nisakiman

3 hours ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

It's one of the more delicious ironies of this whole saga

Not only that, but here's a clip from a speech by Bill Clinton:

Trump is just being more proactive.

^^ Likewise. never heard of an aircon unit blowing up before. One in a billion chance, I'd imagine. Poor bugger.

Couldn't find any individual tracks on YouTube, but I'm listening to one (of four, I think) of these Arabic Lounge compilation CDs. I love this music, and have loads of it. Listen to it all the time.

8 hours ago, ozzydom said:

I unfortunately arrived at the site before police and medical services although there were at least 10 first responder (body snatcher) trucks there already..

The motorcycle lane is quite wide plus two transit lanes each way,  it seems that the motocycle pulled out into the left transit lane to overtake the tuk-tuk right into the path of the cement carrier ,who would have had no chance of avoiding the collision.

RIP little ones.

If that's the case, then it's not just the girls and their families we should be feeling sorry for, it's the truck driver too. How would any of you feel if you killed, through no fault of your own, three young girls? He's probably devastated. I noted from the OP that the driver was still at the scene when the police arrived, so he didn't do a runner as is so often the case in Thailand.

Well, I'm glad shorts seem to have been rehabilitated in this thread. The general consensus seems to be that shorts are perfectly acceptable attire, even in Bangkok, contrary to what Sheryl seems to think.

I lived in Melbourne most of the 70s, and in the summer, in the city, it was the norm to see businessmen in smart suits with short trousers. And has been pointed out, it is normal military attire in the tropics. I believe Hong Kong police wear shorts also, although I'm not completely sure about that.

However, like many posters here, I've seen lots of middle class Thai guys in shorts in malls, restaurants etc. The "I never wear shorts because it's not cool (*irony*)" crowd are just dinosaurs stuck in a Victorian mindset, worried about what the neighbours might think. But that's ok. Let them sweat their b*ll*cks off. We who know better will enjoy a much more comfortable existence and laugh at their self-defeating stupidity.

22 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

What works really well to stop the itch is pure peppermint oil.. I have some organic from USA - - a good bit more expensive than what I see here, but it is not diluted and the cool can stop the itch... 

We get quite a lot of mosquitoes here in Greece during the summer, and for bites we use a green herbal balm we buy in Thailand. Dunno what the name is, but it's got a green label and lid and comes in a biggish pot (about 6cm high by about 4cm dia). It smells really nice, and stops the itching almost immediately. Great stuff.

20 minutes ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

The OP's opening comments included this phrase: "My partner is almost 50 and it looks like he may be granted early retirement on health grounds". Are you seriously recommending Cambodia's health facilities are worth serious consideration for someone in that situation?

That rather depends on how critical his health situation is. Maybe he just has a bad back which makes it difficult for him to sit at a desk. And Bangkok is only an hour and a half away from PP. If he was living in the sticks in Thailand, it would probably take him longer than that to get to a decent hospital.

3 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Sure, wear shorts if you want.  Just be aware that a significant portion of the Thai people will look down on you if you do.   Not all of them, but a significant portion of them.  

 

To which a lot of expats (and locals) say, "so what?"

 

But it has nothing to do with anything we, as fellow foreigners, think or believe about who is superior.

 

Edit:  Like simon43, I haven't left my BKK apartment in 6 years without long pants.  Or a collared shirt- but that's my personal quirk.  Except at the beach and the apartment pool.

As I said in my last post, my brother in law is a high earner with a wife from a wealthy family, and he wears shorts all the time when he's not working.

But then, he's cosmopolitan. He travels internationally with his job all the time. He doesn't worry about the conservative curtain-twitchers who would like to dictate to him what he should or shouldn't wear. He's confident enough to know that those attitudes are held by people who don't know any better, and that things are changing.

I would suggest that the best option would be to go to Cambodia for a few years until your visa situation is easier (that is, when you are both at, or approaching 50). Sure, Cambodia isn't as 'westernised' as Thailand, but the visa situation is a lot easier, and if you were based in PP, you could spend a good part of the year in Thailand anyway on tourist visas. Flights are cheap and quick. Personally, I'd choose Cambodia over Thailand anyway (it's kind of 'Wild West' compared to Thailand, which I really like), but as my wife is Thai, that's not really an option for me. But in your situation, I'd certainly be looking at that possibility.

1) How does anybody know this young couple have 'done it'?

2) How does anybody know they 'did it' in your unfinished house?

Seems to me the answer to either or both of these questions is that someone saw them. In which case, what the <deleted> were they doing spying on a young couple?

Either way, I think the first two responses to your OP have equal merit.

When I was twenty, if a girl was willing and had all the, er, accoutrements, I didn't ask how old she was. Ok, that was nearly 50 years ago, when people weren't so hung up about these age things, but the sexual imperative in young men hasn't changed in that time. And whether you like it or not, many girls at the age of 15 are fully developed women. Perhaps not always mentally, but certainly physically.

Erdogan would like to take Turkey back into the arms of the Islamists after years of secularism brought in by the moderniser Ataturk in the 1920s.

There are many who think he engineered the attempted coup so as to strengthen his power base and rid himself of opposition.

Greece is right to refuse to send those men back to face a rigged trial and almost certain death if Erdogan gets his way and reintroduces the death penalty.

13 hours ago, JaySonic said:

 

My compassion is for ALL disadvantaged people. Not simply a select few that serve to benefit from the BTS renovations. 

So on that basis, you resent making life easier for one particular segment of disadvantaged people? You have a strange sense of logic....

1 hour ago, Chicog said:

 

That's a load of rubbish.

They throw people in jail for having proscribed drugs normally because they've created a scene at immigration or check in, otherwise they don't care.

 

The ones that are proscribed are things like Codeine. 

In this case, it sounds like she was carrying a veritable pharmacy, and try getting into Australia with prescription drugs for which you have no prescription. And that includes non-Prescription Codeine now as well.

She was probably taking these to make money and got caught. Som Num Na.

 

 

Some medicines, which are over-the-counter in other countries, are also considered controlled items in the UAE as they produce effects that contravene local laws.

.....................

- Many common cold and cough remedies, which you might assume to be harmless, must be accompanied by a prescription. Many of these drugs are available over-the-counter (OTC) in other countries.

http://gulfnews.com/keep-banned-drugs-off-travel-kit-1.442006

The United Arab Emirates has emerged as the country with the longest list of banned substances, which include many commonly available drugs, such as codeine, and many well-known anti-depressants, which can lead to jail if unaccompanied by a doctor's written prescription. Dubai airport has recently installed new drug-sensitive equipment which can detect a trace of a drug on a shoe. Earlier this year, Fair Trials International (FTI) published a list of the drugs that could lead to terms of imprisonment in Dubai. Travellers carrying jet-lag medicine have been held. Even poppy seeds can result in a charge. Fifty-nine Britons were arrested in Dubai last year on drug charges.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/jun/09/unitedarabemirates.travelnews

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

Obviously if you wear shorts, there is more skin exposed for the mosquitos to bite, but even in long pants they'll get you arms etc.

 

Some people get bitten more often than others.

 

Be aware that shorts are not considered polite attire in Thailand. Obviously it depends on the context - they are fine to wear at the beach, and upcountry you can wear them in your own yard. But it is definitely not acceptable wear for walking around Bangkok and going into restaurants etc except for ones located along the beach front etc.

 

In very touristy areas, the Thais have grown used to seeing westerners walk about in shorts but that does not mean it is not viewed negatively.

 

I've seen lots of Thais wearing shorts in Bangkok. My brother in law, who is VP in a large media company in Bangkok naturally wears business attire when working, but in his leisure time more often than not wears slightly below the knee shorts.

I wear long shorts most of the time when I'm in Thailand, same as I do here in Greece during the summer. It's the most comfortable way to go in the heat. As for them being for newbies and sexpats, that's just a bunch of self-aggandising crap spouted by people who think that because they've been in Thailand for years, they're somehow better than everybody else.

They've got totally bonkers drugs laws in the Gulf States. They throw people in jail for travel sickness pills bought over the counter in another country.

If they're going to have prohibitions on certain drugs (I personally would like to see ALL drugs laws consigned to the dustbin of history - the laws destroy far more lives than the drugs themselves do), then it should be done on an international scale so you don't get stupidities where certain drugs, particularly pharmaceutical drugs, are legal in one country and not in another.

1 hour ago, JaySonic said:

Not sure the majority of citizens should gave to pay for the exclusive convenience of elevators serving a minority group ie; disabled people. 

 

Pretty unfair. Why should everyone suffer because of the misfortune of a few? 

Everyone suffer? In what way? Because they pay an extra baht on their train fare?

Jeez, you're a real Good Samaritan, aren't you!

I'd happily pay a bit extra if it meant that people less fortunate than me got an easier ride on the BTS system. Humanity is a virtue that should be commonplace.

8 hours ago, RachaRob said:

Not exactly the same but I realy get annoyed when I get my change and there is about 50 baht of it in coins!

I do usualy leave a tip but when this happens I just take it all.

I think that's standard practice everywhere in the world, and I welcome it. Quite often I don't have any change in my pocket, so the provision of some small change so I can leave a tip is useful.

Whether you leave a tip or not is up to you, but if you've had good service and want to tip, and the smallest you have is a 100 Baht note, what do you do? The waiting staff know that you are unlikely to leave 100 Baht (assuming you haven't just spent a few thousand in a fancy restaurant), so they try to make it easy for you to tip what you see fit. Seems eminently sensible to me.

I'm not sure how it works in Thailand, but here in Greece, which is all metric, for some reason beyond me all threaded plumbing fittings are imperial, and if you want, for instance, to go from ½" galvanised steel to 15mm copper, you can buy (at any plumbing outlet, hardware store etc) a brass fitting which has the ½" thread one end and a solder fit for 15mm copper the other. Same applies for plastic pipe, whatever size plastic you're fitting (There are a few different sizes here).

I wouldn't be surprised if the same system applies in LOS.

I had a couple of days of an inbox full of that stuff. Who had the bright idea to sign everyone up to follow topics? I really don't know what's going on at TV. Do they really want to piss off their membership? Because they're doing a pretty good job at the moment.