GinBoy2

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

Mostly all of Abba will cheer me up, a couple however can delve me into total depression. But Waterloo always will make me smile

When we're in the US lucky enough to have a few good Indian restaurants that deliver courtesy of Doordash. In Thailand I kinda like Pataks sauces which i get in Tops Not as good as a restaurant, but pretty darn close

Maybe it's just about getting to a point in your life where it's just 'Fu##k It' I used to be gym rat in my younger days, always ate right etc. But i think when I crossed the 60 barrier it was, who cares! I'm still pretty fit, but I eat what I want in moderation, not a coach potato and am just comfortable in my own aging skin It's the male version of women and hair dye. I read an article about the mega business of women's hair dye, but it concluded exactly the same, around 60 women go, "ahh fu##k it'

My uncle is in his mid 80's and moved to Florida several years ago. He tells me the older you get men are increasingly in short supply, and he's getting more sex than he's ever had. Little too much info than I wanted from a close family member, but also good to know....Boys don't die young! The Women Need You

I'm not going to delve into GG, or should I say Marcus Aurelius, pretty sure based on style the same person's posts. But I do have some comments on HK. When I lived in Shanghai, it was the early 2000's, direct flights to TPE still weren't possible, so when I travelled to our office in Taiwan, it was always a flight to HKG on a Friday night, spend the weekend then on to TPE Monday morning. At that time it was impossible to tell the difference from the previous colonial rule to Beijing. South China Morning Post was still a real newspaper, freedom of speech was there, I could access everything on the internet, which I couldn't do back at home in Shanghai, and all in all it was an idyllic place, and I still have many friends there from those days. Back then it was just as China was joining the WTO and the thought was, mine included that China would end up looking like Hong Kong. Well fast forward 25 years, and I and most others were wrong. It turns out Hong Kong is turning out to look like any other mainline Chinese city. Several of my friends have already left. Some had BNO's and left for the UK. Others to Taiwan, Canada or the US. I haven't been there for probably 10 years at this point, but I'm told I wouldn't even recognize the place. As for return to colonial rule, thats just nonsense, what Hong Konger's want is independence and become a city State like Singapore. But thats not gonna happen, so it's a rapid slide to being part of Guangdong

I think the title is somewhat wrong. I don't think it spells death for the Red Shirt Movement, but I do think it does spell death for Pheu Thai. Lust for power at whatever price comes with consequences!

We always used Thonglor Dental Hospital, which seemed to do decent work at decent prices, and I never had a complaint That being said, the two crowns I had done there both failed within 5 years. Crowns I had done 20+ years ago in California are still going strong. Had both the failed crowns replaced in the US, 3 years on they are still solid So make of that what you will. Maybe I was just unlucky?

Another weird dup post

Thats the unknown's of life. For better or worse we make choices. Whether or not different choices would ultimately make our lives better or worse in the end is the subject of multiverse movies!

Aren't there always things in our life, which with hindsight you wouldn't have done? But the universe has a way of kinda righting itself. May not be as rich as I thought I would be, through some bad financial decisions, but it all ended up OK Now have my wife, ex wife, my kids and a decent life in my final chapter. It's a little like one of those SciFi time travel movies. What 'if' I could change some of my past mistakes, who's to say that change in the timeline would have made my 'now' life better or worse