Bazle

New Plaza sometimes gets a mention here (and often at another place!). This is for people who haven’t been there. New Plaza is on the East side of Second Road, opposite Sois 7/8 on the West side. It is a horse-shoe shaped development mainly of beer bars. It seems to have found favour with a number of expats as a place to meet and partake of cheap beer. There is a single road exiting the Plaza at the rear which leads out to Soi Buakhow through the market at the northern end of that Soi. A new building is being constructed just at the northern exit from the Plaza. On the southern exit point, there is a shrine and (!) hot-dog stand.

I took a girl for a drink (expensive!) at Hopf Brew House - Beach Road, corner of Soi Yamato (13/1) - a couple of nights ago. There was the most mixed music there that I have come across in Pattaya - light opera, Russian, mainstream pop and, yes, jazz.

I arrived on that flight last Wednesday. Unfortunately, because of "VIP activity on the ground", we circled for about 30 minutes before landing, but we ended up landing on time. I got to the bus desk at about 4.40pm and hoped to take the 5pm bus. However, it was already fully booked so had to wait until 6pm As others have said, it is no great hardship waiting. I just have a meal at the airport which saves time when I get to Patts.

I went to X-Zone again this evening and tried to get the 2-for-1 drinks. The service lady had not heard about it and enlisted the services of another service lady. After a huge amount of consultation, I got the drinks. However, I was then subjected to moral blackmail (I know - I should not have succumbed!) and ended up buying the service lady a drink for helping out - so no gain to me. However, I ended up chatting with 3 girls and they seem to be loyal to their new boss; they said 100% better than old boss.

Many thanks to everyone who has responded for the feedback. Appreciated. Luco - do you have anywhere in particular in mind?

It was World Aids Day today so, predictably, a Beach Road procession. (Sorry for typo in topic title - can't amend!)

Sois 7 and 8 The Soi 7/8 area is far from being my favourite, so I don’t go there frequently. As a result, I’m not entirely sure what is new and what is not. Here’s a stab at it, but feel free to correct me. This is the fairly new beer bar complex at the bottom of Soi 8 (Beach Rd end). Silver Star on Soi 8 is about to re-open following its refurbishment. The people running the Premier Club coyote bar (opposite Cherry Bar) seem to be branching out into the Skydiving business. The work half way up the soi which has been going on for quite a while was to construct the “Sunshine Hotel and Residence”. At the top of Soi 7 on the left (walking towards the beach) is a large extension of “Flipper House Hotel”. Next to it is what looks to be a new bar – “Legends”. Soi 6 I walked up Soi 6 and down Soi 6/1. Having stayed at the Queen Vic for a few nights some time ago, I’m aware that Soi 6/1 is not the safest place to walk at night, but in the afternoon I didn’t expect a problem. However, maybe in the absence of security guards, it was worse! I’ve never experienced such a bunch of ugly and aggressive ladyboys. And just when the safety of Beach Road is a few paces away, the Indian tailors take over from where the LBs leave off! I think this place on Soi 6 used to be the Sportsmans. Other shots The Penthouse Hotel on Soi 13/4 is undergoing some substantial work. Hope those cockroaches get exterminated! Just to revive your interest, here are some shots of a really fit girl who was walking down the beach with her two male friends (a.k.a. lucky bastards!) taking pictures of each other every few yards. At the Beach Road end of Soi 13/3 is this new (?) hotel – Montana Court. The construction of the Hilton Hotel still has not been finalised. Just in case you think you can escape Xmas by coming here ….. All together now: “I’ve got a luverly bunch of coconuts!”

Well spotted! I think I can also see bits of the flags of Trinidad & Tobago and of Puerto Rico. I guess it implies there is some sort of Caribbean theme inside. Here is a larger copy of the picture.

I was contemplating buying a new camera ahead of my current trip and had narrowed the choice down to three. The price here in Patts of those cameras is 20-30 percent higher than Jessops in the UK. In retrospect, I'm a bit annoyed about not buying at Dixons at Heathrow which had my favourite of the 3 cameras at £40 less than the cheapest price I had found anywhere else, including on-line.

I arrived here late on Wednesday evening. I was last here Aug/Sept time. I took a walk around town today and this is what I’ve noticed is new. First, though, just a word about the consequences of the flooding. There is NO problem getting food, water, beer, etc. It might be that you won’t be able to get precisely what you want, but you are unlikely to be greatly inconvenienced. There seem to be more Thai families eating on and around the beach than I can recall from previous visits, so that might be the evidence of Bangkok flood refugees being here. The weather is relatively cool with a bit of a sea breeze, and there are quite a few visitors but it is not uncomfortably crowded, so a great time to visit right now. Avenue Shopping Mall They are tinkering again to try to put some colour into this white elephant – this time at the back: Opposite the Avenue on Second Road, at the top of Soi 13/1, a new hotel is almost complete. Soi 13 The AA Residence suffered bad flooding when there was very heavy rain here on (I think) 10/11 September – its basement garage was totally flooded. They appear to have given up on the garage as it is still sand-bagged. Beach Road There is a new hotel (The Wave) being built in front of the Siam Bayview. Unfortunately, there isn’t too much of this ….. But rather a lot of this ….. Sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth …. There IS some flooding in Pattaya – on the Beach Road pavement/sidewalk by Pattaya Klang – seemingly caused by a burst pipe. Work continues on the Hard Rock improvement project. The large tract of land situated between Second Road (opposite the Grand Sole Hotel) and Beach Road has now been completely cleared and it seems that condos are going to be built. [Edit: I walked by here again this afternoon - 26 Nov. - but this time with a Thai friend. She told me that the sign has nothing to do with the land - it relates to a development at Soi Siam Country Road! So I do not know the fate of this piece of land] Something will be happening shortly near Soi 6/1. Soi 2 This is the view at the top of Soi 2 on the south side .... and this is what the north side looks like. Soi 1 This seems to be another wing of Sabai Wing. (Why are the Sabai people so fond of garish colours?) Soi 3 If I recall correctly, this used to be Club Maximus. Further down the soi, this land has been cleared and I wonder if the A-One hotel intend extending here. Soi 4 A new hotel and shops (Tune Pattaya) are going up on Second Road between Sois 4 and 5 (adjacent to the Atlantic Bar). Soi 5 Just south of that is this new development (Center One). I’m not sure exactly what it is going to be.

Indeed! Apart from sharing the same name, do you think there is any connection between them?

I thought it had maybe taken its name from this club in London - http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/whatson/the-bada-bing-club-info-20122.html

Intended staying for just one drink so didn;t try,

I am a long-time X-Zone fan and was concerned that, reading this thread, the new owner might have put it into decline. Tonight was my second in town so I went along to investigate. Have no fear X-Zone fans - the place is BETTER than before the current ownership! Previously, only the gynaecology table had consistent full flesh on show; now it is the norm on ALL tables. Also, the Jacuzzi section is back working. The quality of the girls is much the same as ever, maybe a little better. Let's face it, it was never a place to go to meet an 18y.o. spinner. The girl I got speaking to there was ex-Beavers. She said that the mamasan and about 10 of the girls are also ex-Beavers. The only other place functioning in that complex is the Arab disco. I very much hope that Nev succeeds with X-Zone as I think he deserves to.

I'm thinking more and more that you might be a priest IRL

It seems that Spanky's (of Nana Plaza, Bangkok fame) is opening a new establishment in Pattaya - Soi Diamond - on 3 December. http://www.spankysbkk.com/

Best not forget the photo

Can anyone else see a resemblance?

Less than 1 percent???????????? Using your numbers, as a percentage of the whole population, the rate would be 5%. As a percentage of the working population, it is 8.3 percent. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9R1OMC00.htm

It seems that some people have not read/understood what was in the article I quoted so I will try to paraphrase it. Who owns a letter once it has been sent? An important distinction is that between a letter itself (i.e. a piece of paper) and the words written on that paper. The ownership of the letter, as opposed to the words, is with the person it was sent to. The words in the letters, however, remain the "property" of the author. He retains copyright in the same way that while you own the books on your shelf, the authors still own the words. One defence for unauthorised publishing is "criticism, review and new reporting". This allows use of relevant sections of copyright material to be reprinted for comment on them. The test would be: would a fair-minded man consider a particular piece had been added for titillation, for example, rather than criticism and review?

That must be one helluva renovation

Monty You might find it useful to think back to the controversy over Princess Di's letters - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3204121.stm

?????????????????? Did you notice the date of Dontcha's post?

Thanks. I cannot see anywhere where I can choose a different skin on my 'phone. My guess is that it is a result of the board software not being designed with my 'phone's OS (Enea OSE apparently) in mind. Another price I pay for having a small 'phone!

So let me explain what is happening: * I log in, * click on "New Content", * click on "by Time", * click on "Content I have not read". * I then have a numbered listing of topics. For each topic, I am told the title, how many pages it consists of, which section it is in, who made the last post and when. There is no circle icon to the left of the topic title. If I click on the topic title, I get the very first post in the thread. On the previous version, if I did that, I was taken to the first unread post. Also, I am 90% sure, there was a list of all the pages in the thread and it was possible to click on those.