Acharn

It depends on how well you speak Thai. If there are no tourists, the locals have no reason to learn English. Of course they have lessons in school, but most of them don't learn to speak English. Of course, if you speak Thai well, there are lots of places in Bangkok -- just look around. If you don't like Bangkok, go to any town in Thailand and you'll find at least one brothel.

You should get out more. I see it the other way around -- nowadays fewer men get tattooed, but more women, and they're less religious in nature. In the book Khun Chang, Khun Paen, a monk warns Khun Chang that if he lives in a town they will put a tattoo on him and he will be treated like a dog (i.e., a citrizen).

Thai culture has a long history of tattoos. Almost every Thai guy I know is like a billboard, tattoos on back and chest. Often they are long religious texts or prayers. Some kinds are against disease. In Ayutthaya, they were used to prove citizenship -- and prevent people from evading taxes.

I seem to recall I had a "check-up" once back when I still lived in Bangkok. I think it was when visa extensions were still done at Soi Suan Phlu, so that was, what, 20 years ago? The physician just signed a form, nothing was really checked and I paid a couple hundred baht. I had a physical exam five or six years ago, but it had nothing to do with my extensions. I've decided there's no reason for me to get physical check-ups. If I'm not sick enough to be in the hospital, I would just incur more expenses.

It would be helpful if you would follow the Thai language and refer to the drug as ya baa, or yaa baa, or ya ba. To the OP, it sounds like you need to talk to your phu yai baan about rehabilitation programs. Are there any in your province? Yaa Baa is not ruining Thai culture. It's been part of Thai culture for over 50 years. It is a burden on the Thai people, but it's up to them to find a solution. Their current solution is to throw into prison anyone caught using it. Not much success so far, as your son-in-law demonstrates.

Do you live in Thailand? I kind of look forward to Patel jailing, or at least firing, a whole lot of high-ranking FBI people.

I think the only reason police don't arrest more prostitutes is that it is very hard to prove that a sex act (as defined in the law) actually took place. If they have the management open the door while the act might be taking place, and they find the couple fully clothed, they are liable for damages, so they are reluctant to do that. In Bangkok the cops know very well where the prostitutes work, and often abuse them too, but shutting the industry down would cause complete chaos politically. Up-country everyone knows where the prostitutes are. Also, many women from up-country consider it just another way to pick up a little extra money during the slow season. A lot of young girls look forward to reaching the age of 18 so they can "go to work," and some don't wait. Before 1996 (when the current prostitution law was passed) it was routine to see 14 year old girls already with a couple months experience. Some of them go back home after a few years. Others don't.

I would guess a bad heart resulting from Long Covid. In the U.S. something like 10,000 people a day are catching Covid, and about 3 percent of them develop Long Covid.

There are thousands of hardened criminals currently being processed by the courts. Why should I be interested in this guy?

A Wise transfer is based on the current price of baht in the transferred currency. They don't gain or lose on the currency purchase, and they take their commission out of the purchased amount. They aren't trading in currency. There are people who are persuaded they can predict what the market price is going to be. There are also big traders, mostly banks, who bid on the market. Most banks make money on the market. Most individuals lose their shirts.

Oh, please. J. Edgar got the job because the first head of the Bureau of Investigation was corrupt. We all remember how corrupt J. Edgar was. I don't believe a single one of the heads since him have been less corrupt, and almost all agents are the same. Local police forces hate it when the feebs drop in, because they hog the glory and often spoil the cases. The Agency routinely frames people. They've never had any integrity. This guy is no worse than usual.

Yeah, that's the deal breaker, but during the last couple of years of hysterical hype I've never found any reason to use the free AI apps available. I don't want to use it for search.

Just so. Bangkok was better in the '70s. Bangkok is not Thailand.

Noj, I don't use a vpn. I've thought of setting up OpenVPN, but haven't done it yet (it looks hard). I get exactly the same results in Chromium as in Firefox, so it isn't browser-dependent. Three days ago I tried calling 3BB (my isp) Call Center, and they found nothing wrong with their line and my connection, but I plan to go to their office in Nakorn Sawan tomorrow and try harder. I feel like something has been corrupted, probably in my computer. I don't have an anti-virus program, because Linux. I'm currently looking up how to check my SSL security certificates. There's nothing I know of on my computer except the browser bookmark to Bualuang iBanking that I can uninstall and reinstall. I've tried searching (I use Qwant) for the address and connecting from the search page, but the results are the same. The bank's call center checked their record of my account and found nothing, but the first thing that came to my mind four days ago is that something on the Internet is blocking my ip address from making the connection.

For the last four days I haven't been able to connect to my bank account on my Linux desktop. I keep getting this (see attachment). I don't have any other problem connecting to web sites. I've used the program for at least five years and never had a problem since I got it set up. When I went to the bank branch, their computer was able to connect without problem, and I was able to transfer funds. At unpredictable times I'm able to log in, and even set up a transfer, but when I try to proceed it tells me it can't find bangkokbank.com. Has anyone else had this problem? If so how did you fix it? Otherwise I need help from someone who is really good at troubleshooting the Internet.

Pridi Banomyong commented, back in the 1930s, that Thais have an extraordinary love for uniforms. That's one reason the civil service have uniforms.

Bush 43's... or maybe Darth Cheney's. In the hysteria after September 11, 2001, they felt they had to "do something," and invading Afghanistan was "something." By itself it wasn't a bad idea. Bin Laden probably had nothing to do with the Twin Towers, but he took credit for them, and the initial invasion chased him and al Qaeda and the Taliban out of Afghanistan. They should have quit then, but American donors decided they wanted the trillion dollars worth of minerals locked up in undeveloped, roadless places. The American people loved it, but were soon watching Iraq and forgot about Afghanistan, allowing the MIC to start their 20-year long war. I don't blame Bush for the problems encountered in the withdrawal, but blame the Pentagon and all high ranking Army officers. The Pentagon should have had detailed contingency plans for withdrawal, constantly updated, from the moment we decided to send Special Forces troops into the country. This was especially true after Trump started negotiating with the Taliban. I'm pretty sure we have contingency plans to invade Mexico, Canada, and Fiji. It used to be we had contingency plans for every conceivable event. There were giants in the land in those days /sarc.

The people involved in foreign exchange trade are currently uncertain whether the Fed will cut the Prime Rate 0.50% or 0.25%. I've thought the U.S. dollar was overvalued for a few months, and that may contribute to the size of the loss. It's currently looking like a cut of 0.25% is more likely, so the dollar may go back up in a couple of weeks. Or not.

I remember reading a similar prediction fifty years ago. I don't remember who the person was who made the prediction. The point he made was that Bangkok has been draining water from underground sources, which causes the city to sink. IIRC it was a couple of centimeters a year. I've seen similar predictions over the years since I came back. Of course now we've got global warming, which really can't be denied any more, so if the Antarctic and Greenland ice melts I'm sure Bangkok will be drowned, but it's not going to happen in my lifetime (I'm 87 years old).

I assume they fell off the back of a truck.

Forgot to say there is no Thai dish called Pho. None. Never has been, never will be. Just not. Pho is some kind of Vietnamese food which I have never knowingly eaten. It may be very good, but the most widely available Thai dish, based on noodles, is Guei Diaw, a Chinese dish adopted by Thais in the 1940s to combat inflation.

Forgot to say there is no Thai dish called Pho. None. Never has been, never will be. Just not. Pho is some kind of Vietnamese food which I have never knowingly eaten. It may be very good, but the most widely available Thai dish, based on noodles, is Guei Diaw, a Chinese dish adopted by Thais in the 1940s to combat inflation.

I expect so. Unlike Chinese, which has an official method for writing the sounds of Chinese in Roman characters, Thailand has never had an accepted way to do it. It's catch as catch can.

You forgot Sen Mi, the really thin ones, almost hairlike. I hate them, myself, but they seem to be the default in most Gui Diaw. I always ask for Sen Lek.

A few months ago I found my transfer was taking much longer, but I was getting messages from Wise about my bank account. I didn't understand them. Finally, I deleted my U.S. bank account and then registered it anew. This brought up a screen about a new transfer service Wise had started using, which needed direct access to the account. Haven't had a problem since then. I have, since then, had to send Wise a copy of the ID page of my passport, no big deal.