Nid_Noi

..you may add to the Air pollution the garbage along the streets and the roads. Hua Hin becomes a dump with many shanty districts. Constructions are done without building permits, no exotic architecture but density taking over quality. Many expats and tourists live in worse environmental conditions than in their countries of origin. Most of my golfer friends came once to not return. All complained about the filthy roads they travelled to reach the Golf courses. Sewage odors in certain downtown areas are not inviting to have lunch or dinner. Before expanding the airport they should improve the street network and finish the upgrade of the railway line…but it seems the “high speed train” stopped at the Malaysian and Laotian borders.

It happened to me once at the airport, the debit card had expired. I never paid attention to the expiry date.

The Kbank debit card has no link with your SIM card, only the K+ application is formatted using your SIM card to post debit and credit opérations as well as transfers, utilities bills, etc...

They did not mention if these planes were landing or taking off…or in transit to their final destinations. You may add all the cargo planes loading and unloading during the night. Also domestic flights are just moving people across Thailand but do not add any new foreigners into the country.

It has been many moons since an IO said “please” or “Welcome to…” . In the late 60s and early 70s Thai immigration officers at Don Mueang used to say: “Welcome to Thailand” with a smile but is Thailand still the Land of Smiles? Also the use of “Please” seems to have been eradicated from Thai people’s mouth in general. In the contrary the use of “Sorry” has been abused.

Too many Muslim politicians of Pakistani origins, all members or former members of the Labour Party starting with the mayor of London Sadiq Khan and the former first minister of Scotland Humsa Yousaf.

Average height of the ice sheet is 2500 meters with a maximum of 4800 meters in the Terre Adelie (French Antarctic Settlement). magnetic compass needles always point to the south magnetic pole because because the magnetic field lines run from the north magnetic pole to the south magnetic pole. Basic 101 course in navigation.

Nowadays most of the continent is accessible to visitors, alpinists or “scientific expeditions”. If you have the financial means you may organize a trek to the South Pole from a coastal base, 350 people did the trek alone or in group. Some did trek across the whole continent others drove from the North Pole to the South Pole (Chris and Julie Ramsey with an electric Nissan Ariya).

105000 tourists visited Antarctica in 2022, an increase of 40% compared to 2020. There are 3 main runways in Antarctica: the famous Ice runway at McMurdo Station (USA), the Williams field (USA) and the Wilkins runway (Australia). You can add Paulus Skiway, Novo Airbase, Casey Station Skiway, Phoenix Airfield, Rothera Point Airport, Teniente Marsh Airport (the last two are on the Antarctic Peninsula operated by Argentina and Chile). Charter flights are organized from Chile (Punta Arenas), New Zealand and South Africa. Just need to book your trip through a tour operator. For alpinists who want to add to their list the successful climbs of the highest mountains on each continent several operators organize your ascent for more or less US$50K with flight to the Union Glacier (Ilyushin Il-76 Cargo) then to the Vinson base camp with a DH Twin Otter on skis (1 hour flight) then the climb of Mt. Vinson. Antartica is not what it used to be, cost of the trips is what limits the number of visitors (8 days cruise through the Drake Passage and fly back to Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales roughly US$14K; only requirement tour operators need to make sure no garbage is left behind, medical assistance is available on cruise ships in order to avoid expensive evacuation and visitors do not stress the local wild life. Now flights to the South Pole are available in December and January from Cape Town or Punta Arenas. Price from US$63K to US$105K. Number of visitors are restricted to 500 due to limited accommodations.

You can keep water pressure if water reservoirs are well stocked, number of pumps are designed in relation to diameter of the pipes and their numbers are sufficient for the network they are supposed to cover. Plenty electricity is required to make the system efficient. Maybe one day California will invest in more desalination plants. The 5 actual plants have not the necessary capacities and the 2 projects voted in 2015, expected to be in operation in 2022 have been delayed until 2028. Another factor is the cost of electricity (the most expensive in the US). These plants need an additional nuclear generation plant to be 100% operational. https://lynceans.org/all-posts/status-of-desalination-plants-in-california-2/#:~:text=Sand City Coastal Desalination Plant in Monterey County was the,acre-feet%2Fyear). California has only one nuclear plant with only 2 reactors (the Diablo Canyon). Since the 1970s many plants have been decommissioned after ecologists have fought against nuclear energy. No energy, no fire hydrants. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_California

When you pay the insane amount of realty taxes, municipal, state and federal taxes Californians pay each year and you can’t get decent police and fire prevention services you are entitled to some explanations from your local politicians. At least a Texan was smart enough to show how to prevent his Malibu Beach house to be consumed to the ground. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14272575/trash-tycoon-david-steiner-reveals-malibu-house-survived-la-fires.html?ito=email_share_article-floatingBar

…also family pressure. Met a few Europeans who had to cancel their retirement plans in Thailand, their adult kids could not managed their lives without help (marriage, divorce, grand-kids, finances, jobs, finances, etc…). These people had to divert a fair amount of their retirement budget to help their kids.

If you can afford « jetting » don’t stop or you’ll hit the downslope. At least Thailand could be considered a hub for the Far-East and SE Asia. So many exciting places between the Indian and Pacific Oceans can be reached with less than 4 hours flight time. We still have Bhutan and the Indian surrounding areas as well as the Chinese Yunnan province on our shopping list. It will compensate for my lack of Alps and Rocky Mountains landscapes.

Your post is applicable to most countries in today’s world. Why do you want to cut your life expectancy by 25% unless you are at the helm of a country whose decisions have no meaning on the world stage. Who thought Swedish PM Olof Palme could be assassinated in 1986 while walking with his wife downtown Stockholm or Shinzo Abe during a political event in Nara prefecture? I am not speaking about the 4 US presidents assassinated or the attempts on 4 other presidents (which failed obviously).

At least Trump managed to have people speak about him and his grandiose projects. People need to dream about exceptionnel ventures. This is why Hollywood had its best times when they produced odysseys of conquest with megastars. Something Biden failed gloriously at. Nobody is interested in DEI, ESG or transgenderism. After all the fake Nobel Peace prizes given to Arafat, Peres, Rabin, Kofi Annan, the UN, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Obama, etc…Trump got nothing for the Abraham Accord. Normalization and recognition between Israel and the Emirates with so many benefits coming out of those incredible partnerships. Peace treaties signed between UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan were deemed impossible as well as diplomatic representations, etc… Even if Trump succeeds partially it shows the world that each human people needs to dream bigger to be successful and not wait sitting on his *ss for any social benefit coming from your gender, sexual orientation or skin colour.