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schnytzal

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Everything posted by schnytzal

  1. under no circumstances will i ever accept a flour tortilla taco regardless of what's in it. I'd expect they still do soft corn though. meanwhile recently settled on La Monita as my friend required a burrito, and La Monita is better than Sunrise. i don't think the one at Emquartier has burritos though (their tacos are nice but if i'm at Emquartier i'm downstairs eating at Smoked LOL)
  2. haven't been since they reopened but they were pretty good... are those flour tortillas? oh dear God no. soft corn tortillas. this is the way.
  3. i'm a regular. they have 3 pretty decent mezcals in addition to margs now. the chef is Mexican, great guy, will tell you all about mezcal if you get him going. he also makes a 'special' hot sauce if you like to suffer. simple, painful, and still flavorful (to me, too much heat and you don't taste anything).
  4. where Bangkok has an advatage over the West, Japan and Korea is in the price of tech labor. hardware is about the same as elsewhere and the retailers seem to collude on prices, the same hardware is usually same price in every shop totally agree that Pantip has faded. it's a ghost town taken over by big retailers who pretend they're separate shops but really aren't. the repair guys way upstairs in Fortune are good. there are some shops that specialize in old/obscure laptop batteries, i think they're still around. also some good camera shops and even some high end audio if you poke around. TO THE OP: in the area upstairs toward the direction of Lotus's (yeah that's what they call themselves now) there's a shop specializing in RAM. prices are reasonable and they don't charge to install it. so even though my day job is literally doing stuff like that, i have them install RAM upgrades and SSDs on my laptops. it's in the round section and on the left (facing Lotus's-ward) but i cna't remember exactly what floor.
  5. if it's just a couple of days it's not an issue and the fine is small. i got delayed on border runs about twice since in my entire time here, resulting in a small fine each time. i think the max fine is 20,000 baht but that may have changed, dunno. 90 day reporting, on the other hand... 2k max fine, and normally they do NOT check it when you exit the country, even by land.
  6. it's a function of possible contamination, time, and temperature. with pretty much *any* food borne pathogen. if the supermarket keeps the sushi cold enough, like most non-terrible sushi restaurants do, then i'd do it. i get salmon from the Tops near me (usually early in the day). street food, i look for stuff that's cooked on the spot, not stuff that's cooked and sits there waiting for flies to accumulate. curries etc are ok if they keep the heat on 'em. but sitting around at ambient temperature? yikes. funny thing about street food is westerners are so afraid of pla ra, it smells funky but it's a lactoferment. if it ferments properly other bacteria can't live there! if you get sick from somtam and it ain't chilli belly it's probably from the nasty little field crabs. but the thing is, isaan style somtam just isn't as good without the nasty little field crabs even though you don't eat the damn things lol. could also be poor hygiene on the part of the cook, but that can happen anywhere on Earth in any restaurant.
  7. when you leave, you pay the fine and might end up on a blacklist or watch list. everyone i know who has overstayed but stayed under the automatic ban limit has been able to get in but the fines can be eye watering.
  8. 100 PERCENT TRUE and every mom and pop coffee shop sells cakes and other calorie grenades. Thais are getting fatter on average.
  9. there's one on Soi 11, down a little side alley on the left side of the street, but given that Chez LN is on Soi 11, i'm unlikely to try it myself.
  10. points taken. i have seen all this but have convinced myself those queueing up at the golden arches are an alien species. you're correct it's been a while since i spent significant time in the states, but it's happening HERE too. i moved here in 2005 and young kids are getting fatter. doctors appear to have just given up on lifestyle advice. blood sugar is high? STOP DRINKING SODA IT'LL HELP... but no ppl ain't doing that so, medication. shit half the docs admit they don't take their own advice (everywhere, not unique to Murica). i don't entirely hate Starfucks as it's a good standard place to have a meeting. the coffee isn't good but it isn't terrible and they're literally everywhere on Earth so if you've got work stuff to do you know what to expect. THIS. there are a grteat many really interesting, really good Murican breakfasts (southern biscuits, tex mex omelette that's really scrambled eggs with lots of stuff in it and folded, corned beef hash and eggs, etc). (not all optimal for health but cn be delicious) i've seen tons of eggs benedict on menus in America... but i choose restaurants carefully because bad food pisses me off. for American food in Thailand i'd love to find corned beef hash and eggs but i only knew one place in NYC when i lived there that did it well so i might as well carry on doing it at home...
  11. are you American? i am, and i don't know too many people who would touch that corporate swill with a barge pole. I suspect you think cliches are hilarious. unfortunately, they're just cliches.
  12. i'm back and forth on lower Suk about two evenings a month at a minimum... and i think your idea of 'shoulder to shoulder' is perhaps quite a bit less congested than mine lol if they ain't actually touching you, just pay attention to what's going on around you and you'll be fine and don't chit chat with street ladyboys even if you're chasing ladyboys.
  13. haven't been there but a lot of very keen food obsessed ppl recommend Fran's, somewhere in Sathon area. my fav downtown/Suk brekky is Chez LN on Soi 11 (quite far in, on right side well past Ambassador hotel). as you'd guess from the name it's French. but it's real French. only place i've been in all of Thailand so far that does a Paris style French omelette (paris style are a little runny on the inside and not brown at all on the outside, and nothing like Murican omelettes, they don't have a lot of junk on the inside, just pure well crafted egg. they put a thin slice of good cheese on top at Chez LN. why can't you get this kind of omelette everywhere? BECAUSE IT'S REALLY FUCKING HARD to get it right every time. when i do at home i get about 1 in 5 right lol Chez LN has replaced Artis Coffee. Artis has the best coffee in lower Suk IMO, and their croissant sammiches are quite good, but the Chez LN omelette blew my mind so much this morning i had 2.
  14. sukumvit's not crowded enough to be much of a worry, unlike, say, walking street in Patts. i have never had even the slightest problem, but i'm large, don't reply to street hassle, and walk very fast. generally where one gets in trouble is being drunk off one's ass and deciding to banter a bit with the 'hello where you going' ladyboys. that's how i got my phone removed in Patts many years ago. i'm not into ladyboys at all, but if i were i'd look at bars, online, etc. *not* streetwalkers. probably most of them are not dodgy, but how can you tell which ones are only P4P and not out to lift your valuables?
  15. for 'Mex-Mex' Missing Burro in Thonglor area is excellent. haven't been in a while but they've tended to have some interesting mezcal too. if you haven't tried mezcal it's sorta like what if tequila had personality Charlie Brown's is also good, somewhere between 'Mex-Mex' and Tex Mex.
  16. ironically, so many (white) tourists are ultra wary of the African dudes hanging out around Sukumvit. these guys are, in my experience, VERY chill. if they're spread out at intervals asking you what's up they're corner boys, dealing, but they're very chill. also there are African dudes with 'real' jobs, and students, etc you'll find hanging out in sports bars, great fun to watch a football match with 'em, they tend to be knowledgeable and the banter's great. ladyboys on the street, and tourists in clubs and around backpacker areas like Kaosan Road, these are who to keep an eye on. that said, BKK is one of the least dangerous cities i've been to, i've lived in Thailand since 2005. the time i got my phone lifted i was drunk and stupid. just be alert, especially if someone jostles you.
  17. the impression i get from your posts is that your concerns are more a matter of anxiety than assessed risk, so playing it cool is the way forward, well done. that said you have to balance things, ya know? i mean if the risk really frightens you maybe PrEP is in order or similar. or steel condoms lol. first time i visited TH i went to a 'travel doctor' in NYC he loaded me up with anti malarials and shit like that lol. i've LIVED here since 2005, and never had malaria or dengue. i got a viral meningitis once but there's no preventive that i know of, and that can happen anywhere. so bottom line is, relax and lean into having a good time.
  18. it will be a REALLY BAD IDEA if you don't actually have an infection. antibiotics are already overprescribed, and you kill off the good bacteria with the bad. you have more bacteria in or on your body than cells, and most of them are good or at least harmless. it will mess up your gut for sure taking antibiotics for no reason.
  19. preventive antibiotics bring their own set of problems, such as nuking your gut biome (good with the bad). circumcision also reduces the odds of bacterial infection so i don't worry about these much. it's a great option for the type of guy for whom the worrying will spoil the fun though.
  20. VERY common, especially with backpacker types.
  21. i don't know of any preventative thing for syphilis but it's treatable if you catch it early. PrEP apparently reduces risk of HIV infection, but i don't worry about that as being circumcised, and having no interest in butt stuff, my odds are around 1 in 5,000 (according to meta analyses) of getting infected IF i bang someone infected. so in general my approach is do something stupid first, then go get tested for various things. it's working so far. might be worth getting a jab for Hep B and even Polio if you didn't have the Polio jab when you were a kid (it's transmitted via poop, and you think you're safe from poop but poop is everywhere and it doesn't take much). there's apparently a dengue vaccine, but i don't know if it's effective, and you're unlikely to get dengue if you're not off trekking in the wilderness.
  22. they like bling phones too. carrying a phone is essential IMO (how else does one collect bargirls' Line?) but keep close track of it and your wallet. especially if ANYONE jostles you. Westerners do this shit too, back when the Ambassador Hotel had a night club, a friend of mine had his phone lifted by a couple of 'tourists' working together.
  23. be very wary of ladyboys getting grabby, they're most likely far more interested in the contents of your pockets than the contents of your underpants. once in Pattaya at 4am on Walking Street, my Note 2 (that's how long ago it was lol) got lifted, and they replaced it with a roll of coins taped together of similar weight. they're VERY good at this. tl;dr be wary of ladyobys on the street, and don't carry stuff you don't need to carry. as for how to report, find the relevant police station, go there, and report. it's easy, especially in tourist areas where they speak English. I've reported stuff in the Hinterlands even... my Thai is adequate only for directing taxis.... and Google Translate is totally up to the task. odds are it won't, but at least you'll feel a little bit better after having done everything you can. and the boys in brown DO try at this sort of thing.
  24. they did a major refurbishment, it was closed for a few months. i'd bet all they succeeded in doing is removing its sordid charm and turning it into a run of the mill cheap hotel. it was VERY run down in 2002 when i first visited here. strangely charming at the time lol
  25. if you want nana and want quiet, there are a couple of decent-looking places on the park end of Nana. it's not THAT far to walk, and walking is good for you. the park is, well, a park. and large. and the street down that way is more like a normal Thai street. MUCH quieter than, say, soi 11. i occasionally stay at the Ibis which is halfway down the street and also halfway between quiet and barsville. inside the room's quiet enough.
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