spidermike007

Just another silly man, who has lost all perspective on his life over a woman. How do you avoid that? By not dealing with bad women, and by not putting yourself in that kind of position. Life is short. You have to trust your instincts. If you are dating a woman who is consistently letting you down, you dump her. Quickly. You move on. There are plenty of good women here. If you get involved with one who is playing the field, you move on. It is part of the expression of dignity, and self respect. If you think she is fooling around, because she does not respond to your attempt to contact her, or because she does not show up when you have made plans, she is telling you something. And you are NOT listening. Open your ears. Alot of guys fall in love with the idea of being in love. And they devote their heart to a woman who is undeserving. So, the best course of action, if to take you time to get to know her. Time allows clarity. If it is good it will only get better. If there are problems (such as the ones you are describing), they will manifest themselves over time. This is why you do not allow yourself to get emotionally invested, until you know who she is. That takes a year, or two, or longer. If she shows you she is not worthy of your affection, and attention, you walk away. Man up. Pay tribute to your gender. Show yourself some self respect. Do not allow yourself to be abused, and treated like a street dog.

I doubt it. They are just starting to understand the whole concept of mental health, and the culture more or less mandates a prohibition against looking within, for the source of any problem. So, they have some major hurdles to overcome. Moving past the pathological fear of losing face would be a good place to start. But, that requires good self esteem.

Unfortunately, I believe it will be the latter. Thailand might have been the tiger of SE Asia a decade or so ago, having been the 22nd largest economy in the world, but those days are long gone. So, I would say it would be safe to refer to Thailand as an up and coming country, post Covid. Assuming they can get it together, and put things back on track, which I seriously doubt will happen. I would not be surprised to see Thailand in 75th place in terms of GDP, 20 years from now. There is absolutely no doubt the nation is moving backwards, on at least a dozen levels. And unless a dynamic leader comes along, the great tiger will continue to devolve into a whiny, sickly, hungry, skinny little alley cat.

I have a radical suggestion. Thailand could be making a fortune on a 25% luxury tax. Instead of the 100% or more, which discourages most people from buying. How many people do you see in the luxury stores here? They are almost always completely empty. Inane. Beyond inane. Some regressive nimwits do not understand basic economics. By reducing taxes you stimulate the economy. In addition, if Thailand reduces its punitive wine taxes and luxury taxes, they might be able to attract more of those rich tourists they keep droning on and on and on about. The rich are smart with their money. And not only do they enjoy a nice bottle of wine with dinner, their wives also love to spend alot of money on luxury goods while they vacation. Impossible here. Who would buy a Prada handbag for $11,700 here, when you can get it for $4,800 in most world capitals? Same goes for wine. Who would spend $700 for a bottle of wine they could get for $125 at home. It is referred to as self sabotage, or idiotic policy. An extreme lack of creativity forces retrograde politicians to become overly dependent on import taxes. Dumb and dumber.

Near monopolies are never, ever a good thing for the people.

Alot of Thailand's current economic woes are largely self inflicted. The reckless Prayuth administration engaged in multiple, highly selective economic shutdowns, that favored their cronies, and punished the masses. They also kept the nation closed off for far too long, and decimated tourism. Then they partially re-opened, with draconian restrictions. So, if you want to put the blame in the place it belongs, blame Prayuth and Prawit. They are the architects of the downfall of Thailand, the increased suicides, homelessness, crime, unemployment, and unhappiness of the people. Call it the Prayuth Decimation. I remember what the Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput described as a fragile and uneven economic recovery with the country trying desperately to move beyond the disaster inflicted on the economy in 2020. Talk about an understatement. How and why was this disaster inflicted upon the economy? I would go one step further, and include the Prayuth decimation as one of the causes of the economic stagnation we are seeing now. This was not entirely circumstantial, and the revisionist history is already beginning, it would appear. So many things could have been done, to ensure a softer landing, when covid was not a factor anymore. The highly selective economic shutdowns which favored cronies, at the expense of the average Thai were punitive and extremely damaging, resulting in higher suicides, homelessness, crushed lives, countless lost businesses, and a further spread of the disease. The destruction of the tourism industry (which some might argue was a purification campaign in disguise, meant to get rid of nightlife and the sex industry) went on far longer that it should have, leading to far fewer tourists returning here, as the nation has largely been forgotten. The restriction were way too much, for far too long. I know taking responsibility for one's actions is not exactly a strong suit here. But, Prayuth, Phiphat, Prawit, and Anutin are directly responsibility for much of the economic woes we are seeing now, and should be held responsible, and called out on this. The numbers do not even begin to reflect the amount of damage done to the cash economy, which is never counted in unemployment numbers, lost GDP, lost businesses, etc. Covid was one small factor. Irresponsible actions, an extraordinary lack of leadership, choosing a vaccine with the lowest efficacy available, refusing help from the international community with the vaccines, until it was too late, and showing extreme cowardice by keeping the door to tourism closed for far too long, and then opening with draconian restrictions, were huge mistakes, and someone needs to be held responsible. You want to know how bad the economy really is? 1. Take a look at the number of huge billboards around the country that are blank. That is a direct statement that companies are trying to save money. It is really blatant if you are anywhere near the airports, where the real monster billboards are. 2. Ask any real estate agent how condo sales are going right now. 3. Ask any car dealer how many cars they sold last month.

He may have been health minister, but Lisa knows more about medicine than he does. This man could not pull a tick off a dog. His lack of talent is an astonishing thing to witness.

1. Upgrade the educational system. It is dramatically underfunded. 2. Encourage curiosity, and allow students to question their teachers. How else will they learn and mature? 3. Reduce taxes and VAT, to stimulate the economy, do not increase them. 4. Pay a living wage. Why do you think so many talented Thais have fled the country? 5. Get a life. Come to grips with reality. If your son left, what on earth do you think is going on here?

If only this so called leader had any idea about how the real world works. He is likely in a position where he has dealt with alot of sycophants, and he appears to abhor truth, directness, reality, and honesty. Anything to cover up what is really happening. It is not the current events, not the economy, not the difficulties people are dealing with around the world! It is fake news! One wonders if Thailand will ever have a good, noble, effective, fair, and righteous leader. They shot down Pita. Now, woe is Thailand. The backward movement continues.

I tried to, once. On a 3rd date, during a period of my life where I wrongfully thought I should at least try dating women my age. When she started sending me all the signals, the hair on my arms stood up, and I claimed to have gotten sick, and bailed. I was literally scared of what I would find! No thanks.

Charge him with eight counts of murder and either imprison him for life, or better yet execute him in the next 30 days. Perhaps they could just create a judicial panel that pronounces death sentences without a trial, when it's a heinous situation and there are multiple eyewitnesses. Why tax the people and why keep this guy alive?

I can assure you "wokeism", "uber PC" and the extreme end of "me too", are not something isolated to @thaibeachlovers. It is something millions of us have huge issues with. It is tearing at the very fabric of modern civilization and culture, and making us weaker by the day. My own society left me disappointed , disenchanted, and bored to death. Not bitter. I am thrilled that I left it behind, and made the move here, every single day of my life.

What is the connection between what I said, and good sci-fi? I am curious. Seen both, and love sci-fi.

If you are anywhere from Ubud to the north, east or west parts of the island, it is quite nice. If you're in the southern third of the island, west or south of Denpasar it's an absolute pit from the worst nightmare you've ever imagined in your life. That area is so congested, so overdeveloped, with traffic that is some of most horrendous on earth. It makes rush hour in Bangkok look easy. It is also so chock full of partying young Aussie kids, and it's literally the worst place in the world to go on vacation. From Ubud north it's nice. In Ubud there's a great jazz scene, the food's is amazing, great local architecture and art. Bali has some of the best handicrafts I've seen anywhere on the world, and it is a spectacular island. If only you could take a helicopter from the airport in Denpasar to Ubud, you would be okay, or maybe travel after midnight. I was there in 1986 and it was paradise. Went back around 10 years ago and was shocked at how spectacularly over developed the southern third of the island had become. Avoid the Kuta, Legian, Seminyak area like the plague. It is the plague. It is awful.

It is not only astonishing that this man is Deputy PM, but that he is even allowed to be in government at all. This extremely untalented and incapable man should have been banished a long time ago, and the fact that he's is still around says all we need about the current administration, and Thai govt.

Well it does appear that the man is a pervert by all accounts, however was stabbing him twice an overreaction, was it rather extreme, or do most of us think he deserve that? Perhaps a butt whooping might have been more appropriate? Or, kicking him out of the house?

A super intelligent species of aliens would never in a million years consider coming to Earth. There's nothing for them to gain from our civilization, and certainly nothing to gain from backward culture. I am fairly certain there are many thousands of very advanced civilizations out there, the universe is simply too vast. However, even if they were aware of us, I think they would go out of their way to avoid us. We are NOT advanced!

Are you insinuating that Western women are purer than Thai women? And are you saying that Western women do not like to extract an enormous price for the precious goods? That certainly hasn't been my experience, nor the experience of many on this forum. As a matter of fact many of us feel that the only difference is the price. In the West it's many multiples higher than what it is here. And I am talking about civilians and professionals.

Nowhere else in the world have I seen people consistency take the kinds of chances and risks in the road, that they take here, with their families in the car. Nowhere. When they could have waited four seconds to make the uturn or turn onto the highway, and have a completely clear path, they instead choose to take a tremendous risk. It is beyond comprehension. I see it all the time. My eyes do not lie to me. This rarely ever happens to me in the US. The vast majority of terrible accidents here are human errors, that could have been avoided. If I decide to cut you off on a highway, when you are going 120kph, and I am making a u-turn, and there was plenty of room behind you for me to make a safe turn, is that an error, if it results in a horrific, fatal accident, and I destroy the lives of you and your family? Sometimes an error is wearing white after Labor day in New York City. And sometimes an error is invading Russia in the winter, as the Nazis learned long ago.

Bloggers are just people with an opinion, it doesn't really mean anything. People just say stuff and a very small percentage of them are wise and truly knowledgeable. So one just needs to ignore the nonsense. There are many really outstanding women in this country. In my opinion they outshine where I come from by a long shot, so anyone who has these generalized opinions is just blabbering away, that's all they're doing.

Who is a great threat to Thailand? Malaysia? Singapore? Cambodia? Laos? Vietnam? The PI? Please guys. Try to at least behave like adults. The Chinese ships and subs are likely poorly made. Thankfully the Chinese navy is incapable of traveling more than 1,500 km., in ideal conditions. Likely more like 600 km. in war conditions. And they have very few deep sea ports. Their navy is a threat only to their smaller neighbors. Thai naval forces have not operated submarines for over 60 years now, while neighboring countries, particularly those with a major dispute at sea with Thailand, such as Vietnam, are all equipped with modern submarines. Looks like they are willing to take a huge risk with the treasury. Why were they so timid with Covid? This government is a whirlpool of conflicting loyalties and interests. It's leader has to manage those interests, and effectively buy the loyalties of the various parts of the armed forces. The submarines are the price he has to pay for the navy supporting him. They will end up unusable and unaffordable, as did the aircraft carrier. There is no strategic justification for the submarines. There is really no military threat to Thailand, none of the countries with which it shares a land border have the capacity for anything other than the occasional cross border firefight. If you look carefully at all the military procurement of recent years, they are all to support ambitions, and thus buy the support of the various rival groups within the armed forces. They simply do not add up to any sort of a coherent modernisation or re-equipment of what remains a largely obsolete, immobile and under trained force, able only to undertake the most mundane of garrison duties, whilst it's bloated leadership occupies itself with playing politics or their own largely unregulated business ventures. The government however (or more realistically those to whom it reports) must rely upon the military to keep it in power. It was put into power for one core function; to prevent the nascent political, social and economic liberalisation of Thai society which arose with the arrival of new technologies and communications, which have allowed a (younger) population which has long been kept ill educated and dependent for any advancement on its elders and sponsors, to communicate, educate themselves and develop business independent of those elders and sponsors. The Covid crisis was in a dimension beyond that, and it's timid, chaotic "rabbit in the headlights" response to the challenges it brought were simply because it did not know how to react, other than to use some of the opportunities to exercise power, in pursuit of that core function, which the social and political restrictions they argue the disease has necessitated, and granted them.

This is correct, they've actually developed a new term for this, they're called house less, not homeless. Some refer to them as nomads. I know a guy who rather than spending $2,000 a month for a small studio in the San Francisco Bay Area, decided to buy a brand new truck, put a shell on it, and he's lived in the back of his truck for the past 6 years. He makes $1300 a week, and was unwilling to pay stupid rent. Fortunagely, he has a friend whose house he can park in front of, so he has electric and he gets to use their bathroom and kitchen, but for many it's the about the only option they have. What do you do when you make $3,000 a month total between you and your wife, you live in a $900 a month apartment, a new owner buys the building and jacks your rent up to $2,500? America has a economic model that is almost completely broken, the cost of living has gone stratospheric, and for all but the top 10%, it's a very, very difficult and nearly impossible situation.

I totally agree, when you're riding a motorbike or a scooter in Thailand you have to be very conscious, and that's the exact opposite of what a lot of these riders seem to be demonstrating. Not only are they seemingly unaware and unconcerned, many of them seem to be clueless, and what's the most surprising is that many will turn left right or enter the road without even so much as looking in both directions. So my question is where is the basic instinct for survival?

The technology has changed a lot. I recently bought an Epson printer and it has cartridges that you can use to refill the tanks, and the ink is relatively inexpensive. It costs me next to nothing to make a color copy, and the quality is quite a bit higher than with the well printers. Generic ink just does not seem to be as good. It used to be that the companies would lose money on the sale of the printer, and make it all back on the sale of the ink, but I think those days are long gone.

You gotta be very addicted to nicotine, to spend that kind of money on cancer sticks.