Prubangboy

Has anyone seen a “tourist discount coupon book” anywhere in this century?

How is processing graphing book pests NOT more work for the prison staff? What’s in it for them? WE think it’s retard hilarious, but to them it’s just baffling. Well, for us too.

I read a long time ago that you need a prisoners name, you can’t just pop in like it's a zoo. Any embassies will have a list of incarcerated nationals, not sure how available it is to non-family members, or people with important graphing books they inexplicably have a burning need to drop off.

A good yarn, well-told (if a little on the florid side). Well done, we need more, not less, of this here. ’Can’t do BG’s due to the not into me-factor. If I could pay them to be into me, I would. To those who don’t care, I salute you.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.