BoganInParasite

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.

Upper Nan province, no rain since early October except for an unexpected (and unforecast) very heavy hour or two long downpour one morning in mid-January. But the cooler mornings have persisted to now and the days have been mild. Overnight and maximum temps look to be going up 3-5 degrees from next week. Particularly bad air this year though.

Recall at one stage Hinze was referred to as the minister for everything. He collected a few of them, most concurrently.

Don't underestimate how devastated the Chinese economy is and the severe impact it has had on the disposable income of the folks that once travelled abroad.

This is my fourth smoke season in Pua, northern Nan province. This is the earliest I've seen really bad air here with several days already of not being able to see the other side of a narrow valley. Yesterday it was possible to see the airborne haze above the road only 25 meters from our house. The Nan valley seems less impacted than most of the rest of northern Thailand and even with our recent bad air I can see other parts of northern Thailand with monitoring station readings 2-3 worse than our nearby stations. The mind boggles. Still we have not yet had a day like a couple of years ago when on a drive to Nan on the 101 the visibility was about 200 meters and the whole sky was a glowing dull yellow.

We get a lot of recyclables because of the wife's homestay. Prior to COVID we would rock up to the local recycler about every two months and get 30-60 baht for the load. Then a couple of kilometers up the road the wife would blow it on fried banana. Then during COVID we saw the recycler was accumulating massively because for a time they could not transport it across provinces and down to Bangkok. No doubt their cash flow was suffering as well. So we started just giving it to them and have continued to do so. When they spot us backing in it is all hands on deck and the two folks I've come to understand are the husband and wife owners are all thankyous and wais. Not too many other places you can feel like a king for such a small amount. BTW, we still go get the fried banana.

I'm sure they announced something similar 2-3 years back.

You are quite right. That place does actually have a direct booking rate of 500 baht for a single guest in own air-con room with private bathroom. If the guest has previously stayed the rate is 460. Previous guest staying three or more nights the rate falls to 420. Highest guest rated accommodation in Nan province with more than 40 reviews on each of Google, Booking & Agoda. Only English style breakfast in the northern part of the province and best Thai breakfasts in Pua.

And your point is?

Pua Tranquil Vista Homestay is close to both #1256 and #1081 and biker friendly.

Based on what I'm seeing in the supermarkets I'm thinking that six is missing a leading one.

Thai Lovelinks site 15 years ago. A nurse who swore off Thai men after learning her long time Thai boyfriend was a prolific butterfly. Never met him, but occasionally wish I could thank him for his reprehensible behaviour.

January is the month the wife usually gets two or three European groups (well couples) at her homestay. She had a German, UK and French nationals bookings, presumably resident there, booked for the last ten days of this month. The last of the three cancelled last night. All were online third party bookings so we can only presume this fiasco was the genius of it. Quiet end of the month appears imminent.

Was asked for the same by the IO chief (in English) at the initial marriage visa home visit in front of the wife and two lesser officers. I politely but strongly rebuffed him. He tried to be a bit pally as we the exited the IO office a bit over a year later having got the next extension in the passport. Politely let him know I'd prefer to not have anything to do with him. Have not seen him last three years, but he is still there. Have paid the usual Cert of Residency 'fee' of 500 baht a couple of times though, without complaining. Apart from that my local IO is pretty easy to deal with and wait times are negligible.

So this is not part of their everyday work routine?

The 34th of never I'm thinking.

Should have been added last review about 18 months ago but the government at the time somehow headed it off. While Labor's policies are no doubt better for the environment I don't see any government having the balls to do what it takes to save the reef, if that is actually possible now. And I suspect that is now a big if, and has been for some time.

Over here in Nan province for about a month. Although there was a couple of minutes of really intense rain last night a bit before midnight.

Been making it for about a year since the supply of thick Farmhouse bread was unreliable in our town. Bread flour, water, salt and yeast, very little kneading and cooked in a cast iron camp oven in the electric oven. We've found just warming it in the toaster rather a full cycle toast is best. We serve with imported salted butter and a range of sweet and savoury spreads including Vegemite if there is an Aussie staying. By 'we' I mean the Thai wife on her own of course.

English style breakfasts available in at least one northern Thai homestay. No black pudding though, cannot be sourced in our province. Won't mention the name, am sure that would breach a forum rule.

The topic of the article was water in Chaiyaphum. None of that flows towards Bangkok.

Think most of the water there will flow down the Chi to the Mekong.

Continuing deterioration of the Thai economy and physical environment.

Last year at Nan IO we went in the morning of the under consideration date to be told to return in the afternoon. We did and it was ready. Yesterday we submitted for another extension and got an under consideration date of 28 October...and was told to return 'in the afternoon'.

Did mine at Nan IO today. In/out in 80 minutes. Only customers in the office that whole period. No document changes from last year. First year I haven't forgotten something.