BoganInParasite

My wife runs a homestay. Shortly after she opened she got a TripAdvisor review of 1/5. (Thankfully every review since has been 5/5.) The review was by a Thai male and made several very weird and incorrect comments. My wife tried to get the review removed, told TA the person had never stayed since at that time as she was yet to host a male guest, but no success. She didn't ever consider taking legal action. As an aside the funniest thing I have seen is a new place near us get a 10/10 on Booking. Fine effort since they had not opened, in fact, the building was maybe only 60% complete at the time. Thinking someone tried to game the system. Took them 18 months after opening to get another review, yep, another 10/10. Last I saw they seem to have closed.

Or fall from a high window. Not hard to predict that a natural death is unlikely to be in his future.

I look at the four forecast models available within Windy.com. What is noticeable is how much they disagree with one another and how more often than not they are wrong in regards timing and amount of rain. If we received the amount of rain forecast we'd need rescue boats across the Nan and tributary river valleys constantly.

Mercifully the YT algorithm is yet to throw up any of his videos for my viewing consideration. Potentially a bit surprising really since I'm sure I watch enough Thailand themed videos for it to notice.

About five months ago our three Labradors got to barking at the front gate to alert us to someone/thing being near our property. (It's what we have trained them to do. Unfortunately we think a few folks in the village are realising they are all bark and no bite, but I digress.) The wife and I were a little tardy in getting out the door (for different reasons) for a minute or two. When I did get to the front door to head up to the gate I saw two uniformed folks getting back into an immigration vehicle and head off. So it would appear the dogs thwarted an unannounced immigration visit. The only visit we've had in the last four years at our current residence was a couple of years ago when the Nan tourist police called on us on behalf of the immigration folks. They apparently did this to all farang/Thai couples in the province following an American murdering his Thai wife in pretty horrendous circumstances.

Way back in the thread I reported SCB had closed both the branch and removed ATMs from my town in northern Nan province. Well bugga me I happened to spy their ATM on the main road but without signage and positioned in such a way and with a security enclosure that makes it almost impossible to spot unless you happen to be looking almost directly at it. I just happened to do so because I was looking for another shop. And it is not shown on Google Maps.

Told the wife to hold off for the next one since we don't have that frog.

About four and a half years ago came across a truck on its side with cases of large Leo bottles strewn all over the road, the 101 actually halfway between Nan and Phrae. Despite being early morning the was a large group of police on one side of the road/wreckage and a larger group of locals on the other. The wife and I agreed that both groups were likely wishing the other wasn't there so they could facilitate a cleanup.

Best wishes for your business. I've had a keen interest in observing new businesses in rural Thailand for more than a decade including the last five years in Nan province. My highly generalised summary is 50% fail inside of 12-18 months, 35% stagger along somehow (lack of maintenance/owners moving into it to live/downsize physical footprint) and less than 20% are obviously successful. In terms of restaurants/coffee shops the main success factor looks like a location with good visibility and road traffic combined with somewhere easy/obvious to park. Duration to failure looks like it is a combination of this and the propensity of family and friends to continue to frequent a business after the initial opening. Of course my observations in Nan province has been during the COVID pandemic that made it much harder for many businesses to survive, let alone thrive. When the wife and I spot a new local business we often give an assessment of success or fail (and duration to close) and much more often than not we are right. At times I admire the resilience and enthusiasm of Thais to have a go but there are many times it is just so clear that it is the wrong business, and/or the wrong locality, and/or wrong product for the market.

Every policeman in the highway division must have been aware of the scheme, the great majority would have honoured it (funny word in this context I know), and a slightly lesser number financially benefited. They need to sack the senior organisers, discipline the less senior, disband the whole division and try to reconstitute it such that there are hints of competence and integrity. But I won't be holding my breath.

I was lucky. Was correctly diagnosed when having first gall stone attack. Despite precautions had a second a week later. Quite relieved to have the gall bladder removed with no complications or ongoing ramifications. BTW, I read somewhere a gall stone attack is more painful than a kidney stone attack and child birth. I take my hat off to the women who have experienced all three and could make an assessment. BTW2...pethidine is an amazing painkiller...could well be addictive.

I've noticed in Nan province SCB seems to be closing branches and removing ATMs, including doing both in my town which is undergoing considerable growth. I have not noticed any other bank doing either over the last five years.

Are these the mushrooms they burn the forest to promote the growth? Genuine question since that is one of two reasons I've heard up here in northern Nan province for forest burning, distressingly, largely on sloping/steep valley sides including in the nearby national park.

We have three Labradors, two are big and active. Breakfast is SmartHeart dried food mixed with canned fish. Lunch is a couple of pork or chicken sausages. Dinner is the same as breakfast half the time with one of pork mince, pork bone or pork ribs being served every other day. We don't tend to give them human leftovers, but not for want of begging by them.

Very disappointed the wife has never been approached by anyone to buy her vote. Instead she seems very keen on making up her own mind.

RIP Joe. I rarely left a visa threat till I saw your post on it.

From 2,200 to 3,200...aircon 8-10 hours a day atm, normally none, just fans.

Had a strong wind, rain and some hail storm on Thursday late evening near Pua in northern Nan province. (Plus a 5.5 hour blackout. Sleeping was sticky.) Then last night starting at midnight we had ninety minutes of lightning/thunder storms roll through with heavy rain for at least thirty minutes. Believe or not but green shoots appearing in the brown and seemingly dead malay grass already. Been the hottest, driest and most air polluted of my five summers here.

Received my new Australia passport yesterday and immediately went looking for the stamp or note in it. Nothing. But then the wife gave me a separate envelope also received with the one containing my passport and it contained a signed and stamped letter from the embassy confirming old and new passport details. Quite perplexed as to why it would not be in the same envelope as the passport and just a bit thankful we got it. (Maybe 30% of mail we know has been sent to us is never delivered.) Anyway will be heading to my local Immigration office to attempt the required visa/stamps transfers in the next few days and will update again if I encounter challenges. If no update, went okay.

Had two Australian banks request this as well. Told the first one I'd prefer to close my account and did so. Told the second one to take a running jump because I had no taxable income in any country. Turns out there was a flag I can tick in their system so I did so online and have been hassle free since. One of my least painful bank interactions of the last decade or so.

Hope we can get a few storms to settle the air down. Worst air pollution I've seen in the upper Nan River valley in the five years I've lived here. Today particularly bad.

Coming home from Nan yesterday and driving north on the 101...passed through a village with an abandoned and overgrown school. There was a large team in there clearing it and burning the material in half a dozen fires on the small playing field at the front nearer the 101. Heavy dark smoke billowing into the sky. <deleted>. Visibility yesterday in the upper Nan River valley was about 700 meters.

Had the same from the local office head back in 2018 on the home visit. He asked the wife in Thai and she relayed it to me. I then told him ever so politely that it would not happen, ever. Said it in English directly to his face and told the wife not to translate it since I knew he understood and could speak English. He was also insisting I convert to a retirement visa in a few years. Took the opportunity to explain to him it was not required and not ever going to happen. He managed to humiliate himself in the office a couple of years later but that's another story. Noticed on my last office visit for the 90 day report there was a new head listed.

Was reading elsewhere their 787s have become particularly unreliable. This coupled with a management focused on financial return above everything else and that they and the Qantas group as a whole gutted the operational expertise during the pandemic and you have half an understanding on why things are as they are. And BTW, in a previous life I was in a key role at QF to ready the airline for the JQ sales and operations launches.

Not quite. Best effort was getting only a couple of hours a night for five days while preparing a huge technology bid in the upstairs office of our chain smoking Greek partners in Athens. Slept slouched with my head resting on my arms on a desk. Also, no showers during that time. Finally slept in a bed from about 2:00am on the Saturday morning. Took days to recover.