Gary

Passports are the legal property of the US government. It was set up that way so they can do whatever they want.

I was recently reading an article about the jet fuel costs. Most airlines have hedged the cost of their fuel, some several years forward. American airlines was the only one who bought at spot prices. I'd imagine that right now they are making a huge profit.

Once in a while I find Fishermans Friend anise flavor. I buy them from the drug store on the left side of Chaiyapruk as you turn off Beach Road.

You have to be a little careful of black licorice especially of the European stuff. It can create serious health problems. Google the brand name to find out if it has real licorice in it. The stuff available from the US do not usually use real deal licorice root. They use anise which is also flavorful, safe and even good for you. Yes, I love licorice too. Taking or consuming real licorice that contains glycyrrhizin for more than two weeks can cause pseudoaldosteronism, which increases your sensitivity to a hormone produced by the adrenal glands. This disorder can raise your blood pressure

I drive from upcountry to my Jomtien condo. As much as I dislike taking a bus to Bangkok, I dislike driving myself even more. The bus is really not that bad of a way to go. The Ekami bus station is in a good location to go most anywhere in the city. Some taxis from the Ekami bus station try to rip you off so rather than argue with them, I walk a couple hundred meters towards the downtown and flag one down. Maybe I should add that I don't carry any luggage, just a backpack.

Does anyone know what happened to our friend BigD? Did he go away on his own or did something happen to him?

Good advice from Yogi. It is NOT a level playing field. I don't know the statistics regarding failed farang businesses but I'd guess the failures far outnumber successes.

Something to keep in mind are government regulations which up to now have been totally ignored. You are supposed to keep the government informed as to who is living in your condos and pay income tax on the rent money. If/when the government starts enforcing these regulations, there will be a lot of problems for the owners. When my last renter moved out, I have not rented it out since then.

I think people often get confused between China Airlines and Air China. China Airlines was actually my airline of choice back when I was making the trip at least twice a year. I have never flown Air China. China Airlines had better service and although the food was more Asian than Western, I thought it was the best food of the airlines I had flown. Credit where credit is due.

What good does it do you when you are able to get through customs quickly? You end up waiting for you luggage so what difference does it make where you wait?

I also have an S5. I just looked at the network settings and it looks like it supports 4G out of the box. Not that it does me any good. Out here in the boonies, I'd be happy with decent 3G.

I only do about two wire transfers a year. Looking at it that way, it's only a fraction of a percent for fees. I also use Citibank bill pay for misc. bills in the US. It is free.

Three days ago I made a $24,000 dollar transfer from Citibank to Siam Commercial. Citibank charges a flat $35 but they steal another $10 using an intermediary bank which is also Citibank. During week days I have the money in my account within hours. After the Siam Commercial fee, which I really don't know how much it was, I got 35.87 baht per dollar. Since I made the transfer, I look for the dollar to gain on the baht simply because I made transfer when I did. Years ago I used my Citibank ATM card. There was no fee and the Thai banks also had no fee. Citibank then started charging 1% and s

These trees are grown as a cash crop and you will see many cultivated groves of them throught the entire country.

Different strokes for different folks. I prefer petite little brown skin, all natural Thai girls. I don't like nose jobs, plastic tits, contact lenses or push up bras. If I liked tall very white skinned women, I'd stay in a western country. The people who recruit these girls are shaming Thailand's normal women.

Have you noticed that there are no natural Thai beauties? Not a dark skinned girl in the group. It appears that if the girls do NOT look western, they have no chance.

Number 59 is nearly the pick of the litter. There are a number of stunners so it is hard to choose.

The choice of best pizzas varies as much as the choice of a flavor of the day lady. I like my pizza with a lot of meat and cheese. I have seen guys rave about a pizza that reminded me of a piece of flat bread covered with spiced tomato sauce. No meat and very little cheese. Pizza Company may not be the best but at least it is consistent. I am able to order online and it will be delivered within 30 minutes. They also have salads, ice cream and chicken. What has always irritated me was getting a very good pizza from a new place and the next one I order is nothing like the first one.

Great choice. It may be possible to find a better place, but not likely.

If you don't have a loupe, buy one and when you get into the shop, pull it out and carefully look at your ring. Ask the jeweler if he can mount the diamond to show the best way. All diamonds have flaws that can often be hidden by the ring prongs. You don't have to know what you are doing. The jeweler will think that you do know.

Here are a number of them; http://www.snapfiles.com/downloadfind.php?action=s&ref=2&st=defrag

I have one SSD in an old netbook and yes, it came with a warning not to defrag it. Apparently defragging shortens the life of the drive.

Actually defragging your hard drive is a good idea regardless of how much space is left. You computer eventually puts little snippets all over the drive and the computer has to jump all over the drive to find all the pieces. It apparently doesn't hurt anything but it does slow things down. There are free small programs that defrag automatically.

I never use a credit card unless absolutely necessary. A couple of years ago, I made reservations for myself and two of my friends. This was at a Sabai hotel on Soi Buakow. I went ahead and paid the day in advance with my credit card. Bank of America has an option for a one time use number and a set amount. I always set the amount a few dollars above the actual charge. When we checked in, we explained that we would pay for the extra days in cash when we checked out which we did. Sure enough the hotel tried to charge above the authorized credit card amount and of course the charge bounced. I ne

I would have told them that I didn't want to buy the room and that I just wanted to rent it. There is no doubt in my mind that I'd walk away and not look back.