connda

Yeah @South. Given the last sentence you do have a point. That fit's my definition of overtly racist.

No - they are generally hankering after a nice Thai gal. All of them. Regardless of sex. <wink; laughs>

Well - yeah! Over time they do get there. The process fits my 64 year old Thai wife to a tee.

Yep - you are 100% correct. They want to be with the wh0res sex-workers that go with Thai men. Congratulations! Very astute observation! Fyi. I really detest the term "whore" as it is primarily used by Western guys who indulge in the services of sex-workers, and then afterwards, steeped in their Christian-based Westernized Guilt they strike out at the gals who serviced them by using ad-hominid attacks and vile references to refer to them while ignoring the fact that by all Western standards they themselves are nothing but "Johns." Although from the West myself, I've never bought into Western moralism and as such I see sex-workers for what they are: gals leveraging human male's inclination towards promiscuity for economic gain. Personally I can't blame them - it beats the hell out of making 300 THB a day breaking your back in a rice field or construction site, especially when you come back to your village and are able to buy land and a house for your parents out of your own earnings. John 👉 "I'd never have sex with a whore!" 😁 Yeah - of course you wouldn't. You're as pure as the wind driven snow like all overly moralistic Western men.

Do you personally have a problem with "dark skinned" Thai women as that comment borders on overt racism. Personally a woman's skin color isn't a factor in whether or not I consider her attractive, but then again, I'm not racist.

Yeah - I tend to agree. Men are drawn to "form," i.e., what a gal looks like. Women are drawn to "security," i.e., a guy could look like a dog if he's wealthy enough.

You're painting with a very narrow ethnic and racial brush there. All men are genetically hard-wired for promiscuity. There - fixed it!

Do Thai men get jealous we take all the hot women? No because their "hot women" don't want anything to do with farang men. Until those women's "Used By Date" comes up before a Thai guy marries them after which suddenly farang guys look like an option, but by that time they are not so "hot" at least by Thai men's standards.

We can agree to disagree on this one. I'd rather hang out at the hospital for a night "just in case." And I'll still assert, even in the UK NHS (if you can get an operation before your body falls apart) the push for outpatient procedures is about money-saving measure for the NHS and not about patient care. In the US the insurance companies drive hospital's SOP.

Was that the same eye after you got the surgery. It does happen. If your very myopic it's recommended to get laser photocoaguation (tacks your retina to your eyeball) prior to getting cataract surgery.

Almost all hospitals in Thailand will keep you overnight as it's pretty much Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) here. Why don't they in the US? Cost and insurance companies not wanting to pay so it becomes "out-patient" at the urging of insurance companies. So it doesn't reflect a lack of care - quite the opposite. The US practices reflect a lack of preventative care that is SOP in Thailand because of insurance companies lose money. So - talk about which country has the greediest systems? I had an inguinal hernia operation at Suan Dok (Maharaj Hospital) and was kept overnight. And they kept me the night before as well. It's inexpensive and it's a good way to address complications should they occur. Considering post-surgery I hurt like hell I was happy to stay an enjoy a morphine buzz post-op and that night. Slept great. Fyi - inguinal hernia surgery is outpatient in the US. "They're just trying to milk you for money!!! Grrrr!" At the exchange rate at the time, the operation and the stay cost me 18000 THB or $600 USD. I'm quite happy to hang out overnight in a private room at those prices.

There ya go. Suan Dok eye department is doing them for 5K more than when I check a few years back. Like Prince in Lamphun, they probably do a lot of cataract surguries, but it is a teaching hospital as well. But for complicated case you have the advantage of doctoral professors who can work on you as well.

I agree. Cataract surgery here in Thailand is actually more expensive than in the America. So much for "medical tourism" as you gain nothing other than emptying your pocketbook if coming here for cataract surgery.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for eye care as I live about 30 minutes from Muang Lamphun but from the south in Lamphun province. If they are doing cataract surgery on a government contract then they probably perform more surgeries than the average private hospital cataract surgeon.

You probably mean Sripat instead of Suan Dok. Suan Dok is the government hospital, Sripat the "private" side that uses the same doctors and facilities, just at an inflated price. Although a bit dated I was quoted 30K per eye for simple monofocal lens at Suan Dok government hospital Chiang Mai. May be a slight bit more currently.

Immigration Police Arrest Taxi Drivers Overcharging Bangkok Tourists There - fixed it! Now that you know where there is a bigger problem, why not go out and fix it. 👮‍♂️: "Foreigner bad; Thai people good."

Which is why what use to be the Western middle-classes, especially the children of middle-class Westerners, are finding themselves living in tents, vans, and RVs on the streets (or in mum and dad's basement) even though they have jobs. Housing prices have sky-rocketed as wages decline in parity. So $1M USD is still $1M USD for most of the middle-class cum poverty-class working poor: more money than they can make in a decade or more. Well, unless you are a Zoomer investing in Roaring-Kitty Game-Stop getting in at the bottom and selling at the top. But that ain't most Zoomers or Millennial middle-class now inflation-induced poverty-class working poor finding the reality of "The America Dream" draining into the gutters of the decaying streets of the United States as illegal migrants look down from the windows of their government and NGO paid hotel rooms, wave their government stipend-cash cards, and laugh.

It's not even economic - it's cultural which makes it essentially culturally endorsed racism expressed as rampant nationalism and overt protectionism. It's amazing that Thailand has so firmly held on to these highly charge negative, ethnocentric, and discriminatory sentiments toward non-Thais for nigh-on 90 years, especially those held by Thailand's leaders in parliament and the HiSo-wealthy in Thai society. However these sentiments may die out in the long-run as the ethnic Thai population simply dies out (Thai youth no boom-boom and have kids) and is replaced by Myanmar and Cambodian labor (who do boom-boom and have lots of kids) whom are welcomed into the country to "do the jobs that Thais don't want to do." As well, over the next decades I expect highly skilled labor (foreign STEM graduates/digital nomads/engineers/etc) to equally flood the country in order to "do the jobs that Thais don't have the brains to do) in order to keep Thailand technologically relevant on the world stage - and many of these highly skilled labor will come from places like India and other developing nations as well as Zoomers from the West. Those highly intelligent and highly motivated foreigners may find paths to citizenship as well as places within Thai upper-crust society over time, and eventually begin to break-down the cultural road-blocks and nationalist fervor, which is at the present so anti-foreigners and anti-migrant. It will change over time, I have no doubt, but not within my lifetime.

Not a word about leasing or Usufruct. Nobody in their right mind would plow 40M THB ($1.11M USD) in order to purchase 1 rai of land in order to build a house. "Investing 40M THB." Then you are limited to your options of "investing" which is another can of worms. With significantly less than $1.11M USD, you can purchase a second passport in a number of countries including some in tropical and semi-tropical locations then buy land and build away. Thailand's bent towards rabid nationalism and protectionism began back in the 1930s with the first set of the 12 Thai Mandates. Mandate 2 - On preventing danger to the nation, issued 3 July 1939: "Thai people must not engage in any business without considering the benefit and safety of the nation." "Thai people must never reveal anything to foreigners that might damage the nation. These actions are a betrayal of the nation." "Thai people must not act as agent or spokesman for foreigners without considering the benefit of the Thai nation, and must not express opinion or take the side of foreigners in international disputes. These actions are a betrayal of the nation." "Thai people must not secretly purchase land on behalf of foreigners in a way that endangers the nation. These actions are a betrayal of the nation." "When a person has betrayed the nation, it is the duty of Thai people to actively and quickly put a stop to it." - Source: Wikipedia Thai Cultural Mandates So distrust of all foreigners as well as the restriction of the sale of land to foreigners is pretty well baked right into the Thai Cultural cake.

Wear expensive bling to show your status, get robbed - don't complain.

Does anyone have any recommendations for fragrance-free shampoo that you can buy in Thailand. It seems the brand I have been using for years is now "New and Improved" and it smells like they doubled the amount of fragrance - it's horrid. Or I'm just getting really sensitive to fragrance. I'd rather just go with a fragrance-free brand but one that doesn't strip all the oil out of your hair and scalp.

Not anymore. The world is unhitching itself from America and they're going to allow it to go off the cliff without them attached. Well - except for the caboose called the G-7. They'll go over the edge too if not first.

Most people want a good war to "Show that evil Putin and his friend Xi and their toadies Yong-un and Khomeini a thing or two. Nuke 'em all. Ha ha ha ha!!!" But those same people aren't planning on volunteering to go to the front and they all believe that if "we just nuke 'em first" everything will be hunky dory. I fully expect to see nuclear armageddon play out in my life-time and that will end humanity as we know it. And a whole lot of members here want nothing more than war war war - and - BOOM. I'll let ya'll slug it out now. Rage baby rage!!! Enjoy the hate-fest.

I don't worry about vegans. They can do whatever they wish as long as they don't interfere with my eating habits. See - I love veggies!

I'd say the turnaround is fair play. Lawfare should have never been used in the first place - but - that genie's out of the bottle and there ain't no stuffing him back in again. Sadly. Another stake through the heart of America.