LaosLover

What would make you stay in Roi Et for two weeks? What would make you bored? Roi Et, very easy to see what you're getting there on YouTube. My nonchalant, dig in plan= strongly likely to fail. Most charming man ever seen in two dozen Issan 7/11's = strongly likely fail. Pattaya = not that great, but full out, complete failure is very unlikely.

I was dying laughing when the Republican speaker warned Garland to "preserve all documents", pending harassment. Does that mean he can flush them down the toilet like Trump? I like the theory that he was selling secrets from his private stash to foreign governments. Why exactly did he need to take all that stuff with him when no other president felt the need?

I respect his dedication and fearlessness. With this level of persistence and putting himself out there, he should either be selling life insurance, getting converts for Jehovah, or both. The only way I ever got women was by having a life so that one of them might be interested to come along and interrupt it. If you're fresh off the bus and have 68 hours in town, how do you front that? Very hard to go from, "nice mango's there" to "you know I'm not really talking about mango's, right?"

It wasn't the FBI who raided his house. It was Antifa. Another false flag operation. Like looting the Capitol. No other person on earth calls a polite search warrant a raid. What a hysteric.

Many entertaining posts later, I'm still not getting the plan. Hit some sprawling, hard to get around Issan town, have some ThaiFriendly's lined up and then pray she's attracted? And then if you stiff in Buriram, you get on the bus and do it all again? I only moved here 8 days ago, and I already have some interest from my very sweet hotel owner. She's driving me around town, inviting me out to eat with the kid, and even knocked on my door to chat. But why? My C- looks and great wealth (I did pack along 4 pairs of pants)? No. I'm a cheery person, I was nice to her kid and gave her a rollerball pen, I'm good company, but more to the point, I had many chances for many interactions with this nice person (I'm very happily married, BTW, she knows it). Over a week, we've shared a bit of ourselves. And as a hotel owner in tourist district, there is no language barrier. If I just approached her at 7/11 cold, no little chit chats over somtum. If I were single and wanted to get involved -who knows? But there's a teaspoon of mutual attraction and respect -so very, very lovely for only $15 a night (the room, I'm talking about the room). I probably have the least experience in Thai GF-stuff of anyone here. But if I was looking, I'd dig in one place and just be the overall nicest, most laid back, unconcerned with romance or sex guy in the world. See what comes to me and get a taste of Issan-wherever. Take a private language class, maybe hire a guide to show me around a bit. Just be into who's ever in front of me, whoever they are. I don't see how the 7 Issan towns in 3 weeks plan I heard last here gets you anything but exhausted.

Just watched the ol' vid of her and Barry singing, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart? She had very unusual phrasing in her singing. She's usually recalled for her pristine voice. But she def knew what do with it.

Laos is indeed a nation with only two real towns as such. But at least they're sort a different.

The solution: Let Americans live in these grey brick hell holes and pay thru the nose for the privilege. They will think Hull is quaint. I know that I was under that misapprehension till around year 2 of my English stay. Either have 90 day reporting, or you have to marry some fat slag who wears a tube top down to the pub.

Sad to see Saint Globule going down the never trust a hippie road. My wife was a hippie and got her start in show biz by following The Grateful Dead on tour in the 80's selling black bean burritos for a dollar. Tie dye is still a big look in Appalachia. Often topped off with a MAGA hat. That Trump didn't go for pot legalization was nuts. When I looked at the Trump dating site for laughs, it was about 50% ads stating 420-friendly. Obviously, those were male ads. There were practically zero female ads.

It's the one month stay that kills a lot of the recco's listed here. On the no way/one month list for me: Saigon, Taipei, Thai Beach. A month would be too much of a good thing. I'd want either megalopolis (Bangkok, Tokyo, Hong Kong), or tourist-friendly (Chiang Mai, Penang, Ubud). Between is your various Udons which are neither -so hard for me to love for 30 consecutive days.

I can't keep up: If Putin is such a genius why did his uh, brilliant and strategic army get beaten by nobodies? I keep hearing that Biden is both sleepy and woke. How does that work?

Putin is the dog who caught the car. He thought the Ukranians would just fold. As my dad told me about bar fights: Don't let you mouth write a check you KNOW your you-know-what can't cash. It's a major US intelligence failure not to have known how bad the Russian Army was, but the cat is sure out of the bad now. And this catastrophe has put the Chinese on the back foot, arial displays aside. The USA will back you if you want to fight. If I'm a Uyghur, I'm listening hard. Sweden and Finland now in Nato, forced to be China's uh, female dog, economy wrecked, giant outflow of the young and skilled. To do any worse, his name would have to be Bush.

Join the army. No seriously. I come from a very poor background. I could have gotten an education, seen the world, and eventually schmoozed myself into a sweet do-nothing gig. Like in Okinawa. Or Ubon -in the mid 70's? How fall-down great would that have been? Damn you counterculture! No wait, hippie nude women. And drugs. Call it a draw, decision-wise.

Only moved here 6 days ago, but I'm def downshifting to Thai-time. Laundry (drop off, obv), yoga, lunch -where'd the day go? All I can say is that diem better be ready to carpe itself.

You can google a very readable study of long term inter-mixed relationships in Thailand. Many cultural pressures on Thai women to turn off the sex as they get older. It's unseemly, and it's time for them to be chaste, build merit, and hope to re-incarnate as men.

I've been hearing about the imminent dumping of the dollar for 50 years, and yet..... For laughs, please outline how China wins anything -trade war, shooting war, the oscars at all against America. Not in 100 years, the usual dodge I hear, but today. And where do they put that money instead, given America's low risk and relatively high yields? Wow, Iran AND Russia dumping their dollars - not even the economic equivalent of a single mid-sized municipality default in the US. Iran,Turkey, Russia, and China all secretly in bed together in a concerted effort -how? Is there any event in human history even remotely in this ballpark? Please tell us, Mr Bond, how YOU are privy to this, but no major media outlet is. People like you hoping for an end to American hegemony are basically turkeys voting (in vain) for Christmas. What political party in the UK will be the ones to finally stop licking our backsides? Do you want an end to the special relationship? What % of brits do? In the US we have much esteem for the UK army. Can you find any quotes from the UK Military who want a divorce from America? And if China does uproot the world, who do they sell all those Mr Coffee coffeemakers to? You gotta be a genius to blow up the place that puts the lo mein on your table.

....And might I add, hosed down to the above?

I notice Tina Turner pops up a lot in drag shows. Cher too. Nancy Pelosi? Not seeing it. Maybe as a specialty taste for kinky republicans. I'd def like to spank Liz Cheney.

The half a dozen hookers I talked to on Ko Chang said they were from Phuket, so def a coal to Newcastle situation. Why can't you escape reality to an older sun brick property with a too-loud air conditioner like everyone else? Currently working fine for me. As the Buddhists say, wherever you go, there you are.

Gotta largely agree, except Ubon has a little bit of a downtown and Nong Khai has the river. But going to Udon and KK is like ordering French fries and curly fries at the same meal.

I def hope you post as you go. I give you a lot of credit for following the dream. When I'm settled somewhere, I'll def give back here and let future grazers here know about what went right and wrong.

I loved Phrae -for a day. Lots of old Teakwood buildings, near coma-chill vibe. Prob the most expat-absent place I've been to here. It's a schlep on the bus from CM tho. Nightlife options seem down to massage parlors. My own recent experience (all 4 days of it) convinces me that of what I already knew: A newbie should stick to the beaten path until they can converse in Thai at the level of a 5 year old. A newbie lookin' for love in all the wrong places will probably be much happier where there's an established scene than trying to woo a karaoke singer in Nan. I'm not seeing how you break through in a nowheresville in a short time. It would be like getting off the bus in Meridian, Mississippi, poised for action. On the upside, this is the emptiest I remember seeing in Thailand. My first trip was in '86 when there were still spaces between the buildings on Sukhamvit Road. But this current visit feels deader still.

Thanks, Hummin. Always a straight and helpful, ego-free answer from you. I don't have wheels and am finding a dearth of cab and sonthew options in Chiang Mai, not to mention no language schools open at the moment. I'm going to kill another 10 days here or so, but I think I'm likely Bangkok-bound (not a beach person. at all) where the BTS, more options for everything, and more prevalent A/C will likely be a better fit for this 4 days and counting expat. The only reason I'm boring people with my newbie process is to convey to SparkTrader what he already knows: Until you're on the ground, you don't know nothin' and you should keep your options and expectations very open.

Wanna split the diff at veiled threat? No way they would shoot down that plane, so it's just posturing. If Xi wants to go to Canada, would we even think of saying we can blow his plane out of the sky? Just because we can? Your lofty hairsplitting and the general bending over backwards to China in this thread by Euro's here saddens me. China cannot afford a war. China can not accomplish a land invasion without staggering losses. China has a lot of problems. Xi has not been anointed president for life, he merely has that option. That option can go away if the Chinese public gets mad enough. Shooting down Nancy's plane means major economic sanctions around the world, not to mention a military response, just as they are coming out of their covid coma. It's the right of American politicians to travel wherever they are welcome. China has nothing to say about it. This is Biden sending a message that if they get overly helpful to the Russians, that we will create some headaches for them. I support that message. Biden is my guy.

Just want to warn you, it's hot up here in Chiang Mai, at least to my unacclimated self. Issan? Gonna be brutal. I'm back in the room 11 AM to 5 PM. Eventually, that's when I'll do my language course and gym. And you may as well complete your loop and add on Khorat, which makes more sense geographically than Chiang Mai.