BigStar

Trump's suing ABC and George Stephanopoulos and his lawsuit has been given permission to proceed. Thus ABC and he have a conflict of interest. Have the debate moderated by the org you're suing? I don't think so! Trump agreed to easy terms to get Biden out of his basement and give him false hope he could win on his terms w/ the fake news moderators behind him. Worked. No such need with Harris. Being on stage with Trump would elevate Harris and be to her advantage, until she's shredded. He has the right to negotiate terms this time.

True. As a left wing socialist from the Islamic State of Minnesota, he's just another pre-reinvented Kamala and already talking the same cr*p. Great pick for the Republican side as he not only shares her repugnant beliefs but has a track record of implementing them. Ripe for attack. I don't see him as helping her much, except for being more coherent. JD Vance is smarter, more dynamic, and a lot more articulate.

They probably meant peaceful, civilized families who don't cause confrontations. The "victim" is a family man, w/ a wife anyway.

Prescient.

Nonsense. Could well have happened Thai-on-Thai. But this farang idiot shouldn't have been shoving a Thai in the first place. And since he did, he should have been prepared for the fact the Thai would shove back. He was lucky the response wasn't a lot more violent. No sympathy here.

And this was just the usual nonsense and hot air.

Excellent. Lovely place, really. Nice climate, inexpensive; friendly locals, exotic culture; shopping, restaurants, and good, reasonably priced medical care.

The look on Laurene Jobs's face says it all.

The weird hoax seems to have distracted slightly from the latest DNC brat Gen Z marketing: “‘wtf lol Trump is ick." 'Course, Mr. Kamala's weirdness and weird defense by his ex-wife have recently emerged. But Kamala's new VP pick will be announced today, so "weird" and the bad economy may be off the front page momentarily as euphoria engulfs the Pravda press.

The thread has made me realize that bigotry alters the occipital lobe in brain controlling vision. Therefore, many, such as yourself, see Thailand in sepia tones, as in Apple's ad, so sepia tone is just a fact. And facts are facts. There's much more, such as the magic eraser effect. Here, it's dramatically applied to our bigots' perceptions of Suvarnabhumi Airport. Despite their having traveled through there multiple times, their brain cells have erased all its international modernity, leaving them believing it looks like old unused area at Don Muang just as in the ad. Fact. Actually, to those of us with unaltered occipital lobes, Suvarnabhumi Airport looks like it does in this more realistic, far more effective ad for Google's Pixel 7 & 7 Pro, though you may also see this in sepia tones and magically erase the vast difference. Plenty of local color, tuk-tuks, buses as tourist use--but Thais not denigrated but portrayed and treated respectfully, emphasis on the phones themselves with realistic demonstration of their impressive capabilities. You see, that ad is aimed at the Japanese market, not Western bigots enjoying feeling superior as their ignorant, negative stereotypes are reinforced and impaired vision validated. It's sepia-toned. Fact. As noted, bigotry is incurable and can only be countered with force. Chinese know that, so Apple wouldn't dare make that ad set in China. Thais are learning. So they threatened a boycott and forced Apple to withdraw that negative, outdated, unrealistic portrayal. Good on 'em.

Have forgotten a few times, but someone always ran after me to remind me. Then I gave an extra tip as well. All good.

How great the UK is. There, people are highly educated, intelligent, and knowledgeable on all subjects; learn English or dialect anyway; invariably polite; and drive perfectly. No poop on the beaches or other public areas. Wonderful free health care. Safety everywhere, at all hours, no thuggery or menacing drunks. No noise. Little traffic. Modern airports with friendly, welcoming immigration officials. Superbly maintained infrastructure, no potholes. Sympathetic bureaucrats offering prompt efficient service in all government offices, no red tape or waiting. Delicious, world-renowned cuisine, including proper pork scratchings. Fantastic service in all the shops, restos, and stores. Compliant, beautiful women on all the dating apps. And convenient local mosques everywhere. Paradise, really. Yet here I am living in a beach condo in Pattaya, desperate to sell, stuck, longing for the wonderful UK I've been hearing about many years.

Tina Turner didn't. Left her high BP untreated and so had a stroke, destroyed her kidneys, and hastened her demise.

And so you can just relate your curiosity to your friend who has the bill, and then you can ask your friend what the charges were and discover specifically which are, to your mind, excessive. Is there any facilitator charge listed on the bill? No one here has ever seen such a charge, except one poster claims he was once charged B100. Would the supposed excessively-charged service involve any facilitator? You can ask your friend to call the hospital or just call the hospital yourself and ask, even though you aren't, or haven't been, a patient.

Took advantage of a Health Check package last year at Phyathai Sriricha. Great value, great checkup. The post-checkup evaluation was excellent. Recommended.

Never a problem w/ my Thai credit card over the last 20 years. However, I only use it for online purchases w/ the big e-commerce companies--through the web. Otherwise, cash only for me.

Recent article in Pattaya Mail by Barry Kenyon: Expat funerals in Pattaya have become much more expensive Not entirely clear on a couple of points, somewhat simplified, but overall a good read.

Suggests solving the root causes of high blood pressure, right? People don't want to do that. Involves a lifestyle change. Hence the quest for meds.

Your map, as was mine, would be for the OP, not yourself. Duh. However, it now appears you feel incompetent to advise the OP, as he already knows everything, except how to avoid tour buses parked and unloading. If he knows all, then he should already know how he can avoid parked tour buses in that area and not leave it to others to tell him. Otherwise, not really looking for any solution (as is common), hence ignoring my post (not that I care), but just another whinger worthy of a laugh. And here you are popping up to bicker as usual. Yawn.

So this is your real issue. Common complaint on the forum. For some reason, you've gotten yourself all fixated on English facilitator w/o specifying how much facilitating was done anyway and rather insisting this must be the reason the bill was 2x higher than you thought it should be. The charges are listed on the bill. What charge specifically seemed high to you? If you have a question about the charges, just go ask the hospital about them. Jesus!

Nor did I. You've missed a major point. Think.

No. It'll be high enough already.

And business travelers, on expense accounts, don't. Their experience is the middle-class Thai experience. Many don't, and these travelers wouldn't. Nothing to be happy about here. And the backlash has been widespread, NOT by just a few. Quite understandable. Reality for whom and in what context is the issue, even if you don't like it.

I noted that I sometimes go that route and gave a realistic assessment. That it doesn't have a lot of tour buses and tourists blocking the path is a fact, not theory. The larger sois do have traffic, as I said. I could walk on them, I see Russians walking on them, but whether the OP himself can do so is a matter for his own discovery by walking. Are you done? Go create your own map.

No. In fact they are, through the selection bias shown in the ad, which is what you enjoy so much. It's normal life for many people in Thailand, and many impecunious farangs, just as stepping around poop is normal life for many in San Francisco; but not for many others, notably the people these sorts of business travelers would be dealing with. Not at all. I'm a budget traveler myself. I'm known to stay in a youth hostel if convenient. You don't have a clue, really. I don't know about 80%, but a high percentage. "Talking about it" isn't the point. A realistic context of what would be the real situation in the ad, is the point that you're missing. Actually you're well-known here for bigotry and negativity. It shows. Speak for yourself. Won't do any good, however. What did good was the Thais putting on the pressure against this condescending, backward stereotyping.