Prubangboy

Yeah, but if you're in the region for cheap rent and beer, Cambodia wins hands down. I wouldn't live in Vietnam for free (no sanuk, unBuddhist, blah food), but a lot of people on this forum would move there in a second if they had a retirement option. I'm very willing to vacate my Chiang Mai apartment for a minimum of 8 weeks a year due to the smoke for the privilege of living there, but I understand why a lot of people think that's crazy. It's great to hear how everyone makes their own living in Thailand deal with the devil.

I enjoy the unique perspective of Jim's posts. If you don't have a relationship or a cultural affinity here, I agree: Thailand would be a bit of a hard sell. If it's down to it just being cheap, Siem Reap should be calling. I feel the same way about Europe: it'a great, but if it cost the same as here, I would still pick here. The people who dream of Florida or Texas mystify me due to the Jesus-factor. When I lived in Jacksonville, they outlawed the selling of rolling papers. Beam me up, Scottie. Jingthing said yesterday that for him, Pattaya was Miami on the cheap -a very pragmatic approach.

Thanks, as always, Sheryl. At 3 months, she's still losing hair. She just started taking biotin supplements. To contribute to this valuable forum, I'll pop back in up the road and update her progress and what she tried.

Gagging to hear about Bangla. People have been steadily talking me out of going for 30 years, which only makes me want to go more. It's like Asian Haiti, right? I already lived in white Haiti (Appalachia), and I've visited Haiti-Haiti. I need Bangla to fill in my fill in the blank-Haiti card.

More chins than a Chinese phone book? Otherwise -Meno-pause. It's like trying to stop the tide from coming in.

All of a sudden, Roi Et is looking tempting. Have you lived in these dumps?

Bob, the ASPCA called me to remind you that beating a dead horse is still a crime.

If six dollars for dinner is making you wail like a prison wife, you're not that rich.

Already covered this with a smarter person. And why it's worth it. Just like I drink less these days but only top shelf booze, I'd rather have one cheffy, good-sized pad thai with 4 in the shell large prawns than 3 tiny plates of oversweet gunk with little mud bugs. 200 baht pad thai is like, you know, a metaphor. Six bucks for dinner is worth it to me. You? No double-way, am I right? You can't blame a tourist place for having some tourist hassles. I mean, duh. Idiots cry that Nimman, Chiang Mai, where I live is not "real" Thailand. Double-duh. As George Costanza said (your doppelgänger), what ever you think you should do, you should do the opposite.

Get the hell out of Roi Et or whatever backwater is currently killing you. Move to a whitie-enclave. Know your limitations. And then kick back and enjoy cheapskate paradise. I was slanging here with a guy who said he couldn't imagine 200 baht pad thai. I can't imagine living in a part of Thailand where they DON'T have 200 baht pad thai (decent restaurants, lots of whitie pleasures etc.) You may not even want 200 baht pad thai, but you def want to be near it. I'd take a closet in Pattaya than a mansion Issan. Know thyself.

My wife got Dengue Fever in Luang Prubang (be cautious these days about poor places who may be skimping on mosquito abatement). A few months after she recovered, her hair problems popped up out of nowhere. About a third of her hair has broken off. It has gotten very brittle to the point where she dare not even brush it. At her hair salon, her stylist said that this is a common side effect of Dengue and may last for 2 years! Some people lose 70% of their hair. Youtube further advises not stress hair by putting it in a pony tail, or using a hair dryer. She has been using Aveda hair bond-building products and found them helpful (and expensive: 1700 baht for a small bottle of serum). Old fashioned castor oil also helps. Anyone here have experience with Dengue Hair loss?

I'm in Morocco. Our guide did this yesterday. I've seen it done in the semi-terrifying Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali too. Bob, you're behind the curve on this one. We're talking about monkey-zinging, not monkey-killing.

Completely impossible to sit still during this

"I have nothing to say. And my wife won't talk to me. So here I am".

Funny article on Slate about Republican's fierce -and growing- opposition to recreational sex. That's why I find faux-conservatives who moved to Thailand just to (finally) shag something thin hilarious in their signing on to this dim-witted puritanism -which again, they don't even believe in. Is this the most goofy of their many turkeys voting for Christmas contortions? But back to the topic. I'm still involved a bit with a refugee resettlement organization. Those people are the most apolitical I have ever met. Refugee's will go anywhere and do anything. I've seen them bring back moribund Trumpian S-holes from collapse. They're not "poisoning the blood", they're doing your laundry. TrumpTrash don't want to get laid and they don't want their laundry done. What exactly do they want? I keep asking, but they never say. I think it's down to them mistaking their dopey, made up rage for a testosterone surge. Like the retards here who impotently physically threaten me on the internet. Like a giant boxing glove on a spring is going to pop out of my laptop screen and (finally) "deliver retribution", like they love to say. Too funny. No need to flee the HandMaiden State of Alabama to move overseas. Just go somewhere where they're not suffering Jesus Derangement Syndrome. Generally speaking, you can leave these dumps and just drive 200 miles to a blue-ish suburb.

I'm with you. We do well Air BnBing our house. And we have some trees to sell in a few years. Otherwise, I'm running out the door for good behind you.

You're too into this stuff. You go straight to butt hurt. Every. Time. Where's the bantz?

He pretends to care. I guess the connubial bliss light bulb has gone off. For good.

It amuses me that in 8+ years, none of you nitwits could think up joke #2. I'm just gonna write off your autism-speak of "Orange Man Bad".

I guess I might qualify. The Covid decimation of my Appalachian county (one in four dead) and the subsequent local health system collapse was a primary cause of our move. But that was only tangentially connected to Fattie. We'd made our peace with the Lord Lovers and fake militia cammo wearers long ago. We called them: Family. I see Latte sippers moving to a blue state instead of overseas. As long as I'm here, Morocco is up and coming as retirement place for Frenchies. Problems: A grand a month to rent an apartment in Casablanca in a whitie-friendly area. Where you'd want to be to be near so-so health care.

The culture of Buddhism, the practice of meditation, is something that a lot of people like me like about Buddhism in Thailand. By Thai Buddhist standards, a California-style Buddhist is to a local Buddhist what a quaker would be to a catholic. Caveat: I am not a Buddhist. Conservative interest in other cultures is at the level of: "It's poisoning our blood" (hilarious real quote).

People don't move for political reasons unless they're dodging a holocaust. Fattie's not my flavor, but he's too inept for that.

Thai cultural interest means you're Buddhism-friendly. That's about 99.99% liberal-oriented in the west. -In the west.

Uh, I just did. Right above you.

Jingting is one of half a dozen posters here who inspired me to post here after a decade of lurking. So I don't want to derail his thread into just laughing at Trump people here. -PLUS, so much of their ardor feels weirdly performative. They hold armloads of fairly liberal positions on everything from healthcare to gun control. And then travel, which real republicans never do. Finally, they are very suspiciously Jesus-lite. I've asked about this dozens of times, and they always turn into Marcel Marceau when pressed. I suspect that they are just lazy faux-contrarians. Back on topic, ONLY liberals care about Thai culture or cultural anything. Conservatives are truly just here for the cheap noodles and willing women. As I tour Morocco, I am extremely unlikely to encounter a republican. Liberals in general are more likely to be expats for that reason. Then pretend-conservatives like we find here, and then finally, ex-military who are likely to have some former connection to a place they expat to.