GinBoy2

Things change What I thought was fun 20, 30 years ago now not so much. I've lived in a lot of countries and enjoyed them all, until I didn't. I loved Thailand, still do but I got bored and wanted to work You have a passport to your home country, thats the ultimate bolt hole The problem arises when you have burnt all the bridges back to that bolt hole. Thats the genesis for the really unhappy expat

In our little enclave here in South Dakota, my wife has a group of friends married or in some relationship with a farang. Now many are young pups and you'd think they would be the ones who might get upset. But I pose no threat to them as an older guy, so me talking to their wife/gf in Thai, or Lao doesn't faze them in the least. Now if I was 20 years younger and talking to their sweetheart in a language they couldn't understand, well then I really couldn't say

I don't really understand the problem. Of course I'll speak to a Thai in Thai if she's more comfortable with that, if the hubby can't understand that's his problem not mine. If he can't understand Thai, well she's living 99% of her life speaking Thai, so the 1% I would have to say is meaningless.

There are a thousand reasons to hit your wife, but only one...You Just Don't! I have a really sad situation at work with one of my employees right now. Came to work horribly black and blue. Not the first time, and she still goes back to him....because he's 'sorry' I told my Boss, and she took her to Urgent Care, where even though she didn't want to press charges, the abuse was documented and recorded Domestic violence isn't restricted to any culture it's mainly some Neanderthal male thing which maybe lurks in all of us! But at least in the West it's accepted as wrong, and if, unlike my co-worker, the woman accepts the fact, the law will intervene. In Thailand not so much, I don't think Thai police would even dream of intervening

That was my thinking. In fact we were planning to come over to visit you before this little 'incident' After blood, that was it and i was getting on a plane asap Toi was totally freaked out after the last time and just wanted me to see a Dr in the US So here we are, yep same as last time, although caught super early compared to last time, and it'll get removed in the next couple of weeks

I'll describe how weird skin cancer can be. I've had this mole on my upper lip my whole life. When I've been completely clean shaven never been an issue, nowadays I sport some scruff. So it wasn't like I shaved the damn thing off, in fact we were sat on the couch watching TV in the evening and MrsG remarked, "You're bleeding" The mole literally had fell off and left the underlying legion.

I'm going to discuss that with the surgeon next week

Well this is an 'Oh Fu++k It' story. I'can't believe it after just talking about my previous experience. We were supposed to be in Thailand until March 15, until I had another skin explosion on my upper lip and headed back to the US on Monday. Went to the Doc and sure as shi+t they biopsied it and here we go again. Better location than last time I think, don't have to worry about drooping eyelids or the like, unlike last time. I'm having it done in the US, for insurance reasons. But as a cautionary tale, if you've had it once just keep on top of every mole or weird skin eruption, since I think it probably never ends and you are probably at risk for more The reason I reacted so quickly this time was from my previous experience and wanted, if it was what I thought, treated asap

I would agree with most of that, and in a lot of the country, Thai food is quasi Chinese take out. One of my daughters and my Thai son live in Denver, and we make frequent trips down there, not only to visit them, but stock up on food from the Thai & Lao grocery stores. But we also discovered what is probably the best Thai restaurant we have ever eaten at, Thailand or the US. My wife raves about the food, and everyone of her friends who have eaten while being down in Denver rave too. https://aloythai.com/modern-thai/

Well. if we're delving into the realm of street food, remember this. There is a reason in Western countries there are inspections by local health departments of restaurants, food trucks anywhere that serves food. That reason being, you can get pretty damn sick from unsanitary food prep. If you every watch a street vendor 'wash' the cookware or utensils it'll make you cringe So I love Thai food, but not from some roadside vendor

Both Chinese and Indian food have a rather unique way of adapting to local tastes across the globe. The names of the dish can be the same, but country to country they can be totally different

We eat Thai food every day. Mrs G doesn't deal well with Western food. When we are in the US I'll eat lunch at the airport restaurant then we eat Thai dinner at home. Right now we're in Thailand so it's Thai food breakfast, lunch and dinner

I've dreamt about this, and when I get home from Thailand I'm going to volunteer for my local heritage railroad https://www.1880train.com/

Well that was good. Generally in the US at least he would have been tie wrapped to the seat But I am surprised why, if the story is correct that this happened minutes into the flight, the Capt. didn't either return to BKK or divert to an alternate Either way the guy was an idiot, and I hope he didn't need a pee for the rest of the flight, because there would be some poor guy of the ground crew cleaning it up after landing. One last thought. Did he board without wearing a shirt? You can't do that in any airport that I know!

Older Western Guy, what possibly could be the attraction? I'm scratching my head lol!

Slightly off topic, but thank you for the reference. I haven't read 'Old Possums's Book of Practical Cats' for many years. But after your post I went back and reacquainted myself with some of those cats I loved so much when I first read the book as a young boy. Rum Tum Tugger will always be my favorite, but Gumbie, Shibleshanks, Mungojerrie, Rumplteaser, are all in my heart It was a good re-read

So maybe I'm wrong. But for many of us reading this, the debt, if she's that worried about it, it's not a bank it's a loan shark, they will hurt her , or you if you are around. As for getting a visa, tourist or immigrant to any Western country it's pie in the sky given everything you have described I'd be looking at Plan B for the next phase of your life, this is a nightmare in the making

As you know i also work for United, and this is a stunt, God Bless the age of TikTok Nothing wrong with batteries in luggage, so long as they are not some huge lithium batteries, which can still fly but have to go with the passenger in the main cabin. We have so many bags that 'vibrate' but we generally put it down to toothbrush or shavers, although always joke it's a 'personal massage device'. I work at a small line station where I do everything including my speciality of BSO, my co workers refer to me as the bag bitch, and I will track you down to get that bag back to you. But more often than I'd like I have to go through bags to find someway to get contact information for the passenger. I've seen more than my fair share of sex toys in lost luggage while rooting though it to find some info. Note to everyone, put a frikkin name/address tag on your bags if you don't want someone like me rooting through your bags if they get lost!

I must admit, regardless of where in the world I was living I'd not want to be alone in my final chapter. I'm old enough to not really want or desire 'the chase' anymore. Me and MrsG are I'd like to say are comfortable with each other, don't need to put on an act for each other, we know very well who each other is, been together so long. So retirement when you finally do it, or semi retirement like me it might help if you have that 'comfortable' life with someone else. MrsG will retire in another couple of years, and unlike me, pretty damn sure she will be totally OK staying at home cooking and watching Thai lakorns!

Retirement can be different for folks for a host of reasons. You are obviously single and the chasing women thing is still a on your horizon. But for some of us happily married for many years, had the kids, all grown up, Thailand can be boring, quite quickly. With nothing to do, I used to get up in the morning go to the gym, come back, watch some TV, read a few books, and I was kinda done, which is not a fulfilling way to live. MrsG was so fed up with her job, she was working at maybe 20% of her potential, I couldn't work, so boredom and frustration can set in fairly rapidly. Not to say thats what happens to everyone, but it did for me

When you arrive in Singapore there is a huge sign telling you drug trafficking will result in the death penalty as you come down the escalator to immigration Maybe a similar sign should be in BKK, saying riding a motorcycle in Thailand may well result in death!

I rather liked the reference to Rum Tum Tugger. One of my favorite poems, and maybe that's why I am a cat guy; a little feisty and often at odds with the world

I retired at 55, which was in hindsight too early. I traveled a lot during my working career, probably spent more nights in hotel beds than my own bed. So seen a lot of the world courtesy of work, so now travel doesn't interest me at all, I baulk at an overnight trip somewhere, I like being at home. In Thailand I realized after a few years there was only so many books I could read, so much TV I could watch, don't play golf, not a bar fly, so what to do. So a lot of moving back to the US was I wanted to go back to work, plus after our son said he wasn't coming back to Thailand after college, MrsG would have moved heaven and earth to get us there! So I ended up getting a job with the airlines. We're actually back in Thailand right now where I do remote load planning for United, I do it for 2-3 months a year until we go home and I resume my regular job with United Strangely after so much of my life on planes, dicking around with them on the ground actually is my perfect retirement

Actually at 71 by US standards you'd be on medicare and paying $174/month with a $1632 deductible, with no pre existing conditions

If I'm reading your story correctly, you'd be insane to move to Thailand full time at your age. Health insurance if you hadn't been grandfathered in, would, if you could actually get anyone to write you a policy would be ridiculously expensive and full of exclusions, which insurance companies love to use! You mention 'disabled'. Thailand isn't a very disabled friendly place, so don't expect wheelchair access as a given which you would expect in the West. I'd like to be more positive, but thats a tough situation for any positive outcome