intheheartoftheheart

9 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

Not always necessarily true. At least for me, but it's been several years (3 or so) since I last downloaded a torrent.

 

While most torrents are good and have no issue I have experienced:

 

- Movie/show not complete

- Video quality may have issues

- Sound/video out of sync

- Torrent not correctly labeled

- Foreign language but description stated English

- Other

If you do it long enough you will figure out who the reputable release groups are. They'll append the file name with their tag (like 'phoenix' or something). Brand loyalty. Then just only dl from them...

hdtoday . tv works everywhere for me.

I don't understand how they stay in business, since I have an adblocker. Streaming isn't cheap. 

Torrents always work without fail too. It's just one extra step. 

On 2/19/2023 at 11:08 AM, LaosLover said:

Serviced apartments seems to be that category. They seem a little cheaper than AirBnB since you will tend to deal directly with the property.

 

For me as a new arrival, the first sweet spot was buying a toaster, blender, and Mr Coffee for my hotel room.

 

I'd love to move every 90 days too. My wife likes to dig in for a year at a time, at least.

Yeah, I just rarely find a good serviced apartments, but you're right that really is the model.

I want some decent pans to cook with. Toaster or blender. Slightly less crappy furniture than a typical Airbnb. Normal apartment stuff. But don't want to commit to more than 30-90 days. 

21 hours ago, LaosLover said:

I'm on my second condo rental in Nimman, Chiang Mai. Both were/are majority-rented out as AirBnB although illegally. I have seen no bad behavior from the short term tenants. I'm a model tenant.

 

As someone who started living here on a 3 month, and then a 6 month lease, where do you draw the line about it being bad? A 30 day rental indicates that a person is either a snowbird or here for a reason and prob being a party animal isn't it.

 

Who are the "real" tenants who will harass someone new they see in the elevator? Thai people? Other westerners? What satisfaction comes from this?

 

People with concerns about housing availability should address that politically, where some change can occur (like in Hawaii). Putting it on the heads of short term renters and yelling at them is crazy.

In my experience owning multiple homes and traveling the world non-stop for 7 years, I think there is a real hole in the market for 1-6 month rentals.

Probably more realistically 1-3 month rentals since 3 months is the the limit of most tourist visas.

I think it would address a lot of issues. You'll get better quality tenants, for the most part.

You'll avoid constant building turnover and hotel feel.

As an owner, you'll cut down on management and cleaning costs and you'll insulate yourself from cancellations bc you'll want to require pre-payment of at least 50%. 

I'm bored with any place on Earth after 90 days...

I've noticed all the older, shirtless sex tourists in Pattaya have the same exact body-figure of post-menopausal women.

The exact same women they've tried to escape back in the Midlands.

Quite entertaining to see.

It's gotta be the beer. 

Does Nan have the same Air Quality issues as the rest of the North during burning season?

Any tips on where to sleep while doing the loop?

4 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

Holy smokes, thats about as long as that young American lady got for murdering her mother in a Bali 5 star hotel and stuffing the body in a suitcase and leaving it in a taxi trunk. 

What? Is there an article about this? Missed this one...

1 hour ago, JoseThailand said:

the current extension allows people to stay until the end of September,

Is this legit?

I'm on Elite, but have multiple friends here that would like to take advantage of this. Is this posted in the Gazette?

There was an announcement a few days ago of China extending the zero-Covid policy for another 5 years. But this is being scrubbed from the media and Chinese social networks so not clear.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/27/asia/china-zero-covid-policy-intl/index.html

Anecdotally, I met a nice, card-carrying CCP embassy girl in Istanbul a few months ago (the elite are still allowed to travel) who told me that China will remain shut until the end of 2023, and this has nothing to do with COVID. Take from that whatever you like. My guess is a power struggle behind the scenes while Xi tries to consolidate the last bits of power that are outstanding. But who really knows with China.

The spitting goes back to Mao, who was famously unfond of "fancy manners" or bourgeois, Western decorum. Was actually seen as a way to show party/class solidarity. 

Will be curious how this plays out...

Looks like a lot of rain, from your chart. Just wondering if it is endurable. 

Thank you. Any experience with what 'rainy season' means in Samui? Is it constant downpours for days at a time, or just grey skies and drizzle?

I know it's 'rainy season' but what does that mean on a day to day basis in Samui in August/Sept?

Constant torrential downpours? Drizzle all day long? Alternating periods of rain and sun? Extensive flooding?

Just trying to get a decent idea before I book a place for those two months. I don't care about the beach, but I don't want to be stuck inside all day long.

13 hours ago, stuarty said:

As someone that went through the DUI process in Thailand last year, hired lawyers, did the wais, paid up etc etc I can say that it is a bit strange he's still in jail. Cops ask for 30-40k in the station. If you don't have it on you immediately you're in the local jail cell for the night.

 

Not doubting this at all but surely nobody has 30 - 40K THB on their person, so how could it be paid immediately.. I was told it was 20K they would ask for as that was the max you could withdraw from an ATM daily?

Yeah, it sucks. I was out without an ATM card. Just some cash. So I spent the night in jail. Called my wife (a non-thai) the next day (they let you have your phone in the cell for an extra 1000, even bring you whatever food you want and let me use a charger :). She had to go to two banks, if I remember correctly, to pull out 100k since we're both foreigners. Woe to you if this happens on a bank holiday.

Yes! Know your lawyer.

One other note, to that point: you have to be bailed out by a Thai citizen.

Once your court proceedings are concluded, bail is returned, but only back into the bank account of the Thai. ????

In my case, it was the lawyer, who used a portion of the bail for her services.

Around 20k all in for multiple filings and appearances. I got lucky, she easily could have claimed the full 100k.

As someone that went through the DUI process in Thailand last year, hired lawyers, did the wais, paid up etc etc I can say that it is a bit strange he's still in jail. Cops ask for 30-40k in the station. If you don't have it on you immediately you're in the local jail cell for the night.

Once they process the paperwork and send the charges to the prosecutor's office, Bail is 100k for DUI (assuming 1st time). You get released in 24-36 hrs.

You're then stuck in Thailand (they take your passport) until the "trial", with bi-weekly check-ins at the court. You do these check-ins for around 8 weeks.

You don't actually go to trial, it's more of a remediation/arbitration proceeding where you and your lawyer meet with a judge. She lectures you in Thai for being a stupid farang. You and your lawyer wai. You hand them 40k and they give you your passport back. You also pay for any damages you may have caused to the other bike. So long as you are humble, have money, and do everything you ask, it goes fine. 

There's no way he'd still be in jail two weeks after an accident. Assuming he can't come up with the bail, or the accident is more serious, or he's got priors.

Do you have a food processor?

This is the best way to do it in 5 mins. I learned it in Israel. Scale up as needed. 

--

QUICK TEHINA SAUCE

1 garlic clove

Juice of 1 lemon

1 (16-ounce) jar tehina

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 to 1½ cups ice water

HUMMUS

2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1. MAKE THE TEHINA SAUCE: Nick off a piece of the garlic (about a quarter of the clove) and drop it into a food processor.

2. Squeeze the lemon juice into the food processor. Pour the tehina on top, making sure to scrape it all out of the container, and add the salt and cumin.

3. Process until the mixture looks peanut-buttery, about 1 minute.

4. Stream in the ice water, a little at a time, with the motor running. Process just until the mixture is smooth and creamy and lightens to the color of dry sand. Now you have Quick Tehina Sauce!

5. MAKE THE HUMMUS: Add the chickpeas to the tehina sauce and process for about 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go, until the chickpeas are completely blended and the hummus is smooth and uniform in color.

23 minutes ago, cmarshall said:

For VN to become a rich nation means they would have to export their own high-value added products deisgned and produced by Vietnamese-owned companies to compete successfully in global markets.  This requires the transfer of existing technology from abroad as well as making their own technology breakthroughs in the future as Japan did with autos in the past or Korea with flat-screen TVs and LPG tanker ships.  

 

So far, VN hasn't done any of this.  Like Thailand they have grown to this point by selling cheap labor.  For instance, the supply chain for some wooden building products in the US market starts with timber cut in New Zealand which is then shipped to VN for milling and maybe painting in some cases before export to US lumber distributors.  New Zealand supplies the raw materials while VN adds value only from its cheap labor.  They will have to move beyond this level of development to become one of the rich nations.

 

Yep.

Totally remains to be seen but the ball is in their court for sure.

BIS is about to let them join the cabal:

https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/571169/vietnamese-central-bank-invited-to-become-bis-member.html

Plus:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-09/vietnam-s-richest-man-bets-2-billion-to-sell-cars-to-americans

From my experience working with Vietnamese designers, 3d modelers, and animators vs their Thai (and Malaysian0 counterparts I would stake my life on Vietnam absolutely destroying Thailand and the rest of SEA in the economic arms race.

Viets are, without a doubt, smarter, more ambitious, more creative, more eager to learn, and willing to take criticism (and provide necessary pushback) than the rest of SEA.

From a personality standpoint Viets remind me of the South Koreans, but better--same work ethic, but more creative and less of a herd mentality in their thinking.

Thais remind me of Mexicans or Latin Americans back home. Like garish fabrics, loud, vapid TV shows, spicy food, and, for the most part, are content to hang out at home with their families. Nothing wrong with that, for sure, but not a strong bet for economic dynamism.

My 2 cents after doing a lot of work down here.