GinBoy2

Yeah that's tough When we moved to the US it twice poverty or $30K in savings Thankfully we passed the theshold

TG business class 747 had that weird configuration of the galley parallel to the right window. I never booked any seat on the right side

Some of this agree with. The gift thing, totally on board with, but it's little different in the West when you go visit you take a bottle of wine or the like. I've never liked holding hand and certainly not kissing in public, so that for me is a given I supported my parents in their old age, but maybe an Hispanic thing not totally Asian. Food ditto Gik thing. Well pretty sure my wife would chop off my balls in my sleep if I even thought about it!

Sometimes I wonder about the reading and comprehension skills of posters on here. Read and you will see it's an Airbus. So that rules out Boeing and Airbus, best you be checking out flights on a Chinese COMAC aircraft. Good Luck with that

Thats exactly what it looks like. In the real world we'd be covering it with kitty litter, then shoveling it up and disposed as toxic waste, but TiT, go figure! Enjoy the water you drink, and the sea you swim in....

I love use of the word 'apron' it's a blast from the past Today we use the word 'ramp' pretty universally across the world, but apron still sounds good.

Now I work for an airline, and I've seen my fair share of hydraulic leaks, but they tend to be 'drips', that is a total failure, never seen that much fluid on the ramp ever. Since this was an Airbus, given the currents sanctions, good luck in getting the AOG parts to fix it! That birdie might be spending a few years in Phuket. Turn it into a themed restaurant maybe?

Apart from the stupid picture of the wrong aircraft, I love the fact that they stored them in Suvarnabhumi. Retired aircraft still have value, and there is a reason airlines pay to store them in the dry deserts of California, Spain and Australia. Corrosion, one of the reasons the A340-500's stored at Don Mueang were totally worthless was they were corroded to cr**p in a hot humid environment. That might not be fair since the A340-500's were never going to parted out since the planes themselves were worthless, but you get the gist

Most of us come from an age where it was taboo. I'm Hispanic where it was double taboo! About 10 years ago I got a phone call from a shocked female childhood friend, that our mutual childhood friend had finally come out at 50! My reaction was, I always knew he was gay from when we were teenagers in HS, but back then it was always safer just to hide it away, and I'm sure thats a hard thing to shake, even as attitudes changed in society. Try to remember what being Gay was like in the 70's. Not pretty, a lot of violence and hateful speech. He always seemed to have 'roommates' AKA boyfriends as I understood it, but he could never get his head around those teenage fears and didn't even tell his parents. I was his best friend in HS, of course I knew but we would never have talked about it back then. When he finally did come out in middle age and we talked, my reaction was "About Time" We both laughed and life went on

I kinda get this. I love my wife, she loves me but to be around each other 7x24 one of us would be dead. Thankfully we both work, so kiss goodbye in the morning and come home at dinner time to recount our boring day at work. Isn't that how life works?

I rather like Harry and Megan. Harry has for British tabloid reasons been vilified, but he's a decent guy in my view I'm an American, so I have no skin in the game, but he does good things, the Invictus Games alone gives him a free pass. His pursuit of the appalling tabloid press harassment of his mother should be appaulded

I'm a native Central Valley guy. Lived most of my adult life either in the Bay Area or San Diego and I still love San Diego county, my youngest daughter and my Grandson still live there. But OMG I just couldn't live with the traffic and all the people anymore. Daughter is contemplating a move to North Carolina, which I'm not thrilled about, but I get it

I vividly remember being in the lunch room at work as we watched the verdict One guy said "Lets all go and loot Best Buy"

Well, the truth for anyone speaking a second language is you lose some of the nuances, but if you speak nothing you lose it all. I have a friend who has joined Mrs G and me in Mexico. Now I'm Hispanic so Spanish is a native language, he speaks pretty good Spanish, but even then when we are with my family he loses some of the essence, especially the humor of conversation. My wife just looks bemused she speaks not a lick of Spanish past Ola! In Thailand I do OK, I'm pretty fluent in Thai and Lao, but they are my 4th and 5th languages, I wouldn't even try to say I understand all of the nuances when I talk to folks So I'd say unless you live in the expat enclaves, not speaking any Thai is very detrimental. Apart from anything else, for a lot of folks it means you are very dependent on your partner for almost any transaction you do, from the bank, market or immigration

Back to the OP Everywhere can run it's course, you just kinda tire of a place. Over my life I've tired of California, China, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Not to say I hated any of them, but I was just done with them. Maybe some of us just aren't built to stay in one place for too long. Now I think I'm done with my world travels, and as boring as it sounds, I hate spending a night away of home. I've spent more than my fair share of nights in hotel beds Now just leave me at home with the missus and the cats, I'm a happy boy

I don't often agree with a lot Dan spews, but in this one I kinda do. When divorced my ex wife it's painful, mother of two of my wonderful kids, but we'd drifted apart and it happened. When we did all settle up, we did it quite amicably, she kept the house that she lived in, I hadn't for years, and we split everything. I know some divorce's are messy, but a surprising amount aren't. I had no problem splitting our stuff. She'd worked during all of our marriage and brought up the kids, so there was a premium she could have added to that Today I count her as my best friend, we'll talk on the phone couple of times a week, when we all get together at the Grandkids homes, she and my current Thai wife gleefully exchange stories about my flaws! I think where men lose their frikkin minds and any common sense is when a divorce goes badly, they visit Thailand meet the first pretty girl who shows them attention, the frontal lobes become dormant, and the little brain takes over

It's sad actually. After the collapse of the USSR and the utter turmoil as it broke up I along with at least most of us thought Russia was emerging as a real Western democracy. Boy, was I wrong. Under Putin it's basically reverted to the old Soviet Russia, but actually worse, Soviet Russia but run by the mafia and it seems that Russians in general seem to be OK with that, and in some ways they mirror their leaders

What exactly does a monarch actually do? They rubber stamp parliament's bills, they have no actual power. Open a few new roads, make an appearance at an old peoples home maybe. At least a President, love or hate them actually do a real job, and if you hate the job they do you get rid of them at the next election As much as we Americans seem obsessed by them as a tabloid spectacle, we don't have to pay for them! So as long as you want them, go for it, but I'd say Versailles is still one Hell of a tourist attraction, even without the Sun King.

They are indeed. There is a reason why tourist visas are so hard to get, because the history of Thai's overstaying! In my wife's circle of Thai friends here in South Dakota, only her and one other came here legally, all the rest overstay until eventually they ended up marrying and getting an adjustment of status. How many Thai's are in South Korea as overstay? I bet anyone who lives outside Bangkok with a Thai wife knows at least one. Good luck with this Mr Cameron, cos you're gonna need it, great story for illegal immigration control!

Thats exactly what I have. When you first do it takes a couple of days for your brain to sort it out, but somehow it does. I can close my reading eye and I can't read. Close my distance eye and I can't see distance. Both eyes open and bingo my sight is perfect. The human brain is pretty incredible how it works it all out

It's funny your brain hasn't figured it out I wear contacts, and I have a distance eye and a reading eye, and I have no idea how it works but somehow my brain sorta figures it all and I see perfectly. BTW the prescription in the two eyes is wildly different. So I can't see any reason why you can't do what you propose

BTW Thank You Holland for stepping up and taking some of the burden from the rest of us. Americans, Brit's, Aussies we all have our time in the barrel, nice to see someone else filling the limelight Now where are the Belgians......

I think these guys fell into the trap of buying into the SE Asian woman stereotype. It's some weird belief that all asian women are somehow hyper sexualized. Of course the Thai sex industry doesn't exactly help in dispelling that myth, which is well documented far and wide. So lets say a couple of, not the sharpest tools in the toolshed guys show up. They've heard the stories, bought into the myth and bingo here we are!

My wife started to go gray about 10 years ago, and she also was plucking them out. Eventually she bowed to the inevitable and just gave up. I rather like her salt and pepper look, it's kinda sexy if you ask me. As for men dying their hair, just don't!

I couldn't have ever left my kids behind. There is a myth that all break ups are acrimonious. They may be painful but they don't have to be bad. I still talk to my ex every week, mother of my daughters and I'd count her as my best friend. I travelled a lot, probably too much for work and we just drifted apart. Fast forward to today and I think I have it all. We have grandkids, from my American daughter and my Thai son. We all get together, we all kinda get along We recently all got together for my American grandson(although my Thai grandson is also American) first birthday in San Diego It was a great time. One of the more disturbing parts was my wife and ex wife trading stories on my various faults!