dddave

More than 10 years ago, a Western couple with similar desires started a "Swingers Club" in Bangkok and discreetly publicized it. However, nothing erotic stays discrete for long in Thailand and it didn't take the BIB long to stage a very visible raid on a party, news cameras in tow. Politicians and Thai social media went wild condemning the Westerners perverted pleasures and high bails were paid and heavy fines issued. Thailand may seem sexually open but it is not. They don't like anything that looks out of the ordinary. It would be impossible to keep things quiet and discrete. I suggest you do not go public in any way, just keep it between friends.

If OP is staying in a hotel, usually the front desk can furnish you with a copy of their immigration report when you checked in. This will satisfy the TM-30 requirement.

Maybe more than 10 years ago, a Thai woman poster a hilarious cartoon video on YouTube explaining all the nuances of Thai female gay relationships. There were "Dee's" who are ultra feminine, always beautifully attired and made up. The Dee's were usually supported by a jeans clad, wallet on chain "Tom"..It was not unusual to see this style couple wandering the aisles of Siam Paragon or Gaysorn Plaza. The video also defined other strata of the gay world in a really funny way. I just tried to find it but couldn't. Does anybody here remember it? It made quite a stir at the time. This video explains it all, pretty much everything OP wanted to know, and more!

An obscure "Gotcha!" I encountered on a US sourced laptop, nothing to do with import or customs, Just a cheap HP bought at Walmart in US and carried to Bangkok in my hand baggage. When I went to set up my Bangkok apartment Wi-Fi, the new laptop wouldn't connect, didn't even see the network. All my other wi-fi connected devices: mobile, desktop computer, TV box were connected and operated normally. Long story short, after 2 days of frustration I discovered the obscure problem. The US Government reserves certain wi-fi channels for it's exclusive use. I forget which ones: 11 & 12 perhaps? Most computers sold in the US have these channels blocked. It happened that when I had set-up my router, it had randomly assigned one of those restricted channels, which are unrestricted in Thailand to my apartment network. Once I changed the network channel the new laptop connected without further issue.

In a friends similar case, in a car hit from behind by an uninsured motorbike, the Police did mediate between the parties and he did get actual repair costs but nothing above that. He was surprised at how fair the police actually were.

My friend was hit by a car in Pattaya and subsequently died after 6 weeks hospitalization. He had an active travel insurance policy "Good for $500,000 coverage" The roadblocks that insurance company put up to paying anything was amazing, like demanding professionally translated daily medical records and all charges within 24 hours: a virtual impossibility. When all was said and done, of more than US $100,000 medical expenses, they agreed to reimburse his family only $20,000 and they had to threaten a lawsuit to even get that.

It's been happening to me on the Lazada website when using my Bangkok Bank debit card but not my US card which goes through no problem. No problem with either card when using the Lazada mobile app. BTW, much easier to get discounts, like free shipping on the App than on the website.

"I prefer to live among old people who still remember what proper behavior was....many decades ago. That was a completely different time. People were civil, then. Road rage, by in large, did not exist then" In 1950, incidents of road rage had become so commonplace in the US that the US Government commissioned Walt Disney Studios to produce this anti "Road-Rage" cartoon which then played in almost every movie theater for several years.

I don't have an answer to your problem but don't lay the blame entirely on Thailand. Western governments, especially the US & UK have been putting enormous pressure on banks and financial institutions worldwide to tighten rules and aggressively enforce existing rules, especially when it involves moving larger sums of money internationally.

"Wirecutter" a product testing site owned by the New York Times tested and rated a bunch of supermarket brand olive oils. The BERTOLLI brand which is sold locally in Thailand came out in the top 5. Usually not too expensive: 350-400 baht for 500ml. I've tried it and it's lightly fragrant with a mild taste. There were several locally sold Spanish olive oils that I really liked as I like an oil with an assertive flavor but they have disappeared from the shelves. Can't recall the names, I would just recognize the labels.

A friend was having similar problems with an older PC. It turned out to be an auto driver update issue. The OS was automatically deleting and trying to update drivers on various hardware, in some cases unsuccessfully. When he disabled the driver update function in Windows the problem ceased.

Unfortunately, Intel ceased production of NUCs early this year. There may still be some models in stores. JIB used to sell them.

I use a Mini-PC for TV streaming and internet browsing using my TV as a monitor which works out pretty well. My Mini PC runs on a Ryzen R-5600H, 16 gb RAM, 500 gb ssd, onboard graphics which are sufficient for my needs. Runs 4K content with no problem. Chinese brand "GenMachine" purchased on Lazada, about B6000 6 months ago. Windows 11 Pro included. So far, no issues. Runs for hours at a time in a non ac room without any overheating issues though I don't stress it much: no video games or advance photo or video editing. Very quiet fan. I also use a mini-pc for my bedroom TV running an Intel Alder Lake N100 processor which is capable of 4K video. It's really only used as a streaming device, runs Win 11Pro, 8gb RAM, 256 ssd. quiet and no overheating issues. Chinese "Peladn" brand. About B4000 on Lazada.

I believe the A53 still had the jack socket and they are still easily available. I bought one for my gf last year. Not impressed with the build quality. The case has come open a couple of times and one of the rear camera lenses popped out.

There is a modern looking self-storage facility on Rama-9 in Bangkok called RUDD.

Actually a she and she completed the trip in 9 hours, taking three 45 minute breaks along the way. The bike performed flawlessly but she was surprised her gas consumption was nearly the same as when she has driven her brothers Nissan Versa between the same destinations though not the same route.

Following up: my friend completed the journey without any incidents or scary situations. The weather held nicely and it was a rain free trip the whole way which was a big bonus. I don't know the exact route taken but they said it was really beautiful. Thanks for the many helpful responses.

During the pandemic, Trevor on his own, organized a food distribution program, locating homeless family's and individuals living in abandoned buildings and makeshift camps in the woods and bringing them food and water along with other necessities. He and his wife would go out in his pick-up and bring the food on a regular basis, often making the effort to coax frightened and sometimes mentally disturbed individuals to accept help. He deserves a lot of credit for this effort.

My error, it's a Yamaha Tri-City

Assumed wrong. Been riding motorcycles for 60 years. Motorbikes I've only used locally and for short day trips. If my friend was riding a proper road motorcycle, 500cc+ that could keep-up with all traffic and comfortably withstand crosswinds and buffeting as well as rough sections of road surface, I would not have had the same concern. Motorbikes are a far different conveyance and often not well suited for difficult road conditions, thus my question which actually focused more on route than machine. At this moment, my friend is on their way so time will tell.

Experienced rider in terms of local riding and touring countryside and mountain roads but urban hi-way and secondary, not so much. Breaking it up into bite-size segments makes good sense but we all know how that goes, once we get going, we hate stopping.

A fiend with a Honda 160 (double front wheel) is planning on driving it from Pattaya to Korat City. Seems a terrible idea to me, all secondary roads populated by illiterate truck drivers. Has anybody actually done this? Is there a reasonable route?

You can have excellent pies made with quality ingredients, prepared and served by well trained and fairly paid staff or you can have cheap, gluey, pre-frozen pies and rolls prepared in some back lot kitchen using the cheapest labor and ingredients; but you can't have both.

"Tinnie's Pies" Jomtien already has that well covered. https://www.tinniespiespattaya.com/

Back around the Millennium, before the internet was an every day thing, an enterprising young Dutch guy in Pattaya had the idea of getting reprint rights for all the major British and European newspapers. Every day, he would have printed that days front pages and copy pages and sell them all over Pattaya, Phuket and Bangkok. He quickly made a fortune, wisely reinvesting in a number of other successful businesses. He had a Thai wife and they lived in the most lavish, expensive house in all of Pattaya and they drove matching Mercedes. He was without a doubt the most successful expat in the city and she certainly had hit the jackpot, the luckiest lady in Pattaya. Despite having everything, she wasn't satisfied. Naturally, she had a lowlife Thai boyfriend on the side. Then one day, the young Dutch man was found in a vacant lot, just a pile of ashes and bone. It took 10 years of pressure from his family in Holland and the Dutch government for the Thai and Pattaya police to finally make an arrest. The wife and her boyfriend as well as her uncle were finally arrested and convicted of his murder 12 years after the killing. Though they all got life sentences, I have no idea how long they actually served. She had EVERYTHING every girl who comes to Pattaya dreams of but it just wasn't enough. I remind myself of this all the time and have seen it so often: no matter how much they get, they still want more. Enough is never enough.