7th Report, Thailand 2022 July 26, 2022 Today played golf with BJ’s group on Soi 3. Had my usual thrilling ride to get there on a motor cycle taxi. Laid clubs across my legs while riding which is an improvement over letting it hang from my shoulder. Hurts. I repeatedly told the driver Soi 3 and yet he took me to a driving range. He was shocked when I told him no. We finally got there and I sat waiting to leave for Pattaya Country Club to play golf with Paul Sharples. Very nice person from England who has lived over seas for many years. I read him my two poems about playing golf and Vacationing in Thailand. He was feeling weak this morning and eventually went to play golf with us after eating food. I road in the van and sat next to BJ himself who told me his history of owning a bar in Pattaya for 20 years and other activities. He had gone on an R&R to Thailand from Vietnam and liked it so much he came here after leaving the military and made his life here. Very nice person. There has been YouTube interviews on him and are posted on YouTube. It was a good day of golf, hot as usual. My caddy named Tuk was very nice and worked hard at taking care of me. I shot a 103 from white tees. The course had lots of hills, water hazards and was very demanding. I was able to complete the round and was running out of energy towards the end. I walked over 11,180 steps with 15 flights to climb. I am tired after such an effort. I did par four holes. The par fours were long. I played with Bill and Doug both from the USA. Very nice people. BJ entertained us with jokes on the way back to town. A small lady motorcycle taxi driver drove me back to the hotel. On the Van ride back to town had a talk with Tom from Australia who had not been vaccinated for COVID, had it and is adamant not to be vaccinated. He quoted various alleged experts who he sourced as advising not to get vaccinated. He admitted experiencing extreme discomfort during his illness. He had lost jobs in foreign countries for not permitting vaccination. He is a FOX news channel watcher and did not like MSNBC or CNN. I took my last laundry to the my laundry source for cleaning and picked up a batch. After this batch, too close to leaving to leave any more for cleaning. Just one more golfing activity this Friday and will leave to return home on Saturday late in the day, to fly out early in the morning the next day. July 27, Wednesday Played bridge with Jim from Minnesota today. Says he plays the precision system and does not do transfers. He played standard American with me and except one bid where I thought we should have done a transfer, played well. I have not seen the results yet. We must wait until next week. Had some dental work here and said that this work will almost pay for the trip for him. To get to the bridge area it started raining and I drove on the back of a motorcycle taxi in the rain. My sleeves of my shirt, forehead were wet from the ride. One area that I struggle with each time I take a motorcycle taxi is hoisting me leg over the seat. I struggle. It is a chore. Also, getting off the motorcycle is difficult. I need to develop and exercise for this at home. Linda is having a lot of fun coming up with ideas for this exercise. Most of her ideas are unrealistic. She loves doing it though and chuckles with each suggestion. The traffic here is chaotic at its best. It is a learned skill to move around the the vehicles without being struck by one. Dangerous. July 29, played golf with the Stay Smart Group which does not have competition. Played with Shawn and Todd from Australia and Mark from Houston Texas. Tough day at golf shot miserable score. It was fun to play. Golf here is a whole different experience. I need to use at least two clubs more to make what be my normal distance. Also, where I would normally use a 54 degree wedge, I need to use a six iron and run the ball up. The balls stick and do not move. Took over 11,000 steps today climbed 7 flights. I got a full body massage and ate at my favorite 5 star restaurant which is a considerable commute. I had an emergency allergy attack from ointment the massage person used to massage me. It should have gave me a hint when she suggested that I take a shower before I left the massage place. I finally figured it out after going on to a late operating drug store and getting some antihistamine. I also took a shower and took off all of the clothes and slept on the other side of the bed. I am ready to come home.

6th Report Thailand 2022 July 24, 2022 Quiet day in Pattaya. Went to the movies today. Saw Jurassic Park movie. I have never seen so many angry dinosaurs opening their big scary mouths with lots of teeth and heard people scream. It is a screamer. I almost walked out initially and after a while I got into it. Really. It did have a plot other than screaming at fighting, growling dinosaurs. Glad this type of movies was not around in my youth. It has the potential for a lot of night mares. I figured out today that I was missing my escape cloths (clothes that I wore here and plan to leave wearing). One of the items was an expensive vest that I wanted for sure to get back. I went to the laundry facility first thing this morning and needed to walk in an alley to the laundry facility itself. Fortunately it was still there and I was able to retrieve it. Terrific. The breakfast area was full today so ate breakfast by the swimming pool. I ended up with a lot of little mosquito bites and itching ankles. They find me delicious even in El Paso. So I could not stand it any longer. I went to a telecommunication center where they sell lots of telephones an sim cards and up graded my iPhone 5 travel phone with a juiced up sim card. I talked them down in price since I would be only using it a week. I am afraid to have them put one of their sim cards in my iPhone 12. Tomorrow is bridge. I will get another one of their vegetarian pies to take home. It was delicious. Monday July 26 Did long walk to find room other then where I am staying in future trips. I used face time and took Linda for a beach view as I walked. Nice views. After long walk, I ended up on Soi 10 and visited three hotels there and a sample room in each. Page 10, The Stay and See Me. The Page 10 was the most impressive and a guest in the lobby said the wifi is terrific. The Stay had nice balcony with no view. It was still very nice. The See Me had the best view with their Sea Deluxe. Get to see the beach with full landscape (the meal arrangements seem shaky). I went to one last hotel next to my present hotel called the Centra Hotel, down an alley and the rooms seemed small. So this is my research for a future hotel. My present room at the Areca is nice. The floor has chipped linoleum at entrance. The bathtub needs to be caulked and spills water on the floor when I shower. I wrote a report on this to the front desk and my maid later informed me that all the rooms are like that. My wifi in this room is sporadic so I do not like that. A disqualifier. Also, I have to walk a number of steps to get to and from the room. This is also a disqualified. I do not want to fall down and the steps make me vulnerable to do that. At 78 I am susceptible to fall down. Monday, July 26, played bridge with John one of the bridge coordinators. The opponents are very good. I made at least two mistakes and yet we did not come in last. As usual, the trip to the place we play bridge at (The Meat Stuff) was and exciting motorcycle ride. Took baht buses to my favorite vegan restaurant and repeated having a gorgeous Vega ham burger.

5th Report, Thailand July 2022 So today was an adventure. Went to see the very large monument called the Sanctuary of Truth Museum. It is a very large edifice made of intricate carvings in wood of various Buddhist, Thai, Hindu, Chinese and Khmer tradition symbols and people. It was started in 1981 and it is still a work in progress. I have seen YouTube presentations on this building prior to coming here and they are very good. It was a real adventure to get to the museum. I took baht buses (two) and went past the turn off. I expected to see a sign telling me to stop the route and non appeared. I ended up 2.5 KM past the turn off. I asked a uniform police men and started back by foot. This policemen, on his own private motor cycle pulled up next to me and had me get on and drove me to the museum. What a wonderful action to take. Once at the museum, it required a long walk down steep steps. Yet again, a very nice act, they put me in an air-conditioned van and drove me down the hill. They, then put me on an elevator with hard hat and I was in the museum. I was all by myself and took many pictures inside. I walked up the hill with 60 steps of stairs. After touring, got a cup of ice coffee, took a motorcycle taxi to the main road and took two separate baht buses back adjacent to my hotel. Had lunch at Kiss hotel. 8, 200 steps so far today and I feel like a break.