impulse

Agreed, but you may also want to point out that "triple the going rate" is still a tiny fraction of a taxi fare back home. I used the guys in front of my hotel when I first arrived, and they were always helpful, friendly and more than worth the few extra peanuts they cost me. Once I got the lay of the land, I quit using them for the most part. Overall, I'm not a huge fan of the system they operate in, where they pay someone for their spot in front of that hotel, so they have to recoup that from passenger. But they're not all bad with no redeeming attributes. And though they've never spat on me, I can see where that may happen.

There's no cure. Regarding the OP, I guess the big question is who gets to decide what's vilification? A couple of years ago, I was at a neighborhood picnic and a couple of the well known local guys (fishing guides, which is a well respected genre in that seaside neighborhood) walked in wearing red MAGA hats and a few of the neighbors left in a huff, claiming they had been violated, and didn't feel safe. Is that what they mean by vilification?

A few years ago, I downloaded a BBC Big Band album thinking it would rot in my collection. In fact, it was probably a year or so before I got around to listening to it. How wrong I was. My favorites are One O'Clock Jump, Begin the Beguine, and American Patrol. But it's loaded with goodies, mostly from long before I was born.

2:30 AM. 'Nuff said. Just confirms that the wee hours are for normal people (and families on holiday) to sleep. In a couple of months, these kerfuffles will be starting after 4:00 AM.

There's a pretty good chance you won't need a prescription. I found my heart meds (after a bypass) without a script and at a small fraction of the hospital price in local pharmacies. Some have a better selection and prices than others, so best to get local suggestions which is best/cheapest.

I'd pay cash money to anyone who can tell me where to buy a stiff bristle toothbrush in Bangkok. I get tired of my teeth feeling scuzzy with those soft bristle brushes. Cash, or a beer...

Some countries, your residence status affects your bankability. In the USA, I had a couple of my accounts closed when I moved overseas. Didn't find out until I tried to use them. And I'm a US citizen. I went from WP to visa exempt at Kasikorn Bank with no problem. Flash forward 2+ years out of the country for Covid, and no issues. Took a long time in the window to update my new passport number (my old one had expired), but that was just a bunch of forms to fill out. Banks is weird nowadays.

Not to worry. They're holding Wanda Seminars across the country, and working out the bugs (and the excuses) for their vote flipping tallying machines. https://apnews.com/article/connecticut-judge-bridgeport-ganim-mayor-election-1e6d23567703c55430968ffdaa0b6369 https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/election-2023-northampton-county-pennsylvania-superior-court/

Especially the ones that don't make me feel like a Tarzan or a Johnny the Wad wannabe.

A little math here: If $280 billion was plundered, and this guy's $8 million is typical, they only need to go after another 34,999 cheaters. According to the linked US Attorney's Office blurb, he filed 16 false applications.

I get that. It wouldn't be my first choice, either. But spend enough time at Swampy and you'll see thousands of families with kids in tow, then see them out and around in Bangkok, explaining what those funny rubber plug looking things are, for sale on Sukhumvit.

One of the things I loved about Thailand (Bangkok, Kanchanburi, Jomtien, Songkhla were my favorite stomping grounds) is that I lived out in the community and only came home to shower (lots of showers in the heat), sleep, recharge, eat my street food, and plan my next move. Totally unlike back home where I almost grew roots stuck to the sofa.

Yeah, but if you've got the family out for the annual holiday in Bangkok and want to get away to a beach for a few days, Pattaya has plenty to do and it's so darn convenient. Just tell the folks back home you went to Jomtien and it'll be good. Nobody will know where that is. Stay away from a few obvious locations and don't let the kids out after midnight. Just good sense in any town. I also think Pattaya's reputation is worse here on AN because so many of the posters avail themselves to the debauchery.

I salute you for marking them up, but be ready for a refusal for a refund because they can't sell them onto the next victim. If it was me, I'd just chunk them and take the "L".

I didn't miss the point, we just have a difference of opinion. To me, 100K (or 120K) population is a small town. I also refer to it as a "resort" because the vast majority of the money that flows into Pattaya is made in the hospitality industry. Hospitality dwarfs every other industry in Pattaya. So I refer to it as a small resort town.

I Bing searched all 3 cities, the same way. And yea, I rounded... Disney World gets 150,000 visitors a day, and it's a "resort". Yea, I rounded there, too.

When you buy the capacitor, buy a can of WD40 and spray down the center of the motor, making sure you soak the bearings on each end of the motor. It'll drip and it will make a mess, so be ready with some paper towels underneath. You can do the same with light oil, but you risk munging up the works with the grunge that's built up over the years. WD40 flows out nicely, taking the chips with it. Personally, I'd try the WD40 before I even went for the capacitor, but that's because I always have some laying around (along with duct tape). Capacitors, not so much.

I, on the other hand have come to despise leaders who never had a real job in their lives. And if they did, they're so far removed from it that they remember spreadsheets on big chief tablets. The ones that think money comes from voting for things that donors want, and not from hard work, planning, and actually building something in the real world. The ones that dole out $$trillions on pet projects de'jour and just hope some of that money comes back. The ones to whom open borders are a strategy to increase their support base. Washington and the military are chock full of competent professional people the President can count on to teach him MAD (and I'd contend that there isn't a survivable second strike option and operating from that premise is foolery). A guy with some snap can learn all he needs to know in a few weeks, and count on the experts to guide him on the issues he hasn't taken on yet. Because nobody's an expert on everything, regardless of what they think. And I'm also for term limits for all elected offices, with a 2-10 year break between elected positions, and a similar mandatory break between leaving office and going into lobbying. But we all know that isn't gonna happen.

Pattaya: 100,000 population Orlando: 2,000,000 Lost Wages: 3,000,000 Pattaya is a small town. A small, family friendly resort town. Just don't go out after 2:00 AM. Most families know better.

So how about a -1 button? On the topic itself, where can I cast a vote for BobSmith?

Help me out here. Those 2 links are blocked here in China. Did either one (or both) mention the grenade?

I call them concessions because they're insisting on land that Russia already possesses. Demanding those 10 points is just their way of refusing to negotiate. With the 20:20 clarity of vision that comes from history, do you think the Palestinians would have been better off accepting the UN offer of half the land that had been stolen from them in 1948? But they held out for "from the river to the sea" and look where they are today. Ukraine can negotiate with Russia, probably conceding the 4 Oblasts and definitely conceding Crimea. Or they can risk ending up where the Palestinians are today, after sending tens, if not hundreds of thousands more of their men to die in the current stalemate. Putting all of Ukraine at risk, with support from the EU and the USA waning. Sucks, I know. But sometimes you have to be pragmatic.

It's family friendly. Most families don't wander around at 3:00AM when most of those crimes seem to take place. Not quite Pattaya, but I loved staying in a very family oriented resort on the beach in Jomtien. Never had any issues. Of course, I was asnooze by about 11:00 PM.

When I first arrived in 2011, there were some guys who simply paid the 20,000 baht maximum overstay fine every Christmas to visit the family back home and flew right back to Thailand after the first of the year. $600 once a year was cheaper and more convenient than 12 land border jumps (which was also legal back then, unlike the 2 a year limit today). Seems like it was right after the coup that all ended. I ended up buying a couple of bicycles, 2 scooters, a pickup truck and a kayak, all on Bahtsold from expats who had to leave when their particular loophole slammed shut.

I don't remember, though I took a couple of statistics classes for my engineering degree. Surprises me too, every time I go there. Edit: I do recall that it has to be a representative sample. You can't just take a sample in Bangkok and extrapolate that to the whole country. Too many KFC's and McDonalds in BKK.