Evil Penevil

Basically, it's a problem that can't be solved through tweaks by board owners or members. The fix has to come from Microsoft or Invision. Evil

Dangerous compared to what? There are a lot of neighborhoods in Western cities that are far more dangerous than Beach Road at 2.00 a.m., but BR in the wee hours is one of the riskier areas of Pattaya. In any case, all the decent (by BR standards) girls will have long since abandoned their strolls to the lady boys and yabba freaks, so it's more a case of BR being pointless rather than dangerous at 2.00 a.m. At that time, the WS and LK go go bars will still be open, although winding down. Many, many freelancers on WS at that hour and you have the disco scene until 5.00-6.00 a.m. No need to take any chances on Beach Road. Evil

This problem has been reported on quite a few boards of all types. Not an unusual situation for glitches to develop when a browser or board software is updated. Usually takes a few days for the relevant tech people to work things out, but the grousing about IE 11 has been going on for a week or more. Try clearing the IE cache, then restart your computer. If that doesn't help, no choice but to use a different browser until the bugs are ironed out. Evil

And here's my lunch today on Maui- an authentic Hawaiian curry dish, bought at 7-11: I don't know if I'd call it good, but it wasn't bad. The Japanese-style curry sauce was OK on the spam. Evil

Had a good meal the other night at Ruby's Diner in Terminal C (edit in to correct terminal) of Newark Liberty Airport. It was New England clam chowder in a bread bowl. Plenty of clams and bacon in the chowder, the bread bowl was delicious but I could only manage a bit of it when th chowder was gone. They also serve chili con carne in a bread bowl. Evil

I'm usually upbeat about Pattaya events, but I thought last night's show was disappointing. Nowhere near as good as in 2010 or 2011. Very repetitious compared with earlier years and with few spectacular effects. But still, you can't complain about the price and the audience clearly enjoyed it. I just hope next year will be better. Evil

I believe it peaked in 2011 with 10 foreign countries and Thailand participating. This year only four: China, Canada, Singapore and the U.S. The festival lost its sponsorship by the Ministry of Defense in 2012 and that took a heavy toll. It's the same four countries as last year. Evil

It's been expanded to include the two Shanghai airports and the airports serving Guangzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing. But remember, it's a possibility ONLY for those in transit by air. It doesn't apply if you're flying round-trip on direct flights to/from China. It's convenient for those with long lay-overs in a major Chinese airport or those trapped by delays that cause them to miss the connecting flight. It's also good for business travelers who are visiting several Asian cities and don't intend to remain more than 72 hours in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou. Also remember passengers with transit permits (as opposed to a transit visa) are limited to one city. You can't leave the metropolitan area of the airport where you arrived. I flew a lot of domestic flights in China in the 1980s and 1990s when I was working there, but my last intra-China flight was in 2007, so I don't really have any up-to-date first-hand info. The advice most give is that while the situation has much improved in recent years, allow yourself plenty of time to transfer between the international and domestic legs of the journey. It's still a very ponderous process to clear Chinese Immigration and Customs controls. If you can possibly manage it, don't check any luggage. It's time-consuming to collect checked luggage and then check it in again for the domestic flight. There can also be huge delays in collecting luggage at provincial airports. Evil

The 72-hour transit permit only applies if you are continuing on to a third country or region outside of China. You must have a regular tourist visa if you are returning directly to the same country from which you departed. If you fly Bangkok-Guangzhou-Bangkok, you wouldn't be eligible for the 72-hour transmit permit. If you fly Bangkok-Guangzhou-Singapore-Bangkok, you would be. The purpose of the transit permit is to encourage passengers on Chinese airlines with connecting flights at a Chinese airport to do a short stopover. Very often, there are loooong connecting times (12 hours or more) involving Chinese-flagged flights between N. America or Europe and final destinations in Thailand, Japan, etc. I believe Capital Airport in Beijing is the only one where you can apply for the 72-hour transit permit on arrival. At the other four airports, you have to notify the airline in advance, which then arranges the permit with the airport authorities. Marco Penevil

Thank you, gentlemen, for your offers to donate. For several reasons, I don't want to get involved in accepting electronic transfers of money. I'd suggest you donate to one of the groups or institutions that help children in Pattaya. I'll post the Web addresses to the Pattaya Orphanage, Mercy Center and Camillian Social Center and you can see how to donate to them. Again, thanks for your generous offer! Santa Penevil

Flights departing Thailand are very heavily booked just now, not sure about arrivals. I was in BKK during some of the past troubles. Unless you were near a demonstration area, you didn't notice anything. Yesterday I was at the U.S. Consulate and it was an ordinary day, maybe less traffic than usual getting in and out of Bangkok. In Pattaya a few years ago, the Red Shirts once massed in the sub-soi where I was living. I turned a corner and suddenly I'm in the middle of hundreds of Thaksin supporters. They were very friendly and happy to pose for photos. Evil

My balcony. Evil

When I was back in the U.S. in mid-October, the new $100 bills had just been introduced. I went to five different banks, none had any on hand on Oct. 24. I'll see if I have better luck this trip. Evil

I just heard back from the Pattaya Orphanage. They suggest we pay them a visit on Dec. 18 between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. They also asked if I would be willing to meet with the kids in their school for the deaf. So besides the 25 toddlers under three, there will be 37 deaf children between three and eight years of age who need presents. Time to head back to my workshop! Still plenty of room if anyone wants to join. The details of the visit to the Camillian Social Center haven't been finalized yet. Santa Penevil

Hotels, shops, baht buses, sidewalks and many restaurants will be crowded from about Dec. 20 through Jan. 10. On the peak days around Christmas and New Year's, they'll be hugely and unpleasantly crowded. But the situation isn't as dire in the bars. The most popular ones will be crowded and possibly standing-room-only in a few on Christmas and New Year's Eve, but otherwise they're OK. For every go go bar that's crowded, there will be 10 that aren't. Bar fines in some bars may go up on the peak Xmas and NY's days, but it's a myth that the girls' fees go up except maybe for a handful of the most in-demand girls. Bottom line: Everything outside of P4P very crowded, everything related to P4P has more customers than in low season, but not terribly crowded. I saw some beer bars that didn't have a single customer even on Christmas Eve. Sad, really. I don't know how they survive. The most popular places, like Jameson's or Punch and Judy, are booked weeks in advance. I don't know about the Queen Vic, but you'd be wise to fire off an email ASAP to find out about its Xmas dinner. The places that offer set-menu traditional Christmas dinners do usually have to be booked in advance. Evil

I'll buy it. Should be a good read on my upcoming trans-Pacific flight. Congrats on publication. Evil

Yup, if you appreciate margaritas that taste great and have a full effect, try Tequila Reef. One or two of them will set you up nicely. I can remember one afternoon in AC sitting in Tequila Reef and talking to the owner over some margaritas. I suddenly realized I was blasted. The taste was subtle and I hadn't noticed the drink was as potent as it was. Evil

The only trans-Pacific route United is dropping is Tokyo-Seattle route. It is also dropping some intra-Asia routes, including NRT-BKK. From the AP article: "United is also dropping some flights within Asia, including Tokyo-to-Bangkok, and using a smaller plane for Tokyo-to-Seoul. It will still connect passengers on those routes through partner ANA." There's a Mileage Plus number in the U.S. you can call to book award flights. The agents have often been able to book me on flight combinations I couldn't pull up myself through the online booking system. You can use your FF miles for hotel rooms and other things than flights, although reward flights are the most "cost effective" use of FF miles. There are some, but you have to book them far in advance, like six months. The other possibility is a few days before the flight departs, but that's a slim chance. United is shifting the aircraft from the canceled Asian routes to shorter routes in Europe it thinks will be more profitable. It believes the customers from BKK to NRT can be accommodated on the code share flights. But I hate ANA and will change from United if its the only option between BKK and NRT (Thai is OK in my book). I haven't checked lately, but in the past, you couldn't choose your seat in advance with ANA if you'd booked your flight through United. ANA was majorly uncooperative about giving me an aisle seat, even through I had a notarized doctor's letter stating I should have one for medical reasons. Evil

Not a problem. I often arrive with a lot of luggage (three big suitcases and a carry on) and it's never been a problem to get a "mini-van" taxi from the taxi rank. Mr T, Mr Toom or any other car service can book a mini-van or SUV for you if you prefer to go that route. Evil

According to the menu, the food service hours are noon to midnight, but I don't think the kitchen is fully functional yet. The menu does look good! When the Wok N Rok has been re-fitted and the food service is up to full speed, I'll drop by and take some pics. It's only a few minutes from where I live, so there's every possibility of me becoming a regular customer. Evil

Here's the info I got from United about the flight. As you can see, it lists the aircraft as 777-300ER, but it was a 777-200ER. It's just a computer coding error. I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy the Asiana First Class suite. I know I did. Evil