Isaan sailor

Rising Baht

Rice is the preferred crop—lower maintenance, and not easy to steal, like higher value vegetables and fruits. Tough for Thai farmers competing with India on the world market. Government should hype the superior quality of the Hom Mali variety grown in Isaan.

Not sure about canning, I know we can freeze them. My wife purées then, then boils then down, dries, then rolls them. They keep in the fridge a very long time.

Mango pie with whipped cream. Too many mangoes in the yard…

DXY at multi month low—99.103. If USA loses its world reserve currency—look out below. Currency traders don’t like tariff uncertainty

The higher the Baht goes—the less we spend in Thailand.

Apple will shift most of the manufacturing of the iPhone from China to India and Vietnam. Makes you wonder why they didn’t choose Thailand…

The temptation to use your home country credit card is strong. You get international rates, and you’re borrowing the bank’s money, not yours. So if you get hacked, it’s their problem. That said, I’ve had my credit card hacked twice. No more fuel charges. Not sure about Lazada, or hotel booking sites.

I use a US mailbox, with a relative’s address for my US bank and brokerage. My iPhone has E-SIM capability and I maintain both a Thai and a US phone number. So far, so good.

I think Thailand would be well served to clean up the ocean waters and beaches. I encounter trash every time I go there. Pay people to collect trash on beaches, and perhaps pay fisherman or sailors to scoop up trash on the water.

Sadly, my Thai wife does.

I recall reading about a meeting with Thai industrial leaders and the government not too long ago. They said industry needed a Baht at 34 to the USD to survive. So no, I don’t feel the Baht is weak today.

If that helps tamp down the Baht, it’s a good thing.

Chinese movies can be fun, at first. People flying around,fighting, jumping great heights and twisting , and my favorite: two opposing groups facing each other—but only one at a time speaking. After a while, though…

I always felt they named it COvID-19 to hide the obvious origin.

Easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, I know…US should have begun with a 10% worldwide tariff and negotiated from there.

Buy Greenland? Meh. They might get a stronger security or mineral rights agreement with Greenland, and call it a success. Or maybe they’ll shoot the moon and win big.

I think the Soros family has a financial hand in these protests and acts of terrorism— not your everyday Democrats.

I self insure, with enough Baht to use in an emergency, and the rest, if needed, would come from US based credit cards, backed by stock sales.

Bank of Thailand says the Baht is influenced by foreign currency inflows. among other factors such as USD strength or weakness. Therefore, when the tourist high season ends, and tourists slow down Baht withdrawals, perhaps the Baht will fall.

If the baht continues its decline and breaks through the resistance threshold of 34-34.10 per dollar, it might challenge the 34.20 zone next," he suggested. Well, that didn’t age well…

As long as we’re in high season—with 10’s of thousands of tourists changing their currency to Baht each day—the Baht won’t change much. I look forward to low season.

Agreed. Nothing, except perhaps good Isaan sum tam.

The US does grow rice already—very large, efficient farms.

Strike three, you’re out!