rudi49jr

Speed limits are already so very well complied with here in Thailand by the overwhelming majority of drivers. Not! When you enter a town or village, there are always traffic signs: “Town limit. Reduce speed!”. After coming to Thailand for almost 40 years, I have yet to meet the first driver who actually reduces speed. If anything, they will speed up. On Phetchkasem Road in Hua Hin, near the airport (where I am now) they zip by at 80-100 miles an hour, and lunatics on their big bikes will even go a lot faster. Not a cop in sight, so nothing to worry about.

Exactly. I truly believe that most Thai are pyromaniacs at heart, they just enjoy burning things. When I lived in CM, all my neighbors burned their waste, even when the air quality was already abysmal. One neighbor would rake the dead leaves and everything in his garden every day and then burn whatever he had raked together. And this was a professor at CMU. Either they don’t see the damage they’re doing, or they just don’t a give a damn. My money is on the latter.

Beg to differ. Joe Biden is not a strong president by any stretch of the imagination, but at least he has never professed any interest in becoming a dictator, pulling out of NATO, becoming best mates with Putin, Kim and suchlike, overturning the result of an election, going after everyone who has ever slighted him in the least, giving huge tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires, letting corporate America rule (i.e. destroy) the country or becoming the almighty sun king of the entire universe. Give me a few minutes and I’m sure I can come up with at least 10 more very good reasons why it’s always better NOT to vote for Trump.

“Justice Minister: Thaksin's Release Status Still Pending” Of course it is! I’m sure negotiations are still in full swing as to how much Thaksin is going to pay to whom to get the de-luxe treatment. Things like that take time, no doubt.

How a girl/woman can pimp out other girls/women is beyond me.

There is some type of garbage collection, but I see (and smell) lots of people burning their waste, so maybe people have to pay for it? Last time I was here was 13 years ago and I don’t remember it being this bad back then. The air quality is also a lot worse than it was 13 years ago. All I know is that I won’t be coming back any time soon.

If I were living here I maybe would have done that, but I’m here for just a few weeks. Besides, I don’t want any trouble with any Thai. I keep reading on this forum that, as a farang, you should never get involved in a fight or an argument with a Thai, because you’re going to lose, no matter what.

It’s time for some harsh penalties, so that these a-holes stop burning. Same with people burning their waste. I am in a condo in Hua Hin right now, and every morning the neighbor burns his waste, covering the whole condo building in smoke. What’s amazing to me is that nobody says anything about it, apparently it’s totally fine to burn your waste and let dozens of people choke on the smoke that causes. Completely ridiculous.

Oh goody, I see all the resident climate experts (i.e. climate deniers), who think they know what they’re talking about, are chiming in, as per usual. I always wonder how these people can think they actually know better than the vast majority of climate scientists who have often been studying this for decades.

When you’re driving a car or minivan as fast (and incompetent) as most Thai drive, that is certainly true. I have done the Mae Hong Son loop a few times on my motorbike, going maybe 50/60 kilometers an hour at the most, making a 3-4 day trip of it, and I found it quite relaxing. Not a lot of traffic most of the time and in between looking ahead and in the rear view mirrors so as to spot potentially crazy drivers well in time, there’s plenty of time to admire to gorgeous scenery. The challenging road is part of the fun, but you have to keep your wits about you and stay alert.

The boy needs a drastic attitude adjustment. His parents need to be sued for a considerable amount of money, and they need to make sure the boy gets some kind of psychological treatment. Because if he thinks it’s okay to do something like this at the age of 10/11, there’s obviously something seriously mentally wrong with this kid. Like there probably is with a lot of spoiled Thai boys, regardless of their age.

Taylor Swift just won her 13th and 14th Grammy, by the way, and makes Grammy history with her fourth ‘album of the year’ win. That’s gotta p!ss off some of those MAGA conspiracy theory believers. Not to mention a couple of members on this forum. But I’m sure they’ll find a way to spin it. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/02/04/taylor-swift-wins-grammys-2024-midnights/72425158007/

I’m currently in Hua Hin, in a condo near the airport. I ride my motorbike into town nearly every day, and then of course back to my condo. There are so many cars, mainly old diesel pickups, belching out enormous black clouds of smoke. But the RTP apparently have different things on their mind. Last time I was here there were frequent roadblocks/checkpoints, where they collected ‘tea money’ from motorbike riders not wearing helmets, but they don’t even seem to do that anymore. My guess is they probably found a more profitable - and less conspicuous- racket, because I hardly see them around anymore. Anyway, they can make all the laws, rules and regulations they want: if they’re not going to be enforced, what’s the point? But that’s Thailand for you: all talk, promises, committees, crackdowns and whatnot, but at the end of the day, nothing really changes.

Of course. Everything MAGA doesn’t like (which there is a lot of) or more likely doesn’t understand, is now labeled ‘woke’. When asked what woke was, though, Ron DeSantis couldn’t even define woke. Even though his goal for when he was to become president was ‘to destroy the left and the woke ideology’. Talk about your Don Quixote fighting the windmills.

Always with the ‘both sides are equally bad’. I’m quite sure the crazies are pretty much concentrated on one side of the aisle. MAGA minds seem to have a real knack for coming up with the most outrageous lies and conspiracy theories. Case in point: this insane MAGA conspiracy theory involving Taylor Swift.

Thailand is getting awfully chummy with Russia, strengthening ties and whatnot. The Thai powers that be probably don’t want to rock that boat and decided to just get rid of them. Out of sight, out of mind, or something to that effect….

When are they going to seriously go after people like this? Because all they probably get is a slap on the wrist, a small fine and maybe ‘moved to an inactive post’ (never really understood what that means), so there is absolutely no deterrent not to engage in this kind of activity, as the rewards greatly outweigh any possible penalty. I do realize that when they do seriously start going after this kind of corruption, at least half the government workforce would be out of a job, or in jail, where they belong.

You mean the entertainment celebrity Donald Trump, who thinks he actually knows what he’s talking about?

Thanks for the link. You’re always free to ask. Ask and ye shall receive….

So can I. But if you don’t provide a link as to who these very competent attorneys are you say Trump now has, who apparently work on an upfront retainer basis, I’m just supposed to take your work for it?

And you know that how? Trump always says he hires only the best people. Until a few days/weeks/months after he hired them, he fires them (or they quit) and he publicly torches and crucifies them as being the worst ever at their job. Yet somehow that doesn’t seem to register with the MAGA folk.

Maybe you should wake up and smell the roses….

Did they also catch the police and or army officers who received the (huge) kickbacks to look the other way? Funny how you never hear anything about that…….

You guys crack me up. Calling Democrats marxist, communist, socialist just demonstrates that you have absolutely no idea what marxist, communist and socialist mean, and you’re just repeating the moronic talking points provided to you by Trump and his minions. It is really beyond me how someone can support Trump and at the same time claim to be a patriot, a defender of democracy and the constitution. Those two things are simply incompatible.

My bet’s on Trump not being able to keep his trap shut and it’s going to be more than $86.3 million. Someone probably took his phone and computer away from him (or tied his hands behind his back), otherwise I suspect he would have already posted dozens of slanderous posts on Truth Social.