GinBoy2

I never found Thailand cheap for any luxury goods regardless of the FX. My wife just flew back to Thailand for a vacation, and took with her two Gucci bags for friends. Both of which cost 50% of what it would have cost them in Siam Paragon. Now they can parade around displaying their Gucci on the cheap! .....although it's not cheap it's all insane, never quite got the female obsession with bags

Well thats the question. I don't think it's in doubt that the world is headed into a recession in 2023. How deep and how long thats gonna be, who knows. I work for an airline, and between the skyrocketing price for JetA and pilot shortage prices have gone through the roof. So the prospects for folks figuring on a long haul vacation are I believe somewhat subdued. So the Chinese are locked down, the Europeans and North Americans are preoccupied with paying the bills and keeping their jobs, all hopes rest with the Indians I guess Good Luck with that

This is dependent on the kingdom receiving 28 million visitors next year, 4 million of whom are expected to come from China, a country whose economy is currently in a state of crisis and where street protests have broken out this week across the mainland. Has anyone let them know that China's external borders are still locked down, and given the recent events most likely will stay that way through 2023. Xi ain't gonna let go of his zero covid policy, and I sincerely doubt he'll swallow his pride and import effective Western mRNA vaccines, so his only option is to keep the whole country locked down tighter than a drum. So good luck with the Chinese tourism salvation!

Trouble is you need to pick one of two models in Capitalism There is the European model of high tax and high social support Or, you pick a North American model of low tax and self support. The UK has tried to have the best of both worlds, and the chickens have come home to roost. As many of you know I'm a total Anglophile, I love your country, but.... This almost religious obsession you have with the NHS. Give it up, it was designed in the 1940's not for the 2020's and will suck you dry. I'm not defending the absurd US system, but I can get a Dr appointment tomorrow if I want for a $35 copay. Far cry from what I read about the UK and 'free at point of service' Even those other European countries have grappled with these challenges and come up up a middle path. You guys need to buckle down and have those hard discussions before you tumble into a Eastern European Basket Case

You'd be amazed. My Thai wife grew up in Chicago as a teenager and sounds like a typical Midwesterner. Yet still I can't count how many Thai's have asserted that she doesn't have a Westerner accent and that they speak English better than her!

An agent won't make any difference with the US embassy. It's a total cra***p shoot with tourist visas for married or unmarried Thai females. The CO looks at the unmarried ones who will potentially just disappear and then marry an American down the line. The married ones will travel to the US with hubby then apply for an adjustment of status to bypass the regular immigration process. I do understand their dilemma. To put it in context. My wife has many Thai friends, and only her and one other of her friends entered as legal immigrants, all of the rest overstayed tourist visas and ultimately married American men, or still are illegal. The fact that there is so much abuse of the tourist visa screws it up for regular folks

Years ago, we applied for a tourist visa to visit my daughter who had just had a baby. My then long time gf, professional woman, granted leave from work, money in the bank etc etc. Of course denied. I vowed I would never again line the State Dept pockets with another cent. Of course years later when we wanted to move to the US and got legally married, absolutely nothing had changed in our situation, other than a piece of paper, her immigration application sailed through. I might add, her 'interview' for her immigrant interview lasted about one minute!

I did this back in 2019, there is no witness The purpose of the notary is that they witness you swearing to the truth and your signature

I love being an American observer of chaos, since many of you seem to revel in US chaos. Isn't the elephant in the room that you have this weird devolution system, yet the largest part of that system is England which is ruled by this hybrid English/UK Westminster? Create real National State Houses, all equal, and then just leave Westminster to deal with the external stuff, and see how that works. I read so much cr$#$p on here criticizing US States for enacting abortion bans, death penalties, name a topic. But thats the point each US State as a sovereign nation can choose individual options based on local wishes, yet still be part of a greater State. We make our own laws, make our own taxes, spend it how we want. Figure out the big stuff and maybe you can all get along

I am but a intrigued American, who loves your country. But from all my interactions with the British over decades, Ms Sturgeon would be better pressing for a vote from the English & Welsh on Scots independence. ......I think they'd be out a week on Wednesday!

5 minutes tops. The decision will pretty much have been sealed long before they even get to stand at that perspex window Since you state 'girlfriend' I hope your friend understands that the odds of an unmarried Thai female getting a B2 are really stacked against them. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it's a tough visa for Thai's and better go in knowing that.

Yes they are, but 18 months, really! Just actively downloading and watching this stuff deserves a multiple year sentence. And good luck with how his fellow inmates would treat him, badly I hope

You bought an interline ticket from ANA so whatever you owe ANA for excess baggage that is all you owe regardless of the onward carrier In the US you always clear customs at the first port of entry, then your bags are moved on to transit where they enter the domestic system

If it's checked through to the final destination, and I'm assuming on an ANA Star Alliance partner there is no extra charge other than the excess baggage

I watched a Youtube video and gave it a shot

Anyone who watches or consumes this content is culpable, regardless of whether they produced it or not

We may have to disagree on the culpability of anyone watching child porn

But any consumer of this stuff is providing the business model for the producers of this awful trade. These guys are not some innocent bystanders, they provide the market for people to exploit children. If you think thats OK, well I hope you can look yourself in the mirror They may not have raped or killed anyone, but they are the market that makes the exploitation of children profitable and are as despicable of the producers

I work for Delta and airline policies are much the same. Split the excess bags between the two of you and it'll be around $400, but I can't say for sure ANA's policies Cargo would cost more

I knew anecdotally in the US the sentence was much higher, but I actually looked up the statistics; Punishment • The average sentence of child pornography offenders was 101 months; 99.0% were sentenced to prison. • The average sentence for offenders convicted of trafficking in child pornography was 133 months:3  89.0% of these offenders were convicted of an offense carrying a five-year mandatory minimum penalty; their average sentence was 120 months.  11.0% had a prior sexual abuse or child pornography conviction and were subject to a 15-year mandatory minimum penalty; their average sentence was 233 months. • The average sentence for offenders convicted of receiving child pornography was 96 months:  90.5% of offenders sentenced for receiving child pornography were convicted of an offense carrying a five-year mandatory minimum penalty; their average sentence was 87 months.  9.5% had a prior sexual abuse or child pornography conviction and were subject to a 15-year mandatory minimum penalty; their average sentence was 185 months https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/quick-facts/Child_Pornography_FY19.pdf Far cry from 18 months, and rightly so in my opinion!

I think thats a concept that many of the diehards can't grasp. I love Thailand, yet I can recognize the faults, but I don't hate it yet equally it's not for us full time anymore. For some of the true zealots you're either 'All In' or you're a Hater Thats the point where I always think 'Thou protests too much' I often wonder if those who slam any of us that like to spilt our experience, yet can objectively criticize the glaring faults in Thailand are themselves not conflicted. To quote George Smiley " The fanatic is always harboring secret doubts"

Maybe I'm just a crazy American. But you get caught in England for producing, then caught in Scotland for 60k images, absconds for 8 years, and he's ultimately sentenced to only 18 months! Am I the only one that see's a problem with that?

Ditto the longer to heal! I've never been a bar brawl kinda guy, in fact my Thai encounter was my first ever experience of any kind of physical violence, so the idea that I had any clue how to fight back effectively at my age wasn't happening. But pain I might have shaken off in my 20/30's takes like forever to heal. God Bless pain drugs

So, it's a long time ago now and this answers a couple of other questions. They were ranting on about why I didn't have a woman in farang land, why I had to come to Thailand for lady, it went on and on. My wife laid into them first, told them to 'go home to their mama and sober up' So they kept on at me and I think it was the point where I told them if they laid off the white whisky their chances with the ladies might be well improved, with some implied references to 'ability' kinda sealed the deal so to speak. Yeah after I got patched up at hospital we went to the cops, usual experience with Thai police, lots of paper, signing statements, never heard a thing. Don't think I ever saw the guys again, but this was an adrenaline moment, and I know this might sound bad, but I have a hard time distinguishing young Thai mens faces, many of them all look the same to me

Well not in my case. We were walking on the sidewalk past the lake on the way to our car when they staggered towards us. We tried to walk past them, but they weren't having it. For whatever reason they had decided I was wrong having a Thai woman with me. I look back on it now and it was surreal And I do in retrospect think I should have just shut my mouth, let them rant and I might have avoided a trip to the ER But water under the bridge