connda

Assimilation doesn't usually begin with the migrants burning down the country. Just saying...

The Purge!

A 1600 THB in the areas of Thailand where I've lived include a hot-bath and extras. A couple hundred THB tips is sufficient.

There was a joint Thai-US exercise recently.

Was it Ron Jeremy who got craniumed?

Natural Born Killers (1994) or Freeway (1996). Just guessing.

Does anyone have a copy of the most recent "Fillable" PDF version of the 90 Day Reporting TM.47 form? It looks like this will be the second time this year that Immigration fails to send me an "Approved" form back before the 1 week grace period ends. When it works, Online is great. When it works. The fact is that behind the 90 Day Reporting web front-end are Immigration workers - some better than others. So I fully expect to have to submit the TM-47 in person on the last "grace day" - again. Which comes back to TM.47. I rebuilt my computer recently (brought a new one actually) and for whatever reason, I can't find the previous copy of my "Fillable" PDF version of the 90 Day Reporting TM.47 form. The TM.47 form on the Thai Immigration site is only a download, print, and fill-it-out-by-hand. Anyway, if anyone has the most current fillable TM.47, can you post it here? Looks as though I'm going to need it. Much appreciated!

If you are living at a temple, then there is no reason to "commute" anywhere. If you want to hang out at a temple during the day and drive home at night - you can do that at virtually any temple in Thailand. You don't strike me as being serious.

After which the resulting spike in inflation is going to wipe out Thais who are under water with debt and struggling to make ends meet day-to-day.

Oh my. All of those blond-haired Scandinavian youth have been smitten by the Norse Gods, Loki in particular, and now run riot in Swedish society tearing apart the fabric of civil society. Oh dear! Oh heavens. Who would have guessed? ????

And your "friend" will do fine.

At 55, I divorced my cheating wife, quit my high-paying but utterly thankless job, took early retirement and left the US - all in a 6 month period. No plans at all other than to travel. 15 years later I have a wife of 14 years, 1 rai of land, two houses, and a quality of life in conservative rural Thailand that would be impossible in the US. Now at a time when US federal and local governments keep ratcheting up the tax burden as well as implementing more and more petty laws governing how you can live. Then let's not even mention the rampant crime that is now allow to happen with virtually no consequences in cities with progressive District Attorney's and progressive petty tyrant government official that insinuate themselves into even conservative communities with traditional values. And then the totally irresponsible government spending in the Trillions of dollars USD that is now coming home to roost as rampant inflation. It's no longer the country that I grew up in during the the latter part of the 20th Century. Nope - I don't miss much of anything from that life thank you very much.

If they called it the Land Of Assault On Tourist, people may stop coming.

Ahhh. Thanks.

Basically - No. You may find temples that will allow you to stay - IF - your intention is to eventually ordain. But laity don't normally live at temples with the exception of retreats, and although retreats may be long, they are usually finite, as in a maximum of one month. However - outside of Thailand in Myanmar you may find better luck with long-term stays. Pak Auk Forest Monastery c/- Major U Khan Sain (Rtd) 653 Lower Main Road Mawlamyine, Mon State, Myanmar Tel: 032 22132 Web site: www.paauk.org Teacher: Ven. Pa Auk Sayadaw

If you're looking for a quick fix, you'll leave within the first couple of days. 10 to 21 days of meditation can be a struggle. It will probably not be all sunshine, roses, and puppy-dogs nuzzles. If you stick with it, you may gain some beneficial insight into the nature of how your mind and awareness perceives mental and physical objects. It may be profound, or it may be relaxing, or it may be one of the hardest things you've ever done. If you do 10 days of meditation and then never mediate again, you're wasting your time. I've done quite a few extended meditation retreats and inevitably they'll be a handful of people heading out the door after one or two days if not after a few hours. In my own humble opinion, you'd be better off finding a "real meditation monk" to teach you basic breath meditation, anapanasati. There are a bunch of different meditation techniques. Breath meditation is one of the easiest to initially practice and tends to be the core practice of most Therevada Buddhist meditation practices. However, within the Therevada tradition there are also scanning techniques. For farangs, I'd check out Ajahn Brahm's BSWA.org website and practice his guided meditations once a day for 10 days. You can find his guided meditation his site: https://bswa.org/teachings/?teaching_topic=602&teacher=564&media_type=video&keywords=. There is nothing recent as the monks are now secluded during the annual Rain Retreats. If you can do 1 guided meditation a day for 10 or 20 days, then consider the 10-20 day retreat. Another source is Ajahn Thanissaro Bhikkhu at https://www.dhammatalks.org/mp3_guidedMed_index.html Ajahn Thanissaro uses a scanning technique and has guided meditation on how to practice as well as a wealth of Dhamma Talks. Again, practice meditation by yourself using these guided meditations. If you can do it once a day for 10 to 20 days, then consider the longer retreat. Best of luck. If you are serious and have questions, you can contact me.

Are you serious or are you phishing for attention? Where do you plan to meditate. I can probably inform you of what to expect depending on where you are planning to do the retreat within South East Asia. If you're actually serious. So again - where do you plan to do your retreat?

Yeah. Do a year in GenPop and when he gets out he may have earned some respect from average Thais. But? That ain't going to ever happen and virtually everyone in Thailand, Thai and foreigners, know that.

But granted for whom? Everyone? Or primarily the wealthy and connected? Most villages have a number of people who have been imprisoned. Mostly for yaba busts. Therefore most Thais who know someone who has been in the Thai prison system knows exactly how that system functions. And most people therefore understand that Thaksin's treatment is a Sigma-9 outlier. The lack of transparency creates more distrust. Just saying. It ain't rocket science. -- or -- Pick up a book by one of those farangs who spent time within the Thai penal system and lived to write about their 'adventures.' Yeah - everyone get the same quality healthcare. Right.

Really? I distinctly remember many years back that a elderly foreigner in lockup was essentially in a vegetative state pretty much lying in his own excrement, and literally had to be rescued by media-shaming the authorities. "Suitable medical attention?" Suitable for whom? Luxury hospital suites for some, acetaminophen and a glass of fetid water for the less entitled? For some reason it doubt the veracity of the statement. "Areas where prisoners faced ongoing challenges included: crowded and inadequate conditions of accommodation; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and punishment; unsanitary conditions; extremely poor quality of food and drinking water; inadequate access to healthcare; exploitative work; limited contacts with the outside world; lack of recreational and rehabilitative activities; and ineffective complaint procedures. In addition, independent human rights organizations’ access to prisons to monitor conditions continued to be unduly restricted." - International Federation for Human Rights, March 2023

Where?

No. Not unusual. The last time it happened I had to travel to immigration in person on the last day of the 7 day "grace period" and do it in person. Something like two weeks after the getting the in person stamp, the online "Approval" showed up. I sort of expect the same. When it works its nice; when it doesn't work it's a PITA. For me it will be the second time this year that I had to get the 90 day in person because the online system fails to work as it should.

Ask the "village technician."

Easy way to do this. Reinstall Chrome Opera in whatever version of Windows you are using. When it's finished, it will ask you if you want to set Chrome Opera as default and import bookmarks from other browsers. ???? ???? ???? Fire up Edge, go here, download and install Opera here: https://www.opera.com/download

Switch to Linux. https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-seamlessly-switch-to-linux-from-windows/