Pdoggg

Is that one of the ladyboy show venues?

Was out in Naklua tonight. TJ's has some extremely nice talent. Relaxed vibe, no ladydrink pressure but company available if you want.

There have been some reports on a financial forum, that Visa (not Schwab, Fidelity, or the Cambodian bank) charges a fee even if taking out USD from a Cambodian ATM? Has any Yank noticed any fees from Schwab or Fidelity when using their card in Cambodia other than the local ATM fee which gets rebated? I am now also 100% sure that if using the Schwab or Fidelity card in Thailand, that the Visa takes a hidden cut in that the Visa consumer rate is not the true interbank rate, and this fee could be as high as 1%.

Nights out are rare for me but did a mini bar crawl tonight. Here is a quick summary. Met up with a few guys at the Hideaway to start out, hospitable, relaxing, and a good cup of coffee. Baby Boom is around the corner. Good bar if one is hunting though probably not the best joint for a chinwag with mates. On to to New Bar for Petsie's birthday bash. Packed house. Then to Duangjai. Think Duangjai's location has allot going for it. Soi Chaiyapoon reminds me of the way Victory Hill in Sihanoukville was a few years ago before the Chinese casinos completely changed the entire town almost overnight. Think a dark unpaved soi is perfect for a ladyboy bar and cheap drink prices are a plus.

Been doing lots of research into the Schwab card and Fidelity card. These are both excellent but neither uses the Interbank Bank. Rather they both use the Visa consumer rate with a buy/sell spread. Perhaps technically they can call this no fee but to me the difference between the Interbank rate and the rate you get is a............................... fee. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and fucks like a duck it's a..................... duck. The rate you get is on this website. https://usa.visa.com/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html I guess the way to figure out this fee is to do a hypothetical transaction on the website, then reverse the transaction. If you subtract the original input from the reversed output and then divide by two you should get the fee.assuming that the Interbank rate is the midpoint of the original input and reverse output.If you want a percentage you would then divide the fee by the amount withdrawn. This fee is reasonable. The good news is neither Fidelity or Schwab add any additional fees to the Visa Consumer Rate. They also rebate your ATM fees. I don't have experience with the Schwab card but to get the ATM rebate from Fidelity, the debit card must be inked to a Fidelity Cash Management Account, not a Fidelity Brokerage Account. If you already have a Fidelity Brokerage Account it takes just a minute to set up the Cash Management Account. Also with both cards, one should check online to see if the ATM fee is actually rebated. I believe with Schwab this happens at the end of the month while with fidelity you should see it in a couple days. These cards are probably only available in the Trumpland and hopefully there are good ATM solutions for guys from other countries.

Went to see Overlord tonight. Chose Overlord because it was the best of a bad lot. It wasn't that bad and my better half liked it. Since it was my birthday week, I got a free movie at Major Cineplex with my 60+ M card.

Where do you watch footy SirDuke?

GT, are the prices the same at both?

Here's an easy one.

Katesiree on Buakhao has pretty cheap beer and TV screens for sports. Friendly service staff that is used to dealing with Cheap Charlies. Even cheaper is the Family Mart on Soi 15 between the Hideaway and Avenue Mall. No TV nor annoying bargirls but 3 big tables in the parking lot. There is a feeling of spaciousness.

Regarding the Airport Rail Link, depending where you are staying in Bangkok, rather than going to Phaya Thai (7 stops and 45 baht), you might want to get off at Makasan (5 stops and 35 baht). The Makasan Rail Link station is connected to the Petchaburi MRT station. It's all covered in case of rain but is a little longer than walk than the exchange between trains at Phaya Tai. So you get on the MRT and it is just one stop to the Sukhumvit station at Asoke near Soi Cowboy 16 baht.

Was up in Bangkok for a night. I've been on the BTS and Airport Link many times but this was my first time on the MRT. It all went smooth going from Petchaburi to Sukhumvit but onthe return trip I waited about 10 minutes to buy a token from the machine Saturday about 18:30. Can I buy tokens in advance on the MRT? I tried buying in advance once on the BTS and I found out the next day it was only good for day I bought it. I guess people who live there don't buy tokens all teh time but use some sort of pass? I was talking to a farang 60+ and he has a senior discount card for the MRT and says you break even after just a few trips. But he said farangs can't get a senior discount on the BTS.

An interesting question is what if the flight was free? I've never been to Ireland, if i could fly for free, might do it for 24 hours there.

I give brown if I know the ladyboy well, if a good mate knows the ladyboy well, or if I'm in a venue that has been good to me. Green if it's obligatory. Never been in a Purple situation. That would require me being in a relationship with the garland wearer.

Some friends will be at LaBamba. Rumour is there will be a long distance bell ring by a Liverpool FC supporter. I've known Sindy for many moons, great girl, and eager to wish her a Happy Bday and staple a note to her garland.

With nothing do do this afternoon, I was soaking up the AC in the supermarket checking out the alcohol content of various beers. Chang,Singha, Leo, Tiger,Heineken all 5% San Mig Lite was also 5% and appears to be brewed in Thailand; not imported from the PI. Singha Lie came in at 4.5%. Tiger Lite was the lowest at 4.1%. Most people seem to think that Chang gives worse hangovers than San Mig Lite so it could be that alcohol content is only one hangover factor.

My third trip was only one week. Wanted to show a buddy the LOS and the one week trip was a way to make it happen. Nowadays, I almost always stay at destinations for at least a month unless it is a one night stop over in transit. Feel less adventerous these days and just want to settle in to a place where I'm comfortable. Yanks tend to have limited vacation time and often don't want to blow all there time on one trip and be faced with 11 months of drudgery. so a two week trip feels normal. The lack of vacation time many have is a serious quality of life issue but some workplaces can be quite rigid as far as unpaid leave goes. Other guys are lucky and use overtime hours as comp time instead of getting paid. Where I worked at one point they implemented one week of unpaid leave if someone wanted it and hardly anyone wanted the unpaid leave preferring the money. I preferred tropical sexual pleasure.

I was checking out exchange rates today and noticed that not all TT Currency Exchanges have exactly the same rate. When I checked some had 33.04 baht per USD and some others had 33.07 baht per USD. The TT across from the antique store exchange had 33.04 as did the antique store. The TT next to gay massage a little north of Pattaya Tai had 33.07 as did the place across the street. Did not check other currencies. Don't know if some TTs are always better or maybe they are just updating at different times. All these places were substantially better than Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn, and Krungsri/Ayudathya.

In the States, there is a rule of thumb that one shouldn't spend more than 25% of their income on rent, though it is never stated if that's pre-tax or post-tax. So when I first moved to Thailand, I kept my rent under 25% of my annual budget. In those years, which pretty much exactly the same as the years EZY Bar was open,I was going out 5 or 6 times a week. Bar bills add up. As the years go by, I don't want to wake up with a hangover everyday. So my spending went down and I could afford more rent. With every rental upgrade, I found being at home to be even more enjoyable so went out even less. My first big upgrade involved adding a living room/half assed kitchen. Not much cooking was done there but having a toaster and water kettle and table meant I could have toast and coffee for breakfast which cut down expenses. Now I have a somewhat more proper kitchen. My better half cooks sometime but it is really more for fun and doesn't really save much money given how cheap street food is. Talking to other expats, they tend to have s similar experience and are upgrading accomodation. It helps that the rental market seems to weak in Pattaya. It is somewhat overbuilt and with the ruble worth half of what is used to be the Russian invasion has halted. Lots more Chinese but as of now, not too many are living here. There has to be less Brits with the pound taking an ass pounding. Yanks are doing OK as far as the exchange rate but most of us are too inbred and lazy to leave our trailer parks.

Duanggiai Bar ahs anew location on Soi Chaiyapoon. IMO it's a superior location than LK Metro. I would rather a ladyboy bar be n a dark soi with potholes than on on soi with lots of GG gogos with motobikes driving too fast, There was a very pretty ladyboy who was only working there for one month. And they played 3 Stones songs while we were there. Think instead of Soi Pothole it should be renamed Soi Katoey! Between Duangiai, Zaza massage, and the myriad f othe rlayboys on the soi it's a must stop for he ladyboy monger Years ago the end of soi near 3rd Road had karoakes that catered to Thai ladyboys who wanted to get fucked by a cute Thai guy. But a mate of mine who is in the know said that here is one particular karoake that caters to ladyboys who want to get fucked by a Thai guy.

I would fault both Boeing and Lion Air. Whether there is a design flaw in all Max8's or whether that particular plane was a lemon, Boeing has delivered an inferior product. Of course given the magnitude of the problem on the previous flight the airplane Lion Air should have been taken out of service until repairs were made and a test flight completed. It seems that it would have been very difficult for even a pilot such as Capt Sully to avoid crashing as the proper decision needed to made within 10 seconds of noticing the problem. But then Capt Sully would never have taken off in this plane. What is the relationship between Lion Air and Thai Lion Air? I think I'll pass on flying Thai Lion in the future to save 500 baht! Not that I really want to fly out of Don Mueang anyway. My experience was quite good with Thai Lion as I was on a nice new plane, maybe a Max8.

One of my favorites is the soup place on Pattaya Tai close to 3rd Road. If you are headed from Soi Buakhao to 3rd Road on the left side of the street on the corner of the last little soi is an outstanding soup stand. They serve soup with sliced red pork, noodles, and wontons. I ask for guay tiao nam - nam mak (lots of water) as Thais seem more concerned with the ingredients than the water. You can help yourself to free iced tea. It's a night place. Opens at 7PM and closes around 5AM.

In the first statewide referendum on transgender rights, Massachusetts voters on Tuesday said “yes” to maintaining a 2016 law that extended nondiscrimination protections to transgender people, including their use of public bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. With nearly 50 percent of precincts reporting, the “Yes” vote garnered 70 percent of the vote, compared to 30 for the “No” vote. The results are pending official confirmation. “Massachusetts voters reaffirmed our Commonwealth as a place that fiercely defends our basic values of dignity and respect for everyone,” Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement shared with NBC News. “At a time when transgender rights are being threatened nationally, we absolutely must preserve the rights we have secured at the state level.” The outcome in Massachusetts was a huge relief to LGBTQ-rights activists across the country, who feared that a vote to repeal the 2016 law would prompt a wave of similar efforts to roll back protections in other states. Already, some protections at the federal level are under threat from President Donald Trump's administration. “Voters in Massachusetts made history tonight and sent a clear message that transgender rights are human rights,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of national LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, said in a statement. “This victory for transgender people all around the country is the latest sign that the Trump Administration’s attempts to discriminate against transgender Americans are completely out of step with where the American public is.” Opponents of the 2016 nondiscrimination law have been trying to repeal it since its passage. The group Keep MA Safe said the law enables people with “evil intentions” to “prey on the vulnerable.” “We are deeply disappointed that the people of Massachusetts will continue to be forced to sacrifice their privacy and safety in the name of political correctness,” Andrew Beckwith of Keep MA Safe said. “Our commitment to defending the fundamental rights to privacy and safety, particularly for women and children, will not change. We will move forward, developing other strategies to protect the rights of those who are negatively affected by this law.” The ballot measure attracted the attention of celebrities and transgender advocates across the U.S., who used the hashtag #YesOn3 to show their support for the anti-discrimination measure. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/massachusetts-backs-transgender-rights-historic-statewide-referendum-n933516