thaibeachlovers

The alternative, since elephants are no longer required for logging, is to do such shows for tourists, or be put to death IMO. Elephants cost a lot to look after, and if they don't earn their living, they will not be cared for. I read about one elephant that was chained up to a tree in a wat because no one wanted it- now that IMO is cruel. Release into the jungle is not really viable, if only because domesticated elephants probably wouldn't survive anyway.

Even people never worked a day for pay in their lives get NHS treatment free at point of delivery, but you knew that.

Well, have you considered that the vaccines apparently require multiple doses, in some cases 3 and maybe more after to come. The examples you give required one. Cost alone indicates that poor countries will simply be unable to afford to vaccinate their entire population multiple times- I believe some companies increased their prices recently. IMO western taxpayers will not accept paying for everyone in poor countries, which is apparently what some organisations want. BTW, in some countries, some children are apparently not vaccinated for polio because of religious beliefs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727330/ Religious opposition by Muslim fundamentalists is a major factor in the failure of immunization programs against polio in Nigeria (2), Pakistan (3) and Afghanistan

IMO, NO. They know that fakes are easily available in LOS. Better have more than a piece of paper.

Sinovac is not available where I live.

Good luck getting all 8 billion ( and increasing ) people on the planet vaccinated.

Many like myself put any hotel they found on The Lonely Planet as the initial address, but looked for a place after they arrived. How about those that don't want to wait in Bkk first night but catch the train to the south ( or north ). Will "on train somewhere between Bkk and Surathani" suffice? Surely they can't be serious about wanting tourists if they keep inventing new BS like this?

quote Posted many times. end quote Well excuse me for not bothering to read every post of every thread on this subforum.

It was never necessary to have 800,000 all year to extend when I was doing it, just for the 3 months prior to application. Some of the posts on here imply it is necessary all year. Is that true?

Serious. No one ever forced me to buy a lady drink.

Apologies, but I only mentioned nasty women, and I meant to include the most unattractive collection of pathetic dweeb men I've ever had the misfortune to see, as well

I was being specific about paying to view, which isn't necessary when plenty of free stuff on the internet.

Didn't have to pay bargirls to talk to me, though I wasn't really interested in talking with them anyway. I'd usually play connect 4 or the other games with one, and if they'd been nice I'd pay for a drink as a "tip".

There's a reason I'd never pay to look at women on line, regardless of what they are doing, and I doubt I'm the only one. If the best a guy can get is some on line pay per view, it's a bit sad, IMO.

Likewise in Lamphun, which is quite large. The bar scene along the river is purely Thai centric as hardly any farangs live in Lamphun. A few Thai nightclubs with the obligatory deafening music, but no gogos when I lived there.

Um, none of them HAVE to turn to prostitution, and the vast majority of Thai women never do. Pretty girls have the opportunity, IMO, to earn way above what they would in the rice fields, building sites, in a sweat shop or as a maid, so they take took the easy way to get lotsacash.

I assume you meant Patpong, and not the beach in Phuket. It was still alive last time I bothered going there, but the horrid night market put me off that street.

School was manure 60 years ago. Nothing changes except the faces.

Given it's unlikely Thailand will attract "higher quality" ( read rich ) tourists, do you think they'll resort to the tried and true methods of extracting farangs from their money?

I had the awful experience of seeing an hour long tv episode of a show I wanted to see ( the show was good, but not so the ads ), with all the ads that come with it. Apart from the ads going on seemingly forever, the "promos" for the shows that were playing later on in the day featured the most unattractive collection of nasty women I've ever had the misfortune to see. As it is horrible to even think about them, I'll not go into more specific detail.

I guess you never grew up in America. It happened there, but not where I lived and nuclear war was not something I ever thought about as a child.

I thought I read a post of yours not so long ago that said you were posting less in future? Most of us will die before we get old enough to die peacefully in bed, but we'll have to be unfortunate to die in WW3.

Of course it does.

Most men could "cavorte" with prostitutes in their own country. Do they inform family and friends about it?

Yes, and it was still worth it, and if I only wanted an hour I'd have stayed home.