Pdoggg

Excellent video of the Sukhumvit odd numbered sois. Geoff stays at one of the places that I like in Bangkok the Nana Studio on Sukhumvit Soi 11/1. Sometimes it is listed as iCheck Studio Nana Soi 11/1. Maybe he read about the joint on LBR. Lots of iChecks with similar names though. The rooms are small but quite nice. Most don't have a window if that matters. It's a good spot for a short stay especially if you want to get to Suvarnaphumi by way of the BTS to the Rail Link at Phaya Thai. If you didn't have luggage you could skip the BTS and catch the rail link at the Makkasan stop. Just 35 baht from The hotel is just a two minute walk from the Nana BTS station. Much closer to the station than hotels on Soi 4. On his walk from Soi 11 to Soi 7 he must have passed Vasu Exchange, the very best place to change money of Sukhumvit, closed on Sunday though. He also mentions Soi 22 which has cheaper bars than Nana. The beer bars on Soi 4 aren't cheap for what you get.

At a Maybank branch in Phnom Penh, I was told one needed a 6 month visa and a work permit. Don't know if this is a Maybank or a directive by the Cambodian Banking Commission if there is such a thing. I don't have a Cambodian Bank account. Cambodian Banks pay substantially higher interest than Thai banks or Western Banks probably because they are perceived to be riskier. Maybank is a Malaysian bank though. I have no idea about the Philippines. It's not easy to open an account in Thiland with a tourist visa but I heard maybe at some Bangkok Bank branches if you go for their overpriced card and insurance scheme.

Wow, if you asked me who said the above you'd be my last guess Dukie!

Had a great night out am am mao mak mak. Will look into it tomorrow.

There are quite a few of them at TJs!

Kasikorn has an office or branch in Cambodia. It's right near a Cellcard service center where I sometimes go so a human can try to answer questions that I have about their various promotions. I often go there soon after arrival to purchase a Sim even though Sims can be purchased elsewhere. The tourist Sims sold at the airport are not the best deal for guys staying a few months. I have never noticed the Kasikorn office. I doubt if it looks like atypical branch. But it is good to know that there are backups in case of an emergency. https://kasikornbank.com/en/branch/Pages/overseas-branch2.aspx If going from Suvaranaphumi to Cambodia your best bet for cost effective currency exchange is to exchange baht for USD $1 bills at the Super Rich Thailand or Value Plus in the basement of Swampy. To juice your return even more, then once in Cambodia exchanage some USD $1 bills for Khmer Riel at a rate of about 4100 a dollar but in many bars and restaurants with menus in USD Khmer riel will be accepted at the informal exchange rate of 4000 riel per dollar which is effectively a 2.5% discount on every purchase. The rate for buying USD $1 bills at the airport link is quite favorable. If after changing baht for $1 you could snap your fingers and magically transform 500 dollars of one dollar bills into 500 dollars of hundred dollar bills and then changed back to baht you'd make a profit. 2nd best option for Americans is using the Fidelity or Schwab Visa card in an ATM as their is no foreign currency exchange and your ATM fee is rebated. But good to know that this Kasikorn office could be helpful in an emergency. Bangkok Bank also has a branch or office on Mao Tse Tung Boulevard in Phnom Penh. Bangkok Bank also has an office in Manila. Note these offices are probably more geared to businesses but good to know they exist.

Looks like Grab will soon be officially legalized in Thailand.

Wish someone would offer me that!

Best thing that happened to me this month BBG!

Some of you may remember Franck of 131. He always seemed to be talking about who barfined whom, who did what to whom etc. I always thought that was creepy.

I'm not clued into the drug scene but one friend of mine in the know was saying that about half the girls are users and so are a surprising number of expats with some of them being dealers. IMO, it's not too smart to sell drugs outside your home country unless you have police protection. But I'm oblivious to most of it and don't think my better half's coworkers, mostly older Issan ladies, are users. Of course, it's easy to spot the high as a kite ladyboy but I generally don't clock the social users. But when a hong nam has a very strange smell that's neither shit nor weed, I figure someone has been smoking ice or something similar.

The price he said he paid was just slightly more than $1000 USD which seems like a good deal for biz class if that includes both legs of the journey and assuming he didn't get some sort of free upgrade. But I suppose Egypt Air biz class is somewhere between Premium Economy and true Business Class. He says that parents are inconsiderate if they fly in biz class with their kids. Guess he feels I should be stuck with them in steerage! Actually, I don't quite understand why someone close to 2 years old should fly for free. Maybe better to fly an adult only party plane such as Venga Airways.

Everyone uses words differently. I used to refer to the gay mincers who would easily be a super cute ladyboy if he wore different clothes and had longer hair as femboys. But then lots of forum guys starting using the word femboys to mean flat chested ladyboys. Language evolves. Make the Yuletide gay! BTS is certainly the most popular KPOP boy band. All their members are 21+. I'm talking about age, not centimeters. Debate within The Army, as the BTS fandom is called, sometimes centers on which ones are gay. Southeast Asian teenage girls talk about which BTS member is cutest much like teenage girls generations ago would discuss the merits of John vs Paul. I find super cute femmy types who don't have hairy calves and who also exhibit feminine energy quite attractive but they are rare and most contenders are a bridge too far. And many Thai ladymen refer to mincer types as ladyboys while I would call them gay. As Pacman, a prolific forum poster from the last decade exclaimed, "she took off her clothes and she was a boy".

Here is what was happening at TJ's Music Bar last night. To see more pool table pics at TJ's go http://www.ladyboyreview.com/index.php?/topic/5013-tjs-bar-naklua/page/10/

Except the flat chested beauty in red just got tits about a week ago.

Qantas is choosing Airbus over Boeing as a partner to fly the world's longest passenger routes. It's yet another blow to the embattled American aircraft maker, which continues to weather fallout from the 737 Max crisis. The Australian carrier announced Friday that it would use Airbus planes for "Project Sunrise," which intends to eventually operate regular non-stop flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to London and New York. The 19-hour journeys would be the longest passenger flights ever run by a commercial airline. They are still in the research phase. Qantas (QABSY) said in its statement Friday that it had not yet placed an order for Airbus planes. But it added that it would work with Airbus to draft a deal for up to 12 planes that will be presented to the airline's board. Both aircraft makers had pitched their jets to Qantas in a competitive months-long process, with Boeing (BA) offering up the 777X and Airbus (EADSF) the A350. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce called the decision "a tough choice" that was "made even harder by innovation from both manufacturers to improve on what they had already spent years designing." Airbus would add an extra fuel tank to the A350, which was selected for the project, and "slightly increase the maximum takeoff weight to deliver the performance required" on the new routes, Qantas said. "From the outset, we've been clear that Project Sunrise depends on a business case that works. We'll only commit to this investment if we know it will generate the right return for our shareholders given the inherent commercial risks," Joyce said in his statement. In addition to tailoring its aircraft, Airbus gave Qantas more time to decide whether it would confirm an order for the jets, the airline said. Qantas said this played a role in its decision, particularly as it's still negotiating how it would compensate its cabin crew for the flights, which could entail working for up to 22 hours straight. So far, the company says it has offered pilots a host of suggestions, including a 3% annual raise. Boeing has had a terrible year, mostly because of its grounded 737 Max jet. The planes stopped flying in March after the second of two fatal crashes, and they won't be approved to fly again before the end of the year, according to US regulators. While Boeing's stock has recorded gains this year, it's still down 22% from a high in March before a Max plane crashed in Ethiopia. So far, Qantas has conducted two out of its three planned test flights. The final experiment is slated for next week, with a decision on whether to proceed expected in March, the carrier said. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/13/business/airbus-qantas-boeing-project-sunrise/index.html

Any hassles with downloaded music? I guess these days with Spotify playlists there is no real reason to have pirated music. Was surprised one evening at New Bar to hear Simon & Garfunkel at a very low volume. One of my pet peeves is a bar that won't turn down the volume when me and a mate are the only customers in the joint. I get that they think that the music will attract passerbyers into the bar but what about taking care of the customers that you already have inside inside the bar? Some bars, not yours, think that taking care of a customer is asking repeatedly for a ladydrink.

The good old days!

Never met the majority of the nominees but for next year perhaps Em will be nominated for Best Barowner. She didn't mess with a winning formula and is always nice to me and mates sometimes sending over a round on the house.

My mate stays in the Urban every winter and one year he was on that side of that building and had two problems. He was on a low floor by a tree and there lots of flying critters. And motobike taxi guys were yapping outside all night. That's changed as they built a Thai restaurant there. Very simple construction which wouldn't be expensive to demolish if they wanted to develop the lot. Actually he had a third problem there as his lady dejour kept biting his manhood so he had to throw her out. But that could have happened anywhere. Now he has moved to the other side of the building and is quite happy there. The units there are bigger than elsewhere, but I don't like the cheap floors. Would much rather have tiles than fake wood.

She'd be quite the stocking stuffer!

I think Soi 15 is a great place to live. Rental prices are coming down now that Grand Avenue units are available. One guy just signed a year's lease for a small 35 sq meter one bedroom for 14K. I guess you prefer City Garden to the Urban or you wouldn't have moved? I'm more familiar with the Urban. Does City Garden have any unforseen negatives?

That's my experience too Petesie! Your cat watching himself on TV is brilliant concept!

Yes. And this happens to be good for LBR administration because guys can't get mad at us for being booted because it is not our call. We still have to think through the implications of Open Clubs and problems they might cause for us though.

You can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Congrats Petesie! Thanks for the insight into rents. I enjoy poring over numbers so quite interesting to me. Guess if rooms are refurbished enough so they can be rented to farang for about 10K a month then some of the bars with rooms above can be a moneymaker. But it doesn't seem to be an easy way to make a living.