{
  "trx_id": "7acb1d23e9f295148d6795c4c5aa568122453ae0",
  "block": 106204068,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:58:00",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "quotes-haven",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "18ce901f1e30d3da2ac51a310b3546f624572077",
  "block": 106203751,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:42:06",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "info-steem",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 750
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "d44dc7dd002c959ee368c428fb90a4a23fb37997",
  "block": 106203730,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:41:03",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "appics-curation",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 500
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "e0ce6dc7d635dfdc08a98938d8c5eda831c93336",
  "block": 106203729,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:41:00",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "ctime",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 750
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "3da07bb82f1b8be94843547fb6b8db53b9b301b7",
  "block": 106203728,
  "trx_in_block": 4,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:40:57",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "im-ridd",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 1000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "84cc62bcbb732b4bf898cf4ca926ae0ad63e7d47",
  "block": 106203728,
  "trx_in_block": 3,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:40:57",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "mmmmkkkk311",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 500
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "3fea161e46fbe1c66c87bd233255f19b1161bcc1",
  "block": 106203728,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:40:57",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "tipu",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 600
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "f47691846d0eade985c9a87844bde7846e2ae723",
  "block": 106203727,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:40:54",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "misterajay",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 3300
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "60977bf973e9e3636b6c37379bed2f7f58f89177",
  "block": 106203727,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:40:54",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "kevinwong",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 1000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "92ef670a21dbe473176c82cf921e408464c282bb",
  "block": 106203726,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:40:51",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "curx",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "weight": 1000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "33ad9eb797fe753b4d944458078aea04e49bb7b0",
  "block": 106203636,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-20T02:36:21",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "",
      "parent_permlink": "thailand",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "finding-shoes-that-fit-westerners-is-not-easy-in-thailand",
      "title": "Finding shoes that fit westerners is not easy in Thailand",
      "body": "Most of my life is pretty great here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, but there are certain things that are definitely made more complicated by living in a foreign country that I don't think most people really even consider when they are thinking of moving over here or any other part of the world.  \n\nIt doesn't occur to me often, but these things can be a real pain in the butt at times.  Mostly, having a rich nation's passport opens a lot of doors for you but there are some hardships that are going to come your way that you may not consider should you decide to come over to Thailand or any of the other countries around here. \n\n<center> https://www.99boulders.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Big-foot-e1509651564444-1018x650.jpg\n[src](https://www.99boulders.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Big-foot-e1509651564444-1018x650.jpg)</center>\n\n<h3> Shoes... they don't have your size </h3> \n\nit has gotten to the point where I don't really even bother to look at shopping malls when I need a new pair of shoes because even though Chiang Mai has one of the largest expat populations in all of South East Asia, the stores simply do not stock western sizes for the most part.   I am not an enormous person but the average Thai person is considerably smaller than I am.  I don't know many western adults who wear a size 7 or 8 US size shoe, but that does seem to be the upper limit in most stores that I have ever bothered to look in to attempt to get some new shoes.   \n\nThere is a shoe company called Bata that has cheap dress shoes that are very stretchy and I can squeeze into those for my job but as far as getting larger sizes for my day-to-day life or for exercise is concerned, this is a very difficult thing to accomplish.  Even when you go to an online store that services the entire nation it can be really tough to find a pair that is western sized.  \n\nSomeone suggested a website called Decathlon and having it shipped to my house but I am not really a fan of ordering shoes online because are the sizes accurate?  What if it doesn't really fit?  Am I stuck with them?   \n\n<h3> Shoes are MORE expensive here </h3> \n\nDespite the fact that as far as I know, almost all athletic shoes are produced in South East Asia, there is some sort of agreement that involves the government that determines that they are for export only.  For example, I quite like New Balance shoes because they have the wide option but there aren't any New Balance shoes in the stores and I don't know if there is even a New Balance store in Thailand at all, there isn't one in Chiang Mai, I know that.   If there is one it would probably be in Bangkok and then the prices would likely be astronomical.\n\nI know that the prices of almost everything have gone up a lot in the past 5 years but the last time I found a pair of athletic shoes that actually appealed to me and they had my size these things were over $200.   I have never paid this much money for shoes ever in my life and I don't plan to start now.\n\nWhen I was living in USA I guess that is the land of sneakers because we had stores that were kind of like outlets and it was very easy to get a brand new pair of shoes for $40-50.   \n\nI'm not going to pay $200 for shoes.   \n\nI believe that athletic shoes in Thailand are kind of considered to be a luxury and and sort of a showoff product.   Perhaps they are in the west as well but here they are so far beyond the financial means of the average Thai person that I believe they are considered some sort of upper-class purchase.  \n\nI know that the kids in my school are mostly not from wealthy families and when they do sports in the yard, it is in these cheap shoes that a uniform provider is probably required to offer them at almost no markup.  I've never asked the kids how much they cost but I'm sure it isn't much.   \n\nFor me even finding flip flops is hard even though I am willing to be a bit forgiving on the sizes as far as that is concerned.   \n\nSince I never do anything particularly hardcore in flip-flops it is ok if my heel is almost about to be hanging off the back end.   Sometimes I don't have any choice.  I wear a 11.5 in US size, which is an 11 in UK size and about a 46 in whatever that size is called (EU or something?) \n\nYou are very unlikely to find quality flip-flops in this size as well because let's imagine for a second that you own the shoe store:  What are you going to stock?  the size that 90% of the local population fits into or the size that just the fussy and mostly temporary tourist population might stop by and buy?  \n\nit's an easy choice.\n\nFor a lot of people ordering clothes online is fine but I think we enter an entirely new world when we are talking about shoes.   Shoes that are slightly too small can really change your day in a bad way and this is why we like to try them on in the store.... but what can you do when the store almost never has your size?  \n\nprepare accordingly if you are planning on living here or visiting here because while finding shoes is easy as driving to the mall or Shoe Carnival in USA, it is a far more difficult endeavor over here in the Land of Smiles.",
      "json_metadata": "{\"tags\":[\"thailand\",\"life\",\"expat\",\"landofsmiles\",\"opinion\"],\"image\":[\"https://www.99boulders.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Big-foot-e1509651564444-1018x650.jpg\"],\"links\":[\"https://www.99boulders.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Big-foot-e1509651564444-1018x650.jpg\"],\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\",\"format\":\"markdown\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 106094343,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 5,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-16T06:55:15",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "embassies-in-thailand-warning-their-citizens-to-behave",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "7.471 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "12174.745667 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0f3280011dbcaad085520e819c163f49ab201a38",
  "block": 106089415,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-16T02:48:12",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "quotes-haven",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "police-arrest-foreign-prostitutes-in-bangkok",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "be0da71f5a415e1cafe3e8ede1e8d2aaf7d4ef56",
  "block": 106087087,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-16T00:51:33",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "jack.russelle",
      "author": "chaingmai.hhh",
      "permlink": "one-of-our-most-offroad-runs-in-recent-years",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "a31226ea6a7658511a331ca011905b0845514a5e",
  "block": 106087039,
  "trx_in_block": 2,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-16T00:49:09",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "jack.russelle",
      "parent_permlink": "police-arrest-foreign-prostitutes-in-bangkok",
      "author": "supportive",
      "permlink": "re-police-arrest-foreign-prostitutes-in-bangkok-20260516t004910z",
      "title": "",
      "body": "Congratulations @jack.russelle! Your post has been upvoted by @supportive. In addition, accounts that delegate to us may receive a daily vote on one post worth approximately 5x their delegated SP, along with nearly 10% APR paid daily.",
      "json_metadata": "{\"app\": \"beem/0.24.26\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "eeb54c5a70ee701b3da5668d97a90642bcb3c80f",
  "block": 106087039,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-16T00:49:09",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "supportive",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "police-arrest-foreign-prostitutes-in-bangkok",
      "weight": 3195
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "d1d4a211581b8d9c12ec957507d450231ca95273",
  "block": 106086962,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-16T00:45:18",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "",
      "parent_permlink": "thailand",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "police-arrest-foreign-prostitutes-in-bangkok",
      "title": "Police arrest foreign prostitutes in Bangkok",
      "body": "I do find it amusing any time the police get involved in some sort of investigation or raid on street prostitutes anywhere in this country because their public presentation is always one of being completely shocked that someone would engage in this sort of business practice and it is always the foreigners that they focus on.   \n\nLove it or hate it, prostitution is very much alive in Thailand and you don't have to go to seedy parts of town in order to encounter it.   It also is not a foreigner-exclusive sort of thing although those are the only times that these arrests seem to happen and it is certainly the only time that the busts make the news.  \n\nThere is, in virtually every single city in Thailand, very well-known red-light districts that are open and not even trying to conceal what sort of business goes on there and they are staffed 99% by Thai nationals.   Yet it is always something really offensive and shameful when the women involved are foreigners.\n\n<center> \n![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23u5xNE2FZDXBjY4R5oQsopGpvhf82SemGxYWf3aehDHWTeAL6Uvv6VdtktrjhPciFQNN.png)\n[src](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Thaiger-Cover-Picture-2026-05-11T155220.365.jpg)</center>\n\nSo according to reports there was a roaming group of Vietnamese and \"Russian-looking\" young women that were approaching people offering their services on the streets and local people were concerned about the negative image that this was getting the area.  I find this excuse / explanation pretty damn funny and also kind of sad that the police would think that anyone would believe this explanation when the area in question is extremely well-known for being a prozzy part of town.  It is near Nana Plaza which if you have ever been to Bangkok, you are almost certainly aware of the fact that this massive complex is basically a 4-story complex specializing in ladies of the night.\n\n<center> https://nanaplazabkk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/nana-plaza-bangkok.jpg\n[src](https://nanaplazabkk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/nana-plaza-bangkok.jpg)</center>\n\nEveryone knows what goes on in this part of town including and especially the police who definitely are receiving kickbacks and payoffs to ignore the fact that these sorts of services that this place and hundreds of other places just like it are offering are illegal.   \n\nThe real problem here was not that the Vietnamese and \"Russian-looking\" women were engaging in the world's oldest profession, it was a problem because they were not part of the system where money ends up in the hands of the business owners, the pimps, and the police.   It's all just so pathetic when the police try to pretend as though they are actually enforcing any sort of law here.  what they are really doing is preventing people from doing something illegal when they, the police, are not financially benefiting from it themselves.  \n\n<center> \n![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23vsQDCXpiugHtoZDtnzGPCiiQsDpYGTJnxYix44quYYjE99suQWuhwjAsEp9tZFJk3JE.png)\n[src](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Thaiger-Cover-Picture-2026-05-11T155155.970.jpg)</center>\n\nThe pictures of these women being forced to sit around a police station while they fill out a bunch of paperwork (Thai officials LOVE paperwork) is something that is annoying for me to see.  These people all posed for the picture so that they can pretend as though they are genuinely enforcing some sort of law and that's why the faces of the officials are not blurred out.  They *want* to be seen as being protectors of the purity of Thailand when the reality is that they could bar \"red-light activities\" anytime they want to but don't because it makes their bosses a ton of money.  \n\nYou also need to understand the laughably light penalty that comes the direction of the women themselves when they get picked up and arrested.  They face, and I promise I am not making this up, a \"fine of up to 1000 Baht.\"  That's like $30 and I can guarantee that this money never makes it to the other end of that paper trail.   \n\nWe don't really have a free press here in Thailand and the official news stories that you can read online by any sort of registered publication is always going to present it as the police being protectors and interested in cleaning up the illegal parts of this country.  The official press would never present the police as being the sole reason why this industry continues to thrive in the first place.  \n\nThey also have to report only on the foreigners getting arrested for this in order to create a laughably false story about this being a foreigner-dominated illegal activity.   \n\nIf you spend just a bit of time here, you are going to see how widespread this employment actually is and how virtually all of the people involved are Thai nationals.  \n\nThe foreigners get \"busted\" periodically merely because they are foreigners.  After they pay their fine they will be back to the streets, perhaps shuffled to a new area for a while by their pimps, and nothing will change.  These areas are territorial, and these girls were probably operating on someone else's \"turf\" and therefore had to be made an example of.",
      "json_metadata": "{\"tags\":[\"thailand\",\"law\",\"police\",\"busted\",\"prostitutes\",\"news\",\"bangkok\"],\"image\":[\"https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23u5xNE2FZDXBjY4R5oQsopGpvhf82SemGxYWf3aehDHWTeAL6Uvv6VdtktrjhPciFQNN.png\",\"https://nanaplazabkk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/nana-plaza-bangkok.jpg\",\"https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23vsQDCXpiugHtoZDtnzGPCiiQsDpYGTJnxYix44quYYjE99suQWuhwjAsEp9tZFJk3JE.png\"],\"links\":[\"https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Thaiger-Cover-Picture-2026-05-11T155220.365.jpg\",\"https://nanaplazabkk.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/nana-plaza-bangkok.jpg\",\"https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Thaiger-Cover-Picture-2026-05-11T155155.970.jpg\"],\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\",\"format\":\"markdown\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "2a00fee8d810b91074ed7a5737e7412cf848515a",
  "block": 106060255,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-15T02:26:54",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "embassies-in-thailand-warning-their-citizens-to-behave",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "7c957c8e7f902f6dc61606f798bdf11516b55663",
  "block": 106060241,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-15T02:26:12",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "embassies-in-thailand-warning-their-citizens-to-behave",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 106050399,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 5,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-14T18:13:09",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "amazing-song-that-you-need-to-hear-1968",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "7.387 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "12039.146419 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "d2f99302a5335613aea08ac9eef34a5769addd77",
  "block": 106001507,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-13T01:23:09",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "amazing-song-that-you-need-to-hear-1968",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "e417ef8299a82da05249974dcb693020d893bced",
  "block": 106001483,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-13T01:21:57",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "amazing-song-that-you-need-to-hear-1968",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105981889,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 8,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-12T09:00:00",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "7.490 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "12209.015101 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "de2d05fe1d8ca5712aca3ec081b87c2771bb34fe",
  "block": 105944669,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-11T01:54:42",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "4d8babd5bf4e7ff3cce27363838549b0922c5cf6",
  "block": 105944661,
  "trx_in_block": 14,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-11T01:54:18",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "e3e6ac6c3ae8be95d9314840ce7755693d043bee",
  "block": 105916523,
  "trx_in_block": 5,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-10T02:17:27",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "quotes-haven",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "embassies-in-thailand-warning-their-citizens-to-behave",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "96321c55a8eae24b0f053e83a4795f12b3b38c91",
  "block": 105897867,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-09T10:42:36",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "nazomimatute1998",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "c58257670cb7cf8fc013d36ecadd4dc4b1e80b8a",
  "block": 105893327,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-09T06:55:15",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "",
      "parent_permlink": "thailand",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "embassies-in-thailand-warning-their-citizens-to-behave",
      "title": "Embassies in Thailand warning their citizens to \"behave\"",
      "body": "I don't know how often people actually look at what their embassy posts online, I know that I never have, but I think that the fact that some embassies are starting to post things warning their countrymen to behave while in Thailand is probably a step in the right direction, even though the people that this message reaches are probably the kind of people that would behave anyway even without a governmental warning.\n\n<center> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HHqUTtzXcAMUSsw.jpg\n[src](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HHqUTtzXcAMUSsw.jpg)</center>\n\nJust two days ago, due to mounting pressure from the Thai people and the rather quick-to-jump-to-conclusions online public the Prime Minister made a vague but realistic promise to Thai people to increase the penalties on visitors to Thailand and I think this is a good thing.   I find it very odd that people would treat this country as if it was a lawless free-for-all that people can just behave like selfish idiots and never face any consequences.  \n\nOf course, much of this has to do with the individual because I think it takes a special sort of idiot to deface national treasures, to drive drunk all the time as if that was ok, and to get into fights with security and just do something like wreck a nail salon because you disagree with the prices.\n\nNow to be as fair as I can be to the visitors, there are a lot of scams here and this can end up leading to outbursts of emotion on the part of a foreigner, and if that is the case, the PM as well as other officials need to take this situation very seriously as well.  Unfortunately in Thailand a lot of time once xenophobia kicks in, the people want to point the finger at outsiders every time even though it is their own systems that sometimes make these things possible in the first place.\n\nFor example:  People drive drunk in Thailand all the time mostly because of the fact that *they know they CAN get away with it* but in their own country they would be busted almost immediately.   The police force in Thailand thrives (financially) on corruption and until that is addressed, you can't really make a promise to crack down on foreigners misbehaving.  I mean, they can just buy their way out of it, right?  \n\n<center> \n![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23uFnh2mhpuXoy5H2ZvWGWAh3LXQVTdzg4iSVG3Lxn3ycw8DuiEBjqqCas1cQu2ktehS2.png)\n[src](https://scontent-sin6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/690638026_1447741204053141_644805684985898405_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296_tt6&_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=e289f2&_nc_ohc=evVlmxCcmksQ7kNvwHeZ7K7&_nc_oc=Adr9j7pNxsoDvnljIPHU0BJGE2hH9b1HPu0w5c0VPYxRo7Sb6SRQ-LK7j93BbQvGj1YRNaGz8a8Hcc_NkMKS4UM3&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sin6-1.xx&edm=AN6CN6oEAAAA&_nc_gid=IBnC9AlhB5m9StEybKIpcw&oh=00_Af62ZWDNvY02Co4PIeTsoZlfFknGBW0u13N2KqwYGUawfw&oe=6A04BB4A)</center>\n\nThe translation of the Hebrew (that's what it is called, right) is informing Israelis that the government of Thailand intends to crack down on foreigners especially in places like Phuket that are now in the spotlight because of a couple of situations involving petty theft where foreigners were targeting (whether intentional or not) innocent Thai people.   This is a very rare instance indeed though my friends, very rare.  The idea that these foreigners intentionally targeted anyone is untrue.  They were just assholes that saw a drunken opportunity and took it.  They had no idea who they were victimizing and they almost certainly didn't care.\n\n<center> https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Thaiger-Cover-Picture-2026-04-24T155056.107.jpg\n[src](https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Thaiger-Cover-Picture-2026-04-24T155056.107.jpg)</center>\n\nI wouldn't mind seeing a sort of \"crackdown\" on people behaving badly just in a general sense but the problem here is that Thailand is a society of rules that can be broken by certain people who are willing to pay their way out of it and foreigners in particular, are seen as being more capable of buying their way out than most other groups.  It isn't unusual for someone to pay some under-the-table-money to get out of a situation that in their own country, would be guaranteed that there were quite serious repercussions and the situation would be made worse if you were to so much as offer to bribe your way out of it.  \n\nIn Thailand, often a \"crime\" will be fabricated simply to set up the bribe.   I know a couple of people that have been sold drugs by someone (foolish thing, buying drugs from a stranger) only to have the police waiting for them outside the place that the sale was made.\n\nIn a western society this would be an obvious case of entrapment, but that is not how it works in Thailand.  In both cases that I am aware of, the \"charges\" magically disappeared after a trip to the ATM machine.   That's not justice at all\n\nI will support the Thai government in their \"crackdown\" on foreigners behaving badly, but only if they do it properly.  Based on my years of experience here, I am no \nholding my breath that this will actually end up being the case.  \n\nWhat I believe actually will be the case is that there are going to be a couple of \"fall guys\" in the upcoming months that will be used as examples of the Prime Minister following through on his promises and then everything will go back to being exactly the way it was before.  \n\nI don't believe it is possible to have a lawful society when the people that you have in charge of enforcing the laws are breaking the laws themselves.   We'll see I guess.  I run the straight and narrow and play by the rules.  The most \"illegal\" thing I do in a day is to drive on a sidewalk for about 50 meters to save me the 5km ride in the opposite direction for a U-turn.   Thousands of Thai people do this every day... How do you think I learned about it?",
      "json_metadata": "{\"tags\":[\"thailand\",\"government\",\"embassy\",\"tourists\",\"travel\"],\"image\":[\"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HHqUTtzXcAMUSsw.jpg\",\"https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23uFnh2mhpuXoy5H2ZvWGWAh3LXQVTdzg4iSVG3Lxn3ycw8DuiEBjqqCas1cQu2ktehS2.png\",\"https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Thaiger-Cover-Picture-2026-04-24T155056.107.jpg\"],\"links\":[\"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HHqUTtzXcAMUSsw.jpg\",\"https://scontent-sin6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/690638026_1447741204053141_644805684985898405_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p526x296_tt6&_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=e289f2&_nc_ohc=evVlmxCcmksQ7kNvwHeZ7K7&_nc_oc=Adr9j7pNxsoDvnljIPHU0BJGE2hH9b1HPu0w5c0VPYxRo7Sb6SRQ-LK7j93BbQvGj1YRNaGz8a8Hcc_NkMKS4UM3&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sin6-1.xx&edm=AN6CN6oEAAAA&_nc_gid=IBnC9AlhB5m9StEybKIpcw&oh=00_Af62ZWDNvY02Co4PIeTsoZlfFknGBW0u13N2KqwYGUawfw&oe=6A04BB4A\",\"https://thethaiger.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Thaiger-Cover-Picture-2026-04-24T155056.107.jpg\"],\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\",\"format\":\"markdown\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105863737,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 6,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-08T06:12:39",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "7.584 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "12364.123394 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "b722758cf25bcacefbc39852a15a41e2f4901fd3",
  "block": 105860241,
  "trx_in_block": 2,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-08T03:17:18",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "quotes-haven",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "amazing-song-that-you-need-to-hear-1968",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "7e6de130bd0ed4b3bbe87359ad5b5f931d4f1470",
  "block": 105849386,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-07T18:13:09",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "",
      "parent_permlink": "music",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "amazing-song-that-you-need-to-hear-1968",
      "title": "Amazing song that you need to hear (1968)",
      "body": "There's a reason why you almost certainly don't know about this band or song.. the same reason why I have never heard this song or heard of this band either   \n\nI've been walking around all day today talking about how much people that I know should have a listen to this song because I heard it the other day and honestly, it is one of the best songs I have ever heard.    \n\nI wish it would pull a \"Myspace\" and start playing without your permission simply by you being here looking at this..\n\n<center> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Can-VitaminC-cover-d.jpg\n[src](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Can-VitaminC-cover-d.jpg) </center> \n\nI can't imagine very many people have heard of this band because I am kind of a music-get-around-sort-of-person and I never heard this song or this band until about a week ago and now I think about this song all the time because I believe it is one of those things that is so good that the world may have missed out on something really amazing by never pushing these guys to the forefront.  \n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXsd5W8ofDw&list=RDJXsd5W8ofDw&start_radio=1\n\nThis is almost certainly AI but really, I don't care.  This band was formed in 1968 and nobody really knew about them ever and that is a shame.  Maybe their other stuff sucked but this doesn't.   This is awesome.    Tell me this isn't a fantastic song after you listen to it.. for real.   \n\nThere is a lot of bands that have come out of the woodwork to try to capitalize on the majesty of this song/band and I think this is probably due to some sort of feature in a recent tv-show or movie that I am unaware of but at the same time I can tell the difference between a song that was made in the 60's and one that was made in a studio in the past 16 weeks.   \n\nJust listen to the song and tell me..... isn't that something special?   I think so .\n\nThe band \"Can\" is the band in question and dear lord, do I wish that I knew who they were when I was in high school or college because I remember a ton of hippie girls who would have immediately been massive fans of me simply for knowing this song.   It's pretty obscure even now and this song has existed since 1970 or so.    How is that possible?\n\n<center> https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/561f21aa7a3a3598b90ab6a9d6b944bcf5a02824/0_40_3000_1799/master/3000.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=5%3A4\n[src](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/561f21aa7a3a3598b90ab6a9d6b944bcf5a02824/0_40_3000_1799/master/3000.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=5%3A4)</center>\n\nThey were never famous, they never made money, they toured a bit apparently, but they never got the recoginition that I feel they deserve.  They are German, so maybe that has something to do with it.  I don't know!  But all i know is that I have only ever heard this one song from them and realize that this is really something special, at least to me.\n\nThe reason why this came up was because myself and a friend of mine were talking about how difficult it would have been to find an obscure song just because you heard it a couple of times in the 90's or early 2000's.   We had no Spotify back then, we had YouTube maybe, but not just everything was uploaded to it and something like this would have taken a while to get there.  \n\nThe only way that someone would have ever known about \"CAN\" back in those times, which wasn't even that long ago, would have been to have someone point it out to you, probably on some sort of rare record collection.   Man, things were different back then.)\n\nListen to the song and get back to me.  I think it is quite special and if this tiny German band can make even a little bit of money off of it I think that is a good thing.",
      "json_metadata": "{\"tags\":[\"music\",\"bands\",\"retro-music\",\"can\",\"vitamin-c\"],\"image\":[\"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Can-VitaminC-cover-d.jpg\",\"https://img.youtube.com/vi/JXsd5W8ofDw/0.jpg\",\"https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/561f21aa7a3a3598b90ab6a9d6b944bcf5a02824/0_40_3000_1799/master/3000.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=5%3A4\"],\"links\":[\"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Can-VitaminC-cover-d.jpg\",\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXsd5W8ofDw&list=RDJXsd5W8ofDw&start_radio=1\",\"https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/561f21aa7a3a3598b90ab6a9d6b944bcf5a02824/0_40_3000_1799/master/3000.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none&crop=5%3A4\"],\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\",\"format\":\"markdown\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "e4a3870c797a0854d645aef594bd446ec855c327",
  "block": 105827896,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-07T00:16:30",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "11c234ee9ea0b9d4f2ed97f686708fa021549bcb",
  "block": 105827869,
  "trx_in_block": 3,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-07T00:15:09",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "96247c06215e390a6bf41d4726c80ed1acd189f3",
  "block": 105801756,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-06T02:24:33",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "quotes-haven",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0b78222de2dbe4ba3a9ef8d61a810b4ee91bfa20",
  "block": 105800936,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-06T01:43:21",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "paopaoza",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "fe971e44b26e3d55c37e27a18bc75bd1afa11e11",
  "block": 105781204,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-05T09:14:48",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "jack.russelle",
      "parent_permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "author": "creative.streams",
      "permlink": "tek4cm",
      "title": "",
      "body": "\"Haha this was such an interesting read.\n\nI’ve heard about petai before but never tried them. Your description of the smell vs taste is really funny 😄\n\nNow I’m actually curious to try them once 👍\"",
      "json_metadata": "{\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "acbf0969bee46f7e869eca14b39eadd8bd824933",
  "block": 105781183,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-05T09:13:45",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "creative.streams",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "51324207f2d43f9862543d2d120a74202e659179",
  "block": 105780908,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-05T09:00:00",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "",
      "parent_permlink": "thailand",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "sadaw-a-stinky-bean-that-you-should-definitely-try-at-least-once",
      "title": "Sadaw.   A stinky bean that you should definitely try at least once",
      "body": "I'm not really sure if this bean even exists in my home country or if it does it is some sort of specialty thing that would only appear at Asian markets and are probably shipped there frozen.  \n\nI was walking along once with a group of people that had some Thai people in it and noticed a rather powerful aroma coming from one of the street-food vendors and then one of the Thai women in our group started saying \"they have Sadaw!\" in such an excited way that it was like a child getting excited for Christmas or something.\n\n<center>  \n![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23xpAzHoywED8j4Ju9RvBp2YujLjvmkP8WSeJpr41mmNGcQbJjBKgbjsYSg5x82enVfNG.png)\n[src](https://migrationology.smugmug.com/Thai-Recipes/i-tBQcZJq/0/X2/stink-beans-recipes-13-X2.jpg)</center>\n\nI had heard of these beans before and even though I have been here for many years at this point, I had never tried them and wasn’t even aware that they were around, if they were.   According to my Thai friends this is a southern Thailand delicacy of sorts and for the most part the veggie doesn’t make it all the way up here in the north and for whatever reasons, the farmers here in the north don’t really cultivate them either.   They grow high up in really tall trees and are quite difficult to obtain.  They have trained monkeys that will go an get them for the farmers in the south but they don’t make it to the markets up in the north because the farmers in the south can sell them all there and have no reason to take a chance on them spoiling in transit to sell in other markets.  \n\n<center> https://healthytraditionalfood.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/img_1317.jpg?w=616\n[src](https://healthytraditionalfood.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/img_1317.jpg?w=616)</center> \n\nNormally a shrimp curry rice plate on the streets would cost around $2 or so but with the “imported” Sadaw beans this doubled the price and well, they were quite stingy with how many they gave us.  I am willing to try almost anything once but I was actually a bit afraid of this because while it is being cooked it gives off an almost horrible aroma / stench.   \n\nBut when I bit into them I was kind of delighted.  It doesn’t taste at all like it smells and it has a nice crispy snap to it as well.   I was told after I had already eaten about half of them that the beans “stick with you” for a while afterwards meaning that when you use the toilet, it is going to be evident that you had Sadaw.  That’s all I have to say about that and all I can say is that in this regard the vegetable is a lot like asparagus.  \n\n<center> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Parkia_speciosa.JPG\n[src](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Parkia_speciosa.JPG)</center>\n\nI can't imagine what the first couple of people were like when they first discovered this bean.  I can imagine the conversation\n\n* that smells awful\n\n* yeah, we should eat it\n\nThese beans are called Petai beans apparently, but I have never heard anyone in Thailand refer to them as such.  They are \"Sa-Daw\" or just stinky beans.   While it is really unlikely that you are going to encounter them in Chiang Mai because they are both seasonal and normally from quite far away, places like Krabi, Phutet, Phang-Nga, Hat Yai and other places in the south have them in great supply although they can be quite expensive (relative to the region, of course) depending on what time of year it is.   \n\nI highly recommend that you try them if you encounter them, but just be aware of the side effects that I mentioned earlier that I do not care to discuss in greater detail  :P",
      "json_metadata": "{\"tags\":[\"thailand\",\"food\",\"dining\",\"curry\",\"stinky\",\"sadaw\"],\"image\":[\"https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23xpAzHoywED8j4Ju9RvBp2YujLjvmkP8WSeJpr41mmNGcQbJjBKgbjsYSg5x82enVfNG.png\",\"https://healthytraditionalfood.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/img_1317.jpg?w=616\",\"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Parkia_speciosa.JPG\"],\"links\":[\"https://migrationology.smugmug.com/Thai-Recipes/i-tBQcZJq/0/X2/stink-beans-recipes-13-X2.jpg\",\"https://healthytraditionalfood.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/img_1317.jpg?w=616\",\"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Parkia_speciosa.JPG\"],\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\",\"format\":\"markdown\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105751802,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 5,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-04T08:41:21",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "why-the-suburbs-of-chiang-mai-is-a-great-place-for-an-expat-to-live",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "7.432 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "12121.234353 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105720481,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 8,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-03T06:31:33",
  "op": [
    "curation_reward",
    {
      "curator": "jack.russelle",
      "reward": "102.743926 VESTS",
      "comment_author": "chaingmai.hhh",
      "comment_permlink": "taking-it-easy-during-the-smog-times"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105718217,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 13,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-03T04:38:03",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "8.214 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "13397.555178 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "46c3cc3a2113e552532c611d5a1002a5fd30faeb",
  "block": 105716516,
  "trx_in_block": 2,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-03T03:12:51",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "why-the-suburbs-of-chiang-mai-is-a-great-place-for-an-expat-to-live",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "d40f18db415ff6fdfd990d2f266eabdbfdd29bc7",
  "block": 105716496,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-03T03:11:51",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "why-the-suburbs-of-chiang-mai-is-a-great-place-for-an-expat-to-live",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "cd0da4f81e85f181f099cc6c90b9d547738c3290",
  "block": 105690822,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-02T05:45:27",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "jack.russelle",
      "parent_permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "author": "investigator",
      "permlink": "teeano",
      "title": "",
      "body": "For me, reading and writing in Thai have been easier than conversing in Thai. But now I can't learn new words just by hearing them unless I read them and get the tone.",
      "json_metadata": "{\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "dc15170b3655fe7f8039e74c66da960b1e82d2b6",
  "block": 105690727,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-02T05:40:42",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "investigator",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "51781601c95c4429653330be15a7c5004e09e6d2",
  "block": 105686742,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-02T02:20:42",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "quotes-haven",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "c9d15bb3bc8d45431cd7a17c41a110c5cb26dadf",
  "block": 105686406,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-02T02:03:51",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "9c6cdfca56926a03e1a67a2281b97688d48bb2b1",
  "block": 105686376,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-02T02:02:21",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "3ed85e8e1502995006213bee93dd39ca0f2beb57",
  "block": 105662791,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-01T06:20:33",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "jack.russelle",
      "parent_permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "author": "fuli",
      "permlink": "20260501t062031583z",
      "title": "upvoted",
      "body": "Thank you for sharing on steem! I'm witness fuli, and I've given you a free upvote. If you'd like to support me, please consider voting at https://steemitwallet.com/~witnesses 🌟",
      "json_metadata": "{}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0f460efce2760394986ec3a8320342e252e0b6be",
  "block": 105662789,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-01T06:20:27",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "fuli",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "weight": 3000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "78e0b270d9941ff2ee5f6790432a3c3359d52207",
  "block": 105662633,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-05-01T06:12:39",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "",
      "parent_permlink": "thailand",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "you-don-t-really-need-to-speak-the-local-language-to-live-in-thailand",
      "title": "You don't really need to speak the local language to live in Thailand",
      "body": "There seems to be 3 distinct camps as far as expats are concerned when it comes to living in Thailand.  There are the people that are seriously gung ho about getting deep in the culture and through a lot of hard work end up becoming close to fluent in Thai.  I am not part of this group and likely never will be.  Languages just aren't something I have ever been good at and I forget almost all of what I learn pretty close to right after I learned it.\n\nThen there is the camp of people that never bother to learn any of the language and become completely dependent upon their girlfriend or wife and in some situations even their children in order to get them through basic stuff.  This can be a rather shocking thing to see because it is kind of cringe to see a grown man (it's almost always men here in Thailand) who cannot say even the most basic things and dont know stuff like right and left, or the numbers 1 through 10.  These people have put in zero effort and normally tend to be rather well off and made all of their money before ever moving to Thailand.  While not always arrogant about it, this is the group that tends to view almost everything that Thai people do as \"stupid\" and they can lose their cool rather quickly in social situations.   \n\nThankfully I am not part of this group either.\n\nThe last group is the group that I am in and these are the people that have learned basic social conversations to help them out in certain situations and we have just learned phrases and numbers and if anyone gets too fancy with the Thai that they speak back to us we know how to say \"I don't understand that\" or \"please speak slowly my Thai language skills aren't good.\"   \n\nIt took me a number of years to get to this point but now I am quite comfortable in social situations provided that I am not the center of attention and someone isn't trying to \"one up\" me by speaking really fast in a way that is meant to intentionally confuse me.  \n\n<center> https://learnthaiwithmod.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Thai-letters1.jpg\n[src](https://learnthaiwithmod.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Thai-letters1.jpg)</center>\n\nTo me, Thai is extremely complicated and difficult to learn.  In high school I did ok with learning Spanish but that is because we essentially use the same alphabet.  Thai of course does not use our letters but in some capacity it has been translated to use English letters but this doesn't always convey the complex nature of the language properly and one of the best things I did for myself was learning the alphabet in a very basic sense.  There are a lot of letters above, many more than the English alphabet, but the thing is a lot of the letters are very rarely used and some of the letters are not used at all and are just taught for the sake of history.   \n\nI think that it is kind of funny that the obsolete or rarely used letters just so happen to be the ones that are the most complicated to write and over the eons a bunch of people probably decided \"this one is too complicated, let's just not use it\" and over hundreds of years everyone started to see the extreme logic in this and let it go.\n\nฃ and ฅ have kind of a funny story behind how they stopped being used and it was because when typewriters started being the standard in business correspondence, there wasn't enough keys on the keyboard and Thailand was not equipped to manufacture their own keyboards so someone, somewhere, probably in the Royal Family, had to make a choice about which ones to get rid of.  Since these two letters have other letters in the alphabet that sound very similar or exactly the same, they went to the wayside and over the course of many years of typing, the population just got used to them not existing and they never brought them back. \n\nI don't immediately know all Thai letters when I see them, but over time with some homemade flash cards, I managed to get to know them good enough that it helped me to learn words better.  I guess I am a visual learner.\n\n<center>  \n![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23uFZw8EPhtbWkubzmkbsK6qEbbz9zfrEHhKn4hJWMhVrhRGy36jWabaCTrKKC1AkUhMw.png)\n[src](https://importfood.com/images/features/fresh-thai-market/vegseller_mkt_l.jpg)</center>\n\nI think one of the most important parts of learning Thai is so that you can participate in the market culture, which is where all the best produce and meats are generally found.  Some people will attempt to google translate their way through this but one person I know has discovered that many of the Thai people that work at these markets are actually illiterate and cannot read their own language.  They also do not have the time to lean in an listen to your phone speak questions to them and will wave you off if you try to insist that they do so.  There is also a problem with translation software in that it is frequently very wrong because Thai sentence structure is very different from English sentence structure.  \n\nBeing able to ask how much something is in a market is really a game changer because now you are most likely going to be given the local price because of a couple of reasons and the main one being that it would be very shameful and a \"losing face\" sort of situation if a Thai market worker were to tell you a price that other people nearby could understand that was not the real price.   Bystanders are unlikely to intervene but the saving face aspect of Thai society is very real and I am yet to hear about anyone getting a bogus price quoted to them when the person has to answer out loud.\n\nWhile Thai is an extremely complicated language to the point where it is categorized by governments as being a top tier, in terms of difficulty, language, with a little bit of practice you can learn how to recognize all the numbers up to 100,000 pretty easily.   There aren't very many situations at a market where you are actually going to need to know any numbers over 100 though.   \n\nI have found that I can easily recognize all numbers now and this has been really nice to be able to participate in markets and I can see that the locals kind of appreciate that you have taken the bit of time to learn that part of it.  I get smiles from the market ladies because when they see a foreigner I think they kind of expect us to not speak Thai.   I DO NOT speak Thai, I know just a bit of it and it is kind of funny when they get so excited thinking I am fluent and then rattle off something to me and I have to let them down by saying that I only speak a little bit of your language, sorry!  \n\nI think that these days that a lot of people tend to let their apps do all the thinking for them and this is a real shame.  Who would have thought that technology would actually encourage all of us to be dumber?   When I first moved here, translation software was in its infancy and didn't really work, so we had to learn at least SOME of the language.  \n\nI have no notion of ever becoming fluent in this language and I do admire when certain people are.  But at the same time I am also kind of irked by people that have been here 2,3, 4 times or more longer that I have and outside of hello and thank you they don't know how to say anything at all.\n\nI may end up living here for the rest of my life if things go as well for me as I am hoping they will and maybe one day I will buckle down and actually really seriously learn the language.  The days of the bogus language centers are kind of behind us now because the government shut down those visa scams... now the only schools that remain are universities and heavily regulated real schools that MUST genuinely teach you the language or your visa gets revoked.  I don't need the visa at the moment because i have a real job and a real work-permit, but the idea of going back to college to have a real curriculum and truly take on learning Thai fully is something that kind of excites me.\n\nIn the meantime though I am kind of happy that I learned as much as I have and bit by bit I learn a few words here and there.  \n\nIt will likely be a very long road to fluency and maybe it will never happen.  I do know one thing though, I am at least going to try!",
      "json_metadata": "{\"tags\":[\"thailand\",\"thai\",\"languages\",\"learning\",\"farang\",\"expat\"],\"image\":[\"https://learnthaiwithmod.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Thai-letters1.jpg\",\"https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23uFZw8EPhtbWkubzmkbsK6qEbbz9zfrEHhKn4hJWMhVrhRGy36jWabaCTrKKC1AkUhMw.png\"],\"links\":[\"https://learnthaiwithmod.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Thai-letters1.jpg\",\"https://importfood.com/images/features/fresh-thai-market/vegseller_mkt_l.jpg\"],\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\",\"format\":\"markdown\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "45fcd781b1c4fee7207828a0e8fadbc7bd91edfa",
  "block": 105572378,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-28T02:48:00",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "quotes-haven",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "why-the-suburbs-of-chiang-mai-is-a-great-place-for-an-expat-to-live",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105555138,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 7,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-27T12:23:45",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tips-to-handing-the-police-with-a-motorbike-in-thailand",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "7.380 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "12042.174756 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "3f95b06a4992e41b6fd46013d0de53c1fc82a6d0",
  "block": 105550711,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-27T08:41:36",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "jack.russelle",
      "author": "chaingmai.hhh",
      "permlink": "taking-it-easy-during-the-smog-times",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "9899a54ce1c4737d0e7d282d12f336168d4c9cfa",
  "block": 105550706,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-27T08:41:21",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "",
      "parent_permlink": "thailand",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "why-the-suburbs-of-chiang-mai-is-a-great-place-for-an-expat-to-live",
      "title": "Why the suburbs of Chiang Mai is a great place for an expat to live",
      "body": "There are some expat hot spots all over Thailand where it seems the foreigners gravitate towards in order to live here.  I think the most popular ones are Phuket, Krabi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and unfortunately Pattaya.   \n\nI wouldn't want to live in any of those places other than here and perhaps Krabi, but Krabi is kind of uninhabited and there aren't a lot of things that you would get in a place with more people in it such as shopping malls, tons of restaurants, and flights to almost anywhere.\n\nBut here in Chiang Mai the downtown area is not really a good place to try to live if you are moving here.  Most people are correct when they say that the rent there is overpriced to the point of being a ripoff for foreigners but this is why people who are considering living here should really hire an agent and have a look at one of the suburb areas such as Sansai Noi where I have lived for the past 5 years.  \n\n<center> https://s1.rea.global/img/800x600-fit/fazwaz/th/ac4bb82e132ea4f35c0d18633bf637ea.jpg</center>\n\nWhen you get out into the suburbs of Chiang Mai a lot of things change.  For one thing, the traffic is almost non existent unless you get on one of the highways that leads to downtown.  I don't really have much reason to ever go down to the center of town and if I do I find that it is a rather easy ride either on my bicycle or my scooter.   It is 12 km one way, which might seem like a bit of a jaunt for some people but it really doesn't take that long and if you don't like driving, you can get a Grab taxi for a couple of dollars.\n\nAnother benefit of living out here is that most of the neighborhoods are specifically designed so that it would be of no benefit for anyone to try to use them as some sort of shortcut.  If something like this ends up accidentally happening the owners of the area will wall off the exit or entrance that is causing this and also lay down speed bumps to prevent any sort of traffic from coming  through other than people that live there.\n\nAs far as shopping is concerned, no matter where you live in Chiang Mai you are never very far from some sort of massive grocery store that also doubles as a sort of minimall.\n\n<center> https://www.chiangmailocator.com/design/photosbiz/chiang-mai-tesco-lotus-chiang-mai-kad-kamtiang-6059.jpg\n[src](https://www.chiangmailocator.com/design/photosbiz/chiang-mai-tesco-lotus-chiang-mai-kad-kamtiang-6059.jpg)</center>\n\nThe one nearest my house used to be called Tesco, which I think most people in the world is a brand that they are familiar with, but for whatever reason in the past 2 years they have rebranded to be called Lotus's, which is a stupid name but as far as what is going on inside the store is concerned, nothing has really changed.  All of these shopping centers have a grocery store and they also tend to have some level of banking and ability to pay your bills such as internet, electric or water.   The one nearest my place is just 1.5 km away and most of the time I just take my bicycle.   \n\nOf course we now have the option to just do online shopping and get all of that delivered as well, for the truly lazy.\n\nAll these suburb places have a bunch of local restaurants and you don't necessarily need to be able to speak Thai to go to them.  They tend to have picture menus at all of them or you could just learn the name of some sort of dish that you know you already like.\n\none of the best things about living in the suburbs is that most of Chiang Mai has a surplus of housing outside of the downtown area and therefore there isn't a lot of price gouging that is going on out here.  The people who own the property are not going to get some sort of wild notion that they can just double your rent after your first year in an attempt to fleece you.   \n\nThe downside of these places is that they can prove kind of difficult to find unless you have unlimited time and the desire to just drive around looking for \"for rent\" signs that are unlikely to be in English anyway.  I can speak Thai on a very rudimentary level so I wouldn't want to be on the phone with the owner of my house.  Various apps such as Whatsapp or even more popular in Thailand and app called LINE, have built in AI translation tools so that can facilitate speaking to your landlord even if you don't share a language. \n\nThe best thing to do though is to find a real-estate agent and just book a day to go and visit them and look at pictures.  I had an amazing agent that took time out of her day to drive me around in her car and show me a bunch of places and I ended up renting one of them in the same day.  My 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 story house that was mostly fully furnished costs me 9000 THB a month, and that is less than $300.   After electric, water, and internet charges are built in I pay less than $350 a month.   That's a pretty great deal and you are never going to find a deal like that in the city center.\n\nI feel like I have really struck gold living out here in San Sai, and I think that other people that are considering moving to this part of the country would do well to follow suit.   Living downtown in Chiang Mai can be a bit of a drag because everything is always busy but out here in the suburbs I sometimes forget that I live in one of the most populated place in the country because if I don't leave my neighborhood, it is quiet and nice like a small city would be.  Yet giant shopping malls are just around the corner a few km's away!",
      "json_metadata": "{\"tags\":[\"thailand\",\"chiangmai\",\"living\",\"life\",\"houses\",\"rentals\",\"expat\"],\"image\":[\"https://s1.rea.global/img/800x600-fit/fazwaz/th/ac4bb82e132ea4f35c0d18633bf637ea.jpg\",\"https://www.chiangmailocator.com/design/photosbiz/chiang-mai-tesco-lotus-chiang-mai-kad-kamtiang-6059.jpg\"],\"links\":[\"https://s1.rea.global/img/800x600-fit/fazwaz/th/ac4bb82e132ea4f35c0d18633bf637ea.jpg\",\"https://www.chiangmailocator.com/design/photosbiz/chiang-mai-tesco-lotus-chiang-mai-kad-kamtiang-6059.jpg\"],\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\",\"format\":\"markdown\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "cb4ed133864f065424eb893df48778e4ab04e116",
  "block": 105541921,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-27T01:21:12",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "quotes-haven",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105522451,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 6,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T09:05:09",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "smokey-season-update-for-chiang-mai",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "7.538 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "12299.295843 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "1d388b9efccf9ad786cbcf1033b673cc13e0d4e2",
  "block": 105517490,
  "trx_in_block": 3,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:56:21",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "yintercept",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "11ca05fd1530d6c770400bad3bb543aafd690b80",
  "block": 105517240,
  "trx_in_block": 2,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:43:45",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "info-steem",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 750
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "c629252c1fb309cc54e068a4e0d98070bd7c9f2b",
  "block": 105517222,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:42:51",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "mmmmkkkk311",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 500
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0a0f88295405321e28defaa3aa85a5ea2fcd854e",
  "block": 105517218,
  "trx_in_block": 3,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:42:39",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "ctime",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 750
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "d4f4c64c7350036c2786ac34a5c21416200ad6e6",
  "block": 105517218,
  "trx_in_block": 2,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:42:39",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "tipu",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 600
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "7b744b753f3343a4a0c98953f6acbe2a07914d50",
  "block": 105517218,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:42:39",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "im-ridd",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 1000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "20cc2fd672f8dc37fa209a1ea16ae262cea6c132",
  "block": 105517217,
  "trx_in_block": 5,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:42:36",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "misterajay",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 3300
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "a6b46d26d5f26621898f1589e805f20aa32800ad",
  "block": 105517217,
  "trx_in_block": 2,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:42:36",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "kevinwong",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 1000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "2899c113ecd346754b4a696a91d5a8c9b8cbfc32",
  "block": 105517216,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:42:33",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "curx",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "weight": 1000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "a6464dc681719434d8cfa8b2ac46ff742797b456",
  "block": 105517126,
  "trx_in_block": 9,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T04:38:03",
  "op": [
    "comment",
    {
      "parent_author": "",
      "parent_permlink": "thailand",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tourist-behaving-badly-in-thailand-stories",
      "title": "Tourist behaving badly in Thailand stories",
      "body": "I often write about the bad sides of Thailand and sometimes when I look back at past posts I feel as though I am, at least in part, becoming one of those jaded expats that is always bitching about Thailand.    At least that is how it could appear to anyone that reads my blog.   So I just want to state yet again that I *absolutely love living here* and I take the good with the bad.  All Places in the world have good sides and bad sides and I think the good very heavily outweighs the bad here in Thailand.\n\nOne thing that is always heavy on my mind though is that the Thai government seems to always be messing with visa policies in an effort to attract \"the right kind of tourists\" where as about a decade ago they basically had an open-door policy of stay as long as you want to and spend money here.\n\nBut this was before every little thing that happened ended up online I guess because these days there seems to be an awful lot of bad that is ending up online about both government officials abusing their positions, and also foreigners that are doing really stupid crap that might add fuel to politicians' fires about restricting entry to the Kingdom more than they already do.\n\n<center> \n![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/EpLfZ7TE994Wfnm2cPKRtY8AEuDgeCv5d4NitrT8KjFH2MmK9YkHjYdZYUTRVGce1ym.png)\n[src](https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/2-foreign-men-wanted-for-guitar-theft-in-phuket)</center>\n\nThe first story comes from Phuket and Karon Beach more specifically.  Two yet-unidentified tourists can be seen walking down the street at 2:30 in the morning, seeing a guitar lying on a scooter, then coming back shortly thereafter to steal the guitar and ride off on their own scooter.  \n\nAccording to the guitar owner, he had only been parked there for about 5 minutes and returned to find the guitar gone.   \n\nUnderstand this folks:  Thailand is NOT a high trust society.  This is not Japan or Dubai where you can just leave your stuff sitting somewhere and come back later and it is all going to still be there.  There is a reason why almost all houses have loads of security bars on them after all.   These sorts of thefts are extremely common and it is very possible that if it had not been these two foreigners, it would have been someone else that had stolen the guitar.  Based on the look and size of the guitar, it appears to be a cheap mini-guitar and that leads me to think that this could even be a case of someone intentionally leaving it there as a setup specifically so it can be stolen so that the person can get a bunch of followers on Instagram or some dumb shit like that.\n\nWhatever the case is, the fact that it was two foreigners who are most likely drunk driving a scooter with no helmets doesn't do much for the impression of foreign visitors to this country.   \n\nThere are already widespread calls to reduce the standard tourist visas from 60 days to 30 days and I don't really see how that is going to prevent wayward guitars from being stolen.  It's not like after 40 days or so visitors tend to start stealing things.\n\n<center> \n![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23wgHd4ETcdQDsv4eXRY5yh2zxJ9gV1wZtSPKmP1HA8HDJp4GTFf2Zr9kgGZskJJPaQ5n.png)\n[src](https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/foreign-men-criticised-for-abandoning-rental-motorcycles-at-phuket-airport)</center>\nThe second story also comes from Phuket where two tourists on rental scooters arrived at the airport, one of them didn't even have a shirt on, and then proceeded to go park the bikes at a part of the airport where no one is allowed to park at all, get their belongings off the bikes and then just leave the bikes there.  \n\nThis hit Thai social media and the gaslighting was immediate.  There were calls for further restricting entry to foreigners and for security staff to be more harsh on \"farang\" (farang is just a colloquial term for foreigners, mostly white foreigners) as the implication here is that had these been Thai people, that the security would have been all over them but since most security doesn't speak English they are afraid to approach the farang.    \n\nI doubt that is true, based on the lack of any sort of people or vehicles around I think this was just the middle of the night.\n\nThis is a special sort of selfish asshole though either way because now the owner of these rental scooters has to come and collect them on his or her own and likely pay some sort of fine.  Police have indicated that there has been zero repercussions for the two foreigners as they have already left the country.  \n\nI think it would be relatively easy to track down their names based on their flight and then blacklist them from re-entry ever.  \n\nTo me, I think that all of these sorts of things should be handled on a case-by-case basis and not make some sort of broad changes that are going to hurt everyone just because of a few jerks.   Limiting visas isn't going to stop this sort of thing anyway and I believe that is a fool's idea to think that it might.",
      "json_metadata": "{\"tags\":[\"thailand\",\"travel\",\"tourists\",\"bad-behavior\",\"farang\",\"phuket\"],\"image\":[\"https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/EpLfZ7TE994Wfnm2cPKRtY8AEuDgeCv5d4NitrT8KjFH2MmK9YkHjYdZYUTRVGce1ym.png\",\"https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jack.russelle/23wgHd4ETcdQDsv4eXRY5yh2zxJ9gV1wZtSPKmP1HA8HDJp4GTFf2Zr9kgGZskJJPaQ5n.png\"],\"links\":[\"https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/2-foreign-men-wanted-for-guitar-theft-in-phuket\",\"https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/foreign-men-criticised-for-abandoning-rental-motorcycles-at-phuket-airport\"],\"app\":\"steemit/0.2\",\"format\":\"markdown\"}"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "07dbd5df40cc6f8f898ccee50842e0ffdfcb7c40",
  "block": 105515673,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T03:25:18",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tips-to-handing-the-police-with-a-motorbike-in-thailand",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "710741a53cb661d1d3bfc3c680ccfa04a68f65ca",
  "block": 105515651,
  "trx_in_block": 3,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-26T03:24:12",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tips-to-handing-the-police-with-a-motorbike-in-thailand",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105489232,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 4,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-25T05:20:36",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "my-issues-they-are-minor-with-linux-using-a-mint-distribution",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "7.593 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "12390.036255 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "ae842e61a19a43285657da08f3eeacc3a9dabc5d",
  "block": 105485481,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-25T02:12:36",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "smokey-season-update-for-chiang-mai",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "7e14ce4307522002d37d25f57cd0506642eeed5f",
  "block": 105485440,
  "trx_in_block": 0,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-25T02:10:33",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "smokey-season-update-for-chiang-mai",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "block": 105459977,
  "trx_in_block": 4294967295,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 8,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-24T04:54:36",
  "op": [
    "author_reward",
    {
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "tuk-tuks-in-thailand-a-strategy-to-not-getting-ripped-off",
      "sbd_payout": "0.000 SBD",
      "steem_payout": "8.200 STEEM",
      "vesting_payout": "13381.471130 VESTS"
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "f3bbf9e12365d1a08c61d108d9920963fa14b8e1",
  "block": 105455652,
  "trx_in_block": 2,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-24T01:17:45",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "enki",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "my-issues-they-are-minor-with-linux-using-a-mint-distribution",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}

{
  "trx_id": "f4ebeac51bfec3d4c23e6fae8b11ba8d3af55649",
  "block": 105455617,
  "trx_in_block": 1,
  "op_in_trx": 0,
  "virtual_op": 0,
  "timestamp": "2026-04-24T01:16:00",
  "op": [
    "vote",
    {
      "voter": "xeldal",
      "author": "jack.russelle",
      "permlink": "my-issues-they-are-minor-with-linux-using-a-mint-distribution",
      "weight": 10000
    }
  ]
}