Enzian

"Very distasteful indeed."

You're right to a large degree. Oppressive sexism, the double standard, shame over a biological urge, are alive and well. But I've said I'm prepared to help one, regardless of how she proceeds, and there's another I haven't mentioned. But I can't help everyone, and it is impossible to know completely who is deserving and who is not. Life isn't fair, and karma always steps in and registers the choices we make.

26 minutes ago, Canuck1966 said:

I'm on about in the last few days, have you been recently?

Not for 5 days or so, I'm doing a move. But I'll wander back soon. The strange sight is a couple of girls standing together no masks near the old police booth between 13 and 11, with a couple of cops standing 20 foot away-no health issues here!

3 hours ago, Canuck1966 said:

Apparently (I wouldn't know personally) but there is a lovely selection of girls looking for 'love' on Soi 4 BKK

Not the usual ladies of the night either!

 

I go window shopping there, and some are surprisingly cute, though I wouldn't say unusual; but in all these years I've never selected one from the street (Thermae, yes, but that's different). But I talked to one on 4 and accused her of being too young, and she swore 21; so be careful.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

DO you really believe 'she would restrict her attentions'?

One born every minute.

That's the obvious issue I didn't mention. I would need a PI to be sure. Thee's probably no way to be sure, but then, what about most guys wives?

I've had an interesting offer from a "massage" woman I've known for probably 7 years. She's returning to Bangkok from the village soon, and if I would catch up her room rent and help her in  few more ways, she would restrict her attentions to me while her old shop remains closed. A win-win in that she doesn't starve or go homeless, I get "taken care of" to the nines, and we both limit our exposure to multiple people. The danger I see is the "pretty woman" syndrome, an arrangement turning into a relationship. But I probably will help her. 

Jesus, 40 pounds. They will be an old couple before they get back together.

"health insurance covering 50000$". And how much will that cost an 80 yr old US male, and what company will issue it?

On 5/18/2020 at 1:21 PM, KhunBENQ said:

Most of southern Italy little affected.

I think that is relative. I was in Puglia for extended periods twice last year, so I know southern Italy, and at this time, and though I have not looked at the details for a while, I would not yet trust large towns like Bari. Or for that matter, Naples and several of the other large towns in the south where I've been. I want to go to Abruzzo, but a while back there was an outbreak in Pescara, where a famous couple both died. At the same time, I don't want to criticize the Italians for wanting to open back up. It's just that at 80 I can't take chances. But who knows, in a few short months...

Luckily my "for reason of retirement" visa is not due for renewal till 3rd week of December, which takes the pressure off. As for the 90 day report, which I would normally have to do in two weeks from now, I'm thinking of taking the advice of those on this forum (and others) and just kiss it off.

I'm of exactly the same mind as the OP. I was in Hanoi for two weeks coming back to BKK March 11 just before the virus hit the fan. I have various reasons to return to Vietnam, but when? Also, before the virus I was spending almost a third of each year in Italy, which will be opening up international flights sooner than most expected, but at 80 I can't risk going from here to a place that still has daily cases. Oh well, there are worse places to be stuck than Bangkok... and it is relatively safe...

So they are saying half the recorded cases are from people going to hospital initially for something else?

About every three days I walk the same route though the Din Daeng neighborhood, including the huge night food market. In many places people have stopped wearing masks, there is no thought of social distancing, and they don't act afraid. I guess if some have ended in hospital I wouldn't know it, but it sure doesn't look like it from the way they act. I attribute the climate and lack of air con, and perhaps in time we will have scientific proof of such. And there may be some general immunity we have not yet identified. In Alameda County CA the rate of infection of asians is half that of whites, which also has not been explained.

18 hours ago, Wiggy said:

They didn’t have much choice. 

When I was Emquartier on Sunday the 18th entrants were free to ignore the QR code registration, though we were required to sign in with our phone number on first entry. But there was nothing to stop one from putting down a fake name and number. A sign said something about foreigners passport numbers required, but it wasn't happening. 

Well, you can complain that the elite is keeping their holdings and the baht strong despite what is happening on the ground (and at the moment the bhat is creeping back in the direction of 30/dollar, amazing). But it also means that my US30K in an uninsured Thai bank FCD account (for visa renewal) is not in much danger; pluses and minuses in everything. 

8 minutes ago, newatthis said:

 

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Is Abhisit in this picture? 

We were already spending down our reserves to improve the quality of our assets when this hit, not so good timing. But the projects can be slowed a crawl and luckily everyone is still paying their rent so far, because there is a moratorium on evictions. 

My experience with credit card travel insurance is that the last thing they want to do is pay out on a claim. This if it happens will likely be similar. I'm pro-business but those guys give it a bad name.

I suggest this was a case of just too many people and too obvious, and the foreign owner/operator did not help. I imagine that all over the country there are tiny out of the way bars with just a couple or 3 patrons that are left alone.

6 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

this sounds like Pulp Fiction.

Except Tarantino's name comes from the Italian city of Taranto in Puglia.

Got to be careful here. I've had food poisoning that put me in hospital (from a restaurant), and I've had e Coli from a restaurant that took weeks to recover because it was misdiagnosed at first.

I'm becoming more aware of the historical tensions between the military and the police in this country. Part of the reason there is non-accountability in both branches is that the issue for them is not the rule of law, it's who is in the driver's seat. Usually it is the military, but Taksin showed it could be the other way around. So the reason each protects its own internally is that holding its own accountable would strengthen the other side, which is what they really don't want.

On the topic of noise, I'm moving from one condo building to another, no noise from neighbors in either place because there hardly are any neighbors. This must be the case in a lot of Bangkok, I've heard the occupancy rates can be as low as 20% in some places.

3 hours ago, PaulieAUS said:

How did she amass $8K in debt?

Her restaurant before I met her was losing money and she kept pouring borrowed money down that black hole till the landlord just took back the premises anyway, at the time we met; I was present when she liquidated the fixtures. When she met me she effectively retired for a few years and played with her phone.