nkped

Booked my annual trip to the US on EVA in June, still almost three months out. Having the flight cancelled would be a hassle, but being taken captive by the state of Washington when I transit Seattle would be a lot worse.

I won't say that stretch of pavement had been in great shape but no idea what possessed them to tear it up now.

From the stoplight on Sukhumvit at Khao Talo north of Thepprasit.

Perhaps, but having had a business class seat on Delta once which was god awful, I would wait and see.

A few years back, I found myself visiting the good people at Bangkok Hospital Rayong quite unexpectedly. Unlike BHP, they couldn't bill my insurance directly. Having a high limit credit card certainly made things simpler.

Lots of flights from Portland to Seattle. It would allow you to avoid having to clear TSA at Seatac outbound.

They weren't all combis. Worst commercial flight I ever had was a EVA combi. Low rise seat back. No sound for the in-flight entertainment. They didn't want me to turn on the reading light because it would interfere with other people watching the movie. Before I got an ebook reader. I was going to try to stand all the way across the Pacific until the flight attendants found a saint in an exit row who was willing to trade seats--the flight attendants' idea, not mine. While in Phuket checked online and discovered the return flight would be a 777. Otherwise, I would have bought a new ticke

I go a bit beyond this, but I won't go out the door without my Thai d.l., my health insurance card and a high limit credit card. You never know when you may be going to the hospital instead of back to the room.

I'm not positive I made the right call or even what I was necessarily thinking at the moment. One of the possibilities was that I opened it and the cash was gone. 1,500 baht would have been insignificant as long as I got the documents and cards back, but it would have been awkward. In case you're wondering, in the Philippines, I did have my pocket picked on a jeepney, but got my wallet back sans cash.

I thought about that but he seemed to be waiving me off. Anyway, in farang land, if someone dropped their wallet and you said "hey buddy", you would not expect a reward.

"1917" was quite a bit different from what I expected but still worthwhile. While there is a good bit of action, a lot of it is simply the awfulness of life at the front. I'm no expert on WWI, but one of the things I recall reading is that the German trenches were much more substantial than the Allied trenches. That is reflected in the movie.

I go to the neighborhood market to buy food for the dog. Walking back to the truck I realize my wallet is not in my pocket.? Go back to the stand where I got the food in case I laid it down--honest blank looks. Did I leave it in the truck and just take cash? On the way a Thai man holds up a Thai driver's licence, mine and asks "you?" and hands me my wallet. He said he had seen it fall out of my pocket. I very nearly hugged him. I had the sense/good grace to wait until I got back to the truck to see if the money was still in it. It was.

Ed talked about it before the sale. I think it was probably going to be Bangkok Thais in town for the weekend.

Something a bit different, Kasikorn Bank was showing the same rate for US $100 and $50 as T-T, 30.86?

The subject of the corona virus and Chinese tourism to Thailand managed to make National Public Radio in the US.

The ground traffic pattern has changed since they opened the new terminal. Before, you would typically taxi past a few military aircraft parked at the north end. Often, one or two would be US. Now, you are too far away to tell.

They use grain combines for harvesting now, somewhat small ones but certainly recognizable as such to a farm kid from the midwest.

In the US, at least, the uniformed officers wear name tags. Once in Seattle an officer approached me in Customs and asked for my passport. I gave it to him and, because I wasn't invited to follow, stayed planted where I had been standing. Sure enough, another guy comes up and asks for my passport. I was very glad I could say "Mr. Smith has it."

It's not unknown to share facilities in the U.S. One is Honolulu International/Hickam AFB. A number of Air Reserve or Air National Guard squadrons at civilian airports.

I would be at least uncertain as to whether a civilian airliner would have an IFF transponder. My very dated understanding of the concept was that the targeting radar pinged a targeted military aircraft and, if it is a good guy, it returns the code for "I'm one of yours." Not much good if a random commercial aircraft comes back friendly. Designing an air defense system which doesn't periodically shoot down commercial aircraft must pose challenges. I suspect the South Koreans would have insight on that given that given the location of Seoul Incheon and Kimpo.

Once my Eva flight out of Bangkok was quite a bit delayed. In Taipei, I was convinced I would miss the connecting flight to Seattle. I headed straight for the gate but did not run while I rehearsed my "Guess what boss" call. To my relief, they had held the flight.

By way of possible explanation, the decision to launch has to be made a fairly low level without much time. Otherwise, you can end up taking a hit like the USS Stark did when an Iraqi Mirage fired two Exocet missiles which struck the ship on 17 May 1987 killing 37. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Stark_incident

I know vendor pays the credit card issuer a percentage when a credit card is used. Not sure about a debit card used as a debit card.

Southwest had one where a piece penetrated the fuselage and a woman died as a result. The stranger report is that it continued flight for a few minutes after the transponder shut down.

Was on the way to the Avenue for lunch and an ATM visit. Had contemplated taking it out of my US account until I went past a T-T booth. Okay, I still have money in Bangkok Bank.