Billions

Is "Entertainment" a unique Thai euphemism for brothel/p4p/'sexual services? Only in Thailand can such a term be applied in such a way to make it all acceptable.

Speaking of Indians,what's the score with those turban wearing blokes who insist you are "a lucky man,a very very very lucky man". I've never worked out what they are up to.....these aren't the smooth tongued suit sellers,but usually older blokes walking the streets. I've seen them at work in Hong Kong too. Must be a scam going on,but what is it?

Sounds like Matty,the German bloke that used to own Angelwitch.

Out of interest,would importing them,either the bagged version from Sainsburys,or the dried out ones that come through the post,be ok for Thailand? I'm sure the dried out postal version keeps for a good while,but would customs snaffle them?

With all the Brits in Pattaya,either as guesthouse proprietors,bar or restaurant owners,or visitors,there must/should be a supply and demand equation for that quintessential English breakfast treat of smoked herring! With all the claims of the best full English being made here there and everywhere,is there anywhere offering kippers as a morning treat? They must be importable,even if frozen.

On my visit to Pattaya recently I spent the few days I had marching the streets bounded by BR,WS and 2nd Road,and didn't venture off the beaten track whatsoever. On an upcoming,and much longer trip,I anticipate having a megaprowl. One question that I am curious about.....is there anything happening by the huge hillside illuminated Pattaya sign? And how to get there?? If there's nothing but the view,I might give it a swerve,but if theres food,drink or anything else I might make the hike. All information appreciated!

Vitamins and supplements are usually high priced where available. I quizzed a pharmacist why,and they said that demand is very low as Thai people don't use them.

Here's the final ten pictures in this set. Makes 100 this time. I'll get back to colour for the next series.

From Bangkok.....

Here are a few more. Taking photos in Pattaya seems to produce some much paranoia....if you photograph a bargirl,they assume you have absolute bad itentions,if you photograph some signage,the owners think they are about to be exposed for something scandelous,and if you photograph a westerner they assume you are working for the media. And of course Thais shout "No foto no foto" for no reason whatsoever,just on the off chance you will argue the point and they can then lay into you with a dozen of their mates. Add that to the very fluid and fast moving street scene in Pattaya and its a wonder any pictures get taken at all. Lots of bars have signage with girls in martini glasses...so many!

Glork...thank you...can't get a better compliment than that. Puts me under a bit of pressure though....I was only in Patts for a few days,and have posted nearly all the photos I took! It was my first trip,and I just fired off shots on the hoof,whatever was in front of me.I didn't go looking for pictures,but will do next time now I know the layout. If I run out of Pattaya ones,I'll revert to some I took in Bangkok. Glad they are appreciated. Anyway,here's the next batch.....

I stayed at the Aya twice....in Feb and March of this year. First time was a room on the fifth floor,at the back of hotel. Room was very compact,but intelligently designed to make maximum use of available space. Although a new hotel,the craftsmanship/building standards are not fantastic,and it was showing signs of premature aging. View was non-existant...a brick wall. Balcony faced this wall. But it was ok...you need roomcard to activate lift,so thats a positive security feature.And there are two elevators. There's a sundeck on the top floor,a mini fitness room with treadmills and free weights,and a nice swimming pool too,half outside,half covered. On second visit I got a room with a view...front of hotel,south facing. Much better. There's a reggae club opposite. However,it looks like a disaster,as no one was patronising it,and therefore there was no noise. The walkway from Beach Road to Second Road...called Pattaya City Walk...is full of poor value stands selling tourist-shite. These stands dont appear on the photos of the hotel on Agoda etc. Its not easy to find....after Pattayaland,look out for a ship at the junction of Second Road at Pattaya City Walk on the left hand side...the hotel is up this hidden road,on the right about 50m in. Hotel seems to attract a lot of Japanese and Korean tourists. Young couples. Its very minimalist,boutiquey,tries hard to be funky and cool. And it just about makes it. Security seems efficient. Def girl friendly. Less than a minute to Beach Road. And same to Second Road. A mere five minutes or less to Walking Street,if that. Good television choice. Free in-room wifi,and use of a huge Mac in the lobby too. I would use it again,it ticks a lot of boxes.

One of the presets is actually called "film noir",and I used that one quite a lot!

I didn't know there was a gallery. The reason I'm loading ten at a time is that I have to work on converting them from colour to b/w or sepia,this is what takes the time and effort,not the actual uploading process. If anyone is interested,this is done using a programme called Silver Fx Pro 2. A colour photograph is converted to black'n'white with 38 preset options available. Each is significantly different from the other,and there's always one there which suits the particular picture well. There are loads more tweaks,where you can work on specific areas of the photo to micro manage it's detail,but I haven't done any of that. I'll load some more tonight after I have finished work.

Will post a hundred or so monochrome pix from recent trip. These need converting from colour to b/w,then resizing,so will upload in batches of ten over the next few days. The b/w versions often have more atmospheric effect than the polychromatic originals. Enjoy.

Here's some info on the abandoned project,the Sathorn Unique tower http://www.abandonedjourney.com/abandoned-skyscraper-sathorn-unique-fifty-levels-of-awesome

I was there recently,and the security staff on the top terraces were intervening if anyone tried to take a photo unless they were near the bar/buying a drink. Must be a strategy to prevent tourists who aren't spending,which is fair enough. I stayed here in 2005 on the fifty-something floor....the building was virtually unoccupied,except for a few levels which comprised suites.The top deck was going though,and often had an orchestra based up there. The hotel/suites were barely occupied,and then mostly by Japanese,and were very inexpensive. Times have certainly changed. There's another twin to this amazing building too,next to SK skytrain station,but it ran out of funding during the property and financial meltdown and was abandoned with about 90% of the exterior completed. Internally,its empty,the floors are completed but not the staircases.Its been slowly decaying ever since.I got in there a few years ago to take photos,but was chased out by a pack of wild dogs who were in control. There are a few homeless people living on the ground floor.

I made a few journeys on Phuket Air....LHR-BKK...purely on price....it was so cheap. On my last flight with them,the pilot announced to everyone that he wasn't happy with the noise coming from an engine,and passengers could choose to leave if they wanted to. I think about a dozen bailed out at the gate. The aircraft then taxied to the take-off point,where the pilot then announced there was no way this heap could fly,and engineers were called. Hours later,all the cargo was unloaded on the runway (the plane was packed with freight),then the passengers were escorted back to the terminal,eventually (many hours later) to be put on another plane (Phuket Air didn't have many,and what they had were shot to shit) which for some reason stopped again in Dubai (unscheduled) where tons of cargo was offloaded and new freight taken aboard).Not long after,the airline went tits up and ceased to be.How they ever got authority to fly with such a dangerous and decrepit fleet is astonishing.A moody two-bob operation. I travelled Cathay too several times,as I enjoyed a stopover in Hong Kong....the booking always allowed for selectable very long connection times meaning a stop-over of several days was allowed...but they stopped being cheap (at one time,they were substantially cheaper than Thai for the LHR-BKK route) and I got bored with Hong Kong. Sometimes,the planes were ancient too,with broken seats on a couple of occasions. Since then,its always been Thai. I started flying direct,knocking myself out with sleeping tablets (zopiclone) after the first meal,and waking up for the second one prior to landing. For that reason,I used economy class,window seat everytime. Theres no point paying for business class if I can sleep like a log in an economy seat. And now I have shedloads of points on a Orchid loyalty card,which allows me into lounges at airports,an extra 10kg minimum on checked baggage (they give more too without having to redeem any milage).I have so many miles banked its a problem how to spend them. They also tag my luggage as "priority" so it comes off the belt early,and I can be on my way without hanging around. On recent flights,Thai have been 100% full capacity. Seems lots of older couples going to or coming back from Viet Nam making up the numbers. Gone are the days of low loads.For me,Thai is cheap (if booked far enough in advance) has good departure and arrival slots,and has always been accomodating when I've needed to modify my return time or missed my flight.Thai don't enforce the hand luggage restrictions (I always take two heavy carry-ons),serve good food,plenty of drinks,and are nearly always on schedule for departures and arrivals. The 6am arrival at Bangkok suits me too,as I'm rested after sleeping on the flight.The only downside to these journeys is temporary amnesia from the sleeping tablets on arrival...often I cannot remember doing immigration,collecting baggage or getting a taxi to hotel,but everything was always fine,just can't remember any of it due to action of the zopiclone. And I have a metallic taste too for a couple of hours,but no hangover and no drowsy feeling so can start the adventure immediately without needing to recover from the flight. One thing I've noticed recently is that security spotters are active monitoring passengers departing LHR to BKK,and asking questions and searching hand luggage on selected travellers.They stopped me twice last year,and seemed interested in if I was carrying cash.But this might be happening on other flights to other destinations too,although I haven't seen it. I remember reading somewhere of how high the percentage of lost luggage is too.....and therefore changing flights increases that probability,hence the direct route becomes more favourable. I also find the attitudes of middle-eastern ppl difficult to deal with,and so a stop-over in that part of the world would be too much self-inflicted torture.

I've done the same walk many times,but always detour down a Soi or three,and always end the journey totally drenched in sweat,which then becomes unbearable when mingled with the ice cold blast of an ac system when popping into a shop seeking rehydration. Of course,t shirts are cheap and I always return wearing a different shirt than I started the day with. That stretch of Suk is changing by the day,huge monoliths are going up everywhere you look. The rate of change is staggering,and is so different from only a few years ago. Thanks for posting!!!

#129 was taken outside Mash go-go in Soi LK Metro....was part of their military artwork.