kahoy

I was packing my bags for Thailand and arrived in Pattaya on January 10, just in time to read about coronavirus. I had arranged with my landlord to sign a one year lease and was applying for a non O visa. Unfortunately I had to cancel both and left about 10 weeks later. Right now, I'm just hanging out waiting to get a vaccine and then I'll try again. Meantime, happy new year to all. Chok dee bpee mai.

pronounce it with a hard G, like golf.

In my home town taxis have had a luggage surcharge for decades. Handling luggage costs them time and money, especially waiting for passengers to go back and forth to bring and load the luggage. Some people treat them as mini removal vans. Most drivers don't bother to enforce the surcharge because it creates arguments even though the charge is quite small.

Indeed it's not enough to understand the language, you need to work on pronunciation as well. It doesn't need top be perfect just don't mangle it. Being understood is more than just speaking the words. Every country has regional variations in accent. I know that Filipinas can pick which island anybody comes from by their accent and the same is true to a lesser extent in Thailand. Of course, the worst English language countries for variation in accent are the UK and the USA. In Australia, there is none.

he who dies with the most toys wins.

I know others say she prefers email but I always use line and never have a problem. Nam had no hesitation in giving me her line and it's especially useful if her driver can't find you at the airport. I hate using email for anything unless I have to, like sending morse code...

I almost got hit by a grab bike yesterday coming out of the wrong lane at speed from central festival mall. Then the other day, one was stopped right near my place and checking his phone then sped off without looking and almost collected me as I was walking around him. I guess grab don't pay them enough to be careful as they must be under some real pressure to drive like that.