BigStar

The article doesn't say "spend." Pattaya mayor said he expects at least 150 million baht to be generated . . . . Very different. The usual ignorant ANF Poster Economics mistake to fit the narrative.

Funny how when you're over the sugar addiction, the old normal sweet things seem distasteful.

Forced free labor is unethical and slavery. Yup, they really are that stupid. How did they ever fill out a tax form? Or did they? Social Darwinism.

The 40 million was greeted with the usual chorus of sneers from TAT: TVF as well. Then COVID came along and TAT: TVF completely reversed itself and accepted the 40 million as totally credible so they could enhance the drama, hysteria, and doomsterism about the death of the Thai economy and last of the last nails in the coffin. So what we think just depends on what fits our little narrative at the moment, has nothing to do with any real facts or evidence. It certainly turned out that tourism wasn't dead at all, and, no, all the tourists didn't shun Thailand ever after for those "much better" destinations we all know, heh heh. Note TAT: TVF only counts the white mongers from Western countries that occupy barstools. Let's also keep in mind that the announcement of the construction of Suvarnabhumi was also greeeted with a chorus of sneers and jeers. Thailand Already Had One, and One's All That's Needed. The supposed growth in tourism would never support it. Our brown envelope bots swarmed and buzzed throughout. I can't think of any of the countless doomster prophecies on the forum all these years that have actually ever come true. Maybe you can?

Oh, we always think we do. Feels good.

Isn't Bang Saen closer? And it's traditionally been a favored destination. Fact is, Pattaya has many more attractions and lots more going on. The rewrite just gives a false impression to fit a biased narrative.

Dongtan beach. Oh, that's IT. ???? I'm enjoying the Russian hotties nowadays. Mountains bore me after short time, but sea views never do, for some reason. You know that Dale Carnegie poem, Two men looked out from prison bars, One saw the mud, the other saw stars. Seems you're just demonizing Pattaya 'cause you've decided on Chiang Mai. All you got is little worm's eye complaints and haven't answered their very credible refutations. If cycling is SO important, should have moved over to Lake Mabprachan. How could you possibly have moved to such a busy area? It's not important to me or anyone I know. I cycled long ago when it was really fun. You can be out after dark around the lake. Dunno why that's so important either. I'm rarely out after dark and don't miss it a bit. I've done those long runs after dark and before dawn, in freezing cold. Now I enjoy quiet time at the condo to catch up on reading, movies, stretching, and the gf. As @newnativesaid, wide variety of restos in Pattaya. Our resident expert and connoisseur, @Jingthing, verifies that's the case. Just tried a new one on the Darkside, excellent and memorable. But as @saaiyer says, "Most fit people I know keep their food, exercise and relationships basic, simple, clean and repetitive. Variety is overrated." So it is with me. Don't care what any reviewers say. Wherever I am, I fix as much food as possible in the room, bring supplies with me. Much healthier. I imagine a lot of old fat guys with too much money on their hands need to visit a lot of restos. I don't eat Thai street food anywhere. Did that as a tourist decades ago. I'll often order off menu at Thai restos. Also saw the tourist cultural shows. Don't need any more of those, can easily find enough culture. Speaking basic Thai helps w/ Thais, learned quite a lot. Don't need any phony intellectual conversations. Can shop for anything I want or order it online. Been to Chiang Mai several times, nice for a visit, nothing compels me to live there. Yeah, quite happy here in Pattaya, enough friends, breeze from the sea doesn't seem so polluted, enjoy its dystopian aspects (fan of dystopian SF here) along with the modern luxurious. Like the circus. Bars, part of the wallpaper. Love living near the beach. Has a bit of everything--if you look. And I couldn't care less what anyone thinks. I think for myself. On the other hand, a puckered sphincter must be unpleasant for you to deal with and makes things seem a lot worse than they really are. Your wish to leave is most understandable. As this isn't an airport, no need to announce your departure. You might kindly refrain from bashing Pattaya from afar, as is the habit of so many refugees, and merely gurgle over Chiang Mai in the Chiang Mai forum. Got one troll in Cambodia keeping up his Thailand bashing for years, like a vindictive old woman. Find happiness and enjoy where you are.

OK, so your info just boils down merely to what your non-Chinese connected accountant told you, which seems nothing new at all. Next.

OK--accountant. Good? ????

Quite different, in that low fat yogurt and most of the other products marketed as low fat contain sugar, not artificial sweetener, to make it taste better owing to the lack of fat. So then they eat more of it and when the subsequent (larger) sharp insulin spike drops they feel hungry for more sugar & carbs. Diet Coke doesn't spike insulin significantly when combined with a low carb meal, as of course the fatties wouldn't do; it may prompt them to eat even more of their high carb meal, so defeating the purpose they'd had in mind. So while it contains zero calories, they end up ingesting more. Saw a pic the other day of Bill Gates with one, figures. Even so, Diet Coke should be consumed only in moderation. I'll have one when I'm in the mood sometimes. ????

In this instance, sugar carbs, in the low fat yogurt. Lots of sugar in their other foods, along with other carbs, leading to insulin spikes and drops, hence hunger for more of same. But they believe that low fat is doing them good. Adding fat or protein to all the carbs just means extra calories to help the weight gain or prevent weight loss.

Advertiser retains sole responsibility for the content of this article. For more information about this issue, check out some of the latest science and resources at potatogoodness.com Hee hee. Hack quoting some off-brand female academic dietitians, probably vegans themselves. Full of holes and uses a straw man argument (often used here) that somebody's claimed individual metabolisms don't exist.???? Ultimate aim is to sanitize "plant based" carbs--though veggies (and of course meat) need none, so always suitable for all metabolisms--for the sake of starches (oh--potatoes!) and, laughably, respect for cultural eating patterns so that recommendations work in the real world, as if they don't already if followed. After all, there's really not much justification for eating starches for nutrient purposes, unless you can't find better. Yet all the recommendations repeated ad nauseam in USA that in theory don't violate any cultural eating patterns (at least, until the high carb, low fat, food industry-based Dietary Pyramid became the new pattern) also don't work. Redefining starches (now whole foods) as innocuous is nothing new, and it hasn't helped a bit in the real modern world, for good reason. We should buy more potatoes, though.

Projection, as that's what you should stop doing. One concrete verified example is enough to disprove your case. You admit you and your agent have no Chinese connections to the right corrupted officials, or know people who do, that could have enabled you or other "westerns" you know to avoid "going through all of it." In the past, a number of "westerns" did get fake visa stamps through agents. Of course, they also blabbed about it on the internet, which Chinese wouldn't do. That illegal practice was ended; now the Chinese abuse is being stopped as well. Evidently, you're using only ONE agent. Normally, our shrewdest members would simply say that your agent is simply finding an excuse to raise your fees. Perhaps your agent senses a crackdown coming on agents and those phony bank accounts for all those who can't afford to meet financial requirements. That would make sense. Been a long time coming. I don't need any agent. And I'm sure that if I'm missing a signature, it will be pointed out to me by the IO, and I will have the opp'y to sign on the spot. A missing signature or document has always been cause for denial, nothing new there whatsoever. Whinges about having to run to make another copy are legion, or to the bank to make a small deposit or get the right letter. Yawn. So we're not seeing any of your evidence here of any supposed broad-based crackdown with new requirements, just some talk from your agent, come down to it.

I often relate that during my visits to the States, I have a hard time getting to the full-fat Greek yogurt or cottage cheese because of all the fat ladies in my way grabbing the low fat.

Can be true or not true anywhere. Friends of mine lived the alcohol-fueled lifestyle in Florida. One already died relatively young. It's up to the person. Most people in Pattaya aren't drunks, but that's not our narrative. Lots of ordinary middle-class sorts here, many with families. They live in condos, apts, gated communities, or standalone homes.

Part the same advice usually given in the West, innit? Good far as it goes. Our own highly qualified experts seem on board, too, and have of course added in their whataboutism.

Friend of mine got one of those fake Ed visas same as many Chinese. Paid B50,000. Immigration didn't check anything. And it was through a Chinese connection via his Chinese girlfriend. My point stands. They can't possibly scrutinize my papers more than they already did. And we're not hearing many reports verifying your point. Your accountant didn't say it was ONLY Westerners being scrutinized. You haven't verified with non-Western nationalities, so actually you dunno.

I'm not seeing that. Visits to verify marriages have been around for quite some time. Nor do you know if it ONLY applies to Westerners, as alleged. I've never filled out any TM30 or ever had my address questioned. I present a copy of my yellow book/pink card yearly. Scrutiny of yearly extension docs is performed w/ the same rigor as ever, never any questions or problems.

Paid a lot more and have established connections. You could do that. Well, could have. Have they tightened up requirements for Westerners, and only, since the scandal broke? Which ones are those?

I've been nicely growing old in Pattaya, and I know many others doing the same. One old Swiss guy in my building made it to about 95, accompanied by his lovely caretaker and gf, before prostate cancer finally got him. Worked out at a nearby gym weekly. Regular patient at a nearby hospital. Lots of hospitals around Pattaya.

Applying now, probably. USD2000 sounds like all you need for a modest life in Pattaya. You'll get cost-of-living increases. You can put the 5 million to work something like this: Invest 70% of the 5 million in shares of an income-producing fund (w/ a long track record) you can liquidate quickly in an emergency, like a big hospital bill. Sell gradually as the price rises or buy more as the price drops (and then sell again as the price rises). Keep the remaining 30% in (safe, relatively) high yield cash equivalents. You might wait to see if this year presents a great buying opportunity. That's only one way. Read and ask questions in investing forums. Most of our members live on pensions from nanny states and don't like or (obviously) know anything about investing (but are keyboard experts), so expect hostility to this idea. Get used to using government hospitals. Look into getting an int'l policy w/ high deductible--ask over in the Health forum, I think you can find something affordable. Take good care of your health through diet and exercise to avoid the need for much healthcare. For decades, I've only paid for annual checkups.

Member should keep in mind what @protonthinks is good beech: Bang Saen. Like this. I'll take Pattaya. Narongchai later wrote on his Facebook that the phenomenon occurs every year from July through September due to southwestern monsoon winds. Trash Dumped by Bangkokians Washes Up on Bang Sean Beach ???? As in Bang Saen. How often you hittin' those museums and concert venues? But I've never heard any expat missing those. The countryside's just outside Pattaya and trip to the lake makes a nice outing. Pattaya does of course have music festivals. Parts of it exist in a time warp. But Bangkok isn't that far away. Good as it gets in Thailand for a concentration of museums and more interesting concerts. Enough of the obvious bias and bashing. Not helpful.

Pay no attention to the vast brigade of Pattaya bashers. Pattaya bashing has always been an industry on the forum to gain cred with the peanut gallery. Sour grapes, mostly. As @Ulysses G. wrote on March 9, 2007: The Hilton, Holiday Inn, and Centara Grand Mirage, among many others, didn't get the memo. While bashers been enjoying their bashing, the size of Pattaya's economy has at least quadrupled. Most popular beach resort in SE Asia. Great place to live, great value, better weather than many other places in Thailand, super convenient, beach good 'nuff, large and diverse area (though you'd never know it from reading here) with the lifestyle of your choice available. Nice nearby beach towns as well. So, just move here and live in different areas until you find one that suits you best. Don't bother with Hua Hin. I can quote posts--from residents, mind you--that bash it as well, including the beach.

Reopened at the corner of S. Pattaya & Third Rd. I dunno who’s behind this incarnation, our “insiders” can inform us. Looks like after all the overpriced old machines from all the old Tony’s outlets failed to sell, they were refurbished and now a dark, crowded storage warehouse is The Gym. Open air; might be fans, I didn't feel any impetus to wander around. I saw one person in there on a treadmill. Run by a pushy Brit. I did see a stack of completed applications for joining. B120/day, 890/mo. You "lifetime" members might see if your membership is still valid. Somehow, that seems unlikely, but one may hope.

Or maybe it's just the unreasonable and confounding ANF Poster mindset that usually misses the boat. COVID was supposed to have been the last nail in the coffin for Thai tourism after all the other nails, owing to the intolerable mistreatment of tourists and especially expats. And let's not forget the announcement of the construction of Suvarnabhumi itself was greeted with the usual chorus of sneers. Thailand already had a perfectly good airport, and Only One's Needed. The runways were all going to sink and never be maintained. And it'd never be completed anyway. Then when it was completed, it was deserted, proof that it wasn't needed in the first place, heh heh. Maybe we should adopt a reasonable and less stupid mindset than usual and just wait and see. 'Course, that would spoil the fun and the piling on.