Evil Penevil

Gotta love the headline on this article: Nigerian Arrested For Stashing Drugs In Anus Evil

Mark it down on your calendars, guys! It's only a week away. Evil

I didn't think about that! Having been raised in a land-living culture, I'm just not sensitive to sea-dwelling dual-species individuals. I wonder if mermaid is considered a derogatory term? Should it be "sea-adapted females?" Evil

Just to keep things balanced, here are are some jokes about Muslims. I copied them from an Internet site and the OP there says he has nothing against Muslims, so they must be OK. Evil Q: What is the difference between Islam and polio? A: Science has not yet found a cure for Islam. There are three rules for being a good Muslim. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. Police in London have found a bomb outside a mosque. They've told the public not to panic as they have managed to push it inside. A white man walks into an immigrant pub in London, totally shattered, screaming “All Muslims are shitheads." A man sitting in the corner shouts, “I take serious offense to that! It's a bloody lie!” The white guy asks, “Why? Are you a Muslim?” He replies proudly, “No. I'm a shithead.” One day, a Muslim goatherder woke up to find that all 100 of his goats had died. Without his goats, he is ruined. So he goes to the nearby lake, and drowns himself. His son wakes up, reads the note left by his father, and decides that life isn't worth living. So he goes to the lake to drown himself as well. There is a mermaid there. She tells the boy that if he can screw her 5 times, she will resurrect his father, and all the goats. He looks at her bemused and says "What about 100 times? The mermaid goes "Err, you think that you can handle it?" The young Muslim lad replies, "Sure! How do you think all the goats died?"

They used Sukhumvit Soi 7/1 in BKK for some street shots. I know the Eden Club was closed for several days because of the filming. Evil

That's an excellent point. The Russians aren't into street-level crime. The future would be very dark for Pattaya if the African drug dealers, pimps and scammers get a real foothold. It's the ex-militia guys and not the Nigerians who are the worst. Late at night in Bangkok, those guys get pretty aggressive, especially the ones who are banged out of their heads on yabba. In the days of the USSR, people had to push or they wouldn't get anything to eat. Even today, there are shortages of consumer goods in Russia. Standing in an orderly queue isn't a virtue in the society from which they come. But last time I exited at Swampy, the Thai immigration officers had a good idea. They made all the Russians stand in a queue of their own an wouldn't allow them to jump between queues. Evil

Yes, FF points are a definite consideration if you fly to LOS three or four times a year. Every third or fourth flight could be paid for by FF miles. But if you only fly one or twice a year to LOS on that airline, and don't accumulate FF miles through other flights, it may make economic sense to forget about FF points and go for the savings you make with the heavily discounted tickets. Also keep in mind that airlines will often the match the best published offer you find on a legit site. Whenever possible, it's best to have a ticket that is issued by the airline itself and not a consolidator. Evil

Bumping this up. If you're in town that night, it's a good opportunity to have some fun and help a very worthy cause at the same time. Evil

Well done, wetwillie and Perthie! I'll be there! Evil

I first heard of Pattaya from U.S. military guys in 1979 while working in Taipei. They said to forget the P4P scene in Taipei and head to Thailand. Pattaya was described to me back then more as a beach resort than a center for nightlife. It was regarded as a "break" from the intensity of Bangkok. I was aware of Bangkok's P4P scene while still at university in the U.S. I'll never forget the line in the Playboy article that said, "if you can't get laid out of the coffee shop of the Grace Hotel, you can't get laid anywhere in the world." Evil

It's much easier to offer recommendations if you give a budget range for what you're prepared to pay for two weeks' accommodation. It's also good if you can give some idea of your needs: are you looking for an apartment or hotel suite with two separate bedrooms? Is location important, i.e., near the beach or in a quiet neighborhood? Do you expect a swimming pool or other facilities? Remember, one BM's high-end place can be another BM's low end. Evil

For me, it would be a taxi. Most hours of the day a taxi will get you to a Suk area hotel with a total "door-to-door" trip time of 40 minutes or less and a cost of about 400 baht. The taxi trip takes longer in the rush hour and that's a reason to consider the rail link, but 9 times out of 10, a taxi will be quicker and more convenient, especially if you have anything more than the lighest of carry-on luggage. The stairs at Nana BTS are a major hassle if you're carrying anything. The actual time you spend on the train to Phaya Thai is about 35 minutes, then it's at least 20 to 25 minutes to transfer to the BTS and ride to Nana or Asoke. But it also takes time to exit the BTS station and walk to the hotel, plus there is most often waiting time at the airport before the train departs. So I'd say it's at least 90 minutes before you're in the lobby of your hotel if you take the rail link from Swampy and switch to the BTS at Phaya Thai. The time and effort I save through taking a taxi is well worth 300 baht to me. But I agree there are some circumstances when the rail link is a good option. If there are enormous queues for taxis at Swampy, I will take the rail link, assuming I don't have any luggage. Queues are an indication that traffic is jammed somewhere between the Suk area and the airport and has disrupted the normal taxi arrival patterns. But with a heavy suitcase, no way I'd ever take the rail link, no matter how long the taxi queues or how bad traffic is snarled. Evil

Comes a month early for me, but I wish Pin a very Happy Birthday as well! Evil

I agree with the article. The airport rail link has to be one of the most poorly designed projects in the history of engineering. I've taken it three times into the city and once to Swampy. It's extremely inconvenient because of the lack of elevators and escalators. It's not worth considering except during the rush hour and then only when traveling with the lightest carry-on luggage. Far too much sweat and aggravation to save a few baht and at best, a little time. Overpriced airport link is 'a debacle' To be fair, I don't think the trains look old nor are the seats less comfortable than on other light rail trains. It's the idiotic design of the terminals at Makasan and Phaya Thai that's the problem. Evil

No problem wearing white socks with sneakers - it's socks of any color with sandals that is the big fashion boo-boo, regardless of whether the guy has shorts or long trousers. Evil

The Nova hotels don't. Evil

By golly, the number of Africans around Suk Soi 3-5 seems to have faded a bit! Not as many raisins in the big mango salad bowl as just a few months ago. In November, Soi Africa did justice to its name. It seemed like a section of a street in Newark, NJ or Oakland, CA, if not Mombassa or Lagos. But in late March, there were significantly fewer African girls, pimps, drug dealers and scammers than last November. The ones that still haunt Skank Alley (Sukhumvit Road between Sois 3 and 5) are less aggressive and don't accost passers-by like they used to. The mass sweeps the police conducted in the area in December, January and February have had an effect, but the BiB have also used "relocation" tactics against individual bad guys. It's something like what the wildlife rangers do in Florida with pesky alligators or in Montana with bothersome bears. It works like this: the BKK police nab a suspected African dealer or scammer and question him for a few hours at a police station. If they can't hold him on criminal or immigration charges, they let him go, but far away - maybe five miles or so from Sukhumvit Road - without any money in his pocket. Just like the bears and gators, Africans are looking for an area with easy access to fresh meat. Removing them from their "comfort zone" is a good way to discourage the bad guys from hanging out there. It's a proven tactic that's been used in many cities against street-level criminals. It also possible that "natural attrition" played a role. It's doubtful that Bangkok has proved to be as fertile a hunting ground as the African gangs thought. After all, how many farang treally want to talk to these guys? And if you don't talk to them, they can't scam you. Evil

At the risk of provoking homicide, you might want to get her up up earlier than 5.30 a.m. In November, it took over an hour to clear Immigration with a chaotic mass of people (not a line) spilling out beyond the glassed-in area. Although I'd arrived at the airport at 6.30 a.m., I wasn't through Immigration until 8.00 a.m. and had to sprint for my 8.30 a.m. flight. This time (late March), I had a flight at 6.55 a.m. and got to the airport at 3.45 a.m. Check-in went very quickly and I was in the Immigration control area by 4.00 a.m. The room was pretty full even at that early hour - 15-20 people ahead of me in each line, but since they were mostly Japanese and non-Russian farang, the lines were moving quickly and I was through in 20 minutes. In fact, the Immigration people were forcing the Russians to stand in a queue of their own and not jump between lines, much to the chagrin of some Russians. But I did see a long stretch of crowd-control stanchions with retractable belts outside the Immigration Control area that could be brought into play if crowds form. Bottom line: leave yourself plenty of time these days for early morning flights from Swampy. Evil

Maybe he'd just gotten paid for a delivery. Evil

You may not have so much time to kill, if all the reports of big bottlenecks at Immigration Control are true. I was shocked back in November that at 7.30 a.m. lines already stretched outside the glassed-in area. The back-ups are big topic of discussion on some boards. But about lounges - yes, you can pay to use the Louis Tavern lounge. There is also a transit hotel inside the departure area. Evil

Wind-ups like his and Cheshire Tom's are common when the poster doesn't have any other response. But in this thread, it doesn't really matter how much they bluff, wriggle or squirm because I'm holding all the high cards and will call them every time. Whatever PC and the party line dictate that is permissible to write about Africans, it can't change the fact that the ones who hang around Suk Soi 3-5 are criminals. Evil

There's no shortage of anecdotal evidence regarding the over-representation of Nigerians in the drug trade in Thailand. But be of good cheer. Reports from people on the ground in Bangkok indicate raids are continuing in the Suk Soi 3-5 area. Evil ---- Link ---- Link ---- Link ---- Link

I don't have sympathy for drug traffickers of any stripe. I hope the Israeli guy, if caught, takes his place alongside the 800 or so West Africans in Thai prisons or the 18 Nigerians on death row in Indonesia. But there are a several crucial differences between the cases of the Thai women caught in Bali and the Thai women sentenced to death in China. First and foremost, the Thai woman who tried to smuggle drugs into Indonesia was a willing mule - she swallowed the drugs, so she knew what she was doing. The Thai women caught in China weren't aware they were carrying drugs and may even have been "throw away" mules to divert attention from more significant smuggling attempts. That gives the Nigerian gang members a place in the innermost circle of the special hell reserved for drug traffickeers. Moreover, the Thai woman in Indonesia hasn't been tried yet, so it's not sure what her sentence will be. Maybe the Indonesian court will have mercy on her. The Thai women in China have already received their sentences - some death, some lengthy incarceration. Finally, Indonesia does apply the death sentence to drug smugglers (as said, 18 Nigerians are on death row there and two Nigerians were executed by firing squad in 2008), but Indonesia doesn't execute anywhere as many people as China. Evil

Anyone who doesn't believe that West African criminal gangs are a major problem for Thailand should read this articile: A One-Way Ticket To Trouble It's horrific how some of these Thai women have been treated by the West African gangs. It can't get worse than setting up an innocent woman for the death penalty in China. ____ I wonder of the unfortunate Noi (who's awaiting execution in China because of a Nigerian) had her beauty shop in the infamous "L shaped soi that runs between Soi 3 and Sukhumvit." Evil Some other excerpts from the article: "Both women say they were unaware of the contents of the bags the men had given them, a claim that is generally believed by the Thai Foreign Ministry. The ministry follows the cases of Thai women in China and other countries who became ''drug mules'' for West African drug syndicates and others operating in Thailand." "Recruiting agents for West African drug syndicates commonly contact young women who work in bars to do the job. Many tactics are used. For example, Nigerian and Ghanaian drug dealers commonly open gift shops as a front, and ask Thai girlfriends to travel with them to China to purchase goods to supply the shops. Upon landing at a foreign airport, the drug dealer will then ask the woman to carry or pick up luggage with concealed illicit drugs, and then conveniently disassociate from her. The woman only realises the risk she's taken if she is caught, and by then it's too late. It is believed that syndicate members sometimes tip the police off about the mule to create a commotion to allow others carrying larger quantities to pass through customs or to board flights unimpeded"

and grind. Evil