YaiJung

They must have had the fish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkGR65CXaNA

That is correct. South of Nakhon Sawan you take 32 the rest of the way down. Just follow googlemaps. 32 is in good shape. Easy drive.

Pain on the top of the foot sounds like a stress fracture. It can take 3-4 months to recover from this. I am going through the same thing at the moment and have just started running again a month ago, after 3 months off. I tried to run too early and it just got worse. In the end I had to give in and spend one month without doing any sort of lower body cardio. Couldn't even bicycle. The second month I started going for long walks and doing some bicycling. After 3 months I started adding in some short, easy paced runs. Now ramping it up a bit and feeling great, although cautiously. Bicycling a couple times per week to mix it up.

It sounds like you were on the right track with the barefoot running and working on form. It is just that you progressed way to quickly. A common mistake many make because it can feel so incredible to start making progress with running. From no running at all to running 45-60 min should be a slow progression of 6 months to 1 year. You are building up muscles and tendons in places that have never been activated before, especially if you have worn modern cushioned 'supportive' shoes for many years.

Don't listen to this nonsense about getting cushioned running shoes and buying new pairs every 3 months or whatever. Total bs brought to us by the running shoe industry. Instead, once you are healed, start very slowly by walking barefoot (or in minimalist shoes) and aim to run no more than 30 min nonstop at the 3 month mark. Maybe even safer to aim for 30 min at 6 months. In the end, if you stick with it, the payoff will be huge and you will find yourself in incredible shape with very strong legs/feet.

In the meantime, lay off your feet as much as possible. Stress fractures can get much worse and require surgery/pins, if you aggravate them.

I am not going to dig up links for you, but the ones I am thinking of are:

1. Guy beaten to death with golf club at 3pm in Nai Harn after waking up from nap and discovering thieves in his house.

2. Guy beaten to death in room above shophouse on bypass rd. News said it was robbery gone bad.

3 Guy beaten to death with large rock in bungalow in rawai in early morning while he slept. 5 or 6 am.

those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head, as I said.

Townhouse burglarized in Patong. Just about every house near us was broken into multiple times over the years. It seemed like whenever somebody new moved in, it was only a matter of time til they were broken into. Likely the culprits lived very near by.

Off the top of my head, I can think of at least three incidences of foreigners beaten to death by burglars. In the grand scheme of things, doesn't seem like much, but no doubt there have been more.

Never had a problem in Kata, which really amazed me. I think it was because our soi was somewhat hidden... the entrance is a location that most people just blow by on the way down a hill.

In Thailand, a condo is always going to much more secure. The place I live now is like a fortress. No way anybody is getting in.

Here is the link I was looking at. Laem Chabang is the closest reading to Pattaya.

http://aqicn.org/city/thailand/chonburi/laem-chabang-municipal-stadium/

According to aqicn.org the PM2.5 is 183 this morning. Quite high and on par with Bangkok. Sorry, but this isn't fog.

It is absolutely smog/pollution. This morning Koh Larn is completely obscured from where I sit in Pratumnak.

Just drove down from Issan yesterday and the difference in air quality is shocking, although there was some field burning going on up there yesterday. A couple hours out from Pattaya the industrial estates start, this combined with the burning is what is causing the pollution. It seems like industrial plants are popping up like mushrooms lately.

Get ready for more and more as the government has really been pushing industrial development in the eastern seaboard.

Big C Pattaya Tai definitely has an elevator. Access on ground level from the indoor parking lot, near the handicapped spots, next to the auto-accessories shop.

Tried the new car wash today. Have to give credit where credit is due. Excellent quick wash. I have been wishing for something like this for a long time. Very good!

10 minutes while I sat inside my car with the aircon on, listening to tunes. Car looks great! I will be back for sure.

"But at least most Thais are OK with it and gladly cooperate". ... I went for a walk at dongtan beach this afternoon and saw more Thais than foreigners smoking on the beach.

It's funny that this topic is mentioned, as I was just explaining to my gf that this happens to me quite a bit here in Thailand.  She is rather innocent and had no idea that some Thai men like to hang out in public restrooms looking for sex. 

Maybe it is because I am tall and they are curious if everything is proportional.   Some places are worse than others.   At Big C south Pattaya the stalls aren't even safe, at least last time I used the facilities there, several of the stalls had gloryholes big enough to fit beer cans through. 

Rayong has some of the worst/dirtiest beaches I've seen in my life.  Last time we went down there the beach was absolutely covered in dead fish and garbage.  The smell was horrendous.  My mind was blown by the sight of Thais swimming in the filth.  Depressing scene to say the least.  Smoke stacks in the background added to the grim apocalyptic vibe.  

Sadly, I'm sure Rayong beaches were once beautiful and clean, but obviously the Thai government had decided this area is to be used for large-scale, no-holds-barred, industrial plants and written the entire area off as far as nature is concerned. 

I find it comical to see these guys in complete head-in-the-sand denial of the situation down there.   Reminds me of the type who stick their head out of the door, with cig in hand,  during the worst of the smoke season in Chiang Mai, and exclaim, "what smoke?   the air is perfectly fine!".   

This is a good question and a topic I am also interested in. 

Jomtien is pretty good, plus you have the trails at Pratumnak Park.  Sometimes I run the side streets in Pratumnak,  they are pretty quiet and can be a relaxing place to run.  Overall, Pattaya has been much better for running than I expected.  I hear that out in the darkside, by the lake, there are some good routes as well. 

Hat Mae Rumphueng in Rayong has a bike path that looks decent, but sadly, the last time I was down there the stench from garbage covering the entire length of the beach was overpowering.

Bang Saen promenade looks pretty good, but probably not on weekends, due to crowds. 

South of Hua Hin, Pranburi has a great paved running/biking trail along the beach, as does the next beach south from there.  You can check them out on google streetview. 

33 minutes ago, Gold Star said:

 

On Tuesday, Benjamit's best price was 200 baht for 250 grams of fresh roasted Arabica coffee beans.

 

 

I have been buying beans from Benjamit for two yrs now, last time was two days ago.  They have a medium and a darker roast for 140 baht per 250 grams,  plus if you buy them in half kilo bags they give a 10% discount, so 126 baht per 250g.  I buy a kilo at a time for exactly 504 baht. 

They also have at least 4 kinds of imported beans from around the globe.  Keep in mind there is really high import tax on coffee, similar to wine, so the foreign stuff costs an arm and a leg.  There is no getting around that.  As far as I am concerned, Benjamit is as good or better than the roasters back home.  They clearly have a lot of experience and passion for what they do. 

I've been through this too.  In the end, if you want it to really clear up 100%, you will need to bite the bullet and turn on the AC.  At least for a couple of months til it is completely gone. 

Also as others have said, shower a lot.  l shower 3 times per day.  And use real soap, not those shower gels.

Let's hope it never happens.  The last thing hua hin needs is all those chinese clogging and polluting the place up with their tour buses.  What a nightmare!

21 hours ago, Felt 35 said:

Personally I hope it never takes of .........if it do Hua Hin is soon a copy of Phuket.

I completely agree.  If it does, it won't be long before thousands of tour buses will be clogging the roads.   This is something that there will be no going back from.  What a nightmare...

3 hours ago, TunnelRat69 said:

"Red Handed???"

Yes.  I'm pretty sure he was caught driving down the road on a motorbike with a suitcase full of body parts. 

If he can convince the courts it was an accident he might only do a few years.  Ron Fanelli, despite being caught red-handed with a chopped up bargirl in a suitcase,  did only 5 yrs and is now out, free as a bird back home in the USA where nobody knows what he did. 

As colinneil said, Thailand Post.  I sent a pcx 150 from phuket to pattaya a yr or so ago.  Cost around 2800 baht and took 2-3 days.  Bring the green owner's book when you send it.  Very common for Thais to do...several bikes going out everyday from the post office I used in Phuket.