LaosLover

No, not according to that article. Their version of a Lone Wolf has a lot of standing up for myself, being assertive etc. These days, I just ghost.

I come from the Trumpiest part of Appalachia. Confederate flags waft in the breeze, but I fear not. 1) They're old 2) Fat 3) Stupid 4) Easily distracted 5) Cowards 6) Infiltrated up the wazoo by the FBI 7) Prone to turning on each other at the drop of a hat. One good thing about the Capitol riot was that it flushed the craziest rats out in the open. And not that many or all that fearsome rats, huh? Who wants to be an OathKeeper today? 80% of the chapters have closed. Good news: cammo never goes out of style. Nor do fat guys pretending they were in the military.

I'm grateful that Thailand throws up so many choices of quaintsville and tricked up somtum as it does. Call Thailand the size of a couple of US states. It's got 3 cultural tourist area's, plus Hawaii-level beaches, and tons of national park. But when the OP said places like Udon are "very underrated", I think they're move overlooked than underrated. They don't claim to, and they don't offer much to tourists. What draws you so much to Issan?

Me too, but where? When we travel, we want what we call the French Quarter equation (A walkable historic downtown of low-traffic streets, imaginative restaurants, bit of a cafe/bar scene, a few one-dish tile wall restaurants). That's basically Chiang Mai, bits and bob of Bangkok, or Old Town, Phuket. Are there such places in Issan? Yes, but lacking in the range and quality of the above. Ubon has that few streets off of the park with the pond; Khorat inside the wall is like mini Chiang Mai on a budget. Nong Khai's river walk area warrants a second day. A lot of Issan towns are downtown-lite and just traffic circles and Central Malls. I like that so many 60's-70's flat roof/sunbrick buildings survive mixed in with old shophouses and old teak. I guess I am looking for the Issan equivalent of Miami's Art Deco District. What are the towns that I might want to book into an old town b+b and walk around for a couple of days without a car?

Lovely person, can't beat Trump. See also: Sherod Brown, Newsom et al. Trump is like a Games of Thrones villain. Only a true king may slay him. Or in this case, only an ancient middle of the road, cynical political lifer can assemble the donors and voting machine to nibble him to death at the margins. Likewise, if Mitch McConnell was a dem, he could bury Trump too. Trump's outsider status still needed/needs the establishment to put him over. And this time, he'll have less support from the repub side of that, and a much better managed and funded dem establishment itching to get him on a debate stage. The left and the middle of the Dems are pretty together in holding their nose for Biden. On the Republican side, you see a lot of the middle turned off by rightie stuff over mass shootings, abortion, etc. A lot of republicans have gay family members. How to do they paper over that?

The problem with the alternatives argument is that you have to name one. Who is the go-getter, Trump-slayer that the worrywart alternative-moaners want? The Dem bench is shallow, so is the Repub's. Biden assembled a coalition that just barely put him over. This time with 4 million newly registered, of-age voters (mostly anti-Trump) and angry women, he'll do it again. Who is the person who voted for Biden and says, "no, give me the Golden Era Trump instead"? Trump has a solid floor with his base, but a low ceiling. Will that ceiling get lower due to his legal problems, or higher? It will obv. get lower. If he loses even 2% of the soft racist knuckleheads that make up MAGA, he's toast. A lot of the broader republican base hates him and will just stay home. The myth that America is enraged at his coming wire fraud charges by Marxists and are ready to take back free-dum over it is laughable.

Trump's teeing up of the repeal of Roe V Wade will have women voting against the repubs in droves -which we've already seen. It's Trump's weakest link.

Since you're self-help oriented, take a look at Buddha Brain. The author milks the territory for another half a dozen books, but Buddha Brain says it all. Also: Why Buddhism Is True. For meditation inspiration and advice, I like Joseph Goldstein. Ton of his free podcasts etc. He studied with Achan Chah, a great Ubon teacher in the forest tradition.

Cocktail mania knows no bounds and that goes quadruple for the Tiki side of things. Had a single Galangal sour here. Never saw it again. Like a daiquiri with balls. If ever there was a drink to dethrone the Aperol Spritz....... Like the high end stereo thread in the lounge, we're talking about some very bygone pleasures like having the right glass. Anyone under 55 probably isn't ordering a Mai Tai at all.

'Always glad to pay it forward a bit here for the wisdom I have received. YMMV.

My tourist visa had run out while convalescing (the day after the surgery). I was on a plain ol' 30 day tourist visa on arrival. I got a plain ol' 30 day extension. The only noteworthy part of this story is that the hospital helped me do it. In fact, they informed me that I was already on overstay (which was forgiven) the day after my visa expired.

I had emergency surgery here and a Bumrungrad nurse was dispatched with me to immigration where my visa was quickly sorted out. I got 30 days.

If the women and young don't show up to turf him out, I view it as very much on their heads. But either way, It's not like I'm going back to $2K a month health insurance-land -pretty much ever. Here, it's $450. The repubs fighting about drag queens and the wall in the face of that have resulted in a life time tune out on my end.

What about a pineapple shell as a glass? Why don't they have that more here?

Nah, Trader Vic's make their own syrup too. Go to an upscale Tiki bar in NYC or New Orleans. Home-made orgeat is a point of pride -and you can add other flavors. Cocktails are about snob appeal and barely perceptible micro-differences. CM's Writer's bar (orig old bar and lighting fixtures) is well, reviewed. A 3/4-sized, smaller version of that drink is 150 baht.

Lovely drink. The Writer's Bar in Old City, CM does a proper one. If the bar doesn't make their own orgeat...? I dispute the premise of this thread. -Is Gamma but a mere puppet, buffeted by fate with absolutely no agency over his glass-breaking? How many of those 5 broken glasses were in recent years? This problem may have solved itself. -If a similar-style glass was freely available 100 years ago, won't that trend likely continue to track?

Irish Pub is super-well reviewed and usually needs to be booked about a week out. The pleasures of a farang crossroads-type bar still entice me . I make my lodging plons based on who has the most framed football shirts in their Agoda picture. Couldn't fault the Paradise Soapy. She walked on my back. I'm lucky I'm not in a wheel chair.

Direct flights from Chiang Mai to Udon. Not my first choice for a fly-in getaway, maybe not even my 5th. But eventually, I'm going to run out of new-THailand. There's an Irish pub in downtown Udon with rooms that I'd like to stay in. In my solo Issan travels, the pub with rooms was great to book cars and guides. Prob an endangered species in the face of new-build boutique hotels these days. Any accounts of such places would be welcome. The Wrong Way Inn in Ubon was just such a perfect place. Another good route would be Udon, mellow bus ride day, Ubon, slow train back to BKK in a week. Def a vacation to bring a book along on. I had my first and only soapy (OK, I went twice) in Udon about 20 years ago. They're still in biz.

I see blackberry-flavored gin at 7/11. Sounds dire. Would that be a with-tonic thing?

When I first got here, I laughed out loud at some el drunko who claimed insider knowledge of Chinese dumping all of their dollars. I always wonder why these clairvoyants aren't writing me from their yachts instead of some mosquito-clogged rice paddy. But Swissie's a fave of mine. And I do love bankrupt, their own economies listing to one side-Euro's dourly wagging their fingers at us red necks. So more, please, more.

There are 2 kinds of crazy people in the world. People who don't think they're responsible for anything. People who think they're responsible for everything. You do not have to be either of those kinds of crazy people. You can run your own life right, treat others right, and then call it a day.

Why? Why can't you just be a good person and enjoy your life? Who exactly is this meaning and purpose for? Others? Personally, I have a bad track record with that.

A Buddhist perspective may be helpful here. Your thoughts are like clouds, they come and go. They are not related to your bodhacita (true nature), they are merely empty phenomena just rolling by. Note them, use them as a scoreboard for what you need to work on, but don't over-buy into them or self-identify with them. Note the feeling tones. Are they warm or expansive? Do other senses come mentally to mind with specific emotions? What thoughts bring up what feeling tones (and vice versa)? What can you learn about yourself from that? Don't judge your moods, sit with them. And watch them wax and wane. If your down days are not debilitating, just go with them; maybe plan for them. You're mid-50's, right? Welcome to your future.

This is a great example of 3 and 4* ingredients combined with some imagination and a sense of plenty being a 5* (ish) experience.

The Suk Marriot Sunday Buffet is apart from other Marriot buffets and buffets in general -and that $150 tab includes a very decent unlimited wine pour (they used to offer a $24 a bottle sake pour!!). A fair few YouTube attest to its greatness. You have to distinguish in Thailand between regular buffet (ok-ish), Friday night seafood buffet (reasonable value -don't let them fob slipper lobster off on you), or Sunday buffet (a loss leader, brand-building blow out). Otherwise, it's down to pick-your-food-hedonism. For me, a head-sized crab from Ministry of Crab done to perfection in pepper and garlic is better than the 4* multi-plate above. Perfection is perfection. And I do notice that at the fabled Rang Mahal Sunday Indian Buffet, their mega-sized Tandoori prawns (the single best thing I ever ate in my life) are missing. Because an order of them costs more than the whole buffet price. Economically and kitchen logistically, a true 5* buffet cannot exist, even at the Oriental Hotel. A buffet is a 3-4* experience, depending on the baht level. If people think 4* food is 5* food -partic because they get a lot of it- that's a very happy and harmless delusion to have. Preferring a great single dish or a bunch of merely very good dishes is down to temperament. And if someone's food-temperament is just being a pig, I say have at it.