Butch

Wow. They forget to mention that in constructing the cotton industry on the "Steppes" (kazakhstan etc) they drained the Aral sea for irrigation, destroyed livelihoods and caused immeasurable and irreversible ecological damage to the local environment. Not to mention the other damage they've done along the way with industrial waste etc. Good bit of propaganda, and to be fair to them I understand why some Russians act like twats. during our last trip Mrs Butch got chatting to a girl on her hols with her parents, she explained that it's largely the older generation, along with our generatio

Glad I didn't lose a valuable 4.5 minutes then.

Hi, Yep, I always book directly with the sabai when staying there because I request a specific room and they're pretty helpful, but saying that, the Agoda rate for my second choice if the Sabai was booked , the lk Metropole, was the same as the website even after adding the taxes etc. Seems low season prices are pretty good for this year, no one has increased them by the looks of things. I'd be interested to see what expected occupancy numbers are for this upcoming season. Yep, all hail the low season!.

I normally stay at the Sabai Wing in a deluxe pool view for round about 1200 per night, I know the hotel you mean as it's just over on Soi 1 Rd whereas the Wing is on the Alley. Not heard any negatives about it to be honest, seems to be a run of the mill decent hotel offering good facilities. Baht buses are a pain anyway, but the advantage being at the top end of town they are often empty and will stop more readily for a single farang rather than just carry on looking for a group of Russians (which I found was a problem when I stayed on Soi 8). Not sure if they are guest friendly, but wou

Hi Fiend Yep, only noticed that after you mentioned it!, you sharp eyed bugger lol :) , I think I had assumed that the upper deck area is reserved for business / first , didn't expect to see economy seating there. Still, can't be a bad thing, leg room looks pretty decent and the IFE boxes are not too intrusive a la Boeing 777's / 747's. Odd also that the centre seats don't have any supports separating them in the floor area, but by the looks of things they have fold down footrests . I reckon an upper deck econ seat is the way to go if flying on this, the 2-4-2 looks pretty spacious. I

Sounds like a bloody headache. Shame they swapped from T3 as I always liked that terminal, apart from the fact there was always building work going on!. With Thai dropping one service, they're also saving an absolute fortune in landing fees and turn around costs at LHR, plus the reduction in staff / aircraft leasing costs. Additionally, it could give them an excuse to push prices up as demand will increase due to 300+ seats a day not being available on one of the direct LHR-BKK services, so as far as the other direct operators (EVA & BA not sure if Qantas run or ran a direct service) a

Sad but very true Greg.

Most alcoholics you'll find are in denial and almost all are there due to pressure from a significant other or certainly in many cases, against their will (to start with). It takes a very strong willed person to admit they have a problem and attend one of these meetings purely by their own devices. My hat goes off and utmost respect to anyone who stands by and helps a friend or loved one through addiction, as I know it's a very hard road to follow and most frequently you bear the brunt of their frustrations and take the blame for everything, but the true heart understands their hardships a

Good post. Unfortunately in my experience, and that of Mrs Butch, is that many of these people are beyond help, as they refuse to acknowledge ( in many cases) their problems or help themselves, let alone accept help from others. I'm sure we're all aware of the pitfalls of expat life in pattaya , and what peoples lives turn into when it all goes sour. However, my wife often tells me of the look she sees in the eyes of those who have given up on life, the look of defeat and acceptance of their death, this is though , a person lying on a hospital bed very often with a terminal condition.

Saw it on your profile location, just under the girl with the lovely bouncing boobs!. Reading have always been a strong team (I thought they were higher up the table than 13th to be honest), often coming up in the fixture list just when we need the points to hold position!, Reading have now won 7 out of our last 8 meetings , a true "bogey" team for the Blues . I saw most of the match, it wasn't a bad goal at all from Mackie, we've actually got 3 former Royals players in our current lineup, the Hunt brothers and Tabb, but Noel was out due to injury. It was a well earned win though, not a

Thai have some very competitive prices at the moment, coming in at £530 for May / June if purchased before the end of Feb (LHR-BKK) . It's a restricted ticket though, no change / refund and 25% mileage accrual, but slightly better than the equivalent EVA for the same dates price wise, but the EVA allows changes with a fee. BTW Pattaya Mad, Reading beat my home town Ipswich 1-0 today..grrr...

So can someone answer this: If someone arrives for a 3 week stay, gets a PAYG SIM from 7-11 or any other store and intends to use it just for the 3 weeks then ditch it, does it need to be registered?. If so, how do they go about it?.

Hi PM I put a post elsewhere a while back, it was due to be introduced in June 14 iirc, but instead they put it on the Frankfurt or Paris - BKK route, they deferred it to October then it just didn't happen, probably due to the changeover to Terminal 2 at LHR and reduced passenger numbers. Thai seem pretty fickle when it comes to Aircraft on LHR services, sometimes it's a 744, others it's an A340 and now seems we might be getting the A380 thrown into the mix lol. However, their 747's are getting old now, and despite a couple of them having had a comprehensive refit, they still show their age.

Welcome to the board Jerboa, The rouble has had a slight rally in event days, up to .52 from .48, which considering they had parity two years ago is quite a hit. I see sterling is holding tight , not sure if the recent ( today) news of a successful Greece bailout will have any effect on sterling. We're getting hit hard with sterling to peso rates as well, down to 67 from mid 70's last year. I'm no financial whizz, but I think it's strong Asian currencies rather than weak western ones fuelling this. Then again I am probably wrong!. Regarding note denominations, I've always steered

The board is better for TR's and the day to day stuff about Pattaya is still interesting, the effort that goes into them and time taken to share information is appreciated. It's a bit childish to neg someone's post just because of a previous argument, fall out or difference of opinion, and it's good to see that a good few of us put it right when it happens. If someone disagrees or doesn't like a TR they should really have the bollocks to say so and why, I expect their opinion might not be agreed with but it will still be respected.

Hi MM you're right, "Old Orleans" is the name of a restaurant me and a few BM's from PattayaBarGirls used to meet up in when back in the UK. "Cafe New Orleans" is the one on pattayaland2 and the one I meant. I'm getting both nostalgic and senile. Atlas, great memories and nicely recounted! I used to enjoy my times in the PH, but found the rooms a bit too cluttered and the bloody phone ringing in the hallway at 0700 every morning pissed me off. I've got some fond memories of staying there though. How are the rooms these days?. Is the GoGo downstairs still linked as part of the Hotel?.

Andy "Dixon" - Andy from Mistys, still very much involved with Mistys from what I hear and back in the 80's was probably in his late teens (pssst...I was just leaving school in 86), so not the same tattooist bloke. Andy is a scally from Liverpool, popular figure in town, once owned "beavers" on walking Street and "Legs" which was previously Mistys on Ptty2. Good personal friend and not a bad bloke, but with breath bad enough to knock a buzzard off a shitpile :) . The "Top Class" group was "hands on" managed by Gop and owned by her and Steve, I can't confirm any rumours regarding entry or

Thinking about it Steve probably is the same guy, he's a slightly built man, short black hair (slicked back when I knew him) and speaks in a slightly "nasal" tone. To be fair he was quite an affable kind of bloke when I knew him, generous and thoughtful and eager to share his business knowledge. I know they owned rather than leased the buildings as he always told me that renting was "dead money". He always struck me as slightly eccentric, wearing a long sleeved shirt and tie , trousers and shoes for breakfast and all day long, changing his shirt in the evening. I hope he's ok, I knew he truly

Hi billions Yep you're right, the Bubbles, All girls, Lipstick, Rodeo, Popcorn, Planet Rock / Venus and also the Restaurant "Old Orleans" were owned by an American guy called "Steve" and his wife "Nisachol" (Gop). The yarn I heard from him was that in the currency crash of 97/98 he had just sold his business in the US and then snapped up several empty / to let units on Pattayaland 2 under his wife's name. He developed these into GoGo bars and they had a winning streak between 99 through to about 2004 / 05, even managing to weather Purachai's social order campaign. Unusually they never

Hi, I read elsewhere that Palmers has shut and is closed for good. For me that's sad news cos I always enjoyed a yarn with Bob, as well as frequently having Sunday lunch there whenever I was in town. I hope it was because Bob wanted to retire rather than financial problems. It's also a sign that if not already, has sounded the final death knell for what was once possibly the best street in town, which IMHO was also at one point a viable alternative to Walking Street. Gone are the days of the following GoGo's: Bubbles, Rodeo Girls, Lipstick, Popcorn, All Girls and Planet Rock / Venus (stil

Interesting pics Jacko, I think you managed to find the "cuddly toy" graveyard there. Shame, as instead of just throwing the toys out, ungrateful TG's could donate them to the orphanage. Sadly my Pattaya geography is atrocious, so bad I didn't even recognise Soi Honey.

Thanks Firth, Was WS busy?, looks to be fairly crowed in some pics but the annexes like Diamond looked empty of people.

Thanks for the report Evil. The farang food in the Sailor bar sucks, but to be honest the thai food is halfway decent. As it happens , I think the forum needs a report on Chaiyapoon Bars, so if you're in the area...

Thanks Shilo, I was actually going to ask for the downgrade to be explained in layman's terms, as it went a bit over my head, any idea where it might bottom out?.

Seems the poor Russian economy has even more trouble ahead, Credit rating downgraded to "junk" status. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/russias-credit-rating-cut-junk-065705328.html?vp=1