Smiler

I enjoyed this last night. Bought in Villa at UD Town. 800 (ish) baht.

15 minutes ago, boydeste said:

It's my birthday today, I usually spend it in Thailand so it's a bit strange being here under house arrest.

I decided to celebrate with all of the treats that I normally don't allow myself.

So I have :-

two large bars of Toblerone, one white chocolate, one milk,

large bag of Mc Coys ridge cut salt and vinegar chrisps,

Large bag of Kettle chrisps,

6 packs of Walkers cheese and onion chrisps

Large pack of jumbo size salted peanuts

5 large bags of Twiglets.

For refreshment I have 10 cans of Abbot ale and a bottle of Jamasans.

In the pan I have a very large rump steak for dinner later!

I guess I need to stay off the scales for a few days to recover after.

Are you on a diet ? 😇

Happy birthday matey 🎂🎈👋

Friday night is Chang night here in the jungle. Sat with Mrs smiler, a couple of other "lady falangs" and my mate Noi. Good times 😃

1 hour ago, Horizondave said:

VPI's thread on Pattaya Live was excellent, very informative and regularly updated, his life on his plot was most interesting.

Andy and Phil did go to his 'estate' in Loei and I did meet with him at the Pullman Hotel in Khon Kaen together with his wife, my wife and Andy with his wife.  I had also met him one time at the Rockhouse on a nice social gathering, seemed a nice guy. 

Unfortunately I had it on good authority that after I left Pattaya Live the guy had made some remarks about me and my wife that were quite negative.  I find this quite unsavoury considering we had met but as I have never logged back in to PL since I left I can not verify what my good friends have told me.

A few people who left PL were assassinated online by the usual suspects but I wasn't expecting it from people who I had met in a social setting where nothing but positive vibes seemed the order of the day.  Me, I am not too fussed about it as I am unlikely to meet up with these people again but annoyed that my wife could be brought into a topic on a forum with negative comments made.

That's a real shame. I don't recall reading about it, could have been on another level which I don't belong to though.

I have never met VP whatshisname. Maybe sometime in the future, who knows. There are some who I actively avoid but he isn't one.

RIP Colin Bell 

No disrespect but all morning I have been trying not to sing an old playground song: 

Lee bummed Bell, Bell bummed Lee. Lee and Bell bummed Sumerbee...👀 

It's worth saying again, one of if not the best thread I have read on Thai forums over the years.

Vp's place is near Loei which is a lovely part of Thailand, very scenic. He knows his stuff for sure, think I am right in saying he has a ranch in the States.

Really wishing I hadn't introduced the village to mulled wine some time ago.

It's cold up here (relatively 😏) and there has been a steady stream of visitors over the last hour asking about "lon falang wine". 

I brought a load of sachets of the mulled spices over with me and scored a cheap (again relatively) box of red. That went a few nights ago and I am f***d if I am going to open a 1200 baht bottle to waste on anyone other than me and the Mrs 😬.

RIP Tommy Docherty 

Proud to have been part of Doc's Red Army back in the day. The season we had in the old 2nd division was as enjoyable as the Treble for me. 13 years old going to games with my school mates on a Bostock coach from Macclesfield. Queuing up to get in the Stretford End 3 hours before kickoff. Fearless attacking football, flying wingers, deafening support and that unbelievable feeling of bullet proof togetherness.

MUFC one love 

5 minutes ago, Stillearly said:

Warming up in the shower with Jenny Agutter afterwards , was the first thing the sprung to my mind ....

Now that stirs a few memories from the wank bank😏

25 minutes ago, fforest said:

I would guess your next best opportunity will be next fall....The big lockdown should be hitting any day now.....This years window is over...

Unfortunately I don't think we can rule out another "big lockdown" in Thailand. 

The government took its eye off the ball and got distracted with what we can't talk about on here. Resources were redeployed, the borders became porus again and Covid took advantage.

Who knows what will happen but from where I am sitting it seems an overreaction is more than possible.

At Udon airport waiting for my girl

It's here in Udon, again traced back to the fish market. 

Of course I can't help but compare the way the situation is handled here to how it was/is in UK. The Thais don't mess about, young smiler was only getting a couple of days school holiday over new year. In the last hour it's been announced all schools will now shutdown tomorrow and reopen 04/01/21.

Don't want to get into a "FFS they are massively overreacting" thing, there is no point. They are doing what they are doing and that is that.

RIP John Fitzpatrick

Now that guy could put a tackle in.

First time my old man took me to watch United he picked up the ball for a throw in about a foot away from where we squashed against the fence.

Just returned from taking my girl to Udon airport so she can go back to Uni in Bangkok. Stopped off at 7 and picked up some freshly made croissants, I am very pleasantly surprised, they really are quite good.

Breaking news

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2020/12/19/thailand-reports-record-breaking-500-new-virus-cases/?fbclid=IwAR1GcCz8cNGw8PtMvDXjB-clNhVp8PUMkF1HnN35Swurw2EPIOCBazV0aSA

Kin ell, I wasn't expecting this.

Caveat: Wasn't so long ago a drug bust of "tons" of ketamine was announced, then reduced to less than a couple of grams.....

37 minutes ago, Mr Mosquito said:

Lol.........storm in a teacup

Nothing unusual about a bloke overstepping the mark and getting banned on a forum.

Happens all the time........no big deal. 

True dat

But, and I quote that bloke off the radio:

"anyonene who is sick enough to troll another member to the extent that they can narrow down his home address, with photos and make wanton threats needs mental help not posting rights."

I mean over a difference of opinion about politics FFS. That type of behaviour goes a bit further than overstepping the mark in my book. 

Could understand if it was over football or wearing a mask 😬

1 hour ago, nampla69 said:

Not having the certificate ready kind of defeats the object. Must be so frustrating.

Great report by the way and very much appreciated. Thank you.

Yeah it was or rather is frustrating. I have a letter of apology which Thai Smile accepted at Swampy for my flight up to Udon, however supervisors were called and I was stuck at check-in for 10-15 mins while ALL of my paperwork was checked including boarding passes from my original flights. 

1 hour ago, roobob said:

Good point..... but knowing the Thais love for social media.....I am sure if that there were indeed cases abound throughout Thailand...it would be publicly known by now.

cheers

Yeah I agree. This thread is interesting though:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1196886-facebook-post-by-medical-staffer-ruffles-police-feathers/

32 minutes ago, Esco said:

Good report. 

The quality of the food was extremely important to me in choosing a hotel and I read many reviews on FB of people in ASQ to see which hotels would serve decent grub. 

The Anantara was miles better than this but of course comes with a different price tag. 

We did not get to order food from the 7/11 though and trips outside the room were monitored 24/7 unlike at your hotel. 

Food is subjective of course. I read a number of reports, even asked someone I know who stayed at the O2. Concensus of opinion was that it was "alright". However, I thought the quality of the rice for instance, was really low grade. Has to be said as well that I am a fussy eater 👀

^^^^^^°°^°°

Part 2

Alcohol is strictly prohibited during quarantine.

Most people I talked to smuggled a bottle of wine or whatever in. Some bags are scanned going through customs (mine wasn't) but if you are under the limits then..

I have read reports where booze was confiscated at the hotels on arrival, even cleaners grassing up people in quarantine. 

I had a couple of miniature Lafroigs and 2  1 glass Merlots which lasted 3 nights! Not a problem for me but yeah it certainly can be for others. There was a German guy who really suffered, he was a total mess after his vodka ran out and I mean a real mess. He reckoned it was the first time in 25 years he had gone a week without drinking. Not that he was an alkie or anything you understand 😏

My last night was eventful. A new arrival in the room opposite me was quite obviously pissed and loud with it. The manager and security were called, not sure exactly what happened. I guess the last thing the Thais want is drunken farangs losing it during quarantine.