davb

It can still be done and I just sent a box to Los Angeles from Bangkok. The restrictions I had to follow: An unsolicited gift Value less than $100 It's really easy. You have to go to this website where there is a form to fill out your Thai address and the destination, plus they have a customs form where you list each item and the value: https://dpostinter.thailandpost.com/ Print it out and take the paper along with the unwrapped items to the local Post Office. I bought a box there. The employees look through the stuff and then will pack the box, add bubble wrap, and then tape the box closed. The one drawback is the expense. For a 24x40x17 cm box under 2 kg, my cost was 2,600 baht. Way more than the gifts were worth and I probably won't do it again unless sending something really valuable.

And thank goodness the crazy recycling is mostly over. It was inflaming the OCD in people and making the rest of us miserable as we had to join in with them.

China has the most prostitutes in the world at around 5 million. Can you imagine what would happen if all those men didn't have a release?

So how does this work? Do you allow her in your place if you aren't there? Do you require an STD check before or soon after?

This is a warning sign because if they can't fund the government deficit, things will get bad soon: Thailand’s sale of 30-year bonds on Wednesday drew the weakest demand in at least six years Bangkok Post - Downgrade worries weaken Thai bond demand

I asked Perplexity AI to analyze the photo and determine if it was a backdrop. This is the answer: From what can be seen in this specific photo, the background looks much more like a printed or painted backdrop than a real location they are physically standing in. Depth and sharpness The people are sharp and have clear depth and contour, but the entire background has a flat, uniformly “soft” quality, without the gradual change in focus you would expect from real distant objects. The water, building, and trees all share the same slightly blurred, low‑detail look, consistent with a large printed photo or mural rather than an actual scene with depth. Lighting and interaction The lighting on the people appears consistent with indoor or covered lighting: even, without strong directional shadows from a sun overhead or behind them, and the light on their clothing does not match any clear light direction in the background. At their feet there is no visible transition from ground into grass/soil; the “scenery” begins abruptly just behind their legs, which is typical when people stand on a floor in front of a large printed image. Edges and overall impression The edges of their heads and shoulders stand out crisply against a relatively uniform, low‑contrast background, again matching how people appear when posed in front of a backdrop. The composition (a perfectly framed landscape with a building and lake behind a tight line of people) is also characteristic of posed shots taken in front of a studio‑style or institutional photo wall. So while nothing is absolutely certain from a single image, the visual evidence here strongly favors that they are standing in front of a backdrop image of a park or institutional grounds, not physically in that outdoor location.

The data center buildouts do concern me - I think it's for a massive expansion of surveillance and the AI hype is an attempt to cover for it.

Different video format here Highcraft.mp4

If you like indoor grown flower, check out Highcraft Dispensary in Bangkok. The first floor is the dispensary, second floor is a smoking lounge, and floors 3 and 4 are their grow rooms and open to the public so you can check out the quality of the plants. Here is how they looked the other day: IMG_0121.mov

I think this means they will have to crack down on small bank account holders even more.

Yes. For a while they wanted a picture of your passport, but for at least the stores I've been to they don't do that anymore either.

Are there any recommended places to eat at in Bangkok for Thanksgiving that make it at least a little bit special? Under 1,500 baht, doesn't have to include turkey.

We all have a general idea already of the groups behind the crime in Thailand. Why not go ahead and go after them? They are just seeking total control over everyone and everyone's transactions.

The clinic in my Bangkok neighborhood treats bad cases of the flu by injecting the sick patient with the latest flu vaccine. The doctor there heard the shot helps your body fight the flu, so she uses it as a treatment. People really need to get past their mystical belief in vaccines because doing this (injecting three or four additional flu strains into the body when it is already sick) is deeply detrimental.

Governments just need to get out of the way. Doesn't need much money except perhaps for a court system to enforce contracts, police, military, and maybe a couple other things (but not education). Then just let the free market take off.

Is the sex trade a big part of this? Eliminate that, and what happens to tourism? I think it plummets because of the reasons everyone lists above.

Yes - the app has an option in Settings to automatically save each transaction slip. However, I tried to take a screenshot and got this ...

I use the Bangkok Bank app on an iPhone. I have the latest version of the app and used it last night. It saved a photo of the transaction to my photos. Maybe there is a setting that controls this?

Congress ordered the release of the JFK files back in 1992 and that still hasn't happened in its entirety, so I don't think it will happen in any meaningful way regardless of what gets passed.

Why do you need the screenshots? Not arguing against it, but for me each transaction is saved in my photos so I never had a need to do it.

Isn't it a hub for US spying? Giant embassy, plus CIA blacksites for torturing the people who need it. Those things can be moved elsewhere, but where?

The government bond auction went fine in October. It's mostly Thai institutions buying those bonds, but for now the government can keep running. Of course, if they reach the point where they can't pay back the banks and pension funds who fund all of this, then it gets really bad. https://www.thaibma.or.th/EN/News/Detail.aspx?id=8ff59fb6-77a9-f011-a332-c628486116e1

I remember during one of the Iraq wars the absolute dismay of many National Guardsmen that they actually had to go and fight.

Similar with me. I stopped the alcohol maybe five months ago and now need to buy new shorts (stopped sugar and most carbs as well). I do miss it, a little. How do men here 60 and above still drink and not get fat?

I had to wonder if China ruined its rice fields and has worse problems that Thailand.