voracious

There's often a bit of truth, when the girls write you or talked to you. Many will even caution you when you're "loved up" ... even if you choose to ignore it. In this case, "You don't understand lady in Pattaya". The gentlemen above are giving you good advice. Enjoy the illusion. Don't fool yourself. Until you are ready to be in country and take the girl out of the game, 99% chance you're just a part of the game. I've met a couple who don't fool around on their out of country boyfriends, but they are very, very, very few and quite far between. Live, learn, and move on.

Wish I was there. Hope you have a terrific turnout and good times ensue

I've never had a problem... don't worry too much. Depending on your Asian ethnicity, you might do better with some types of girls, worse with others. I've never (that I can recall) been barred from entering any establishment... :)

Sorry...forgot to answer the first part of your question. Me = nope, never have tried Pattaya Cooking School. Good luck & have fun with it :)

I've done Marriot's program 2x and Happy on my last trip. Both were good, though different. Marriot (next to royal garden mall) cost more, everything is pre-chopped, they hand you the ingredients and you "assemble" Happy Home Thai Cooking School (link) is a smaller, family type business. Quite a variety of choices in what you can cook and they can do special requests if you give them lead time and whatever additional cost for supplies. I did Frog one day, which I don't normally eat, but was interesting to make. Not expensive. (Near Central Pattaya Road, across from the end of Soi Boukaow If you are in Bangkok, I can recommend Bai Pai Cooking School. Top rate facilities, highly structured. Great staff. Individual cooking stations and wash facilities. Expensive.

Stayed in Dancewatchers in VT2 (one with a pole) and it was great. Have a scooter and you're set.

A bag of frozen peas is helpful the first day or so of recovery. No regrets here. Got mine done in the USA.

People at work (none of them are Asian) were outraged and were trying to gauge my take on it (me being Asian)... I told them it was annoying, but we (Asians) to some extent have to have a thick skin about it. For some reason it's "ok" here in the USA to dump shit on Asians where you'd expect rioting and burning cars if you did it to someone else. The twitters on "Asians can't drive/fly" right after the crash were even more offensive, to me, for the families of those hurt or killed in the crash. There's always going to be people like that in this world.

The other posters are serious, and correct... Pattaya is a dangerous place to learn...not only because of the traffic, but by the number of inexperienced, reckless, and drunk motorcyclists around, many of which are other tourists... I drive and motorcycle in Thailand, but will be the first to say it's quite a bit more of a challenge than many other places, and IF...IF you get in an accident, don't be surprised if it's your fault regardless of what happened, especially if you collide with a Thai national.

TheHunter: Following your posts in this thread, I don't think you'll have a good time in Thailand with Thai girls. Head to the Philippines. They speak English there and your thug ability will be admired and respected. Make sure to demonstrate it with the group of kids that swarm you along Perimeter. It'll be quite a treat. (edit for my Karma: Don't be a tough guy in foreign countries. We'll read about you in the paper. Don't forget you heard it first here! )

It's funny, but the one time I stayed @ Galaxy, the girls who were getting ready for stage on the back steps were always pretty interactive. By that I mean flirty, grabby, smiling, etc... When I've been in the bar (only once or twice) I must have gone in at the wrong hour, as I didn't see a lot of eye candy... but that's the nature of things, hit or miss, too early or too late...

I see video.

Road is done, but they've been doing some kind of work in front this past week. I am not sure how long it's going to take but it looked like a bit of a mess. Perhaps someone knows more. I'm in Chanthaburi at the moment, so I can't provide a photo.

Excellent photo series. Part of it has that urban devoloution feel to it.

I've eaten there & like the place too :)

Mark, Just e-mailed you :)

I guess at some point it'll look like this? [media=] [/media](youtube attached above - in case you can't see it, looks like embedding is not allowed.) ... and beyond... this article implying that everyone can, at some point in the future, be stripped down to their netherparts in a cell phone camera, lol. Imagine, cop cars driving down the neighborhood with monitors looking into the homes they're driving by. Our Orwellian future is just about here.

If you're an Amazon Prime user, you can *borrow* many of the latest books for free, thus adding to an already huge selection of free books. I'm an iPad2 user, and love it, but have considered getting the same kindle you bought, just because I'm already an Amazon Prime user and the free books are tempting.

I stayed at China Garden and wanted to post a review based on my experiences. The arrival: I arrived at China Garden Hotel after having had a driver who had a hard time finding it. Strange, as it's on a fairly large, though not high traffic soi. It's a bit of the best of both worlds actually. A bit quieter and cleaner, yet still convenient to Soi Boukaow. When I arrived the desk manager, Tan, looked a bit surprised to see me with my bags and asked me if I had a reservation. I smiled and said "Yes!" as I had reserved months in advanced and had reconfirmed two weeks prior to arriving. She said they didn't have any rooms, but to wait as she looked into it. I could see her going through the books to find out what had happened, as my confirmation included the room I was to stay in (201). As I waited I noticed that the hotel's restaurant was very nicely decorated and impeccably clean. I wandered to the back and looked through the window into the kitchen and, again, was impressed with how clean it was. Tan finally found out what was going on and apparently one guest had chosen to stay longer than his reservation throwing the system off a bit. While larger hotels could absorb overstays, there aren't that many rooms in China Garden and one person can affect the next when this happens. Understanding that these things happen, the mark of the quality of the management and the staff is what they do about it when a glitch comes up. Tan called Tim, the manager there and he dropped whatever he was doing and got to the hotel in about 10 minutes. He apologized for the overbooking and asked if I could wait a few minutes and he'd have a room for me. I realized in short order that I'd be taking his room, and that he'd be moving out to a place down the road. Now, how's that for making sure the customer is served? The room: The room turned out to be the penthouse room. It was large and in virtually new condition. The bedroom was well furnished and as advertised, the living room has a big television, dvd player, refrigerator, hot water, etc... The shower is nicely equipped with simple, but very clean, very new furnishings. The stay: The stay was excellent. I had the chance to explore a part of Pattaya that I usually don't get to. There are several nice places to eat just steps away, and the hotel restaurant is very nice too. There's laundry and a foot/back massage place right on the same block. Everything is really convenient if you're going to explore the area. Sidenote: I recommend the massage place a few doors down towards Soi Boukaw from the hotel. Nice girls and good foot massage :) The room on the penthouse is only accessible by stairs, but after a day or two of climbing the stairs you get very used to it. The staff dries laundry up on the roof, so you do get staff around the room, but I looked at it as a benefit, as one lady staff person up there was there most of the day and always checked when she heard someone come up the stairs to see who it was. I don't know if I've ever stayed in a room that felt more secure The room was quiet and I slept very well there. Showers were great with a singular exception. Twice, the water pressure dropped to zero. The first time I was really wanting to take a shower and tried anyway, but the water simply wasn't coming out, so the shower was impossible. This may have been an area-wide thing and the water pressure was strong the rest of the time so I didn't worry about it too much. The water heater always worked very well as long as there was water pressure. The room was kept very clean. The hotel is exceptionally clean with one exception. The entry walkway inside (just at the L turn to the stairs) did get a little bit funky during the rainy days. I'm not sure what was going on, if it was water leaking off trash or what, but it wasn't a big deal and it was raining heavily. Up until the rain, I never noticed anything in that area, but to be fair I had to mention it. Summary: China Garden is, imho, a great value - especially if you want a place that is newer, super clean, and well managed. Since I mention that, let me go into that in a bit more detail. From the hotel rooms, to the restaurant, to the public toilet in the restaurant and from the desk staff, to the cleaning ladies to the lady who washes the laundry upstairs you can tell that the place if exceptionally managed from top to bottom. Staff is motivated to deal with and solve problems and the problems that did arise were dealt with 100% attention to satisfying the customer. I would happily stay here again, and I have no reservations in giving this the highest recommendations for any persons considering staying in the area. Post Summary: When I was ready to check out, I got a huge surprise. The desk manager told me that Ian (the owner) had instructed the desk to comp me my entire stay. I did not expect it and would not expect it again, however it really shows that Ian puts his heart into it and I really appreciate it. I want readers to note that my review above would not change one iota without the comp. The place is great and the fact that it's fully booked most of the time is a testament to this. A big thanks to Ian, Tim, Tan, and the rest of the staff for a very pleasant stay. *** blurry areas in the photo are my luggage and/or other personal items I "depersonalized" from the room

I like Bangkok Air. Flew them BKK to Chiang Mai and back. Used the lounge. Great service. Meals served even on the shortest of flights.

must...resist...urge...to...flame.... :)

Sorry to hear, but she did spend her time in good company :) Dropped in on the FLB webcam for a moment...looked packed.

Nong's a wonderful lady. Good heart. I hope she has a very nice Loy Krathong.

Was in Chinatown from one end to the other today. With the exception of a few low spots forming deep puddles, it's dry and all is ok there now. Train station seemed pretty normal (not sure how much time added on to the chiang mai train, but it's running). My language skills were insufficient to figure out any delays.

I'd worry about electrocution in her place. so many loose wires...probably the biggest thing I worry about here, lol. Even in bangkok, just walking down the street you can often see wires tapped in and then cut and hanging just over head level some are taped off. ah well time to get off the comptuer and go get something to eat. headed to chinatown today. should be ok i think.