Bazle

As I walked along Beach Road this afternoon, I came across two teams power hosing the pavement. Looking at the pavement after it had dried, it really didn't look that much different. However, the objective seemed to be to get rid of the loose sand by washing it into the drain at the side of the road. I'm sure that will do the drainage system a lot of good!

About 19:45 on 24 Dec. at TT on Second Road:

Me too.

I'm not a mindreader but I wonder if the mouth image is intended to convey "talk". Unfortunately, it conveys to me another oral activity! The fact that it is right beside "Pattaya" re-inforces that thought! Maybe an image which looks like someone talking, placed to the right of "Talk", would be better.

Yes, me too. I hope I'm not out of line saying this but I don't like the mouth!

Best of luck! ☺️

Oh deer!

Thanks for your efforts, Frosty. Best of luck.

As shopping malls go, I would regard this one as impressive, but not aa much so as either the T21 in BKK or Central Festival in Patts. As you mention, it is bound to dilute business at the other malls, something those malls can ill afford.

Atlas I own my own condo, and leave Thailand 5 or 6 times each year. I filed a TM30 once, but have not done so subsequently; I've had no problem with renewing my Retirement Extension. My understanding is that the attitude of Jomtien Immigration is as set out by Jacko. Cheers. Baz

I would add Beefeater to the busy list.

Considering the large number of Indians who are members of Addicts, I wonder if posting this topic there would elicit useful information. All we seem to be able to do is shrug our shoulders in confusion!

Have sent you a PM.

Yes, totally agree. I don't even get a message from her now: all communications seem to come from her secretary, Ms Chanya. Well done that girl. ☺️

A wise decision! ☺️ I'm sure the hotel staff would blab.

I don't know if it is correct but I read some years ago that a large proportion comes from Bangkok, garbage dumped into the Chao Phraya which gets washed by the tides down to Patts.

Yesterday, I took a walk along Beach Road, all the way northwards from Soi 13. The debris on the beach was the worst I can recall seeing it. There were people out trying to clear it. The large debris, including an incredible amount of long pieces of bamboo, were being manually carried to a truck on Beach Road by a team of orange-uniformed guys. There was also another team which was making piles of the smaller debris. There was a lot of rubbish floating in the water just waiting to take the place of the cleared rubbish. When I looked today, they were still cleaning up, but they had made quite a lot of progress since yesterday. I also understood the purpose of making piles of the smaller debris. The piles were made in a straight line along the beach, and this machine came along to suck up the piles and sift them. A lot still needed to be done, though. When I got north of Klang yesterday, into the area of the newly "nourished" beach, I thought they had discovered some magical way of preventing the debris. However, when I walked on the beach towards the shoreline for closer investigation, I realised the debris was there - just not visible from the walkway. The "nourished" beach has been built at 3 terraced levels: - one at the level of the pathway, or not far below, then - a lower level - a final one at the shoreline. Up by the Dusit, I was curious whether the beach had been made all around the headland, thus making it possible to walk around the headland outside of the Dusit - something not possible since the walkway had been allowed to fall into disrepair. It was not possible to answer that without going to take a look. As you can see, the beach ends where you can see it from Beach Road. In that same picture, there is the only sign that I could see of what used to be the walkway around the headland. These guys were trimming the bushes growing out of the wall outside the Dusit.

My hairdresser is Turkish by origin. He has just come back from Turkey and said that, even though the exchange rate is good, the locals want to be paid in Dollars, Pounds, Euros, or any solid currency.

I own a condo there so am pretty committed to visiting, no matter what the exchange rate is. Flights and accommodation are two major expenses. As you say, flight prices are still reasonable. My accommodation costs are not that much more in terms of GBP. The other major cost is "entertainment". As the years go by, I have found my inclination to partake has waned, so my expenditure on that has probably fallen rather than risen. The things that will possibly deter me from visiting are not related to the exchange rate. One of those is what you allude to - the nature of Patts changing. The change I particularly dislike is the Indian/Chinese takeover, and I see that as getting worse not better.

I had an inguinal hernia repaired in London in July 2011. It was done privately (i.e. not NHS) and as a day case. The hospital would not discharge me unless I had someone pick me up and stay with me for the night. An ex-girlfriend volunteered, but I thought her new boyfriend would not appreciate her spending the night with me, so I took her for a meal to thank her, and then sent her home. I mention that to point out that I was feeling well enough after just about 4 hours to go to a restaurant, and to not be concerned about being alone. The surgeon concerned offered me open surgery or a laparoscopy. He pushed me towards open surgery saying that it took half the time, and he had done hundreds of both procedures but the only one to prove problematic was a laparoscopy. In retrospect, my cynical nature wonders if he had a better profit margin from the medical insurance company on open procedures. Whatever, I accepted his recommendation. By pure co-incidence, two English guys I knew who lived in Patts had hernia operations within a few weeks of my having mine. One (R ) had open surgery at BHP, the other (C ) a laparoscopy at (I think) Sri Racha. Our post-operative experiences are as follows. I had no more problems than you would reasonably expect from a 4-inch gash at the base of the abdomen. That gash left a nasty scar which only recently has become not particularly visible. The incision had been stitched. I had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon a month after the operation. In the waiting room, there was only one other patient - a girl aged about 30 (not the usual profile for a hernia patient!) - and we got chatting. It transpired that she had had the same operation by the same surgeon on the same day as I had. However, she had been in intense pain and had been back to see the surgeon twice in the interim. She couldn't believe how easy I had had it. In Patts, R had intense pain in his testicles which had necessitated an emergency visit to BPH not long after the operation. However, after that had been dealt with, everything was good, and he said his scar disappeared after about 6 months. The incision had been glued. I did not see C after his op but I heard via R (a mutual friend) that everything had gone smoothly, and he was able to move around without pain much more quickly than R. All of the operations involved the insertion of mesh. So, FWIW, my advice would be to * satisfy yourself about the competency/experience of the surgeon; * go for the laparoscopy; * if laparoscopy is not an option, make sure the surgeon glues the wound, not stitches it. P.S. I thought I'd spare you the pics!

I'll be in Blighty but congrats to Brian (and, of course, Wan).

I read somewhere recently that a lot of these places never expect to make a profit. They are devices for enabling families to live in the country legally.

Your observations are spot on. And I think that many of us aren't realising how many non-tour group Chinese are around. They blend in to the Thai background!

A friend stayed at this place about a year ago and I was very impressed: http://www.goldenseapattaya.com

Yes, that's a shame. It would be good to have a slightly upmarket Thai restaurant.