Comments Posted By Brian
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Good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share
John, you seem have your method of getting USD when needed but Capital One and Charles Schwab both offer debit cards that do not charge any foreign transaction fees. Schwab also reimburses a person for any ATM fees that are incurred. Exchange rate is market rate, so no rip off there either.
Have a great 4th of July party.
» Posted By Brian On 04/July/2024 @ 3:28 am
Looks like a pretty big portion of your grocery shopping is cookies and candies. That kind of justifies the weekly cost I guess. LOL
Going back to a post from a couple of days ago. IIRC, you were at the Maze and went from one bar to one of the others, both of which were owned by the same guy. Does one bar try to distinguish itself from the other, or is the vibe really just based on the difference in waitresses/GRO’s?
» Posted By Brian On 26/June/2024 @ 10:44 pm
John, no screens on the windows? Somewhat surprising if not the norm. I’ve lived in a number of third world countries (albeit in relatively decent housing) and all the housing had screens. If no screens, any problems with bugs?
» Posted By Brian On 24/June/2024 @ 11:45 pm
Cool drone footage. Nice perspective on your walk.
I do have to ask = the 11 beers; what was the elapsed time to drink those? 😛
» Posted By Brian On 24/June/2024 @ 4:43 am
Is Club Morocco convenient to Barreto or would it be more of a trek to get to town from there?
» Posted By Brian On 24/June/2024 @ 4:35 am
Re: foreigner drinking the beer. Weird! Ever seen him around before? Wonder if he already was three sheets to the wind.
» Posted By Brian On 14/June/2024 @ 11:48 am
I in-vested three hundred with the Hash
Re: Sleeping upright. In addition to Jefferson, LIncoln did the same thing. Visited his house in Springfield IL and was surprised by the short length of the bed. The tour guide said that it was pretty common back then for people to sleep semi upright.
Anyway, hope things improve with the lungs/blood O2, etc. At least back to the “old” normal.
» Posted By Brian On 14/June/2024 @ 11:38 am
sorry – effect, not affect LOL
» Posted By Brian On 07/June/2024 @ 9:19 pm
Re: Loss of smell – is this related to the surgery on your nose to remove the polyps? After affect of COVID? Hopefully, it will come back. As @Kevin points out, smell and taste are pretty closely interrelated.
» Posted By Brian On 07/June/2024 @ 8:17 pm
Great pics as usual. Tibag must not be too remote if it has a Waltermart. LOL Or are they kind of like the Dollar General stores in the US? THere is one in every rural town.
Cool to see your Dad’s place getting attention.
Re: the family on the scooter. I remember seeing a advert for a scooter while I was working in India. Basically, the ad for company X was asking if your scooter company could answer yes to the following:
has hundreds of service centers in India?
Proven reliability?
etc.
But one question made me laugh:
Can your scooter carry a family of four and a weeks worth of groceries? (And there was a picture of the dad driving, small kid standing in front of him, wife sitting side saddle behind the dad; baby in one arm, and a grocery bag full of food in the other. LOL» Posted By Brian On 31/May/2024 @ 12:38 pm
Great to hear the latest health results!!
» Posted By Brian On 26/May/2024 @ 2:19 am
Re: Trash – kind of like that video @Kevin posted about returning shopping carts. Same with litter Put it in a trash can etc. I am sure a significant part of the problem is culture, but also infrastructure. Just dont have the proper landfills, garbage truck access to some of the more remote areas, high temp furnaces to burn garbage, etc, It boggles my mind that it does not bother the people living there. Unfortunately, the PI is not alone in this way of handing trash.
Re: separation of sexes at parties. I think it is more of a worldwide thing than a Muslim thing. Get together with older relatives in the US, and the same thing happens. Other countries also. Anyways, food looks good and looks like a good time.
Re: election. Yeah, Dont think Biden will be a candidate in November. It saddens me that the two leading candidates for the most powerful position in the world are Biden and Trump. Hard to believe that we as a country cannot do better.
» Posted By Brian On 24/May/2024 @ 11:28 pm
On average, what is the turnout for the weekly Hash? (runners, sane group, etc.)
» Posted By Brian On 21/May/2024 @ 11:45 pm
Hope the phone issue can be resolved soon. I have to admit that I pretty wrapped up in the whole Apple ecosystem (I know, I know, you can sling arrows my way LOL), and have never had any problems with their “stuff”.
Re: wheelchair joke – dont know if you have ever watched “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, a funny politically incorrect show. One episode, the lead character goes on a blind date and finds out his date is in a wheelchair. Bummed out at first until he sees the benefits; handicap parking spots, getting seated at a restaurant that is full because of the sympathy factor, etc. Pretty funny.
Re: Route 66 Traveled various parts of it in Illinois and Texas/New Mexico. Well signposted and I know people make the journey from where is starts in Chicago all the way to the end. Get your kicks on Route 66.
» Posted By Brian On 17/May/2024 @ 10:56 pm
Wow!! Six years! Time flies, that’s for sure! Hope that there is many more in your future.
» Posted By Brian On 13/May/2024 @ 10:45 am
So, what was your verdict on Kon Tiki? Worth the visit even though it was a bit out of the way?
» Posted By Brian On 10/May/2024 @ 11:32 pm
I think that there is a tendency to romanticize the past – things were wilder/crazier/cooler, etc.than the really were.
The things happening in bars that the guy was reminiscing about, im sure that they are still there somewhere if that is his kink.
50 years from now, I am sure that todays 20 somethings will be saying the same thing.
» Posted By Brian On 06/May/2024 @ 1:42 am
My guess is that somehow alcohol was involved…………
» Posted By Brian On 03/May/2024 @ 2:55 am
Yeah, crazy how good looking some of transgender guys are in Thailand, or as they call them there – women of the second category. If you are ever back in Pattaya, there are a couple of nightclubs that put on a Broadway style song and dance show with TG folk. Fun to watch. LOL
» Posted By Brian On 01/May/2024 @ 11:43 pm
Was the get together for Alan “advertised” in the expat community? If Swan doesnt keep in contact with Alan’s friends, maybe it wasnt so unusual that there was minimal turnout from the expat side.
Re: Heat You are up early. Have you ever thought about pushing your walk forward a couple of hours to coincide with the sunrise? If it is anything like Thailand, it is actually a pretty nice time to walk.
» Posted By Brian On 27/April/2024 @ 1:54 am
Re: Record store: Dont know if you posted that because 4/20 is the States is Record Day, where there are certain promotions for independent record stores. Quite a few musicians that issue on vinyl will have special issues, etc. Fun day to go browsing in that type of store. Generally, independent record stores will have two record days – 4/20 and Black Friday.
Re: Random question – is Swan pretty short or is her ex pretty tall or maybe a combination of both?
» Posted By Brian On 22/April/2024 @ 2:06 am
Re: Toothache. Wasnt the remedy years ago when babies were teething was to put a whisky/whiskey soaked cloth on their tooth? Maybe you should try that! LOL (No swallowing however!)
» Posted By Brian On 18/April/2024 @ 1:36 am
Re: potential children you don’t know about. Interesting story about one of the founders of DHL, the package delivery company. I think it was the D of the three guys. Anyways I guess he was fairly promiscuous throughout SE Asia, and when he died, some very poor lady and her kid in the Philippines(?)came into a lot of money!
» Posted By Brian On 17/April/2024 @ 3:20 am
Re: Toe pic – I thought for a second that @Kevin had hijacked your blog!!!!
Re: Glen Campbell song. Dont know if you have seen it, but there is an interesting documentary out about his last concert tour as he struggles with dementia. “I’ll Be Me”
» Posted By Brian On 13/April/2024 @ 1:07 am
Re: Littering Not sure how much time you have spent in Japan, but Japan is crazy clean. Walk around any big city and see almost zero trash. And this is even after most/all public trash cans were removed in 1995 following the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway, whrere trash bins were used to place the gas canisters. Just a culture thing I guess.
Re: older foreigner/younger local. I have heard that Bali is a place where there is a somewhat substantial older foreign female/young local male population.
» Posted By Brian On 12/April/2024 @ 1:40 am
I can do one without the other
Although like everyone, I hate paying taxes, a friend told me to look on teh bright side. You are only paying taxes if you are making money.
» Posted By Brian On 12/April/2024 @ 1:29 am
I assume that Bridge #1 is the crossing closest to the red dot on your map above?
» Posted By Brian On 09/April/2024 @ 1:31 am
I read that story about the co-joined twins. Crazy, but I give them credit for seeming to have a relatively normal life up to this point.
» Posted By Brian On 30/March/2024 @ 2:12 am
John – good on ya’. Glad that the climb was successful and that your health problems seem mostly in the rear view mirror.
Keep on keepin’ on!
» Posted By Brian On 29/March/2024 @ 5:08 am
«« Back To Stats PageNever understood the allure of cock fighting, but it does seem to be popular in rural parts of Asia.
» Posted By Brian On 26/March/2024 @ 4:04 am