Evil Penevil

The Sunday dinner buffet at Dicey Reilly's in front of the Marriott Hotel on 2nd Road was good value for money at 350 baht. Roast beef, turkey, roast pork, veggies (roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, cauliflower gratin, Brussels sprouts), plus beef stew, a salad bar, small cakes and fruit. The food was fresh and the buffet bowls were topped up regularly. Drinks were a bit expensive if you didn't get a Happy Hour special. Evil I quite liked the roast pumpkin.

You can order a SafePass card from BOA for $19.95. It's about the size of a credit card and it generates an access code whenever you need one. With SafePass, you can transfer money in and out of your account while outside the U.S. No need for an authentication code to be sent by phone. You can read more here. However, you need to activate the SafePass card from within the U.S. It can be done while you're outside the U.S., but it then becomes a complicated process and you must have someone to help you. You can't activate it on your own while outside the U.S., but once activated, there is no problem in using it abroad. To my knowledge, you can transfer $1,000 without a SafePass code. There's also a number to call if you don't have access to the mobile device to which the telephone code would be sent, but that requires a long wait in a phone queue and then answering a bunch of security questions. Evil

Malaysian Leader Says Flight 370 Ended in Indian Ocean By THOMAS FULLER and CHRIS BUCKLEY MARCH 24, 2014 Continue reading the main storyVideo The path of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean, Prime Minister Najib Razak said at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur. PEARCE AIR FORCE BASE, Australia — Malaysia’s prime minister said Monday that further analysis of satellite data confirmed that the missing Malaysian airliner went down in the southern Indian Ocean with its passengers and crew. The announcement narrowed the search area but left many questions unanswered about why it flew to such a remote part of the world. Experts had previously held out the possibility that the jet could have flown north instead, toward Central Asia, but the new data showed that it could have gone only south, said the prime minister, Najib Razak.

The difference covers the time it takes for the masseuse to get between the MP and the customer's residence and back to the shop, plus whatever expense is involved in making the round trip. And if outcall massage weren't marginally better paid than incall, none of the ladies would be likely to bother to do outcall. Evil

Just to clarify a couple of points. There's a separate agency called Condo 6 (or similar) that rents out the units with a three-month minimum. Some of its landlords require a 12-month rental. VTSix will rent out on a nightly or weekly basis. There are several other agencies that rent out condos for short-term stays in VT 6. Dancewatcher's is probably the best known and Honey's is also widely used. The furnishing and outfitting of the condos that are offered can vary considerably within each agency. Evil

VTSix Condo Service is one of several agencies that rents out condos on a short-term basis in View Talay 6 (2nd Road near Central Festival Mall). I've used their services several times, both for myself and when arranging accommodation in Pattaya for friends and family. I can highly recommend VTSix. The staff is very helpful and offer nice condo-style rooms at reasonable prices. You can read more about VTSix here. The last time I used VTSix' services was about a month ago. Because I between yearly condo rentals, I needed a room for one night only, preferably in VT 6 itself. This was the room I got for 2,500 baht/night. It was a 100-sq m one-bedroom unit on the 24th floor. It featured a full kitchen, two balconies and one-and-a-half baths, including a jacuzzi tub in the bedroom. The bed was very comfortable. It was adequately furnished, but nothing special aside from a heavy-duty "home theater" system. My only criticism would be that the furniture wasn't hospitality grade, but a cheaper variety that showed dings and scratches. The entrance and kitchen: The guest toilet: The living room: Balconies: Bedroom: Balcony views: Bottom line: Great value for money at a central Pattaya location. Evil

Wow! I wonder what a studio apartment that goes for 2,000-3,000 baht/month looks like. I've never heard of a room for farang that cheap in Pattaya. In which part of town could you find such a room? It's extremely easy to find an apartment in Pattaya; it won't take more than an afternoon. But 2,000-3,000 baht/month is the bottom end of the bottom end of the market. Evil

I'm assuming you have a 30-day Tourist Visa Waiver. Technically, it can't be extended, but you can get permission to stay an additional 7 days in Thailand. You can apply for visa extensions at the Immigration Office on Soi 7 off Chaeng Watana Road from Monday to Friday, http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/location1.html. The cost is 1,900 baht. Or you can pay a visa agency an extra 500 baht or so to do it for you. But there are other ways to handle the situation. If it's only only a matter of one or two days, you just go to the airport and hope the Immigration officer can't be bothered. I've done that four times and have never been asked to pay the overstay penalty. But you can't count on that happening. In the worst case, you could be asked to pay 500 baht per overstay day. According to the lady at First Class Visas on Soi 6, it's normal practice to give a 24-hour grace period for overstays, so the penalty is payable from the second day. But if you plan on staying three to seven extra days, then it's best to get the extension at the BKK Immigration office or jump on one of the runs to the Cambodian border. Evil

One of the better speculation pieces on the fate of Flight 360: Missing Airliner May Have Reached Central Asia. Could the Passengers Still Be Alive? Evil

I took that to mean that the authorities weren't excluding other possibilities. The thrust of his statement seemed to indicate the investigation was being steered towards the idea that the disappearance had been "deliberate action by someone on the plane." It also depends on what definition of "hijacking" is used. Evil

From Time: "Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced at a press conference on Saturday that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared a week ago with 239 people aboard, appeared to be intentionally steered off-course by at least one person with considerable flying experience. 'This has been a situation without precedent,' said Najib, adding that the plane’s disappearance was the result of a 'deliberate action by someone on the plane.' Authorities are very confident that the jet’s transponder was disabled during the flight, he added, and that the last satellite communication from the aircraft came about seven hours after takeoff. The investigation has been “refocused” into the passengers and crew members." Evil

"Conspiracy" is the governing noun in this case. "Maybe even aliens" is a dependent clause, so "aliens" doesn't determine the form of the verb. Evil

if it turns out it crashed into the Indiana Ocean, then I will indeed believe some vast conspiracy, maybe even aliens, was behind it. Evil

I don't know anything about Pluak Daeng, so I can't give you any specific advice about the area. But what I learned in 25 years as an expat, working and living in 10 different countries on three continents, is that it's usually best to live as close to your place of work as possible so as to minimize the time it takes to commute. If you aren't going to be spending a lot of time in bars, you can probably find a house or condo that holds a standard equal to that available in Pattaya but doesn't involve a 30-minute-plus drive in heavy traffic getting to/from the office. My suggestion would be to ask a member of the staff of the company where you'll be working to book a hotel close to the office, then when you arrive, ask the local staff members of your company about long-term housing. Don't commit to any long-term rental until you've actually seen the place. Evil

At least one of the passports was on the Interpol list of stolen travel documents. Both should have been. Evil

And I'm flying to Vietnam on Monday. Evil

And it wouldn't be hard to guess who falls into each category. Nice decision on your part to close for Songkran. Evil

The guys with wooden heads? Evil

Update from Nongjai. The young lady and I were both hungry so we had a pretty big meal. Very tasty! ... Deep-fried fish Pork with basil ... Gang (kaeng) som, or sour Thai curry Seafood platter ... Som tam Thai The first mouthful on my plate Dessert Flambe demonstrations are popular at Nongjai .. ..

Ouch! That pasta al pesto sure didn't look right. Sometimes restaurants try to over-reach themselves. The owner should probably delete pasta al pesto from the menu. I can't imagine anyone ordering it a second time. Evil :

I've been told that good-quality Italian-style pasta has to be imported and the tariffs are high, which has to be passed on to the customer. Evil

No, no garlic butter, but I'm sure that could be arranged. They were accompanied by a mustardy sauce, a vinegar sauce and lime slices. Yes, they are very similar to escargot. Evil

You can find the full menu at http://www.mama-cafe-pattaya.com/ Some sample pages: .. Evil

Soi 6 is more noted in the minds of most for DATY than fine dining, but Mama's Cafe near the intersection with Beach Road serves some very good food. I've yet to have a disappointing meal there. It serves French, Italian and Thai food bistro style. [ Last night we began with plates of North Atlantic oysters and whelks (sea snails) imported from France. The raw oysters were small but packed a lot of flavor. The whelks had been cooked by the owner of Mama's Cafe and were delicious. The young lady eating with me had a steak that came with a small side order of salad and fried potatoes. The steak was cooked to order (medium) and very tender for Thai beef. It was a large portion of meat and she couldn't finish all of it, even with some help from me. I had a salmon filet baked in aluminum foil. It did wasn't overcooked, a common fate of salmon in Pattaya. It had just the right amount of lime, capers, white wine and dill added to accentuate the flavor of the salmon and not overwhelm it. Fresh fish should taste like fresh fish. Pizza is another speciality at Mama's and I consider the pies I've had there among the best available in Pattaya. They are thin-crust pizzas with a lot of American-style toppings. I prefer pizza in the traditional Italian style of one or two toppings, but Mama's pizza was nevertheless good and not an earthquake of flavors in my mouth. That's what a pizza crust should look like. On earlier occasions I had the homemade lasagna and squid with garlic, both excellent choices. I don't have any pics, but Mama's also has a wide selection of pasta and salad dishes. The menu features a variety of specialty coffees and dessert dishes. I can wholeheartedly recommend Mama's Cafe. It's worth a trip to Soi 6 just to eat there. Evil