Somjot

Very good advice. You clearly know Thai mentality well. If the guy is no army general or similar calling the police might help.

What if she's real? Polydactilism is well known amongst medics. Imagine the handjob she could give you. Ok, I admit, pervs are quite common amongst medics.

Just a general thought: Many of us are siding with Israel, because we're used to. Because for decades we've been told that Muslims are bad and evil. Because we're used to being lied to by our governments, that a few 1000 terrorists are hiding in one country, or the leader of another country is producing weapons of mass destruction. And this gives us the right to attack these countries, kill hundreds of thousands of their civilians, who don't know who is hiding in their country, what their leaders are up to not to mention, that they could do nothing about it, if they knew. We call them insurgents, kill them by the Thousands and deny the captured opponents any rights, because we declare them as combatants, not soldiers, which again gives us the right to torture them. And we applaud our soldiers, because they are “out there” for all of us, forgetting that “out there” is another person’s home, where he lives, works and raises his children. We condemn Putin for his attack on the Ukraine, where within two years about 500 children have been killed, while at the same time Netanyahu is getting standing ovations in the US Congress for lying in their faces by saying - just to name one example - only 2 dozen civilians have been killed in Gaza, despite everybody in the room knew that his army has murdered more than 14,000 children in less than one year. What is wrong with us? There is one fundamental truth: There can't be any double standard in justice Whenever you apply double standards, it will lead to aggression and sooner or later to catastrophe - on both sides. This is inevitable. It is understandable that some people feel comfortable and safe with double standards, as long as they are on the side of the oppressing group. But this is a very dangerous Mindset. Because once the oppressed group has been eliminated, the oppressing group will look for new victims and sooner or later will do so within its own ranks. And before you know it, you end up being some kind of “Palestinian” yourself. Happened in Nazi Germany all the time. There can be only the same justice for everybody.

This is simply not true. The reason they're dying is because the IDF is flattening their country and killing everyone living there, 2/3 of them being women and children, while at the same time the Palestinians have no place to go. Would he make the same choice if his parents or his children would be held hostage in Gaza? Would you? This was never about freeing the hostages. I don't know if you've heard about the Hannibal directive: if a IDF soldier sees an Israeli being taken hostage by a Hamas member, he has to shoot them both. According to your “legal logic”: If a huge guy grabs a girl by the pussy and she slaps him and in return the guy rapes her and breaks all her bones, the girl is to blame for her broken bones? If she wouldn't have slapped him, she would never have ended up in coma. Right? I mean sure, it wasn't a good idea to slap that big guy. But I guess we both know, who belongs into jail. 7th October was a horrible act of terrorism. No question. But the response of Israel … sorry but I just don't see the proportionality.

She was arrested because she was protesting against the war in Gaza and against the occupation. And she did that at the university of Copenhagen because they were continuing their cooperation with academic institutes Israel. Please stop these false conclusions, which are repeated again and again to brainwash people. Being against war, against the slaughter of civilians, against the burning alive of children, against the intentional targeting of children, journalists, doctors and members of health organizations does not mean you are HAMMAS. It just shows you are HUMAN. Being against occupation of land and killing its owners, does not prove, that you are HAMMAS It just proves, that you have a HEART.

A little Side Story about cockroaches and trust: and to start with: I just hate them. I mean, they are not dangerous, they are not poisonous, they don't bite and still only seeing one almost makes me puke and I can't eat anything for at least a few hours. My Thai girlfriend, together for more than 17 years now, does not particularly like them but they don't bother her either. However, a few years ago we bought a house, luckily renovated by now, which is quite huge with a big garden but unfortunately very old so a cockroach or two crawling around in our bedroom once in a while was normal. I have one of those bug killer sprays in every single room and should I spot one, I will spray it. Normally if you hit it once or twice the poison will do its job, the beast will slow down and die within few minutes. Too long for me, I literally drown them with that spray. The worst case scenario is, if I could hear one of them in the middle of the night crawling around in our bedroom. Then I wake up my girlfriend and ask her to find and kill it, which she always does, as she knows very well, there is no way I will let her sleep, before that monster is terminated. I have to admit, at first it always took her quite some while to hunt the cockroach down, as once those beasts know, someone is after them, they tend to hide in some inaccessible places. But by the time my girlfriend got better and better and finally it took her just a minute or two to kill the beast and throw it out of the window - so I thought. I don't know why, but my girlfriend always showed them to me before she got rid of them. Maybe hunter`s pride - so I thought. And interestingly, those cockroaches always made their last stand in our wardrobe - so I thought. Until I found out the bitter truth. One day I was checking the wardrobe and to my surprise I found a little matchbox. Neither me nor my girlfriend smoke so it made me curious. When I opened it a cold hand grabbed for my heart - there was a huge cockroach inside. But before I could scream, I realized that it was dead. I went downstairs, put the matchbox on the table and asked my girlfriend: “Is there anything you want to confess?” „Oh dear, you found Peter.” Long story short, as she always was too tired to hunt for a cockroach in the middle of the night but also knew, that there was no way I would let her sleep before the threat was contained, she had deposited that one in our wardrobe and every time I woke her up, demanding to kill the monster as I might have heard some scratching noises in our bedroom, she pretended to be looking for it and finally took out the dead cockroach, showed it to me knowing that I would never really look at it and act as if she would throw it out the window. The following day I buried Peter in our garden, even said a little prayer thanking him for all those nights I have had a good sleep. Didn't change my disgust towards cockroaches. So I got myself 2 cats - problem solved.

The civilians in Gaza were murdered by Israeli bullets and bombs, not by Hammas.

Get yourself a healthy cat. I did. No more bugs.

@Excogitator, @ChicagoExpat Guys, please stop arguing, except one or two other posters in this thread like @RuamRudy, you are the only ones delivering interesting and informative posts. Most members post only a few words, which have been clearly brainwashed into their minds, when it comes to the Middle East topic. You guys don't and I can clearly see that both of you are well educated and have informed yourselves about the topic. Yet you have different opinions, which makes your discussion interesting and valuable. You could learn a thing or two from each other and the rest of us could learn a lot from you. Back in the day, if we would hear a person with a completely opposing opinion sitting at another table, we would invite him to our table, buy him a beer and say, “Let's talk”. Sure, discussions could get heated, yet we never insulted each other, as we had a so-called “culture of debate”. Unfortunately, this has been by cancel culture. If you side with Palestine, you are automatically a Hamas supporter and anti-Semitic, if you side with Israel, you are automatically a friend of apartheid, a white supremacist and a child slayer. I personally side with none of them but I do understand that both (talking about Palestine and Israel now) are somehow fighting for their existence. I only side with those innocent people, especially the children, no matter if Palestinian or Israeli, who have been maimed and killed by the orders of completely incompetent leaders, who should be displaced ASAP and pay for their crimes as they are not willing to find a peaceful solution. And I find it absolutely shocking when people in our western world with our western values still condone and actively support the actions of an army, which deliberately targets doctors, aid workers and journalists and burns children alive. The most famous of them was Hind, a 5-year-old girl hiding in a car and surrounded by the bodies of her family members, who just had been shot by the IDF. Hind called her mother, begging for her life and after the IDF finally issued a clearance to the Palestinian authorities for an ambulance to go and rescue the girl, they murdered both, the two aid workers in the ambulance and 5 year old Hind. I won't even try to understand how an adult man, a trained soldier, is able to aim at an innocent girl and fire bullets into her little body. But in my opinion every person, who condones such an action and supports the army, who issued those orders, has completely lost his humanity. By the way, what are actually our western values and how do other cultures perceive them? Don't get me wrong. I think those values, like freedom, equality, freedom of speech, justice and same rights for every person, human rights and so on are among our most valuable achievements. Yet somehow, we do not apply them to everyone. When we hear radical Muslim, we imagine a guy with black hair and a black beard wearing an explosive belt trying to kill hundreds. When they hear Christian, they imagine a plane dropping bombs and soldiers invading their country. Al Qaeda committed a horrible crime on September 11. At that time, they had 70,000 insurgents spread over 60 nations, so maybe only a few thousand of them in Afghanistan, which has a population of 41 million. Yet we started a war and invaded the country leading to a death toll of almost 7000 US military or contractors, 70,000 Afghan military, more than 100,000 Afghan civilians until we finally found out, oops, the bad guy is in the neighboring country. Or the second Iraq war, we started because of Saddam’s “weapons of mass destruction”, from which we definitely knew, they don't exist and which led to hundreds of thousands being killed. Not only a few on our side. Interestingly all those Hollywood war movies with all those heroes somehow forget that actually we are the invaders sending troops to and throwing bombs on foreign countries, killing thousands of innocent civilians, yet we keep being the good guys and the other ones, who are actually protecting their country, and their families are the bad guys. Brainwash accomplished. The media coverage has never been so widespread like in the actual conflict in the Middle East and the message it sends to the rest of the world is clear: The western values are only applied for western people. The human rights which should protect every human being on this planet are only applied to western people. Which means, the rest of the world is not seen as human by the west, who created those rights. This message, the exposure of our double standards has reached the rest of the world, and it will have a deep impact on our future. More and more countries will turn away from us. It is no coincidence that Thailand has applied to be a member of the BRICS states. Most of our economies are stagnating or on their way down; the actual incidents will only worsen that. However, please keep the discussion civilized and your personal emotions out of it. Apologies, if anyone feels patronized by me. Never was my intention. And being a non-native speaker, I may have expressed myself in a wrong way.

Please always keep in mind, in most cases, you get what you pay for. The materials, starting with the impression material, the special gypsum for the casts, the resin, the artificial teeth and so on, differ regarding price and quality. Cheap artificial teeth are used up after a few years; good ones may last for decades. Cheap pink coloured resin may cause allergic reactions or gum swelling with burning sensations and in the long term even cancer. On top of that, the procedures how the denture is produced may also differ. Did they just put your models from lower and upper jaw into a hinge articulator, which disregards all functional movements of the jaw or did they use a fully adjustable one, which simulates all the movements of the human jaw. Your joints will tell you in a few years when it is too late. How many years of experience does the dentist have? I would recommend studying the websites of those clinics and choose a dentist, who takes his time to answer all your questions and explain everything.

Do you really think, I would pretend my experiences with the other airlines and lie about their food? What would I possibly gain from that? During Covid Thai did not offer any flights for some time so I tried Qatar and Emirates and Lufthansa too. I even wrote reports about it in another forum but same Nickname. But yes, I love Thailand. There is a good chance I am biased. But you allege that I lied, just because I do not share your opinion. Not cool.

You are most likely right, as we all know, who else was living not far away from Munich.

I am shocked about all that negativity here with some people even stating, that Lufthansa is better than Thai Airways. I understand that everybody has his personal experiences and the way we recall those experiences is very much influenced by the emotions we had at that time. For the last quarter century, I have been flying with Thai Airways from Munich to Bangkok and back at least three times a year and I always loved it. Most important for me, it was a direct flight, and it was 25 minutes from my home in Munich to the airport and a little bit more than one hour from my house in Pattaya to Swampy. Sure, Qatar and Emirates have better airplanes, but I can't say the food was much better and I hated the stopover, running through those airports or waiting in some lounge feeling lost. As I have learned to speak, read, and write Thai over the years, I always enjoyed the conversations with the air hostesses on Thai Airways and generally spoken they are the most courteous and friendly staff. The Lufthansa staff on the other hand side Always makes me think, that they would be great mistresses with their own dungeons of pain. Like many of you I fell in love with Thailand and last year I finally sold everything in Germany and moved to Thailand permanently as I always felt more like home in here then in my birth country. And that is exactly how I have been feeling every single time when boarding a Thai Airways plane and sitting down in my business class seat – HOME. Now take me down to Pattaya city, where grass is legal and the girls are pretty, oh won`t you please take me home.

Did or do you live in both of these countries, that you can compare?

Actually, this is an interesting subject on which I had a few aha moments: 1. Many years ago my brother-in-law introduced me to his 15-year-old son claiming that he was the best pupil in his English class. I said, let me hear something and the son started talking. At first I was impressed; perfect grammar, perfect pronunciation, at least as far as I could tell, being a non-native speaker myself. Then I asked a few very easy questions in context to what he just had said and he was lost. He had no idea what I was talking about. I repeated the questions in Thai language and he could not answer in English. All they do at school is memorizing. 2. A few years ago I was invited to the international Congress of implantologists in Chiang Mai where different specialists give lectures about new inventions, new materials or new surgery techniques for dental implants. Normally those lectures are about 15 to 20 minutes long and afterwards you can ask questions. Well, in our countries, manners and politeness dictate that the listeners at least ask a few questions, no matter how boring the lecture was, to show interest because the poor guy has probably spent a couple of weeks of his free time to prepare it. Not in Thailand. Some professor from a Thai university gave his lecture and then told the audience to ask questions if they have any. The room was quiet; you could hear a pin drop. I felt terribly sorry for the professor, so I started asking questions - obviously to his surprise. And not only his, but the entire audience was also surprised looking at me as if I had just farted. In Thailand you don't question your teacher. By asking questions about a subject he just has taught, you are practically telling him that he didn't teach you well as otherwise you wouldn't have those questions, or you are proving that you are just dumb. No matter what, someone has to lose his face. Personally, I think these are huge obstacles in education but then again somehow this country seems to do well. I mean, look at their economy and compare it to ours. Or look at Pattaya; there are guys with huge knowledge about physics, chemistry, you name it, or have been running a huge company with hundreds of employees where they had to make difficult decisions after watching and analyzing the market and despite all of that they get ripped off by some bar girl with no education, who is too stupid to open the child proof lock of a medicine bottle. It is always our money that ends up in their pockets - never the other way round. Who are we to tell them what to learn or how to live?

Brilliant idea. Had a problem with my doorbell. Didn`t ring. Asked that young moto bike taxi driver, if he knows a licensed electrician. He said, yes, my brother. Minutes later his brother was at my door, could be his twin, was even wearing the same shirt and asked me, what he could do for me. As suggested, I asked him the questions mentioned above about Fleming and Ohm. He just answered, FARANG DING DONG. Clearly a real genius, I mean, how could he know about my broken doorbell without me even telling him. Later he asked me, where I had kept my safe with all my money and I answered, in the bedroom. He then suggested to install another bell in the bedroom so I would even hear it while asleep. Not only is he a genius, he is also a very caring person. He told me to stay in a hotel for two nights, as there is always a danger of explosion when installing bells. Jackpot!!

They`ll take the photos with their own camera. However, I tried to get an online appointment - full until July!

Every single medical treatment or new medication must be "evidence based". That means in most cases there must be double-blind studies with Thousands of test subjects. Just in case you don't know, let's say there is a new pill for headache. In a double-blind study half of the test subjects will get that pill in the other half will get a placebo, which in this case is a pill, that exactly looks like that pill but does not have any active ingredients. Neither the patient nor the doctor handing out the pill does know if it is a placebo or the real one. Later the patients report about the effectivity of that pill and the results will show if that pill really helps against headache or not. Now a group of medics started to do the same thing with all those alternative treatment methods. Sometimes it can be difficult to create a test setup, which leads to a waterproof result. The patients of a Reiki master might experience the placebo effect and report positive results. Reiki masters claim to have the ability to feel and even to guide the life force energy of a person through his body in order to promote healing, without touching the patient's body. So the test was actually very simple. They positioned a partition wall in the middle of a room with two holes in it. On one side there was a flatbed, where the patient would lay on and on the other side some seat cushion, where the Reiki master would sit and insert his hands through those holes to heal the patient without touching him. Now those Reiki masters weren't even asked to heal anyone. All they had to do was to report if the life energy of the test subject was ok and if not, what was his health problem. On the other side of that partition wall the test subjects would sometimes really lay on that flatbed and sometimes it was empty. Long story short all those Reiki masters completely failed, with some of them diagnosing cancer or brain disorders, while there was no one on that flatbed. Even if there actually was a person on the flatbed the Reiki masters would report completely different diagnoses; while one would say the patient suffers from bowel problems, the other master was sure, it was a migraine. I personally think all those healer wannabes should be executed.

Guys, are we done now? Both of you sound like my ex- wife.

Quite the opposite: They take estrogen plus medication to suppress their testosterone in order to make them more female. It actually makes them less aggressive but moody. That aggressive behavior towards competition is more likely caused by the lack of money to pay for certain substances, which if not consumed regularly drives them nuts.

Or worse. Can't forget the story of that Bangkok taxi driver just a few years before Corona, who had an argument with another one, while they were driving more or less next to each other and at some point, thought it might be a good idea to pull out his BB gun and intimidate the other guy by shooting at him. To his surprise the other guy pulled out a gun too and fired back. I think it is safe to say that his surprise didn't last for long, as the other guy had a real gun and after missing twice, hit him between the eyes. I`d love to know, what his last thought was.

I could not get rid of those bloody pigeons which were infesting the roof of our house, waking me up in the morning with their terrible sounds and <deleted>ting everywhere. Throwing my shoes after them didn't make them go away. Even a pressure washer didn't help but at least I got my shoes back. So, I got myself a BB gun from a hidden shop in Chonburi and the owner, former police officer, instructed me to shoot at their wings from the side not at their bellies or heads so they will definitely feel it but no harm or injury caused and the whole pigeon family will leave very soon. I said, if one pigeon family disappears the next will come to take their place, but he answered, don't worry, the first group will tell the others and within a few days you won't see any pigeons on your roof. To be honest, this made me doubt his mental health a bit but at the end he was right. Go figure. However, I asked him about the legal situation, as I did not feel comfortable with those guns looking like the real ones plus as a foreigner living and working in Thailand you better do not get involved in any illegal activities. He clearly answered me, not to carry them around and not to use them outside my property. In case I bring that gun to his place for a check or repair I should transport the gun and the magazine separately. As long as I use them only on my property to scare away pigeons, dogs or cats always making sure not to accidentally hit a person and only use the plastic pellets, it is according to the law. Using metal pellets is prohibited same as modifying that gun to use real ammunition. Oh, before I forget it, I haven't noticed any significant changes to my Willy since I bought that gun.

Sadly, once again the Israeli Palestinian conflict has shown the world the double standard of some countries in the western world, like the US, the UK and my home country, Germany. Human rights – of course! Freedom of speech – absolutely! No torture for captive soldiers – Sure! But … err … only if it is about OUR human rights, OUR freedom of speech and by the way, those POWs in Guantanamo were not soldiers, they were combatants. The UN voted about a resolution for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire a few days ago. A … HUMANITARIAN … Ceasefire! And Germany did not vote for it. Reason: “Err … well … that resolution did not state clearly enough that Hamas is a terror organisation!” Are you kidding me?? Everybody knows they are! In less than one month more Palestinian civilians have been killed than Ukrainians since Russia attacked them - and that was almost two years ago. I have no right to criticize the US or the UK but I cannot tell you how disappointed I am from my own government. We are so proud about how “intense and honest we did come to terms with our past revealing all the crimes of the Nazis and that every German now and for all times has the duty to make sure that such a thing will never ever happen again”. But obviously the sentence does not end there, one has to add: “… to Jewish people, everybody else we consider being minor, can be slaughtered as we or our forever Jewish friends see fit.” Some may call Hamas animals, but one thing is for sure, they are smarter than us. They knew from the beginning that they had no chance to win a war against Israel and that was never their intention. All they wanted was to cast a slur at Israel, which traditionally reacts very extreme on attacks like this and at those few countries, which support Israel, no matter what they do. And by doing so, widening the gap between those countries and the rest of the world, making them see our true faces and consequently distrusting us more and more, facilitating any kind of cooperation between them and our isolation from them.

Now THAT is a brilliant idea. Would definitely raise Pattaya's reputation.

As far as I remember there was no film crew involved. It was only her little speech, we had rehearsed before, the shocked faces of everybody and the few words the boss spoke to her on the parking lot. It was spoken in Thai and me, not being a native speaker in both languages, translated it into English, trying as good as I can not to let anything get lost in translation but of course this was not a word for word translation. Apologies for the confusion, should I have created the impression, that it was.