drogon
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Posts
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Joined
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Days Won
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Posts posted by drogon
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5 hours ago, Old Hippie said:
I recall meeting you, I believe it was at Gullivers..? I seem to recall at one point you were considering a move the Silicon Valley but turned it down as you’d have starved on the wages offered… Did you open a burger place on or near Soi 22? Or am I confusing you with another? Belgian Dog or something..?
No, you are indeed right, your memory is incredible.
I did open a small bar-burger joint on soi 22 but then I had enough turnover to break even but that was all, so I sold the place and went back to work in IT in Spain in 2007.
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Went to a board meeting once where I met Khunsanuk and several others but I do remember that, afterwards, every time I met a board member something major happened in my life.
Khunsanuk: met him to discuss getting a web banner done.
Flashermac: Met him once too at the no name bar (when it was still on Sukhumvit), met the prettiest and sweetest lady but I was too much of a coward to follow-up properly...
Stickman: met him and hired him when he was playing private detective
Dumsoda: travelled once up to Surin to meet him -> thanks to him I met up with a lady with whom I kept contact with while she was in Sweden....till the husband called me asking me who the hell I was...(did not know she had a husband but I was young and foolish)
Worldfun: went out a few times with him (and I helped him discover the world of Japanese ktv lounges), for my part the result was (once again) meeting a young lady whose boyfriend later called me on my professional phone while I was back in my office in Spain....(again, I was not aware there was a boyfriend who had promised to marry her), this taught me that (real) Thai college students can be as tricky as bargirls....
I do believe that is all (as I am very bad with names), I met a few other board members but can't remember their names (if they ever told me theirs).
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Great, like we don't have enough problems with Russia these days they even need to advertise crap here....in freaking Cyrillic, would it kill those people to write in English....
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On 2/27/2024 at 5:18 AM, Mekong said:
I think the difference being was that you were a tourist looking at Vietnam through tourist eyes where as I was working there and viewed Vietnam through the eyes of someone on an overseas assignment, our expectations differed greatly.
I have worked in many Shit holes including a Saudi Qatar, Libya and even the USA so the bar for comparison was set extremely low.
Reasons why I ranked it higher than Spain include closer to Bangkok, Cheaper cost of living and on Married Status, having a partner with you when overseas makes it a lot mere tolerable.Yeah, you are right, as usual being a tourist or working/living there is a different perspective.
When do you think you will work again? Any idea of where that might be?
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10 hours ago, Mekong said:
After Madrid / sorting the shit out in Thailand, I did a few months work in the UK, mainly to be around for my Fathers 80th Birthday which I am glad of since he passed away a couple of years back just short of 90.
Then I had a good 6 years spell working in Vietnam, not Ha Noi or Ho Chi Minh, a a city in the North called Thai Binh just South of Hai Phong and Halong Bay, enjoyed my time there best country I have ever worked in, and there have been many.
Been taking it easy the past 4 years or so, keeping head down during Covid as well as recovering from a major illness, probably start looking for work again in a few months, still learning to walk again muscles tend to turn to shit when stuck in bed for a few years 555.
Retired, I wish, still only in my 50’s (just, I turn 60 in 3 weeks time) a few years of work left in me yet and need to make up for the “Lost Years”
Guess you are getting better and itching to move after getting bed ridden for so long.
Glad you enjoyed Vietnam, I did not enjoy it at all (been there once only with a colleague whose wife is Vietnamese) which surprised me given the beauty of many Vietnamese women.
Where do you think you might retire?
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On 2/22/2024 at 1:20 PM, Mekong said:
Long time no see mare, last I remember you was when you had to take a rain check on hooking up in Madrid (The City in Spain not the old bar in Patpong) due to an incident with a car resulting in a broken leg if I remember correctly .
Are you now retired or do you still go around the world?
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1 hour ago, Mekong said:
Long time no see mare, last I remember you was when you had to take a rain check on hooking up in Madrid (The City in Spain not the old bar in Patpong) due to an incident with a car resulting in a broken leg if I remember correctly .
Yeah I still am (slightly) limping thanks to that idiot. Left Spain in 2012 and have been working in Brussels since (with very occasional trips to other European locations of the company).
@Old Hippie if you do go to France, Germany I am next door (no plan going to the UK anytime soon thanks to UK's border force stupidity.
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7 hours ago, Old Hippie said:
Good to know! What have you been up to?
Well I got married 13 years ago, have one boy and have been working in IT in Europe since I left Thailand in 2007, so a very normal uneventful life.
What about you?
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Hi, yeah I am still alive
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hi, incredible the board is still going on.
Thanks again to khunsanuk for the moral support he provided me a long time ago.
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https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/thai-health-minister-has-a-slash-at-dirty-farang
Seems that guy really can't shut his mouth...
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First one is kind of hilarious, especially seen from far away
https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/easy/1852809/health-minister-apologises-for-racist-outburst
Second one is scary
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1853334/17-killed-as-soldier-opens-fire-in-korat
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Some KTV have really amazing talents.
Don't know if still open but pegasus QC is incredible and I can say most other KTV (QC + Ermite/Malate) have also top talents (+ AF1 near the airport)...
as a sidenote more than a few big KTV also have a soapy massage section...can give more details if some are interested.
Most convenient is still ¨burgos, especially bottoms and jools, IME much better than most other places visited in the Phil, Thailand or Cambodia...and nothing in common with AC (AC is IME a dump full of drunk foreigners, me included, and yes you can sometimes find a gem but most of the time you can find nothing...)
Other than that the most interesting area IMO is in Malate, Roxas blvd for big 'naughty' KTV but del pilar and mabini streets are filled with Japanese KTV (with a few koreans) and in some you can find ream gems....again can explain the concept to those interested.
Last, in QC you have dozens (if not hundreds) of Filipino KTV catering mainly to Pinoys but foreigners are of course welcome and those are the best.
Not going to write a full article except if someone is interested.
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2 weeks ago: USA's worst enemy = EU (“I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade,â€)
Today: EU is best friend: “Obviously the European Union, as represented by @JunckerEU and the United States, as represented by yours truly, love each other!â€
(from POTUS twitter...)
Starting to have a headache....but at least I know someone has an even worse attention span than me during my meetings and if I dare say the PP I prepare are a bit more complex too.
->
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Mainstream medias??
I am living in the capital of the EU and making use of that since I am working left and right in Europe for now quite some time.
Yes, there are better cities than Brussels in the world but not many where I would like to live and work (job opportunities thanks to the EU, international airport easily reachable, plenty of diverse restaurants, efficient public transportation, not feeling insecure, plenty of museums, all the shops needed, balance between cost of living and quality of life, opportunity to continue using my skills including language thanks to +35% of foreigners in Brussels, centrally located, which allows quick travels to every corner of Europe when your company is sending you there).
To quote someone:
"You go to Brussels — I was in Brussels a long time ago, 20 years ago, so beautiful, everything is so beautiful — it's like living in a hellhole right now,"
Which is funny considering that 20 years ago some areas of Brussels were really close to that hellhole description while these days things get better.
Mind you, trump's opinion is shared by quite a few Belgians (Flemish side) who either never dared go to Brussels or just go there to work.
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Quote:
"That passenger flight MH17 was shot out of the sky and 298 innocent people were murdered is an irrefutable fact," he wrote alongside a photo of his children Mo, Evie and Otis.
"That the plane was hit by a Russian missile has been proven to be an irrefutable fact.
"That this killed our 3 beautiful children and their grandfather, and destroyed our life and many other lives in the process, is an irrefutable fact."
He added: "That the man whose arse you've just been kissing did this, and continues to lie about it, is an irrefutable fact."
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Don’t you mean deaf?
You are right, blind, deaf and dumb.....I meant trumb
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Russia: Not really enemy + I love Putin
China: Just friendly competitor
New axis of evil: EU
or maybe (let's hope) he just doesn't know what foe means in English....
Saw Berlin's wall fall but never expected to hear that kind of crap from a US president, guess I was blind.
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@Radioman,
Your points are of course valid and I would be the first one to question the skills/knowledge of a Pinoy with a 'college degree' from an unknown public college from Davao compared to another who got his diploma at De La Salle university or UPI.
Thought English people were speaking cockney, Canadians some sort of French or English, Australians speak Australian, New-Zealand people speak sheep language? (and Americans speak GI slang?) or am I wrong?
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Oh, so the Spanish and Portuguese in South America, Spanish in Philippines Poteugese in Macon, the French and Belgium’s in North Africa, the French is SE Asia (cause of Vietnam War) the Dutch in South Africa and “Dutch East Indies†(Indonesia) didn’t happen then?
That is right just ignore history and blame the Brits for everything
@Mekong: Relax, I know bashing Britain is kind of fashionable for some people these days and, although I disagree with the way the current British government is handling things, I am not going to start bashing Britain
Didn't mean that, sorry my post got misunderstood, was trying to tease Flashermac (and remind other Americans that without the kingdom of France's help the USA wouldn't probably exist today)
-> of course all colonial nations (including the USA) are more or less the same, and without the British my country wouldn't exist (we would most probably all be French citizens).
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If it weren't for Britain, there would be no US, Canada, Oz and NZ.
Indeed as if there is no British empire then there would have been no need for France to help the 13 colonies.....and no need for Montcalm to defend Quebec.
NZ would be full of Maoris and nobody would have exterminated aboriginal people in Australia.
But this is all History and most people don't care about it.
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Yes UK brought a lot to the world.
Now what was it again, the 'special relationship' between UK and USA?
https://www.theguard...acks-sadiq-khan
https://www.theguard...rexit-criticism
(I am not British but since the US President allows himself to comment about UK's internal politics I will follow suit -> anyone thinking blundering boasting Boris Johnson should become Prime Minister is either the worst joker or totally insane)
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My wife being Filipina and me having worked there for one year + meeting a lot of Filipinos during our travels + here in Belgium here are my observations.
- Educated Filipinos (read with a college degree) have usually excellent to incredibly good English (American version), I met several dozens colleagues of my wife (AIG insurance) and all of them spoke better English than mine although they freely admit their written English is a bit lacking.
- Less fortunate Pinoys usually speak some English but many older ones sometimes don't even speak a single word.
- Filipinos abroad: Usually quite good English, as usual educated Filipinos can easily speak 5-6 languages, less educated ones can sometimes be very stubborn, met plenty of nannies/house helpes speaking English well but despite having been in one country for sometimes very long they still don't master even basic expressions.
As pointed by Flashermac, it seems reaching basic proficiency in a language is doable with 1500-3000 words but I also saw some studies mentioning fluent proficiency would be when one masters about 15000 words....
This said, I sadly met more than a few native English speakers whose written English was worse than mine and I know plenty of native French/Spanish speakers whose written skills are very poor.
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Feels bad especially for the kids.
This said:
1 Chinese tourists = Not using their brains, like in Bohol (Philippines) me and my family hired a small banca but from a 5 stars hotel + with life jackets + it was just island hopping so never too far from the shore while at the same time we witnessed a big group of Chinese tourists (+some western couples) climbing onboard a bigger banca -> 0 life jackets visible and even our own skipper said that big banca could at most safely carry 30-40 people while the tourists were obviouly many more than 80-100......+ me, my wife and our child can swim.
2 Greedy captains unsafe boats -> TISEA (This Is South East Asia)
3 Read a storm was on its way, is that true?
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Old Board members…whatever happened to..?
in General discussion
Posted
I did not know -> my mobile phone got lost and my computer got some water....hence no more emails from worldfun, really unfortunate I was not aware he had moved to Spain.