test drove the ZS (2020 ICE) within 100 meters I thought, WTF have I been doing with Toyota & Mazda. Knew immediately there was no need to look at any other cars, and almost the exact same price as both, Vios & Mazda 2.

Gay clubs. Or just here on the forum, which seems to be the same as the gay clubs at time or so I've been told

I seem to use the cruise control more than I thought I would. Love the cameras when parking, 360° overhead view when in reverse + proximity sensors. For some reason, I thought all cars had them now. What the hell are they getting for their 7-8-900k now. Besides under performance & noise. Hopefully more than that Toyota & Honda badge on the front.

To answer the query ... If y'all read the news every now and then, when there is a punch up involving foreigners, at the tourist ghettos, it's usually a wai & 500 or 1000 baht fine. Nobody is getting deported for a 'minor' altercation, especially over something so silly. Of course if you put someone in the hospital for spitting on you, hopefully they would deport you, but I still doubt it.

Took me a while to figure out how to do it. Have to lock the door, from outside, using lock button on the door (car thinks I'm still in it), then power the window back up. Now we take the dog where ever, and she sits in AC, while we eat, or shop. I mistakenly left the hob in as I hopped out real fast at 7-11. Something you only do once, hopefully. Luckily we weren't out of town, although if so, she'd have hers w/her. For some reason (probably user error), I couldn't get the MG app to open it, as she's done it before. She was in the hospital, down the road a bit, so she couldn't do it. I never bother with the app, so don't know what I was doing wrong, as it accepted the pin, just didn't accept the command. Might even be a safety feature, if hob in car, and locked from within, as why would you need to open w/app, if you're in the car. Because you're an idiot ... guess they didn't think of that one.

No, she's the one, for only a glimpse, if that, at beginning or end of vid. Unless she walks across, as she did in one of latest (Farida). Hates being in vids, almost as much as me.

Think the OP needs to hang out at different places and with better people. Can't imaging anywhere in my world, where being spat on, would be a concern. Holy Buddha ... who are y'all around, and where and what do y'all do while here/TH.

IQ is simply the ability to learn, and equate to being intelligent. I think many listen to classical, as simply can't deal with the brain dead lyrics of a lot of music. I love the blues, mainly for the instrumental parts of the songs, as if identifying with some of the lyrics, I would have committed suicide a long time ago. Quite enjoy some classical. Was at work one time, w/headphones, and bud asked what I was listing to. Beethoven, Tchaikovsky or Mozart, as my usual 'go tos'' and thought I was joking. He had a listen and was real slow giving the headphones back to me. Took a song or 3. Another mind expanded ... The wife enjoys classical when I'm listening to it, and will even play it when I'm not here. That and good Spanish guitar, salsa music. Get her hips going while doing housework.

For knocking around town, and short/local out & about, Neta V is hard to beat for 499k I really liked our MG ZS, and that starts @ 689k (4 ICE versions <800k) Though personally, I wouldn't bother with another ICE, and spend the extra 149k baht for the MG ZS EV (949k). Couldn't go back to an ICEV, or a low sitting sedan. Didn't recommend much, as I haven't owned or peeked at. Dolphin looks quite nice, as saw one at a charging station. Same w/Neta V, for the budget minded.

That certainly puts the IQ of the western world in question .. ... "Macarena" "The remix hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1996 and remained at the top of the charts for 14 weeks — one of the longest number-one runs in the chart's history. It peaked at number two in the UK, kept off the top spot only by the Spice Girls' “Wannabe”

Thanks fellas, for the heads up .... ... I'll be make a full inspection of the next heavy crane I buy

If I had to pay to watch anything ... I probably wouldn't, since they aren't producing anything of real interest. Just time killers. Use to buy them for 100 .. then down to 50 baht for movies, and few were worth even 50 baht. When I google what is recommended on this thread, there's usual a panel on right, quoting 'streaming' options & prices. Amazed people pay these to watch the crap they are putting out. If not for torrents ... I'd have to find another hobby for my night time hours, since not a bar fly, and not much happens in rural PKK.

Might just be an 'on set' promo photo. Although not noted in the upper right caption. If you open in another tab, then enlarge, easier to see the caption on photo ...

Last house built, no hand rail on stairway going up to 2nd floor 'open area'. Builder ask 'you no want railing' and I just answered 'do I look that stupid' Present house, no railing along front porch steps or back veranda steps. Or railing to prevent falling off back veranda. I don't know how people fall over railings. Especially since they are 90cm here/TH. Does seem to be a Brit thing, as I Google, "fall from balcony on holiday", and seem to be dominated by warnings to Brits on holiday.

With this photo, I'm not really looking at Connery. Now wanting to watch Dr. No ... to see if the camel toe made it pass any of the editing

Hey ... will y'all just STFU about the grammar. Did he get the 3000 baht yet, as the suspense is killing me Oh wait ... this is the same guy that 'has enough to help him'. His overstaying bud, but feeling a bit used now ... hmm

I've calculated, our battery pack in our BEV will degrade <5% over the 8 year/180k kms warranty period. Actually only calculated it to 160k kms, since we average about 20k kms a year. At present, new, has a conservative (2500 cycle) life span of 900k kms. Don't think the battery pack is going to be an issue with the car's longevity. If I waited 10-15 yrs to buy, pretty sure I'd be dead, and miss out on the extra performance, comfort & savings I'm experiencing now with our BEV.

think your calculator needs batteries ... ... USA ~350M ... UK ~70M ... 1/5 (70 X 5 = 350)