moogradod

My wife (Thai) would like you to ask two questions: 1. Where are they living ? 2. How much credit has already been accumulated ? The second question is a bit indiscreet for the western taste - I know that. But it gives a clue how this seems to be possible. I can understand why this is of importance because it does not coincide with my experience as well and the prices I know from Pattaya.

Here is again the hyperlink. Try to paste this in your browser. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ_lvDgevk Alternatively search on YouTube for "In the Age of AI Frontline". The film is about 1h54m long. And one of the best and professionally made documentation I have seen about the subject. An eye opener I recommend to everybody. A reason why you cannot display it might as well be that you are not connecting from Thailand. Sometimes there are restrictions for certain countries. Or you did not enable Javascript. Your search result should look like this: Please report back if it worked.

Passed. HP Sauce seems to be widely used in all kinds of flavours as I have seen in the supermarkets. Never tried any of those.

If you add black males (which might be appropriate - dont you agree ?) then all is left not to be subjected to racism are well tanned species or Chinese which are supposed to be yellow in color (which I never noticed myself) or red (american indians - but same thing, never met anybody with a red skin actually and if I did I would not care at all). I only become suspicious if they are distinctively blue or green.......

Looks good. I wonder what these round slices at the top of the plate are. But no butter or mustard ?

This is indeed supposed to be healthy if you dont overdo it. Not so sure about a mug of coffee (depends on the size maybe). So you enjoy your Haggis for dinner then ? To live you need food or do you live on pure cosmic energy alone ? My biggest meal is dinner. I have no fixed times for eating, I eat when I am hungry and then plenty.

Of course ! I would say even two are missing. Eggs are the cornerstone for me - 2 fried, 2 fried on buttered bread, 2 fried on buttered bread with italian crude ham beneath (all with Ketchup) or the maximum: Eggs Benedict with Sauce Hollandaise Then a cup (or two) of coffee (Nespresso, either Nicaragua or Cosi) And of course a glass of an ice cold drink on ice. Pepsi Lemon without sugar or San Pellegrino with peach taste for example. So far for the standard. This may then be further enhanced by adding two Wiener Saussages with Thomy mustard and Bacon middle hard. On a breakfast buffet in a hotel it must be accompanied by Corn Flakes with Milk and sugar plus Miso Soup if they have it. Plus some curry. And Orange or Guava Juice.

Just have a look at this documentary. Then there is little more to be said. They cover many aspects. Do yourself a big favour if you did not watch the film already. It is absolutely worth it:

20 years ago my woman and her family did travel nowhere. She did not even have money to buy shoes for herself and a chicken egg (if they had one) needed to be split in quarters. Some did not even have official papers and they lived by mercy of a land owner for which they planted rice. They lived in a hut that was barely identifiable as such. No water, no toilet. Now my wife has land and a big house and the family is a respected member of the Moo Baan community. Guess how ????

Yes, sadly true if you take the whole planet as a reference. But we are talking Thailand here, the nation that is planning to shoot a satellite in orbit and entertain submarines and gives home to a respectable number of billlionaires. Not about a tribe in the Amazon forest or African desert.

10K a months results in a life more similar to that of a prison than one of a happy life I believe. No refridgerator ? Possible maybe - as a hobo. Fortunately I make this up, too and I have no life experience myself on such a low level. We are living a luxury life with the best in abundance but I have understanding for everybody who wants at least a bit of a share of comfort.

This is for Pattaya: While it is true that there are many jobs which pay barely 10K a month, like at 7/11 or in some supermarkets as logistic helper or even cashier, a whole family cannot live with kids going to school and paying rent, electricity etc. with that budget. I do not know where you have acquired such a fairy tale and sell it here as the truth. Even a single person could barely survive on this, thats why many have to help each other, share one room etc. Lets first talk survive, not living. The cheapest condos in Pattaya Rat-Hole Class are just a bit below 3'000.-- per month. Without electricity, without water. Thats for one room. Of course you could do without aircon, but a fan needs electricity, too. How about a refridgerator ? Needs plenty. And have you seen such an estate ? I have. I doubt you would want to live in there - let alone a family with children. Then there are school tuitions to be paid and books, money for school excursions, transport etc. And do not forget expenditures for medical expense. There is the Social MInimum Scheme for Thais, but this does not cover everything. And then you live on the cheapest of food imaginable. For a family ? Would you call that style of existence "Plenty to survive" and OK ? I would say its not even enough to survive, let alone enough to live and quite far away from living comfortably. Even in the countryside with much more restrictions on comfort 10K for a family is more of a hardship than a basis for a comfortable life. That is my real life experience, not just hearsay. I think it does not help to promote this attitude that the bare minimum to survive is OK for a "normal" Thai. It is not. Instead one should invest his thinking how a very much higher income could be made available to most.

I am quite tired of all this political considerations - be it with Turkey or with the Swiss neutrality. Turkey simply does not belong to the club I subjectively feel. On the opposite side I feel that Switzerland should be part of it. No NATO and no EU for Turkey - you can see what this "strategically important" thinking brings: Headache.

Thank you. I thought Queen Sirikit was a normal Government Hospital. I went there once for a blood test myself and even the "full fees" did occur quite reasonable to me (compared to a strictly private hospital). Unfortunately waiting times are as well comparable. And to tell the truth I was not really treated very politely even if accompanied by my wife. We are used charges of the BHP so anything less is welcome. Of course high level capabilities are important for us. My stepdaughter has Acute Rhymatic Fever and needs to take now antibiotics for 5 years on a regular basis. My most severe problem is Cardiomyophaty with an EF of 27 with many side effects that brings this with it (water accumulation etc.). Besides I was diagnosed with prostate cancer (Gleason Score 8, fully removed gland, no biochemical relapse nor augmentation of PSA since 11 years) and I am type 2 diabetic besides some other minor things (reflux etc., many more) My wife is pre-diabetic. All of us need recurring appointments for control. With "reside in the amphur" you most probably mean to be registered in a tabian baan from that amphur. Exactly this neither my wife nor my stepdaughter (lives in her own condo in Pattaya as well but is regeistered in Korat) can have. Does not hurt to call the NHSO anyway.

Thank you Sheryl My wife will call the NHSO. The appropriate Government Hospital would then be the Banglamung Hospital. Is that correct ? Or would the Queen Sirikit Hospital better ? Our whole family is currently treated at the BHP. Everybody of us 3 has currently some ailment that needs attention.

I could not resist and I have to enlarge my (short) list. There are too many to mention. So the expanded list now: Matteo Mancuso, Jon Gomm, Joshua Meader, Pierre Bensusan, Mike Dawes, Alan Holdsworth, Martin Tallstrom, John Petrucci (watch one of his best solos as the cover played by Dr. Viossi "Best of Times"), Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton, Shawn Lane, Robben Ford, Per Nilsson (watch his solo to "A sky full of painters") I tried not to include too many mainstream proponents, OK, some are, but there is much to discover if you study the names on YouTube in more depth. I play guitar myself for more than 50 years. If you really like guitar it might not be very wrong to follow some of the recommendations. But of course everyones taste is different.

Matteo Mancuso, Jon Gomm, Joshua Meader, Pierre Bensusan, Mike Dawes and many many others that are more wellknown and deserve it (Knopfler or Hendrix for example). I would exclude very well known but massively overestimated "stars" like Eric Clapton etc.

Do you mean that therefore my wife - registered in the housebook of her father in Korat - is now covered at any Government Hospital in Pattaya where she lives with me in a condo as it were the case in a Korat Government Hospital ? She might not even be registered with any hospital even there. Her father and other family members are - they have been staying inpatient there for extended periods of time including surgery with very little financial impact. I have only rented the condo (in my name) and I doubt that the Landlord (a foreigner himself) would agree that she or even me is included in the Tabien Baan. Too volatile a rental situation I believe.

The Ronin is a Japanese Style Sushi restaurant with the freshest fish imaginable in a wide variety, but it is not what is generally known as a seafood restaurant.

No. This is a misunderstanding. Bill 97 mentioned several countries cuisines, like Japanese, Vietnamese - apart from Italien. Out of this range of couisines, I can wholeheartedly really only recommend one restaurant to the full extent. The Ronin (not Robin) is outstanding. But of course there are other good restaurants, like Casa Pascal etc., but which is more Western / International / Thai, but as well definitely recommended in this area. There are some Restaurants with German/Swiss food as well which we ocasionally visit - they are all OK. Thai restaurants also. Please also note that this is moaning on a very high level. In Pattaya, there is not even one Michelin star restaurant - regardless of cuisine. So I am still searching for a Chinese restaurant which serves a Peking Duck the way I can find it in Bangkok (If available at all). Not that there were not any good or even very good restaurants, just nothing with a WOW factor I know. Same for Vietnamese. Back to the topic: Italien food. I do not know any Italien in Pattaya which truely excels - especially in the category of Pizza. There is no Napoletanian Pizzeria that knocks me off my feet and produces a definite WOW. The best pizza of my life I had in Bari, just opposite of Neaples on the other side of the boot. It was a Margherita. American versions are a definite No-No. When I think of it I should go again and try some of the restaurants you all mentioned again. I have as well a list from another tread which I did not try. Limiting factor is mostly lack of parking because for longer distances I need a wheelchair. Some of the restaurants (and surely the ones that have been mentioned - why would you otherwise do that - are good). And I have as well a reasonably good experience myself with some of them. But nothing near even 1 Michelin Star or even above. That's why I have limited my recommendation list to the maximum and referring only to the countries I mentioned in my post based on the suggestions of Bill 97. All restaurants listed in the posts here are really OK, none of them is bad - I would like to empasize this again and again that you do not think my wife and me are snobs. We are not and appreciate the efforts all cooks exert here. But we are as well definitely dedicated foodies which have eaten all kind of food around the world and in any class - from rat on the stick over a camp fire up to 3 star Michelin in Paris. Bangkok then is another matter - but this is here for Pattaya.

Is this a joke or do you really mean it ? If so, then I would be interested to know your lists for these countries cooking, especially the Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese (and of course Italian) I could only recommend one single restaurant which I think is outstanding, and this is Japanese: Ronin, North Road Soi 16/2. Besides I know all the Italian Restaurants that were mentioned so far, exept Marcos and Trattoria Toscana. But my favourite Italian & Pizzeria so far is still in Koh Chang if it must be in Thailand.

Everything related to work (like repairs etc.) is extremely cheap here. This is good for us as customers, but many times I have to think about the people doing this work and the compensation they get for it. That is clearly the more than sad part then.

First of all thank you for your answer which is aimed to help ! Not self-explanatory with many answers you get nowadays on aseannow ! I will really try your suggestion, but I suspect that given the reasonable price this is juice from concentrate and "Valencia" rather a brand name than the origin. But who knows, lets try. One brand from Germany, which is a direct juice, that I buy from time to time in Central is something around THB 280.-- / l if I recall correctly and even this one does not live up to the expectations given the exorbitant price. Sometimes we cook the Vietnamese Duck from the cookbook of Rick Stein (as a Brit you should know him) which calls for fresh orange juice. Then we buy about 6 kg of fresh oranges to get the 1 liter needed. Which is expensive. But this French brand (Andros) comes as near as it gets to the real thing. We alway bought it in Switzerland. Sold at several big supermarkets:

You are absolutely correct. But 15 years ago items on sale were limited, too. Now the good news is that this is changing but it comes at a price that is unjustifiable. Prices for some goods are artificially inflated. I think this need not be the case.

I moved here from Switzerland where a lot of things are expensive (in fairness it needs to be mentioned that they are as well of high quality). And many things here are not so expensive. But some are overly expensive. I am complaining about the price of exactly the same good sold here at 4-5 times the price (some even more) which cannot be justified by anything real (purchase price, logistics like transport, storage etc.). Most probably this is due to tax which is excessive for some items and nothing short of a simple rip-off. Unfortunately this does not only apply to luxury items like sport cars etc. which I do not need to buy that frequently ????, but to simple things like orange juice or risotto rice. There is no delicious orange juice available here (something like "Andros") or apple juice (line Gravensteiner) - even irrespective of price for the imported (a bit better) ones which sell at exuberant rip-off prices. I think that these are specific product ranges that some are complaining about (think "wine" - guess there are a lot who are not that happy with the pricing).