think_too_mut

I saw reports like that from Thai, years ago, bogus, photoshops. Your post itself may be a genuine but I don't trust them.

To move money from Japan and avoid taxing by the new tax law (some farang advisors said that), simply move the money to my wife's account, it is counted (by Thai) as a present and no tax.
Any account outside of Japan has to be registered and approved (takes 2 weeks). She has been cleared for 21 years.

To buy a car in Thai, she gets that "present" money.

I don't need anything, no accounts, no visas, two months in, then back two more months if we want to. A 5 hours flight.

My Thai wife made this for lunch, Thai fare. Note the rice, Japanese rice that is glued and eaten with chopsticks, one mouthfull.

Thai, a great rice exporter but their rice ends up in crackers or in condiments, never eaten or seen in households.

Maha Sarakham. A little known place outside of Isan (22 million people). My wife wanted to meet them, the woman is her FaceBook friend and her age peer.
The couple have 3 kids, the eldest one is a student at Maha Sarakham University, electrical engeneering, lives away from her family.
Poor people they are but doing their best to support her.

The picture, the lady guided us to their home.

Years ago, I saw reports from Board members staying there, the Honey Hotel.

In his column 15. December 2024, our Stickman wrote:

"Here’s the latest from the construction site that was previously the location of the Honey Hotel. The Honey was hugely popular back in the day and those who were around back then have some great stories. One good one concerns a couple of rooms on the same level as the basement car park. It was common knowledge amongst ladies that a ghost resided in these two rooms. Apparently, no amount of money could persuade ladies to go back to either of those rooms. This was not lost on regulars at the Honey – it was very popular with oil and gas industry workers – who would never accept either of these two rooms. They weren’t scared of ghosts, rather it meant there was little chance they would get any company."
 

Me:
While inspecting some properties at Hua Hin 2006, all large buildings had rooms like that, at the parking level, even underground.When I asked the real estate agent, what those rooms are for...he half shifted his head, half smiled and said : "You don't know? That is where your driver rests while Thai men are having good time with their mia noi upstairs".
That habit comes from 1980-ish. He said: "If you are well with money, you would have a driver. I took you to here in my Mercedes. You were sitting in the back seat. Did you notice you have your own control of the aircon and music in the car?".

Could be the same analogy, the Honey hotel had been there for decades, when Thais were not as well off as today.




 

Artificial Inteligency is a lunacy, an idiocy.

Nothing can be intelligent unless it is aware of itself. Even most intelligent dogs, cats, dolphins, will never ever get there to advise (let alone) command the humans.

Look at this: an independent (no sponsorship) IT Industry media outlet, theregister.co.uk, featured an article about Artificial Intelligence.

It read:

"There is no significant difference in survival rate whether you jump from a plane with a parachute or with a backpack. The experiment was conducted with jumps from a 50cm hight and confirmed that".

40 minutes ago, Old Hippie said:

...
More importantly why do idiot Americans continue to vote against their own best interests..?

Your question, rephrased, may also sound like: when will the billionaires Americans keep on electing and re-electing finally do something about it?

Now, I am on the brink of abandoning my plans to retire in Thailand. Too much of a red tape. And humiliating visa rules. Can even get sucked into corruption with visa agencies.
I can go to my home in Bangkok, 2 months a pop, no visas, spend there my winter months, possibly hop on on an low cost airline to Singapore to reset it. No need for more than 4 months.
What would I do in Thai, anyway? Other then enjoying the climate, laze around the pool, nothing more. My Thai wife is with me. My 100 of trips to Thai were travelling around the provinces, with my wife and our daughter (student in Australia now).
Sure, some places like Hiltons, Sheratons, Marriotts. That is what one can do while in full employment.
As a retiree, I would not do that again, hardly any place remained unvisited anyway.
Health insurance, every hospital where we are is a Mayo Clinic, national health insurance (like MediCare in Australia).
Walking distance to a cluster of 15 Thai restaurants, flocked by Thai office people lunch time, 7-11, Tops supermarket, even Starbucks. No car needed. 
Roaming shopping malls, where I am they are world class (BKK is also), no need for that.

Oh, my wife has a pension from my former employment, if I die, she will have it as long as she lives, anywhere in the world.

For some, Thai might be a destiny. Not for us. Much loved country it remains.
 

I would like to meet the die hards, old nana plaza members, in Bangkok.
Most of us were and remained decent people, however we fell for Thai girls.
Year 2002, that time technology. No iPhones.

4 hours ago, bust said:

May not have felt a thing. Hit the city pretty hard though. Only ever been in one. That was in Lae in the PNG Highlands. Had no idea waht was going on until I remembered where I was.

 

The car in the pic is Toyota LandCruiser series 100. I owned it in Australia. The preferred vehicle for NGO (Non Government Organisations) and their parasites. The picture could be from anywhere.
Been to Vanuatu, even sent a letter (to the hotel manager, an Australian) of recommendation for one of their staff (hotel) members. The young guy, thanked me, he got a permanent job.
 

4 hours ago, bust said:

May not have felt a thing. Hit the city pretty hard though. Only ever been in one. That was in Lae in the PNG Highlands. Had no idea waht was going on until I remembered where I was.

 

I lived in PNG for a year, Port Moresby. Lae is not highlands, it is on the ocean, east of the country, a beautiful heaven for snorkeling and diving. High lands are Mt Hagen, Kundiawa.
My, then company, sent me there to install and connect first 6 ATM machines. PNGBC (Papua New Guinea Banking Corporation), a child of the Australian Commonwealth Bank.
What was new to me, no PIN with a bank card was enough. There was a pulse detector, that the finger is alive. The most dangerous place on earth that is not a war zone.

On 12/16/2024 at 7:31 PM, bust said:

My latest indulgence the "Thor Hammer" aka slow cooked beef shin 😋

Where did you see that food? In Thai?
I showed the picture to my Thai wife (a certified chef) she said it is possible, north of Thailand, when a cow or buffalo breaks a leg, they take some good parts, like that and grill it. The rest of the body (of that cow) goes to the factories that make canned pet food for export.

Whenever we had beef steaks, she would refuse to eat beef.
What you said is possible but hardly even close to what mainstream Thais eat or even know is edible.

Not raining on your parade, albeit possible, just so unusual for Thais.

Tsunami is a Japanese word.
Tsu = harbour.
Nami = the sea, ocean.

Together, the meaning is "the seas came upon us"

Wisconsin, school shooting.

The only country in the world where mass shootings routinely happen, says "It could not be avoided".

Eric Burdon (82) alive and kicking. The House of the Rising Sun and many more songs that had defined the culture.
Cheers, my idol.

1967.
 

March of the graduates, March 11. 2009. Ramkhanhaeng University, Bangkok. My wife, first up on the left.  She had to travel for the ceremony from Japan, something that she could not miss. Whole her village knew she was a Uni graduate.
That is what I love to see in Thai, not Soi Cowboy or Nana (had seen them well before, participated, I must admit).
Not a big thing for anywhere, but for this site, she told me, hardly any of the girls knew how to put on and wear the mandatory stockings. RIP Khun Sanuk and several other old members, Jigger too, had seen us at the Gulliver Fridays 6pm, way back, 2002.

 

Japan. This is what my wife, a certified Thai cousine cook is serving to Japanese salary men. 120 meals week days, lunch time. The price is about (now) 6 US dollars or 10 AUS dollars.
Even tom yum kung is is included. She is one of 3 cooks in the establisment.

At work, since 2013, shifts, working from home we were exchanging what we eat over weekends. Other team members were envious that I have a Thai restaurant coming to my desk.

2 hours ago, bust said:

...

Oh and apparently "The Orange Man" will be announce as Time Magazine's Person of The Year

What a joke. Elon clearly deserved it. Time Magazine is not what it used to be. Once had integrity.

“Madness is something rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages, it is the rule.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

A tectonic change. Since 2003, Thai Government has raised mandatory school attendance from grade 6 to grade 9.
That might have had  (and probably is having ) a big impact on helpless uneducated girls that have had gained more of education under that law. And then go even further with schooling.
I beleive, that Thai goverment action has had a great impact. With 9 years of school , the girls are not left to clean the fish at fish tin factories.
My wife was one of them, 6 years of school. Cleaning fish at a Rayong factory. Propelled her through education, Ramkhaeng University, Thai Princess handing her UNI diploma, The Faculty of Economics, 4 years, full time. Can't even remember how many, hundreds and hundreds,  lessons I gave her in maths, mathematical statistics, integrals and differential equations.
The people arond her are her villagers, even camping one night, just to be there.

 When I had my first Thai woman, 1999, if she has a daughter, the kid would now be 25 years old. Hard to imagine that the child (now a young woman) would have taken the bars way.

Sure, there will always be prostitutes from up country, but as many reports say - less and less of them. Nothing like the abundance of the year 2000 or before.
Now, many do not even go with customers, according to web sites.

 

5 hours ago, bust said:

Not Cambodia and have no idea how you conclude it is a known porn model

You may be right, me wrong. I beleive I remember that girl face from years ago. You win.

4 hours ago, bust said:

It's actually at Albion Park south of Wollongong. Also has a great dog track 🐶

True, that is where the decomissioned machine is. Short runway, 80km from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, only 25 tons of fuel used to fly and park her there.
VH-OJA B747, took me from Sydney to Los Angeles 2 or 3 times. Even have a model at my desk, exactly VH-OJA.

The thrid picture, even the custos of the museum did not know what that unusual fitting is for. Myself, a former airplane mechanic and a fan of civil aviation, explained to him, it is to fit a 5th engine to deliver to a place where no spare engines are available (like Fiji). People like me before University, were and are doing that.
If the readers of this post can undersand that.
 

The picture was real, just trolling for fun.

How about this? No shit from the net, my wife. Many men would love to fuck her.
If you would, it is a drop in the Ocean. Thousands of Japanese come around, to fuck her.
Strangely, she spoke only to those 60+ years old. To bring their wifes to the party. 
We made 3 porn movies in our privacy.

3 hours ago, bust said:

 

Looks like Cambodia image.Never been there, no intention to step into  that country, ever. 
The girll, top, is a known porn model.

2 hours ago, bust said:

 

Loved that. True, only 2 ladies, when I won a voucher during some meeting, as a prize. 2003.
Used it.
It was (deceased) Marc venue.
Puzzling it is, Thai is renowned for prostitution but nothing that really puts them on the World porn map. 
His staff, were working there for 5-7-8 years. No entry after 9pm, no drunks.