My Dear Friends,

 

Stupid is as stupid does, as has been said.  And, this is particularly true in Asia, as we all know.

 

If you have been in Asia for a long time, then you probably, just like me, have a few stories of near-death experiences which might not have happened if you had stayed in your home country.

 

Here is one of mine, just as an example:

 

Many years ago, back in 1979, I decided to buy a Tatung refrigerator from a small shop near my flat.

I paid a small deposit to the roadside shop. And this shop was not much more than just a roadside stand in the village.

After paying the deposit, I waited a few weeks, yet the refrigerator was never delivered.

I assumed, seemingly with good reason and Farang logic, that, perhaps, the small shop had just pocketed my money.

I still needed a refrigerator, and so I decided to order a second refrigerator from the Tatung company, thinking that the roadside-stand vendor had forgotten me.

In due course, and within about two days, the Tatung distributor delivered the refrigerator in good condition, and on time, and at a lower price.

 

I was happy.

All was good.

No worries.

 

But then, after a week or so, a cart pulled up to my building just as I was entering the front door with a GF late in the evening.

On the cart was strapped a refrigerator, the same one I had ordered two weeks previously.

 

And now, the guy in the cart was asking me to pay for the refrigerator he had strapped to his cart.

 

What would you have done?

 

At that time, my Chinese was not too good.

 

But, fortunately, my Chinese GF was with me.

 

She began berating this man for his late delivery.

And, she kept it up, cursing him for his many mistakes.

She told him that, due to his stupidity, he had lost the order.

She told him we had bought the refrigerator from the factory at a lower price.

She told him he had overpriced his Tatung machine.

And then, she told him to go get stuffed.

 

My GF was a bar girl, after all, and, although she was a very kind person, she sometimes became overly riled over nothing.

Bar girls, as you know, are tough in nature.

 

After telling the guy in the cart to get stuffed, and after this guy had, no doubt, obviously already paid money to the Tatung company, in advance, to order the refrigerator and have it delivered to his roadside shack, .....This guy pulled out a Chinese meat cleaver from his cart.

 

He chased both of us up to the 5th floor where we bolted the steel door to our flat.

We were stuck inside.

The shopkeeper began furiously pounding on the door with his meat cleaver.

He kicked and kicked, huffed and puffed.

And my GF began screaming from the 5th floor to the surrounding neighbors:  救命 (save life!)

 

At the time, I had thought that I would be hacked, for sure.

I had run, as fast as I could, up the stairs, with the mad retailer just a few feet behind me.

 

We were out in some very remote village, with very few people about, and it was dark all around.

The only commercial enterprise nearby was the hog slaughterhouse.

Think 42 years ago in China, for example.

You will then understand what it was like.

 

This is probably the closest I have ever been to being hacked with a Chinese meat cleaver.

Not sure about you.

 

Also, maybe this is a lesson for you...

Never let your GF get you into trouble.

Stay away from hot girls who might be hotheaded.

Not good.

 

Find a plain fat girl with a kind heart.

Some fat girl who is nonconfrontational with retailers.

 

I have almost died many times in Asia, during the past decades.

 

Probably, you have had some close calls, as well.

 

Glad you are still alive.

 

Regards,

 

Gob

 

 

 

 

 

 

The moral to this story is to buy Hitachi refrigerators in Asia, I think.

 

I hope it is not out of bounds to state this opinion here:

 

I have had great success with Hitachi products in Thailand.

 

These days, when I buy Hitachi products, I am never chased with a Chinese meat cleaver.

 

Also, in my humble opinion, Hitachi company has a reputation for extremely good after-sales service.

 

I am now a very satisfied customer of Hitachi, Thailand.

 

Thank you, Hitachi!!!

 

 

Done about 200 base jumps around in Asia, climbing, and driving 100k more or less on thai roads on big motorbike often faster than 200 km/h, it was an speedboat who almost killed me in Koh Chang when coming up to surface next to our diving flag. A really close call touch and go

Was crossing a busy Sukhumvit one day and not paying close attention.

A van cruised by me at high speed so close I practically cleaned his windows with my nose.

Many years ago, I narrowly missed losing an eye to a dart in this bar.

 

This bar once had a dartboard near the exit

 

Foolishly, I taunted a dart-thrower, some drunk I did not know. And he winged one just past my eye.

 

This bar is one of the ones which did not close until...ever....Years ago.

 

I have no idea who really owns this bar, which has been going strong, very late at night and early in the mornings, for many years.

 

This bar was better many years ago, because....

The guys were weirder than they have been since 1983.

 

Anyway, I almost lost an eye in this bar.

 

Some nights, I still wake up after dreaming I cannot see, with PTSD.

 

Also, it was in this bar where, on rare occasions, a Chinese friend of mine would wheel himself in on his wheelchair, with his catheter and urine bottle, and ask for a beer.

 

What had happened to him was that he fell in love too deeply with a bar girl.

She rejected him one night.

 

And then, he jumped out of a high floor window of the Mayflower Hotel, across from what was once the Hilton, and landed on the roof of the porte-cochère to the hotel. It saved his life, but left him with a catheter and a life on wheels.

 

I asked him why.

 

He just smiled.

 

Sometimes, for some people, life makes no sense.

There is just no logic to it.

 

A snake appeared outside the room where the 2 grandchildren were. In such circumstances I take no chances and prepared to dispatch the reptile. A bit of a struggle followed but eventually managed to decapitate it. I then out of curiosity decided to look up what type of snake it was, for future reference, that's when I realised how close to death I had come.

Apparently the snake was highly venomous and had it bit, I wouldn't be here.

 

 

1 hour ago, CharlieH said:

A snake appeared outside the room where the 2 grandchildren were. In such circumstances I take no chances and prepared to dispatch the reptile. A bit of a struggle followed but eventually managed to decapitate it. I then out of curiosity decided to look up what type of snake it was, for future reference, that's when I realised how close to death I had come.

Apparently the snake was highly venomous and had it bit, I wouldn't be here.

 

 

Dear Charlie,

 

a.  You are brave.

b.  I would not have been able to face the snake..(unless my grandchildren had been at risk)

c.  I am thankful that you survived...(for several reasons)

 

Hopefully, this same type of thing will not happen to you, ever again.

 

Regards

 

Note:  It is just these types of close calls that keep me awake at night, reliving them, maybe a few times each year. Should my mind succumb to complete dementia, then it will still be these terrifying memories which will be the last to leave me.  I have no doubt.

 

We are prisoners of our own minds, with no escape.

Concerning close encounters with snakes:

 

While barbecuing chicken and pork with my GF late at night in the mountains, a BaiBuShe ( 100 Step Snake) passed between us.  It was CLOSE.

 

 

The popular name "hundred pacer" refers to a local belief that, after being bitten, the victim will only be able to walk 100 steps before dying. In some areas, it has even been called the "fifty pacer" or, in extreme examples, the "five-step snake." This often causes bite victims to needlessly amputate or burn bitten fingers or limbs, resulting in further complications like the loss of the amputated body part or gangrene. Nevertheless, this species is considered dangerous, and fatalities are not unusual. An antivenom is produced in Taiwan.

 

Still, we were not particularly afraid at the time. Though, for sure, if we had been bitten, we would not have been able to walk even five paces. Not due to the venom of the snake, but simply because we had each drunk almost 5 liters of canned Kirin beer, by 4 AM.

 

Such a beautiful snake.

Also, rare, I think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Dear Charlie,

 

a.  You are brave.

b.  I would not have been able to face the snake..(unless my grandchildren had been at risk)

c.  I am thankful that you survived...(for several reasons)

 

Hopefully, this same type of thing will not happen to you, ever again.

 

Regards

 

Note:  It is just these types of close calls that keep me awake at night, reliving them, maybe a few times each year. Should my mind succumb to complete dementia, then it will still be these terrifying memories which will be the last to leave me.  I have no doubt.

 

We are prisoners of our own minds, with no escape.

 

This is the one.....redneck keelback

 

 

17 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

 

This is the one.....redneck keelback

 

 

Ugliest snake known to Man! 

Judging by the looks of him. 

 

Good Job that you beheaded him. 

The opposite! I came alive when I entered Pattaya for the first time at the tender age of 46. Had my career, had my female companions, lived in many corners of the world and I wonderd what life has to offer anymore. (seen it all. done it all). At this point, I woulden't have cared if lighning would have struck me.

But, lo and behold, I ended up in Pattaya. I had found the Garden of Eden for men. No need to "fight" for women. Actually, no need to fight for anything. Nice weather, everything reasonably priced. The closest I ever came to a non agressive international "brotherhood of man". Everybody just there to enjoy life.

Things may have changed somewhat. But still, as soon as the last travel-restrictions fall, I would like to visit Pattaya again, to see what's left of "The Garden of Eden for men".

- Never had any "close calls" in Thailand, threathening my life or my health. Quite the opposite, I was reborn at the age of 46 in Pattaya.

4 minutes ago, swissie said:

The opposite! I came alive when I entered Pattaya for the first time at the tender age of 46. Had my career, had my female companions, lived in many corners of the world and I wonderd what life has to offer anymore. (seen it all. done it all). At this point, I woulden't have cared if lighning would have struck me.

But, lo and behold, I ended up in Pattaya. I had found the Garden of Eden for men. No need to "fight" for women. Actually, no need to fight for anything. Nice weather, everything reasonably priced. The closest I ever came to a non agressive international "brotherhood of man". Everybody just there to enjoy life.

Things may have changed somewhat. But still, as soon as the last travel-restrictions fall, I would like to visit Pattaya again, to see what's left of "The Garden of Eden for men".

- Never had any "close calls" in Thailand, threathening my life or my health. Quite the opposite, I was reborn at the age of 46 in Pattaya.

You couldnt have been to "every corner of the World" if Pattaya was the first time you saw bars full of prostitutes .

On 6/2/2022 at 2:20 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

I have had great success with Hitachi products in Thailand.

I'm having a good run with LG and Haier over the last 8 or 9 years.

2 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

You couldnt have been to "every corner of the World" if Pattaya was the first time you saw bars full of prostitutes .

Different in Pattaya, compared to the rest of the world. Everybody (in the old days), knew that it was different.

my first Thai GF in Bkk would get. frustrated by my nonchalance...

 

she would say: "Maybe I kill you, sure." 

 

I didn't think she would. 

Down 50 meters in the lake in Geneva, onset of narcosis, 4 degrees Celsius water, pitch dark, and both regulators frosted.

 

Taking off in strong wing from Mieussy, poor control resulting in getting airborne with a 40% collapsed wing.

 

Now, at 70, I am dealing, Prostate cancer, Afib, CKD, and Barett's oesophagus.

 

And still boombooming

Depends who you talk to.  Me, in Asia, quite cautious vs pre Asian living.

 

Others think I, high risk @ 67, risk my life everyday when I leave the house without a mask.

And then riding a MB, and damn suicidal to some.  Breathing air with wind in your face, apparently a deadly combination.  Go figure ????

 

Much more dangerous than jumping out of a perfectly good plane, swimming with 100+ sharks, getting bounced out of raft in rapids, or jumping of a platform, attached only by a rubber band.   Oops, that last one was Asia ... and laughed, live afterwards.

Everyone dies of something, and probably better too soon than too late.

 

SC

For what it's worth, I'm on my fifth life here. 

So.....any such lucid perspectives might be rather moot. 

 

 

And you'll never get it. 

On a beach on one of the islands, walking back to my room, drunk, during a power cut, with no torch. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face it was so dark, so I was feeling my way (badly) with my feet. And didn't account for an  unexpected drop from broken concrete on to the beach itself. So I went face first into the sand. No real harm done, so got up and went on my way.

 

Next day, I went back and looked where I fell, and it was just full of jagged rocks and other broken bits of concrete. My face had landed in just about the only place where it was safe to land. Missed a bad injury, and probably death, by inches.

On 6/4/2022 at 12:43 AM, StreetCowboy said:

Everyone dies of something, and probably better too soon than too late.

 

SC

Wow!

 

You get one of the points of this topic, as always.

You always do.

What Is the Closest You Ever Came to Dying? .... And, I mean, Dying in Asia, due to your own Stupidity?...

 

 

???? feeling suicidal after mistakenly opening one of Gamma’s threads !!!! ????????????

On 6/2/2022 at 8:21 AM, CharlieH said:

A snake appeared outside the room where the 2 grandchildren were. In such circumstances I take no chances and prepared to dispatch the reptile. A bit of a struggle followed but eventually managed to decapitate it. I then out of curiosity decided to look up what type of snake it was, for future reference, that's when I realised how close to death I had come.

Apparently the snake was highly venomous and had it bit, I wouldn't be here.

 

 

90% of snake bite deaths are people trying to kill the snake.

 

 

On 6/4/2022 at 3:43 AM, StreetCowboy said:

Everyone dies of something, and probably better too soon than too late.

 

SC

True,life is overrated