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There were far too many choices for a year or two prior to the pandemic restrictions with many comments in this forum as to how quiet it was in Pattaya's entertainment venues. The western world's economies and the high valued baht were responsible and that has not changed at all. Sadly, no doubt by the end of the year the choices will have continued to reduce to the advantage of those that remain. Survival of the fittest and/or owners with deep pockets.

This one didn't last long, obviously hasn't been patronised by retired accountants and those that can't be mentioned.....lol.........Soi 21 previously Sensations and Baku Lounge...... Tonight...... The opticians next to the Kasikorn Bank in Soi Buakhao looks destined for another another life......

the biggest issue for any business ever is management of overheads. currently anyoen with high OH is in the dooh. every single business with more than a befuddled brain should be looking at cuts, savings and preparations for hard times ahead. we saw that this was going to be a tough year anyway back in january before covid was really announced and sat for a week making a plan for the radio. I cant say its worked perfectly but at least we were on the ball. some of these bars are like hookers, they sit under bright lights, and cant understand why they arent taking money any more. 2020 was never goign to be a goo done, but it could have hit average without covid. with it, it is a write off. If I owned a bar i would strip it, store the contents and step back for another 6 months at least. by then rents will have crashed too so a comeback would be easy. lookin on FB where "realtors " ( ffs) are still offering prosperous hotels that are shop house sin bukao and the like with 4ooK key money makes me laguth,

Not true! The effort put in by you, Andy and Dave is worth a lot more than our donations. It is far easier to give money than time.

I have to concur with Jambo's view a number of posts back. I've been at home since mid-March, going to work and very little else aside from the trip to the grocery store when provisions run low, like beer and rum. No place to go for a drink, no dining in at restaurants, only take away. Drinking at home is fine, but I miss the atmosphere that a pub offers. I highly enjoy Blue Streak's pics of shop house sized beer bars, no matter if bereft of many customers, the girls on the scene sitting, heads down looking at their phones, oblivious to their surroundings. I have not been to a bar of any kind since Super Bowl weekend, 7 months past. I imagine myself walking down Buokow at a casual pace, eyeballing each beer bar as I approach, checking out the ladies, seeing if there are any waves or tilt of the heads with an invitation to sit down. For a few seconds, I'm transfixed half a world away, remembering passing by those very bars, perhaps under a different name and owner then, and shops one year ago to the day, including the now closed up Pagoda, a wonderful looking bar that featured a sexy afternoon bg I bought a drink for along with a Tiger and a plate of kowphat gung for me. I remember thinking that if I was staying in this area of town for any length beyond a short holiday, I could see myself being a regular in there. Thanks to BS photos here and please continue as you see fit when out and about. Believe me, your efforts are greatly appreciated by this Yank! In this era of closed bars where I live, now more than ever.

Chicken tenders, mash, peas and gravy.

Not a big snake but he sure got our attention. First one I've seen all summer which is very surprising. The big forest fire we had 2 years ago burned out all the dens we have up behind the house. We always had 3 or 4 that we saw regularly. With the fruit orchards just below us there is plenty for them to eat. But lately those orchards have been bordered by electrical fencing to keep all 4 and 2 legged creatures from helping themselves to the cherries, apples, pears, apricots, and peaches. Anyway, I had just bbq up some burgers when the GF let out a bit of a Yelp. When I saw what startled her we both skedaddle into the house. Sorry about the quality of the pics as I had to shoot them through the screens on the windows. This little fella had a beautiful shiny coat and looks to be very healthy. He was chowing down on our new grass. I guess 250 to 300 pounds. I just love living in the woods......

Any bar for sale at the moment is worth nothing as no-one knows when tourism will return, until that time every bar owner will have to dig deep into their pockets to stay afloat . Gonna be impossible for some & unfortunately many will close. Even when tourism does return I wonder how many will return straight away. Will take years to recover to what it was if ever but I keep my fingers crossed good times will return SOON.🤞

The future for the VIP migrants to cross the Channel !

This space should have been occupied by a photo of snake about 6+ feet long that came over the back wall of the house in Mae Sot yesterday into the "Thai" BBQ area if it had not scared the shit out of me! 🤣 Think python about the diameter of my wrist but Sai says not a python but something phonetically in Thai that sounded like "banchan". It looked like a python to me! Sai went to grab a garden broom which was hanging up behind us and when we both turned round it was gone. One of the most scary things I have learned about snakes in Thailand is that they can move really fast when spooked. The fact we did not know where it went was almost as worrying as seeing it in the first place. We can only assume it went back over the wall which has a small steam running behind it and parallel to the rear of the house.

Green Tea , planning on a dry September...

Well Hooters opens back up at 3PM tomorrow......I am not quite sure why they think cheap charlies will become big spenders....... But hey there is some positive news......

Should I be casting to that golden spot on the water?

I agree, it sure doesn't look like Mabprachan due to the lack of weeds in the PN pic. Think it's because of the low angle of the camera to the water, and the back lighting of the setting sun that the weeds aren't visible in the background of the shot BTW, those are the tops of the weeds that grew when the reservoir was dry.

Tmrw morning's breakfast ....with some marmelade / jam. Fresh baked this morning. 15,000 IDR / pce. Thats less than 1 euro, or 32 Thb.

f**k the magic soap ! Use a natural product, grappa ! VID-20200901-WA0005.mp4

Amazon has nothing more or less special than all the rest of the bars on Soi Bukow......Which is exactly the problem.......The Scarce on the ground expat just has to many choices now.....

Tibetan pony - Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan China

a lot of us are thousands of miles away, Andy and David are the ones on the ground and getting the info, helping P and making sure she is safe and funded best we can. thata an immense effort, especially ad D is in the process of a big change himself no details as it is personal, but Phil was convinced of help that didnt materialise for P after the event. the real gift tho hasnt been from us, but all the BMs here who have donated. I know Phil would be overwhelmed by the support. as his way of thanking all, he left the forum back end in excellent and up to date condition, basically to run itself. he actually worked on it up to a month before passing despite being told to get on with the homelife by me. and together yu have taken at least one horrible aspect of his passing away from the list of worries that P has. for that, everyone should be very proud.

I just want to add my thanks to Andy for getting really involved despite the fact that this was not what both he and I intended when we were visiting/keeping in touch with Phil since his diagnosis. Phil had an understanding of what would happen after he left us yet that understanding was really a set of broken promises but as said by Andy we want to concentrate on what can be done to assist Puang and Thomas going forward. Andy has stepped up despite his need to attend interviews and try to have a break in Budapest. I have spoken with Tommy on many occasions and his assistance and involvement in this endeavour has also been immense. Puang has had a strong arm thrown around her to help and ensure all is done to give Phil the deserved celebration of his life and to give Puang and Thomas the best chance of a good future going forward. Phil was a great guy and the efforts on this forum have shown how he was held in high esteem both by those who knew him personally and those that have interfaced with him here. Thanks again to Andy and Tommy.

Ribeye steak and veg night.

Bangers & bubble & squeak with onion gravy....lovely!

Thought this was decent.

Told wifey about S4L (Ted) she said we should go to the local Buddhist Temple in Fremont here and say a prayer...OK. There were maybe 20 people in and around that place right? Geez....you should have seen this one Thai gal there, this girl was a stunner, just beautiful. A quick smile from her and I was smitten.....of course, wifey was in the area and I was NOT about to go talk to her or I would have LOL!

Yes, ukguy was not afraid of anything...lol

Jeez ... I cannot name all of the bars / clubs that have come and gone in BKK ... a total shit load ... I suppose the thinning out of bars / clubs in Patts is long overdue .... I believe the tourists dollars will remain "king" for a long time to come in Patts, Phuket, BKK, etc. Personally, I am more concerned about the tourists types that will be coming to Patts ... I can't see Europeans, Americans, Aussies, etc flooding the streets of Patts coming anytime soon ... maybe even a long, long time ... The new tourists types will forever change the landscape ...

I think it was an early Satellite comms system, similar to Marisat. To be honest the passenger section wasn't really that plush, they were business class seats but no IFE, just a large cinema screen, but further forward was HM's area, totally off limits of course. He had 2 747Sp's, one was HM Qaboos' personal transport, and the other was for cargo / dignitaries / regular peasants like me. normally the route was London to Switzerland to Muscat, I got to fly on both of them because the first SP (with the bulge, the other one didn't have it) was in for D check at Cardiff once and I managed to grab a flight on it at short notice. In flight catering was bacon sandwiches and cheese and onion Walkers lol.

Can't get enough of these north eastern sausages. Not spicy like the Chang Mai ones but super tasty.

^ Well said Bazle.

Neither does 'Chubbs'

Well, dinner tonight ... they have these food / afternoon/ night markets on Saturday, Monday and Thursday down close to where I live in the South ... there is so much food sold in these places it just amazes me .... Anyway ... I only spent 90 baht on all of it ... no I am not a cheap charlie .... I am certain Beach gal spent considerably more .. LOL Barbecue port stew .. spicy has f**k ... but, man it taste great .....

Guys This thread is in danger of becoming a boxing match, going nowhere, and entering the realms of Australian politics. For the sake of preserving this long running thread, I suggest that you agree to disagree. That or start a new topic in the Australian Politics Club Thank you

You have six months to apply for this. Whether you are successful or not depends on which other benefits you are entitled to. Before Phil's death any benefits the family got were in his name and Puang is going through the process of applying for them now. If she applies for the bereavement benefit before successfully obtaining the qualifying ones she may appear to be ineligible. Or at least this is what we have been lead to believe. Unfortunately due to Puang's present status in the country the funeral directors were unwilling to do anything until £1000 deposit was paid and want full payment before the day of the funeral. This fund wasn't originally intended to pay for any funeral but events outside of the forum let Puang down badly and we stepped in as I honestly couldn't see another way around this for her. Quite a lot of the costs to the funeral directors had been racked up before Puang was aware of her situation and to be honest once professional funeral directors are involved the price of this funeral is pretty much as low as it gets. Hopefully she will receive this bereavement benefit and she can use the money for her and Thomas just like the original idea Tommy had. Presently there is enough to pay for all funeral costs and £300 for me to give to Puang and Thomas. I will have a chat with her later to make sure she is getting some good independent free advice. I'll also try to pursuade her to talk to the lawyer @tommy dee so kindly arranged. I've tried to avoid discussions about this and the reason why it became necessary for us all to help pay for the funeral as I know it would bring up a lot of emotions and cause a shit storm. To be absolutely clear it was noone connected to this board who let Phil down but by Christ did that person let themseves down.

For those that are interested........Soi Buakhao tonight at 21.00 hrs obviously everyone is down Le Pub waiting for the Charity Shield to kick off...............First up ''Dom Bar'' used to be ''Sports World''........ ''Zero'' next usually have a band playing........

Funny post full of thick right wing neanderthals who could not remember the words to Happy Birthday. Always slightly dubious of RT however.......said much about the Navally poisoning?? I doubt it. RT is Russia's Fox News btw. It all seems such a shame that equally thick sociology professors and "activists" can undermine our freedoms of thought, liberty and speech so easily. Most people are now scared if they have a job to say one wrong word and that cannot be right. How can it be wrong in a philosophical sense to say "Of course Black Live Matter ......and if so All Lives Matter" But in 2020 you are told the moronic slogan you cannot speak as this is White Privilege ...............

You might not be, but your cash sure as hell still is. And that is good enough! 😜

Dog has a special messege for you.....

The egg, the egg .....😡😡😡😡😡🙄🙄🙄🙄 Hahaha

A day spent riding in the mountains...

UK Bank Holiday today Can always top up your Thai bank account using TransferWise ( or similar ) I just got 41.49

Surge protectors should be an integral part of a good UPS, both over and under voltage and over current.

I know this has been mentioned before by myself and dcfc but has Phils wife actually applied for the bereavement benefit from the UK government? Im not aware of the families circumstances but applying won't do any harm at all. In fact it could benefit immensely if it were granted and I can't see any reason why it wouldn't. Also, there is a service called the "tell us once" service which deals with all the stuff that can be heartbreaking to do by yourself. It was really helpful to myself when my mother passed away. Just a thought chaps.

Ditto from me. Decent read about life on the ground. I wasn't aware that Nana was up and running.

Today's breakfast, ham and cheese omelette.

Thanks for the PayPal drinks from Germany. Cheers from me and Bee.

It's been two weeks and two days since the last update, so hopped on my bike and had a very enjoyable ride this morning around what remains of Mabprachan Reservoir. Starting again on the southwest side. More spots that were previously underwater are now exposed. Wish they would mount a water level gage to this structure. I'm estimating the water is down another 1/2 meter or so since the last update. I wonder how much longer it will be before this guy can walk to his fishing camp. They're now having to pump water from the low spots. Another couple of weeks and there will be no need for a bridge over this channel. A babbling brook in the middle of what was once a lake. The island is now a peninsula. On the north end looking south. Fishing is a lot easier when they fish are trapped in what remains of the water on the north end. Mabprachan is fast becoming a lush meadow. Can't really call it "lush" as the dominant flora are thorn bushes. A bit of a technical ride to get out to the far end of this exposed rock outcropping. Had to ride over a lot of broken shells and gnarly rocks to get to the far end, but this was the view looking back. And the view towards the dam at the west end of the reservoir. Now back at the southwest side. I see they've closed off the channel into the pond within a lake and are now having to pump water into the pond. At the rate the water level is dropping it doesn't bode well for the Pattaya area in the coming months. As the next rainy season is a long way off, I expect we'll see severe water rationing measures to conserve what little remains of the water supply.