connda

Hey, I might be better tomorrow are Northern Thailand is finally getting widespread rain. TMD screenshot taken at 9:30ish PM.

My bust. I actually meant the Lamphun Makro. There is no Tesco down here. I was surprised but I've watched the stocks of olive oil, canned tomatoes, and cheese dwindle to next to nothing. But? If Nakhon Nowhereville has them I'm assuming Makro CM probably is stocked. Rimping too. They just tend to be pricey.

The guy's a rich foreign so he's being dragged though the mud. A case of a Hiso Thai kicking a foreigner (or Thai) would be memory-holed by now.

I've lived her 17 years and "Yes" you can and it's done more often than not. A good example is in traffic accidents cases where the person who injured or even killed someone due to negligence or aggressive driving (road rage) can come up with a settlement to offer the victims family. Then no charges are filed. It happens a lot. Is it fair? No. Those who can pay get off free as bird (the rich, wealthy, and connected). Those who can't go to jail, i.e., poor commoners. But is it common practice? Yep - it is. Welcome to Thailand. Chime in again when you've lived here a decade or so and after you have a couple thousand posts. You're applying Western standards to an Asian country. It doesn't work like that here.

Thai doctor offered bribe to drop lawsuit in Swiss scandal Bunk. She was offered an out-of-court settlement through a third-party intermediary. There is nothing illegal or corrupt about doing that at all. In most legal jusiritictions it's the preferred practice as opposed to clogging up the court systems when the litigants can settle out of the judicial system. Bribery is attempting to influence a person, like a government official, for personal gain and is an act of corruption. A settlement offer is attempting to resolve a conflict monetarily and is often standard practice - even here in Thailand. How do you think so many grievances get settled without any criminal charges being files - even when someone is seriously hurt or even killed. Out of court settlement. But - this is a dirty foreigner so if he does exactly what most hiso Thais would do in his position - it's a "bribe." No, it's not. This is a settlement offer. If the guy's intermediary had approached a judge or prosecuting attorney and offered them money to make the charges go away - that's a bribe. I don't feel anything for the guy who kicked her - but really - stop the hyperbole. My guess that in this defamation sensitive country, insinuating that a settlement offer is a bribe (corruption) in order to disparage the person offering the settlement could be construed to be defamation.

I'm a hard-core Trumpeter. "Play it Satchmo!!!" Louie Armstrong for President 2024!

I've noticed over the last year that certain import items and foods I personally use for cooking are starting to be in short supply in Lamphun Big C and Tesco. Specifically I use Brooks Whole Peeled Tomatoes which this trip (and during previous trips) is not available. Also block cheeses, other than cheddar and a limited amount of mozzarella, have simply disappeared (Edam, Havarti, Provolone, Swiss - can't find them any more) Then last trip they only had about 10 bottles of olive oil in stock (they used to have shelves of different brands) To me it looks like they are going to stop stocking it. I use the commercial olive oil blends like Bertolli regular and similar brands that I used primarily in cooking. Anyway, these are foods I use in Mediterranean type cooking that I do. I'm wondering if those of you shopping at Makro or Big C in Chiang Mai can still find these items?

The Free Market answer to this: Don't purchase overpriced products. Purchase the same product from someone selling at a reasonable price.

Try cleaning up the air quality first.

Yep - and no one is reporting on it because for Thais it's normal behavior. But in a highly nationalistic, ethnocentric country? "Foreign Bad!"

Crime of the century. In the meanwhile, a few tens of thousands motorcycles driven by Thais are driving on sidewalks and driving the wrong way down streets and highways as I write this. But? "The dirty foreigner is a criminal." If a Thai had been driving the motorcycle this would be a non-event and unreported.

I think the correct response if they ask you, "Did you copy these on a home printer/scanner/copier," is "No I didn't. I had them done at a Somchai's copy shop in town."

There is no way they can distinguish. The "photoscanned" copy using a home printer/scanner/photocopier produces copies that are as good, and in many cases better, as a commercial photocopier. A commercial photocopiers picks up a "static" image on a drum, then toner which is applied to the paper. A home photocopier picks up a digital image that is applied to a drum, then toner which is applied to the paper. The only difference is how the image is picked up on the drum. So this is Buffalo-poo. 💩 I don't know how many times over the last 17 years I've had my copies done on a commercial copier only to get copies that are near unreadable (too much toner, too little toner, dirty drum, etc). Commercial copiers get heavy use. A home copier does not and can be personally maintained to provide superior copies. But they are going to say they can tell the difference? And Ox-poo too. 💩 What you'll probably next experience is that you'll be required to get photocopies from only "approved" (connected) commercial copy shops and then provide receipts. Cha-ching Occam's Razor.

K.2? Yeah - that's proves you're marriage is still on the books. K.22 That's your freaking original marriage certificate. It's stupid to ask for a new one. Unless - Well yeah, what is the purpose of all these new and improved regulations aimed at foreign men with Thai wives who have been married for years. Harassment. Racism. Sexism. A foreign woman married to a Thai man? She's the jewel of a Thai nuclear family who is to be valued and respected as well as offered a path to citizenship. A foreign man married to a Thai women? Nothing but a national security risk, a beggar, and a fake who is not to be trusted (after 10, 15, 20+ years of marriage), who is not respected as anything but a sneaky foreign male cheater and who must be harassed continually and offered an annual boot in the ass out of the country. The corollary to that is that the wives and children are also looked down upon and considered to be little but buffalo by Thai authorities who would be happy to see their husbands and fathers (who are only visiting remember) permanently kicked out of the country. The message being: Marry a Thai man girls or suffer the consequences. And from what I've seen lately this is only getting worse. The harassment.

Sure - I've seen that all the time when I use to live in the US desert regions. Ah huh. All that has to be done in order to cool the planet is to stop eating meat, live in 4 meter square cubicle and give most of your paycheck to the government in so-called "carbon taxes" which you elite leaders will used to stop the the forest arson and the Big Ag sponsored crop burning just like they do now. You'll be happy and the planet will be saved Ah huh. And you'll no longer worry about your car windows exploding because unless you're a elite feudal lord - you won't own a car. Commoners. Ah huh.

"Stress" = Payday

Bar girls an getting sotted in front of a 7/11 on tiger-piss beer (Isn't that why we're all here? I'm told it is).

Good - hopefully it will blow the "killer air" out of the mountain valleys.

Come to beautiful Chiang Mai. <cough cough> Play water this 21 day Songkran. <hack wheeze> (well maybe just play water 5 day) <cough> Enjoy beautiful Chiang Mai mountain scenery brown-haze and look with wonder on brown sunset. <cough wheeze wheeze>

What is it with foreigners thinking it's OK to have public sex in Thailand. I'm sure it would probably be prison time in their home country.

Dr Varichaporn at Chiang Mai Ram if you every get this far north. Practiced in the US, excellent English, and will check everything.

A few days later in Aseannow Thailand News: Police Investigate Claims That Foreigner Breaks Cans On Concrete Pillar In Order To Buy Them Cheaper The Next Day - Netcitizens call for a crackdown on foreign can abusers and deportations

Shinkflation. That's another reason I stopped buying soft drinks (and other products as well). When they only fill the bottles 70% full with 30% empty plastic? And then raise their prices to boot? No wonder the world is floating in plastic - corporation don't give a rip. I've become part of the solution and just stopped buying their cr*p.

There are quite a few products I've jettisoned over the last couple of years because the prices have simply gotten stupid. Soft drinks like coke and pepsi for one. When I compares prices of things when I first arrived in 2007 to now? When prices get close to doubling it's time to quit paying for excessive corporate profits. Baked beans - I stopped buying those too. I found I can make some pretty tasty dishes with dried beans (white, red, pinto, kidney) and a good pressure cooker and some imagination. So regarding corporate processed food products? Their loss as they price their produces out of the range I'm willing to pay. Not that I can't pay (I can), as I still buy olive oil which is getting stupid too, but it is one of the product I use in cooking where I'll splurge. On the flip-side, I eat a whole lot healthier as local fruit and produce out here in the rural boondocks haven't been jacked up to the stratospheric prices that you see in grocery stores and cities. The locals would stop buying and just plant them themselves and sell the surplus - which by the way, keeps the local prices in check. In 2007 you could find shops out here selling noodles of 20 THB. You can find shops selling noodles for 20 THB now.

I've got a Last Will and Testament that was drawn up by a lawyer but it's out of date. The cost for amending it is stupid and not worth the money. My Will is very simple. It's not much more than a listing of my Thai bank assets and a few personal items which go to my wife if she survives me or my step-son if he survives my wife and I both. Easy. To help keep this on-topic, this is only about a Will applicable to Thailand. I know Wills can be drawn up at the local Amphur offices. I'm curious if anyone has done this. If so, what is involved? I'm thinking it may also be easier to take to probate court if the Will is registered with the Amphur? Just wondering. Now in my 70s and as most 70 year olds should know - death happens. It's the way of it. Any direct experience with setting up a Will at an Amphur office would be appreciated.