JemJem

Sad. Man, falls can be really dangerous. I am sure most of us have had at least a couple of such instances. For example, once, I had a bad fall in Sydney, Australia. Must have been 1997. About to enter a danceclub in King's Cross. A basement club. Slipped on the stairs. Was literally in the air and then fell on the hard stairs. Luckily not on my head but on my waist. I was already drunk by then. Still went in there. Danced nonstop for some hours and possibly had great fun. Hey, I was in my twenties 🙂 From next day on, my waist hurt for at least a couple of weeks though. Anyway, life can be fragile. Who knows what would have happened if I had struck the back of my head.

Been to the Nana area recently after quite a long time. Saw many freelancers. Yeah, I have noticed quite a high number of African women in various locations there, at least some of whom seem to be on the game. Saw a few Middle Eastern ones at/near Gulliver's. Of course, needless to mention there were many local freelancer lasses too 🙂 Failed to see Russian/Central Asian Republics ones though that evening. But, I think they still mainly hang out at/near the Grace Hotel. I mean, that was the case back in the pre-Covid years. I haven't been to the Grace for several years. Anyway, all this was not even at a late time. I was in the area around 8-10 PM. So, I guess the freelance stuff is still going strong.

Still no arrests?? WTF?!

Shoes are no big deal, unless it was a very expensive one, but sorry about the laptop. Was it totally rendered useless and so you got a new one? Anyway, good that you didn't get an infection from the incident.

I haven't written in this section for ages, and I know very little is posted here. But, anyway, I hope there will be some replies. After about 35 years of mostly intermediate level to heavy level of drinking, I have decided to quit it in a determined way. I am now doing it for totally due to serious health concerns, so this time I know there is a 99 percent chance I will make it. Of course, all that drinking has already done its damage and sadly there is nothing I can do about it. My serious decision to quit has come at least a few years too late sadly. Anyway, I have already broken my personal record. I am into five and a half months of sobriety now. My previous record was slightly over 5 months and this was about 20 years ago. Most of my other sober periods didn't reach the 1 month mark. I am doing it my own way. I respect the AA and people who go there. It is just not for me. I am now in Bangkok, still going out in the evenings, figuring out which venues have got non-alcoholic beer 🙂 Quite a few pubs and bars do. I am avoiding certain types of venues. Not because I am scared I might relapse but because I am thinking I will get bored at them and they will be disappointing experiences. I mean places like girlie bars and dance clubs, and possibly pool parties. I know I would never enjoy those places without being at least somewhat drunk. But for example places with live music are fine. Especially if the place has food too. Anyway, I just wanted to share some thoughts etc.

You have summarised it well. That 'refurbishing' really messed it up, and the fact that there is still no MRT/BTS nearby is a big minus too. I stay in the Victory Monument area, which is not far from KSR, but I really don't feel like going there anymore. Maybe, just maybe, I will go there just once on this trip.

Haha. Well, I am guessing that he could still find a 300 baht room over there but that would be like for a bed in a dorm type of room. Just a guess though. I had usually stayed at two or three star hotels over there. They were around 600-900 baht per night in the noughties. As for taking a bird home for 10 quid, I assume he was joking, even for back in the old days 🙂

Thanks. Wow, it is rare and nice to see follow up news to an incident.

Man, people who like to drink on holiday mostly do so at various bars, pubs etc. Especially if one flies half way round the world, what is the point of only drinking at your hotel? People should use common sense and leave their expensive jewelry in their home countries (or inside the hotel safe, at least when going out drinking). And, of course, it is best not to have a lot of cash when on a boozy night out. In this case, the guy apparently actually didn't have a lot of cash with him. The not-so-cheap ring's gone though.

There are some harsh, nasty comments in here sadly. We don't really know what happened to her. Maybe she had been doing drugs and in that case, okay, we shouldn't have much sympathy for her. But, maybe she was having some sort of psychotic meltdown. Anyway, I hope she is at least fairly okay now. But, as is the case with many stories, there wasn't and won't be a follow up most probably.

I think it is silly and dangerous. You might have a problem. Note : I am not pro-Putin regime or anything like that.

Is it just me, or do you folks also think that Khao San was a lot more fun, say between 2000 and 2010, than afterwards? Actually, once, there was a trip of mine in 2008 or 2009 where I stayed at Khao San entirely. Nearly 2 months, I think. Of course, some would say it was even more fun in the 90's, or even earlier. Possible. Too bad I never went to Khao San those times.

Some kind of joke?? I used to be very worried about Covid too, man. Until recently actually. But, there is no end to this madness. Suppose you only take that elevator when alone. But how about if someone with Covid had taken that same elevator half a minute ago or so, and without you knowing about that of course?! And of course, there are all sorts of other places where one has the chance of catching it. No end to it, man. As for the original matter, we will probably never know if that person has been caught. As with most such stories, there is no follow-up news later.

Yes, alcoholic drink sales are banned on Thai trains. How about taking your own drinks onto a train and drinking in there ? I am kind of guessing that is banned too.

Are you ready to brave the crowd of thousands in a relatively small space, just to see them from a distance ? 🙂

Good that no one got killed or seriously injured. I doubt that the Aussie guy will get into significant legal trouble, but, I think we can be almost certain that all this is gonna cost him quite a lot of money.

Well, for many nationalities, the tourist visa has lost its relevance actually, now that visa exempt stay is 60 days (with a 30-day extension possible inside Thailand). Of course, for other types of visa, it is a different case.

This is so sad and upsetting. And, what makes it worse is that it seems like more and more governments around the world have been normalising relations with the Taliban regime, which will probably never go away in the foreseeable future. Can any of us really see the Taliban ever holding proper, free and fair elections ?! Also, recently, on YouTube, I have come across several videos of some Western traveller YouTubers who had gone to Afghanistan. Their main message was like 'Hey, it is not so bad here in Afghanistan. The Taliban is mostly misunderstood. They actually care about their people, and the West should stop spreading lies and misinformation about them'. What is strikingly missing from their videos is any interaction with women there. In fact, women are rarely present in their videos. I don't know what to say about these naive, gullible people. Sad!

AND doner kebab of course 🙂

The thing is, in almost all of such cases, there is no follow up news later. We can only just guess what will happen or has happened. There are so many possibilities. In this case, maybe the attacker will settle the stuff with the couple and not face any charges. If there is no settlement, the authorities might still just give him a free pass and only deport him (with or without a certain entry ban for the future). If he goes to court, as we can all guess, there is a number of outcome possibilities. We will probably again just guess, folks 🙂

I agree. Of course, whether this new movement will bring significant change remains to be seen. For now, there is reason for optimism. I think there is good hope for Thailand and other South East Asian countries, regarding human rights and freedom of expression. I am guessing and hoping that things won't turn out like 'Arab Spring' did eventually_like a big farce. As you know, the human rights and freedom of expression situation is generally at a very poor level in the Middle Eastern countries and Turkey. I have lost hope about those countries. But, I feel there is definitely hope for Thailand.

I guess so, because in some countries, there would have been a quite high chance of him getting lynched.

As far as I know, language schools don't usually provide a work permit, unless things have changed in recent years. But, all (or almost all) schools, colleges and universities do. The guy most probably worked at a language school.

I have also been to Malaysia. A few times to Penang. On my first visit, I was surprised to see that the 7-11s sold beer 24 hours a day. I mean, I knew that Malaysia was not as strict as, say, many other Muslim -majority countries on this issue, but I had thought that they probably would have some hour restrictions in alcoholic drink sales. By the way, is the sale of alcoholic drinks banned on all trains in Thailand now? And, if yes, what about taking your own beers to a train and drinking them there? By the way, I have quit drinking due to health reasons, but I am against most bans and restrictions. I fully agree with the age restrictions though.

Cheers for the openness. Good luck, mate. Is it easy getting long term stay right in Cambodia? I mean, after all, both you and your partner are foreigners there.