js007

It's not just the Russians who block the sidewalks, is it? From what I can tell, the Germans are good at it as well.

I never thought much about it, but I don't see a problem with the Russian girls. Many of them are good looking and they don't bother anyone. And I have heard a few speaking English. On time on a baht bus two Russian girls were talking to some guy. They told him they were from Moscow. I heard another haggling in English one time over the price of a T-shirt.

Just the other day, I saw a news story about astronomical price increases in Thai beer. I didn't bother to read the story, but I assume the increases lately have been enough to merit a news article. I wonder why? As for the beer itself? I used to drink it now and then in Phuket when there were having a special on the draft.

It all sounds reasonable to me. Isn't the Lone Star where the Juice restaurant used to be? I was sorry to see that Juice went ount of business. It was good as well.

One time I actually tried the "limo" service that has a stand near the baggage claim area in the Bangkok airport. It was 2800 baht, but the driver was actually a safe driver. The ride to Pattaya was pleasant and never once did I feel like I was about to die. Hw much is your life worth?

The Blue Parrot used to have a waitress that worked at night as a dancer at some of the Walking Street bars. I forget her name, but she was nice. Last time I was in Pattaya, though, I didn't see her there.

Prior to the advent of Obamacare, people had to figure out a way to obtain and pay for health insurance. People with "pre-existing" conditions often had trouble obtaining insurance, if they could obtain it at all, and the cost could be outrageous. Some people were lucky enough to be covered through insurance provided by their employers. The bigger the group covered that way, the better the bargaining power. People without insurance who needed emergency care could always show up at an emergency room to be treated. Hospitals have no choice but to treat people with emergencies. Everyone els

I once thought about this program, but after thinking about it a bit, I decided I've never really been delayed at immigration all that long. There's usually a line of some sort, but I don't remember ever waiting more than three or four minutes. Then again, I've only used a few places: LA, NYC, Minneapolis, Detroit. One agent asked me a few questions once, and that was it. The rest were just "welcome back" or something like that. And one time, I had to look around for a pencil to fill out the green form.

I think the miles can be transferred to another person. But that other person has to have a frequent flier account, which you can obtain for free. So, get the same kind of account as he has and then have him transfer the miles to you. Once you get those miles, you can try to book a trip using the miles, On the airline website, there should be a way to specify that you'd like to use frequent flier miles to pay for some or all of the trip.

Well, you could always just go to a bar and drink orange juice or coke or whatever. No one makes you drink alcohol.

Maybe so, but as a general rule, I'd say that most of the scum shouldn't have any money.

You don't have to look too hard to find people in Pattaya who shouldn't have been allowed in the country. What blows my mind is how such low life scum have enough money to travel in the first place. Welfare benefits must be good in some parts of the world.

I've never had much of a problem anywhere. One time, the guy in Starbucks didn't give me back my change from 100 baht. I complained and the manager went to look at the video. I got my money back, and I proceeded to leave it as a tip. I didn't really care about the money, I just didn't like the idea of being scammed. And once or twice, I've been to a bar where I suspect they added an extra drink charge to my bin. I'm usually not sure, though, as I've probably had a few beers by then. Anyway, I make a mental note of it and might well avoid the place the next time.

A long time ago I remember emailing a Pattaya hotel for a reservation. I was in Bangkok at the time and didn't have my laptop. So, I was using Yahoo mail and an internet cafe. Anyway, they never wrote back but I went anyway. What's the worst that could happen? But when I got there, they were waiting for me. I asked the girl why she didn't respond to my email and she said that were having trouble with their computer. I think that some of the people they have working at the hotels are less than computer literate.

Some guy in I met in Pattaya gave me a recommendation for a good little family owned hotel on the beach in Samui. They have a YouTube video. Anyway, I'll try to find the link.

That's the place. Maybe they have ham.

I looked up what I was trying to think of. Villa Market? Also, there are some wholesale meat places in Pattaya that supposedly have ham. Hell, I'd buy one and send it to you, but the Thai immigration people would probably go nuts, and the cost of shipping would probably be outrageous. How about a caned ham? Some of those can be OK in an emergency?

Isn't there a grocery store in Pattaya and Bangkok that sells a lot of Western Food? Right now, I can't think of the name, but I think one of the branches in Pattaya is on one of the lower levels of Central Festival. Maybe they would have something.

Just out of curiosity, is there a UK pension "minimum" for a guy that's retired?

Well, Thai immigration may or may not "believe" the letter about my pension I get from the US Embassy, but they did not even want to look at supporting documentation as to the amount of the pension. And I certainly didn't have anywhere near 800,000 baht in my Thai bank. More like 40,000. Anyway, I didn't really have any trouble, but they do seem to make up their own set of rules as they go along.

The real rules are one thing, what immigration wants to see may be something else again. For example, I'm from the USA and have a pension well in excess of the required 65,000 baht per month. I can obtain a letter from the US Embassy in which I attest to my income. And yet Thai immigration wants to see a bank book and a letter from my Thai bank. So, rather than argue with the people (which would do no good anyway), I put some money in a Thai bank and get the bank letter before going to immigration. It makes them happy and I get what I want.

Just off the top of my head, I'd say you'd have more places to chose from if you raised your daily limit to about 800 baht.

Sometimes, they're empty, and drive on by. Pattaya needs a bus system, or maybe some trolley lines. Mass transit with a definite schedule and route(s). That way all the taxi cabs could get lost and compete with each other for the suckers.

One major plus for the Sabai Lodge is that you can go in and out with "guests" and nobody bothers you. You can make girls leave their ID at the front desk, but as far as the front desk is concerned, they don't seem to care one way or the other.

If this guy has some sort of malicious intent, I guess he may end up with more trouble than he bargained for. Then again, there are all sorts of videos in YouTube. Just about everyone with a smart phone can now take videos. The way I figure it, if I'm out and about, I can't really complain if someone takes my picture in a public place.