Harvey

Not via youtube, but every once in a while, I'll log in here to check out life on Soi Buakhao. Link: http://thai-rest.com/soi-buakhao-pattaya-webcam-the-queens-arms-bar/ Harv

I should add that the front desk girls were very helpful, happy, and flirty.

Hey Parry -- I wandered past your potential hotel this afternoon about 3 p.m. First off, here are photos of their business card (front and back) The place is a lot bigger than the photo on hotels.com seemed to indicate. There are three equal-sized buildings in the hotel complex. I don't now how crowded it is, but if the pool at 3 p.m. is any indication, not too many folks were hanging around. I'm not sure if this is a place for Chinese tourists or not, but there was a big tour bus sitting idle in front of the buildings. And the front parking area looks made for multiple buses to be able to pick up and disgourge bunches of tourists. That being said, I've never had too much of a problem with lots of Asian tourists in my hotel beacause we are on such different hours. -- They're up early. Raiding the breakfast buffet between 7-9. They they're off on their tour bus. -- I'm up late. So when I drag myself out of bed, the breakfast area is usually empty. If the hotel is decent, they've restocked the buffet and I'm feeling pretty happy. -- They're never at the pool because they're always out during the day doing stuff. Meanwhile, if I'm not getting some in the morning or early afternoon, I'm at the pool lying around like a lazy walrus. -- I'm out when the Chinese tourists come back. If anything, we'll only intersect at Walking street as they're getting a tour from someone holding a flag and I'm looking for a really hot hello girl to mack. The location of this hotel can't be beat. I've turned into a big fan of the Buakhao / LK Metro / Chaiyapoon area. It's all very convenient and walkable from the hotel. I hope this helps. Harv

I didn't want to get other readers confused about what I meant. Figured that using the latin "futbol" would be clearer. Bottom line: We suck

The USA is a nation of about 250M people. But we can't find among us 11 who can play futbol with any sense of skill. We lost a berth in the World Cup finals from the always difficult CONCACAF section (/sarcasm) because we lost at the world power Trinadad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago. I guess if we only had had to take on Tobago alone, we may have had a shot. But add Trinidad? Game over. Honestly, this is a total embarrassment.

It's 6 p.m. Pattaya time as I type this. If nobody sings out on this thread, I'll try and swing by tomorrow or the next day to get a business card and post a photo of both sides of it. Harv

We were out in the hotel from 9:30 - 2:30. Not too bad. Spend most of the time in bed with my girl. Didn't wake up until 2 because of heavy drinking last night.

I'm at the Hotel Baraquda, next door the The Avenue. The maid just walked into my room as I was showering to drop a note on the desk (actually, she walked in, saw me showering, screamed, and threw the note toward the desk and ran out apologizing profusely). Anyway, the hotel GM's note says that due to scheduled work by the Provincial Electricity Authority on Buakhao Soi 15 (which runs behind The Avenue and the Baraquda), there will be no power tomorrow between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. They're apparently going to be working on underground cables. It was 6:30 p.m. the night before the power outage when hotel guests got the note. And I'm pretty confident that the hotel would have provided more notice had they gotten notice from the Power Authority. But this just seems like a last-minute sort of thing. If you were going to take breakfast or lunch at the Avenue or in the areas nearby tomorrow, you may want to give it a pass until the next day. Harv

I've been trapped here at the Royal Garden Plaza top floor, on the covered balcony at Starbucks, nursing a coffee and watching it pour down buckets. Hasn't stopped for the last 25 minutes. I guess it comes with visiting during the rainy season. But this is some rain maker right here. (5 p.m. Pattaya time)

I don't want to create a whole new thread for a single post, so I'll add this here. ------ Seeking for an easy afternoon meal, I walked next door from my hotel to The Avenue for some quick Italian at Pizza Pizza. Despite the restaurant's name, I eschewed the pizza for a meal of some bruschetta and spaghetti alla carbonara. And it was good. The bruschetta did not skimp on garlic and olive oil. This is a good thing as in too many restaurants, bruschetta is merely a collection of diced tomatoes on top of toasted bread with no other ingredients or flavorings. The bruschetta here had great notes of garlic, onions, and olive oil...very refreshing. If I were to make it at home, I'd have more basil in it. But that's just quibbling. The spaghetti carbonara was everything a carbonara should be -- bad for your blood cholesterol, creamy, substantive, flavorful. A really good pasta dish. The service was fast and attentive. The environment clean and cool thanks to effective aircon. A good place to stop for a mid-afternoon meal. In all, 3 "noms" out of a possible 4. I know this place is sort of chain-ish. But for ease of a solid meal, you can't go wrong. Harv

So I was wandering up Soi Lengkee on my way up to to New York Pizza. But happened past the Smokin' Joe's sign and suddenly got the hankering for some BBQ ribs. It was about 2:30 and I try to eat my dinner about mid-afternoon b/c I don't like to eat big at night. And wow, am I happy that I dropped by the place. Before I start, I must admit that I judge falang food in Thailand on a curve. I have zero expectations that it'll taste like (or be better than) food at home. That is no disrespect to the Thai cooks, it's just that they have no lifelong experience on how individual dishes should taste. Western owners can show them or they can work off of recipe cards. But when good cooking moves past science and is part art -- making minor adjustments in ingredients, seasoning, or cooking times/styles to maximize results. If you haven't grown up with the taste, it's hard to take the next step beyond just being like a fry cook. So it was in that mentality that I walked into Smokin' Joe's. There were all the requisite styles of BBQ -- I had a half rack of Kansas City ribs and two sides (potato salad/mac and cheese). I noted the absence of greens on the menu which, in the states, are a must as a side when you're having BBQ. The portion sizes are big. A half rack of ribs will do you for dinner unless you're really starved. I couldn't finish my mac and cheese if only because I found the dish to be uninspired. The potato salad, while not necessarily "authentic" if you were to be picky, was, in my mind, better than the real thing back home. Ditto the cole slaw. Overly slathered in mayo and dressing. Bad for my heart and cholesterol count but really good going down. But I save my compliments to the ribs. The half rack of ribs were flavorful, bountiful, and enjoyable. I didn't see a wood-burning smoker outside, but the ribs ended up tasting almost as good as the real thing. The meat was tender, fell off the bone, and made for a good and messy meal. I think my monosyllabic grunts may have been off-putting to the wait staff, but the meat just elicits that response if you're a guy. At 2:30 p.m. there were about 4 other people in the place -- there are about a dozen tables inside and a couple of tables outside. The service was attentive but not intrusive -- the front of the house staff were a well-trained crew. It was nice to get out of the heat into a comfortable aircon environment. Place was clean as a whistle. I guess I'll make it for pizza tomorrow. But for this afternoon, an early big dinner led to a well-deserved nap as I dreamt of BBQ sauce on well-prepared meat and onion rings. And it was good. tl;dr -- Really good BBQ place that combines good portions, good preparation, tender meat, good sauce, good wait staff, a clean envirionment and aircon. What more could you ask for on a hot, muggy Pattaya afternoon. 3.5 "noms" out of a possible 4. Harv As others have mentioned, the house starts you out with some comp salsa and chips. Half a rack of ribs. I put my glasses in the photo to provide a sense of scale. I had two sides, not knowing how big the half rack was. Thumbs up for the potato salad (left). The mac and cheese was a bit "meh' for me (right). Yeah, I too crushed these ribs.... I think I'm coming back on Monday for the ribs and brisket special. Lesson: Never wear a white golf shirt to a BBQ joint

Whoa -- another huge crack of thunder. It's raining buckets right now (at the Baraquda -- near Royal Garden Plaza mall.)

Evil, can you please post a review of the pizza hoagie when you've tried it. Not a fan of tuna, but perhaps a pizza hoagie may be worth trying.

I didn't want to create an entirely new thread just for one random thought. So I searched "storm" and will try and put it here. ------------- Wow -- that was some thunderstorm last night. I'm in the Baraquda and the thunder shook the place. (In an odd-bit of timing, my girl and I were just starting to boom-boom as the weather did too). I'm up early having dutifully ushered my girl out the door and am searching for a live stream of the USA/Panama WC qualifying match which begins soon (yeah, we Americans are an embarrassment to soccer, but you have to be loyal). As I type these words (6:30 a.m.), I can still hear distant rumbles of thunder. I hope that the storm brought rain to help fill the reservoir a bit. But, DANG, I haven't heard thunder as loud as last night's since...perhaps never.