GinBoy2

Simply get a smart thermostat. Program it to the keep the heat on at something about freezing everyday and you'll be fine. Usually with all smart thermostats you can access them remotely on a phone app and adjust it as you need When we go to Thailand in the winter I usually set it to 50°F or 10°C

We work both the Delta and United contracts at my station Delta I pay a nominal fee per segment as an S4, United as an SAX5 is free with a $50 a year fee. We normally fly to Thailand on United using codeshares on ANA from NRT But it's the same for both Delta and United that we can use codeshares as part of our flight benefits Unfortunately we don't get ZED anymore

I guess you are a resident of 'Americas mailbox'

I had to laugh about the mushrooms. What is it with Thai's in farangland obsessing about foraging for mushrooms? My wife has many friends scattered around the world, and read their facebook posts and a helluva lot are about the 'mushroom obsession'

For non Americans; DoD: Dept. of Defense AFB: Air Force Base

I lived in Thailand full time for just over a decade. I'd lived in Singapore with my Thai wife again for about a decade before we moved to Thailand I liked Thailand when I retired early for about two years then boredom set in. When our son went to college in the US and after a week said he was never coming back, that set the ball rolling. My wife was already frustrated with her career, since in Singapore she'd been a pretty high flier, yet struggled in Thailand to get a decent engineering job as a woman. So we made the move back to the US. Can't say I regret it. My wife landed pretty quickly a DoD job on the local AFB, and I took a part time job with Delta Airlines, which got me out of the retirement boredom trap. As for cost. we already owned a house here which negated a lot of the housing costs that many expats face when repatriating, which for many get's them really hamstrung. After that, we lived in Thailand a pretty Western lifestyle, which is pricey compared to the real Western lifestyle, and I would ponder that our day to day expenditure is actually less than in Thailand. So now I think we get the best of all worlds. With my job at Delta, we travel free to our home in Thailand every year (post covid I might add) but both of us are happier with work, and close to our kids

Yeah your Brother in Law is exactly how you shouldn't do it. The learning to talk timeline is hard. Our son when he started to talk, it was a word soup of all languages he was being exposed to. Not sure how the brain figures it out but somehow it does. My brain can be thinking in English, but if I'm talking to a Spanish speaker it just comes out Spanish! Way above my pay grade to try to figure it out, I'm sure many a scientific paper has been written on the subject

You gotta be pretty diligent only speaking certain languages at one time. I don't know if you speak Thai, but since I do there was no need for Mrs G to speak in English to me when she was talking around our son, so we were both pretty discipled about that for the language forming years

Another language thing. Me and my daughters can swap effortlessly between English and Spanish, and we all 'think' in both, so in our heads thoughts swirl around in both languages. Now my learned languages that's not the case. I translate in my head, but I never ever think in them. My son learned Mandarin from me, which I learned, but for him it's a native language, so again he can think in mandarin. Languages are a gift which you can, and should give to your children. My son is mad that I didn't give him Spanish, but I just couldn't keep three languages straight in my head when he was little

It's always hard to say how genetics will work out. I have two daughters with my first wife, neither of them look the same, but both stunningly beautiful My Thai son is just a handsome devil. I'm hispanic, so he was never going to be white, but he does have a somewhat asian look. Seemed to serve him rather well with the ladies when he was in college in the US! Now all married and with a child, so we'll see how the next generation of DNA plays out. To the OP, just watch Thai lakorn's, half of the actors are Luk Luengs, might give you some clues how your kid will turn out

This is one of those dilemma's When we realized that our son's Thai HS educational was not as we had hoped, we toyed with the idea of maybe sending him to live with his half sister in Chicago, but Momma Bear just couldn't do that. I think we did a decent job between us making up for some of the glaring gaps, and it positioned him well for college life in Chicago. In hindsight I wish we could have stayed in Singapore longer to at least have gotten him through HS, that would have been ideal. But even though it was a rocky few years in Thailand, it all worked out in the end, and now he's a fully intelligent self thinking young man with a successful career in the US. On on the language thing. He speaks 4 languages. For all parents do this. As a baby, I only spoke English and Mandarin, Mom Thai and Lao. It's the tried and trusted method for all multilingual families. My parents did it with me in Spanish and English and it works, you can end up with polyglot kids

I'm a bit of a hotel snob. I know its ridiculous, you're only sleeping there, but we like a little pampering. We just got back back from a trip to Las Vegas, and we always stay in The Venetian. When we're in Bangkok we always stay at the Intercontinental. We hardly ever use all the facilities, but good restaurant's are a must for us

So to add another dimension to this. I totally get the fact that San Francisco, Los Angeles etc are totally out of the financial reach of many. But this is not new, and in days gone by, our ancestors just upped sticks and moved to somewhere they could find work and afford to live. Homelessness breaks down to those truly down on their luck and the rest with drugs and mental health issues. The down on their luck group, just have to suck it up and move somewhere where they can restart their lives, no point in wallowing in a tent under a freeway overpass. The rest, drugs and mental health, thats a much harder nut to crack

Our son was born in Singapore and was educated i Singapore up to middle school, and I have nothing but admiration for Singaporean education. His transition to the Thai educational system, not so stellar. We got him in to what was billed as the best International school in Khon Kaen. Absolute nightmare. His English classes were almost to the point of hilarious. Obviously as a child born of an American Dad, and a Mom raised and educated in the US, and born in Singapore his English was perfect. I'd read the 'corrections' to his homework and it was ridiculous. Math and Sciences were no better, so me and his Mom ended up basically being the Math and Science teachers.. He ended up going to his Mom's alma mater college in Chicago, where my my eldest daughter was living at the time, and she helped fill in the gaps for him. Ended up graduating and is now a successful guy in Hi tech So for us, I would never wish the Thai educational system on anyone, save for the children of my worst enemies

Well as a Californian native I am a little distressed to see what has happened in some of the cities, but it's not the norm We just did a half way across the country road trip.. Started off visiting my daughter and Grandson in San Diego, then Las Vegas, St George, Page, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Moab, Denver(second daughter and Thai son) and back home to Rapid City SD For the most part it's the country of your youth. Stunning scenery and not a tent encampment in sight. Now friends in SF do tell a different tale of whats happening up there, not how I remember happy Christmas shopping trips to San Francisco when I lived up North

Its a brave man or woman that would actually sign up to be a real journalist in Thailand. Much safer just reporting on endless dashcam video's of car wreaks!

Well Yes and No An Interpol Red notice in itself does not allow local law enforcement to arrest anyone. The request to detain still needs to come from the home country. The fact that there were multiple pictures of 'The Boss' emerging from his London townhouse, yet no request to detain from Thai authorities tells you all you need to know

Now I haven't visited the UK for many years, but 20 pounds for fish and chips, thats almost $30. Now I like British fish and chips, but for $30 I could buy a pretty good main course at a good restaurant. Fish and chips is just that, it's pretty much the same wherever you go Apart from the outrage about condiments, I'd be outraged at the fact that anyone can get away with charging $30 for fish and chips in the first place!

Well thats the crux. A lot of delusion goes on the mega age different couples. I'm 65, my wife 59. I still think she's pretty darn sexy, but she certainly isn't to a 30 yo guy. Same with me, I think I'm damn hot, but the idea that a woman 30 years my junior finds me 'hot' versus guys her own age is again delusional, So many farang guys in Thailand concoct the myth that somehow biology doesn't exist when it comes to 'their' relationship, it's Thailand, it's somehow different. Wake Up, smell the roses

My tough as nails wife, actually cried when she read about this. Her take was, finally a chance to break the mold, and it all crashes down

Another tale of the sinsod. My sister in law now in her 40's, has at this point been married three times. Every time she has tried to 'upgrade' and married pretty well off spouses and families. Now my wife, as the de facto matriarch of the family since the parents are dead, should in theory have received the sinsod. Not a satang, and all three marriages failed, I think the longest lasted 3 years. The whole sinsod thing is overblown in farang minds. Yeah maybe it's a thing with backofbeyond poorer than dirt family with the hooker daughter finding her farang prince. But for regular folks it's just a piece of marriage theater like a wedding cake

My wife grew up in Chicago as a teenager, I'm a Californian. Our son definitely channels Mom Can't wean him off 'Pop' to 'Soda'

My son was born in Singapore, but we moved to Thailand as he entered middle school. He didn't have the best of experiences in Thai high school, and he was pretty insistent that as soon as he could he was flexing his US passport, and high tailed it to college in the US as soon as he could. He knew what he was getting into, unlike a lot of Luk Keungs, he's visited his Grandparents in California almost every summer since he was a small boy. He ended up going to Chicago he's Mom's alma mater and never looked back. Ended up following my eldest daughter after graduation to live in Denver. I knew the game was up, when he told Mom there was no way he was coming back to Thailand, and of course Momma Bear was gonna follow her boy. I think as a kinda 'exotic' looking young man he seemed to do pretty well with the ladies, and eventually he's now married, to my delight with a wonderful latina wife and now grandchild. Not sure how it would have worked out for him if he had stayed in Thailand, but I think his options expanded when he moved to the US

It's a show, and to be honest most women, Thai or farang love weddings, and most of us actually quite like to indulge them in that. As I said before my wife's parents long dead, so the money spread out was just for show, it was our money and it went straight back to the bank the next day. But it was all part of the ritual, everyone there knew it was our money, no one to pay, but still the pictures were taken and everyone enjoyed it as part of the whole experience. Weddings are a spectacle, and I had a great time. The actual signing a marriage certificate wouldn't have bothered us until years later when we wanted to get a green card for the US. I can't even remember what actually happened when we went to the amphur to really get married, but I still remember very fondly our fun filled Thai village wedding, fake sinsod and all

Thats exactly what we did. MrsG's parents are long dead, but we still played the game. She went to the bank, pulled out a couple of million in cash. Did all the 'for show' stuff, then next day put it back in the bank. In movie terms; 'no one was hurt in the making of this movie' and everyone came away happy