TroubleandGrumpy

I would state with 99.99% certainty that there is a far larger percentage of the 'they/them' that dislike non-theys. They call us CIS and it is used in a derogatory and insulting manner by most the 'they'. Excellent idea - but more likely that they would remove the rights of an Expat women married to a Thai.

Exercise is total BS - this whole lose weight by exercising scam annoys me. IMO 'physical activity' is NOT required to achieve or maintain a healthy weight. Certainly not sitting down all day is obvious, but all that is needed is to walk a bit every day and do a little bit of exercise. If all that BS was real, then all Thais would be fat - they dont walk much at all and just do basic physical stuff. The issue and the only issue, especially for those over 40, is the type of foods and drinks consumed, and the amount consumed. Eat mainly 'natural/good' foods, and dont consume much of the 'bad/processed' foods, and avoid the 'bad/processed' products so prevalent in food and drink available in the stores, and you will achieve/maintain a healthy weight - over time. When I decided 15 years ago that enough was enough and I started this diet regime, I was astounded at how many things for sale in shops were 'bad'. It was worth it, and despite the occasional fall off the wagon, I am now consistantly over 20 kilos under what I was when I started. My regime is simple - and the first thing came from a mate who had a heart attack at 42. He was told to cut down the beer and to stop eating one big main meal a day. He was told to eat more small meals - that gives time for the body to process and absorb the amount. Eating a huge meal at night and then going to sleep is exactly the wrong thing to do. Eat fruits in the morning - and then have 2-3 small meals each day - no big ones. He also did other things, but he reckoned that not eating that one big dinner at night helped lose heaps of weight. I did that, and also I did not consume food or drink that has a long shelf life - cakes, coke, food bars, etc. I avoid as much as possible sugar and grass and salt. Sugar is in many processed foods (and added by some Thais to food). It is impossible to totally avoid it (cuppa tea/coffee, etc etc) but it is needed by the body - but bring it down. Avoid over-consumption of salt - which is often combined with sugar and grass - such as in bread, cakes, etc. However, in Thailand salt is not as bad for mammals as it is in a colder climate where the loss of body water is not as high. Although, the local salt lacks Iodine and that is why so many of them have thyroid problems in later life - get salt with iodine and have a little now and then - but limit bacon and things extremely high in salt etc. Grasses are very fattening. The animals that are the biggest mammals on the planet all eat grass. Avoid anything that has processed wheat, rice, corn etc. they are all cultivated grass crops - cheap and easy to make and easily concentrated. By all means eat it in is natural form (rice, corn) but not 'too much'. Breads, Cakes, and long shelf life products are all made with processed concentrated grass as the main ingrediant - it is a massive fat gainer to mammals. Avoid as much as possible. Lastly - drink lots of water - my favourite form of water is that light brown one with bubbles. Seriously though, beer has no sugar and has very little salt - but it is made from grass and alcohol is a stimulator of fat growth - especially in the liver. But beer is 95% water and is it is far far better for you than coke and such drinks. Drink lots of water, moderate the beer, and dont drink any coke, fanta, etc. Plus get a set of scales - so you actually know how much you weigh and you can see any changes. Every now and then I weigh myself and oiften it is 'ooops - time to cut down for 2 days'. 2 days of cutting it right down (being hungry) forces the body to consume the stored fats. Do not do that to extreme and not anymore than 2 days - or the body will think 'famine' and then when food arrives it will think 'quickly store as much as possible for the next famine'. Slowly and surely (quietly quietly) is the only way to catch the fat monkey.

Something is not quite right about that story 😅

They can all shove that BS up their **** They (I use they/them to cover all variations) claimed a desire for equality under marriagelaws and that is justified, with resultant property rights after death, taxation deductions and rights, and other 'equality' issues under the Laws. But I hope the Thailand Govt does not fsll into the same traps as the Western Govts did and cave into their constant demands for 'more and more equality' which has resulted in a man claiming to be a woman because he is wearing a woman's clothes, and children being medical changed for life. Certainly in the West, much more than in Thailand, there needed to be a balance taken against the old school belief that 'they' were to be treated like lepers - but that is not needed in Thailand where they are generally treated equally in Thai society. Give them and they equality under Laws in a 'personal union' (marriage) - but nothing more and nothing less.

Still waiting for your reply with details of why you think the Old Age Pension is taxable income in Thailand - so are others. All I/we have received is a cut and past from the DTA - where is your rationale and thoughts?

Thanks for saving me the time. What you have said is what a lot of Expats are thinking of doing (Cambodia, Vietnam and Philippines seem the most popular options) - and it is clear that many will pull the pin on Thailand too if they start nailing Expats. Surely the Thai Govt will realise that Malaysia and Philippines (maybe others too) have stated that they do not want to tax the Pensions of retired Expats brought into their country - they have been specifically exempted. Is your foreign-sourced income exempted from tax? (pwc.com) There are (I am told) almost 500K of Expats in Thailand - working and retired and married. I dont know how many working versus married/retired, but even if only half (250K) were retired/married, that is worth a lot of money every year to Thailand. How much Baht does the average Expat bring into the country? 500K? 1Million? Someone on the Australian Pension alone (no other savings) brings in about $26KAUD (630K Baht) and at that rate the total money brought into Thailand would be over 150Billion Baht. Why put that at risk by trying to tax it?? Surely they will soon make it clear, one way or the other, if they will tax Expats bringing in their Govt Pensions and other money/savings all ready taxed in their home country. Hopefully, they will also not force them to prove it has been taxed, by excessive and unachievable documentation demands that will make complying with all the Immigration documentation requirements look easy.

That is definitely what they are all doing, but me thinks that a lot of them are not haters of Jews like the NAZIS, but they are just disenfranchised woke progressives who use virtue signalling to bolster their own conitive bias about the issue - they are actually driven by their desire to be a 'good person'. They should all read the Bible or Koran - not for religious reasons, but to get some wise advice. Both books clearly state that 'The road to Hell is paved with good intentions'. What that means is very broad, but part of thqat means that there are always a lot of bad/evil people who will strive for the moral highground - so you must beware of following their 'attractive' claims. As they say - shine a light on a good and a bad person - they will both act good. Hamas in Gaza are the worst sort of evil activists, and their messages claiming the moral highground are often believed by the young, the foolish and the ignorant.

Not to the socially progressive virtue signalling woke lefties it doesn't. I think it was AOC who said she was 'morally correct' despite it bring proven that her stated facts had been proven to be wrong. Even WPO and CNN criticised her for that approach to the truth and facts - but they never examined the basis upon which so many lefty nutters will decide that their opinon is more important and counts more than the facts. I think it was Shapiro who said that facts dont care about your feelings.

What about you - it is not what your country has done for you ............ Can you link any posts you made on AN about Myanmar - and anything about all the other 'atrocities and genocides' in the world?

Not sure about that (yet) - but I do have many of them - how about you?

Cheers - I asked about different spec shafts at the very few places that had some and the universal response was 'huh'. They are just like the sales girls in most Thai shops - they know SFA about the products they are selling. I am sure the experts and coaches are somewhere in Thailand - like you said it will be just trial and error going forward - I might get lucky one day.

I have a question - to all those people outraged and angry by what Israel has done to Gaza. What have you done and/or what have you said about the atrocities being committed by the Military Dictatorhip in Myanmar since they illegally took over in a violent coup and imprisoned a Nobel Peace Prize winning politician? Now please dont take that as a criticism - take it as a genuine open question. When you answer that with the truth - then you may begin to realise that your 'selective' outrage is being fanned by the media. Then you might think about all the other atrocities being done all over the world every year. Then you should take a look at all the media driven outrage not involving Israel - where is it? And then you might realise that the media drive discontent and outrage because it sells - they love wars because they do best in times of war and Israel is a very easy target.

I hear you - my bad. When you said you lived in Thailand for years I assumed you were not the person who visits for 3 mths a year. It does not look to be a mistake by LA - I just visited the Thai Evisa website we use in Aust - see below: That is done by the Dept Foreign Affairs in Thailand - so if there is a mistake it came from them. Official Website of Thailand Electronic Visa (thaievisa.go.th)

Update/Report - nothing suitable was found. Visited all the driving ranges and they had nothing like a 'fitting' service - and that included the Driving Range at Siam Country Club. In Chiang Mai at the old Stardome Golf Course (now called Pimantip Golf Course) there was a bunch of golf shops at the attached driving range and several of them sold after-market shafts - you could connect them to your club (Ping, Taylormade, etc.) and try them at the range. There was nothing like that (that we found over 2 days) in Pattaya/Chonburi. All the golf shops, including the one with Ping sings outside, had nothing but sets of clubs for sale, They all had very few shafts in stock, most had no fittings, and you had to buy them on order to give them a try - and at 4000 to 8000 baht each my answer was no thanks. The only store that was 'good' was the new Ping store on 3rd road, just up from the shop with ping signs out front (which had SFA Ping clubs). It was all new Pings and they had sets of all ther new Ping clubs. They only had a few shaft options to try - but they are newly opened and will have more soon. This new Ping store had a screen and trackman (very old one) to try clubs, but they only had one lightweight shaft (45gs) with a fitting toggle attached. I gave that a try but it's kickpoint was too high and it was not a lot better than my current soft regular shafts (which is all that Ping offered in the G425 clubs as the 'senior' option 2-3 years ago). I looked up this new Ping store on google and google maps and they are not there from street view - and nothing was found on the google searches. They said they are new (and that was clearly true) and that they will have more stock as things go forward. I think I will return there and try any new shafts they get in for the G430 clubs. Ping now offers 9 different stock options for shafts with the G430, including some very lightweight shafts with low kick points (for high launch). Unlike in Australia where there are Pros in the shops on all the golf courses selling clubs, giving lessons and available to provide advice - all the golf clubs in Thailand (I have visited) do not have any Pros or anythign like that. Most golf courses have a basic shop with listed prices on balls, gloves etc. but none I have visited have what is available at every golf club in Australia (and rest of the world?). I am sure you can buy what is in stock on the wall, or order what you want from them - but I am not impressed at all. But lets fact it, they dont play 'competitions' here under PGA/RAA rules like I did back home - it is all social golf and it is mainly for the tourists. From what I have seen, the golf scene/industry in Thailand is amatuer and total khrapp - what Thais I have seen coaching other people at the ranges are absolutely useless. I was a National cricket coach and learned how to coach, and I taught the wife to play golf when she was in her late 40s and she is good - the Thai coaching I have seen is atrocious. But there are many very good Thai Pro players in Thailand, especially the women - where are they getting coached and fitted? Are they all the kids of Thais that own a golf course, like the Jutanagarn sisters? Where are they getting their equipment from? I am just stunned - we wasted 2 days chasing windmills. Do I have to go back to Australia or maybe Japan or Korea?

There is a Doctor in Bangkok very popular with Expats - Dr RTobinson and she runs the MedConsult Clinic. I am sure they do wart removal - but call and ask. I have used her medical services several times in the past - very good. MedConsult Clinic | International Medical Clinic in Bangkok (medconsultasia.com) If they dont provide that service, then ask where you can go to get it done. I would be careful of any non-qualified 'medical professionals' in Thailand operating in a local Mall/Clinic.

For those living in Thailand, I agree it is best to avoid Immigration as much as possible. The OP visits Thailand for 3 months every year - he is better off (now) getting a 60 day Tourist Visa from home and then one Extension when here.

My past dealings showed SuperRich to offer the best rates - things may have changed since Covid, but maybe the same.

Great first post - and totally 'on point'. 14 Likes, 2 Loves, 8 Thumbs Up, 8 Thanks, 25 Agrees = 57 Supporting. 11 Confused, 12 Sad, 3 Laughs = 26 Against. There you have it - there ARE many more rational and logical Expats on Asian Now. The short-term memories and the emotionally foolish ARE loud and get angry - but the vast majority are not so inclined. That is a WIN for AN.

Invite in free of Visa all the people in a country with known 'problem people' - what could possibly go wrong?? Tourism Tourism Money Money.

SSDD

Yes I have heard the same from several sources. Never tried it myself but I do believe that BOT very much makes it very hard to transfer Baht overseas. Next tiem the OP visits Thailand - take it out in cash - get currency exchanged to UK Pound in BKK - keep documents and bank statement (print out the book so up to date) - take the cash back to UK (declare at airport if over limit UK Immigration imposes - show the documents/book).

Come as a tourist and then extend. Check again next time to see if it has changed back. When dealing with Thailand always tak the simpler/easier method - never look for logic or reason (it will drive you insane).

I would stay across the research being done about 'long covid' and then try some of the studied 'remedies' to see if it works for you. The covid virus and/or the vaccinations (please dont start on that) may have caused the many unknown reactions that have been evidenced in some people. No one really knows what causes what, but IMO it could be a simple matter of trial and error to see what works - stay across the research. Sometimes these things just resolve themselves - we know a lot less about how the human body works, than what some people claim. Sleeping Disease (Encephalitis Lethargica) was catagortised as a form of encephalitis. It was first diagnosed in 1917 and is thought by some to have been a result of the Spanish Flu virus that killed many millions. Some people were 'asleep' for decades - totally amazing and never fully resolved.

I can see what others say about you being 'argumentative' - perhaps you thought I was criticising your words. Not intended - I was merely providing an alternative opinion with reasons. Examples: Australia does not have laws in place like Thailand to prevent foreigners purchasing land. Whislt a foregin company/person company can own the land - it is Australian land title and the property can be resumed at any time. Australia does not import as much food as otherwise could happen if the local farmers were not supported. Australia is a very pro-free trade country - it is to Australia's benefit not to gave trade wars (protection wars). It would be foolish for Aust Military to pay 20 million for uniforms made in Thailand/India - or 50 million made in USA/Australia. I can ssure you NOTHING possibly impacting the Aust military performance of their duties is purchased from China. Australia is extremely pro-active is ensuring that no infrastructure is purchased in Australia that could impact its national security (such as Chinese made telecommunications equipment).

As you can see from above 25 year charts, the USD-THB is not related directly to the AUD-THB. The USD is the most traded and the AUD is the 5th most traded - they are related. The THB is a separate matter and it is not directly related to the AUD-USD excchanbge rate. All currencies are affected by the USD - but your assertion is false.