Evil Penevil

Same thing is happening in Bangkok. Climax, Insomnia and the other Suk area discos are forced to close at 2.00 a.m. The girls who work the mobile bars along Suk Road mostly don't show up now until the pick-up discos close. Before, they'd work the mobile bars between 11.00 p.m. and 2.00 a.m. or 3.00 a.m., then hit the pick-up discos. The girls said it is much better business now for the mobile bars. They attribute that to two factors - mainly the enforcement of closing times, but also the disappearance of the African contingent along Suk Road in the wee hours. Apparently the current government doesn't have a soft spot for them. Evil

Yes, they did. No hassle at all. I was in a taxi to BKK 20 minutes after de-planing (because of my FF level, I get a Priority tag on my luggage, so my bags were among the first on the carousel). I got through Immigration about as fast as is humanly possible. I'm going to try the golf-cart crew next time. A golf cart wouldn't been of much use last night as the arrival gate was about 100 feet from the entrance to the Fast Track control area. Evil

I've used them on several occasions without problem. I'm scheduled to use them again tonight so we'll see how it goes. They give you the mobile number of their agent at Swampy to call if there's a problem, but I've never had to usel it. However, if they fail to show, you should be able to get your credit card company to reverse the charge. Evil

Sweden and Norway have similar welfare systems. Here's what a Swedish acquaintance did when he ran into an equivalent situation while living in Thailand, although the Swede's problems didn't involve a need for oxygen. Airlines wouldn't accept him as passenger unless he was acompanied by doctor and the Swedish embassy said it couldn't help. The Swede contacted the local welfare authorities in his home town and those authorities found a way that a doctor could be sent (at the state's expense) to accompany the sick man back to Sweden. The man's plight had also been covered by the Swedish media which helped in getting a favorable ruling. Evil.

One really good idea is to visit FLB on Walking Street. Evil

The US $500 TCs are readily available at American Express offices. AAA offices also usually have them on hand (AAA members get Amex TCs without the 2% fee). But if you get TCs through a bank, especially a smaller branch bank in a neighborhood without much international traffic, the bank may have to order the $500 ones. It won't take more than 1-2 days and you can call the bank to order them. Evil

To me, the plus button means, "I liked this post" and the negative button means the opposite. Since English is a flexible language, you can call that a reputation system, but it's a bit counter-intuitive. Reputation is more what you think of a person, not just their posts. What would really be interesting would be to know the voting pattern behind the reputation points. If a BM has a reputation of plus 200 and those votes have come from 100 or more different BMs over a long period of time, then it's a sign, for whatever it's worth, that there's broad appreciation of at least some of his posts. But if another BM has the same rep level based solely on one or two people using all five (or whatever it is) plus votes a day to vote up a friend, then that speaks of collusion. The same is true if A votes five times a day for B and B does the same for A. And if BMs take part in manipulation of the system, that doesn't speak well of their reputations in the real sense of the word. The difficulty with anonymous rating systems is that they require a lot of action by the mods to stop them from being abused. The biggest problem on some boards (and I'm not referring only to punter boards) is the creation of fake handles to vote BMs up or down. There's a fix, but it causes a lot more work for the mods. In the case of Pattaya Talk, that means more work for MM. Public voting (everyone sees who has voted a post up or down) is probably the best way to curb abuses, but it tends to cause tit-for-tat voting. Bottom line: a reputation system is a good idea, but is open to abuse. Too much time and effort is needed to prevent it from being manipulated to the point of absurdity. Two suggestions: Keeping plus and minus votes at the same level (two of each a day or whatever) helps make manipulation harder and prevents rapid swings. Don't allow BMs to vote on reputation until they have 50 posts or so. Only the most dedicated troll will invest that much effort into establishing multiple handles. Evil

I remember the occasion well - it was in the Drucken Duck. You were very friendly and you were wearing a shirt. A black one with a collar. Evil

+1. That's my impression as well. The shirtless guys are drunk troublemakers at best, out-and-out psychos at worst. Evil

Strange that you bring up a post that I made six weeks ago. But perhaps you can advise me on how I should have handled the situation. I was responding to this post: At that point, I hadn't been bickering with Gabor or even named him in this thread, then the above post came out of the blue. I honestly have no idea to what he is referring and asked for a clarification. What would you have done? Just ignored this name-calling? How is your comment any less thread fucking than the one by me that yogi quoted? Evil

Here's a brief Pattaya "Christmas story." It's not profound and certainly doesn't have an deeper meaning, but I thought it was interesting. The other night I was giving miniature teddy bears to the girls in a beer bar in the Simon complex. The mamasan asked me to give a Santa bear to Buddha. Although I was a bit perplexed, that wasn't a request I could refuse and the mamasan proceeded to hang the teddy bear on the bar's spirit house. She said it would bring good luck to the bar. I was tempted to ask her if she was going to take Santa down after Christmas, but decided that would be disrespectful. So I'll just wait and see if the Santa bear becomes a permanent addition to the shrine or only a seasonal visitor. Anyway, best wishes for a Merry Christmas to all board members. A special wish goes out to all military personnel of the U.S., its allies and friendly nations across the globe. Your efforts and sacrifices make it possible for us to enjoy the holiday under far more comfortable circumstances than most of you endure. Many, many thanks! Evil

Logo is similar to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in Las Vegas: But different from the AC Margarita Station logo: Obviously it wasn't named Margarita Station by chance, so probably a rip-off of the name. Unlikely the AC Margarita Station wouldn't have advertised a Pattaya branch on its Web site. Who knows, with all the walk and gawk tourists on Walking Street, a specialty drink bar could become a hit. Evil

There are two stalls selling mango and sticky rice at that location. Both have very good products, with the mangoes ripened to perfection. There is also a stall on Pattaya Tai a couple of blocks west of Tuk.Com that sells mango and sticky rice as well as a wide assortment of other Thai sweets. There is at least one other stall on the street behind Tuk.com that runs parallel to Pattaya Tai. Evil

In terms of saving time, it's probably the best $100 I've ever spent. I've re-entered the U.S. 16 times since I became a member of the Global Entry program. It's never taken me more than five minutes to clear Immigration and Customs (I never check any bags returning to the U.S.). That compares with 15 minutes at best and several hours at worst before I became a member, with the average wait probably 30 minutes. That's between seven and eight hours of time I could use for activities a lot more fun or productive than waiting in line. When I de-planed at Newark Liberty from my last trip back to the U.S., I ran into a former co-worker who had just gotten off another flight. We didn't have much time to chat because it was only a short walk to the Immigration Control area, but we exchanged phone numbers. I used the Global Entry kiosk and she entered the rather daunting queue at Immigration. I heard from her a few days later and it turned out that before she had even cleared the queue, I had been been able to rent a car, drive 20 minutes to the motel where I was staying and check in. Evil

My interview consisted of a very few questions - Where do you live, where you work, etc. No political questions at all. Evil

Or this one in Bangkok: http://www.badabingagogo.com/home.html There was (is?) a Bada Bing in Pattaya near Hammer's Cherry Bar on Soi 8. And a beer bar in Queen's Plaza in BKK used to be called Bada Bing. I knew the former owner there and it was named after the fictional bar in The Soprano's. Evil

Thanks to PSP for a very enjoyable party. I didn't get there until about 11.00 p.m. and it was a bit crowded by then, but the ladies were in fine form. It was a good line-up and several of the girls were dancing, shall we say, enthusiastically. One of them started to give me one hell of a lap dance. That's not really my thing and I encouraged her to be a little more restrained, but for those of you who like hands-on interactivity, the girls appeared to be very obliging for the price of a lady drink (120 baht if I remember right). Everyone who enjoys Pattaya and isn't concerned that some punters pay more than others deem appropriate. Evil

Spanky's is one of the best (if not the best) bar in Nana Plaza for farang guests. If the Pattaya branch holds the same standard, it will be a great addition to the scene. Evil

Nobody hates you. In fact, you're a constant source of amusement for many of us. You're welcome! I'm always happy to serve in a good cause. We're re-taking Pattaya, one Cheap Charlie at a time. Evil

Thank you. Unfortunately, a few BMs (well, at least one) don't appreciate it. Evil

No spine is needed to contend with you, Gabor. Just give you enough rope and you always hang yourself. More likely one of the girl's who had been wearing one of your Santa hats. Evil

This picture is a bit more relevant than the one Gabor used. "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." --The Wizard of Oz Evil

My thoughts went to the version of "Deck the Halls" that Walt Kelley included in his old "Pogo" comic strip: "Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla, Wash., an' Kalamazoo! Nora's freezin' on the trolley, Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!" Something similar happened to a colleague of mine in Bangkok. He rented an apartment for six months. The type of apartment he wanted in the area of the city he wanted to live cost about 30,000 baht/month, but he found one where the Thai landlord asked for 25,000 baht/month for an equivalent apartment. He figured he'd save himself 5,000 baht/month and took it. Terms were first and last month's rent up front plus a 30,000 baht deposit. When he moved out, he also left the apartment in better condition than when he moved in, but never got any of the deposit back. He realized later he'd fallen for a scam. The landlord was in effect charging the same 30,000 baht/month as all the others, just making it seem like a bargain. The landlord also knew a farang wouldn't try to sue him in Thai court to recover the deposit. Evil

I just had dinner with a friend who decided to flee BKK today for the safety of Pattaya. The taxi driver he used needed to fill up on gas on the way. At the first station, there was a queue of 100 cars. At the second, no gasoline. The driver wasn't able to find any station that had gas before he reached Pattaya, running on fumes the last few blocks, my friend said. Pattaya is likely to be very, very crowded tomorrow because Loy Krathong celebrations on and along the Chao Phraya River have cancelled, a decision announced about 10 days ago. Evil

It's too bad you never got the chance to meet my mother or any of her family in the UK, along with about 50 million other Brits. Better people don't exist. Evil