rickfarang

Now, on the other side of the worst of the pandemic, are there any decent soapy places left. Though it may not have been great, Annie's was at least convenient. Is it still there?

This month was about 150% of what I usually pay this time of the year. Painful.

My best recollection is "Man has not evolved and inch since the slime that spawned him."

Sorry to hear the news, but nobody lives forever 😞 He was a great source of entertainment in the 1990's and a bit after. We are all diminished by his passing.

I met many very likeable guys at the Friday night meetings at Gulliver's in the last decade. Met a few who continued to be good and close friends there. Are these meetings going on these days?

Air and hotel booked ahead of time are either on my credit card to paid at the nearest 7-11. Everything else is paid in cash, usually taken from my Thai bank or in some cases my Schwab One account which refunds the ATM fees at the end of every month. Ok, when desperate an cash advance on a credit card is utilized, but that's expensive.

Yes. And for a small fee they took care of the medical certificate. The only test the performed that was related to her physical condition was to give her the reaction test, which she retook a dozen times until she finally passed. The driving school also does annual inspection of the car and motorbike and do the running around to get the licenses for me. It is a nice service, especially since they are less than a kilometer from home.

Tuesday my driving student girlfriend drove around our village with me in the front seat for about an hour -it was the most stressful hour in recent memory. I was preparing to deal with her disappointment when she failed butI was stunned to see that she passed her tests at the driving school yesterday and will pick up her license on Monday. She cannot safely drive around the block with cars parked on the street yet she is licensed to drive. Stunned, I tell you.

I just sent my girlfriend to driving school, but her skills are not yet good eenought for me to feel it is safe for her to drive alone. What can we do to make driving practice around town legal before she gets a license?

I find your analogy between driving a motorcycle in Thailand and catching AIDS pretty dumb. I had a motorcycle accident in Thailand, yet I am still here to talk about it. Being diagnosed with an HIV infection is life changing and certainly a death sentence.

I am sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but the attitude shown in the above post in one of irresponsibility and selfishness. If you might have been exposed, then failing to test means exposing your "next girlfriend" or other loved one to a grave risk. In my book, this is irresponsible to both her/him and society in general.

Thai immigration used to require certification that applicants for long term visas be free of HIV infection, but several years ago (sometime around 2001), they withdrew the requirement, stating that it would not have any significant affect on the country's overall HIV problem. It would be nice if other countries could become more realistic in this sense.

Somebody wrote: "Use condoms properly with adequate lubrication to prevent breakage and the chances of catching HIV are negligible." Just so the message is not lost: Any odds may seem negligible until you catch it. Also as mentioned in JS's OP and in Free2Fly's post above, being drunk or stoned and around scuzzy women is a recipe for disaster. It used to be that a diagnosis of HIV was a death sentence. In the last several years in the developed world, its more like a chronic condition for many. That doesn't make it any less of a tragedy, and any less devastating to to one's self-image and view of the future -just "less physically lethal." If you think the chances are negligible, then you have not read up on the subject enough, or you have not lived though AIDS with a loved one (yet). Be careful out there. Thanks again, JS, for the reminder. It can happen to anyone, even those who aren't punters.

Ahhhh, CRAP. Thank you for the wake-up call. Some people undoubtedly think they are invincible or at least not unlucky enough. Its a lottery, even with protection, and as in your case, eventually every number can come up. I hope your confirmation test comes back negative. Whether it comes back positive or negative, you will have many good years ahead. Keep posting. Keep your powder dry. Take care. Rick