yogi100

When I was young in the 50s and early 60s I had school holidays in Belgium and Holland. WW2 was still in people's memory and the welcome we received as British kids was fantastic. We were treated like celebrities wherever we went. One cafe owner in Holland that we visited would not charge us for our drinks and gave us all a small box of cigars to take home to our fathers. He told us to thank them for their liberation. We were choked with pride and did not really know what to say. How things changed over the next few decades after our 'football supporters' had gone on the rampage in their towns and cities causing decent Englishmen to be ashamed to show their faces across the Channel. Our reputation has been tarnished forever by these moronic packs of spoilt, ill disciplined, nasty, evil, bullying hooligans. Those same continentals would not now piss on us if we were on fire. How they've got the nerve to display the Victoria Cross and associate themselves with the British military is an insult to all those young men who gave their lives in both World Wars and lie beneath the soil in the cemetries in Northern France and the Low Countries. I'm sure old Ronnie Biggs and his chums would never condone the behaviour of these thugs and and would be embarrassed to be seen in this monument to all that is wrong with English modern day football. Their behaviour along with that of muggers and perpetrators of street violence is a good reason to bring back the birch and a return to hard labour in the prison system.

Sorry to deviate from the topic but it has always amazed me that people find the need for a duvet in such a hot climate. I am aware that parts of the country can turn cold at night but not Pattaya. I have always found that just a sheet and a light blanket are adequate even in December and January and even then I have a pedestal fan blowing over the bed although I will have the aircon turned off most nights at that time of the year.. My lodging house in Pattaya provides guests with a duvet but I told the cleaning girl to take mine away as it just took up space in the wardrobe. I'm not a particularly hardy fellow and I feel the cold back in the UK.

There used to be an M/C gang that in London that used to visit various pubs in South London about 20 - 30 years ago, I think they called themselves the Outlaws or some other equally stupid name. They usually turned up team handed and looked for trouble at the slightest excuse. They'd pick on inoffensive people and would knock the shit out of some poor bugger for no reason. They'd avoid pubs where the local tearaways would fight back but otherwise would terrorise customers and bar staff alike. They were thick stupid arseholes who were into motorcycle theft and small scale drug dealing. They knew how to behave when alone but when in numbers had a pack mentality and would use bottles, glasses, choppers, machetes and guns if they could get them. A few met violent ends at the hands of other M/C gangs. They were mostly Irish with links to the 'traveling community'. You would be wise to not look their way and even more wise to leave a pub if this crowd entered it. They were the epitome of 'low life scum'.

I've also flown on an 777 with EVA (a twin engined job) and they have the same boxes as the 340 (a four engined machine) under whole rows of aisle seats. I submitted a comment on customer reviews about the under seat restrictions to legroom on these aircraft but my comments strangely so far have not appeared on the website. I experienced no such a problem in 20 odd years and around 30 flights on Jumbo jets although I never had a seat facing the bulkheads to the galley or mid fuselage WCs.

I've flown economy on these new Airbuses that have replaced the 747. Under the aisle seats they have these big boxes that are something to do with the IFE system so you can't stretch your legs out at all so the quoted 34 inch pitch that is claimed is pure bullshit where aisle seats are concerned, infact there is actually NO legroom truth be known. You can only sit upright! Bear in mind you have to endure these cramped conditions for 12 - 13 hours! It is now truly a nightmare journey if you get an aisle seat as many folk find it nigh on impossible to sleep sitting upright. The IFE screens are blurred and the STOP/FF/RW/PAUSE controls did not respond so in my opinion the new plane is a dead loss. Bring back the good old Jumbos. Little wonder the Yanks say 'If it ain't Boeing I ain't going'.

SPT. You are probably aware of the poor exchange rate for the GBP compared to what it was in 2005. If you are not you soon will be when you get to Pattaya. A 1000 baht now costs you over £20! Have a good time, 3,500 should be plenty for a young fellow like you.

Naked City was a very popular American crime series in the UK (there are 8 milliion stories etc etc). Wagon Train and Rawhide were also very popular. My favourite was Wells Fargo.

Good advice. Pattaya is a place for single men and even some of them get fed up with the commercialisation after the false smiles wear off so you might want to stay out of the centre of things after a while so rent don't buy and keep looking round for a place you really take to. Things change quickly in Pattaya and good neighbours can be replaced by bad ones overnight. I'd advise you to rent a condo and give yourselves time to get the lay of the land. In central Pattaya you won't want a car as transport is cheap and reliable but driving is a nightmare. Neighbours will put you right on things like TV rental etc.

The old pier was just before the open bars with the boxing ring at the start of walking Street where the public 5 baht toilets are. It was still there about six yeras ago and local people and a few Falangs used to fish off of it just like they do in Western resorts that have piers. I asked a chap who was fishing there with his girlfriend how he was getting on and he showed me an assortment of tiddlers, small crabs and squid in a plastic bucket which he said they made into a fish soup.

I recently flew with Thai on their A340. Both trips were practically fully booked. There is not as much room as on the Jumbo especially in the aisle seats as you have a bloody great box which is something to do with the entertainment system preventing you from stretching your legs out. The little TV screens were blurred and there was not enough contrast control. The fast forward/rewind/pause controls are pretty much hit and miss so the individual TVs are not much of a success. The grub was pretty good but they are stingy with the drinks. Had it not been for the Xanax sleeping pill I took the flight would have been an extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable experience. The older you get the more you dread these flights. I paid nearly £900 for a three month ticket in cattle class. I'll soon have a free flight apart from the tax and then I'll swap to another airline unless they get the Jumbos back or this new A380 on the LHR to BKK route.

Get a photocopy of your passport ID page sealed in plastic to save the risk of losing your passport, most photo shops will supply on for about 50 baht (£1). Then get on some of these bar crawls arranged for newbies by various forums. As previously mentioned there is no such thing as political correctness in the LOS. The Thais base their bar entry policies on their extensive, considerable experience and it's all about how willing the punters are to part with their cash. Normally gogo bars will not admit Indians at all especially if they are from the sub continent, Arabs do not fare any better. You will have a good chance if you are with a group of white fellows and half a chance if you are on your own and present your copy of your passport. At beer bars anyone can just sit down and order a drink and many punters prefer to patronise beer bars anyway so refused admittance to gogo bars is not the end of the world and should not ruin your trip.

Jacko I used to flirt with the idea of buying a house or a condo in Pattaya 10 years ago and I also thought how nice it would be to have a young girlfriend and drive around in a fancy 4 wheel drive Toyota pick up truck but the closest I ever got to it was renting a motor scooter. This was until about five years ago and it was a headache parking in certain sois even then. I soon gave up driving any sort of vehicle in Pattaya. I used to drive in London for 40 years and it was such a relief to finally give up my car and the associated stress and expense. Sitting in traffic jams like the ones you described are not for me any more. The only time I get in a car are the taxis I use for the airport and only that is four 90 minute journeys each year. I stay 3 or 4 months at a time as I am retired and am no longer with the same girl all the time. The ones who I have been fond of have all married in my absence and taken off to different Falanglands. Eventually we all meet a good'un. I think the most important thing is your lodgings and for convenience's sake I settled in central Pattaya. My room which I keep on permanently has everything I need in it to make it a 'home from home'. ie A/C, a kettle, English tea bags, microwave, cooker, big fridge, extra shelving, laptop with cable connection, DCD player, kitchen utensils, books, TV, puzzle books, small kitchenette, balcony, pedestal fan, music tapes, in fact everything I have in England I have duplicated in Pattaya. All this doesn't cost much, maybe 10,000 baht which you will soon save by staying in a few nights a month. The TV and fridge are the property of the boarding house and I take the laptop back to the UK every time. We also have a swimming pool and a cheapo help yourself bar (small Singha 45 bt, coke 15 bt). So I have a good, comfortable domestic set up. There are loads of eating places where you can eat Western or Thai food and there are shops and supermarkets all over Pattaya. But I mainly cook my own grub. Many of the punters in my GH are long stayers, expats or regulars so there is always plenty of company and chaps to go for a drink with. I don't want a motor bike or car as they cause anxiety and stress which you don't need and transport is excellent and cheap and anyway. I've always been cautious with money being half Scottish, so paying for a room full time went against the grain with me at first but you get special rates as a long termer so it does not cost much more over the course of a year. Having a stable, comfortable base is better than living out of a suitcase in a hotel room. Going out boozing every night will drive you round the bend eventually if you don't become an alcoholic first. As others have said there are plenty of things to do in Pattaya and travel is cheap and efficient. i have also been lumbered with girls I was not really fond of but would not do it again. Quite a few of my pals have done the girlfriend bit in the past and have opted to live alone and I now follow their example.

Those electronic cigarettes do not come cheap. As soon as the smoking ban came along many smokers started boycotting pubs especially in the winter months. While other factors have contributed to the demise of many pubs the landlords mainly blame the smoking ban. They are the ones who should know. You go into a pub to relax, chat with your friends and get away from day to day pressures whereas we go to airports and use planes only out of necessity. No one goes to an airport or flys in planes to socialise so it is not the same logic at all.

No matter what side you are on it is a fact that beer, bars and smoking go together, always have done and the smoking ban in the UK has coincided with the closure of more public houses that at any other time in their history. I have been both a smoker and non smoker but I distinctly remember when as a NS my friends and I would go to pubs and the fact that there were smokers lighting up with their drinks never occured me, I did not give it a second thought. I think a lot of the anti smoking brigade just like to poke their noses into other peoples' business and turn into the same lentil munching, Weeping Willy, jobsworth killjoys that have ruined the license trade and personal choice back in Falangland. In Pattaya the punter is able to smoke or not smoke whereas Western drinking houses now only cater for the non smoker. If a non smoker comes to Thailand he is perfectly free to do his drinking in open bars, bars that have decided to enforce a non smoking policy or stay in Falangland. The smoker has no such choice. The question of passive smoking is impossible to answer. Roy Castle, a very popular British non smoking entertainer died of cancer which he claimed was brought on by working in night clubs in which people smoked but this was only AFTER he was diagnosed. Then again there are many folk who have succumbed to the disease who have never set foot in a nightclub or even smoked as much as a single cigarette in their whole lives. Strangely Castle never objected to his audiences smoking in nightclub bars when his money was rolling in.

I and several of my friends have had suits etc made by the one in the Welcome Plaza Hotel on Second Rd near Pattayaland over the years with no complaints. But if you are on a holiday get the suit made at the beginning not just before you're going home in case you need extra alterations and fittings because you will want it to be just right.

We normally only stayed for a quick visit and confined ourselves to Nana Plaza or Soi Cowboy and as I said it was about 10 years ago. If you live there you obviously keep clear of the tourist traps and know the best places to visit just as we avoid Walking Street in Pattaya. But the attitude of the girls is nothing like it was even 5 years ago in Pattaya, with so many girls working in the P4P game in a relatively small area it easy for them to advise their pals how to rip punters off and pass on other bad habits. Most of the younger girls in Pattaya have Thai boyfriends in the background and that obviously has had a negative effect. Pattaya's growth has been phenomenal in the last 3 decades and recently achieved the status that entitled it to be classed as a city! With that growth came cheap accommodation so that Thai girls could move into town with their Thai men in tow which in turn brought about the advent of the 4 O'Clock Club. To us older hands who remember the Pattaya of 5 years ago it has definitely gone downhill but to the newbies who have nothing to compare it to it still ticks all the right boxes.

A lot of blokes I know have been coming to Pattaya since the 70s and 80s, one of them even first came in 1968 when he worked for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and all of them who have not settled down with a Thai girlfriend or wife say the same thing about the attitude of the girls and the ever increasing prices. Especially over the last few years. But all of them have also been to BKK over the years and say that there the prices are even higher and the girls' attutudes just as bad as those in Pattaya. I remember going into a bar in Bangkok in 1999 and paying 120 baht for a Singha while a similar bar in Pattaya was then charging 60 baht maximum. 1000 baht was the price a girl expected from a gogo bar in both BKK and Pattaya with no reference to short or long time arrangements. My chums and I stopped going to BKK around 2001 and now confine our trips to Pattaya as there was little BKK had to offer that could not be bettered in Pattaya especially where drink prices were concerned. We also wanted to get settled as soon as possible after such a long journey and not have to repack our bags for the trip from BKK to Pattaya. The location of the new airport is yet another reason to give BKK a miss.

Very true. If a bull could speak and you told him that he was going to be given a bit of a sedative so it would be safe for a human to sit on his back to have a photo taken he'd go for it every time rather than being told that he would get killed by a bolt being fired into his his head, his corpse cut into sections, his skin used to upholster the seats in fancy cars and his flesh eaten by humans and their pet animals!

In '84 I flew on a Boeing 747 with Philippines Airlines from LHR to BKK via Frankfurt and then Karachi on the same plane although it stopped each time to refuel. I remember some Aussies at the rear of the aircraft smoking dope the whole journey. The drive from BKK to Pattaya took about 3 or 4 hours, there was no motorway back then.

Very good pictures, thanks for posting them. Photography is a more affordable hobby nowadays as you don't have to pay for film and developement once you've got the camera. Then its a matter of mastering the necessary technology.

Like you I'm a draught beer drinker and spend a lot of time in Pattaya but off hand I can think of no beer bars where you can get DB. I also patronise gogo bars for the drink but avoid barfining their girls on account of past experiences plus they now want too much money. My pal was quoted 2,500 ST and 5,000 LT in Champagne two nights ago so sod that for a lark and he's a presentable, fit looking 50 year old. Freelancers can be a bit dodgy so that just leaves the BB girls and it requires a bit of shoe leather finding one who takes your fancy but I'm afraid we'll have to go on to bottled beer if we wish to seek out their company. The best girls I've been with in Pattaya have been from the beer bars.

Not too many years ago the bosses of bars would sometimes give their punters a free shot of some cheap, watered down spirit as a good will gesture during the course of an evening.. In Alcatraz the girls come round offering you a drink in a small shot glass from a loaded tray. One girl will announce that it is her birthday and you get the impression that she is offering you a drink as a way of celebrating the occasion. A punter could be excused for misinterpreting it as an act of goodwill and accept the offer only to discover afterwards that these tiny glasses of drink are about 150 bahts a throw! Admittedly a fellow would have to be rather naive to expect anything for nothing in a Walking St GGB but that is what they play upon in the Pattaya of the 21st century.

Jesus Christ! That's horrendous. Mind you we once waited 3 hours at Miami in Florida and encountered what must be the rudest, most officious, ignorant, aggressive, and jobsworthy bastard immigration 'officers' on the planet. The sullen Cuban desk wallahs were saints in comparison when we went there for a holiday. I came through Swampy on the 21st March at 15.55 with Thai Air TG917 and it was about 7minutes and 10 minutes for the cases.

If you buy one tell the wife it's rented, keep her in the dark as most Thai women only marry a falang as an investment despite your thinking she's 'different'. Do not buy a new one as the price of a new condo can go down like a lead balloon when you wish to sell it. Good luck in your enterprise.

A friend of mine and his mate used to clean Oliver Reed's windows when he lived in Wimbledon. They used to do his on a Saturday and leave his house till last because he would invite them in for a drink if he was home. They used to get so pissed by the early evening it was all they could do to drive home let alone walk or get on a bus. He also got them to do his garden on a Sunday and gave them a nice Sunday lunch afterwards and then he got them on the sherbert after their meal and they'd all be roaring drunk again but it got to be more than they could handle after a while and they were relieved when he was away filming some weekends. They thought the world of him and said he was a smashing bloke although he could be very boisterous when in his cups.