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Just back from 15 nights in Turkey, a brilliant holiday, one of the best ever. To the point where we booked the hotel again for next year before we left. Even with the Covid restrictions (which i'm glad they had, was safe) it was a brilliant time at a great hotel at a great location. Private beach, splash park, aqua park on site, 5 pools, all inclusive, 24/7 open bars (for those who wanted) i had a few non alcoholic mojitos lol Passed my PADI Advanced diver cert on holiday, can now go 30metres, dive wrecks etc. Looking at what certification i'll do next. Love scuba diving ever since watching Jacques Cousteau as a child. And it's something i'd never had taken up if i hadn't got clean and sober, like so many other things. Wife and child really enjoyed the holiday as well, we all needed it. My wife Sa lost two close family members recently, and can't get home without loads of hassle, so needed it to unwind, just sit on the beach with our daughter and de-stress. First time i've been on holiday where i don't remember my 4 year old daughter saying she wanted to back to Caitlin's (her) house at some stage, usually when bored or out of her comfort zone, strange place, bed etc. She loved it as well. Home a week, been to the gym 4 times, helps me so much mentally and physically, plus to offset the excess consumed on holiday. Had been a little apprehensive before going, but brilliant time, so glad we went. Even ,looking at a cheeky 10 nights at same place over Oct Half Term next month. Still some great deals.

Yeah like alot of you, trying to look the other way on Covid, we've both been tested 2 times now, both negative, playing the common sense game. Not the sit around the house type, either of us. Wifey still does her once a month dinner gigs with her local Thai gal friend, they have a good outdoor Thai restaurant here locally, noticed her and her friend are "dressing it up" a bit lately with the black leather gigs. They told me they were going " clubbing" after dinner LOL! We go to the local parks for hikes etc, still go to dinner once a week out and about. Looking forward to a Winter/Snow trip to Tahoe again Feb 2021 probably, hopefully they have a ton of snow. Went to this city called " Solvang" for 3 days a few weeks ago, Danish community. My Gym opens today, the deal is you have to make an appt, you get 1 1/2 hours, 64 people total at one time. They clean for 30 minutes, then if there are not another 64 people waiting for the next 1 1/2 hour appt, you can do another time slot. No cardio, pool is not open, no basketball or lockers are available. Ok, I will try it out and see. @Krapow Really nice trip report, your wife is beautiful and your Daughter got her Moms looks.............thankfully LOL!

For an update, its been pissing down all day. On a hunch, I checked and the remaining working brain cells I have left put a folding umbrella in my bag. I headed down to beefeaters and they're still doing the Mexican buffet. They've lowered the price 50Baht. Its not great Mexican, but in Muang Rayong I either have to make it myself or drive over to Ban Chang if I want Mexican. On the way back I stopped in at Lucky beer bar. The only one open on Dianna in the day. Grim. The ladys there were a little hungry, but I helped out a bit. I was the only customer there and in Rockhouse when I stopped in after an ATM run. There's almost no day trade, but the nights on LK have been good. Its the last night for me tonight. I'll probably will stick to LKM in this weather. soi boomerang will have to wait for next trip.

Last night trade was down a bit in the open front bars. The gogos were well attended, though. I visited the three gogos on LKM I hadn't yet. Crystal, Queen, and Lady Love. Queen twice ('nuf said). As tonight will be my last night, I'm having an early onset of post-Pattaya blues. Which is ridiculous, because I live less than an hour from here. LOL.

Be like @galenkia, start easy ...

He also said you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

As said... the Pullman has opened up after it was completely closed for awhile. The Kosa beer garden is still going and was open. ..... admittedly a little quieter at present but still had fair patronage at night. The bars ...except for Mybar had a fair crowd seeing it was week nights and overall things were close to being back to normal. cheers

Chilli prawn stir fry with Basmati rice.

I have been visiting a few places in Issan.... latest was a couple of nights at Udon Thani and Khon Khan. As Tommy said...some good deals on the hotels...especially midweek and happy to welcome you. I noticed that there seem to be a few mid week conferences going on in hotels for one or two days ...especially with some Govt departments... so the hotels are getting some good business. I was in Khon Khan Monday and Tuesday ..... stayed at the Kosa Hotel.... was about just over half full. The Pullman hotel reopened a few weeks back.... and on the Tuesday was fully booked out. cheers

Last month spent moving house from London to Neath in Wales. Best move I ever made; Porn and Kataleya are so happy here, we feel blessed. The change in our living standard, and for £270 less a month than London, is exponential, truly is. So much to do and see, must put some pics up....

Sanderlings

Went to the beach today. Nice weather -- warm & clear. Walked a bit. Snapped a few photos. Watched the world go by... Made Wagyu tacos at home later. Washed them down with some local beer. Other than wearing a mask to be conscientious around strangers... life is about normal (for me at least).

Super girl closed permanently on WS. Owner asking 6M key money.

Never went to Vung Tau Gary Glitter's old hangout place so put me off a bit. I think Vietnam is an amazing country to explore and been all over. Might have stated before but Hue is one of the nicest cities on earth for me. Vitenamese food is so much nicer than Thai for me ........its Monsieur's Thai Spice French influence on la cuisine. Lovely fusion of French and Asian. Strong minded independent people the Vietnamese.

This is an old thread that has been resurrected But , I had a great time in Hoi An , just 10 minutes outside the city are loads of beach resorts , plus on the full moon each month they have lantern festivals , I did a cycling tour through the countryside a walking tour through the old city and a full day cooking course with Red Bridge ( all beers / wine included whilst cooking / eating ) - but with plenty of time to relax and chill by the pool or on the beach

1st taste of the Lincolnshire sausages in my meat delivery. Very pleased with them. Usual veg and beans.

Well dear readers one would get the impression from this topic that it is totally doom and gloom in Pattaya these days with nothing but empty beer bars and mostly customer devoid GoGo's still charging expats170+ baht for a beer. As Bob Dylon once proclaimed "The times they are a-changing" and as we all know there are simply not enough expats to support all the bars and particularly the GoGo's in high rental locations and the cost of the girls wages. There is however one sector of the entertainment scene that is becoming a veritable growth area and that is in the "Gentlemens Club" area with new ones cropping up all over town. The term is a little misleading as maybe "Hostess Bars" is just as good a description. Now as they are all in closed, air-conditioned premises one is not going to be able to tell from the outside just how busy they may, or may not be, from a photograph of the outside. So purely on the grounds of market research last afternoon/night I joined the "usual suspects" for an extended tour of such establishments which judging by the state of my hangover today involved the consumption of prodigious amounts of alcohol the cost of which was naturally a bit higher than the average beer bar but much less than that being charged in GoGo's. I remember the names of the first three being Camel Toe, The Den and Babylon and in between there was another one behind the Lion Pub but I cannot remember the name. The hostesses do not generally seem to be of the "shy and reserved" variety. It was "Cowgirl" theme night in Babylon and I got roped in so to speak. Social distancing seemed to be at a premium and it was very busy. Be honest ..................................You would, wouldn't you! YEE HA ! ! I told her she was a very naughty lady. Apparently tonight is themed as "bikini bottom" or possibly "No bikini bottom" night but I am waiting for "Blow Job" Thursday to come round. After Babylon we moved onto L K Metro and had a few beers at 44 baht for any bottle in a beer bar and then went to see Ricky in Pandora.That was the only GoGo we visited and the most expensive venue for drinks by far. After that it was onto Soi Boomerang's Clubs by which time I was feeling no pain. In conclusion. It is very sad for the bars and many GoGo's which are falling by the wayside but if you know how and where to have a good time it is there to be enjoyed in and around Pattaya.

Friday’s like up. Happy weekend.

Some of these artists have some talent and some of them well not so much anyway I've always liked graffiti street art whatever you want to call it never fail to get a photo of it

Forgot about this thread,thanks for the bump. everything winding down here,I’ve started winter stuff,Will replant in the next couple of weeks.Had the first pumpkin last night.Was bloody delicious.

...this season, I did succession planting. My 3rd and final set, I grew in either Grow-Bags or Air Pots. Using both these types of containers sped up the growth time along with making them grow extra big. I think the Air Pots/or similar did the best in making my tomato plants over 6 feet tall. I think I’ll buy more fake/knock off Air pots from Lazada when I can get back into Thailand.

Taking advantage of a nice day yesterday to do a little late season ridge riding:

Are you guys talking about THIS brisk trade....

I seem to spend most of my time nowadays banging my head on the desk when I read about the UK's latest C19 situation/remedy/testing farce/lockdowns/rules/laws/quarantines/etc/etc. How can they be so utterly inept? Ugh!

Today it is completely overcast, no sun. I'm happy to say that my double sized capacity solar panels are putting out less than 50 percent and still charging the batteries quite well as well as running everything. So called experts have told me that my systems are not efficient, BUT, they serve me well. Yes, I am wasting electricity but what is wasted cost nothing. I am able to use the extra power from full sun but I have to plug in an outlet and throw a double pole double throw switch to change from the grid to the battery bank. I'm not techie enough to make it automatic. That runs the refrigerator, some lights and a freezer. If I forget to change it back, my batteries would not last through the night. It's not worth the effort. I run eight surveillance cameras plus the router and WiFi from the battery bank 24/7. If using the grid, the power goes off (often) so do the cameras and recorders.

Oh dear,I guess that 50k now then.You must be the Wednesday wire.

I was going to pop into tonight, do you recon I'll be safe in an Everton shirt?....lol.....

Getting a tad jealous here, but i know you're only doing your duty as a conscientious ex pat helping out the Thai economy in these hard times!

@tko good reading, thanks for doing the thread, great to 'touch base' for those of us who are not sure when he can do that again.

Bit of a knees up here tonight....... Devils Den site.....

I have three solar systems that I have built. First, don't believe the wattage figures advertised. You will be fortunate to get about half of the wattage advertised for maybe 5 hours a day. Your installation will not even be close to their laboratory testing. Cloudy overcast and rainy days drastically cut production. For instance, my largest system has double the number of panels recommended. There are 4 250 watt panels The panels have a very long life and are now cheap enough to double up. Those 4 panels feed a 40 amp MPPT charge controller. Cheaper charge charge controllers are not very efficient. MPPT controllers convert the extra voltage into usable amps. It feeds 4 6 volt 225 ah golf cart batteries. They are connected to give 12 volts so the total amp hours is 450. They cost approximately 5,000 baht each. The batteries feed a 1,500 watt pure sine wave inverter. Decent quality components cost more and my inverter is also oversized. Running an inverter at near the capacity causes it to get fairly hot. My oversized inverter stays barely warm to the touch. With wiring and decent quality components you can add about another 10,000 baht to the cost. I should add that I didn't build my systems to save money. The electric grid here sucks. I wanted stable voltage and 24/7 electricity. I have no idea if I will ever get a payback but really don't care. I have a backup inverter and charge controller but the systems have been VERY reliable and they have not been needed over all these years. It is very important to never run the batteries below 12.1 volts. (fifty percent discharge). They need to be fully charged every day. I have seen guys fry an expensive battery bank by running the deep cycle batteries down too low. They may call them deep cycle batteries but that doesn't mean that you can abuse them or run the acid level below the plates. I like the idea of lithium batteries but the components are special and the batteries are sill priced too high. Keeping the deep cycle lead acid batteries serviced is a pain but they will last many years if taken care of.

Another side note ...Beach gals family lives not far from Pak Bara .. on the sea ... great people ... I was a confirmed bachelor it seems like forever ... she won my heart ... no drama, never a harsh word ,, no lies or bullshit ... she is an honest gal with a great heart .... I met her on the beach in Koi Lipe with her younger sister and her older brother .... I thought she was absolutely beautiful ( but, young ... around 18 at the time ) .. so I walked up and started talking to her .... I guess that turned out ok .... A very good girl with a wild f**ker ... we have a beautiful daughter and have been together a long time ..... maybe now 16 - 17 years ... but, it was hard for me to take the leap of faith with her and get married .. about 10 years later ... she hung in there and never gave up ... very cool .. and I am 100% guilty of some wild shit She has put balance in my life ... she is beautiful ... So .. keep your eye out ..you may find something good

I only wish i could be there!

Just a few snaps around town this late afternoon, early evening. and again apologizes in advance to anyone getting upset about isolated people sitting in bars, sadly the new norm I just taken a knee....lol.....game on....

One of my summer cars - 1992 BMW "E36" 325i, originally built for Japanese export with LHD, basically a Euro version with a couple of quirks for Japan - and imported to Canada later; only 114K km on the clock and totally rust free:

I'm not sure about that. The old meters would run backwards if you had extra power from a grid tie inverter. As soon as they saw my solar panels, they changed my meter to the so called smart meter that cannot run backwards. The other three meters on the pole were not changed, only mine. A techie electrician friend of mine installed a fairly large solar array behind his house. He had applied for the government program but when they finally answered, they disapproved it because the panels were ground mounted and not on his roof. The government program was called Rooftop Solar. Not only that but they went back to before he installed the solar and averaged out his past bills. not only did they get his electric feed for free, he had to pay the old average bills. He ended up buying battery banks and new inverters for off grid use. His large expensive government approved grid tied inverter was then useless. Maybe the worst part was that his components had to be government approved and they were. Not surprising that they were about three times more expensive. I was never interested in grid tied inverters because they have what is called island protection. When the grid goes down those inverters go down also and you still have no electricity.

welcome,to the best board on Thailand, shit! I hope that earns me some brownie points regards grayray

JL - all wonderful pics!!! The Nakula Seafood Market is great. Yes, important to pick out your own “fresh” seafood, but really isn’t that hard. Fresh and great prices. Even better, puck out your items and then head next door to all the older thai ladies who’ll cook up your fresh items. You can then sit by the chairs or grass and enjoy a feast...if you haven’t done that, I suggest you do. They’ll only charge about 20 baht or so to cook up each item however you like

My neighbor across the street from me seems to be getting some "Orange" in their trees already. This Fall event usually does not take place here until mid-late October. Wonder if this means Fall/Winter is coming earlier this year? Wifey asked me last week if we could go to Tahoe again this Winter? I think she likes gambling LOL!

Ah, the 'gym bar', now it makes sense 😁

Recovering from over indulgence in Abbot ale last night, drinking lots of tea and coffee.

Very soon....loads of concrete piles have been dropped off inside...top of Soi 15 and Soi Buakhao.......

The output quoted for solar panels is for STC (standard test conditions). STC is the set of criteria that a solar panel is tested at. Since voltage and current change based on temperature and intensity of light, among other criteria, all solar panels are tested to the same standard test conditions. This includes the cells’ temperature of 25℃ (77℉), light intensity of 1000 watts per square meter, which is basically the sun at noon, and the atmospheric density of 1.5, or the sun’s angle directly perpendicular to the solar panel at 500 feet above sea level. https://www.altestore.com/blog/2016/04/how-do-i-read-specifications-of-my-solar-panel/#:~:text=STC is the set of,solar panel is tested at.&text=This includes the cells' temperature,500 feet above sea level. Panel output decreases with temperature increase. There is a website https://pvoutput.org/ where real world users describe their system and the instantaneous, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly outputs. If you drive the filters you should be able to limit the information to Thailand (or anywhere else in the world).

I'm seeing the opposite on LK. There are some great lookers in the open front bars, and they're friendly. There are plenty if slags to be sure but the ratio of younger fit types is better than it's been for quite a while.

Man, I know the quality of gals have dropped ... in Patts and BKK .. at least in the beer bars .. another story in the late night Thai clubs I didn't see one gal when I was in Patts a couple weeks ago that I was willing to put my dick into ... maybe after about 7 - 8 hours later after pounding serious beers ( which I did ) ... but, I would still be cautious Same in BKK .... 3 - 4 days ago .. I had to go to the US and Vietnam Embassy's .. while waiting to go to the Vietnam Embassy and after I left the US Embassy .. I stopped into Morning Night on SOi 4 .... ( Nana - lower Suk ) ,,, jeez .. all of the gals in there looked like they were " rode hard and put away wet" .. yea .. nice smiles .. but, f**k a smile when you are looking for a quality piece of ass ... with great legs and ass ... Guess, I am not surprised ... I know some gals here in BKK that have just gotten on line .... showing a little pussy and getting paid ... for doing nothing .. it beats the f**k out of me why a guy would pay for on line pussy ....

My Thai builder is always full of smart ideas, but they often don't seem very practical to me, or else I just don't understand what he's going on about (more likely, lol). A few weeks ago he was telling me about how much solar panels have come down in price, but I didn't take much notice. Anyway, I was in Thai Watsadu and happened to notice a 330W solar panel selling for a bit over 3,000 Baht. So three of these things would generate 1kW, at least when the sun's shining, for an outlay of around 10,000 Baht. Making a broad assumption that, on average, allowing for cloudy days and rain, they would be able to generate power for eight hours a day, that would provide 8kW-hr a day. The PEA tariff is around 4.5 Baht/kW-hr, so the three panels would generate 36 Baht/day of electricity. That's over 13,000 Baht a year, which more than pays for the panels in a single year. Of course, you also have to buy suitable batteries and have somebody cable it in safely for you, and maybe a transformer, I'm not sure, but I'd guess that within two years tops the system would have paid for itself. About right, or far too optimistic? Then you have the advantages that you mention of no mains voltage spikes and so on, it sounds like a win-win situation, not to mention getting on Greta's Christmas card list, lol. Sure, on a damp, grey morning like we've got today, courtesy of tropical storm Noul, it probably wouldn't generate much, but Pattaya is mostly a pretty sunny place. Is my assumption of the system providing power for an average of eight hours a day reasonable, or too optimistic? And roughly what are the costs for, say, a 1kW system, of the batteries and other stuff needed beyond the actual solar panels?

Mate, you get dumber by the day. Many people wear masks and not just because of Covid....a volcano goes off, people wear masks, a surgeon wears a mask when he operates, a housekeeper wears a mask when using chemicals, these things are just done to help prevent injury, infection to one self or others. Our immune system allows us to walk the world mostly without a mask but during this pandemic it has been advised that it may save a life, yours or the person you are near if either of you have an infection which can cause long term damage even if you don't suffer from major symptoms. Really is this an earth shattering event, no it is just a piece of advice that could save a life. Asians have been wearing masks for a long time and probably because they do not wish to get smog, car fumes etc in their lungs, they now see no issue in wearing a mask to help prevent another way of infecting their lungs. You choose not to wear one then fine but that is your choice, not smart in my book but your choice. I choose to wear a mask and not even really because I follow the advice, it just seems a good bet in preventing infection or passing on an infection as understanding how particles can leave the body when breathing out means I see it as an added measure. It really isn't a big deal in the overall scheme of things and it really doesn't impose any major rights violations in my book or cause me undue irritation. There are places I do not need to wear a mask and there are some where I think it a good option, nothing less, nothing more. I certainly don't spend every waking moment dragging the net for a pro mask avatar, joke or video to try to impress or belittle those of a differing opinion to mine, that would be bloody silly in my book, there is a lot of life to live out there with or without a mask but I will try to live it safely.

Do they know something we don't..borders opening?