5 years in Bangkok and still loving it.

  

  It has been 5 years since I emerged from my 14 day of Covid quarantine and experience Metro Bangkok for the first time. I was lucky. The day I was released from, the quarantine it was the same day Bangkok lifted some of there Covid restriction.  It took a bit of time for Thailand to bounce back from that.  When I settled on a rental condo in the working class neighborhood of  Samrong Nuea,  it took nearly 2 years for all the businesses to bounce back.  Even in the 3rd year some storefronts remained vacant. Now a days there is the same flow of the occasional new business coming in to replace one that failed for whatever reason. 

     My "Original Plan" was to stay one year. Did not want to disappoint myself if my imagined life in Thailand did not matched the reality of living in Thailand. I had, after all,  never been to Thailand. My original plan, if I was to retire overseas, was to go to Argentina. But every time I researched Best Places to Retire, Thailand always popped up in the story.  Great public transportation system, cheap rentals, low crime rate and fabulous restaurants. So in my mind my 1 year became 3 and my plan was to return stateside in 2024. Then Trump 2.0 happened and there was no way I was going to go through that again. 

     You got to realize that for retired life living overseas, 85% of what I do here,  I would do no matter where I was. Sleep, Reading, Gym and Watching TV.  Biggest difference here in Bangkok and there in the USA, is probably the amount of times I go out to eat.  Things here are way more affordable for a person on a fixed income.  Except NFL Big Ticket. It is $300 dollars here.  Looks like I will wait for a mid season special price before I sign up for that. 

     So for the next 2 years I have some plans to travel to a few places.  China for the Great Wall. In Vietnam, there is a crazy bridge in Da Nang that is supported by hands that I want to see. Hong Kong for sure. The future looks good for me even though 2026 is my last year in the 60s. 2027 will see my 70th year of being and I have some decisions to make. Prepare for the return stateside in 2029 or head off to another part of the world. 

The Year of Re-reads !!! More a pleasure than a chore.

     

      It is the year that saw some of my favorite long running series release new books.  Martha Wells' Murderbot series got a new installment Platform Decay. I had read the first in the series, All Systems Red, back in 2020. while I remembered the main concept, the various twists and turn were forgotten. Then there was the new Dungeon Crawler Carl series, Parade of Horribles. This re-read was not really necessary from a remembrance reason, but rather all the Audible version of the series was on sale. I had first read the series in e-book form but had heard great thing about the audiobook version. So it was a pleasure to experience the series in that form. If you have not started the super fun Dungeon Crawler Carl series, start it in audiobook it is that good. Finally there is a new addition to Dennis E. Taylor's Bobiverse this September in 2026. This too was a pleasure more than a chore. I know that the term Bobiverse just does not hint at serious science, but this series has it all. Biology, Anthropology, Physics and crazy pop culture shout outs.  I am going to ask you to try any Dennis E Taylor book. If you like a nice character driven story with serious thought to hard science references, pick up any of the books Mr. Taylor has written. He is the writer who has the closest thing to a Douglas Adams vibe going.