connda

Roughly $40 USD ? You have to be kidding? You should be celebrating that you don't live in the West where you'd be paying $1500 GBP/Euro/USD month and rising. I'm not embracing austerity because it's now in vogue. But each to their own. Go solar.

So you make over $80K USD a year 'eh? <laughs> I love when farang 'go native' and adopt the Thai social standing model of "Rich people 'high' and the rest of you poor slackers 'low' and 'bitter.''" Hysterical, but that divide is discussed many times each year and accentuated by the 'I'm richer than you' folk. Well, at least we can sort out who is who. In the meantime, I could care less. If Thailand thinks they can appeal to the "well-heeled, snooty wealthy" class of foreigners? More power to them.

Corporate energy revenues and profits should increase directly proportional to the price increases. ????

Pre-anti-virals the vaccines were being marketed not as a vaccine that keeps you from getting Covid, as more and more break-though cases appeared, but as a prophylaxis that would keep you from becoming seriously ill when you contracted Covid. How many time have I heard from my vaccinated friends and family, "I'm so grateful I got the shots because when I got Covid it could have been so much worse." Now? We hear that Favipiravir, Molnupiravir, Paxlovid will be available over the counter at Thai pharmacies. So there are now non-vaccine treatments for Covid. ????

Obvious "Big Pom" doesn't give a da*m about the "commoners" in his security detail. That's typical Thai elite thinking. "Me 'High'; You 'Low'" Personally if I was him I'd treat my security detail with due respect as these are the people guarding his life. Treat them like dirt and he may eventually find himself mortally exposed with no one willing to sacrifice their own lives to protect him. I would not want to lose the respect of my security detail. But? Hubris and arrogance have their own rewards. You reap what you sow.

So they are going to make fuel that is 2x as much as normal AvGas and call it a win? Really. Cui bono - Who benefits?

Of course, but then, it's completely unenforceable.

This reminds me of the Six Phases Of A Project: 1. Enthusiasm, 2. Disillusionment, 3. Panic, 4. Search for the guilty, 5. Punishment of the innocent, and 6. Praise and honor for the nonparticipants.

European's disposable income will be going toward paying for enough energy to heat their homes this winter, so don't expect to see many except for the much touted "rich, well-heeled" farangs who collectively will do little for the average Thai engaged in the tourist industry. Energy prices in the West will finish what Covid started. Better shift the focus of tourism toward Eurasia, Middle East, and Global South.

And I'm pretty sure I could pass their Thai language test right now. But? "Sorry farang husbands - you only guest. No emigration for you. Thai women lower than Thai men. Foreign husband lower than foreign wife. Keep bringing money into Prathet Thai or we kick you out. Too bad for your wife and children if you get the boot. Children of foreign man and Thai woman lower than children of foreign woman and Thai man. Foreign women married to Thai men - cherished member of the Thai community and family. Foreign men married to Thai women - temporary guest. Thai children of Thai men and foreign women - Jewels of the Thai society. Thai children of Thai women and foreign men - Disposal trash." And the country's leadership is sexist as well as chauvinistic. It doesn't have to be this way - but it is.

And there is a biological reason for both. Language learning ability is directly a function of age. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11007/figure/A1658/?report=objectonly

There are certain things I won't buy from Lazada. Expensive electronics like phones are one of them. There are too many local sellers. If I want a phone, there are about 30 booths selling them at the local Big C. You can inspect it and you know what you're getting.

Yeah - Thailand is back to Old Normal with gangs of Thais beating up foreigners.

There are different 'requirements' for different classes of people. The bar is low for foreign women married to a Thai guy - essentially three years of marriage and then apply with no financial requirements and 1 year of marriage and no financial requirements requirements if the Thai man/foreigner woman have a child. For us foreign men with Thai wives and Thai children? <laughs> There is no such path to either permanent residency or citizenship. If the playing field was level for all seeking citizenship, then perhaps it would be a 'flawed argument" but... There is no level playing field and foreign men married to Thai women or also have children with their Thai wife are relegated to the category of "guest" unless you're independently wealthy. and meet a high bar of pre-conditions. So no - it's not a flawed argument. It's a form of discrimination. Thai child with a foreign mum - mum is welcomed to obtain citizenship. Thai child with a foreign dad - don't get too comfortable kid as dad is only a guest and having junior with a Thai wife doesn't open a path to citizenship.

Or else what? Someone's dead friend with million THB watches will haunt their dreams? Pot? Black. Kettle? Black.

One way to counter 'conmen selling seeds' is to open a Internet portal where people can purchase the "officially Ok'ed seeds." Until then? People will get them wherever they can get them.

If I was you based on the price of vitamins in Thailand? I'd - "Order the 120 capsule selection and your order plus shipping will be under $46 which is the (official) cutoff for duty-free shipment." Otherwise? Buy Centrum at your local pharmacy. You're welcome! Happy to assist!

Just sprinkle some 5-30-20 fertilizer around the plant and water. Bob's your uncle! ????

I see we've gone from New Normal back to Normal again.

You mean the street food vendors that were wiped off the streets as "non-essential businesses" during Covid?

Exactly. Give me a path to citizenship (like farang gals married to Thai guys) and I'd be motivated to absorb more Thai to the point of gaining fluency. But? I'm just a "guest" living here for the last 14+ years with my Thai wife - supporting her - supporting my family. Just a "guest." Nothing more to Thailand.

Most of us have no path to permanent residency or citizenship. And over and over again, even if we have family here, we are referred to as "guests." Well - "guests" are guests. Therefore - No. They shouldn't need to learn Thai if they don't wish to. Also, ageing retirees are generally past the point in their lives where they can easily assimilate a new language. That's a skill-set for the young. And retirees are "just temporary guests." Your stay can be revoked at any time. If there was a path to permanent residency for most of us - then yeah. I could see a 'language requirement' to be granted that privilege. And for citizenship? Absolutely. But most of us here are nothing but - "guests." So? Nope. *Caveat - I read, write, and speak basic Thai. I'll never be fluent at my age.

I took out student loans as well as working while raising a pre-teen as a single father. After I graduated, I made paying off the student loan debt my top priority and had it fully paid off in less than 5 years. I don't support student loan forgiveness. It's highly inflationary and it's political. Why not a national debt jubilee so that the entire nation can have their debt forgiven? Then the US can start printing up billion dollar USD notes as hyperinflation hits. All this move does is destroy the purchasing power of the USD in the long-run as the administration and congress spend like drunken sailors on a multi-day bender in Subic City. This isn't 'debt forgiveness." It's wealth transfer from US taxpayers to financial institutions who issued the loans. Talk about a windfall as all that money come rolling into the banks. Stellar profits and bonuses for the wealthiest in the banking/finance cartels.

Which means that the US taxpayers will be on the hook for another trillion dollar bailout which in turn jacks up the inflation rate even more which then further destroys the purchasing power of the lower and middle class. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Somebody pays. Just not the wealthy.

So sad that the CEOs and upper level executives will only make 7 figure salaries and will have to cut back on the bonuses.