thaibeachlovers

Is that NOW? If so, do you expect it to remain cheap after covid is over and things get back to some sort of normal? Inflation is probably going to hit Greece just as it is hitting elsewhere. Prices are going mad in NZ, houses are unaffordable for any but the rich, and petrol goes up in price seemingly every time I go past a service station. Bad times are coming IMO. Personally, I won't be making any life changing decisions till covid is well and truly over.

Hardly any. Generally everything worked, and the rooms were cleaned properly. Some were not but that was rare.

??????????????????? Not on Penang they weren't. I had a tiny room in a guest house that cost way more than a decent hotel room in Thailand ( not in Bkk though, but Penang would be the equivalent of Pattaya, and Pattaya hotel rooms definitely cheaper ). Perhaps KL is equivalent to Bkk, but I didn't stay in Bkk much either.

Agree for the most part, except if I was a woman I'd never get impregnated. I've seen too many births that were less than desirable to ever go through that myself. Perhaps I could adopt a couple instead, but would they give the free bees if I hadn't popped them out myself?

I had a long time Thai GF that worked on Soi Cowboy that asked me for a loan. I agreed to lend her the money, and the next time I returned to Thailand I was going to give it to her. She declined as she had already paid for whatever it was. Was she the only honest bar girl in Thailand? Sadly my wife wasn't as inclined to honesty.

I obviously don't know any feminists then. No woman I know does any of that sort of thing. Perhaps feminists are women that live anywhere but where I have lived, and I've lived in a lot of places, and worked with hundreds if not thousands of women in my long nursing career. Not one of them ever said they were going to go help at the shelter for abused women, or similar. Just thought of this- perhaps I don't know any feminists because all the women I have known worked for a living. Feminists seem to be those that don't have real jobs or are married to men that support them so they have time to be out helping at shelters for abused women or suchlike.

I grew up watching ads on tv that made Mr Average out to be a complete loser. Watch enough and they probably think it's true, and no one likes a loser. Also if you grow up thinking that your whole life is about marrying Prince Charming, and he turns out to be a frog, it must have a profound effect on your entire psyche. Rather than blaming themselves for believing in a myth, they turn their disappointment on the poor sucker they married and make his life a misery. My first partner used to tell me I was perfect ( at the start of our relationship ), but no one is, and the only direction from perfection is down.

You drank water from the tap in the UK? I only drank the water I got from the hospital that had been filtered. The tap water tasted vile. Even now I only drink water that comes out of the ground on a farm- no added chemicals, and tastes great. The stuff out of the tap stinks of chlorine, and they add fluoride for teeth. If I want to put fluoride in my body I'll buy it separately.

IMO any idea that the seriously rich would visit Thailand as tourists is something that will never be more than a dream for those that would profit from them.

Link to a reputable source re the sexual abuse claim. IMO not true. I don't know anyone that was subject to domestic violence, or murdered by spouse and if as high as you claim I'm sure I would. In NZ men and women get the same rate of pension, etc. I was paid exactly the same as females doing the same job there and in the UK.

I always separate American people from the US government. I found the Americans I knew to be very pleasant people, but when one is considering the US government I remember Chile 1973 and Nicaragua/ contras etc.

The big drawback of any western country is that they are IMO too expensive ( poor people can't afford to live properly in NZ any more, so I don't understand how any not wealthy would be immigrants would even consider it ), and too boring. Eating in restaurants is not my idea of living the dream, and I've never been into getting drunk for fun. If someone is wealthy, I don't believe that they can't live better in LOS than anywhere else on the planet, and I very much doubt that the rich have a problem with immigration.

I was put off Langkawi when I found out there is no public bus service there, and have to use taxis.

"Glory days"???????????????? How long ago were they? I've been visiting and living in Thailand for many decades, but I don't remember any "glory days". Perhaps staying in an atap A frame and sharing a camp bathroom with cold water and squat toilets qualifies as "glory days" for some, but I preferred hot water and an ensuite hut, and by the time they were readily available the really great beaches were already being covered by concrete and the flashpackers were jacking up the prices. BTW, the only problems I ever had were with Thai scammers and the decrepit transport.

They employed many thousands of Thais in guest houses, cheap restaurants, travel agencies, taxi drivers, bus companies, longtails etc etc etc. Rich people ( and the seriously rich will never IMO want to visit Thailand anyway when they can go to Dubai or the Maldives etc instead ) will never IMO employ as many low status Thais as the budget tourists that you so obviously despise. If a sizable chunk of poor Thais income ( in better times ) is removed, they are consigned to the low paid ranks of sweat shop workers or maids ( I wouldn't wish maid service on anyone I cared about, and yes I know girls that left the bar to become maids. They were back in the bars quick quick ) etc.

Can't see that happening. Sensible governments IMO have realised the mandates, lockdowns, travel restrictions etc were causing too many problems and are backing away, as in the UK. IMO should never have happened in the first place. Sweden had it almost right, IMO.

Given why many of us retired to LOS I very much doubt there is an equivalent scene anywhere else that is as safe. I gather Mexico has such, but also maniacal gangsters.

Perhaps some would prefer Malaysia to Thailand, but I did a visa run to Penang a few years ago and it sucks very very badly IMO. Had to pay waaaaay more for a tiny bedroom in a guest house than I'd pay for a better hotel room in Pattaya or Chiang Mai, the place was completely boring because bars and such are obviously not allowed. Even Maccers in the shopping mall was a joke- I had to pay extra to eat in the restaurant, and satay, which I had hoped to eat while there was way too expensive. The beaches were rubbish and horrible. People complain about dual pricing in Thailand, but try going on the cable car and you'll never complain about Thailand prices again. If I couldn't live in LOS I'd never consider Malaysia as an alternative.

?????? Some one working in Pattaya goes home to Hat Yai for the weekend while infected from a tourist, and passes it on to someone never left Hat Yai. I'm assuming that travel between Pattaya and Hat Yai is permitted.

Don't know the US at all. Other side of the world, but like you said, money love is everywhere.

Many do ( or did ) There is/ was at least one large expat club, and Pattaya has probably the best hospitals outside Bkk. If any elderly expat can't survive in Thailand on the pension they get from back home IMO they don't have a hope of doing so back home if they returned. I can't believe how expensive everything is in NZ and rent is fast becoming unaffordable, never mind groceries or petrol.

LOL. Governments used to do that all the time with such travesties as death duties that ruined many families. For all I know it still goes on in some countries.

Seriously? I know one such rather well.

Speaking as a nurse, I wish people would stop regarding nurses as some sort of higher being than "normal" people. They are just people like everyone else and like every occupation sometimes bad people end up as nurses. In this case, she might have been pushed to desperation by the IMO disaster that is the result of lockdowns. Everyone has a breaking point.

One always needs to remember that despite the US being a wealthy country, it has a vast population of poor people and a capitalist health system.