Pdoggg

Just got back from the LaBamba party. Had a chance to catch up with some old friends. The Shepherd's Pie was outstanding; the best thing I ate in 2018!

These prices are pretty good especially if you value a comfortable seat and aircon compared to low stools at many street food joints. In the video, and in person, I saw Oily Rice for 10 baht. I wonder if that should read Only Rice? I hate asking the price of the things so do like clearly marked prices. Some street stalls will charge 20 baht for steamed rice though 10 is the most common price. Many street stalls offer free water or even free iced tea but I reckon some guys feel that bottled water is safer. I doubt they charge 5 baht for takeaway to trumpet how green they are. IMO, think it would be smarter for them to give slightly smaller portions without the 5 baht markup and nobody would be the wiser.. Lastly, I noticed the NightWish Group logo on the video. That's the Addicts Group that owns about a dozen bars on Soi Half A Dozen. What Nightwish is doing is similar to the gentrification of older cities in Farangland where a Starbucks will replace a shoemaker. They can make more money operating open air bars on Soi 6 than they could with the old style groping joints. I think it's a shame, as the old Soi 6 was unique, but guys vote with their baht and their feet.

Woke up today at noon on the 28th and the rebate was in my account without need for a phone call for the transaction at 16:30 on Christmas. Looking forward to using Cambodian ATMs where it will be a truly no fee withdrawal as long as I can find an ATM which reposts the transaction properly so the ATM fee gets rebated. Not all Phnom Penh ATMs have a $500 limit and none have higher AFAIK. If anyone knows ATMs around the Riverside that will spit out 500 or more please post. I believe with the Schwab card you can have a $1000 limit which means you can take out 30,000 baht but with Fidelity they hold you to a $500 limit. Maybe you can do two transactions in a row, but my objective is to try to minimize the ATM that Fidelity rebates because I hate waste and also there is probably an unstated limit as to how many rebates they will permit.

Was fooling around with the Visa Exchange Rate calculator today. https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html Observation 1: Let's say you are an American using the Fidelity or Schwab card which has a 0% bank fee and also rebates the 220 baht ATM fee. You fool around with the calculator a bit (on December 26)and you see: 1 United States Dollar = 32.723728 Thai Baht Wow that looks great! But it's not the rate you get with the Fidelity or Schwab card. The 32.72 rate is if you had a visa card issued by a Thai bank and you took out money in the USA. The rate you actually get is: 1 Thai Baht = 0.030795 United States Dollar Looks like giberish and most of us ignore that sort of rate. You need to take the inverse (1/x)of 0.030795 which works out to 32.47 and change. This is by no means a bad rate, in fact it equals what you could get at Super Rich Thailand today at the Rail Link in Suvaranaphumi. Observation 2: The Visa Calculator updates once a day. From the website: With the Fidelity card, it seems like it gets processed by Visa right away. I tool out the money at 16:30 on December 25 in Thailand which would be 4:30 December 25 on the East Coast in the USA.. When I checked online an hour or so later, the transaction had already processed. Since exchange rate seems locked in early in the day, you wouldn't want to make a transaction if the exchange rate has moved up intraday. Coversely, if the exchange rate goes down intraday, you would want to hustle to the ATM and take out money. I suppose the rate day begins when the rate is loaded onto the Visa site, and transactions processed by Visa that rate day get the rate. With Fidelity, you are clear about the rate soon after the transaction. What was posted on Fidelity did not reflect the ATM fee rebate. Last time I called and it was cleared up but this time I won't call and see if it gets cleared up. I reckon that once you find a Thai ATM in which Fidelity/Schwab gives the rebate automatically, it is good to stick with that particular ATM. So it seems possible to game the system a bit, past posting using a horse racing analogy.

Donner Kebab joint at the Buakhao end of LK Metro is tasty and surprisingly inexpensive for being on such a high profile street. Chicken kebab is 60 baht and delicious! Heard the lamb kebab is quite good too.

I think she looks like Drew Barrymore about 20 years ago.

Popped into Katy Bar again tonight. 60 baht Leo, friendly ladyboys, no pressure, what's not to like!

Been to Beefeater many times with my high rolling buddy. Also Patrick's Belgian which Nick mentions. Of all the steakhouse, Steak & Co on Soi Lengkee has the most comfortables seating. Can't really say which has the best food. In the video, he also mentions The Edge Condo next to The Base, which was sold out in one weekend before it was built. The Base, same developer as The Edge is popular with the Chinese. But one Chinese lady whoI know who rents out many condos at the Centara said her boss is trying to sell as he fears prices will be going down. Think Pattaya is a bit over developed and there is real danger that condos illegally rented out for less than a month will be a thing of the past. People are saying it's a soft real estate market.

โชคดีครับ

Merry Christmas From Ladyboy Review!

Chris was a good guy indeed! Darkside was an excellent bar, perhaps the best ever in Bangkok, and he set the tone for the relaxing, laid back vibe. RIP Chris.

Took a walk around the Avenue Food World late last night. Some stalls were either closed for the night or maybe hadn't opened yet but prices were listed. Tends to be just slightly higher than some mom and pops and street food. For example, sliced chicken over rice is 45 baht while the most common price is 40 baht. For some reason, I have the impression that food courts are not as tasty as mom and pops, but I haven't yet tried the food there. But the chairs and tables are much more comfortable than your typical mom and pop where the table is wobbly and you are sitting on a stool. And you are protected from the rain. And you can order extra rice for 10 baht. Guess that can be done at mom and pops but like that it is clearly marked and some mom and pops may charge 20 baht. Not sure, if anyone would want to go out of their way to eat there but it is in a very convenient location for me.

What's the connection between Hunny Bunny and Baby Boom?

If I have to bring freinds around to change money, I check out the 5 places. There are two TTs near Boyztown, on opposite sides of 2nd Road. Then check out the antique store and the two TTs between Soi 16 and Soi 17 on opposite sides of 2nd Road (Actually I think it's name may be Thapppraya once you cross Pattaya Tai). I usually find that the TTs have a different rates. Also seem that most independent exchange booths are Tsomething and pained yellow, maybe trying to fool people.

The Bank of Thailand raised its one-day bond repurchase rate for the first time since 2011, lifting it to 1.75 percent from 1.5 percent on Wednesday, in line with most economists’ forecasts. The baht has been among the most stable currencies in Asia this year, compared to large declines in the Philippine peso and Indonesian rupiah, allowing the central bank to keep policy unchanged for most of 2018.

Tomorrow is the big day. The BOT and the Fed could both raise interest rates which would not be good for the Euro and GBP exchange rates here in Pattaya.

Another nice night sitting outside at Katty Bar. It's on the good side of Soi 4 without motobikes whizzing by. Cold beer, nice eye candy, and no pressure.

I'll leave the 99 baht joints to the hiso crowd. A food court will be opening soon near the back of Avenue Mall. If they come it at the price point of Bic C food courts then I reckon it could be an option for hot or rainy days. But if priced like Central Festival food court then I will give it a miss though Central Food Court is a reasonable option for guys not on a tight budget. But I prefer small portion 40 baht street food.

Are their short time rooms near TJs?

I enjoy the Beer Garden and would certainly be disappointed if it were closed and replaced my a tourist trap. That said, if I want Penang Gai, I'll go to the Tin Cup joint where it's awesome. If I'm hungry at the Beer Garden, I'll order Western food. Generally there at night but the other day had coffee out on the deck at midday. There was a good breeze coming of the bay so it felt great to be out in the sun.

Thailand vs Philippines 2018 Miss Universe

She looks like a youngish Drew Barrymore.

No stage or food, but that doesn't really matter much to me. Well run bar without ladydrink pressure. Like the open air feel to the bar and good music at the proper volume, loud enough for fun, but low enough to converse. Excellent lineup of girls. I think Nicky (Nikki), not sure how she spells it is stunning.