xylophone

I did mention it in a post some while back and thought it was a good movie. Now onto something completely different!!........I downloaded and watched the four episodes of, "Murder in the Valleys" as it was recommended by somebody a short while ago, and I enjoyed it, and rather than it being like your average everyday doco (it was a true story), it played out more like a suspense/mystery thriller. In fact you couldn't have made this stuff up it as was full of twists and turns, putting different potential suspects in the spotlight. Now here is a question for anybody who has seen it (and I won't give anything away); – do you think that the right person was jailed for the crime??

Good idea to wake up the topic again schlog, and your post reminded me that I had seen a Cote du Rhone (Gentilhomme by Ogier) and I meant to buy it when I was perusing some other wines in the shop called Promphan , but I was distracted and forgot!!!! I had tried it last year and I thought it was very good and have always liked the wines from Ogier (especially the Cote Rotie) having visited the vineyard many years ago, and as I recall this one was about 590 baht a bottle, so not over-the-top, and I will get down there and buy a few bottles now that you have mentioned it!!!

I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything, however I did mention in a previous post that a friend of mine who had been rejected for his retirement extension, even though he had the money in the bank, presumably because it was in a term deposit, was told by an IO officer that he could use an agent to obtain his extension. He did this, and the stamp in his passport was an official one from the local immigration office. I had used the money in the bank plus regular monthly deposits previously, however for some reason unbeknownst to me, the agent became very irate and said that I wasn't to do it like this again??? That's why I was considering this other route, even though I do have the full 800 K in the bank at the moment.

It was a suggestion made in good faith JetsetBkk, as I thought that previous posts in ThaiVisa would be archived somehow/somewhere?? Perhaps someone like UbonJoe or Charlie H, who are much more knowledgeable than I am with regards to the workings of the forum, would know where to/how to look?

There are quite a few bars like this on a "main" road in Patong, and they are nowhere near the "nightlife entertainment area" of Bangla Road, and on a walk or drive to the local Makro, one will encounter such places!

In the paragraph which you posted UJ, "if an authorised competent officer is of the opinion that the alien has legitimate reason for staying in the kingdom of Thailand.........an authorised competent officer can view it for further consideration". So it would appear that this is the loophole which the agents are using, if indeed it is from the same immigration order? Looking back into the annals of aseannow would probably uncover the same subject, or possibly going back into Thai Visa records??

i have suffered all that has been discribed above for over 46yrs.the doctor put me on ZOTON lansoprozole which changed my life. The poster above has a good point Batty, because if I recall correctly, the regimen they they prescribed me the first time round didn't work and that included omeprazole and two antibiotics, clarithromycin and amoxicillin. The clarithromycin caused me quite a bit of stomach discomfort, so the medications were changed to metronidazole and tetracycline, along with lansoprazole, and they seemed to do the trick. The funny thing is that I had been taking omeprazole for quite some time, and when this cleared up, whenever I got a flareup of reflux (extremely rare now) I would pop an omeprazole, which did the trick?

I will post this a second time although it has been posted before:- This has been covered time and time again on forums like this and there are the two schools of thought, which I won't go into now, however, on one particular thread a poster was able to post part of the "rules and regulations" regarding the 800 K funds in the bank, and the paragraph read something like this, "the senior immigration officer at any immigration office has the discretion to grant an extension of stay based on retirement, without proof of funds being provided" (or words to that effect). This is actually written into the code of practice/rules and regulations and is therefore not illegal.

What with all of the furore over Will Smith's actions at the Oscars, I decided to take a look at his list of movies and was tempted to watch "I Legend" again, but settled for one I had never seen before, called "Enemy of the State", and am so glad I did because it was a very good movie indeed. I had watched, "I Robot" a couple of months ago and also enjoyed that and in the main, I am a fan of his, but am not too sure about wanting to watch "King Richard" for some reason?

Indeed he is doing just that LLF, with no success so far.

Just to put the record straight for you.........my motorbike doesn't have tinted windows, although my car does, and I sometimes walk by and can catch some of the banter going on, and it's not the sort that I would want to engage in. My world prior to coming here was a lot different to that of the potbellied, beer swilling bogans, so I have nothing in common with them, neither am I a big beer drinker, going out about once a week to catch up with a few select friends and that's about it. I generally don't like what I see, so I stay away from them and the beer bars they visit. Like some others on here I choose my company carefully, and to quote a line from a Bruce Hornsby song: "That's just the way it is"...........(for me). So to quote the thread heading of, "How are you with people", I would say 'very choosy with whom I associate', and I like it that way.

Indeed I do, and I was there last night for the grand opening of the "Blue Beach Bar and Restaurant" and it was a huge success. Every table was occupied (more or less) and the restaurant was working well to get the food out on time, and I enjoyed another Thai meal along with a few glasses of red wine and good company. There was a Thai sax player who provided the background music, along with backup tracks which were played in order to give him a rest, and I have to say he was very good. It is an excellent venue and one that I shall be making my "regular" now that my Italian restaurant has gone, and not only that, the vista is fabulous, the service is great and I know the owner and her partner, so there is nothing else I could wish for. I met up with a few friends and a little later in the evening we ventured up Bangla, firstly to Soi Freedom, where there was not much going on, then on to the Blue Lotus Café, which on Friday was deserted, but last night had a few customers sitting outside, which did brighten the place up a bit. Then on to Soi Sea Dragon, before eventually being ushered onto a table (with stools) outside of the Tiger complex, not really where I wanted to go, but we were tired of walking up and down and being unable to make up our minds, so we just plonked ourselves down there and ordered a drink. It gave me a chance to catch up with an Australian mate of mine who has come over for a few months, because we were able to converse (no loud music) and he was ruing the fact that he couldn't find a "good" Thai woman who would be willing to accompany him on some travels in Thailand, all paid for, and he is a decent, good-looking guy, so I thought it would be an easy thing, but obviously not, and as I said to him, I doubt very much whether he would find what he's looking for in Bangla and its confines! Away from Bangla and looking out of my window this morning at the heavy rain, which flooded the part of Nanai Road that I could see, and I could also see someone wading through it and the water was up to their knees! Obviously the enormous gratings which were put in further up Nanai, over new and enormous drainage pipes, aren't working (again), and not only does this seem to have been a huge failure, it presents a danger to those folks driving their scooters around, but then again TIT and this is only to be expected here with the lack of experienced planners/engineers with any common sense.

Not quite sure what you're getting at with your post, however if you read it carefully you will find that I "don't go"!! I was merely mentioning that when I drive past, I see these individuals, who travel halfway round the world to sit at a bar at 10:30 AM, wondering why they do it, and how come they all look about the same shape, and with the same unnerving lack of "dress sense", and to me that's cringeworthy. Nothing more and nothing less.

I was a bit of an extrovert when I was younger and was often called "the life and soul of the party", and I loved telling jokes and being the centre of attention. But that was then – – – now I have changed, because I much prefer a less crowded "venue", whether it be a bar or a restaurant and would just as soon sit in a bar or restaurant on my own, watching the world go by. That being said, I only go out to the nightlife in the evening once per week, and certainly don't drink during the daytime. I cringe when I go by a bar here at say 10:30 AM, and see the potbellied, wifebeater-T-shirt wearing farangs plonked on their stools, and wonder why they travel so far, just to sit at a bar and drink beer. I used to have to attend many functions in my business life, sometimes where I had to do presentations, and mix with the business folk afterwards, although it was part of my role, later in life did become a little arduous, so I suppose the change from then until now was gradual, but certainly prefer my own company now, with the occasional night out to catch up with a visiting friend and/or to have a meal somewhere.

Jim, this has been covered time and time again on forums like this and there are the two schools of thought, which I won't go into now, however, on one particular thread a poster was able to post part of the "rules and regulations" regarding the 800 K funds in the bank, and the paragraph read something like this, "the senior immigration officer at any immigration office has the discretion to grant an extension of stay based on retirement, without proof of funds being provided" (or words to that effect). This is actually written into the code of practice/rules and regulations and is therefore not illegal. A friend in my town has just used the local immigration office to do exactly this, and paid the agent the asked amount of 22,000 baht, and will be doing his own 90 day reports at the local office. The ironic thing about it is that he has over 800 K baht in an account, but the immigration officer refused to accept it because it was in a long-term savings account, whereas they had accepted it in the past – – go figure. He was actually given a phone number by another immigration officer, followed that up and now he has his retirement extension Visa done for him by an agent, and I'm thinking of doing exactly the same.......

Quote: "Many tv series are a product of their times, and only of their times". In the main I have to agree with this statement, and I doubt whether I could watch anything again like "Starsky and Hutch", although the occasional old movie strikes a chord. And on the subject of movies, last night I watched the latest film by Kenneth Branagh, "Death on the Nile" and it was about as enthralling as a plate of cold soup; no suspense, no thrills, no intrigue and nothing to recommend it IMO. Such a shame as I was looking forward to a good evening's entertainment!

I seem to remember that the Bunker-Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market back in the late seventies, and around the early 1980s the whole thing turned to custard and they lost millions of dollars, almost their entire fortune, and they were a wealthy family, investing in oil and other commodities. One would have thought they knew what they were doing, but.............

It should also be remembered that contracting the Covid 19 virus itself can cause myocarditis, and these cases are much more common than any associated with the vaccination. The risk of acute myocarditis associated with COVID-19 mRNA vaccination has garnered intense (social) media attention. However, myocarditis after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination is rare and usually resolves within days or weeks. Moreover, the risks of hospitalization and death associated with COVID-19 are greater than the risk associated with COVID-19 vaccination. The incidence of COVID-19-associated cardiac injury or myocarditis is estimated to be 100 times higher (1,000–1,400 per 100,000 people with COVID-19) than that of COVID-19 mRNA-vaccine-related myocarditis. Moreover, in contrast to the overall mild presentation and good outcome of vaccine-associated myocarditis, COVID-19 is associated with a major risk of cardiovascular complications. Anyway, apart from the usual suspects posting regarding the vaccines, the cause of death hasn't been established yet, and even if it was due to a heart problem, it's more than likely that he had contracted a virus in itself. RIP young man.

He called Khrushchev's "bluff" and stood up to him, and no matter how he did it, someone needs to do the same to Putin IMO.

Ending Putin's reign would be a good solution IMO, however it would take some folks with huge "cojones" to do this. I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I was reminded of it when I was watching a movie called "The Courier" last night, when JFK called Khrushchev's bluff, when Khrushchev was moving missiles into Cuba and a nuclear war was the push of a button away, but JFK delivered his own "threat/promise" to the USSR, and they withdrew their missiles and stopped new ones arriving. Surely Putin must be aware that if he launched nuclear weapons, they would kill his own countrymen as well as others, and could/should provoke other countries to do likewise to Russia, so it's a no-win situation, as well as making countries affected by nuclear fallout, damn near useless for decades to come. The US/Nato should stand its ground, issue a similar threat to Putin (and that might get a change of leadership in itself) and call Putin out, and start to ship its fighter planes to Poland to allow them to pass on their fighter aircraft to the Ukraine. Sorry if it's been covered before, but I haven't got time to review 82 pages of comments!!

Some truth in what you say LLF, but as I go out infrequently these days, and don't visit the same bars then the "opening the floodgates" analogy doesn't really apply. More that the girls are "newbies" and not getting a salary, so they immediately ask for a drink, not realising that there is more to it than that, AND of course they are told by the owner to do just that. As regards the Tiger bars, well I never was a fan of the new one, but Soi Eric, Soi Crocodile and a couple of others were great..........but that was then, this is now. No matter what, I do object to paying 200 baht for a small glass of juice, or similar, for a girl to sit next to me and say nothing!! As I said, Bangla has lost its allure for me, and the occasional night out to meet friends and have a small meal, is about the only useful purpose it serves.

This is ground control to Major Tom......... ". Seriously, you make some good points in your post and it made me think as to why Bangla is not so attractive to me these days, and it's not just because of the things I mentioned in my rather long post. I have had three good friends here who have owned bars, and successful bars at that, and I and a few friends would often meet there for a chat and a few drinks and a bit of fun, and none of the girls gave us any drinks hassle, mainly because we were well known and friends of the bar owner, however that didn't stop us from buying a drink or three for any of the girls who chatted to us. If I fancied a night out on my own to get out of my apartment, I would phone and see if the bar owners were out that night, and if they were I would catch up for a drink, and there was none of the eardrum busting music blasting out, so a conversation was possible. It made for an interesting night out and occasionally a whole bunch of us would get together and go to an Italian restaurant for a meal. Things change over time as we all know, and the owner of a particularly popular bar died a few years ago and the bar changed hands and was never the same again; another owner friend of mine was conned out of much of his money, from his girlfriend, which was supposed to go to the landlord, and he subsequently walked away from his bar (and his girlfriend). Such a pity because it was a great bar and a popular meeting place for friends. To be fair, the falling custom and Covid also played a major part in him finally walking away. Then, another very popular bar and meeting place, succumbed to the ravages of Covid (no customers) and overheads, and is no more. Even my favourite Italian restaurant, Salute, just off Bangla, had to close because of lack of custom, and that was also a meeting place for friends and a couple of bar owners. And lastly your comment regarding lady drinks was also spot on, and paying around 200 plus baht for a lady drink is ridiculous these days, and I may add, paying 160 baht for a beer in one of the music bars, is certainly getting up there, although I appreciate one has to take into consideration that it is an entertainment venue and not just a bar.

It's been a few weeks since I had been out and about in Bangla, however last night I decided to catch up with a mate from Oz, and also have something to eat and have a look around. I was surprised that the Blue Lotus Café has ceased selling food, because I thought their "snack like" offerings were great, although I was told later that they would conjure up a pizza if requested. Having said that, I walked past the place a few times last night and it was absolutely empty, such a shame for a place with so much potential. So we went down to the recently opened Blue Beach, which is actually on the beach, or should I say fronting it, and it is looking really great now, and the covered restaurant area was almost full, so I and my Oz mate ate at the bar, and my "hot Thai basil" dish was excellent, and he said his pizza was likewise, so I will be visiting again not only for the vista/wonderful setting, but of course, the food! Walked down Soi Sansabai on the way to Bangla and noticed that it was a lot busier than before with more restaurants now open, and that includes the Pizzaeria Hut Italian restaurant, which I've always liked, and Wicked Bar which used to be a favourite when it was owned by a couple of Kiwis. There were also new places which didn't really strike a chord with me, so remembering them is difficult, especially after a night out on the town! We did stop for a drink in Soi Sea Dragon, but I've probably been here far too long, because the girls didn't seem that pretty any more, and were more clingy and continually asking for a drink when we had only just sat down – – a sign of the times I suppose, because rumour has it that no salaries are paid these days, so what remuneration the girls get comes from what drinks they are bought. We also visited Soi Freedom and it wasn't overly busy, but there were more than the normal amount of ladyboys mincing around, and I realised that the lady boy stage show had been reincarnated, hence the reason. One thing that did amaze me was that where there was once two bars side-by-side, they had been made into one large bar and in front of them were a large number of new, wooden tables and chairs, and they didn't look cheap at all. Looking into the bar there was the usual stainless steel stand which is usually filled with ice and packed with fresh seafood (at least in many others I've seen) empty but waiting to be used when the place was fully up and running. Quite why anyone would put a "restaurant" in a narrow Soi like that, with music from a DJ, and ladyboys miming to various hits, is beyond me, and I would suspect it will end in a costly failure, sad though this may be, planning and ground work for such a place shows little in the way of intelligent thought! There were quite a few people on Bangla going about their business, whatever it was, and I would have to say that the place has become more cosmopolitan even over the last month or so, because I encountered more Australians, a few Norwegians, some girls from Germany, a couple from Lithuania, some Brits, to mention just a few, and they all told me they were on holiday, so Patong is still a drawcard even in these difficult times. I did end up, with my Aussie mate, at Red Hot and although it was fairly crowded, it was nowhere like it used to be, but then that's only to be expected. One thing that did become obvious to me last night, this whilst sitting at a bar being pestered for a drink by a girl to whom I'd never said a word, was that I am just about over this scene, and probably have been for a few years now. Whereas at one time it was all the rage to go to Bangla a few nights a week, catch up with a few mates and have a few drinks, a few laughs and generally have a good time, but now I don't really enjoy it any more, mainly because I am now not a big drinker and prefer wine over beer, and really don't like spirits, so my beverage options are limited on a night out. Furthermore I really can't find the effort to sit there trying to engage in small talk, with a smattering of Thai and English, with a girl whose raison d'être is not to entertain, but to solicit a drink from you, no matter what. Having said that it's probably been like it for years, and maybe it's just me getting old, but years ago it seemed that the girls were prettier, more engaging, and of course could be fun – – but now? The other side of the coin is that to relative "newcomers" to Patong, the bar and go-go scene is new and exciting and is probably something they haven't been used to in the past – – so life goes on here, and I now prefer to meet up with a small group of friends and enjoy a meal and a few glasses of wine, with perhaps a visit to one quieter bar to enjoy the interaction, laughs and jokes, whereas the newcomers revel in the newness and enjoyment that I first encountered all those years ago. C'est la vie.

Maybe that should read, "Beware of the idiots of March" as there seem to be a lot of them around at the moment! Mind you, on Thai roads there mostly always are on any given month!

I for one welcome the addition of new procedures to help with enlarged prostate and urinary retention, and I would have chosen one of those mentioned had they been around when I had my TURP. The TURP operation has been around since 1926, and the original resectoscope used still looks very similar although it has had some minor tweaks over the years, and considering that so much has been done in the field of health/medicine since then, it's not surprising that new methods are being explored. Having said that, advances have been made with Green Light laser and Holmium laser techniques, both of which appear to be superior to the original TURP, with less bleeding and fewer side effects. But taken overall, little has been done in this area, which has been described as a "medical wasteland", so it's pleasing to see new procedures coming on the scene, and more to the point, do not involve general anaesthesia and surgery/cutting, or any of the other side effects like urinary incontinence or erectile dysfunction et al. The medical companies producing these new procedures/products spend millions looking for a solution, and in trials, probably because they see that nothing much has been done in this field for years, and of course if it is successful, then they make money, so it is a win-win situation for all concerned. Having been through a TURP and encountered just about all that could go wrong in the short term, and the long term effects of scar tissue left after the operation, causing urine retention (again) I wouldn't want to go through it again, although unfortunately a second TURP is sometimes required between eight and 10 years after the original operation. As my situation has now changed, partly because of the TURP and its side effects, and my prostate doesn't appear to be the problem now, I will be signing off from this particular thread, and will be putting you on "ignore" because of some of your nonsensical posts.