thaibeachlovers

No reputable airline will fly a sick person for same price as regular passenger without a fit to fly certificate. I guess anyone without insurance is not planning on surviving a severe heart attack or a serious stroke.

If that was his choice to live like that who is anyone else to denigrate him for it? It's no business of anyone else. I certainly never went out of my way to be like a Thai. I was there for my benefit, not anyone else's. However, if he hadn't made his son learn English then he was a bit sad IMO. What happened to kids learning English at school?

Fair enough. I don't think many men that went nursing with that in mind would last long. The job isn't just mopping fevered brows and looking pretty for the Drs. It's darn hard work and not well rewarded. I don't think I went home on time very often either. When I started in the 80s, I worked in the largest hospital in NZ and there were only 6 males out of 900 nurses. Wasn't till I worked in London that I met many male nurses and they were mainly from the Philippines. I guess some non nurse men have images of male nurses having the time of their life, but far from the truth for those I knew.

and sometimes not so funny. In Nana I was once accosted by a girl that I'd taken out years before, but the time had not been kind to her. Perhaps she was on drugs, but she looked awful. I was going to give her 1000 baht just out of pity, but she demanded 500, so I gave her that instead. Quite sad as her sister, that I had also taken out, had died in a m'bike accident.

That often happened to me in bars if I was tardy about asking a lass to accompany me to the hotel. Happy days back then when the girls really were slim and attractive, and the punters outnumbered the girls.

She managed to communicate to me she had a boyfriend who had broken her heart. When I started visiting Thailand, I spent a lot of time in Tilac gogo on Cowboy ( way back before it went all blue and chrome and horrid. Got talking to a nice lass who told me that she was there because her farang husband died. Very sad. Even now I don't think she was making it up, as that sort of sadness can't be pretend. When I came back to Thailand six months later, she was gone. Every nice bargirl I enjoyed being with on one visit was gone the next time I returned to LOS, except for a couple that I had extended relationships with over the years, but eventually even they vanished from my life.

Strange statement. I never got involved with anyone I worked with, and I was actually with someone when I started nursing. I went nursing to help people, believe it or not. BTW, nursing stopped me thinking that women were special. Being bullied by female managers probably gave me my attitude to women now.

I guess that to anyone that lives in fun devoid Chiang Mai Pattaya must seem like Sodom or Gommoroh, but I doubt it really was similar. In some ways it was quite tame.

They regretted it when the sterile fun devoid island they created started to lose its appeal to tourists. I understand they tried to rectify the situation, but I've never been back to find out if they were successful. The nights I spent in Bugis Street were mind blowing to a young lad from NZ. I never even knew what a lady boy was before I went there. Every night was a blast though. Happy nights them.

Agreed. Pattaya was a fun place I liked to go.

Red top papers refers to British newspapers that concentrate on lurid stories of sex and scandal. Not regarded as particularly factual. They like to portray Pattaya as worse than Sodom or Gommoroh.

I don't care either way, as I long ago accepted that I'll get it and probably be a casualty, or I won't and either option will be just life as a gamble.

Changed my mind on that post

Yes, because we live in an island nation far far away that was easy to quarantine, but IMO the bad effects on societal cohesion will be severe. BTW, it's likely that they just postponed widespread infection. We are currently being warned to expect many infections now that omicron is loose in the community.

As one that is actually living in NZ, I disagree that it was "OK". Far from IMO. I'm not alone in that either, by far. However, I doubt they publish the opinions of those that disagree with our "leader". I suspect that we will be living with the detrimental societal effects of government policies for far too long in the future.

IMO they resorted to knee jerk policies because they wanted to be seen to be doing something. I don't think it's a secret that I was of the opinion that Sweden got it right, at the beginning.

I knew what the result of lockdowns etc would be and I'm sure I posted such when it all began. However, if I knew, governments must have known as well. Sadly none that I know of did anything to deal with the consequences of their actions at the beginning when they had time to get it right.

Exactly. The virus didn't introduce lockdowns etc. That was down to government reactions to the virus. Same in every country that introduced lockdown type reponses IMO.

I hope you told his son to ask his mother or father as to why. It's their business and no one else's. BTW, getting too friendly with another man's wife is a sure way to be never invited back ever again. Happened to me.

Agree with that. However, as no one in the area I live in has covid of any variety, it's highly unlikely I'll contract it any time soon. I'd certainly rather have omicron than delta, and even in NZ it's likely that most of us will, eventually, get one or another version. I can't see how we can avoid it indefinitely, given they want to open the country to overseas visitors some time.

IMO the only action to take if one has good evidence of trolling is to use the report function. Surely that is one of the reasons for its existence. Slagging other posters off does nothing but lead to bickering and deletions. I enjoy the personal aspect of many posts and I hope it continues. I, and I'm sure many, come on here for more than just boring facts. So long as people follow forum rules it should be OK to do so, within limits.

As delving into the "benefits" of the vaccines might find me on holiday, I'll have to pass on replying more fully.

I agree, but the forum would be very dull if we only stuck to the facts and I dare say some of us just wouldn't bother any more. I don't mind if other posters discuss personal details I put in my posts, but I do object to being insulted or called a troll. There is never ever an excuse for being personally rude or insulting any other poster on this forum.

I learned enough Thai to get by in a few years and I wasn't even living there. Simple sentences dealing with such necessities as "where is the toilet" and being able to go shopping etc are all that some of us needed to live in LOS. I never had a problem in restaurants because I learned to ask for fried rice chicken, and they serve that in just about every restaurant I ever went in. Didn't need any more choices than that. In food courts I'd get something else, but they usually had menus in English, or pictures of the choices.

No, because if I couldn't leave it I'd slit my wrists- I did live in a village for a while, and that was enough experience for one lifetime. Personally I didn't care what they thought of me in a country where I had to go to immigration every 3 months to stay in. I was an alien and they made <deleted> sure I knew it. If they cared about us, they'd make it worth while learning the language, but IMO they don't care if we are there or not ( as long as we leave lotsacash before we depart ).