Bruce Mangosteen

On the bright (?) side, 40K gold necklaces are a lot harder to spot than they once were.

When I lived there it was in View Talay I. They have bars, restaurants and shops on the ground floor that open out onto the sidewalk, and water throwing is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. That worked out very well, because I could escape the water without becoming a hermit or a nomad, but go out in it if/when I wanted.

I think that, if there were one third of the bars in Pattaya that there are now, which I reckon would match the number of bars there were ~20 years ago, the place would look like a Japanese subway at rush hour.

IMO Champaign was never going to stand up to comparisons with the original bar before they fucked with it. It had a fun, funny vibe, and the girls were raunchier and more fun. The second version was worse than the first, and the latest version was worse yet, sterile and boring. Pattaya is a case study for the saying, "Not all change is improvement."

Been to that show a couple of times. Very cool.

Hmmm...

The name on your ticket won't match the name on your passport. Whether this causes a problem is at the discretion of the ground staff. Immigration and customs are generally not interested in your ticket except to check for whether you have an onward flight booked. I know this because the last time we went to Thailand the travel agent I used misspelled my wife's name on her ticket, replacing an "m" with an "n". That error is pretty subtle and I doubt all of them caught it, but the American ground staff for Asiana did before our trans-Pacific leg.

Moose on the loose!

Dunno, an inflatable kite seems kinda like a cheat to me.

^Oopsie! 😬

What the OP is looking for is either called a "pocket wifi" device, or a "mobile hotspot". "Pocket wifi" seems to be a Thai or Asian reference. For example, here's Netgear's page on these gadgets: https://www.netgear.com/home/mobile-wifi/hotspots/ ...or: https://www.netgear.com/on-the-go/hotspots/ Look for a device that's either certified for the Thai network you want to use, or more generally an "international" unit, certainly one that's unlocked. Some but not all support esim. If buying in Thailand you should be able to find these either in Tuc Com or a phone shop. I'd look in your preferred carrier's shop. Prices range widely.

You'll need a reentry permit I'd imagine.

Yes, agree. I was also thinking that the parent company might want to recoup their investment in the drivers' licenses etc. All in all a very good business move on their part it looks like.

Nice. Glad they managed to maintain the service level despite the challenges. Good company methinks.

Very glad the company was able to weather this. Did you notice any increase in fares?