Fun in Thailand

[kamkar1]

pizza here are 11 usd

 

[DT MI]

The best (IMO) pizza around here is $18 US and worth every penny. Cheaper can be found for as little as $5 - carry out only.

 

[kamkar1]

Well i have a sneaky feeling a American pizza ( regular ) are larger than its Danish counterpart, which i think are 12 inch diameter.

 

[DT MI]

Yeah, the one I'm talking about is a bit different, it's square, thick and Oh So Good!!!

 

[dash riposki]

The 'local' pizza is generally weird, sometimes OK. The seafood based pizza with some sort of thousand island sauce is an example. Not really bad, but not what you expect.
Pasta the same, and often too spicy for me, here.
I can tolerate mediocre pizza if it is inexpensive, and they sell beer.

The last night I was in the US, I had run in circles all day, sold the pickup I drove up from the SE, not eaten all day. I was in a hotel near Ohare, in Chicago. I ordered a small deep dish pizza from a local place. Hungry as hell, only got through half of it, and ate some for breakfast, also.





I still regret leaving the uneaten pizza in the hotel room fridge

 

[Bungus]

I can ignore my sweating, but the people near me, can't.

I think I've had 'western' food 6 times in two months, mostly out of convenience.

I took a lady friend to an expat owned place that had good food, but dinner ran about $5 each. She liked the food, but 'too expensive, we not go back'.

(Looks like I hit the 'all you can eat' pizza night at another expat owned place for $5, solo.)

Not to worry. Time you start feel cold you'll be OK. USD 5. solo is quite a lot of Bahts. More than a day's wage for locals. I remember my siblings and I had a 10 course Chinese fresh seafood dinner for 8 of us including 3 bottles Thai whiskey in Hatyai (Border town of Thailand and Malaysia), we paid USD 25. total.

 

[dash riposki]

I try to explain to her the meal we had at $5 each, which is expensive by local standards, would cost more than 3x in the US, and maybe not be freshly prepared. (this was) There is a good handful of 'expat/thai wife' restaurants which offer the expats local cuisine, as well as thai food. The expat food is usually pretty good, but expensive by thai standards. The thai food is kind of normal pricing. They can't survive on the expat business, alone. they need thai traffic

 

[Bungus]

I bumped into a lot of US male retirees setting up homes in Thailand on my travels to Malaysia. Some have been in Thailand for years, some with occasional travel back to US. Some have medical problems but all of them agrees they can live quite comfortably for USD 2-500/ month and have no plans to move back to US. Once I met a US Vietnam Vet. working as tour guide in Phuket.

 

[kamkar1]

My pension get slashed if i go outside of the EU, but i must admit i don't know by how much, my pension right now after tax are around 1900 USD / mo

 

[dash riposki]

Technically the Vet could not legally work as a tour guide unless he has obtained Thai Citizenship. That is something they crack down on, occasionally, usually rounding up mainland chinese and some assorted others.
I notice a white guy helping out at a local street food vendor, probably operated by his thai wife. What happens pretty often is they will get some 'happy' news coverage, 'loyal husband helps wife sell food', then a few weeks later immigration swoops in because they have no work permit, and often have overstayed visas.
One of the recent ones turned out to be wanted in the EU.

 

[dash riposki]

Damn, I'm already driving like a Thai. The sam lor is not that narrow, but I can still squeeze around slow or stopped traffic. I'm practicing the non-chalant, stare off into space, 'I'm too dumb to bother to argue with' expression a lot of the sam lor drivers have.

 

[dash riposki]

Heading to UD Town, on saturday night, for dinner. (Not smart, every one else in town has same idea)
UD Town is a shopping center that expands into a night market after dark.

Food was ok, very crowded.
Prime spots near fans taken, but that was an excuse for me to drink beer.

Food for 4 adults, one kid, and 3 large beers or so for me, $30. a little expensive by local standards.

The A119V3 does pretty well, considering the vibration and basically being exposed to most elements except direct rain.
I usually pull the cam off and drop it in my pocket or under the seat when away from the trike. Hard to keep windshield clean, and condensation or fog free. May try rain-x.
(No defroster or fan) You also have some roof leaks or something, drops of rain running down the interior of the windscreen in extended or heavier rain.
When riding, unless it's very heavy rain, only my feet get damp a little. If standing water on the road.....more than damp.

 

[SawMaster]

The V3 looks as good here as a lot of cams looked in daytime just a few years ago. Maybe in a year or two I can upgrade to something that good.

Careful with the beers- the farthest distance between two parts on a bike or trike should always be between the bottle and the throttle I can say with certainty that jail food really sucks which is something I don't want you to discover the hard way like I did

Phil

 

[dash riposki]

Beer is expensive, here. Seriously. I don't bother to keep any in the fridge any more, and the store sales hours are bizarre. 11-2, and 5 PM to midnight. I do 95% of my shopping at off peak hours, so can't even buy it when shopping.
They also serve the beer in glasses with ice. Ithink we ordered 2 or 3 large bottles of beer, maybe 750 ml. The waiter person kept the glasses topped off, and one of the ladies had a glass or two. I wasn't drunk, and I think you pretty much have to be seriously drunk and driving, and run over a cop, to get much attention, here.

Along with putting ketchup on fried chicken, and pizza....this practice (beer over ice( will keep Thailand in the 'quirky zone' category.


Beef and cheese is expensive here, also. Some of the beef is not so great, and I suspect it is Kangaroo taught how to moo.

Maybe @SawMaster remembers the rumors that Hardees burger chain used kangaroo meat?

 

[jokiin]

Won't be kangaroo, it's more expensive than beef

 

[SawMaster]

The Africans call it "Bush Meat" which means it's some kind of meat from some kind of animal usually caught in the wild with no guarantees of any more than that. At least they're being honest about it I do recall the "Hardees" scare but I can't recall whether anything was proven. I do remember it slowed their sales quite a bit which made it faster to get served there for awhile. A similar scare was started for McDonalds some time back but was quickly quashed when they pointed out that all their beef comes from their own herds with none being out-sourced elsewhere. Only the breads, fruit juices, and a couple other things at US McDonalds comes from non-corporate sources.

Per pound of meat harvested, beef takes more grazing space, animal care costs, and if pen-raised feeding costs and poop disposal too than most other edible animals do which is why in many places it's so darn costly and so scarce. Contrast this to chickens and pigs which take very little to raise and which can do well in most climates. I've had some "Beefalo" and true "Buffalo" before which was close to beef, but I can't go there any longer because it sets off my gout I sure miss the good stuff but it's worth losing the pain and disability it gave me. My sister sometimes makes dishes for me with other meats substituted for beef, and some are so close in flavor that nobody would know. I don't cook much so I just stick with what I can eat that's sold in stores and restaurants.

Can't say why cheese would be costly there; maybe too warm a climate for cheap cellar-aging? You may remember Clemson U. makes cheese in Stumphouse tunnel in Oconee. Haven't had any as I'm not into the varieties they make but I hear it's really good. I 'hiked' the tunnel many years ago; some idiot burned down the old railroad caboose which used to be displayed near the entrance Also hiked the other end of the tunnel once but it's been closed off now due to rockfall dangers. With life being so cheap there maybe I'll drift over that way someday if I can figure out how to maintain my SSI while living elsewhere without raising eyebrows. If they will have me that is

Phil

 

[dash riposki]

It's pretty cheap here, but the Baht has strengthened and it's not as cheap as it was.
For retirement visas you need to have about $28000 USD in a thai bank account, or a documented income of $2100 a month, OR a comparable total with savings/income combined. (But that is being played with at this point and could be changed.)
You can collect SSI in other countries, not sure if they still have the commie country exclusions?

It is a bit safer to have the SSI deposited in a US bank, keep some US ties going, and transfer money as needed.

The philippines is a little easier to retire or spend time in, not as much hassle as thailand. The food sucks, though.

 

[dash riposki]

The street market areas are very crowded in the evening, with people stopping to buy cooked food to take home, or stuff to cook at home. Double and triple parking is common. Here i get blocked in by a jerk in a mercedes while I am parked in a normal spot, and shopping across the street. I doubt the mirrors fold in automatically when parked, so I guess he was worried some inconsiderate person would hit his car...also left the flashers on.
This is the shortened version, barely enough room to get out, eventually. (Excluding most of the cursing, and attempts to get my passengers to watch the back of the trike so I didn't hit the parked car behind me. Hard to judge where the end is with the step bumper that projects about ten inches.)

 

[DT MI]

The street market areas are very crowded in the evening, with people stopping to buy cooked food to take home, or stuff to cook at home. Double and triple parking is common. Here i get blocked in by a jerk in a mercedes while I am parked in a normal spot, and shopping across the street. I doubt the mirrors fold in automatically when parked, so I guess he was worried some inconsiderate person would hit his car...also left the flashers on.
This is the shortened version, barely enough room to get out, eventually. (Excluding most of the cursing, and attempts to get my passengers to watch the back of the trike so I didn't hit the parked car behind me. Hard to judge where the end is with the step bumper that projects about ten inches.)
...

I'm not sure I'd have been quite as careful as you were. The car behind, yes, but not so much so with regard to the Merc.

 

[dash riposki]

I'm in an 800 pound vehicle, with three lady passengers, and one 2 year old. If it wasn't so well lit......uh.....,maybe I could put some of those spiked wheels on the trike, like in the Ben Hur movie?

The problem I have is most of my friends don't drive a car, so all they have for a basis on where you can go, or park,at any given time, is based on a motor scooter.
The trike is as long as a honda civic. You don't just poke in a hole. I try to avoid congested crowded places. They don't understand, that is part of the challenge for them, I guess.