tko

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.

Big time. Emphasis on big.

I thought I was getting it wrong, so I went to kilkenny for a chicken parm and a chance to look at the bar name on the way with sober eyes. You are correct, it is Celona.

So I see I lost track of time yesterday. I said that I'd be going to diamond tomorrow, but actually it was that day. Started with lunch at Senor Taco on Buakow. In the nearly hour there, I didn't see a single meter taxi. I asked the waitress and she chartered a song taew to soi diamond for me. I spent about five hours with my friend at her beer bar center diamond on walking street, so most of the day was a blur. That area is always quiet during the day, but it just seemed depressed. Everything else around is closed. I was a walking street guy until I re-based to the LK area a few years ago, so it was sad to see. When she wrapped up her shift and was ready to stagger off home, I visited Le Pub for a bit. Sorry Phil, I was already three sheets to the wind when I got there. One of the bartenders from Secrets was pouring at Le Pub. I didn't stay for as long as I expected, and the bartender chased a taxi down for me to go face plant at the hotel for a bit. When I woke, prime burger for dinner, Celero - still packed, same cuties, stopped into Jibby's for a while. Again, LK seemed low season normal. I went up stairs in KINK and went back down as quickly as I could. I spent some time with the lookers downstairs then closed my night with the lovelies at bachelor. This evening I'll wander soi boomerang.

I arrived for a short visit yesterday, a Wednesday. Villa market was normal, other than the inside door is closed. I started my evening as normal at scooters bar on LK Metro. It was down to four girls working, only one of my regulars. She complained about how quiet it is, and the manager said maybe they were going to start closing on Mondays. By sundown it was noticeably busier and by 9pm it looked like a normal low season mid week on LK. I did a couple more open bars. Celero (I think that's the name) had a very good happy hour promotion and was jammed with girls and customers. Its about half way between Time and the Cave. I had to be seated with another guy as all tables were full. I was joined by a couple cuties including a gorgeous young thing who said she's a uni student. I expected there to be drink pressure from the girls, but there wasn't though they were grateful when one was offered. Then I started on gogos, four or five I think. The best that night was bachelors, but I often enjoy that one. A couple of them wanted to do the temperature/sign in, etc, but most weren't picky about it. All in, a good night. Tomorrow I'm visiting a friend on her birthday on soi Diamond during the day. So I'll look around that area a bit.

For an "Information" Technology guy I find it kind of funny that he lists both Surin and Buriram as "Surin." I noticed because I lived in Buriram a few years. EDIT: BTW I had the same thoughts about his extensive travel versus his claimed job. He was a great source of info at the height of the pandemic, though.

Several 100,000s at Sturgis. Under 300 cases and 1 death linked. Yet the press is in full panic mongering mode. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/09/02/report-first-coronavirus-death-tied-to-sturgis-motorcycle-rally/#7f8e36646efa

Nope. Not taxable income. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2020/05/17/will-i-owe-taxes-on-my-stimulus-payment-plus-other-tax-related-questions/#48913be23dfc Numerous other sources, I just picked one.

I have any tax refund direct deposited, so they have my bank account info. I got direct deposit of $3,400 last April (married, two kids).

I'm happy about both your statements. I'll be visiting Pattaya in about 2 weeks.

Dang. I hit town mid next month. I hope something is still open.

Yes. Over time most of our friends back in the US were other Thai/Farang families, so most would visit Thailand at least once a year. It was great to catch up with them and hear the latest. Often they'd call before they came over to ask if we needed them to bring anything.

Same here. I'll still visit Pattaya next month for the better selection of western goods in the grocery stores, but my hopes for a few party nights are diminished from what I'm hearing.

Thai schools, government offices, and medical providers will list your age based off your birth date - counting the same way we do. I've met the occasional Thai who lied about their age, but that's different.

Not true. Thais count age the same as us. Source: I have two Thai kids.

The beach in Ban Phe, Rayong before the hill is kept spotless.

It may have changed, but I used my Netflix account that I started in the US in Thailand for a couple years, using a vpn. Then just before they rolled out worldwide, they started blocking vpns. I checked out the Thai Netflix, and found the catalogue in Thailand was sparse compared to US Netflix (<4%), so I cancelled. Like others above, I've found alternate sources for acquiring video entertainment. From what I'm reading, with so many content providers (Disney, CBS, etc, etc) launching their own streaming services, I'm not sure how much Netflix will be able to license going forward.

I've been doing my 90 day reports online anyway. They're approved immediately and I won't have to worry that I'm not up to date when the amnesties end.

And the other shoe has dropped. All the persons who scanned into the mall when the infected Egyptian visited have been ordered to self quarantine until 24 July, and contact the Rayong Public Health Office - I assume for monitoring. Fortunately for us, they released the detailed timeline and he visited the day after my wife and daughter's visit.

Are you intentionally being obtuse? I'm worried about the reaction of the authorities. They're already shutting schools that had nothing to do with this. No one knows what they will do with the contact tracing lists of people who visited the malls.

Yeah, you (deleted). Have you seen how they shut down the country at the start of the pandemic? This was almost over here, now both my kid's schools have been shut down again. Thanks to contact tracing, everybody who visited that mall should be concerned about the reaction to this.

My daughter's school in Rayong has just sent out a message that they're closing back down, for at least another week. I expect due to this. It's not clear from that report, but the Thai language reports say that they arrived at night on the 8th and left for China early the 9th, arriving back at night. So I'm hoping that the day they visited the malls, etc, was the 10th, because my wife and daughter went to one of the malls he's listed as visting the 9th.

I've paid the Thai price at Nong Nuch and Underwater world using my Thai DL, so for some places it is a discount for locals like you see elsewhere in the world.

I've been in the markets for decades, but I'm a buy and hold guy. For a little while during the 2008 crash I day traded a bit. I made money but too much stress. I prefer to do my research and go for solid long term stocks and funds that pay dividends. Sometimes I get it wrong, and dump those for tax write-offs, but in general it's worked well for me. After now after five major market crashes in my investing life time I've also learned to let it ride. You haven't lost anything until you sell, and in the mean time they're paying dividends.

I think that's the issue. Different offices with different rules. I've done my extensions at Surin until Buriram got their own office, and now Rayong. All three want the letter to be within 3 days of the visit to immigration. That's helpful because the bank I use is in a mall and opens at 11:00, and there's always a crush of people at opening. It can take an hour to get the letter, so half the day is gone already. One thing they added when I started using the Buriram office was there had to be a transaction on the account the same date as the letter. I don't know if Rayong requires that but to be safe I do a transfer from the account before I go to the bank for the letter.