PattayaPete

The Opening Night Party Last night we had our opening party. It was great and terrible all at the same time. It was great to see such a big crowd in to celebrate the opening of Pattaya’s newest bar. Far, far more people than expected turned up and that created quite a few problems on the service front. Then it started to rain so the balcony dwellers fled inside and we ran out of seats in the main bar area. I didn’t expect to see that happen for a year or two as we have 150 seats in that area. The 30 baht drinks all night was perhaps a bit more successful that I thought it would be

Hi Vidman You are not the only one confused so let me explain it a bit better than I have so far. Really what the place is, is a chill out bar where you can relax, get some good but reasonably priced food, cheaper drinks than most other bars, chat with your friends or check out the passing freelancers. It is not a party bar and there will never be "entertainment" other than good food, cheap drinks, rock music and freelancers. I fully understand that will not be to everyone's liking but you may be surprised by just how many do want that sort of a bar. The music was perhaps a little

We are up and running. We have had a couple of days the whip the staff into shape and its time to get serious. Some of you asked how we will be promoting the bar to the girls. Read on. A big opening party kicks it all off on Tuesday from 8 pm (29 April). All drinks will be 30 baht all night. All drinks means draught beer, bottled beers and top shelf. All 30 baht, all night. There will be free food as well. We will also be running two special promotions starting this Monday (28 April). THE WHAT! NO FREELANCERS DISCOUNT. We are new. It’s going to take a while for the girls t

Just a brief note guys to say we did not manage to open today (Thursday 24th). Quite a few guys dropped by to say hi but the workers were putting the finishing touches to everything. They have just finished now It's 1 am Friday. I don't think any of them have worked so hard in their lives. Anyway, we will definitely be open tomorrow. Well, the bar will be but the restaurant is still a few days away. I was going to post some pics and detail the exciting promotions we will be running from Saturday but I'm knackered, so will do that tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you at the Patta

This should be called the lack of progress report. As I feared, Sonkran reared its ugly head and progress over the past week has been virtually non-existent. The new bar had been a hive of activity but I got a quick feeling for how Sonkran week was going to go when I turned up on Friday 11 April and instead of seeing 20 workers going for it, there was one lonely man in the corner doing some tiling. Even the electrician who had promised he would work through Songkran suddenly discovered a dead relative and had to leave to join the celebrations. The big construction boss who had sugg

I am really enjoying the process of building this bar. Ten years ago when I started FLB I was so wary of being ripped off, befuddled by bureaucracy and screwed over by tradesmen that I really did not have time to enjoy the process. This time round I know much more than I did then and feel much more secure dealing with the Thais. In fact I’ve had such a good experience with the Thais surrounding this project I’m starting to wonder if I’m dreaming. Progress has been spot on with the timetable I drew up and if anything we are a little ahead of schedule. Quotes have been reasonable and wo

Two shifts, Bob, 10am - 6pm and 6pm - 2am. I'm leaning towards the service staff keeping their own tips but have not decided for sure yet.

Waitress starting salary is 7,000 baht.

Thanks Dave

We are looking for staff - can you help.? We are desperately looking for a Chef to take on the management of the restaurant staff, help with planning menus, kitchen design and hiring kitchen hands. Although a Thai national is preferred we will consider a farang with the right experience. We are also hiring the full range of service staff, including waiters and waitresses, bar tenders and door people. A generous salary starting from 7,000 baht per month or more, depending on experience, is offered. Thai nationals only. Applicants must have reasonable English skills. If you

If you move your mouse pointer over the right side of the pic a next button pops up. Move it over the left side and a previous button pops up. Pictures load almost instantaneously for me.

A Small Tribute to a Fine Man: Late on Sunday afternoon 17 February Chris, the English husband of Khun Visa, the founder of the Pattaya Today newspaper, passed away after a short but painful battle with cancer. He was just 53 years old. My association with Visa and Chris began just over five years ago. Athough I cannot claim to have known Chris well, I can say that in all the time I knew him he was always unfailingly pleasant and polite, very much an English gentleman. He tried very hard in the early and still-struggling days of the newspaper to find ways of attracting revenue and while th

Another One Bites the Dust: According to an email I received from a local bar-hound, rumour suggests the Misty’s gogo (Pattayaland Soi 2) will be closing down around the end of March. Given the gradual shift of the soi into the similar gender-confused status of its next door neighbour Pattayaland Soi 1, it may be no real surprise Misty’s is closing after 12 years of operations. There is one cocks-in-frocks den just across the soi and I think two or three pink palaces as well while the number of distaff dens has dwindled to just five, including Misty’s, in recent years. Misty’s is set to op

Left turn on red is ok providing there is no traffic proceeding through the green light and also providing there is no sign prohibiting a left turn on red (you need to read Thai of course). The correct procedure when being stopped by police in Isaan is to discreetly proffer a 100 baht note.

Not in any of the bars I've been to. Try 90 - 150 pesos for one bottle and you'd be about right, unless you buy if for a girl in which case 250 pesos for one bottle would be nearer the mark.

More more is gogo dancers answer if you want them to gogo Overpriced and Underlayed: There was a time, about a decade ago, before the spread of the mobile phone and the rise of Internet cafes and the advent of email, when the dancing damsels of Fun Town were prepared to ‘work the room’ in an effort to not only obtain money from libations but would be prepared to offer their mattress dancing skills for a sensible remuneration. Of course there were always the so-called superstars who considered their baby-making factory was lined with gold and smelt like an orchid farm and consequently refused

I have to ask why. Don't you believe me or don't you care. What these mafia people do is FORCE people in their power to do this and then take ALL the money. The beggars get fed if they are lucky and a place to sleep when not working that you would not keep pigs in. They traffic people from Burma and Cambodia specifically to work for them. Sometimes these people are abducted and sometimes coerced and sometimes threatened with violence if they don't do as they are told. As they are in the main illegal immigrants they are told they will be sent to jail and beaten up if they go to the pol

This subject comes up periodically and I always give the same answer. Sadly the message never seems to get through. As alluded to above all beggars you see in the streets of Thailand are run by the beggar Mafia. If an independent tries to set up shop they will be closed down by the police. The beggar Mafia are not nice people. They abuse their "employees", indulge in human trafficking and sometimes mutilate their employees to gain more sympathy for them. Any contribution you make encourages this inhuman trade. If everybody stopped giving tomorrow many people would get their l

Well, there have been 366 posts so far today so I don't think your problem is with the number of posts. If you were a mod and had to read each one you'd be complaining of too much posting If you don't like what you are reading or feel different topics should be covered then as always the thing to do is to get busy and post some thought provoking, interesting (to you) stuff of your own and see what happens.

Give Me Some Hot Stuff Baby This Evening: I don’t know if the word ‘sophistication’ and ‘Pattaya’ can realistically be used in the same sentence when referring to night (and afternoon, for that matter) entertainment venues employing damsels of easy virtue, but there really seems to be a sea-change shift in much of the newer places opening about Fun Town. By no means would I call the Hotties Club, which officially opened its sliding doors for business with a big bash on Saturday night 1 December, ‘sophisticated’, but I would call it ‘fun’. The joint, another of the strangely-named coyote da

A Night of Surprises: It’s very rare for me to venture out into the mean streets of Fun Town and go into four night entertainment venues and be impressed with all four. Yet this is precisely what happened a couple of weeks back when I made a foray into Walking Street. The first place on the agenda was the newly-opened Insomnia Club in Soi Diamond. Situated on the site of the failed Super Models ogling den, the place is billed as a ‘Gentleman’s Club’ and so I figured this being Pattaya the place should just about be empty. It turned out that the evening happened to coincide with some sort o

Number 19 Dream: One of the more pleasant characters operating a den of the chrome pole in Fun Town, Chuck Hinkel from Club Boesche (Soi 16, off Walking Street) became a father for the first time -at least as far as he is prepared to admit anyway- when his girlfriend Khun Boom gave birth to a healthy baby boy on 19 October. He has been given the name Jamie. Given the nocturnal nature of the ogling den caper I doubt Chuck is too concerned about sleepless nights. Yo Bitch, What’s Wrong With This Picture? The skewed mindset of some visitors to the fleshpots of Fun Town might well be exemplifi

Three little ducks go into a Bar...... 'Say, what's your name?' the bartender asked the first duck. 'Huey,' was the reply. 'How's your day been, Huey?' 'Great. Lovely day. Had a ball. Been in and out of puddles all day. What else could a duck want?' said Huey. 'Oh. That's nice,' said the bartender. He turned to the second duck, 'Hi, and what's your name?' 'Dewey,' came the answer from duck number two. 'So how's your day been, Dewey! ?' he asked. 'Great. Lovely day. I've had a ball too. Been in and out of puddles all day myself. What else could a duck want?' The bartender t

I just looked again and the Home Button and the Contact Button are not working on the Taxi page in Firefox Browser. They are working OK in Internet Explorer. All other buttons work fine with Firefox.

Interesting idea. I thought a few more pics of Mod might spur a few more customers to sign up. BTW, the contact button on the taxi page is not working.