LaosLover

A guy selling big pot buds was dressed as a muslim mullah. I bought one, drawn in by the Mad Mullah-mystique. But would Khomeini really be selling pot down on the corner? When I got home and lit up, it melted. It was plastic.

As Buddha said, "acquaint the heart with wisdom". Here's a song they still sing down the road from where I used to live -made famous from the film Brother, Where Art Thou. I don't want to be a southern baptist, I think they are troglodytes. But I like accessing that emotional state. Like you said, the music is a conduit for that.

Emperor Tud - I met him. Via The Lonely Planet Thorn Tree. He was a tireless advocate of paid sex. He was the Nelson Mandela of Mongers.

And this is another reason why Mexico sucked. Lot's of these boneheads on the beach. Thailand? Finally, they're on the back foot, forced to lay low by the Euro-socialist majority. Or you could dodge them and go live among the Canadians. Talk about a game of pick your pain.

Latin America and Carib are a lot more expensive, I'd say 30% more (lived in Mex City). Food is very blah, you gotta really love a pork taco. Women? Do you love 'em fat in the can? Do you want to hear a lot about Jesus? How about 6 hour Sunday lunches with Mama? And the crime factor; In touristic Zona Roma, I could be out past 9 PM, but in most of the city, really not.

Yeah, it's a 2 cd set. His backing group, the Jordanaires, were very collaborative. Carl Perkins led the session. Sold millions. This is the best known song : But for Elvis-Inspirational, nothing tops this:

Me too in Hanoi. Those early books were like travel anthropology. Joe Cummings got only $10K to write that very thick book. It was an astounding feat, considering how much history, culture etc. he packs into even a 100 word discription of Loei. Tony Wheeler said that they would rotate the best hostel recco between editions.

Did you buy one? Did you go where they said you should go? It was hugely influential on me; I even kept it next to the toilet so that I might read "Roi Et does not reveal it's charms easily" for the 20th time while taking a dump. Another great line: "On Ko Chang, Long-termers contentedly stoke their bongs". They were all over the map on places like Patpong; you should def go for a peek, but you should exaggeratedly communicate your suddenly-acquired worldly scorn and amusement while there. You should be super-careful "never to give a Shaman an aspirin, lest you undermine his traditional medical practices". Child monk's head? Hands off!!! And of course, the invention of the banana pancake. I had my first one in '88. You? It told you how you were supposed to be - as a traveler, you were in no way a mere tourist. Lonely Planet jumpstarted mass tourism and opened up the world to a lot of people. If I go over someone's house and see a whole shelf of Lonely Planet Guides, I rate that person highly -partic if it has a lot of guides for places like for Ethiopia, places the owner wouldn't even go to, but was curious enough to have a book about. Ha anyone here ever met the author of the Thai book, Joe Cummings? I wonder if he's still in Chiang Mai. Likewise, Oz-heads, any Tony Wheeler encounters?

Gamma, is that you? Def worth a google of "Are Zinc Supplements Worthless?". How did Stone Age Flintstone-Man manage to stagger on and procreate us without Zinc-OD'ing?

There was also the less commercially successful (it's all down to the record label) 5 Blind Boys of Mississippi. I always hoped for a blind-off pro-wrestling match between them.

I saw them New Years Eve '77. They were at their Devo-ist. If you liked Devo, you must like the other great D-band, The Divynals. At some point, we'll have to get into Nick Cave's baffling religiosity to get back on track.

English style tea is the only kind I like with milk and a half a sugar. They called it Builder's Tea. Hagan Daz used to have an English Tea Ice Cream, so perfect. I'll still have a green tea ice cream if I'm in a fancy Japanese place. Earl Grey ice cream is rare, but lovely too. I'm surprised that tea-ice cream isn't a bigger thing over here, as a logical extension of bubble tea.

Hip replacement here is $18K, In America, $40K, Mexico, in the middle. Medicares says they''ll pay 80% (more like 70% after nickel and dimeing), so no huge savings to enjoy their largesse. And you have to wait until someone decides it's medically necessary. You can get insurance at any age, but the older you lock in your rate, the steeper it will be. Also, the longer you wait, the more likely a pre-existing condition is to pop up. I'm thinking of cutting loose medicare entirely. It's mainly a get out of jail free card in case I need chemo not available in Thailand. But going back to the dysfunctional USA and fighting with billing while I'm sick? No, I'll depart to Euro-land and still pay less. Or maybe some Marriot-like condo attached to a hospital in India. It already exists.

I'm 70, my health insurance with CIGNA is $500 a month. A deal by American standards. The future expats will be more likely to hold an Elite visa than a retirement visa. For the affluent Chinese, Russian, and Crypto-whatevers, it's a pittance to be able to come and go. There's a Crypto-whatever on my condo floor. Paid 2 years rent in advance. 'Doesn't even care if they triple the Elite fee. Him + me = gentrification. There's also another shmushy category, the long term stayers and snow birds. I rate someone who's here 3-6 months a year, every year as an expat. Combine them with the Elite Visa peripatetic types, and the future expat vibe will feel more transient.

'Been on that dyin' ol' vine. Get off that vine!!!!! It's a BAD vine.

Bob Smith Sings Chav Songs Of The Lord -let the crowdfunding begin. Liam will want to duet. A very Burberry Christmas?

Canadians view Americans like we view Mexicans. So when I lived in Mex City, I was getting the superiority from all sides -fair # of English in Mex City too for Med Tourism, so from them too.

Some very quiet jazz-gospel, in my short 100+ plays list on Itunes. There's a second album too. Where I used to live, old churches like this were about every 8 miles.

I feel this way in Chiang Mai. If the so-called famous Khao Soi noodles are a 200 baht grab cab RT for the 50 baht bowl, shouldn't I just eat at the decent place on my block for 80 baht? It's not even the baht, it's the bother. The irony is that having waited so long to get here, a little Chiang Mai now goes a long way. I have seen and done less here in a year than I'd do in the average week-long pop-in when I was a tourist. So I am like Khun La, except without leaving town.

Love these guys and the whole sub genre called Spiritual Jazz, which runs from Afrobeat to Alice Coltrane. None of which would exist without Gospel.

Agreed. Maybe a second place in Silom as a dream. We plan to travel in the burning seasons, but I'll always be grateful to get back to Chiang Mai.

Aren't you a former tourist who got smitten? I am, that's all I meet here. Same in Mex. Once a low down place becomes your mono-destination, you're a candidate for a cheap apartment with weak water pressure there. Air conditioned apartments in Mex City -hard to find.

Today's tourist is tomorrow's expat. And when you look at the changing mix...... We are but blundering Masterdons that the Chinese are waiting for to die.

Answer from fee-seeking real estate agent: Ma Pen Rai.

Mex, Tulum etc. have the youth vibe and the dreads. Really, it's all about who gets the dreads or the gays. The young are gaga in love with Mex at The Beach-era inThailand levels. A lot of it is down to where the nomadic EDM dance people decide they want to be. At the full moon party, a lot of those people said Tulum was better. Mex City attracts more intellectually oriented expats. When I lived in Zona Roma, I had my pick of little stores selling Sun Ra tee shirts. Real bookstores with real books. Tryyyy that in a small town.