impulse

I've never gotten that message when I was out of the country. I think it only shows up at domestic ATMs and maybe even only KBank ATMs. Maybe someone knows for sure?

I moved to Huntington Beach in the mid '90s and some of my coworkers had bought their homes for under $100K. And these weren't old geezers who had been there from the '40s or '50s. They were in their 30's so they had bought in the late 80's, and their homes were already worth $350K. Had I been transferred to SoCal a few years early and bought in, I'd probably still be living there. But I was on a TDA so I looked at the prices and rented.

A few days before my flight to Bangkok yesterday, I plopped down the old KBank debit card at a Sams Club (Walmart) in China. It was declined, but no big deal. I carry cash for just such cases. This morning, I tried the card outside a Bangkok branch and the ATM declined it. The guy who doles out the queue tickets tried it, and it didn't work. Then the cutie behind the counter took me out to the ATM to show me how to do it. It was declined yet again. Then she fiddled with some ATM menus and figured out that I needed to agree to the 250Baht annual debit card fee before it would work. Almost 200K in the account, and the card was declined until I got to Bangkok and agreed in person. Live and learn.

More than the pomp and the speeches, I'm looking forward to the Day 1 "dictatorial" edicts he's been promising.

Didn't see that coming. Too busy counting the brown envelopes to notice.

My best day in Huntington Beach was morning coffee on the 75F beach, hop in the car and drive through the 100F+ desert to snow ski in the mountains at Big Bear. Wore myself out and was back at the 75F beach for an evening stroll and dinner at the Ruby's (burgers) on the pier. I loved it there. But no way I could afford to move back. Normal working people can't afford it unless they bought their house before it went crazy.

I disagree. Thailand has changed, for sure. But so has "back home". The correct comparison isn't Thailand 2025 vs Thailand 1980. The best comparison is Thailand 2025 vs Back Home 2025. When I returned in 2019 to the USA after 20 years in Asia (10 of those in Thailand), it was not the same place I left. I'm staying in China now for personal reasons (sick GF), but I plan to retire to Thailand. I love it here. (I'm in BKK for my monthly visa run). But I'd also be remiss not to check out Mexico, just because it's a 2 hour flight to see the family and get Medicare, not a 30 hour travesty from LOS. That's the only downside to Thailand, especially with "pre-existing conditions" that make health insurance so expensive at my age.

Thanks for posting your actual first hand experience.

I thought he had a "Stay out of jail" card. The kind that even the Supreme Court can't question...

Texas is. That's where so many of the California diaspora move. Then they start voting for the same policies that pushed them to move out of California.

I miss that. I'd even support exposing the number of each emoji that each member has used. And I wish they'd use AI to rate the positivity and negativity of each member and bin the ones that just bring down the appeal of the forums. That would eliminate quite a few prolific posters, but I think it would result in an increase overall as more members post up without fear of being unjustly maligned. And, I wish computers had breathalyzers that wouldn't allow you to post if you're over the limit. But that's another topic for another forum.

If there are no consequences, they'll just try it on again next time.

I had a good female friend in high school whose complexion turned almost beet red a few days a month. We all knew to give her a wide berth on those days. Sadly, the ones whose ladydays weren't obvious were just labeled bitches. Life's not fair.

They see pretty much the whole me when I'm standing behind the yellow line in the queue.

Big ask, I know... Do they seem to have busier times and slack times? Some shops are slammed at certain hours and like a ghost town at others.

The problem has been that they're back across the border in days. Some of the infamous murderers have been deported multiple times. The only way to protect the public from them is a custodial sentence. Or the death penalty.

I've done 20 consecutive monthly visa exempt entries. I stay about a week each month, then fly out. For me, it's a visa run to reset my China visa. US citizen, age 67, worked legally in Thailand for years pre-Covid and haven't needed a visa since things opened up. YMMV. BTW, I always wear long pants, a collared shirt and a smile going through the queue. I figure it can't hurt. And that's the way I dress in public in LOS. About 1 in 3 IOs ask me how long I'm staying this visit. I'm sure that's on a standard list of questions, but they seem more curious than ominous. I would contend that any issues with visa exempt entries are probably related to the length of stay as opposed to the number of entries. But that's based only on my experience. If you wear raggedy cut-off shorts, sandals and a wife beater, please let us know how that's working at immigration. I'm curious.

The saddest thing is, regardless of the outcome, California will probably have to spend $millions to defend the guy at trial and more $millions to provide him with "humane treatment", either in a prison, or some other institution.

And proud of it. Don't forget vax injured. "The science" let me down. Bigly.

While I would debate the premise that climate change is to blame (except to the extent that the climate has been changing since long before industrialization), even if it was, that's a predictable risk that could should have been accounted for with advance planning. It wasn't a Black Swan event. The Santa Anas and dry conditions coincide all the time. They have since long before California was settled.

They'll suffer, too when their benefits get cut to bail out the banksters, the insurers and homeowners.

DOJ says Trump would have been convicted. Reminds me of Sol Wachtler's famous quote: A prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. (I'm paraphrasing). I have no doubt that a jury in 97% Democrat Washington DC would convict Trump. And thousands of potential jurors would give their eyeteeth to be on the jury that stopped the Bad Orange Man. In any number of Blue venues.

What a bunch of mumbo jumbo, that doesn't explain at all the climate catastrophes that preceded industrialization. Like the Little Ice Age, the climate change following Krakatoa, the Biblical plagues, and dozens of others just since they started recording history. Then there's the climate changes that preceded recorded human history. The climate is always changing. Dispute that... The Laws of Thermodynamics deal with isolated systems. The Earth isn't an isolated system. And you're forgetting the 5th law of thermodynamics. Sometimes, stuff just happens. (Sorry I had to misquote that one. The real quote keeps getting censored) Like the massive cooling event when that volcano off the Northeast USA erupts in 2025 like they're predicting. Cold kills a lot more humans than heat. Always has.

I'll try that again this trip... In the past, I was never able to check in online to China. My visa is in an old passport, and they usually want to see evidence of onward travel. But I haven't tried it in awhile. I fly to BKK tomorrow and back on Jan 20. I'll pay more attention to the gate announcement board and try to check in online this time. Maybe they've changed...

Those of us in cattle class don't like middle seats, and are willing to queue up early to avoid getting stuck in one. Especially on a long flight. Or worse, get booked in a middle seat on the 2nd segment, too. Since Covid, the flights to China are cheap, but very rarely non-stop to smaller (<15 million) cities.