pomchop

Bangkok or Chiang Rai? Phuket or Issan? BIG difference in cost of living and lifestyles. Thailand has many many choices that will impact your budget significantly.

For far too many "positive thinking" seems to get all wrapped up in prayers. There is a difference between trying to look on the bright side of various events and begging invisible spirits to give u whatever it is you have deluded yourself into thinking prayer will give you.

Sadly many of the antivaxxers seem to love to argue for the sake of arguing....as my grandmother used to tell me don't try to tell me that water is not wet.

bub but but....my girl is different.....how many times have i heard that? was it ever true? maybe once in a blue moon but suckers...eh....guys do it everyday...do yourself a favor and if you are asked for a loan and want to do it make sure you establish upfront that is a GIFT cause most likely that is exactly what it will be....

i got a new i phone 6 battery from apple in Hawaii for $50. The old one was swelling up putting pressure on the screen. They told me that is a common cause of cracked screens and that i should not leave the charger plugged in all night every night but let the battery run down to less than 50% every now and then before recharging....no idea but that is what the technician at apple told me.

There are millions of people living worldwide that are up to their eyeballs in debt...some, not all, have little or no financial acumen, no abilitity to discern between what they want and what they need, and get sucked into buying all kinds of overpriced stuff through some strange desire to stroke their ego, keep up with the neighbors or from just plain lack of coherent budgeting and control . I have always found thailand to be very much more affordable than most other countries IF IF you can practice a bit of discipline and learn to live more like a local, forget about western food, forget about chasing the star of the bar, etc. Rents and repairs alone in Thailand are generally available at a fraction of the cost of similar in western countries. I have zero doubt that i could live til the end of my days quite comfortably in Thailand on what some would consider a relatively meager budget. If you want to live a western lifestyle spending $$ like a drunken sailor then don't be surprised when someday you realize you are broke.

Oh how I wish their was a vaccination against misinformation, conspiracy theories, rumours, and people who think that they know more than thousands of scientists and doctors worldwide who have studied viruses for decades and have mountains of data to support their recommendations.

plastic sandwich bag...problem solved

IF you will go back and read the quote i was responding to it was..."...Being vaccinated keeps you from getting sicker. It doesn't keep you from getting the virus, and doesn't keep you from passing the virus on." this is MISINFORMATION....vaccinations have been proven to reduce transmissions.....and yes i did include the "more important" part....

There is a massive built up demand for all kinds of trips worldwide. If and when covid is under control Thailand and hundreds of other destinations will be flooded with visitors. Airlines, hotels, cruise ships will all experience business booms for several years until the next calamity hits.

Check the difference in price for a round of golf in Hawaii (private or public course) for a local and a tourist.

From John Hopkins An effective vaccine will protect someone who receives it by lowering the chance of getting COVID-19 if the person encounters the coronavirus.

I was a volunteer english teacher for years in a rural Thai public school...never had a hint of a problem and in fact was treated as a VIP by the entire school staff for being jai dee....just don't go out of your way to be a jerk or step on toes etc and you will be fine...I never spent ten minutes worrying about it and in fact believe if anyone had tried to cause me problems the teachers and school admin would have defended me and stood up for me.....could i have gotten in trouble? I suppose so....Could i win the powerball jack pot? I suppose so.

i'll trust john hopkins who clearly state that the vaccines LOWER the chance of getting covid 19. From John Hopkins An effective vaccine will protect someone who receives it by lowering the chance of getting COVID-19 if the person encounters the coronavirus. More important is whether the vaccine prevents serious illness, hospitalization and death. At this time, all three vaccines are highly efficacious at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Widespread vaccination means the coronavirus will not infect as many people. This will limit spread through communities and will restrict the virus’s opportunity to continue to mutate into new variants.

repeatedly told by whom? some obscure web crackpots site or fox news?. .i'll trust john hopkins who clearly state that the vaccines LOWER the chance of getting covid 19. From John Hopkins An effective vaccine will protect someone who receives it by lowering the chance of getting COVID-19 if the person encounters the coronavirus. More important is whether the vaccine prevents serious illness, hospitalization and death. At this time, all three vaccines are highly efficacious at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Widespread vaccination means the coronavirus will not infect as many people. This will limit spread through communities and will restrict the virus’s opportunity to continue to mutate into new variants.

Let's say two people are riding in a car....one has on a seatbelt and his side of the car has an airbag....the other person has no seatbelt and no airbag...the car is about to crash. Gee let me think would i rather be the person with the airbag and seatbelt or the totally unprotected person. Both MIGHT get seriously injured or hospitalized but the one with protection is MUCH less likely to suffer seriously or die. So as the car speeds along one person is searching on his phone for some obscure internet site saying "but yes some people with seat belts and airbags get seriously hurt or even DIE", so he concludes that he will not utilize those safety features. The other person says yes I am sure you can find a few crackpots who challenge air bag/ seatbelt safety but I will side with the FACTS that have proven over and over that your odds of a more positive outcome are to go with the FACTS. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to decide which course of action is smarter.

did noy"s sisters cousins aunt tell you that? the same one that has said the soi 7 beergarden was closing for the past 20 years?

Can you imagine all the stupid things Thai people have seen farangs do?

I always enjoyed many of his columns. For all those that don't how about you just don't read it? Problem solved.

or just get the covid shots?

To my knowledge there are no or few vaccinations for common colds....but we do have some very effective vaccinations that can greatly minimize serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths from covid....if only everyone would get the shots we would have had significantly fewer disruptions to lives, economies, healthcare systems. travel. etc....but sadly many prefer to argue ad nauseum against getting the covid vax rather than take 20 mins to get the shots.

I am in mexico right now and official rate is right at 20 pesos to usd.....

do the patong tuk tuks still try and charge hundreds of baht to go a mile or so? another great thai taxi mafia is at laem chabang cruise port where it operates at unbelievable rip off prices posted in clear view....whoever is mr big there is a very rich man..prices so outrageous that many cruise passengers just stay on the ship and miss bangkok and pattaya...obviously the TAT knows about this but does NOTHING..been going on for years

are you seriously trying to suggest that more vaccinations lead to more deaths? If anti vaxxers woud stop trying to pick and choose and interpret and promote data that they claim supports their anti vax idiocy and just go get the damn shots untold lives and hospitalizations and disruptions to economies worldwide would/could have been greatly diminished.....once and for all just go get the damn shots and be a part of the solution and not the problem,,,if your ego is so frail that you cannot admit you are and continue to be wrong just keep it a secret that you did the smart thing and got vaccinated.

crackpot idiots claiming to dispute the obvious fact that vaccinations save untold numbers of lives and hospitalizations rather than spend 20 mins to go get a shot. I