Enzian

Just for culture contrast, if you ask a pharmacist in Thailand or many parts of Europe for something for a specific problem they will suggest and sell you something. In the US, having been gone for a long time last year, I asked the CVS pharmacy for something for constipation and they went high horse and said don't ask we can't answer questions like that go see your doctor. I had forgot that I could just Google, but I did contact my Kaiser doctor and he was very helpful.

I just came back to the states for a visit and my doc here said wait till the new vaccines designed for the latest variants come out in the fall, and then get a booster.

The way it shakes out is, if it might cause particular police persons to have to do actual work, it won't be implimented.

So how do all the buds imported from California-and it looks like a lot-actually get here? Do the importers just declare it at Customs on the way in? Do the pay duty? Do the airlines know this? Where is this explained? I have no personal or financial interest, just very curious.

The history books I've read make the point that the RTP and the military are two separate entities, two different independent franchises if you like. And they've always been in competition over which has the most power in the country. This gets into areas that no one wants to discuss, and they sure don't want to clarify it for us. So it's a conundrum whether Prayut doesn't want to crack down, or in reality can't.

It's the reason I had to change my FCD account to baht: there is no paper record of a dollar account that one can make that my office will accept. Eventually this has to end, but I'll be gone by then.

Well, I stay alive here by assuming that every driver of every vehicle of any kind that I see while I'm walking is out to kill me, so I'd say yes.

It's working already. I passed a vendor on the curb last night talking to two white guys, tourists I assume, one of them asked the vendor Where is the nearest ATM? and the vendor pointed and the soon-to-be-happy customer took off in that direction.

And that's why I'm not anti-American like most of my American friends; this is no joke. But Blinken's vision doesn't really seem to go beyond maintaining the post WWII status quo, which isn't enough.

Isn't it that more than ever and in many ways "we" become a satellite of China like parts of Cambodia, squeezing out Thai business and leaving no path out of peonage for the vast majority? "Money #1" is bad enough in Thailand but the Chinese leave us behind.

Just like the renewal of stay form that asks your basic reason, there are boxes to check but no box with the word "retirement" next to it, just "other". Absurd because retirement is the reason so many have to use that form. You can write "by reason of retirement" on the line below, but does anyone read it? So Thailand can offer a way to retire here, but at the same time tell themselves that there is no such thing as a "retirement visa", and be correct.

What's in it for Chuwit to be publicizing this sort of thing? 1. To keep his name in the news? 2. Because he cares about public morality? 3. Because he wasn't cut in? 4. Because he despises the RTP and wants to show he's justified? 5. Because his constant theme is that the country runs on corruption and this is the latest prime example? 6. Because in his old age he's a joy killer? 7. He dislikes the power and influence of Chinese entrepreneurs?

It's bad enough to have to keep 800,000+ baht in a bank here, and never be sure if your visa will be renewed, if Immigration will honor your reentry permit, not know if you die your heir can just walk in with a death certificate and will or have to get a lawyer and a judge's order, etc.

A medium sized transfer from the US to my local baht account was recorded yesterday at almost exactly 35.6, on a day that the official Buy rate was a tad over 35.8 (I'm in effect buying baht with dollars, and can't do much about the result without changing banks). I can't really complain and while I know I can't time the market, conveniently the decision was made for me by the fact that I'm leaving in a few days, for months probably, and want my baht account to stay at a certain level. The dollar is strong, a safe haven, I assume more because of the global effects of the war in Ukraine than any other of the many factors. Just noticed that the Lao kip is falling to an almost catastrophic degree; might be bargain destination if civil unrest doesn't break out.

It's just a numbers game. The odds seem in favor of vax and boosters, though nothing in life is certain.

In Paris the Roma pick up a "gold" ring on the side walk near you and ask if it is yours and take it from there. In Italy they unzip your back pack from behind, more direct.

Here’s Anutin speaking about the change in law to the FCCT last Wednesday night. He said then, if my memory serves me right, that the point was health and not recreation. Wink wink, nudge nudge? The woman on the right complained that some weed being sold was imported, and we don’t know what pesticides or other chemicals were used, and she was concerned for her children. And actually a street vendor a couple of days ago told me straight out that half the jars he had set out were from California. FWIW I guess I’m in favor of the change though I don’t partake. So there’s a lot of wrinkles to work out, like with other grey areas in this society.

On one trip to Rome I found a great family style restaurant near the Trevi fountain. On the next trip they had two menus, for locals and anyone who looked like a tourist. I was civil to the waitress when she asked how our meal was, but was mad and never went back. I'll check it out this year when I'm back in town, see if they are still doing it.

That's a commonplace in much of Greek and Roman, Epicurean and Stoic, philosophy. The problem with it is that in the ancient world doctors could only do so much for you beyond a basic level, so philosophers could ignore that aspect when glorifying a life of poverty. But in the modern world, with modern medical science, having a lot of money will definitely get you better health outcomes. So it makes far less sense to be poor, though I understand that's not exactly what you said.

I'm a fiscal conservative, almost to an extreme degree, but grocery monopolies suck. And I never buy anything made by Red Bull.

I saw him speak at the FCCT last night and when it came to the question of foreigners jumping on the recreational use of pot bandwagon, he beat around the bush like you hardly ever saw. But that's politics, gotta say something that will just keep the ball rolling.

So are these "tremors" what caused the recent shoreline flooding on Phuket, or was that a coincidence?

Just last week I was at Phuket, Phi Phi, and Samui for the first time, and I've been in LOS for 12 years. I have a bias; tourist traps suck. The water in the Andaman sea is nice, but except maybe for the swimming, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam is better than all those. Just my opinion.

I just booked with EVA one-way BKK-SFO for about 33K baht; it might in more normal times be 5 or 10K less. I usually use my United points for any one way go, but for weeks upcoming they want 90K points one way same route coach, normally 44K. So I paid cash to EVA to save points. Amazing backstory with EVA. I transit TPE, and apparently that transit was only reopened June 15, last month; it had been shut since August last year which played havoc with Taiwan's two main airlines. Get this, unless the rule changes in the next 2 weeks, I have to have a negative RT-PCR test for a 2 1/2 hour transit in TPE; US Immigration doesn't care for my entry. And we think Thailand has been bad (well, it has).

Yes the problem is that crazy avoidable accidents are so common here every day that if we took each one with the seriousness it deserves we wouldn't be able to enjoy life in a normal way. We each have to become "the laughing philosopher", amused at the follies of humanity.