ChiFlyer

3 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

......

As for the Sukhumvit road construction, you're ok if you're going southbound, but northbound can have huge backups. I live just south of the northbound underpass entrance and often times see traffic backed up on Suk as they wait to enter the underpass. That means you'll have a long wait in traffic to get to the Hwy 7 entrance.

Yep, I think the Southbound off of 7 onto Suk flow should be fine. Actually it will probably be better than usual because the traffic on Suk from the North will be severely constrained.

Yeah, I am wondering a bit about how bad the Northbound backups will be on Suk. I come out of Little Walk and do a u-turn before Pattaya Klang and the underpass. If this gets too annoying, I can just stay on Southbound Suk most of the way home. The backups at Boon Kachana and Chiyapruek are not nearly as bad as they used to be.

Good info in general all.

Prior to buying our house, where for some reason there is not much of a pigeon problem, we lived at VT2A for 7 years. VT2A has a lot of pigeons. Lots of talk on their board on how to combat them.

In general it was thought that:

• Fake owls etc are a waste of money
• Keeping a balcony clean of pigeon poop helps some. Nothing attracts pigeons more than pigeon poop.
• Spraying some cockroach spray on the balcony rails may help some as well as WD40. The smell and slipperiness for their feet may help.
• In general I liked tossing water at them.
• I would try and nail the ones on the ground in the parking lot. Got 2. 🙂 

I hate eff'n pigeons.

Smiling sitting out here in the burbs having a glass of late night wine.

I read a Pattaya News article yesterday saying that Suk is going to be partially shutdown near Pattaya Nua for an undetermined period of time. I know you live not all that far from there. Hope the North bound backups are not too big of a pain for you.

I like taking 7 from our place to do our weekly grocery shopping at the Little Walk Villa Market. The way I read the article the Southbound exit from 7 onto Suk should be relatively unaffected. The Northbound entrance onto 7 from Suk should also be ok. In both cases if the other directional backups become severe enough it might block access to the access points that I described.

We shall see.

Well we finally located a crew to do the Swimming Pool work that I have been going on about for over a year. Actually, the Mrs found the crew through our regular pool maintenance guy, who is quite good for the 3 x a week cleanups and minor repairs. We had talked to him about what we wanted to do, but he said that was not a job he could take on with his equipment and resources. He became aware of the crew that we have engaged and gave their number to the Mrs.

We had the company owner/manager out to describe what we wanted to do. He came back with an offer for the work at 50,000 taking one week. Basically, we are not replacing the tile, but rather getting everything cleaned up and re-grouted. The main item is the cleanup of the tile on the reflection wall. 

If this works out well, I will post contact information for the crew that does this. One would need a Thai speaker to communicate with them. I have a live in translator.

As far as effort goes I will give them an A+ so far. They showed up at 8 AM and worked straight through to about 4 PM. The owner/manager stopped in several times to see that things were going as they should. Hard work.

Here is a pic for the beginning of Day 2. Day 1 was mostly getting the pool water emptied.

For me the downside of a hack is not necessarily the data immediately being accessed, but the chance that there is some additional personal info obtained that could be used as part of building an identity theft attack.

9 minutes ago, boydeste said:

As previously said, if you feel the need to change your password, it is easy to do yourself. 

I personally hate password change enforcement,  because I then have to remember what I changed it to.

Was my biggest hate in my last job, where due to the security access risk, we had to change it every month on 3 different systems and you can't reuse a previous one.

 

I do not enjoy changing my passwords, but do so on a regular basis. I was a consultant for the US IRS for 5 years. The rules on password changes were insane, but it did goad me into developing a complex system of passwords that are memorable.

5 minutes ago, Nightcrawler said:

Yes, it should be a voluntary issue rather than being enforced 

Agreed and I have changed mine to a much stronger one.

Just now, Nightcrawler said:

I wasn't aware that Stillearly was Admin here. I would have no objection if he were, but would not like to be last to know😄

I personally don't think there is any reason at present for members to change their passwords. As far as I aware, we have never been hacked. 

The @Stillearly promotion was obviously my misunderstanding. All apologies, especially to @Stillearly who is probably not looking for additional work. 🙂

I think I will change my password, just to feed my security paranoia, which has benefited me a few times.

@tommy dee, @Stillearly and other admins.

I believe that a significant percentage of the 24x7 BMs are also PA BMs. PA is requiring that their members reset their passwords due to an increase in recent hacks and other security concerns. I believe that I have read that PA and 24x7 are sister brother organizations and there is some overlap with regard to tech support.

I am not advocating to do the password reset process at 24x7, but I wonder if it makes some sense.

• 24x7 has a smaller user base, who tend not to be the same type of young Turks that make up much of the larger community at PA. Assumption is that young Turks tend to engage in more dangerous internet activities (security wise) that might lead to hacks etc.
• At the same time 24x7 could be regarded as a prurient interest site that could attract hackers for various reasons, especially since our fraternal organization has obviously been hacked.

I am not advocating one way or the other, just looking for others opinions. I do not want to push for what might be useless work by anyone.

tia,

CF

13 minutes ago, lazarus said:

Welcome.

I bet your Mrs. will like their som tum Isaan style too...(too spicy for me). 🙂

. . .

 

Myself as well with regard to the heat, but I do enjoy picking off a piece or two just to sample.

14 hours ago, Glasseye said:

Grand Palace is spectacular, go early to avoid the heat.

If you are able to visit G.P. and only have a few days I'd give Wat Pho a miss. Depends how much time you have.

Study and learn the BTS/MRT routes. Utilizing that system can save you mountains of agony.

I am actually pretty decent with the BTS routes. Rusty for sure, but they do not seem to have changed all that much.

I am thinking that the Mrs would enjoy Wat Po (I have been twice), as she is a practicing Buddhist. My understanding is that the Royal Palace is not that far from Wat Po and we could probably grab a taxi and see both the same day. 

My understanding is not always correct. 🙂 

22 hours ago, lazarus said:

There's a great Isaan Gai Yang lunch spot a short walk from the Chong Nonsi BTS station.  I ate there a lot when I lived in the neighborhood. Excellent chicken, nam tok moo, som tum, etc...

The owner, Khun So...holds court right out front making som tum.

Go early...11am'ish...it gets busy with the business lunch crowd.

. . . .

 

I ate there so much they used to make me cook my own chicken... 🙂

My Baby Mama aka Isaan Princess -- liked it a lot...

Great Food...

Thanks. That is some excellent looking Som Tom (the Mrs favorite). We will try for sure.

Well I remember when a message topic such as this would have prompted different questions from myself other than the ones I am about to ask. Getting older is a bitch, but also a blessing at times. Who knows. Anyway ->

In early May the Mrs and myself are making a few days trip up to Bangkok from the overall Bang Lamung area. The purpose of the trip is for her to have an interview at the US Embassy to obtain a visa so that she can accompany me on a trip to the US in September. On paper she is a lock, but visas at the US Embassy are a mystery box. That topic belongs in a different thread than this one.

What I am asking about is that come hell or high water what are some suggestions for some side trips and restaurants. It has been decades since I spent much time in Bangkok.

• We are staying at the Chatrium Riverside, which is on the Chao Phraya near the Spahan Taksin Sky Train stop. The hotel has river boat ferries that will take one to various locations and connections. I have stayed there several time before and it is a very good moderately priced hotel with a good buffet breakfast option. I opted for a suite with a river view (not all that much more expensive) to set a positive mood for the Mrs and her interview.
• https://www.chatrium.com/chatriumriversidebangkok?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb-chatriumhotelriversidebangkok
• The Mrs has never seen Wat Po or the Royal Palace. These are relatively close together and I figure this will be a good day trip.
• I have never been to Asiatique, which is not that far from the hotel. I am thinking we can go there one night to sample the food stalls. Anyone been there?
• I  am also looking for some restaurant suggestions in the general area. Isan Thai food suggestions would be most appreciated, but some decent Farang places would be good as well. I checked for the places that I liked a decade of so back and most have gone out of business, or Google is blocking them from searches. I am really becoming suspicious of Google.

On 8/6/2022 at 3:15 AM, ChiFlyer said:

Garlic-Lime Grilled Pork Tenderloin.

This is a long time favorite of mine. It is an America's Test Kitchen (ATK) recipe, that is no longer available for free on the net.

Garlic Lime Pork Tenderloin.pdf 334.44 kB · 0 downloads

My Thai guests seem to really like this recipe. The recipe is written to be used on an American type Weber Grill. I use a Lodge Grill Pan here in Jomtien (it costs about 1200 THB on Lazada). I heat the grill pan on as high a heat as possible for at least 6 minutes, before putting the pork onto the grill. Cast iron cooking holds heat very well, but it reaches that heat slowly.

A meat thermometer is a good idea for this recipe. One wants to hit the suggested 140 F degree temp as close as possible. Otherwise the pork will be over-cooked and a little tough.

A pic

 

 

 

Garlic Lime Pork Tenderloin Reboot of sorts.

I changed the side dish for this recipe to Garlic Roasted Potatoes.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/garlic-roasted-potatoes-recipe-1913067

I had made this potato side dish a few months back for the first time to serve with Roast Duck for Xmas. I made a note that this potato side dish might go well with this Pork Tenderloin recipe.

Well, I got one right. We had no guests for this evening so I cut everything back by 50%. The Mrs graded me at the vaunted 1++ for this prep.

A few pics.

The Pork Tenderloin

The Garlic Potatoes

Plated

I probably left the spuds in the oven 5 minutes too long causing some of the garlic to burn. No problem, just scrape the blackened stuff off. It does taste bitter, if one does not do this.

A few pics.

Sweet and Sour Pork

I tried a new dish (for me) tonight.

https://pupswithchopsticks.com/sweet-and-sour-pork/

This turned out better than I was expecting for a first try. The Mrs. liked it better than I did. I saw several things in the recipe that I decided to change.

• I reduced the ingredients by 50% in most cases. Too much food for 2 people.
• The recipe calls for doing some prep and then starting the one hour long marinade. I started with the marinade and did most of the prep while the one hour marinade was taking place.
• Both the marinade and sauce call for 2 TBSP of soy sauce. I changed both to 1 TBSP soy sauce and 1 TBSP fish sauce.
• I added 1 TBSP of Sambal Oelek to the sauce for a little zing.
• I used Isan honey instead of sugar.
• I used Corn Starch instead of the recommended Potato Starch. I do not keep the later on hand and did not want to start when only one recipe that I use is calling for it.

Although it probably sounds like I was dissatisfied with the author's recipe, I will say she did a lot of things right. I regard it as a good base for my methods.

• The use of fresh Pineapple is spot on.
• The two step batter method works nicely.
• The two step deep frying method also works well.

Anyway we both like this dish and I have added it to my rotation.

Some pics

Rimpa Lapin - Na Jomtien

https://www.facebook.com/rimpalapinpattaya?_rdc=1&_rdr

The Mrs had been opposed to trying this place, but did a 180 on that for date night this week. It turned out that the previous time she was there was a packed night during high season. We gave it a try tonight and we were both pleased with both the food and the service.

A couple of words of warning.

• The entrance road from Sukhumvit is currently in terrible shape due to construction. Take it very slow through here or risk losing an oil pan.
• The stairway down to the lower seating is a bit steep and older more wobbly legs might want to avoid them.

The food and service were both very good. The bill including a bottle of wine was close to 2000.

Some view shots.

I had fried pieces of Grouper in a Sweet and Sour Chili Sauce. Very tasty.

The Mrs ordered a fried Pork Knuckle and it was surprisingly good.

We will repeat, after the entrance road work is done. We will also make a reservation next time to sit a little higher up.

Pig Butchering Scams

https://mashable.com/video/john-oliver-pig-butchering-online-scam

John Oliver's main segment on the most recent episode of his "Last Week Tonight" show focused on an escalating scam known as "Pig Butchering". I was stunned by the reported numbers related to this scam especially considering that a large percentage of the victims probably do not report this due to being ashamed of being fooled in this manner.

I also did not know that IT persons are being recruited and then forced into scam labor camps that they can not escape from. Thailand is a popular recruiting destination with the then captured person placed in a Myanmar forced labor scam camp. The prisoners work 16 hours a day making scam calls etc. or are beaten.

It got me to thinking that I may well have been the target of one such scam. A very pretty GLD trader out of Hong Kong accidentally called me by mistake. hmmm. She tried like hell slowly over time to get me to open a GLD trading account. Something about the situation did not seem quite right. After a few months of me saying "not my thing" she got po'd and left me alone. She did send me a few enticing pics to keep the conversation going. Or some guy posing as her did. Nice pics anyway.

oh btw, she (maybe he) tried to reestablish contact today after about 6 months. I may try and work her/him for more information that I can hand off to some kind of governmental authority, though I have no idea who that might be. Maybe at a minimum I could get a few more enticing pics. 🙂 I would post said pics here, but they were not all that great. 

I have been told that Hong Kong is fairly dishonest with regard to various agents falsely using customer's funds.    

Back in the days that occurred in dinosaur ages before back in the days, my friends and I would gather on Saturday Nights to watch Belushi and others do their skits on SNL. We would drink, smoke, and a little more at times. An exceptionally good time was had by all.

Over the years, IMO, SNL has become a lesser watch. Still I download it most weekends, just to see what they are saying. This last weekend's episode SNL S49E12 had me laughing my ass off for the first time in decades. The much fabled opening skit was only ok. The rest of the show was spot on.

This is interesting in that the host was Shane Gillis who had been previously fired from the show for what were interpreted as anti-Asian, homophobic, and other remarks was the host. Gillis busted through his previous label in an almost Lenny Bruce (my icon) style.

Available on IPT.

Good move on the merge.

58 minutes ago, forcebwithu said:

Just started on the series The Good Wife. Two episodes in and I'm hooked.

Interesting. IMDB of 8.4. There is a Korean TV series with the same name that has an IMDB of 6.9. I am guessing that the Korean one is a reboot. I have added the American one to my "to watch" list. At 7 seasons and 156 episodes this should fill up one of my watch tracks.

Also, I have absolutely no interest in applying for the job of professional cat herder, but we here at 24x7 have a couple of different threads with varying focuses on video entertainment. Just saying.

We are planning a trip to the US from BKK in September, providing we can get a visa for the Mrs.

I travel Business Class these days. I can afford it, barely. My old bones need this at this time in my life.

Anyway, looking out at September the Qatar Business Class prices to/from ORD are comparatively very attractive. Anyone flown Business with them?

11 minutes ago, Golfingboy said:

Really? Next thing you know young Thai ladies will be marrying older men for their looks

Navalny was a great man with incredible courage. I am saddened by his passing. 😞

I am also saddened by the imprisonment of Maria Ressa in the Philippines. She is another journalist who has spoken out about an authoritarian self-appointed demagogue (Duterte). Duterte is no longer president of the PI due to length of service laws, but he has had his lackeys and family members elected to those posts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Ressa

18 minutes ago, Golfingboy said:

Putin 🇷🇺 strikes again …….

 

Widely believed to be murder.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/alexei-navalny-video-day-before-death-raises-alarms/ar-BB1inBRe

Rats

The guy who had long term rented the large quadruple house property across the street moved out. Rumor has it that he fled because his gambling operation was drawing scrutiny. His property was taken over by the neighborhood soi cats. The cats were making an unholy racket with their sex screams. The association moved the cats out.

This provided an opportunity for rodents to get a foot hold. The Mrs noticed some signs of rat activity out near our pool. We were going to put out rat poison, but did not want to kill a bunch or birds etc. Plus poisoned rats will likely sneak off somewhere to die in hiding. The smell could get quite nasty.

We went to HomePro today and purchased some sticky pads. The rats get their feet stuck on the pad and then you can bop one in the head to kill them. She nailed 5 of the buggers on night 1. She is an Isan farm girl and has been combating vermin all of her life. Actually up North her brother traps the buggers and keeps them in a pen feeding them table scraps. Every so often he boxes then up and takes then into town for sale. He gets 250 per rat. Rat, particularly rat meat sausages, are a popular food source in some areas of Isan. 

Here is a pic of her first condemned prisoner.

Maybe we should bring the pervert cats back. 🙂

For me - the key to learning any language is continual repetition unless one has some kind of intrinsic language ability. I certainly do not. It took me 5 years to become decent at Spanish and I had a patient native speaker girl friend during those 5 years. I also took 4 years of Spanish at the local JC and read books on the train into downtown Chicago from the burbs where I lived.

Being retired in Thailand now with myself reaching the end of the early part of the year US activities (tax season, FBAR, etc.), I am in need of a new hobby. I am thinking about taking another run (5th time now?) at getting better at pasathai. 

Game plan to start is to use Google Translate to hear the sounds of the expressions that I already know. -> (Teim h̄ı̂ tĕm).

From there drill vocabulary making sure to hear the phonetics properly. From there practice with the Mrs and possibly take a course.