Stickman

For me you cannot beat Bangkok Nursing Home, sounding like an old fart now, just nipping to the nursing home, better known as its acronym BNH. Set up as a non profit making hospital by the Brits over 100 years ago ... Top Notch Hospital

Oh, hell, that's two things we agree on now. BNH is top notch.

" you can live on very little " don`t forget health insurance - can be quite expensive as ones age increases and those crafty ins. cos, jack up the premiums

I wonder what percentage of expats in Thailand have health insurance? I certainly didn't have it and most of my friends don't. I'm not saying that that is the way to go, more that I am generally curious as to what percentage have a health insurance policy.

Sometimes, only sometimes, I wish I knew how long I had left, not saying to the day / week / month per se but +/- a couple of years would be nice to know to give me a chance.

You did very well to buy property in Bangkok when you did. I imagine your unit has increased in value about 3 times since you purchased it. And you're in a highly desirable area. The great thing is that if you own a property in Thailand you can live on very little if you want to / need to. All the necessities are relatively cheap in Thailand. That's one big difference between Thailand and the West.

When in Thailand and other SE Asian countries I tend to lose weight as well. The food is fresher and without chemicals generally speaking. Sex burns calories as well

There are frequent reports in the mainstream news in Thailand about the very high amounts of chemicals and other nasties used by farmers to grow their produce. Ask any Thai who takes a genuine interest in their health and they will tell you all about it.

A friend in Khon Kaen has a plot of land and his wife grows various vegetables and takes them to the village market every other day to sell them. His reports about the amount of chemicals used is scary.

I can't comment on the use of chemicals in farming in America, but in Thailand it's pretty bad!

It all looks very good on paper / spreadsheets, the only unfortunate fact is I need at least another 7 years Contracting, hopefully in Vietnam, to make my dreams come to fruition. There is always a catch!

This is the hard part, isn't it? Just when do you stop...calculating the time / money equation. You don't want to fall short financially, but then you don't want to retire as a frail old man with no energy or drive to do anything. It's the hardest calculation of all to get the balance right on.

 

Yes, I am an asshole to most, previously stated on here the drop dead is 1 Million USD or 1 Million THB Per Annum for time left in this world, even a certain NZ Thaicenteic webmaster agrees with me on this, like today 1 Milo would be worth Jack Shit in 20 years time when I would be a young 73. years of age, I would be skint

 

Yep, a million greenbacks would be perfect, or a bank balance of xx million baht where xx equals the maximum number of years one reasonably expects to live. (So if you're 50 and expect to live to 88 i.e. another 38 years, a bank balance of 38 million baht should be adequate.)

What I don't get with the guys working year after year in Thailand is that for most, saving a million dollars from working in Thailand is just not going to happen. In the West, you would generally earn more but just as important, buying a property, living in it and selling it 20 or 30 years later may realise a good chunk of the number you need to retire. OK, so property prices don't appreciate greatly in every country but the general trend is that property values go up over time. I know here in New Zealand that most home owners i.e. those who are mortgage-free, could sell their property, move to Thailand and have enough to live out the rest of their days.

What are moto taxi gangs for, if not to figure out who these guys are, track 'em down, and beat some sense into the fuckers?!

 

Makes me wonder if perhaps the bar/Plaza owners might see that there's a benefit greater than the risk to 'secret' video of nightlife flooding youtube - there's no such thing as bad publicity, they say.

 

In case we're taking a vote on this issue, I say anyone caught filming others in the nightlife world should have their gear taken, get a nice team-style Thai beatdown, and then be allowed to serve penance by changing linens and emptying garbage bins in short-time hotels for a few weeks, preferably in 'no-hands' style.

The problem is not videos in the bar area so much, it is videos inside the bars. A couple of months back a fellow uploaded a dozen videos, some quite lengthy, of video he had taken inside a number of big name gogo bars - about half in Nana Plaza as I recall. And you saw everything - and I mean EVERYTHING! It is not a stretch to say that if those videos had made it out in to the mainstream and picked up by Thais then those bars could have been ordered shut for good and the owners of the bars in deep pooh pooh. Of course, most things can be settled, but once it gets in to the mainstream and the backlash gets big, it's hard for the police not to do something, especially when it is framed as foreigners taking advantage of Thais!

I always found Air Asia fine for short hops around the region - and the fares were always very competitive. What I really did NOT like was the melee at checkinn at Don Meuang. Total clusterfxxk and unbecoming of an international airport.

Sterile & characterless, and unnecessarily long queues at Immigration aside, I don't think it's that bad.

Black Pagoda used to do it and Bar Bar still does from time to time.

I won't even carry stuff for friends, let alone a stranger. The risks are just too great.

Paul Spurrier, former child actor.

And former visitor to the old get togethers at Woodstock.

2Bangkok.com has a rich history of April Fool's Day pranks

Yo, Stickman. Visiting Thailand?

Being dutiful to the other half would perhaps be the best description. She does not like to visit Thailand alone, or perhaps it is more that she doesn't like me to be home alone with the sheep...

Horribly hot and steamy in Bangkok today....it did drizzle a little this morning and more rain would be nice....

If it tastes good, it's bad for you...

welcome to the 21st

Complete and total utter nonsense.

Get a taste for real food cooked well (or even not cooked at all) and you will find yourself rapidly going off all of this packaged food / junk food crap and lose the taste for it completely.

I used to eat a lot of crap but as I adjusted my diet to healthier food I found that it tasted better i.e. it tasted real. And it doesn't mean that you have to avoid all food that might be bad for you - I still enjoy hamburgers - I either make them myself or go somewhere which uses high quality ingredients.

I met an American who was proposed to take over right around the time Darel died, nice and friendly. But for some reason he wasn't hired. I wonder if it's the same guy.

I don't think it is. There was an Italian guy managing Dollhouse for a while several months ago and Dino only came on board around 3 or so months ago, maybe a little longer.

I wonder if the DH has got a manager now. I went in a few weeks after Darel was gone and no one greeted you, nor did I see a single familiar face. I'd been going their for God knows how many years, and it was sort of like the Twilight Zone, (Same same but REALLY different.) Good to see Tommie's back announcing the DCs. At least that's one tie to the past.

The manager of Dollhouse in Soi Cowboy is Dino. He was appointed maybe 3 months ago. He's an affable American who has managed other gogo bars including Las Vegas in Nana.

I think Coss and I are just about neighbours....he is, I believe, in the next suburb over.

You do have to wonder what they were thinking having sex on a glass coffee table....the inevitable was obvious, surely?!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sex-tourists-thai-romp-goes-9603386

You can do it at: Siriraj Hospital or at the Police HQ on Rama 1 Road (at one of the office buildings entered from the Henri Dunant Road side). In each of these cases you'd need to be comfortable speaking Thai otherwise you'll need a Thai with you.

Alternatively, Bumrungrad used to offer a service whereby they assign a nurse to you and you are taken across the river to Siriraj and it is all done there, with Bumrungrad effectively acting as an agent for you, handling everything and reporting the results - and adding on their fee, naturally.

Anyone here have recent experience or knowledge of DNA testing in Bangkok? Seems I have need to go and check the paternity of a young girl with features rather similar to my own... The birthday and blood type match, but I will of course only be at full ease (if one can call it that) once the DNA has been confirmed (and yes, I suppose, reconfirmed by a second test... can never be too careful...).

 

Any advice on where to go for a reliable test carried out with integrity? What's required - blood from both myself and the child, I guess? Cost is not a consideration, just want to be confident there's not a mix up (or, my conspiracy-minded self whispers, influence in the process). And how long does it take? Result is conclusive, or still leaves room for doubt?

 

Many thanks.

 

YimSiam

Merry Christmas to all from Kiwiland.

Coyotes will be dancing there tonight....John will have a heart attack over that, especially when you consider he had this sigh outside recently:

When were those photos taken, Flashermac, and what time of day/night was it? And where's the second one?

 

jack

I'd bet the farm they were taken Sunday of last week which was a Buddhist holiday and all bars were closed.

No idea about joiner's fee but seen the rooms in there and not impressed at all.