Bazle

Please correct me if I have this wrong but I think the Pattaya/HH ferry was bought from China, and was built for river use. I just wonder if it is designed to cope with rough seas.

I bit the bullet and have just booked for 11 Feb to 12 Mar with EVA through Travel Trolley (LHR/BKK) - £487 return. No doubt the price will drop, but I remember the fares of old, and under £500 still feels like a bargain to me.

"Mr Naris also led a raid on the Rioja Gentleman's Club on Soi 2 Wat Boon Kanchanaram about 6.30pm on Monday after a foreign man posing as a customer went inside first, asking to buy sexual services. Officials later found the spy naked with a Thai woman in a jacuzzi in a room at the club, and two Thai women were caught providing sex services to foreign men identified as club patrons, said Mr Naris." If what I am reading elsewhere is to be believed, the 'spy' is the same one used on the Bliss raid a few weeks ago. The pictures of him were clear enough then so it's a shame that Rioja security were not better informed.

Thanks for that - particularly about Chinese New Year. Looks like I need to give my 2018 schedule some early attention.

When would you book for February 2018?

To me, this is the most concerning sentence in that article: "The crackdown also follows an increase in the number of undercover stings used to target bars and massage parlours that are suspected of selling sexual services." Flashing the lights in a gogo isn't going to work if the enemy is already within.

I'm not having that problem here in the UK.

The bit of tarmac I saw was about a third of the way down from Third Road. And it was clear a steamroller hadn't been used on it. I suspect that what you saw was used elsewhere.

I have just walked the full length of it and there is no sign of re-surfacing anywhere. However, there were 2 adjacent potholes which looked like they might have had a bit of tarmac put in them recently. It is in desperate need of resurfacing, though.

I wish you could feed this info. to the Thai government!

It's beginning to look that way. Sadly, I think it is going to be a problem eliminating it now, although I would have thought that governments around the world would be motivated to try because of the tax they are losing.

At the AGM I attended, the owners tried to pressurise the management committee (MC) to take action. The MC said it was powerless: we already had a rule that no let should be for less than 3 months but it was either ignored or lets were made for that period by the owners but then there were sub-lets of shorter duration made. I and many others were not convinced that the MC was committed to doing all it could to deal with the problem. It was mentioned that the developer had sold many units with guaranteed rental returns. My guess is that many of the problem units are owned by the developer (who still seems to have considerable influence in the running of the development, possibly by threatening to withhold payment of service charges) or have been sold with the guaranteed return. I suggested that we reported the problem owners to Immigration for almost certain failure to file forms TM30. The response was that Immigration is very under-resourced to deal with that, and it would cost us money to get Immigration interested.

I attended the AGM of my condo development yesterday and it appears we have a big problem with short term stayers (just a few days) who create noise and damage, some of whom have found the accommodation through Airbnb. Condo management reckon they are powerless to do anything about the problem. So a crackdown on accommodation not registered as hotels being used as hotels would be welcome to me.

Thanks for checking. Please ignore my OP - I must have been having a senior moment!

Is it working for you? It's not for me.

Dear Valued Member, Book now for flights to Asia with our exclusive Flash Sale and benefit from our lowest fares below: Return fares to BANGKOK Return fares to TAIPEI For Travels: 05th MAY - 30th JUN 2017 Sale Ends: 12th MAY 2017

Are these MILFs beyond their child bearing years? If not, landing a big fish might be all too easy for them.

Good thinking IMHO.

Maybe there is a clue here?

I bought a condo 6 years ago in Pattaya, Soi 15, not as an investment but as a holiday HOME. Currently, I spend about 5 months a year there, in 4 week visits. During the 6 years, there was maybe 1 year when I was blighted by noisy neighbours but, overall, I have no regrets. At the moment, I have no desire to sell it but accept that, if I did, I'd find it difficult to do so at a reasonable price. However, it has saved me a lot of money in hotel costs, and given benefits not quantifiable in monetary terms, like being incredibly convenient, giving some structure to my retirement years, etc.

I don't pay either in the UK so I suspect that the business models in the UK and Netherlands are different.

Yes, I have often thought the same, particularly when I see them crossing Second Road.

I have read several comments that this year is different in that the activities have continued long into the evening. What with that and the story of fish sauce and urine being added to the water, perhaps the authorities will act to rein it in next year. Ever hopeful!

Curry was a surname. A takeaway was a mathematical problem. A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower. All potato crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on or not. Rice was only eaten cooked in milk, as a pudding. Calamari was called squid and we used it as fish bait. A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining. Brown bread was something only poor people ate. Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking. Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves. These were never green. Sugar enjoyed good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold. Cubed sugar was regarded as posh. Chicken didn’t have fingers in those days. Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi. None of us had ever heard of yoghurt. Healthy food consisted of anything edible. People who didn’t peel potatoes were regarded as lazy. Indian restaurants were only found in India. Cooking outside was called camping. Seaweed was not a recognised food. “Kebab” was not even a word, never mind a food. Prunes were medicinal Muesli was readily available; back then it was called cattle feed. Water came out of the tap. If someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than petrol for it, they would have become a laughing stock! But the two things that we never, ever had on our table in the sixties? Elbows or phones.

Why does anyone "deserve" a return on their money? IMO a return on your savings account money is warranted only to counter the effects of inflation.