dddave

I've lived in Jomtien the last 2 years after 18 years in Bangkok. Came as a Covid refugee, wanting a less densely populated area. Jomtien fits that need, Pattaya does not. I rented a 2BR condo on the beach for B10,000/m. I figured it would be raised significantly when my lease ends this month but the owner was happy to keep me for another year at the same rent. There are so many food options. If one only wants to eat in pubs and western style restaurants, then one can easily spend close 1000 baht a day on food and drink. If one is flexible on food and seeks out restaurants, night markets and food stands away from the beach and tourist areas, B300 to 400 a day is easily doable. Cook for yourself, far lower than that. I rent a older Honda Click for B1200/m. I only go on local roadways, no highways or long trips so I don't need a more powerful or brand new machine. Any trips into Pattaya, easy on the song tao (Baht bus) Yes, prices have gone up like they have everywhere but not difficult to adjust to. A friend just this past week found and rented a beautiful ocean view, 80s/m 1BR apartment on Pratumnak in an older building for B15000/m. Reasonable prices still exist if you do your legwork.

During some lean years, I used to ride the #2 Red bus between 1 & 3 AM pretty regularly. Schedule very irregular, often 45 minutes to an hour between buses, then 2 or 3 will come at the same time. Usually very full with late night workers. I never had a problem with anybody on one of those buses. The only time city buses can be scary is when schools let out and crowds of kids push in. Usually they are polite but problems between various school gangs have been known to break-out.

A friend inherited a house in Florida. For various reasons, it was nearly a year after it had been closed up that he was able to go and inspect it. I went with him. When we opened the house, virtually every surface was covered in mildew and a mossy like 1/4" fluff, like a light snow, except green-grey. He had to hire a crew in hazmat suits to clean out the mildew and fungus, then toss every piece of upholstered furniture and all rugs.

Most good hotels have a legitimate massage shop somewhere on the premises. There are usually small, legitimate massage shops in most Thai neighborhoods, staffed by older women and sometimes blind masseurs'. Usually close to a marketplace or in a shopping area like a BigC concourse.

I built several darkrooms during my analog days. I found smaller was always better, like a good single chef kitchen. Just good separation between wet & dry side. With direct AC, dust control, especially when drying film could be an issue. Some AC units have pretty good dust filters. Worth looking into. I used to dry my film in hanging clothes storage bags with zipper opening. Worked great. It would always amaze me. No matter how much attention I paid to making it light-tight, sit in there with lights off for 15 minutes and it's like "Starry-Starry Night", little pinpoints everywhere.

On Lazada and other 3rd party shopping sites, it's really easy for shady operators selling shoddy/ersatz products to basically "Pump & Dump" They put up something like the OP mentions, hi specs/lo price, sell maybe 1000 or so in a couple of days, make maybe $100 on each, then close it out and set-up the next scam. Lazada or whatever doesn't have time to catch it before it's already done and gone.

This past April I spent two weeks in Maharaj Hospital (Govt.) in Nahkon Rachisima. I probably had interactions with 20 Doctors in that time and all spoke understandable English. Not so much with nursing staff and aids but enough so that what was needed was usually understood. I was impressed with the excellent care I received there.

Kluay Nam Thai is not a hospital I would recommend to anybody. Very low standards. It is primarily a geriatric care facility.

Seller's address was Chonburi. I am in Chonburi. Hardly a distance justifying a 50% delivery increase. Single item, no variations. Very simple. Price displayed not the price charged.

If you are running an add-blocker it can cause sign-in problems. Also, if in Chrome, try clicking the "re-load" button, top left. That usually makes my sign in work. Also, when browsing Lazada and a page won't come-up, do the same.

Unless you are somehow getting all that excess baggage for free, forget about it. Good utensils available at better stores (Central, Robinsons) Plastic cutting boards everywhere from B20 stores to department stores. Doritos, cheese popcorn, Cape Cod potato chips, Cheeze-Its, Reeses Cups: now that's a different matter. Customs guy will really appreciate that '79 Yammie. "So Sorry, can not import used vehicles, leave it over in the corner. Don't forget the keys"

Has anybody else experienced the following lately? On the Lazada website, you'll click on an item and it shows price and shipping cost. You put it into your cart and either the price is higher or the shipping is higher or sometimes, both. Tonight I was buying a sauce I like. Quoted B75 for the sauce, B25 shipping. Put it into the cart and suddenly the sauce was B82 and the shipping B38. That's a B20 jump. I've noticed it on other items as well. What sucks more, if you return to the item in the listings, the higher price shows, not the initial price. That's quite a nasty algorithm they've come up with. Obviously figuring people will buy it anyway...after all, just a few more Baht.

"Fatty's" Great music and food. Off Rama9 but check the map, a bit out of the way. I think "Det-5" on Suk. 8 still has live bands but not sure.

#37.5mg Tramadol (Ultracet) seems to be the most effective OTC painkiller for my arthritic knees. For about a month, I've been taking 1 tablet per day, around noon, before I go out. It is far more effective than any of the NSAIDs (paracetamol, enteric aspirin, ibuprofin) I've used. Is that low a dose still potentially addictive or capable of causing undesirable side-effects? Will the effectiveness of that dose likely diminish over time, requiring a larger dose for the same effect?