Evil Penevil

Israeli flight from Thailand faced attack by 'hostile elements' This is the second time such an incident has occurred in the past week, according to the report. By JERUSALEM POST STAFF FEBRUARY 18, 2024 15:31 Updated: FEBRUARY 18, 2024 22:08 "Hostile elements" attempted to take over the communication network of an El Al plane flying from Phuket to Ben-Gurion Airport on Saturday night and divert it from its destination, Israel's national airline confirmed on Sunday. The plane reached its destination safely. This is the second time such an incident has occurred in the past week, according to a KAN Reshet B report. (Note- KAN Reshet B is the Israeli national radio broadcaster). The incident took place over an area where the Iran-backed Houthis are active, although sources in Somalia told KAN that a group in the de-facto state Somaliland, which recently signed an agreement with Ethiopia, is responsible for the attempted attack. Crew noticed the attack and thwarted it During the incident, instructions were given to the crew that were different from their set route, raising concerns that someone was trying to damage the plane or lead it to dangerous areas, maybe even to conduct a kidnapping. (READ MORE)

Some upscale options: The InterContinental Pattaya Resort. The sunset view from its Infiniti restaurant is spectacular. If you're looking for a high-class Christmas dinner but don't want turkey and trimmings, this could be an option. And here are the details for the Christmas Day buffet and party. It looks to be an excellent choice for a very merry Christmas Day. The Hilton Pattaya: Dusit Thani:

A bunch of restaurants in no particular order. Fraser's in Jomtien and the Hideaway on Soi 15 not far from Soi Buakhao. The Nest on Soi Diana near LK Metro The Beefeater on Soi Diana has three sittings Dec. 24th and 25th: 5.00 p.m., 7.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Robin Hood Tavern at The Avenue has the year's most expensive Christmas dinner at 3,999 baht. The second sitting is already sold out, but places remain for the first sitting. I'm sure it's a very good dinner, but it would have to be heaven on a plate for me to pay 3,999 baht for a carvery dinner. That's more than double the buffet at the Hard Rock and about 1,500 baht more than the massive buffets at hotels like the Royal Cliff, Dusit Thani, Hilton, InterContinental, etc. It's a bold pricing decision by the Robin Hood, but appears to be succeeding. The Robin Hood must have a very devoted customer base! Two perennial Christmas dinner favorites, Nicky's and The Sportsman, are sold out. I'll include their ads so you can see what you missed. ,,,

Regular posters on Pattaya Talk will by now almost certainly have made their arrangements for Christmas dinner, but I'm starting this thread just in case someone hasn't or possibly their plans have fallen through at the last minute. What follows is a collection of restaurant Christmas dinner ads from Facebook, Web sites and other Pattaya boards. I'm not in Pattaya now, but I think it's interesting to see the wide range of options available for Christmas dinner. I've concentrated on traditional Christmas dinners in this thread, but not all of them are turkey with trimmings. If you've never tried a Swedish Christmas buffet for instance, you might want to give it try once in your life. Several European countries have the main Christmas meal on Christmas Eve, so you have a chance for something new on Dec 24 and the turkey dinner of the English-speaking countries on Dec 25. It's certainly OK to splurge at Christmas! If you are a turkey fanatic (I am!), you could try the French dinde aux marrons (turkey stuffed with chestnuts) along with (potato) gratin dauphinois, haricot verts almondine (green beans with almonds), a cheese table and a bûche de Noël (Yule log) for dessert. A traditional French Christmas dinner is real culinary experience. And if you don't want traditional Christmas dinner in any form, Pattaya has a huge variety of other options: Thai, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Tex Mex, Japanese, steak, pizza, burgers, whatever. From fine dining in world class to the cheapest street food, Pattaya has it all. I'll begin with some of my favorites when I lived in Pattaya. The Christmas buffet at the Starz Diner at the Hard Rock Hotel topped my list. In terms of quality and variety of food, entertainment and intangible Christmas spirit, I found it the best. It's not cheap but is good value for money.. I can no longer do justice to huge buffets, but Thai girls, and especially Thai children, will absolutely love it. Starz is also big enough it will have room even if you leave booking very late. I don't know if they just didn't list everything on the menu below or if they have cut back on the size of the buffet, but when I ate there in 2019, the buffet included raw oysters, sushi and sashimi as well as various Thai, Japanese and Chinese dishes. I had a Thai girl with me and I still can't figure how such a small person- max 40 kilos- could pack in so much food. She didn't touch the farang stuff except for the desserts, but had multiple plates of the seafood, sushi and Asian dishes. On top of that she must have consumed 10,000 calories in desserts. We were there two hours and she was chewing something 90% of the time, sweet stuff the last 60 minutes. Christmas pudding, pie, cake, cookies, candies, Yule log, she had it all!!! Never seen anything like that in my life, even at a casino buffet in Las Vegas. If you're looking for an all-you-can-eat Christmas buffet with U.S.-style food, then Coop's spread at the Chik-N-Coop Bar is the best value for money in town. It's 600 baht for all the turkey, sides and trimmings you can pack in. Coop's Christmas buffet is sold out every year, so get your ticket soon. Another great choice for those of you who prefer a U.S.-style Christmas dinner is TiggleBitties Tavern at a reasonable 895 baht. This is another place that is always sold out. This is just the beginning, so hold on!

VLogging a Dead Horse is one of the bigger scumbags in Thailand. I've only watched a couple of his YouTube videos, but they have been among the worst I've seen. The guy has no respect for Thai people or their culture. In one video he manages to eat a breakfast buffet at an international resort in Thailand without paying. Normally what happens in such cases is that the hotel management will hold a Thai staffer responsible for the retail value of the unpaid breakfast. Since buffet breakfasts at the big international hotels cost 800 to 1,000 baht or even more, that could be two or three days wages for the Thai server. I have way less than zero respect for any farang who pulls stunts like that on vulnerable Thais. I just hope karma hits Sean King hard one day. Maybe a Thai official will see one of the vids where he mocks Buddh*sm, monks and other Thai institutions. I don't think the fool realizes how much trouble in which he could find himself. Evil

A man from (insert whatever country you like- or dislike) was living in the U.S. and married to an American woman. The couple takes a trip back to his homeland so he can show her where he comes from, a tiny farming village deep in the countryside. It doesn't take many minutes for him to show her everything. They come to a large tree on the outskirts of the village and he says, "I had my first sexual experience under that tree." "Wow," responds his wife. "It seems very open. Didn't anyone see you?" Yes," said the husband. "Her mother watched the whole time." "Oh my god," answered the wife. "What did she say?" And the man answered: "Baaaaah!"

I'll start with this golden oldie: A man on a transcontinental flight from New York to San Francisco finds much to his delight that he is seated next to a very beautiful young woman. As soon as he fastens his seatbelt, he asks her politely," Are you traveling for business or leisure?" "Business," she answers with a bright smile. "I'm attending the National Convention of Sexologists." "Wow! That's interesting," says the man. "Are you a delegate to the convention?" "No, I'm a lecturer," she responded. "I use my research to debunk some of the popular myths about sexuality.." "Really?", he said with a hint of surprise. "What myths are those?" "Well," she explained, "one popular myth is that African-American men are the most well endowed when, in fact, it's indigenous Native American men who are most likely to possess that trait. "Another popular myth is that French men are the best lovers, when actually it is the men of Greek descent. "We have also found that the best potential lovers in all categories are the Irish." The man thought things were looking very promising. He would be sitting for at least six hours next to a beautiful young woman who appeared uninhibited . That would be enough time to get to know her a bit and ask for a date. He was pondering the right reply when the woman said: "I hope I haven't spoken out of place. I don't even know your name!" "Tonto," he replied. "Tonto Papadopoulos and I'm from Dublin."

Assorted Christmas menus:

Most members of Pattaya Talk will already have made arrangements for Christmas Dinner, but in case you haven't, what follows are menus from the Web sites of various Pattaya restaurants. I'll start with some old reliable favorites, which also happen to be among the less expensive. The all-you-can-eat buffet at Chik-N-Coop bar is probably the best value-for-money Christmas dinner in town. Coop's buffet always tastes just like your Mom made, assuming you had an American mom. Tigglebitties Tavern is usually sold out before Christmas, so best to jump now if you're interested. Another that is usually sold out: Some less expensive options: Nicky's is almost certainly sold out by now: And a good option, but more expensive: In the past, the Christmas buffet at Starz Diner at the Hard Rock Hotel was one of the best options in Pattaya. It featured a big selection of food, ranging from traditional Christmas fare to sushi and plenty of fresh seafood, plus a huge table of desserts. I was afraid the TG I had with me one year was going to eat herself into a coma the way she was packing in the raw oysters, sushi and other seafood, then a heavy load of desserts on top of it. It's a great place for families for Christmas as they have a lot of activities/entertainment that appeals to kids.

According to its Facebook page, the Marquee Bar has raised the price of its Sunday roast dinners to 120 baht from 100 baht. Roast dinners are available on Wednesdays as well as Sundays. . PreCovid the Marquee was doing about 200 roast dinner covers every Sunday and and they were always sold out by early evening. I had the roast chicken dinner quite a few times and was always happy with it. I didn't much care for the beef or pork variations- industrial block meat- but you can't expect too much for what was then 100 baht. Chicken was fine, though, and a big enough portion for me. Evil

I got this email from Kinnaree: I don't know if it's the same offer as pre-Covid, but it used to be the Sunday roast was free if you had a high-enough tab. Evil

A couple of "walk-through" videos on YouTube. The BTS link looks like a decent option if you only have light carry-on luggage, but I wonder how much time you save considering all the walking involved, especially from international arrivals at DMK. The big problem I found with the AirLink from Swampy was buying the tokens at the Phaya Thai station to connect with the other BTS lines. AirLink was popular with the Russian, Indian and Chinese groups, so there was a big crush of people (no real queues) at the machines which sold tokens. Often the foreign tourists didn't know how the kiosks worked or didn't have coins, which made waiting times long- like 20 or 30 minutes- and caused considerable frustration among Thais in a hurry to get home. Bottom line: It's easier and usually faster to take a taxi or even the bus from DMK, whether your ultimate destination is downtown Bangkok or Pattaya. The first video is an optimistic "walk-through" of getting to DMK with the Asoke MRT station. A lot of stairs involved. Second vid covers ALL options for getting from DMK to various points in Bangkok. The BTS option starts at 7.00. DMK has definitely improved the taxi system since the days I took taxis from DMK. Evil

Authorities say the building is likely to collapse. UPDATE: Gas leak believed to be cause of massive explosion at restaurant in the center of Pattaya Evil

Massive explosion obliterates Thai restaurants and buildings in the center of Pattaya, one Laotian worker seriously injuried I've eaten in Govindam, the Indian restaurant said to have sustained minor damage. It's located on Pattaya Klang near 2nd Road. The explosion appears to have occurred in a subsoi off Klang. Lucky it occurred at 5.30 a.m. and not 5.30 p.m. Evil

Friends who stayed at the Nana in the past few months have mixed opinions. Some say it's a dump to be avoided, others say it's at least acceptable. I believe the difference is whether you get a refurbished room. It's been 10 years since I stayed at the Nana and that was only for one night. I got one of the (then) recently refurbished rooms and it was OK. The hotel itself was quite shabby, with dark and dingy corridors. The Nana was built quickly and cheaply in 1963 and very little money has been spent on maintaining it. The Nana needs a massive renovation, but that's not likely to happen. Bottom line; Much better options than the Nana can be found nearby. The only reason to pick the Nana in 2022 is to say you've stayed there or for a sense of nostalgia. Evil

I haven't been in Pattaya for 30 months, but I try to contribute to the board by re-posting FB and Web site menus and specials for inexpensive food. To my knowledge, Cheap Charlie's is still on Buakhao, but I don't know about the discount card. Maybe someone with boots on the ground can ask or you could send a message via CC's FB page? Evil

The Queen Victoria Inn is a venerable and popular restaurant and guest house that's been serving visitors to Pattaya for more than two decades. I always found it a reliable and inexpensive place to have a meal or an ale while taking a break from the bustle of Soi 6. My standard disclaimer: I haven't been in Pattaya since late January 2020, so I can't know what's happened ass Pattaya emerges from the Covid restrictions. I'm posted the Queen Vic menu for informative purposes. Those with boots on the ground will have to write the reviews. The queen Vic has plenty of specials and ordinary menu items under 300 baht. It also has three weekly all-you-can-eat buffets, but the curry and U.K.-style Chinese buffets are 325 baht and the Sunday carvery is 370 baht. You can find more info on the buffets on the Queen Vic Web site. The QV Facebook page says they have begun offering Philly cheesesteaks, but I couldn't see any details regarding price. The Nordic breakfast (scrambled eggs and smoked salmon) at 180 baht was a favorite of mine.

I saw the Wombat & Kiwi Bar (corner of Soi 9, Jomtien Beach Road) mentioned on another board, so I went to their Facebook page. The prices are very low: This is their Monday special: 291797913_571124234489915_3028528327563502842_n.mp4 They also have "all-you-can-eat" specials for 99 baht! I don't like to link directly to Facebook, but it's easy to find the details for anyone who's interested. They also have a Sunday roast for 99 or 150 baht. Since I've been in the U.S. for the past 30 months, I can't vouch for the quality of the food. But at least one "boots-on-ground" reviewer whose judgment I trust says it's good and definitely value for money. Evil

This week's specials at Cheap Charlie's, taken from its Facebook page. Very low prices on the specials and only 99 baht with Cheap Charlie's Reward Card.

This is an oldie, but one of the best Western series ever made. the acting is very strong with a lot of character development and a strong plot.

My friend isn't exactly effervescent with praise, but he has only good things to say about Tik. On the few occasions there has been a problem with his booking or his stay, she has always resolved it quickly and to his satisfaction. He's impressed by her professionalism and he is not easily impressed. Unlike some farang with similar operations, DW has always remained within the boundaries of Thai law. Farang can rent out condos they own without a work permit, but a Thai subject has to manage the rental. Farang are only allowed to be passive owners; they can't handle bookings or maintenance , nor can they do marketing without a work permit. Because Tik handles the business side, everything is legit. Evil

According to the Web site, Dancewatcher has condos in VT1A, VT2A, VT5C and VT6. According to my friend who has used Dancewatcher's services numerous times over the years, Tik (DW's girlfriend) also acts as an agent for several condos and villas in other locations in Jomtien. Evil

It sounds as if it could be Dancewatchers Condo & Apartment Rentals, which is still in operation. A friend of mine booked a condo through Dancewatchers for a visit in May. The email address is dancewatchers@gmail.com and there's a contact form on the Web site. Evil