Prubangboy

Retire now on 80K a month and let that other 20K keep growing to cover inflation.

3 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

a lady with a poor work ethic

Does her "stolen" time even amount to $2?

These are mostly older women, probably single moms, doing an unpleasant job of sheer tedium and drudgery. They're lucky if they see even half the massage fee. I expect a sub par experience on the cheap going in, rendered by minimally trained, disinterested ladies, and I am seldom disappointed.

What incentive does a 50 year old broke and tired woman have to excel? It's a biz where repeat customers are few, and provides a mere pittance at best when they do very infrequently occur.

Relatedly, on my corner there is a happy ending place with various tantric wanks on the menu. My favorite option is the offer to have 3 diff women do you one after another, while you are blindfolded.

I'm convinced that it's actually the same women, perhaps wearing heavy shoes for one massage segment to convince you otherwise, and using different, Monty Python-eque voices throughout to sustain the illusion.

I hope to love a woman someday at the level that Gamma loves Chomsky.

-

1 hour ago, Bday Prang said:

Strangely on a thread about lamb, there has been no mention of mint sauce

.....Thinking about a marinade in spicy mint chutney now......

This dinner is a pot luck supper that'll be about 70% western people. So Thai people will def find something to eat if they don't like lamb.

Even if they don't love it, they'll be happy to try some on someone else's dime. Indian food is not something they've typically not had either. So it's a 2 for 1.  In my limited experience, they like -don't love- Indian food.

Hence, the vindaloo. It's a younger crowd, so they'll eat everything.

And corn bread. Everyone wants corn bread. It's a pricey add on at a Texas BBQ place here. Inauthentic sweet corn bread, with jalapeño's.

'Can't believe that you can get very respectable corn meal in a supermarket here. 

Want to do a leg of lamb for a Christmas party. What supermarket carries it? Can I get a big joint (as the English possibly still call it)?

Lamb Vindaloo taco's with lots of add-ons -I see some east meets west appeal.

Agreed, it's down to:

-spice level (I like it medium)

-sweetness (minimal)

-spice (I like a dash of 5 spice powder in with the cinnamon)

There's a place down by the old night market where the gimmick is that they pour the coconut milk into the chicken stock at the table. I think it adds about 10% flavor-wise, but that may be down to placebo effect 

I suspected the much-hyped Islam Kao Soi was getting good reviews just to bend over backwards to like something muslim. True: subpar crispy noodles, and just too sweet.

In the old city, around the corner from Wat Yu (and not far from NOOM N. Thai Cuisine) is an old temple restaurant with an original and beautfifully patina'd old wood interior. Vegan Khao Soi with shredded tofu that almost passes for chicken. 40 baht from the steam table (they're done by 2 PM). Google for Ming Kwan Vegetarian. There is no English language sign.

Mae Sot is a medium-good Mae-a Mayanmar mashup, the uniqueness of which is def overstated. Nice waterfall (zzzzz). A bit of the old teak left standing.

Mae Sariang is just a poor village, prob the most under-achieving Mae. If one wanted to study indigenous Islam among tribal people, well, that prob would not be you. 

The Mae you want is Mae Hong Son. That's a Mae where you can kill 3 days. And see long neck people for free, drinking coffee. 

And then you could take your long-suffering GF to Pai, like she actually would prefer.

Been 4 times in the last year. Very good. A must for visitors . Try the beef Khao Soi. Get there at 11:30 AM and there is no line.

Khao Soi Nimman another good 'un. It's gets dissed on Youtube for having air conditioning and hanging ferns.

Ging Grai on Soi 11 off Nimman Road is my fave Thai restaurant in CM; we order in at least once a week. Solid Khao Soi.

The absolute best Khao soi I've had to date is the vegan version at Good Souls in The Old City. I was sceptical, but that broth is perfect. 'Don't even miss the chicken (tofu and mushrooms instead).

1 hour ago, bignok said:

CEO.

That somtam isn't going to pound itself.

To quote my idol, George W Bush

"Why do you hate freedom?".

2 minutes ago, TroubleandGrumpy said:

Maybe true.   

You gotta stop thinking of the $$ impact you have on the nice local people adjacent to you and think in terms of the macroeconomic.

An expat is much less spendy than an average tourist. Few are springing for the 150 baht durian ice cream cone, but yeah, we're big, big consumers of bottled water.

When I think of it, my landlord is a fellow New Yorker, 80% of the dining I do is in non-Thai owned places.

My biggest $$ contribution to Thai people is 1) Grab Cabs 2)Weed.

27 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

How will they cope? My guess is that they won't even try to have the bandwidth for that. Which might mean they'll leave us alone  

Agreed, it cost money to chase down these tiny amounts. A haircut on remittances is very unlikely to happen.

33 minutes ago, Chris Daley said:

In Jan 2022 I decided to start taking vitamins at the weekend. 

 

 

 

And yet, you list no vitamins.

Maybe double check on that increased mental clarity claim?

99% of the world thinks "taking vitamins" means taking the pill form. 

As long as I'm here, how did you arrive at this diet/vitamin formulation?

This sounds like medium-extreme intermittent fasting. What are your thoughts on that approach?

1 minute ago, Dan O said:

So thats what you got out of what I wrote?

 

It is indeed a mean ol' world full of low-morals opportunists. All of the world economies have a lot of problems. 

Thanks.

Just now, CygnusX1 said:

they’re still bringing in all the money they’re spending from overseas

 

I gotta dig up the post from the guy who did the math on expat remittances and found them to be about .01% of the Thai economy.

This is like a wino outside of a casino saying he's keeping the doors open there because he bought his pint at the 7/11 out front.

3 minutes ago, CygnusX1 said:

They’re like 52 week a year tourists. 

 

Yeah, the word for that is resident. Specifically, tax resident.

Just like where you come from, just like the world over.

As to the rest of it, it is self-evident that people who live here 52 weeks a year use more services than 2 week visitors.

7 minutes ago, Geir Rasch said:

Tax treaties is to avoid double tax. Following the rules your total tax will not increase, for many it will reduce.

Can you give an example of how someone's total tax bill might decrease under this scheme?

7 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

 

Withdrawals from US traditional IRA accounts are fully taxed as income in the US.

I determined they are not seen that way in Colombia. 

 

 

'Would love to hear more about your tax research in Columbia, which does not have a tax treaty with the US.

But Thailand does. So it's super-likely it will follow along with US rules on taxable income.

11 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

You seem to be an economic expert......

You seem to think Thailand cares if you stay or go.

So will there ever be a moment where Thai people are rueful and regretful about losing say, 10,000 low end expats?

And will we ever be privy to that sweet schadenfreude?

Or is this just some feverish revenge fantasy confined to your own head?

I gotta go with: No, No, and Yes.