Evil Penevil

There are no flights any longer on any carrier that go directly (non-stop) to the U.S. from Thailand. Delta still flies into/out of BKK (from Narita) on its own metal and there are gate checks, which I never found much of a bother in any case. Over the past 10 years, I took UA flights between BKK and Narita at least 40 times and never once had to remove my shoes at the gate. Evil

I paid a return visit to Mum Aroi yesterday evening. The food was as good as ever, but this time round, the service proved to e slow, although not otherwise problematic. We had to wait a long time to place our initial order, but once it had been taken, the food came relatively quickly and without any misses. We had asked for and been given a seaside table, so I amused myself with taking pics of the sunset while waiting to order. I didn't mind the wait, but a certain young lady who had accompanied wasn't happy. She declared the wait staff at Pupen "take good care" of guests while the staff at Mum Aroi was rather nonchalant. I don't it's deliberate. Yesterday they had a huge number of guests that streamed out of tour buses. Virtually all were Asians and mostly Thais. I saw only a few other farang. We had wanted to crab, but it was already sold out, even though we got there at 5.45 p.m. The two ladies split a plate of oysters: We all shared the deep-fried sea bass in soy sauce. I don't know the name in Thai, but the soup was spicy and sour with fish eggs. I really liked it because of the strong lime taste. We ordered two other dishes as well, but I didn't take photos of them. The ladies had a spicy seafood salad and we all shared a big plate of steamed shrimp which was particularly good. This dessert won't make you fat. The total cost of the food for the three of us was 1,500 baht. The place is truly huge and while not crowded, it was indeed busy, which can cause problems with the service. What follows are pics of the view from our table. The sky was cloudy, so there wasn't much of a sunset. Evil

That doesn't make sense. I can understand that the guards might not allow tourists back into Thailand, but why, if the tourist has a visa to Myanmar, wouldn't they allow him to leave? Evil

Great photos, thanks! I first saw the Changing of the Guards when I was 16 and the memory of it has remained vivid ever since. Evil

Sukishi bills itself a "charcoal grill and Japanese restaurant." Presumably the charcoal grill part is Korean and the rest of the menu Japanese inspired. It's located on the 5th floor of Central Festival Mall on 2nd Road. It's usually busy but not packed. Most of the guests are Thais and other Asians. There are several hotpot and other table-top cooking restaurants on the 5th and 6th floors of Central Festival and I consider it my favorite. I really like the way the charcoal grill cooks the food and Sukishi features excellent raw ingredients. It also has very fresh sushi and sashimi and good prepared dishes. Appetizers: Soup: ... Sashimi: I ordered the phoenix plate of three kinds of fish mainly because I wanted to take a photo of it, but it tasted excellent. The Korean-inspired dipping sauce and additions to it: ... The main platter of grill ingredients: Extra mushrooms: The grill in various stages of action. The cost of meal for three, including beverages (no alcohol) was 2,200 baht. However, a lot of that went to the sashimi and appetizers. The phoenix plate alone cost nearly 400 baht. By choosing one of the set platters of ingredients and accompanying it with rice, three could probably eat a filling meal for about 700 baht. Evil

I haven't noticed any changes or problems with the P-A site, nor have there been any posts on P-A about others experiencing similar difficulties to what you describe. Two suggestions: 1) Do you use only one browser? If so, try using another one to see if there's any difference. 2) Go down to the bottom of the page and find Change Theme in tiny letters on the left side of the page. Click on it to see if you can restore the font, etc. to its former appearance. You have to be logged in to do that. Evil

You "check in" your shoes and get a claim ticket for them. The shoes are kept on a shelf behind a manned counter. Yes, Julian Beever and several others (see posts #6 and #9). Evil

I ate there with two Thai ladies who knew the score, so no need for a tutorial. But I'm sure that if a customer didn't understand, the staff would be willing to explain, assuming a common language was shared. You order sets or individual trays of raw ingredients at fixed prices. It's not all you can eat for a fixed price, There are also prepared dishes, like our appetizers, that can be ordered, but I didn't pay much attention to that part of the menu. I'll have to go back and look. Evil

A few days ago, I had lunch at Bar B Q Plaza on the 5th floor of Central Festival Mall. I'd passed by it many times, but had never ventured inside. That's largely because the young lady with whom I dine out most often is fairly set in her ways. She has her favorite restaurants and is unwilling to visit new ones, but she agreed to give Bar B Q Plaza a try. Make no mistake- Bar B Q Plaza serves Japanese-influenced Thai food. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with U.S.-style barbecue. The food is cooked at the diners' tables on a combination grill and hotpot. The meat and some vegetables are grilled on the dome-shaped part, while the seafood and some vegetables are boiled in the lower section. I don't know if there is a correct term in Thai or Japanese for this particular type of table-top preparation. It's not like the one-track grilling or hotpot cooking or you find in other restaurants. In action, it looks like this: The grill "dome" is greased with the rendered fat from bacon and pork, then the thin slices of beef and pork are placed on it. They cook through in just a few seconds. The seafood and most vegetables are dropped in the boiling water (not broth). A generous portion of dipping sauce that can be "customized" with chiles, garlic and lime juice is given to each diner. The first sample bowl (of many): We also had some appetizers: crab cakes, spring rolls and fried mushrooms. I liked Bar B Q Plaza. It was interesting to taste the grilled beef, pork, bacon and chicken as well as the hotpot-cooked seafood and vegetables, then drink the broth. The appetizers were also tasty. It was good value for money. For three people, it cost 1,200 baht, including drinks. When we arrived at 1.30 p.m., the restaurant was full and we had to wait a couple of minutes for table. The crowd thin out considerably as we ate and there were only a few customers by the time we were finished. Evil

Yes, Julian Beever is certainly a well-known name in the 3D-art genre. You can see some of his works, as well as works by others, here. Evil

I had lunch at Sizzler a couple of days ago- not so much because I wanted to eat there, but because a certain young lady did. She loves the combination of the salad bar and steak. I didn't feel very hungry, so I ordered the teriyaki chopped beef, one of the lunch specials for 199 baht. It came with thick-cut potato wedges, a slice of Texas toast and a minuscule portion of cole slaw. The beef patty was quite small but tasted fine. Since the lunch specials give full access to the salad bar, there's no risk of going home hungry. The girls had the New York Steak, which I also tasted. It was surprisingly tender for Thai beef and cooked exactly as ordered. There was a clear difference between "medium rare" and "medium," which isn't always the case in Thailand. We got there at 1.45 p.m., 15 minutes before the lunch specials end. That's a bad time to go, as the salad bar had been ravages by the Russians and for some reason, the empty bowls weren't being refilled. The staff at Sizzler always has a chore keeping up the Russians, but was noticeable they'd stopped trying at that point. It is a bit off-putting, not to mention dangerous, to be at a salad bar or any other buffet-style setup at the same time as Russians. A plague of locusts; the Visigoths sacking Rome; the Red Army plundering Berlin in 1945 - those are the best comparisons to what happened at the salad bar that afternoon. And they then ate with gluttony the likes of which isn't even described in the Bible. Of course, I have witnessed some striking examples of bad buffet behavior from plain vanilla farangs as well, but in a different setting. When the balloon chasers are in action at free spreads, it's like a scene from Night of the Living Dead. Don't leave your arm extended too long or someone will start to gnaw on it. But for sheer constancy and aggressiveness, Russians take the gold medal in buffet greed. After an appropriate complaint from one of the girls about the diminished state of the buffet table, the bowls were refilled, but not before 2.00 p.m. when the lunch specials ended. There was less pushing shoving at the buffet after 2 p.m. as well. Evil

Art in Paradise is a 3D art gallery on Soi 1, about 100 meters in from 2nd Road. It is located on the east stretch of Soi 1 (on your right [edit in] as you ride the baht bus north on 2nd Road), not the section of Soi 1 that runs between Beach Road and 2nd Rd. The gallery bills itself as the "world's largest 3D art museum." I have no idea if that is true, but it is pretty big and has several hundred paintings and other displays on two floors. The paintings create optical illusions which result in some cool effects and photos. The gallery also attracts big crowds, mostly Thais and Koreans (it is owned by a Korean group), but also quite a few Russians. Admission is 150 baht for Thais and 350 baht for foreigners. I went there with two Thai girls and one reacted very strongly to the "double pricing. She told them that I had lived in Pattaya for 2 1/2 years and should pay the Thai price, even if I didn't have my passport or other document with me. She got pretty insistent and the ticket seller finally relented. That probably had more to do with the people backing up behind us than the strength of her arguments, but in any case, I got in for 150 baht. My angel: What's also interesting is there's a "spa" and massage parlor right across the street from the gallery. More pics from inside the gallery. Thai girls love the place and want their pictures taken in front of just about every painting. It takes 60 to 90 minutes to do the whole gallery, depending on the crowds. It's open 9.00 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and is busiest in the afternoon and early evening.

The bars of Pattaya may be suffering from a lack of customers, but that doesn't apply to the Food Park in the lower level of Central Festival Mall on 2nd Road. The place is crowded each and every day, mostly with Russians, Thais and other Asians. I took the pics below at about 2.30 p.m. on March 24. It wasn't (EDIT IN to add negative) prime time, but there were an awful lot of people eating there. The supermarket next to the Food Park was also doing a roaring trade, same-same with McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and the pharmacies. And the food at the Food Park? It rates a unenthusiastic "OK" from me, but considering all the better options close by, I can see any reason to eat there. The crowded long-table format doesn't appeal to me, either. In a year of living at View Talay 6 (next door to Central Festival), I ate twice at the Food Park and that was because a friend wanted to eat there. Evil

But she is from Brooklyn! I had it last night and it was delicious. Fresh shrimp, properly cooked pasta and good quality, finely diced ham added to the sauce for extra flavor. The garlic bread was a nice touch, especially with the fresh garlic on top. The main dish cost 190 baht plus 50 baht for my Diet Coke, 240 baht total. The discount gave me 19 baht off, which I left as a tip. Better looking tomato slices this time round. Yesterday I was in the Brooklyn Diner at about 10 p.m. There were eight other customers at the time and all ordered pizza. A very popular item! Evil

Thank you! Starting to feel hungry now. Rvil

The bacon on the burger in the pic was most definitely cooked, but it wasn't American style "streaky" bacon. It was more the UK style of back bacon. Evil

It may depend on which service provider you're using. My building is on True and I haven't noticed any problems at all. Evil

Thank you! I'll go out and take more if it stops raining. I wouldn't want to get wet. Evil

I have a waterproof Pentax point-and-shoot; no need to cover it. I also have a rain sleeve for my Canon DSLR, but I'm very hesitant to put it to the test as some of the guys with the high-powered cannons aim for cameras, so I just used the Pentax. Evil

I took these pics this afternoon between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Soi 7 and then a stretch of Beach Road. I'm sorry some have blurry patches, but I was in the thick of things and my camera was constantly drenched. For those who enjoy Songkran in Pattaya, it's a reminder of the fun you're missing if you're not in town now. For those who dislike all the water throwing, it's reinforcement. It actually wasn't too bad this afternoon. Still plenty of the heavy duty water cannons around, but they were mostly used responsibly. Things were pretty mild compared to what I've seen in the past and may well see again this year later in the week. Evil Bad spot to be working on a car engine!

Very good pics! Evil

The Brooklyn Diner serves up pizza, burgers, pasta and other familiar Western fare, plus some Thai food. It's located on Soi BuaKhao across from the entrance to Soi LK Metro. It's not a large or fancy restaurant, but very clean and functional. Most importantly, the food is good. The pizza at Brooklyn Diner has earned a place among the best available in Pattaya. I opted for the 9" meat lovers' pizza and it was great - a thin, crispy crust and the right combination of sauce and toppings. Like Baby Bear's porridge in the story of Goldilocks, it was just right. The burgers at Brooklyn Diner are also very good. Tonight I had the bacon cheeseburger for 200 baht. It came with U.S.-style French fries and raw veggies (slices of tomato, onion, cucumber and dill pickle) that could be placed in the burger or eaten on their own. The bun, often the most neglected component in a hamburger, was very light, airy and properly toasted with a slightly crispy outer crust. Unlike a lot of burger buns, the one on Brooklyn Diner's burger enchanced the meat and cheese. The beef patty was of good quality and seasoned and cooked properly. The bacon added real flavor and not just saltiness. I pretty much eat my burgers without any sauces or condiments, but plenty were available, including ketchup, barbecue sauce, Tabasco, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce and several others. The weakest link in the meal had to be the fries, which weren't cooked long enough for my taste. Not a huge factor for me personally as I seldom eat more than a couple with any burger, but a French-fry lover would have been disappointed. Bottom line - I keep going back to the Brooklyn Diner for the pizza and burgers. Some day I'll have to try some of the other dishes, but my craving for pizza or a cheeseburger overwhelms me every time I've stepped in so far. Evil

Tequila Reef gets mixed reviews, but whether it's luck or the hand of Buddha, I've only had good experiences there. It's important to keep in mind Tequila Reef is more than just a Tex Mex restaurant. It has a number of dishes on the menu that reflect several different regional cuisines (Cajun, Creole, southern barbecue) as well as standard U.S. favorites like hamburgers, hot dogs and Philly cheese steaks, plus a fairly extensive Thai menu. REAL Mexican food is different from Tex Mex. I doubt that any restaurant that served what's considered REAL food from central and southern Mexico would be popular in Pattaya. Remember, too, not all people are adventurous diners. A friend from the UK once accompanied me to TR and he ordered fish 'n chips. That's the last dish I'd order in a Tex-Mex-themed restaurant, but he preferred to stick with food with which he was familiar. He thought the fish 'n chips had been OK at TR, but the margaritas were his favorite. Anyway, some photos from recent meals at TR. Last time out, I saw the biggest assemblage of non-Russian farang women in one place as I can ever remember seeing in Pattaya. Evil

The Soi BuKhao - LK Metro area is building up quite a variety of good places to eat at a reasonable price. Taco House is a recent addition in the Tex Mex category. Popular items (tacos, burritos, quesadillas, chili con carne, nachos, burgers, etc.) are served fast-food style, but are nevertheless tasty and inexpensive. Remember, Taco House serves Tex Mex, which isn't the same as Mexican food. Taco house is across the street from the Sawasdee Siam and sandwiched between a currency exchange and a pharmacy. The closet familiar landmark for many would be Pook's Bar. Behind- a classic beef taco with the fixings (75 baht). In front - Tequilla lime grilled chicken taco on a soft flour tortilla (65 baht). A classic beef taco without the extras (65 baht). Chili con carne with cornbread (140 baht). For those who don't favor cornbread, the chili con carne can also be served with rice or chips. The mucho grande burrito, rather filling at 190 baht. You have a choice of meats (ground beef, chicken, several types of pork) and rice, beans, salsa fresca (Pico de Gallo), cheese, sour cream, guacamole, etc. Not a big place - four tables for four, plus a few "counter seats." I do love menus on the wall! Evil