Prubangboy

How many free except for pad thai sex encounters in the last 21 years? Feel free to round up.

Our dear leader weighs in: "An expat -a bigly expat, the biggliest expat in expat-dom, really- asked me, asked me, 'Sir, what if I need the Marines to come and save me from being sodomized by Somalian pirates, Sir, what if?" "I'd ask him: Are you paid up in full on your income tax? -They're laughing at us, the Somalian pirates: I'd like to wipe that Somalian grin off of their too-tan faces- BUT, are you, are you in possession of a PAID stamp in your passport?". "Because if you're not, I want to send those Somalian Pirates vats of KY Jelly and urge them to go to town on you, you know, you know, like line up, tag team-style. You know, do whatever the hell they want".

The smoke will get you before the heat. The higher the mountain, the duller the town.

-But not much. Just closer to Chiang Mai to mitigate the disappointment.

What happens at the meetings and would it be of interest for a first time visitor? What's the nationality mix?

In Chiang Mai, they have something even stupider, called The Algonquin Club. Surely, only Gammaglobule alone here will know that the Algonquin club was a fabled round table of wits, from which the phrase, "Men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses" emerged. You have to be invited to join. I got an invite. I looked at their website. They had a lecture from a guy calling himself "the bad boy of finance", so basically blowhard-central. The person who recco'd me (my estate agent) said it was about a thou a year to be part of the magic. You can google it yourself to laugh at it.

I think the buffet is 200 baht. But BritmanToo goes to a German buffet for that amount. So is that really a discount? Partic if it's a watermelon/overripe pineapple/hard cantaloupe fruit selection as per a usual discount hotel buffet?

You're gamely fighting a fight I already won against myself. What are people's (who've been or never been) perceptions of these clubs? Is it OK to have a broad opinion of something without extensive, first hand knowledge? If I went to the buffet would that sole appearance fully legitimize my thoughts, or would I need to do a tour, including Roi Et?

I have steadfastly dodged popping in to the expat society (or whatever it is) in Chiang Mai for 18 straight months. Even with the tantalizing offer of a discount buffet. It's down to sheer, ignorant predjudice on my part that they're going to be stiffs and do-nothings -based on nothing. Do you share my view? Based on what? Have you ever attended such a meeting? How wrong am I?

ThaiBeach, thanks for the good read about Antartica. You are one of the best writers here. And you just killed my desire to go there and saved me $20K. The walking tour is my least favorite kind of tour, I never make it more than half an hour before I start drifting away. Unless the leader is a mono-maniac on the subject, you can tell they're bored in the very special Khao Soi Noodle place for the millionth time. It all feels begrudging and desperate. And it's always too long. A good walking tour would run about 30 minutes. They make it long to justify the price, just like they give you too many French fries at McDonalds. I have abandoned walking tours in London, Paris, New Orleans (like, 3 times), and Hanoi. Another terrible idea is a cooking class. In Chiang Mai, they've had problems. So everything is pre-cut and then you're invited up individually for a festive turn at the stir fry. At the end, it's a feast of very blah Thai food, most of which has gone cold. That papaya salad has been shredded down to match stick size by nose-ringed backpackers. We had a chance to invest in one of the multiple seat, bicycle beer-dispensing contraptions. Hugely successful in the southern states. But subject to sudden regulatory change the first time they run over a child. A friend still has a horse and carriage for touristic rides around adowntown and clears about a grand a day. The ride costs about $2 a minute. Has anyone paid for a pricey carriage ride? Legend has it that Lampang has them.

Another just her and her piano good one

A pipe dream of a lot of potheads here is to have a pot tour: they take you to a pot farm, they take you to some pot places. Problem: Pothead only want to spend money on pot. A pot tour is pot-money thrown down the pot-drain.

My absolute fave of the 48 Laws of Power: Avoid The Unlucky.

With the Chinese thronging, If you didn't make a res here in Nimman, it's down to noodles on the corner if you want to go out to eat. Ginger Kitchen and Khao Soi Nimman have big lines. Booked Why Not? Italian 2 days ago. Got the last table.

I was amused to learn that calling people salty arises from the vocabulary of sugar babies. An unforthcoming sugar daddy = a salt daddy.

Yeah, I never get this thinking, you save $200 on rent and 10 baht on a pineapple. And then you just drink yourself to death while waiting for you wife to turn off the sex.

This one meanders, but is very deep. Just her and her piano. Def my fave cover of all time.

In the aughts, they toured relentlessly. In Suffolk, you could see them 2-4 times in the same year. Motorhead and Bad Manners were also hard tourers with 2nd big night often added to the marquee of the Ipswich Regent. I went with a pal to help do a linoleum laying job. It was Rick Parfait's house. Nice guy, was making his own fry up.

His Kahphaeng Pet obsession continues. Last year, we laughed about a monger blogger who called KP a secret wonderland of karaoke bars and disco's, teeming with (as yet) untouched good girls. He was game. If he went, we would have heard about it. 'Can't fault a guy who loves Thailand and wants to live in Thailand for asking questions about Thailand. He asks about places where the costs are low and the girls might be friendly. It's a noble but possibly quixotic quest. How is it worse than flogging Cambodia versus PI for the millionth time? I like when someone in Roi Et tosses out a few deets, even tho all the nowheresville's sound the same: "Great wet market, bad pizza, the farang bar closed during Covid". Short version: A done to death topic is still better than looking in here and finding no new topics.

Asian Hotel -been in some films, beautifully ugly and they have the train link to the airport (without leaving the hotel). Elvis act on Sat night. Muslim area, so double the chill and meat on a stick factor. A sprinkling of Time Out-type restaurants. Like, 2 stops down from Ari.

...And also drifting into need a car-land. Ari is my most likely eventual Bangkok relocation. It's like Nimman in Bangkok.

I'm an Ubon fan. Love that long train ride. Nong Khai second (another nice train ride), Nan third (great bus ride). The rest are a bit blah, but to play: Udon (the only soapie I ever went to), Khaephang by dint of being in the beautiful but unvisited middle, Korat for at least trying to be a downscale Chiang Mai, and Khon Kaen for being a traffic circle in search of a town. I want to see what the towns south of Ayuthaya on the train line are like for a possible relo up the road. I read a thread here about Nonthaburi and every poster had moved two stops north to something else-buri.

So dramatic and romantic

Love me some Joss

Lotta Beth Hart love here. I like this slow burn cover of a Bobby Blue Bland wailer