Billions

A scan of the stamp mentioned above.....lower left corner....no big deal,but for information,this is what you get for staying a few hours extra in country.

I got flagged leaving Bangkok yesterday,tourist visa expired on 24 Feb and it was 25th. I was escorted behind the passport booths to a table where two serious Thais studied my passport and previous arrival/departure stamps. They stamped a new message,with the number 24 in amongst the text,I was was sent on my way. "No fine because less than 24 hour overstay" was all they said. No smiles,no looking up,I was waved away to continue my passage out.

Very strange atmosphere on Walking Street tonight. Five of the seven Russian clip joints dark.....no lights,no touts spilling out across the road,no Ludmilas dancing in the elevated windows. Word is that Crazy Russian Girls,Deja Vu and Applesin up by Soho Square have pulled the plug,along with Virgins (opposite Alcatraz) which only lasted a month. Moulin Rouge was other place closed,unlit and not populated by Olgas. The other two,Galaxy and XO (owned by the same gangster) had the lights on but no dancing girls on podiums or in the glass cubicles and no touts in skyscraper heels handing out flyers in the street. In fact,not a single Russian anywhere to be seen. An impending raid,or inspection imminent by the Powers That Be ( but unsurprisingly leaked to those who might have work permit issues)? Or could the closures be permanent....at least in some cases? Time will tell.

Thanks MM. Well,today I set off to Thapprasit. I had a moment of madness when I briefly considered walking from Central Pattaya,but the blazing heat soon wore me down. I hopped on the tail of a departing baht bus on Second Road by the school and hopped off a couple of hundred metres short of Thapprasit (a guy on the bus told me the wrong jumping off point). That was a fair old journey....ten baht fare well worth it....walking would have been a bad decision. However,I thought the keyshop was only a couple of hundred meters further along,so made the wrong decision to yomp in the baking sun. At some point I stopped at a roadside drinks stand to rehydrate and change my shirt,which was wet through. A group of motorcyclists roared by,with the club name "Mad Dogs" on their jackets. So Noel Coward was right! Mad Dogs and Englishmen do go out in the midday sun. On and on I went....finally found Soi 10 and the keyshop on the corner......the sign said "Open" but that was far from the case. Lights off,door locked. The opening hours on the building suggested it should be trading,but no luck. Tried phoning,no answer. Thinking the keycutter might be having dinner somewhere,I took a little stroll down Soi 10,only to see Miss Cruellas S and M club. Could the keyman be in there,extracating someone from his chains? Who knows. I noticed a couple of strange public payphone kiosks....one had the phone completely ripped out,the other caked in months worth of dust. Does anyone ever use payphones in Thailand? I've never seen it happen. Eventually I decided to check Jomtien,but got a baht bus this time. They are not so regular on Thapprasit so the wait was long. In Jomtien I asked at a couple of key kiosks if they could replicate the safe key,but they just shook their heads. Did they know who could copy it...of course not. Maybe they knew the keyman on Soi 10 but didn't want to help me find him. So..next time,I'll phone first to check the shop is open.It's a long journey by bus and foot only to find there's no-one on the premises. It's certainly a serious looking place,and should end the hunt. Name is Locksmithasia and telephone number is 038 410 443. Photos of what to look out for : And the kiosk in Jomtien who couldn't have been less helpful or less polite :

Thanks for the help given above. Today I started the mission.....three keys need copying.....a safe key,a very old automobile key,and a more general key for window locks. The only reason I want the third copying is the price....in Thailand key cutting prices are roughly one tenth of what they cost in my home city. First port of call was a roadside stand opposite the entrance to LK Metro on Soi Diana. The stall was open,but no-one on site. A bar worker called the key cutter on her phone and a few minutes later he arrived. A few head shakes and a lot of tut-tutting and off he went again,to return minutes later with a handful of old looking assorted blanks. I wandered off as he started grinding and filing,and when I returned he had two of the three done. The safe key was problematic.....Soi Thappraya 8 he said,adding more mystery. Or was it Trepprasit?? Well,two out of three ain't bad. To be honest,I expected the safe key to be the easiest,as I had previously got other safe keys copied in Chinatown, Bangkok without any bother. I thought the old automobile would be the problem. When I took it to the local keycutter in the UK the guy spent ages looking up blank styles in directories,phoned a few other keycutters,then said it was obsolete and therefore impossible for him to reproduce. And the Thai guy just knocked it out. Price...30 baht per key. Amazing!! Photos of the key stand,the the cutter : I then trotted off to Third Road and Lengkee junction to hunt down the cutter that Aussiechic mentions above. No luck,walked down to Pattaya Tai then turned into Soi Boukhao and found the next keycutter right opposite the wifebeater stand in the market,and the end of a row of bars where all the patrons seem to be weathered hungry-looking hundred-year-old financially distressed Singha drinkers. Again,no-one at home. Eventually a totally miserable guy dragged his carcass out of the associated tattoo studio and glared at me,seeming pissed off that he had a customer. He also couldn't do the safe key,but he made me a copy of the so-called impossible one...again,for the ridiculously low sum of 30 baht. I asked where I could get the safe key cut but he claimed not to know. In the UK key cutters usually combine their service with re-heeling boots and shoes,and their clientele seems to be predominantly women of a certain age who they flirt with remorselessly. They are chirpy,Jack-The-Lad types. The contrast to the Pattaya key cutters couldn't be more pronounced....here they are surly,miserable moody creatures who really don't seem to enjoy their work and have fuck-all customer communication skills. But great prices. The Keyman on Soi BK : So,I'll carry on the search to get the safe key copied and report the results.

...but of course not everything fly-posted is culturally sophisticated :

Saw this (old?) poster on a concrete post on Pattaya Tai this morning.....not sure what year its from (some fly-posters stay up for years!)...but another example that its not all sex,drugs and rock'n'roll around these parts.

Wasn't there a brass colliery band from Yorkshire playing a Pattaya concert last year? Definitely a change of scenery for them.

No idea....maybe a skirmish?? Also,door staff tend to mess around like kids in a playground....perhaps they destroyed it when their rough and tumble got slightly out of hand? But....I've worked out why the place looked abandoned.....there's no illuminated signage on the exterior walls now that the flimsy channel lettering has been vandalized.. The lightbox they have is on the inside of the front door....so,there's nothing visible when the premises are closed. When they are trading,the door is pushed out ninety degrees revealing the signage that is then illuminated. At other times,its just black frontage and a double padlocked door. Taken this evening :

The Alley Cats:

Well,they were open tonight....a couple of scraggy bints at the mouth of the soi. A shabby looking operation but still trading.

Just pigged out at Diceys again.....fabulous buffet as per usual. Arrived just before 13.00hr....and was lucky to be seated. A big crowd in there already,and just one empty table. Not everyone was there for the Carvery....a group of UK squaddies were planning the hiring a boat and were eating burgers,a big crowd of Americans were there drinking water and having a question and answer session about something or other,and the bar was populated by single men drinking pints and playing on ipads. Otherwise,the all-you-can-eat 399 thb was the main event. Plenty of seats outside,but the sun was fierce and air-conditioning was required. Inside,a female singer filled the air with popular western songs,the lighting was low and the air-con was just right. An English waiter directed me to my table. Last visit it was a Russian girl,this time a Brit. How do they get work permits?? So,on to the food. Only three meats this time (turkey,pork,beef) but all were cooked to perfection. The roast potatoes were normal wedges,not crinkle cut,and the gravy was gorgeous. The sprouts were served mixed with onions,peas and sweecorn....no bacon bits this time. Plenty of other sides too,including a delicious cottage pie. I loaded a plate with all the above,and wolfed it down in no time! The lady carver was shocked to see me return to the carving station so quickly and re-fill my plate again....this time no pork but extra beef. The beef was totally delightful. Not over-cooked,not tough. So,I gobbled that as before....probably too quickly as I got the meat sweats. Next stop....the cake zone. Yet again,superb delicate creamy and spongy creations. I grabbed a few,knowing I had over-eaten on the mains and eaten too quickly as well,and forced them down. Now I wasn't feeling great.....too much food eaten far too quickly. Check bin....399 for the food plus 79 for a Pepsi Max. I popped a purple shopping voucher in the wallet and dragged my carcass out into the blazing sunshine. Second Road was bumper-to-bumper,a seething traffic jam. Another reason not to sit outside and have to suck up all that pollution. Motorcycles with overloud pipes roared through any gap they could find. The contrast from a dark,climate-controlled peaceful setting with sweet music percolating through to this carnage of the senses was remarkable! Back to the hotel to lie down. So,the Carvery on Sunday at Dicey O'Rs.......fantastic value. Great food,great surroundings,and a fair price. Drinks are slightly toppy,but thats the way it goes. Very very highly recommended if you are hungry and want to eat two dinners. Open 12.00-16.00 Sundays. Get there early to guarantee a table. Next time I'm going to eat slowly so I can do justice to those beautiful cakes they have.

Had an early morning stroll around Walking Street earlier,and noticed that Wildcats on Soi BJ seems to have closed. Just about every other Go-Go in WS is decorated in balloons,banners and hearts,but not this one. All the signage seems to have been removed,with the exception of a small devilish logo stuck on the wall. A Wildcats sign is torn up,on the floor outside. They seemed to be struggling anyway....the Hello Girls were down to one,looking lonely as she stood there with a scruffy sign night after night. The big sign in the street corridor is still there,but probably only because its too high to shift easily.

Good report...thank you! I might pop over late afternoon and prowl around too with the camera.

So,how was it KM? Worth a trip up there? I saw a photoreport on another forum....and nearly all the photos were of cars and not bikes! And for some reason,Thais dressed as Native American Indians.

The guys that park up outside hotels have conspired to charge minimum flat rates for airport work..which is often all they are interested in.Asking other drivers in the queue to use the meter is pointless as they are all in on it.Sometimes they wait for hours for a customer,which probably means they are missing out on normal street work and having queued up for ages aren't going to agree a 50 baht fare and lose their place in line for little reward.

In my recent experience the only time a Bangkok taxi has refused to put the meter on is around Patpong late at night.All others run the meter from the outset (or at least when you remind them to turn it on). More of a problem is getting them to agree a particular destination if they don't fancy the direction or traffic conditions.

Plenty of outlaw 1%er backpatch clubs in town tonight. Saw a group of Thailand Hells Angels go into Marine earlier,followed a few minutes later by a flock of Bandidos.Anywhere else on the planet that would have led to World War Three but no violence whatsoever.The biker wars aren't part of the Thailand biker scene (apparently).

Seems like the Powers That Be have decided to respond to a sea of complaints and are demanding taxis in Pattaya and other named cities start following the rules and stop ripping tourists off. Action within two months apparently. I did some research on getting around Pattaya prior to my first visit and read somewhere that the taxi guys wanted to use the meters,but were petrified of upsetting the baht bus mafia,and had to charge outrageous prices to keep them non-competitive and parked up most of the day. To use the meters would mean war. The recent rules regarding motocy rates doesn't seem to have changed anything,or the stated registration of motocy drivers. So,will taxis become popular? http://pattayaone.net/pattaya-news/221394/overhaul-of-pattaya-metered-taxis-ordered-by-prime-minister/ "Following a barrage of complaints received by the Prime Minister’s Office in relation to Metered Taxis at Tourist destinations around Thailand, an overhaul of the taxis has been ordered to take place in 6 tourist hot-spots including Pattaya. To facilitate the changes, an initial meeting of over 300 Taxi drivers who operate in and around the Pattaya area was convened at the Alcazar Theater in North Pattaya on Monday, led by Police Major General Warattanachai, a Deputy Commissioner of Region 2 Police. It was announced the Prime Minister has ordered immediate changes to how the Metered Taxis operate, in 6 Tourist destinations around Thailand, including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, Phuket, Hat Yai and Pattaya. Complaints from Tourists and others that use the Taxis include problems with drivers not activating the meters and over-charging for journey’s. Some drivers refuse fares for no apparent reason and others take their passengers to the wrong destination. It was also mentioned that some Taxis are in poor condition and some drivers are extremely rude. Six separate Taxi cooperatives who operate around Pattaya were represented at the meeting and drivers were told that changes will need to be made within 2 months. The maximum charge for passengers for the first 2 Kilometers is 60 Baht and then 4 Baht for every extra Kilometer travelled. Stickers in every Metered Taxi showing the customer complaint line 1337 must be displayed and in return a crackdown on unlicensed Taxis, which is a significant problem especially in Pattaya, will be dealt with by the authorities."

Yeah. Was a textbook case of how to rob an unsuspecting traveller by teaming up against him and moving in on pockets using four empty shopping bags as Shields and having another party going for the dip.The play failed in so far as it was recognised before it was acted out.But it will play out every day at all hours on baht buses.When you see a woman or ladyboy holding a stack of empty bags on a baht bus you are probably then being set up to be done over.The bags are the tools of the trade. Remember how it works.Might save you drinking money or prostitute fee by simply being alert. Or you could think it's all bollocks and won't happen to the alpha dudes on here.

Masters at pocket billiards for sure.

Is Robins Nest in Soi Diana under the same ownership as The Sportsman? I'm sure I read that somewhere but might have been a while ago. Anyway,spurred on by this report I went in search of pork ribs at Robins Nest last night (thinking common ownership might mean same product) and for the first time in several visits there was disappointed with what they served up.A very very very fat-laden product. Very unlike what is illustrated above. Might try the Sportsman soon if it's not too busy outside...the smoking on the terrace tends to put me off eating there even though it has an outside space the smoke always seems to find its way up my nostrils. The other thing I notice about the Sportsman is how unhealthy the customers seem to be! The last thing any of them would seem to be involved with is sport.

In theory,yes...but it wasn't that straightforward. When I hopped on the parked bus,the two wrong 'uns where sat close together on one of the side benches. My first act was to transfer an expensive looking camera from around my neck and into a shoulder bag. This was done in full view of the tag team,and resulted in the ladyboy jumping across the bus to sit close to me,but leaving a small gap.She then invited me to sit in this gap,but seeing all the empty bags my danger awareness reaction kicked in,so I stood back on the footplate,looking forward and watching what might happen next. The ladyboy knew I was suspicious of her,but remained in place. The other partner started shuffling positions too,orchestrating where people should sit. At this point,I knew this was a crime scene in the making. A couple of Indians got on,with girls in tow. The guy next to the ladyboy was obese,and wearing shorts. He might not have had anything in the trouser pocket next to the LB and even if he did she might not have been able to extract the contents. Suddenly the bus roared off.....mighty unusual,these bbs only leave when full yet this one had empty seats still. Even more suspicious,the bus stopped a few metres up the road and another Thai hopped onboard....the third member of the team? I thought about shouting a warning,but hadn't seen any thieving actually happen. And I didn't want the ladyboy to smash my skull with a well-aimed stilleto heel (as seems to be their weapon of choice). And there were now three of them,plus the driver. If they had pushed me off the back end of the fast moving bus,I probably wouldn't be here typing this but could be hospitalised or worse. In fact,only the night before I saw an angry Scouser jump off the back of an accelerating bus to get away from his wife who was inside the bus....he hit the road with momentum,and went down heavily. The whole bus gasped "ooooohhh!" as he rolled on the tarmac before getting up and staggering off (completely unaware that his missus had slipped off in the stoppage after the drama and was hot on his tail). Falling off a bus at low speed in dangerous,being kicked off one at high speed would likely be fatal. Also,the evening before I saw an unconscious motorcycle rider sprawled out on Beach Road,next to his crashed machine. Lifeless on the concrete...and no mention of it in the Pattaya media the next day. If you leave a fast moving vehicle unintentionally the odds are you will be seriously hurt.Or dead. So,all things considered,it was probably wise to say nothing. I would either lose my 10,000 USD camera or my life if they reacted badly and hurled me off the back. I was alone and seriously outnumbered....three plus the driver against me is shit odds in a third world corrupt country at three in the morning. Maybe the Indian was lucky that the LB couldn't extract anything? You have to consider your own security and welfare in these situations. If I was accompanied,the warning might have been given....but alone and vastly outnumbered by criminals....no. What I found most interesting is that it is the furthest away hand that does the dipping.The closest hand is in full view,clutching money openly,to suggest there's no ill intent.

....the bahtbus was an old one,and had faded SugarBaby A Go Go advertising panels on the tail end.Seeing as the driver was part of the scheme it might be worth being extra cautious when riding one with this advertising.Forwarned is forearmed after all. (Trying to make up for not warning the Indian what was afoot)

A little heads-up on the baht bus pickpocket operation. Its a well documented modus operandi. Saw one playing out early this morning at 02.45 am. Two people on an otherwise empty baht bus,as it waited to load up with travellers at the junction of South and Second Road. A ladyboy in a blue t-shirt,hair pulled back in a bob,and a skanky Thai lady,aged in her late thirties.Unhappy and unpleasant looking people. The ladyboy and her partner-in-crime shifted seats a few times,and the lady tried to organise where other passengers should sit as they climbed aboard. Seeing this in motion,I stood on the tail platform as the thieves lined up their mark....a huge fat Indian man. Strangely enough,the driver set the journey in motion without the bus being full.....so he was in on it too. The ladyboy had a few large empty bags,so shielding from view his right arm (the mark was on the LBs left). Her left hand was visible,clutching a 20 baht note as to give the impression of being a legitimate passenger. I could see the LBs right shoulder..it was drawn across her chest,but the bags obscured this to everyone but me,as I had a ringside view. By the time I hopped off a couple of minutes later,the deed hadn't been done (or so it seemed). I wasn't sure about shouting a warning to the Indian,not knowing if any of the other travellers were part of the gang,so to my shame I stayed silent,but snarling at the ladyboy every time she looked my way. But heres an identification tag. The LB had a Chinese-looking script tattooed vertically behind her right ear...maybe five characters and two to three inches long...the last (lowest) character was a three-pronged trident with a letter resembling a Z or the number 2 next to it . Not very useful if she sits on your right,but might help if you spot her before the thieving gets underway. If you see this cunt on a bahtbus,get off,shift seats or be prepared to be dipped.