Kaoboi Bebobp

So, does it look like they are going to reconnect Noen Pub Wan and Pattaya Klang intersection soon? Haven't been in Pattaya in several months now since I left the Darkside.

On 6/5/2017 at 5:14 PM, brewsterbudgen said:

The Craft Cafe, right under BTS Phra Khanong, has a good and fairly original breakfast menu. The nearest to a traditional English, has a decent sausage, bacon, ham, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes, fried egg and chips for 165 baht. Good coffee and other food too. Plus beer!

Really? Maybe Craft's breakfast has improved then in the 3-4 months since I last visited there. The sausage was a hotdog style, there was only a tiny spec of bacon and ham, the mushrooms were disgusting and the chips added up to maybe 5 or 6. A couple of times I got cold, hard beans, if I got them at all. At couple of times two of the items in the breakfast were not available and they didn't tell me beforehand. Even worse, many times I've walked by and the place was closed on different days of the week. I hope they have improved since these spectacular failures.

A three-month visa is a THREE-month visa. Do NOT overstay a VN visa. You can maybe get away with 1-2 days but they are really serious in VN when you overstay. Overstay charges AND fines. If you have a three-month Tourist visa, at one time it was extendable in-country but now it's very hard to do. And if you can do it, agents have told me it is very costly. Leave, get another visa and return.

5 hours ago, song0674 said:

Bangkok has absolutely no city planning. This is why incidents like this always happen. I would be angry too if I was a resident.

In a planned city there would be designated areas for entertainment and designated areas for residential.

But not in Bangkok nor in Thailand. If u have enough money and influence, you can build 50 storey hotel in small soi of 8 storey condos or build a house then told the next day a highway is coming through it...

Yup. No planning at all. I know of a nice apartment building on Suk soi 50 that found itself facing the construction of a major highway ramp right across its bow. Also know of a small, cool independent Thai pub on Suk soi 16 that got closed due to complaints from personnel of a certain Western embassy.  You can't even describe the situation as patchwork zoning because the city is a total mess. 

Not having been in Pattaya in some months, does it look like they are anywhere near to connecting Noen Pub Wan to Klang? This closure drove me to leave the Darkside after a couple of years of motoring madness. I just might return if intersection is reopened.

On 5/12/2017 at 8:30 AM, thaifoodruns said:

English breakfast at London pie on sukhumvit 63, looks pretty good never had it but walked past a guy tucking in when I was picking up my pies


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The London Pie Breakfast is pretty good, with high quality ingredients. I'm not a huge English brekky fan but you get 2 thick sausages, 2 what I would call English bacon medallions (shape), warmed tomato (not grilled), 2 eggs obviously done in an egg-shaped pan. Plus two thick slices of white toast and tea or (machine) coffee. I usually add an order (2x) of hash browns -- yes, the frozen kind. No beans, etc. 225 baht

However, it's just recently under new ownership, an HKG couple. They still seem to do a decent job of the brekky, although the former partner just reappeared to  help out in the kitchen for a while.

Overall, I have never been impressed with BKK western breakfasts (non-buffet). I agree with another poster above that brekky in Pattaya is better and cheaper.

5 hours ago, champers said:

10 days since Labour Day holiday and less than a month since Songkran. I am retired, so every day is a holiday for me, but this seems excessive. Is it normal accross South East Asia to have so many holidays?

 

A lot of holidays, almost every month. Many dry days too, including a two-day dry period. There looks like a couple of extra holidays this year too (but I won't be here). 

2017 Public Holidays in Thailand

12 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

^I think you mean Vietcombank Tutsi??

Yes, I think you are correct. Vinacom is the short name for a big shopping mall inside Vinacom Centre.

52 minutes ago, stravers said:

I'm sure people will look back on 2017 and remark "now those were the best of times!"

28 minutes ago, Mattd said:

Without a doubt!

I can see that relative point of view being common when looking back after China owns/takes over all of Southeast Asia. But that's another topic. 

On topic: When I said goodbye to the last GF in mid-2015, I experienced an incredible feeling of relief and freedom. I thought I could go anywhere, live anywhere. I visited Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Saigon, Vung Tau (many times), returned to Pattaya a couple of times. I considered Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Ubon, Udon, etc. I even joined a couple of Lao FB expat pages but the visa situation was dire, as was medical care and prices were going up there too. But I did not see anywhere that I "dreamed" of going and living.

Bangkok has become unconscionably expensive in nearly every way, but PP and Saigon were going that way too, even the rents. It's not all about cost. By the way, I retired 7 years ago and have a very decent pension. After 13 years in this part of the world, everything looked flat. I studied the possibilities of Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia, and so on. Eastern Europe looks very nice these days.

All I know is, Thailand has lost the plot. I'll second others' views that the fun has gone and has been so for a good 6-7 years. Just so you know, I don't go to go go bars and beer bars or clubs anymore. Almost five years now. I also live a very active life, on top of making my own food, doing my own cleaning and laundry, etc. 

All this to say that I agree that there’s no greener grass these days. Except, during these last two years, I was getting to like the home city more and more with each return visit. So that is where I will land next spring. Because everything works. The only challenge is apartment rent (since I sold my condo years ago). But I hit the magic 65 year next spring and get another pension. So this should work. As a trial. 

PS Mods: There seem to be almost no blockheads on this thread. If it’s due to the mods, well done!

1 hour ago, giddyup said:

That stretch of road tends to be a bit of a drag strip.

Yup. That stretch going downhill from Murphy's is all you need to discover why so many young Thais die on the road each year. 

That exact piece of road is where I decided to stop riding at night on the Darkside. I was slowly crossing the road, dragging my feet, to the Starlight side and head in the direction of Sukhumvit. A kid flying on a motorbike came around the blind corner on the right and crossed in front me on the wrong side of the road, he was going so fast on the outturn.  I just caught the sight of him and pulled both brake handles, pushed my feet so hard onto the asphalt and squeezed the side of my footboard so hard I had burn scars on the inside of my calves. He missed me by maybe 20 cm. He had to have been running 60-70 km/h when a normal speed might be 40ish. It was at this point, after many, many previous near encounters, I decided to leave the motocycle maniacs of Pattaya, last summer. 

8 hours ago, bamukloy said:

====clip===

 

For me, I follow advices given long time ago and have no trouble after 10 years.

 

-Stay single is twice as much fun and half the cost in the long-run.

 

-Dont loose touch with home. A break away at least can clear your mind to see the idiot decisions being made.

 

 

 

Excellent advice that I have followed but with a couple of brief interludes of silliness. But I pulled myself out early as I could see where things were going with relationship$$$. I also stopped going to clubs and beer bars almost 5 years ago. I live a normal, one would almost say, quiet life with great like-minded friends. However, they are leaving one by one and there's almost no one left. Throw in the recent extreme expense of living in Bangkok and it's just not worth it anymore when I can be home and save money, or at least drink better beer for less than 200 baht. Not to mention the fact groceries are 50% cheaper (based on my recent comparison of 20 common items bought in Thailand and Canada). 

As for home, I'm there twice a year and the returns have been getting more and more enjoyable. It's looking like my quiet life would transfer back home very easily and more enjoyably. And there's free healthcare. 

I would become a short-time visitor to Thailand, especially in the winter months though. 

I love how some people get on their thrones and say we're imagining the noise. Or maybe we should move. Or maybe we should hide ourselves in an air con bar or high-end housing project or hang at the beach (none over on the Dark Side). FYI: A funny thing about bars is they reside on the street, which is a road used by these teenaged valkyries. However, there's nothing we can do about it except vent.

I chose to live on the Dark Side and away from the night-life noise. But little did I foresee the burgeoning muffler  (or should I say anti-muffler)  aftermarket.  Anyway, as I get older, I seem to be more susceptible to those two-wheeled noise-makers, many of them with piercing sounds. Alas, they're everywhere in Thailand. 

I've not been on TV very often the last three-four years, which may be comment enough about the state of affairs here. But I do remember you Mobi for your sound and enjoyable contributions. And today, you wrote a great goodbye piece. I mean a compliment for the writing and heartfelt review.

It's always sad to hear about the low points. I've had a few but nothing as dramatic as yours or those of other contributors above. They do tend to drag you down though, no matter how many great times one has had. However,  there are fewer great times these days in the Thailand balance. To be honest, almost none, as long-term friends one by one leave "permanently" for their homelands or change countries. So I agree. To quote: "Thailand is no longer a great place for foreigners to live . . . etc".

I too am leaving and I won't be renewing my extension this summer because I have no plans to visit for more than a week or two. I, too, am going home. The last trip home to Canada was wonderful, following on from three previous trips home, each one better than the last.  But my return to Bangkok was different this time. I woke up thinking about my home city every day since I got back last month. That's never happened before in 13 years. I remember the friendly people, the cheap groceries, fantastic (and cheap craft) beer, the knowledgable store staff,  improving transit system, on and on. 

I'm off to Vietnam for a longish stay and then it's back to Canada next spring. Probably for good. So you won't be the only one heading for the exit. All the best. 

Cops only ever looked at the tax tag in my experience. So no worries since you have the latest one. 

On 5/3/2017 at 0:16 AM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

There's also some "women only" apartment buildings around BKK, including one nearby Phom Phrong BTS. Not sure about the prices there, and/or if the wife would want to stay alone vs sharing with others.

Yes, I've known several girls who stayed at Lady Gunn Apartments at Thong Lor. It's down a short sub-soi right under the Thong Lor BTS, odd-soi side. Good soup on that sub-soi. But I don't know the costs except it's fairly cheap, maybe 5000 or so.

To add to the refrain . . . Last night with a friend at W District. It was so hot and humid (humidex of 42C at 10 pm) that we were swimming in our clothes. We couldn't take it anymore and just got up and went home early. I can't remember doing that before, and I've lived in Saigon, the Mekong Delta, Phnom Penh and Bangkok in the hot season.  

You know it's too hot when you're checking the weather sites, which I wouldn't normally do because it's always hot here. 

I normally walk the 1 km to the Phra Khanong BTS. But when I stepped outside into the steam cauldron yesterday, I took a moto taxi. That seemed to make it even worse, especially when riding out onto Rama 4 where  the waves of heat seared my forehead. Wow. A later check of the Weather Underground showed it to be only 34 but with a 46C humidex. I was most thankful for the occasional overcast.

But climbing the stairs from Silom to get to the MRT Silom or standing on the Phrom Pong BTS platform was almost unbearable, a feeling I hadn't had in a long time except when I first arrived here 13 years ago. Could be that my recent 3 weeks in Canada chilled my heat acclimatization. Maybe not. 

You'll get much better response on the Viet expat forums on FB. Loads of comparisons and comments. Try Hoi An-Da Nang FB pages or the Ho Chi Minh pages. Most are closed to the public so you will have to join in order to use the search function. But we're not allowed to link to them directly from here.

I paid in advance at the MEA headquarters on Rama 4, just a few minutes walk eastward from Klong Toie MRT Station. However, they have a temporary office at the end of the sub-soi that runs along the new HQ construction site (where the MEA building was, I guess). I walked up to the security office at the corner of the sub-soi and showed them my bill. I was pointed down the sub-soi at the edge of the construction site and left. When you turn left, look for rather big orange signs saying MEA. Good, quick service. Several people at the MEA temporary office spoke English.

If you have a valid unused single-entry visa or multiple-entry visa, you do not have to show a return ticket. But if you were one of the nationalities trying to enter on a 15-day waiver, you definitely have to have a return ticket.

Retox Darkside has an FB page. Just type Retox Darkside. Read the reviews, click on the review link on the lefthand side of the front page. Good and bad, but apparently no baht buster brekky.

Quote

i began to severely dislike certain aspects... namely the xenophobia, caste system mentality, emotional manipulation and extortion

^^^ This. But don't want to start a discussion about leaving Thailand. I would add the fast-inflating prices of everything. So I am moving to Vietnam. I have lived there before in the Delta (as well as Phnom Penh). 

I love Vietnam and Saigon. But some things to think about:

1. Simultaneous construction of two Metro lines, with a third to start sometime this year will bring a lot of noise and traffic snarls.

2. Many new monster developments underway with more on paper that will add to the air pollution and traffic snarls.

3. Air quality is widely reported as very bad. I've had breathing problems the last three trips this past year. I never have this problem in BKK, even though I walk 3-5 km a day and climb all those BTS stairways without issue. A friend in his 40s who had a 6-month contract there felt off while living there, he reports. Others report no problems.

4. Locally supplied TV shows heavily censored movies.

5. Internet service speeds can be really REALLY bad. One day it can be great, next day unusable. The cursed AAG cable to the US crashed 4 times last year and already twice this year. However, two new ones, one to Europe (Asia Africa Europe) and one to Japan/Korea (Asia Pacific Gateway) are allegedly up and running. 

Good apartments are expensive, running from a basement cost of 20,000 to well over 30,000 baht for a 1-bedroom. It was the one thing that kept me from moving there early last year while my friend was working there. 

On a recent trip, basic meal prices at admittedly western restos deep in D1, were expensive and equal to Bangkok's, running 350 to over 400 baht. This was at Game On, l'Usine and Phatty's.  Good coffee at say Cafe Bene was 55,000 dong, about 75 baht.

By the way, I'm moving to Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Not a tourist destination but an oil port.

PS. Check the Hoi An-Da Nang expat group on FB. Seems a lot of very happy campers there.

They're going to drain away Bangkok life. Actually, they are well along in this careless act. They should have set up hawker areas and then cleared the sidewalks. Then again, any land available for such would be too expensive to set aside because of the need for another mall. They're going crazy with this in Saigon too, but they have designated new areas for vendors -- because authorities carry a lot of weight and have actual city plans. 

I turned away from street food years ago but there's a real need by the locals for access to quick and cheap meals. I wish all those unemployed vendors the best of luck. All that will be left are shophouse eateries paying expensive rents, which means, of course, rising prices. Welcome to the new Bangkok. Me, I'll be following the trail of expats heading for the exits. For many different reasons.

33 minutes ago, paul18620 said:

Do Foodland in Bangkok do frozen pies ,meat pies and chicken pies ?

Nope, not that I can remember. The best source of meat pies is London Pies on Ekamai, just before the Big C Super, which is about 800-900 metres from Suk. However, at this moment, there's an ownership transition going on and stock is low. Best to call. Oh, expensive too. 160 baht a pie. 

2 hours ago, vivid2 said:

Yes...but they have some unbelievable sales ?

 

Hahaha. I remember seeing Langers Cranberry juice "on special" on end-of-aisle shelves many times in Villa. And many times the price was  still the usual 160 baht regular price.  Boneheads.