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 generation ( the one that grew up in the 80's) who tend to be the less polite and less understanding of western manners because they were always told we were the enemy, the oppressor and aggressor (which the clip mentions). The younger generation now has access to the Web and can make their own decisions and draw their own conclusions. Either way, it's stirring stuff. If you're a Russian.

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 would expect that they are. Perhaps worth dropping an email to ascertain. I think you've made a good choice, if in any doubt check the Sabai Wing / Empress (google Sabai group) for comparison, you'll find you're well within the expected ball park for May. Have a good trip, May's not far away mate.

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'll have a google to see if I can find some lower deck pics later on along with some business / first pics (not that I'm ever going to be rich enough to experience it )

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) are concerned then it's probably a major plus. Time will tell, as they're introducing the A380 in the middle of low season (as far as pattaya is concerned) but during peak holiday season for the UK (School holidays etc when prices increase with the blatant profiteering of the Airlines). Couple of pics of the economy cabin found in google, seems more spacious, which you'd expect and not bad at all.

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 and carries the burden without complaint or regret, guided by the hope that you're doing "the right thing". Some people need someone to walk alongside them, some to hold their hand, others to know that you are always at the end of a phone if things go tits up. Whatever happens, as long as you are there to reach down to them and haul them up, help them dust off and face the future that is what matters. It might not make you a better person than anyone else, but it does make you a decent one.

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. Maybe this is the same look some of us may have seen in the eyes of those as described by the OP, drinking to numb the reality of a desperate situation,being in the greatest funtown on Earth but with no money to enjoy yourself. For some they must wonder when the transition from living in heaven to existing in hell happened, but hit with the reality of it all, no return home , no loved ones or anyone to care for them, knowing that they'll die alone and probably in squalor, without any dignity is enough to defeat many, while all the time becoming bitter at those enjoying themselves, blaming them for increasing prices and ruining life in fun town from what it was a few years ago. People come out with excuses for their situation rather than accepting their situation and doing something about it. I think the trick is perhaps , rather ruthlessly , not to waste energies on those making excuses but to invest time and energies on those asking for help for the right reasons. I and I'm sure many of us wouldn't turn our backs on a person in genuine need, or see a bloke go hungry because he admits his mistakes and wants to repair his life, we'd do the right thing and help him along, not necessarily financially because sometimes people don't need money, they need to lean on others, and Pattaya is possibly the last place on the planet where people like us cynics invest either money or trust these days.

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 bad game all in all the Royals defence is pretty strong to be fair. Looking at the Reading fixture list the next 3 games should hopefully get a few points in and hopefully a return to form. Parkwahn, I actually forgot about BA and didn't check them , they are normally competitive as you say, but I've just checked them out and they're coming in at £531 for dates during May which is not bad at all and you're right, although the same price / slightly cheaper than Thai & EVA but with a change date charge of £100 but no refund except taxes.

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. My one issue would be that if you ever happen to look at "Flightradar 24", have a look at the Thai flights heading into SVB between 05:00 and 06:30 in the morning, there's about 5 of them from Europe and one Russia, so immigration will be hit by over 1000 people over the period of a couple of hours if the planes are full, and I for one wouldn't want to be at the rear of an economy section of an A380 which landed behind a couple of inbound 744's. I've heard the queue's are still pretty horrendous there these days. It is a great plane though, despite me nearly croaking it (due to illness) on a Malaysia A380 in 2013 it was a nice experience, very quiet but I found that it was bloody cold, due (I was told) to the cold air from the upper deck sinking down and making some "cold spots" downstairs, near to the bulkheads apparently. I've had a look at a couple of youtube vids of the A380 cabin on Thai and it looks bloody impressive.

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 clear of £50 notes, as a few years back there was a rake of counterfeits which made some exchanges reluctant to take them ( in the RP anyway ), so I've always stuck to 20's. Does anyone know if it's a better rate on £50 notes in town?.

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?. Teelack, fixed the -1 for you, however. Glad to hear Bob is still in business.

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 bill padding, but let's face it, pretty much all the bars were trying it on back then, in fact, it was the ones who didn't pad the bills that got a special mention... I don't recall them ever charging for entrance during regular times except for one Christmas Eve when 200 baht got you entry and a drink. Possibly not a popular strategy but there was no shortage of punters, myself included. However, that's not to say they wouldn't have tried it on. Ultimately though I think it was a mixture of poor planning, bad business practices (the most expensive drinks on the street - although at the time of 70 baht to the £ it didn't really matter at all) , trying to alter a successful formula and lack of understanding. Ironically, if Gop had allowed Steve to run the businesses they'd probably be successful even today. Odd really, because a lot of bars go to the wall through greed or mismanagement, but to manage to get 6 to go tits up probably takes a special level of ineptitude. I honestly think the Restaurant (Old Orleans) survived only because it was Filipino staffed and managed back then. As for the Kennel, was that the joint just down from the Blue Parrot?. If so I think it's one I tended to avoid or maybe might have visited once, probably a good thing, given the clientele!. My regular haunts on Ptty1 and 2 were Spicy girls, Mistys, all the Top Class establishments, Shamrock, Palmers, Miss Dino's and Classroom / Emergency. Only Classroom, Shamrock and Miss Dino's remain.

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 loved Gop and her leaving him probably fucked him up. then again, 18+ years living in Pattaya is enough to fuck anyone up. I knew Gop always thought there was bigger money in Gay bars than straight, and they sought to change the face of Ptty2 by opening some Gay bars to compete with Boyztown but with the plan of creating a larger Gay area. (Actually, I'd like to ask any newbie if they even know where Boyztown is). Back then Boyztown was enjoying good business, high numbers of customers and also managed to pre date the 1000 baht Barfine before any of the Walking Street big guns had even considered upping it from 600 (don't ask me how I know LOL). Gop thought that by expanding the choice it would spell success, because at the time the Gay area of town was (possibly still is - I wouldn't know) was the top end of Pattayaland 1 and boyztown divided by the "straight" Pattayaland 2, so by making a few Gay bars on Ptty2 she would make her businesses "central" to Boyztown and Ptty1. That was the logic that didn't work out. IMO I think they threw caution to the wind and instead of balancing the ratio, closed Lipstick, leased the rest making Planet Rock (or Jupiter) and Rodeo Gay Bars, hoping the customers would migrate. They didn't. By then the damage was done, and Ptty2 had lost most of its neon and decent GoGo bars. They were fucked. From then it was just a matter of time. Walking Street was beginning to enjoy some really good GGB's, big money was moving into town and as always, reputation was doing its bit. There was an influx of really good managers, Mistys moved out of Ptty2, Heavens above, Living dolls, Dollhouse, Club Electric Blue and suchlike began to lure the punters away and people like myself shyed away from Pattayaland 2 and moved to the WS venues, along with many of the girls. As for Dudley, I can honestly say I've ever met him. The only bloke I ever met or spoke to with regard the Penthouse was a ginger haired chap whose name I forget (even then it was just a friendly "hello" in the morning), although I used to stay at the PH regularly back in the day, but when Pete managed to get a discount at the Residence I stayed there for subsequent trips. I often drank in the Shamrock, usually as a precursor to a trip to yodsak, Shamrock was up for sale about 10 years ago iirc. It was an odd crowd back then, mostly Expats of varying opinions regarding the Socio-political situation in Northern Ireland. Shame really, I miss the nights spent on Pattayaland 1 and 2. One might say that had Top Class marketed and sustained their clubs aggressively, employed good managers and kept up with the times, it might have stopped LK Metro from becoming as successful as it has. Who knows.

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 exploited the internet, what websites were available for the bars were basically reports from the forums at the time. My part in all this was that I was once sat in Planet Rock all on my own and got chatting to whom I thought was the Mamasan, but was in fact Nisachol (the owner), after a bit of a long yarn and several Blue Margaritas I got to know her and Steve after a while. She had a taste for Moet and as I could get it relatively cheap back then I always brought her a few bottles during my sojourns, and as such a good friendship developed, however it all got a bit complicated when she arranged for Andy from Mistys to get beaten up by a couple of thugs (link in pattaya mail if you google "Andy Dixon Pattaya") over a business issue, and paid them to torch his BMW, unfortunately she also owned a BMW and forgot to tell "rent-a-somchai" which one to torch, and they did hers by mistake, but they managed to get the right person to hit with the steel pipes though, lucky for Andy his wife Pehn was there to stick a heel in the eye of one of them. Andy is a very close friend of mine (and remains so) so as one might expect, my loyalties lied with him, and my association with "Gop" ended there and then. As an epilogue , I later found out that she wanted to have kids but Steve didn't, so she (with his blessing) had artificial insemination via one of her bodyguards, but they decided to cut out the "artificial" bit. They then split up, divided the business and sold off / leased the properties. Gop is actually an expert in Koi Carp and tropical fish and makes (or made) a fortune in breeding them, Steve, i have no idea what became of him but he was a very nice bloke all the same. For me, I still have the blessed Amulet Gop gave me and the Antique brass rice bowl, along with the knowledge that the amulet must work cos things could have turned out a shite sight worse if I'd hung around longer than I did. Cheers Butch

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 (still got T shirts from all of them), along with Classroom (still holding on), Emergency and Mistys (later Legs), Kitten Club and even when Miss Dino's was often standing room only, Spicy girls was on Pattayaland 1 and a half decent Go Go worth a visit in its own right (served the best "White Russians" in town) I know Classroom and possibly one half of the GoGo attached to the Penthouse (other half being a ladyboy club) are the only female clubs on the street now. I think the Classroom is holding on due to customer loyalty only, and to be honest the writing was on the wall for this street a long time ago. Such a shame.

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