Evil Penevil

There was (is?) an Uncle Sawai or Swai. You can read about him here: Lung Sawai Seafood Restaurant. Evil

Blame it from the beginning on the Romans, French and English monks, but most of all on the failure of English-speaking countries to develop formal institutions capable of bringing spelling in line with modern pronunciation. English is stuck with a spelling system that goes back over 1,000 years and is now massively out-of-date. During the days of the Roman Empire, the classical Latin alphabet had only 23 letters (J, U and V weren't added until much later). There simply weren't enough Latin letters to express all the vowel and consonant sounds of the Anglo-Saxon languages, so early English m

Whenever the best restaurants in Pattaya are discussed, Mum Aroi is quickly mentioned. It's a mega-seafood restaurant on the beach in North Pattaya, more precisely on Naklua Road Soi 4. Depending on traffic, it can take 20 minutes or more to get to Mum Aroi from Central Pattaya by taxi or chartered baht bus. -- Most of the diners are Thais and other Asians, which is usually a indication the food is good. There may be seafood restaurants in Pattaya that hold the same standard as Mum Aroi, but none that is better, especially when it comes to the sheer number of dishes on the menu. And like s

Actually, I don't mind the dragon-like stewardesses; I regard them as "waitresses in the air" and I've never had problems with them bringing me my meals or drinks. More I don't need from them. I also stick with United because of the FF miles. United has one of, if not the best, frequent flyer programs. I haven't flown cattle class on a trans-Pacific or Atlantic flight in over five years (on Continental before the merger) because of the upgrades. And on the ground, United has been extremely helpful when there have been flight cancellations (not often, but it happens because of weather or con

Best of luck to everyone in their new roles! I look forward to visiting both Secrets and Baby Dolls when I get back from the U.S. I wonder if Larry will miss his role as Xenu, the head of the secretologists. Are there any plans to start a cult of Baby Dollogists? Evil

Many thanks for your pics! One feature I really liked was the the roomy storage bin under the window. I could stash my laptop there along with reading material and other items I needed in-flight without having to open the overhead bin. I have some more pics I'll post of the United flight between Frankfurt and Newark. It was supposed to be in Global First, but United switched planes to two-cabin metal and I ended up in biz. It wasn't bad, the United biz seats are lie flat and very comfortable, but the service didn't come within light-years of Thai's. Just one illustration: the boarding card

It cost me US $71.32 - and 70,000 frequent-flyer miles. But if you pay for all of it in hard money, I believe the cost is about US $13,000. Evil

Thank you! I landed at Newark Liberty a few hours ago and am now safely ensconced in my hotel. She had asked me if I had wanted to be woken up two hours before landing so I could eat breakfast. I said yes. I noticed a few other passengers in the first-class cabin had elected to sleep and were woken up about an hour before landing. Evil

I'm posting this from the transit lounge of the Frankfurt airport as I await my flight to Newark Liberty. I flew in Thai Royal First from Bangkok. It was quite an experience. I'd never flown first class on Thai. I have flown in first class on other airlines, but it was nothing like first class on Thai. At Swampy, as soon as I entered the Royal First check-in area, I got my own "assistant" who took care of my suitcase and carry-on bag. You don't stand at a counter to check in, but the assistant takes your passport and you sit in an armchair and are served a botle of water.

To night at Bachelor Club (LK Metro), 125 baht; Crystal Club (LK Metro), 110 baht; and Sensations (WS), 135 baht. All three were doing well with plenty of customers. Evil

EDIT IN (Oct. 30, 2013): The Rockhouse has lost its cook and has suspended its food service until a replacement can be found. The Rockhouse, a popular watering hole on LK Metro, began with food service in July. It offers wide range of well-prepared "pub grub," plus a selection of Thai dishes. You can get everything from a giant Hungry Horace breakfast through burgers, curries, steak, meat pies, toasties, chili con carne and more. Prices are reasonable.[/size] [/size] I've eaten there quite a bit in the past few month, usually before an evening in the LK Metro go go bars. All

On Friday, FLB was offering draft beer at 49 baht a mug and bottled beer at 105 baht. Given it's an air-conditioned hostess bar on WS and features live music on weekends, that has to be one of the best valu-for-money deals in town. Evil

I only drink SML, so I don't know about Singha, but I'll keep my eyes peeled when I go to WS tonight. Evil

Maybe someone who knows the former owner of the Blue Parrot will be able to give a definitive answer. According to what I've read elsewhere, the former Blue Parrot owner isn't involved, but the same cook is/was involved to some degree. The menu is supposed to be almost identical, at least in terms of the Mexican dishes. Evil

At quite a few U.S. airports, there's a special Global Entry lane to clear the CBP control. That really saved me a lot of time once at Seattle-Tacoma and once at Newark Liberty. I bypassed huge lines on both occasions. I doubt I'd have made my connecting flight in Seattle if I hadn't gotten through as fast as I did. Evil

Sue's Place is a small Mexican restaurant on Soi 13/4 (Pattayaland 2) off Beach Road, about half way up the block on the left side as you walk towards 2nd Road. The food was very good and I took the unusual step (for me) of eating there on two consecutive days. I don't know if it's the weather or low season, but on both days (Wednesday, 6.30-8.30 pm and Thursday, 5.30-6.30 pm) I was the only farang customer. There were some Thai women eating and drinking at the same time, but they appeared to be either employees or friends of the boss. It's unfortunate, because Sue's Place deserves m

. Yes, I wondered a bit about that, too. To m4321: ALL bars of any stripe depend on the sale of alcohol, so there's no place with dancing girls or hostesses that doesn't serve alcoholic. The sale of drinks isn't a big factor at massage parlors, but they are hardly places to go to socialize with other non-drinkers. Most restaurants in Pattaya serve alcohol, but drinking isn't a big factor at most of them. If you already have a circle of friends, there are hundreds of restaurants where you could arrange to meet them, but in terms of getting to know non-drinkers on anything but a ran

She was the cook and kept things hot and quite spicy for me! I've eaten at Hajime a number of times and the temperature of the griddle has always been controllable through a dial built into the table. You could adjust the temperature from very high to very low and vice versa. It's certainly possible the dial for one griddle might not work due to some fault, but there are two griddles at most tables. In the unlikely case both didn't work, it's just to ask for another table. Here's a pic in which I've pointed to the position of the griddle control with a bolt of lightening:

Hajime is divided into twp sections: one that features teppanyaki cooking on the table-top griddle, with ingredients and some prepared dishes ordered from an a la carte menu; and a much bigger section where ingredients are plucked from a conveyor belt to be cooked table shabu shabu style in a pot of boiling broth. The shabu shabu variation goes for a flat rate of 300 baht per person and includes a fairly extensive buffet: prepared dishes (tempura, noodles, soup), sushi, a salad bar, Asian desserts, fruit, etc. After trying the teppanyaki variation several times and the novelty of the sa