oliver17

I would get sicker witnessing that than I would by contracting Covid. 

I would get sicker witnessing that than I would by contracting Covid. 

Mask use is fucking hilarious, I watched a worker at Foodland take hers off to cough all over the vegetables in the produce section, then replace it, several times. Many people wear masks with their noses out, or just have it wrapped around their neck. Some taxi drivers are using masks that look like old oil rags, I had a driver today who was picking his nose and wiping it on the edge of the mask. Mainly farangs aren't wearing masks, I only do to not rile up the locals as a dirty farang spreading the Corona... 

I came across this today in Bangkok Post. I know there has been concern about travel insurance perhaps refusing to cover health care costs associated to Covid, but it looks like LOS will pick up the tab in exchange for a 200 or 300 baht ticket tax fee. Things are slowly gearing up for a return of international travel. Now they need to focus on test-based alternatives to a 14 day quarantine on arrival...
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1916332/tourism-levy-mulled

I received this from Qatar Airways today. It's all very preliminary, but it gives you an idea of what the timetable is for moving forward over the next couple of months. Encouraging news, I would say. 

I saw this today concerning Covid testing at Vienna's airport for arriving passengers. It will cost 190 Euros (US $200 or so), results will be available in 3 hours and if you test negative you can avoid a 14 day quarantine in Austria. You can also present a cert from your prior point of departure if it's no older than 4 days. I am guessing something like this will be the standard for immigration at BKK and other airports around the world. I hope so, because I know nobody wants to do a 14 day quarantine on arrival. Sounds great, too bad it will cost $$$. The Wuhan virus is a gift that keeps on taking, taking, taking. 
https://www.viennaairport.com/pcrtest

I saw this today concerning Covid testing at Vienna's airport for arriving passengers. It will cost 190 Euros (US $200 or so), results will be available in 3 hours and if you test negative you can avoid a 14 day quarantine in Austria. You can also present a cert from your prior point of departure if it's no older than 4 days. I am guessing something like this will be the standard for immigration at BKK and other airports around the world. I hope so, because I know nobody wants to do a 14 day quarantine on arrival. Sounds great, too bad it will cost $$$. The Wuhan virus is a gift that keeps on taking, taking, taking. 
https://www.viennaairport.com/pcrtest

I saw this today concerning Covid testing at Vienna's airport for arriving passengers. It will cost 190 Euros (US $200 or so), results will be available in 3 hours and if you test negative you can avoid a 14 day quarantine in Austria. You can also present a cert from your prior point of departure if it's no older than 4 days. I am guessing something like this will be the standard for immigration at BKK and other airports around the world. I hope so, because I know nobody wants to do a 14 day quarantine on arrival. Sounds great, too bad it will cost $$$. The Wuhan virus is a gift that keeps on taking, taking, taking. 
https://www.viennaairport.com/pcrtest

I saw this today concerning Covid testing at Vienna's airport for arriving passengers. It will cost 190 Euros (US $200 or so), results will be available in 3 hours and if you test negative you can avoid a 14 day quarantine in Austria. You can also present a cert from your prior point of departure if it's no older than 4 days. I am guessing something like this will be the standard for immigration at BKK and other airports around the world. I hope so, because I know nobody wants to do a 14 day quarantine on arrival. Sounds great, too bad it will cost $$$. The Wuhan virus is a gift that keeps on taking, taking, taking. 
https://www.viennaairport.com/pcrtest

I saw this today concerning Covid testing at Vienna's airport for arriving passengers. It will cost 190 Euros (US $200 or so), results will be available in 3 hours and if you test negative you can avoid a 14 day quarantine in Austria. You can also present a cert from your prior point of departure if it's no older than 4 days. I am guessing something like this will be the standard for immigration at BKK and other airports around the world. I hope so, because I know nobody wants to do a 14 day quarantine on arrival. Sounds great, too bad it will cost $$$. The Wuhan virus is a gift that keeps on taking, taking, taking. 
https://www.viennaairport.com/pcrtest

As an example of how the airlines view the time frame for resumption of passenger service, Emirates won't be flying until July at the earliest. I am sure other carriers are looking at the same scenario and they are probably getting info about when border closures will end and international flying may resume directly from governments. 
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/transport/445448-emirates-airline-passenger-flights-set-to-remain-grounded-until-july?fbclid=IwAR17o4uh-OY1uZVVLTxR0Yo73j-eGVF1-stq-PGoeRQVxQxe_ByqOwb0PNk

As an example of how the airlines view the time frame for resumption of passenger service, Emirates won't be flying until July at the earliest. I am sure other carriers are looking at the same scenario and they are probably getting info about when border closures will end and international flying may resume directly from governments. 
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/transport/445448-emirates-airline-passenger-flights-set-to-remain-grounded-until-july?fbclid=IwAR17o4uh-OY1uZVVLTxR0Yo73j-eGVF1-stq-PGoeRQVxQxe_ByqOwb0PNk

The real question is how is it determined who is transsexual and what criteria was used for the determination. Does that just mean people who simply self-identify as trans,  or does it mean people who have started hormones and/or surgery, or people who are living full time as opposite sex but don't use hormones, or does it mean all of the above combined? I have always been skeptical of numerical figures presented by experts about gender ID and sexual behavior. You never know what the criteria they used when they did their calculations. 

The real question is how is it determined who is transsexual and what criteria was used for the determination. Does that just mean people who simply self-identify as trans,  or does it mean people who have started hormones and/or surgery, or people who are living full time as opposite sex but don't use hormones, or does it mean all of the above combined? I have always been skeptical of numerical figures presented by experts about gender ID and sexual behavior. You never know what the criteria they used when they did their calculations. 

I know on a similar subject that ants are on the menu in some areas of the North East....the Durian has an awful pungent smell but for me the fermented fish (balaar) that is eaten
with Somtum and other things is just the worst smelling of them all.

I had a plate of fried crickets and mint leaves with honey at a place in Vientiane a few years back. It was ok. I remember seeing the waiting staff & some of the kitchen peeking from a doorway to see what reaction I would have. Big bottle of Beer Lao helped.
Ex gf's mum loved durian and we drove countless miles around Rayong finding the best ones. Not half as bad as I expected.
I draw the line at ice cubes in beer!

My girlfriend ate a basket of insects at Asiatique. I thought it was grasshoppers but it may have been large crickets. To be honest, I don't know and I don't care. It's just one more "exotic" Thai food tradition that needs to be avoided by thinking farangs, like eating durian or putting ice cubes into a beer.

Just wandered if anyone has been brave enough to try the crispy fried crickets?
Late one evening at Why Not Creamy said she was hungry and there was some food she wanted on the cart outside, feeling generous I gave her some money and said 
bring me whatever your having. What she brought back was a plate of critters with some salad bits and crispy pork skin....even in my pissed up state there was no way I was going near that!
Watching her munching on these could of been a passion killer but with her curvy ass anything is forgiven.
 

I ate more than few times at their 23 Sukhumvit  location. A hop,  skip & jump from my usual Sukhumvit haunts.  If I wanted treat & impress colleagues or  friends to a spot, this was it.  One evening, the day before a Royal Family occasion(a birth celebration,  a birhday, something) , a Thai couple/colleagues and I  were seated in the garden while a Family celebration dinner was underway in the major room.  The older princess and two children from the group came over to our table, reducing my guests to a humbleness, then introducing me "Khun Dr. Bob." I didn't kneel but did perform an appropriate deep bow.
Baan Khanita-23  also had a tiny bar upfront that was a welcome, quite respite from the usual haunts. 

Here is a good primer for using advanced codes with Matrix that allow you to plan routes using specific airlines or routing thru LAX or NRT or wherever:
 
http://hackmytrip.com/2012/09/using-routing-language-with-ita-fare-matrix/
 
You can't book trips with Matrix. Instead, you print up your itenarary and either give it to a travel agent or call the airline directly. There is no way for the consumer to input the all the codes into airline websites. I use Matrix for my flights, and it has always been my experience that giving the codes to a TA is easier than trying to book codes directly with the airlines. The airlines act as if you are pulling their teeth out when you read out all those booking codes to them over the phone. TA's are happy to do it for you because you have already done all the legwork for them.

All you have to do is type "Rembrandt" in the search box and it will bring up about 20 posts, including pics and a mini review from One True Saxon a couple of years ago. There's years of info and wisdom to be found here with minimal effort.  
If you can't find the answers you look for, simply send them an email and ask what their guest policy is and tell them a ladyboy will be the guest. Don't be shy because they have heard it all before anyway.  

Last time I stayed there was February 2018. There are 2 towers on that property. One is the Radisson Hotel, the other is In Residence. They share the same facilities and are obviously attached at the hip, but I don't know what the exact relationship is. The only problem I ever had there occurred during a previous stay when  a balky key card sometimes didn't function. Needless to say, it was not much fun going down to reception at 4:00 AM while stumbling drunk and having them send up a maintenance guy. I didn't have any problems at all during my most recent stay. Whether the rooms need "renovation" is a personal judgement. The furniture in my rooms was in fine condition, the carpet was not worn, it was well maintained and I have never noticed broken chairs at the pool. 
I always take customer reviews of hotels with a big grain of salt when it comes to critiquing decor. Everybody has their own tastes and I don't care if somebody else hates art deco style furniture or whatever and thinks the hotel needs to get rid of it for the sake of renovation. I take them more seriously when reviews focus on service, property maintenance and cleanliness because to me that's where the rubber really meets the road in assessing hotels. 
You can go to Trip Advisor or other review sites and look up hotels such as the Peninsula in Chicago, the Tokyo Park Hyatt or the Four Seasons in New York -hotels among the finest on the planet - and always come across prissy jackwits stating that the properties "need updating". It proves that some people are so hard to satisfy they will be complaining about the bright lights and noise when they are planted six feet under. The hotel business is a tough racket, for sure. 

6k baht will get you a room in most of the upper end hotels. Landmark meets that criteria. It's elegant and lot of guys like it because of its proximity to Nana. Adelphi is good, but it's a bit overpriced when compared to Phachara which is closer to Nana and offers you almost identical rooms for less. I don't know anything about Doubletree. I have stayed at Galleria 10 in the past, and it's perfectly acceptable. Forget that "walk of shame" stuff. I promise you that the staff at any of the hotels around lower Sukhumvit don't care what you do because they have seen it all eleventy billion times in the past. They don't care. REPEAT: They don't care. As for other farang guests whose delicate sensibilities are shaken by the sight of the world's oldest profession, why in the hell did they choose a hotel in the world's largest red light district?  Their issues are their problem, not yours. 
If you want to stay in suite type rooms, I also like In Residence suites on Soi 13 (adjacent to Radisson suites). They have large suites and a good pool on the roof. Soi 13 is next to Soi 11 but without the traffic and noise found on 11, meaning you can enjoy 11 easily without having to actually stay there. 

6k baht will get you a room in most of the upper end hotels. Landmark meets that criteria. It's elegant and lot of guys like it because of its proximity to Nana. Adelphi is good, but it's a bit overpriced when compared to Phachara which is closer to Nana and offers you almost identical rooms for less. I don't know anything about Doubletree. I have stayed at Galleria 10 in the past, and it's perfectly acceptable. Forget that "walk of shame" stuff. I promise you that the staff at any of the hotels around lower Sukhumvit don't care what you do because they have seen it all eleventy billion times in the past. They don't care. REPEAT: They don't care. As for other farang guests whose delicate sensibilities are shaken by the sight of the world's oldest profession, why in the hell did they choose a hotel in the world's largest red light district?  Their issues are their problem, not yours. 
If you want to stay in suite type rooms, I also like In Residence suites on Soi 13 (adjacent to Radisson suites). They have large suites and a good pool on the roof. Soi 13 is next to Soi 11 but without the traffic and noise found on 11, meaning you can enjoy 11 easily without having to actually stay there. 

6k baht will get you a room in most of the upper end hotels. Landmark meets that criteria. It's elegant and lot of guys like it because of its proximity to Nana. Adelphi is good, but it's a bit overpriced when compared to Phachara which is closer to Nana and offers you almost identical rooms for less. I don't know anything about Doubletree. I have stayed at Galleria 10 in the past, and it's perfectly acceptable. Forget that "walk of shame" stuff. I promise you that the staff at any of the hotels around lower Sukhumvit don't care what you do because they have seen it all eleventy billion times in the past. They don't care. REPEAT: They don't care. As for other farang guests whose delicate sensibilities are shaken by the sight of the world's oldest profession, why in the hell did they choose a hotel in the world's largest red light district?  Their issues are their problem, not yours. 
If you want to stay in suite type rooms, I also like In Residence suites on Soi 13 (adjacent to Radisson suites). They have large suites and a good pool on the roof. Soi 13 is next to Soi 11 but without the traffic and noise found on 11, meaning you can enjoy 11 easily without having to actually stay there.