Tropicalevo

When I first came to Thailand back in 2000, we had the same problem. The hotel put bottled water in the bathroom for use there. If you move to another hotel in Chaweng, you are likely to get the same problem. Most places on the major roads are government water supplied. You would have to move to the less populated areas eg Choengmon. The problem with your hotel may not be 'not paying' but rather that they are not a 'regular' customer. The water trucks cannot service everyone. Most of the more expensive 4 and 5r star hotels have a regular supplier of water trucks as they are not on government water.

We have a water shortage most years. No real rainfall last year, nor this year. People on the government water supply often have rationing. Places not on government water use wells or buy water from water trucks. Many hotels also buy their water from trucks.

Wifey died in her sleep, in bed next to me a few years back. I called emergency numbers but no one was really awake (04:00) and spoke little English. Then I realised that no one would find us anyway so I woke up friends next door. Drove her to the hospital ourselves. To be fair, I was a tad shell-shocked and probably not really with it all. She was only 55 and her dying first was never in my 'end of life' plans.

Ah yes. The infamous cocaine flour smuggler.

Looks like the local 'land encroachment' task force scored a goal here. 52 villas possibly going to be knocked down? https://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2024/06/26/samui-task-force-cracks-down-on-52-foreign-villas-with-hidden-rentals/

I am not sure how that helps to stop fraud. The only time that my wife's card was scammed, was after I had made an online booking for a flight. No physical card was involved. I only use the credit card online. For shopping, I always use cash.

Lived here for 24 years and both wife and I have Thai credit cards. Wife was scammed once. It was just after I booked a flight with SriLankan Airlines, for her to meet me in Colombo. (She had a larger credit limit just for flights.) Within 12 hours, the card's details were used to buy items in a number of shops in San Francisco. It was spotted and I got the transactions reversed.

So where the heck was the driver?

And the third party is???

Stopped using 'standard' post years ago. Very unreliable in terms of how long it took, as well as many letters/cards never arriving. Mind you, here on Samui is worse. There is no postman for our area. Not enough staff. Piles and piles of undelivered stuff sitting in the bay at the local office. 3 -4 feet high.

Looks like the driver did a good job on avoiding the tollbooths.

Many Thai men dye their hair - black. That is one reason as to why you do not see many grey-haired old men. One Thai guy that I have known for more than 20 years, always had black hair. Until Covid. His business died during Covid (his customers were all tourists). He needed to save his money to live so the dye jobs stopped. He now has a full head of white hair.

Deeper social issues are a main factor in many of Thailand's problems. Training and educating people on how to be responsible useful human beings starts in the home at an early age.

So not even a first 'offence'. How dumb is that.

And the young students are still in gaol without bail even though some have not been found guilty yet.

Nothing to do with making money from unused land then?

Your memory is good to a point, but your paraphrasing is inaccurate. I was not 'proud' at chucking them out. It was my job. And I did not 'direct' them onto their motorbikes. I was amazed. I could not believe it. And quite a few more 'stoned out of their heads' since then. It not not a resort, nor my property. Nice try at a misquote. Back to the drawing board?

When I die, I will be going to hell. I have worked hard for that one. Sadly, wifey will not be there. She was an angel. PS if it is full of weed smokers, I may ask for a transfer.

Crikey. Thais in Phuket must be well off then. Here on Samui there are 'professional' scavengers that go around all of the collection points separating the waste and selling it to the local recycling places. One guy working for me resigned as he could make more money scavenging (and scavenging was easier).

From the article

Well done to the lass and her boyfriend. Knights in shining armour v <deleted>es in no armour. I hope that there is no follow up against her and the boyfriend.

What lights? They don't even see them. Too busy looking at their phones.

A very patient lady.

Thailand has missed the 'reality' songteow. It is the curriculum that needs changing, not the hours or location. More hours/less hours, it makes no difference if the quality is not there. This is not a five minute fix and it needs to be driven by educators, not accountants. eg Boeing! Also, remote lessons only work if the child has the facilities and the 'will to learn'. Not some thing that every Thai child has. eg the article where the kid had to build a sala in the middle of a field in order to get a wifi signal. (Article in AN during Covid.)

I hope that the dogs are OK. It is not their fault that some craappy human abandoned them.