connda

Personally, I like the middle of nowhere. But if your young and randy, then it's probably not the best fit for you. Any only you will know. Take a one year contract. You'll know after a year. Personally I spent 3 full years teaching in Korat. When I move back to 'the middle of nowhere' Lamphun Province, I offered to teach at multiple government schools - for freaking free - but all I required was that he school step up and work with the MOL to obtain a work permit. Not one school in the entire Amphur was interested. So my attitude toward Thai public schools got flushed down the the loo. In my humble opinion, Thais are happy to use you without reciprocation. But you having a paying job in an rural setting with a work permit? Kudos! Dude - Embrace it. Village life is good. It just ain't the big city but it has it positives and negatives. Give it a shot.

Is anyone asking for a few million THB to take care of this one. Really. Thailand needs state funded elephant reserves. These should be national treasures and as such nationalized. Elephants should not be used to attract capital for non-profits. They need to be wilded.

93 posts since 2020? What did you expect? It's not like you spend a lot of time on this forum. Honestly, are you using this account to troll or do you really wish to answers to your questions?

You are not buying a "Windows Laptop." You are buying a modern computer that is capable of running numerous operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Linux, and a whole bunch of other OS's. Honestly, Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 are resource hogs. A comparable system running a form of Linux will utilize the hardware much more efficiently. You can purchase an efficient system with a Intel i7 processor, SSD drive, and 8 GB of RAM for under 15K THB. If you have to have Windows, then you better plan to buy a Win11 license and then go ahead and purchase a computer that can handle the excessive overhead which means that, yeah - you should go with the 25K higher end system. If you want to go with Linux, but you still need Windows, then buy something in-between and run Window in Dual-boot mode ever better, within a Virtual Machine. I do the latter. If you want a tablet or oversized smart-phone - I'm not the person to recommend anything. I use and Acer Laptop, an Intel custom-made desktop (15K) - both running Linux with Win10 in VMs, and a Samsung smartphone (which I find 100% better than the Oppo I used to have). Each to their own. Best of luck.

They are all Teflon and nothing will ever stick.

Personally have have extreme myopia. 11 diopters. Extremely elongated eyes. Very thin retinas. Nobody ever discusses this, but with my eyes, the chances of having a retinal detachment post-surgery are astronomical. I may never have it done. It's like - Choose the way you wish to go blind. I'm sure I could throw a few hundred thousand THB at the problem, but then the doctors shrug and give you a Mai Bpen Rai.

Ok. Explain why this needs $25,760 USD. Break it down. Where will the money go? How will it improve this one elephant's existence? How much in "administrative expenses" and "overhead" will be siphoned off to care for this wonderful creature? Because to be honest - scams abound. Answer the questions to my satisfaction and perhaps I'd be willing to chip in. How about checking with some of the foundations for dogs who are racking in a few million USD a year. Could they help? Just thinking.

Did you get out of the sarcastic side of the bed yesterday. I don't understand the snarky replies regarding a conversation about our individual experiences with SSA 7162 forms. I hope you have a better day today. Good-bye.

I wish we could get some heavy rain and even limited flooding would be welcome as it's been dry as a bone out here in rural Lamphun and if they manage to get rice in this year it's gonna be late in the season. I good heavy soaking rain is really needed.

Agreed. It has a lot to do with how the kids were raised. My step son got into retail sales and excelled. Not bad as he was a really shy kid, but we encouraged him and provided the private schooling to allow him to get ahead.. He turned out to be a really good, responsible, hard-working man. He has his own house and car, and other than that he saves his money for the future. I'm proud of him. Same for most of my extended family in the US. Virtually all the kids in the family were raised by caring parents with traditional values. Several home-school and those kids turned into responsible adults as well. Family upbringing as a lot of influence on how kids turn out.

You're speaking like this is a "Thai" thing. It's global, at least in the West and wannabe Western countries. And it's not limited to just women, it's both sexes. Basically it's a generational phenomenon. So heavily tatted gals simply end up marrying heavily tatted guys.

It's s'all good man!

You're correct. Then what do you need a facial scan for? I'm totally clueless regarding what this 50K rule is. How are you limited to a 50K transaction?

Catch-22. Hi, I'm Joe Farang and I want to take 100,000 THB out of my account. You need facial ID to take out money. Ok, how to I get a facial ID? You Farang. No can get 'facial ID." OK, well, I'd like to take out 100,000 THB from my account. No can. You need 'facial ID." ????

What is a "cisgender gay man?"

Why should the Thai healthcare system accommodate young children whose parents want them to have the genitals mutilated? If a family wants to go that route? Then pay a private hospital.

Drug use leading to violence is more likely caused by alcohol, yaba, and mixing alcohol and yaba. Cannabis use, if anything, was incidental. I'm serious in since I started smoking pot in the mid-1960s, I never met a violent pot-head. But other drugs: PCP, tweeters, meth, alcohol? Different story. If the authorities want to make a case for banning a drug that causes violence? Start with alcohol.

Of course - Reefer Madness.

About 9 hours a night. I'll let you do your own research. It's out there. And teens? About 9 to 10.

But I have "received a follow-up letter that my 7162 was not received" more than once.

That Great Abyss is once they leave Suvarnabhumi. The issue is via the airline carrier and USPS itself which blows on a good day. I pretty much guarantee that USPS is the Great Abyss. Let's all do an experiment. Make copies of your SSA 7162. Send one out via regular mail and send one out via registered mail and then track it. The Great Abyss of Registered Mail is on the USPS side. It will bounce around in New York for awhile and then bounce back and forth between NY and PA, and then bounce around in PA before entering the Great Abyss in Wilkes-Barr. Don't believe me? Then do it and keep receipts. If I'm wrong this year - Ok, I'll admit error. If I'm not wrong and the registered mail gets dropped in a bin and sat on in Wilkes-Barr? Then write your congress-person and Senator and ask why? I've done that before and received no replies. But if enough of us do it? Maybe we get their attention. Which might be a good or bad thing. <shrugs> I'm going to send my original via regular mail and send a copy via registered mail and then track it and see what shakes. I'll post my results here later this year. Ya'll should consider doing the same. Let me know if you are interested in participating in this experiment in tracking SSA 7162 forms sent from Thailand to Wilkes-Barr, PA via registered mail. PM me if you want.

My experience is that Thailand Postal Service is 200+% better than UPS. I've tracked packages in and out of Thailand numerous times. From Chiang Mai and vicinity to leaving Suvarnabhumi is always less than 48 hours or from Suvarnabhumi to Chiang Mai and vicinity is always less than 48 hours. Anywhere in the United States can take a week or more. Consistently! The only hiccup in that system has been when my bank sends me credit cards. Then they disappear in a black hole somewhere in Thailand for up to three months if they show up at all (mailed first class international). I just received two credit cards that my bank sent me in January and March. They showed up last week. Before they finally showed up, I had the bank cancel the cards as "Lost" and resent via"expedited mail" (tracked) and the above held true (about 10 days transiting the USPS mail system in the US and less than 36 hours to clear customs at Suvarnabhumi and arrive in at my physical address in Northern Thailand. So from my experience if the mail gets held up anywhere? It is in the US somewhere in the rather pathetic USPS system. Talk about a system that desperately needs to be privatized sans any government subsidies. And as far as sending SSA 7162 forms to Wilkes-Barr via Registered Mail? I don't recommend it. But if someone whats to experiment? Try it and see if you have better luck. I doubt it.

They go to Wilkes-Barr and then sit, then show up after the 'due date.' My experience. And more than once.

Mine too.

I just got mine today. I checked the mail last week, so this has come in the last few day. Mailed June 2nd. I'll make copies of this and mail it back tomorrow via regular mail. Registered mail just gets thrown in a bin in Wilkes-Barr, PA and the sent to the SSA after the "drop dead date." Go figure that some petty beauacrat in UPS gets off on delaying forms sent by registered mail, but I've done that three times and the result was the same every time. They DO sit on them and allow the clock to run out. Amazing. I'll fire off copies of SSA 7162 via regular mail ever couple of weeks during July and August. It's an inefficient system so you have to play into the inefficiency. In this day and age, it doesn't make any sense that this can't be done electronically. Heck, even Thai Immigration has a functioning 90 Day Reporting System. SSA should have the ability to accept expats SSA 7162 forms online. When "Pigs Fly" I guess.