GinBoy2

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

I was beaten up about 7 years ago in Khon Kaen, for no apparent reason other than I was with a Thai woman, my wife, and not some young girl she's a middle aged woman. We had finished dinner out by the lake and were walking back to our car wen we were approached by 4 young men, late teens, early 20's I guess and for whatever reason decided to get into it with me. They were all very drunk, and I speak fluent Thai & Lao, and in retrospect I might have been better just keeping my mouth shut. But motor mouth decided I was gonna give as good verbal as I was getting. Bad decision! I ended up with a couple cracked ribs, split lip back eye and a very bruised ego

I would agree with all of that, multiple reasons to either stay or go. Medical health reasons is a huge one for many, I think we read way too often on here about some poor sop suffered accident, heart attack, fill in the blanks and has no, or not enough insurance and the ubiquitous GoFundme account is set up. But for a lot of us kids are huge draw. I have two daughters from a previous marriage, and my Thai son who all live in the US. Eldest daughter and son in Denver, youngest daughter in San Diego They are all in their mid 20-30's, and first Grandchild will be born next month. Regardless of all the other things that drew us back to the US, not sure I could, at this stage in my life, not be a couple of hours flying time from my first Grandkid. And Momma and our son. Well being apart was never gonna happen! Never underestimate the power of kith, kin and blood

<deleted> I was driving from Fremont to Santa Rosa that day. I was through the Cypress Freeway 15 mins before the earthquake hit. Still Thank my lucky stars!

Don't have any issue with best of both worlds. So we own our homes outright in the US and Thailand. Now our neighbors in the US have a house in AZ and take off early November and return in May. It's exactly the same plan. Yes if you plan right you can have your cake and eat it

Thats kinda where we are headed. I'm still mulling when I'm going to pull the trigger on SS, after my last awful early retirement try, which I ended up hating. I've been looking at the options of how many hours I can work without giving up SS $ which would give us months in the US, months in Thailand. But also Mrs G is a contractor for DoD and has a few more years until retirement and while as a contractor she has some flexibility, it's all a juggling act right now

You might be on to something there. Mrs G is a bit of a coconut having grown up as a teenager in the US, gone to college in the US before moving to Singapore for work where we met. When I wanted to retire early and move to Thailand, she argued vigorously against it, wanting us to move back to the US rather than move to Thailand But I got my way, and of course as if often the case the woman was right. I was bored out of my skull, son had hated his life in Thai HS, and moved to the US for college wife was totally <deleted> off with her career prospects. So here we are back in the US, and Thailand is our vacation destination, and if my wife had had her way this would have been our life 15 years ago

I think it comes a point where you begin to face your own mortality, and thats when things get sticky. In your 40's and 50's you're still living in the 'I'm immortal' phase. But enter your 60's and things get to be a little more real. We discuss endlessly on this forum about health insurance, and as you plough through your 60's and 70's it gets to the point of even if you can get insured it's astronomically expensive. I've often shuddered at the thought of becoming disabled in Thailand, not very accommodating shall we say. I think I am not alone in that Thailand is a great mid life adventure, but when you get to the final couple of chapters, there really is no place like home. Of course then you get to diehards who blew everything, went all in and just can't repatriate even if they wanted too. They are they ones I feel most sorry for, and they become become the shrillest and most fervent defenders of Thailand regardless of how ridiculous the issue

Ok, so this is where the American Anglophile is gonna chime in. The hidden treasure in your country is Herefordshire. I spent a couple of idyllic summers there. It's off the beaten path, beautiful scenery, Hereford itself is wonderful and the surrounding market towns are sublime. I've cherished my memories of my time there and have retained many friends from my travels

I did find towards the end, stupid stuff began to grate on me. I did realize that early retirement just didn't work for me. Too much idle time without the opportunity to volunteer my time was too much for me. I did spend too much time online and the nonsense of Thailand kinda overwhelmed me. When our son moved to the US to college and said he wasn't coming back, Momma Bear's determination to follow him, sorta gave me a 'Get out of Jail' card

Kids school was a biggie for us. Our son had grown up in Singapore. High school in Thailand was awful. He went to college in Chicago and within a month told us he was never coming back to Thailand. That was the catalyst for Momma Bear and we were on our way to a green card. I was already bored with Thailand and she was <deleted> off with her career prospects. So here we are

I kinda understand that. We haven't been back to our home in KK for 2 years due to covid. Mrs G is headed there in 2 weeks to visit family. The question do I miss it is complicated. Living there for a decade I have a love/hate relationship with the place. It truly is insane from the coups (I lived through 3) the noise, pollution, terrible infrastructure yet it still has a strange attraction. On balance though I think I prefer our suburban life here in the US, and Thailand as our vacation destination. Here, life is maybe I could describe it as boring. Everything works, all the time, we go to work no drama, versus the chaos that can, not always be our life in Thailand

This is a joke question right? Thai's have no problem cohabiting, living together and having sex same as any almost every other country I've come across. Mrs G and me lived together, had a son happily unmarried for years. The only reason we finally got married was to get her a green card to the US. If someone is spinning the OP some fairy tale of Thai women being traditional virtuous pious maidens, take the wool from over the eyes!

Well, put it this way. You are not going to change an entire culture. Thai's put up with noise to a level none of us can understand. You can complain, but you will be met with a look of puzzlement about what the problem is. Your wife lack of understanding is also because she's Thai. She's grown up in a culture of horrendous loud music for whatever event, dogs roaming the streets and barking day and night. If you are on a one man mission to change that, Good Luck

Well nobody is worried, until they are worried. I've know marriages fail at 12 months and 40 years. I've been with Mrs G 20+ years, and while I believe we're solid I don't delude myself that our Thai assets, ie house are 100% hers, our US assets are 50:50% should things go south

Well that is true. Unlike the newbies anyone who has spent any decent time in the Kingdom understands the reality of life in Thailand. Normal debate which you might expect in farang land just ain't gonna happen. Can't see any fundamental changes in my remaining lifetime

Maybe the first step is to figure out what a 'resident' is. Many here 'think' they are expats, yet that 90 day thing should remind you that you are nothing more than a tourist on an extended visa. Now contrast that to most farang countries where your wife holds essentially the same rights as you up to the point of voting. I went into my Thai adventure accepting all of that, and I knew when we built a house my claims on it were zero. Here in the US Mrs G is on the title deed of our home regardless of her nationality. Now she's not some oligarch investing in property in New York or London to stash money, we're just regular folks. So the Thai's need to figure out this tug of war in their heads about what a farang in Thailand 'is' then stupid stuff like land ownership will fall into place

I didn't play, but Mrs G did. She poured over the numbers to try to find some solace. I think for her $30 she'll get $20 back, coulda been worse Ah Well back to work in the morning I guess!