voracious

Headed to Suvarnabhumi Airport in a few hours, then onward (by taxi) to Bangkok. I hope to be able to give you a first hand update on both. I am hoping not to run into anything too chaotic.

There's a place on Soi Lengkee (opposite Soi Metro) off Soi Boukow that has a huge sign that it rents bicycle. It's about 2/3 down the block on the right. If I remember I'll try to take a picture of the place. I noticed more that a couple people pedaling around here.

I'm heading back to Bangkok in a few days (I'm in Pattaya now) and am worried too about the flooding. Truth is that there is no clear answer because normal sources (media, public announcements) are unclear about the situation. As of the moment, 16 districts of Bangkok that lie outside the flood walls have been ordered to evacuate, however there is some confusion as to which 16 districts they are talking about. For myself, I will be staying in the area they are going to let go of last (Sukhimvit/Ratchada) and are away from the river. Hopefully it will be ok. There are several sites up that are tracking. Not sure if I should put a bunch of links up on the site, so google the following groups and you should be able to find out as much as anyone knows. "richard barrow thai flood" "thaiflood" and of course, the various thai news english language news agencies. It's fine in Pattaya, Chiang Mai and areas North are fine, and down South (e.g. Krabi, Phuket) are fine. If you check the Thaiflood site, you will see a map. Same if you follow links from Barrow's blog. Good luck with your trip.

The lady in the video that pulled her out of the road, was the trash collector. Otherwise, you're right on the money, Joekicker. In China, there's quite a bit of outrage over this and many people are questioning the soul of Chinese society. Hard to believe, especially for those who always want to assume the worst of the Chinese people, but many still have souls and hearts despite decades of Communism followed by this current soulless capitalism and pursuit for riches. I think they've got a long road to hoe, but people are waking up and there are outcries over many of the shameful things like this that are going on there.

I'll try to get over there tonight! :)

Just flew United here (usa to thailand) a few days ago. Flight crew was pleasant. Food on the USA to Narita leg was nearly inedible. I'm easy, but this was pretty horrid. The noodles and pasta dishes (2 meals) were both like warmed and shaped kindergarten paste. No flavor. the rolls were hard and stale. Now I know what people have been complaining about all these years. The Narita to BKK leg had better food. Better vendor I suppose... The economy section is petty tight squeeze. I used to love United. Now I realize what I loved were those business class companion seats I used to get, lol. If it's within a hundred dollars to go back to flying cathay, I think I'll go that way in the future.

Nice view of the girlfriend.

A good start would be to get to FLB & join one of their/Adam's bar crawls. Kudos if it's your first trip and you make it that far without getting waylaid by some girl (or guy or some guy that looks like a girl or....). :) Seriously, though, get to FLB, introduce yourself, get on a crawl or else just wander around Walking your first time out. You won't get far before you end up going in one of the bars or gogos.

Pretty funny

shock! the girls wanted BILLS and the horrible Japanese made them walk around in a circle! seriously, I don't see the big deal here. not my thing, but it really doesn't sound that bad. they walk in a circle and make more doing that than they might make taking it up the ass from some cheap charlie. that said, if I was in a place and a large group of guys came in and started throwing silly money around I'd probably check bin and find another place. I'm not going to compete with guys that throw money. live & let live.

Just another reminder that telling someone to "fuck off" (or other cursing etc...) may have different consequences in different parts of the world. Both of them were Thai in this case, but the driver was probably telling the truth when he said "...if Mr.Rangsit had not insulted him he might not have killed him."

I tell em early on that I'm there for fun. They know what it means. Hasn't stopped me from having some great temporary relationships (is that a nice way to put it?) and easy to leave whether it's a couple days or a week. If they're around next time generally they're pretty happy to see me and go again. Just don't do that bullshit leading them on thing (no idea why guys imply LTR when they're not going to deliver) and you avoid most of your problems right there.

I've used sennheiser and sony's both worked very well and if hearing the engine drone for the entire flight wears you out, then they're definitely worth it. if you don't want to spend the money if you get full ear noise isolating (read: sound proofed) headphones they can work too, but if they don't breathe your ears get pretty hot after a while.

NIce pictures. Thanks for posting. It's a good life, isn't it? :)

If it's real, that's some really, really good news.

a friend sent this to me yesterday. I took a look at her "website" which is a redirect... came to the conclusion she is yet another attention seeking attention flake who made a deliberately pathetic video in the hopes of gaining some kind of reality show fame.

@Bigstuy thx for the link. Love his description I think most boardies here wouldn't freak out so much lol

Bradley Cooper catches ping pong ball with mouth. (excerpt follows for people too lazy to click ) "This one gal was able to eject ping-pong balls at high velocities with amazing accuracy." Cooper decided to join in the fun and asked Phillips to take a photo of him with his mouth open, pretending to catch one of the balls – and the performance artist's aim was true. Not only did the airborne ball hit Cooper, he says: "(It went) right in my mouth… (There are) Handi Wipes coming out from everywhere, (co-star) Ed Helms is throwing up… It was memorable." It was not known whether the incident occurred on set or as part of a side-trip.

It's been a while, but when I stayed at the Galaxy Suites (that one time), the girls you bump into as you head up the stairs were friendly and full of smiles....

The Chinese roast duck was good there.

I've stayed at the Rayong City Hotel (linked) before. It was nice, clean and only about 1270 baht a night, including breakfast. There was a gentleman's club across the street at another hotel, but I didn't have a chance to check that out.

Budget Pattaya is well run and the cars are in good shape. I rented a Fortuner last trip and enjoyed it. I was hauling around a full car (6 passengers + me) last time and it was great being able to come and go at my leisure - especially since I was hitting all the tourist parks (and not so much the night life). I had only one opportunity to visit friends and acquaintances on walking and even got lucky enough to find a decent parking spot on 2nd road. Driving is certainly not for everyone, and the risk factor is a bit high, but if you are going to rent in Pattaya, budget isn't bad. I've also used Budget @ Suvarnabhumi , Budget in Krabi, and Thai Rent-A-Car in Bangkok. Thai Rent-A-Car hold an older car in medium condition (there was a lack of power from the engine, straining to go over 80Kph) but the price was far cheaper. There's also a guy over the road from Residence Garden towards Jomtien as you head down the hill. It's a small shop on the right. Rented a Honda Civic from him and he was pretty good too, but holds your passport (the other guys don't). I've used http://www.fastcarhire.co.uk/ a few times to book and they've done a good job. Thai Rent-A-Car and the guy on Thappraya Rd I went direct. I hope the information is helpful.

lol good one :)

Not just not-fast, but sometimes it'll just be out for a while. Depending what room you're in, which wifi router you're hitting. I seem to remember regular outages in the morning or something once in one of the rooms. If you need to work at an exact time, it may not work out. If you're just checking e-mail and random surfing and don't really care if it's up or down at any particular moment, it's ok. I still like the place, but the internet could certainly be better.