Prubangboy

1 hour ago, bob smith said:

nope, i pumped her twice in half an hour.

 

bob.

Since they take a half hour just to shower, I have my doubts.

Gynophobia- maybe if it’s an obese face- sitting scenario.

Guinesses pints are two for one in Borneo. A pint is $9.

Bob, I lived in Suffolk in the aughts and saw local hero Steve Harley a dozen times. whenever they advertised a surprise guest act, it was him.

Deranged licensing laws meant just Steve solo. He killed at every show. Dead way too soon (recently).

3 minutes ago, surreybloke said:

You want it cheaper take a thai person and stay out of site.   

Unless it’s your wife, you’re asking a Thai person to screw over another Thai person for no self-benefit.

That’s why when I asked my guide about Oud pricing, I got a lot about how there are many types of Oud and no hard numbers.
 

He’s gotta swing by that Oud store every week for the rest of his professional life.

Any discount above 30% is generally just too much work.
 

I got 30% off buying Oud perfume in Oman last week, it took a half hour. If I went to that little Arab section by Nana, I could prob do 20% off, Oud in the west would be double.

But it would be less great Oud. A royal level Oud- ounce will last thru 2 years of intermittent dabbing. ($78).

What's your time and aggro worth? How badly did I want the stupid Oud?  I like to shoot the breeze with a guy who has nice store, and in mostly empty Oman, I had plenty of time to kill.

I learned a lot about Oud, and that every Oman male has been to Thailand. They start to say Patt- and then self correct to Phuket. We had a little laugh. He graciously tossed in some frankincense oil, which really tops off the Oud.

Best deal to date: a Tibetan tiger rug in Kathmandu. 60% off, a quarter of New York nice store prices. Took 3 two hour chatty visits.
 

In any artsy place, there will only be 2-3 venues with quality stuff. Always in a prime location, like near ye olde walled city gate.

The idea of a cheap oud secret store deep inside the souk is for gullible wishful thinkers.

The rest will be Lonely Planet- level trash, not worth bothering with. Don’t even talk to me about the heartbreak of so-called pashmina.

If I’m buying night market trash, it’s 250 baht for a Thai Harley Davidson tee shirt. Take it or leave it. I’m not going to 300 baht, ever.

There’s an audience for about half a dozen Oppenheimer type movies a year.
 

This is like when my father was upset that the Roy Rodger’s museum closed. The world moves in.

The world changed. I asked my first wife out five times before she assented. Now that would be considered harassment.

The broad macro benefit for women of not having to endlessly fend off approaches trumps the micro benefit of rare success stories like mine. It is emotional labor for them to politely wave you off. Again and again.

women would prefer to peruse you online, where the odds favor them, and the hassle factor is zero. The approach at the ATM was always a long shot. Now it’s an impossible shot.

It was always very tenuous to move from “nice day” to “lie down” - even with the reality-shifting power of being able to recite canned Thai jokes at will. Oh, how they love that. Total day brightener.

This sounds like a time traveler who still expects the GFE party of about a third of a century ago.

“Unfunny, stinky, white devil, you say? Is this my lucky day or what? Let me drop whatever I was doing. A free coffee is suddenly on offer.”

Ask yourself, if homely, fat women with no game were often bugging you during your sock selection process, wouldn’t you just want them to sod off?

99 baht in a place on my corner for Chinese tourists where every dish is 99 baht. 3 big head on prawns, so no complaints.

Guns, Girls, Gambling, Ganja is another classic from venerable Silkworm Press (now 25% off):

https://silkwormbooks.com/products/guns-girls-gambling-ganja

Sometimes, the books are just dry reprints of somebody's thesis, but I have at least a half dozen Silkworm Press books under my belt.

4 minutes ago, HugoFastor said:

 

Also, did anyone read the book that was written about Trink titled "But, I don't give a hoot!" by Jennifer Bliss?

I scooped up a copy on Khao San Road for 60 baht in 2022. Not bad; a 3-crap book.

Khao San Road is (understandably) a shadow of its former used book-self.

Morning:

Crap, order in brekkie, a peak in here, second crap (the foul one), then off to the gym, meditate 1 hour upon my return.

The rest of the day is likewise as packed out.

8 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

 

 

"What the Buddha Never Taught: A 'Behind the Robes" Account of Life in a Thai Forest Monastery" by Tim Ward. 
 

 

 

A droll, perfect book, now out of print.

Since then Ajahn Chah, the abbot, has grown a lot in popularity. Jack Kornfeld, a very famous meditation teacher, collected some of lectures into a book.

I recently saw a Reddit post of someone who wanted to meditate in the Ajahn Chat tradition. Tthere isn't such a place. The forest wat outside Ubon will let you pop in for a breakfast, but after 3 days, it's head-shaving time. 

Some Thai's know of him. The comment I've gotten a few times is that he wouldn't allow amulets to be made, since it was idol worship.

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm touched that you would even remember what I wrote 18 months ago. I don't, and I won't remember this conversation in even 18 days.

To read it I'd have to find it and it's likely that by the time I get to look for it I'll have forgotten why I was looking. Such is the joy of old age.

Not all bad though, as I can watch the same DVD as long as it's 6 months since I watched it previously.

Give it a miss. It was a hard read back in the day. Now? Prob incomprehensible.

Worth a wiki-skim about her mad life, tho.

On 3/28/2024 at 4:16 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

I bought a copy of Patpong Sisters, still unread 20 or even 30 years on. Never quite got around to reading it. Perhaps I might dig it out now I've been reminded of it.

The beauty of this comment is that you said the exact same thing, like 18 months ago.

Prediction: this book will remain un-dug out.

52 minutes ago, Hokeus said:

It should get better for all of us though after you leave, innit. 

Not for me.

Only ThaiBeachLover leaving would be more of a hammer-blow to the heart.

Bob whenever you do vanish for a bit here, they're practically singing candle in the wind, praying for your return.

Not me, tho. I laugh in their faces.

Like you do.

12 minutes ago, HugoFastor said:

I think what made Trink's look so unusual, more than his big round owl medallion, was that he wore the waist of his pants up around the top of his abdomen. Made him appear to have longer legs and a very short upper torso. Not sure why he did that though. 
 

I think only a few of the lobby scenes from The Serpent were actually shot at the Miami Hotel. The majority of the scenes were shot at a small apartment complex inside Sukhumvit Soi 4. The complex was actually about to be demolished when the location scouts for the production team of The Serpent spotted it. Because of its layout with the swimming pool, they paid a lot of money to the owner of the small complex to use the location for the shooting of the Serpent and not have it torn down until filming was completed. Now it's gone. 
 

The Miami Apartments I was referring to in my original post was on New Petchaburi Road and was not the Miami Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 13. But the two were actually owned by the same owner. The Miami Apartments' architectural design might've been also a suitable filming location for The Serpent, but I think it was already demolished by that time and not sure if it had a pool. They needed one of those small, 1940s style apartment complexes in Bangkok with a swimming pool to mimic the look of Kanit House, which is long gone and was the place where Sobhraj had lived in Sathorn. It wasn't such an easy thing for the scouts to find 60 years later. 

I read Odzer's book about 30 years ago. Wasn't overly impressed. A bit disappointed in fact how she came to Bangkok to do one thing for her PhD and ended up hooking up with a local guy instead, having a troubled, whirlwind relationship with him, and not really finishing her thesis in the way she had set out. It started out as a project with an interesting and useful narrative and then ended up as a rather typical Bangkok downward spiral story. I don't mean to sound critical of her outcome, because that's how real life often turns out; not exactly as one would have planned. But when you write a book about it, the reader kind of expects things to end on a more enlightening note. 

I think it's mostly the pool area that's in The Serpent. The nearby Honey House was another old classic.

Cleo did a better book about Goa where she lived till her early death. How I met Cleo: I bought a reviewer copy at The Strand BookStore in New York and her email was on the back. Cleo was not amused that her book was being sold months before publication. We met up in the nearby beatnik-legend bar nearby, The Cedar Tavern. 

And then again in Goa, by chance in the beach. Bonkers, yes, Brilliant, absolutely.

10 minutes ago, HugoFastor said:

I think what made Trink's look so unusual, more than his big round owl medallion, was that he wore the waist of his pants up around the top of his abdomen. Made him appear to have longer legs and a very short upper torso. Not sure why he did that though. 
 

I think only a few of the lobby scenes from The Serpent were actually shot at the Miami Hotel. The majority of the scenes were shot at a small apartment complex inside Sukhumvit Soi 4. The complex was actually about to be demolished when the location scouts for the production team of The Serpent spotted it. Because of its layout with the swimming pool, they paid a lot of money to the owner of the small complex to use the location for the shooting of the Serpent and not have it torn down until filming was completed. Now it's gone. 
 

The Miami Apartments I was referring to in my original post was on New Petchaburi Road and was not the Miami Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 13. But the two were actually owned by the same owner. The Miami Apartments' architectural design might've been also a suitable filming location for The Serpent, but I think it was already demolished by that time and not sure if it had a pool. They needed one of those small, 1940s style apartment complexes in Bangkok with a swimming pool to mimic the look of Kanit House, which is long gone and was the place where Sobhraj had lived in Sathorn. It wasn't such an easy thing for the scouts to find 60 years later. 

I read Odzer's book about 30 years ago. Wasn't overly impressed. A bit disappointed in fact how she came to Bangkok to do one thing for her PhD and ended up hooking up with a local guy instead, having a troubled, whirlwind relationship with him, and not really finishing her thesis in the way she had set out. It started out as a project with an interesting and useful narrative and then ended up as a rather typical Bangkok downward spiral story. I don't mean to sound critical of her outcome, because that's how real life often turns out; not exactly as one would have planned. But when you write a book about it, the reader kind of expects things to end on a more enlightening note. 

Two slices of cheddar on whole wheat with a thin spreading of mango chutney and a splash of Tabasco is my go-to when I need to eat, but don't want a meal.

Praise to England, no other nation ever took the concept as toast so seriously.

I more like the idea of Trink than the mostly dross he churned out; calling go-go bars nighteries and hookers, demimondes. He was the pinnacle of the golden era of mongers, wearing big medallions and over-tailored shirts.

I have stayed the Miami Hotel on soi, where the film The Serpent was filmed to good effect. It's been done up since, but retains it's retro charm. Is it still open? I was thinking about booking it?

I knew Cleo Odzer who wrote Patpong Sisters, the first feminist, post-modernist critique -but surely unread here, except possibly by Gamma.

1 hour ago, claffey said:

Have to disagree. It's easy to find normal priced Thai food all over Hua Hin. Obviously the night markets are more expensive but that's a given. Food court in Mkt Village is packed everyday with lots of fairly priced food. The main local market which opens early every day is also great value. In Khao Takiab there is also lots of normal priced food early in the morning near the 7/11..if you get around you will find good value food anywhere in Thailand. 

Spent a month next to Mkt village, a great food area. Proper yellow curry abounding and a very solid, cheap sushi place in a soi next door.

Gamma, you're the Garbo of the board, but I'd love to take you out for a six bucks Pad Thai.

The AseanNow universe as we know it would implode.

Just not enough of us cheapskates to warrant a single drone sitting at a formica desk.

58 minutes ago, G_Money said:

You actually took the time to write

 

He's crying out to be ignored.

Oh well, back to it.