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Roast beef and horseradish

Not as photogenic as lazarus's kites but....lol.... This place still going.... Before you don your thong on return to the LOS,don't forget the beach rules..lol... We might get something......

Can't see where I was saying the streets are lined with gold but there are Thais who are willing to take the stictching off their wallets. My point and I am not really needing to stress it is that most foreigners think that all Thais are poor barring a few in high circles. Fact is that many Thais have disposable incomes that allow them to spend in places like Sky Bar and that is why it was noticed by Esco. After coming to Thailand and SE Asia for over 33 years it is noticeable that Thais are spending more, in fact you know that when spending they are like other Asians, they will part with their money easily without complaining about it. Of course there are poor Thais, they can be seen in every corner of Thailand but no different than seeing low income foreigners in the western cities. You have obviously spent good times in the Thai establishments across the country and the purse strings there are very loose and even for those who don't really have it to spend. Thais just like to enjoy themselves and you will rarely see a Thai nursing one draft beer in a Thai club, I certainly haven't seen much evidnece of that. It was just an observation from years of being among them, I don't have excel sheets or graphs to back it up, I leave that to others lol.

There's rich and poor in every country though mate, and every major city has areas where both groups reside usually far apart from each other, and of course the pandemic has only made that already apparent gap wider. You can always do your bit by buying some water online for those thirsty girls down soi 6.

The Sky Gallery is up there with the likes of the Horizon at the Hilton so obviously not for everyone but I dont think you or anyone else tried to claim it is. Indeed plenty of money in this place and much more than most people think. @dcfc2007 if you've been all over Bkk you must have noticed that it's Thais who shop at Emporium, Thais who eat at the good restaurants and Thais who drive the fancy cars. You seem to focus on the have-nots while the haves are there and their group is growing mate.

Colors are changing all over here in town but I was rather shocked by the intensity of part of this particular tree. We get lots of yellows, browns, crusts but not much of the deep reds.

I ordered a bottle of this from Amazon on Friday & they said it would be delivered on Wednesday. I guess having an Amazon warehouse just up the road must help as it turned up this morning. So I thought I'd better try it out.....

No one needs an extra hour of 2020 .... 🙂

Reheated from frozen spag bol. The best flavour of the batch.

Oh,they put the money in a trust account set up by the other village elder,Lawyer do they?🤣🤣🤣🤣

As recommended by @Binlid, really tasty . 8 bottles for £15 from the brewery, even better is the mixed case of 12 bottles for £16- only a £5 UK delivery, top job from Hawkshead Brewery👍

This area that used to have a few restaurants that backs onto the Grand Sol on 2nd rd is well closed off these days..... Breeze from the s/w now..... A very detailed sign that caught my attention....

Lovely

& Stokes just made 107 from 60 balls to win the match

Always playing about with something..... All repaired by the JCB's after the flood..... Are we going to get a sunset tonight..... Keep this in mind for later....down by Central a ''Street food'' event....lol.... All good on the beach. well attended again......

Going downhill from the Dolphin Circus.....not sure if I mentioned this place before..open now... The new pathway has been returned to nearly new.....lol.... I did say nearly..... My favourite corner......

On we go northbound on the 2nd rd.......... Try and spot what is ''open''............

Some pics of the repositioning of the pile driver on the construction site opposite Soi 15 on Buakhao Think this contraption is for driving support casings into the ground The Nirun market now has a roof

https://www.captiongenerator.com/2006352/Nightwish-Caught-Selling-Water-Shots-over-Webcam funny as f**k

Well I won't be getting those 45 minutes of my life back..lol..total rubbish, the football that is, thanks Khun Egg and the girls for a fun hour in your gaff....... With a trip down memory lane thrown in......

All clear with a cloudless sky and a pleasant northerly breeze, couldn't wish to be in a better place in the world at this moment in time.....lol......

^ ^ ^ Chinese butter Thai's bread theses days...make no mistake. Thai/Chinese business and blood connections go back centuries. Mass tourism is new as the PRC has only had a middle class with disposable income in the last decade, or so. Thais keep their relationships with the West for business and security reasons. Western tourism will fall by the wayside as more and more Chinese arrive. Why do you think they allowed a Chinese tour group first in the new "Covid entry" program?

At Cosy beach m8 on the cliff, they were never going to build on it I was told years ago.. A bit like the Dusit Thani wall.......brown envelopes...lol....the land of LOS.........

I’ve been coming to LOS for 1/2 that time and the changes are noticeable enough to change my retirement views too. I had initially planned to retire in Thailand, but within the last few years decided to just visit 2-3 times per year instead. I split my time now with the Philippines. Some of my main concerns are - Visa difficulties - Farong’s not being truly accepted by Thai’s, but tolerating us. - Thai govt rules/regulations/dual pricing. - Scams I’ve worked and lived in over a dozen countries and always felt part of the community where I lived, but not so much in Thailand. I feel that Thai’s tolerate us farangs, but don’t truly accept foreigners. The Retirement Visa/Permanent Visa requirements are tedious in Thailand vs other countries on my list. The Goal Posts seem to continually change. It feels IMHO that they don’t really value me being here. I’m not really religious, but majority of my older family members are buddhist. Many Thai’s claim they are buddhist, but their actions reflect something else. I use to work full-time in Thailand and dealt with Thai Govt & Thai Agencies in cooperation with the US Chamber of Commerce. From comparing that relationship with other countries, I feel there is some real issues doing business in Thailand. I still make LOS a second home, but don’t have that warm & fuzzy feeling like years ago when I first arrived. I hope that Thailand someday moves/makes changes that are more in line with the 21st century. I always hope for the best for Thailand and the Thai people. I believe they will get through with the current Covid situation, albeit maybe a slow one...

And where do the majority of foreigners eat and drink in Pattaya, probably not at the Sky Gallery. My point is there are plenty of Thais with money, both in Pattaya, Bangkok and the provinces despite what gets printed on the many foreign forums in Thailand.

Hanoi VN

Sir fry rainbow vegetables, egg noodles, salami and Thai green curry sauce.

I think that one belongs to some drunk Frenchman who lives in Bali. 🤪

Stop telling members here that Thais have money lol

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,From this day to the ending of the world,But we in it shall be rememberèd—We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

I'm going for my first Thai D.L. this week (or the next depending on what I encounter) up in Chiang Mai. I've opted to check with a company that greases (er, provides guidance) things. I'll see how that goes. Always a new learning curve around the next corner. It'll be good to have that in my pocket. One more thing to check off "the list".

I bow to you in thanks for that clip. Wonderful !

Catching up on this afternoon's sport .. Hackney lad does well ..

Cmon the Magpies.

Wondering what to do for the rest of the morning after forgetting about the clocks going back & getting up too early....

I will be in the new RObinson mall just out outside Pattaya in the 331 today. thats not a cheap shop but I know it will be busy, 99.5% thais the spedn economy here is doing a balancing act right now, seeing promotions for thais to travel inter country. hotels are as cheap as chips, and wit so many now having cars and trucks, which they pay for, they travel with ease. sure there is still a heavy poor population but it isnt really in the mid of thailand , where there is still work available, in factories etc. the current future ex was on 26-30K a month in a facotry as a QC controller, My thai staff are on double min wage and work 5 days a week things aint what they used to be

A few glasses of wine with some garlic fried shrimps at lunch at the beach cantine. And "sole meuniere" at the French cantine for dinner. Shaking hands, hug and enjoying another normal evening. Not easy to find sole in these regions, and it was pretty good ! And f**k the virus and the doomsday sayers....

As soon as the man from Del Monte says ''yes'' I'll be banging out snaps of bars, packed to the rafters having fun m8......lol.....

Please make sure my seat is available for the first half of the Chelsea- Utd game Khun Egg. I'll be coming in hot from Dollhouse.....lol......

Yeah...26 years after first setting foot in Pattaya and vowing that this was the place I wanted to live when I retired, a lot has changed. Still want to return, but maybe for a more modest 2-3 months a year. But under the current circumstances, it looks to be a waste of time to even think about returning any sooner than Aug or Sept of 2021. Personally, despite the best efforts of Blue Streaks photography skills of all those great looking, and mostly empty bars, unfortunately, as well as Phil's "come on down" pronouncements in his thread, I won't bother contemplating another visit until probably December next year. By then, I'm hoping the Thai gov't will have eased up their draconian travel restrictions on foreigners and folks from the 4 corners of the planet will once again be allowed to enter the Kingdom. Even us Yanks!

Long trousers with creases

Beat 3 players, one of them twice, hit it from a waterlogged pitch in atrocious conditions from his own half. Aye, he's some pup! Not sure how Neil Lemon got on, maybe @JPK can enlighten you ...

I'm home. Some final thoughts on my short visit. I like to think I'm an up-beat guy. I prefer to accentuate the positives and tried to in my travelogue. But I'm not blind. All blessings on Phil, Thip, and the others trying to make a go of it in the walking street area. But it's too big. The walk through the ghost town between open venues was depressing to me. I got around town a bit. Dianna and parts of Buakow were just as depressing. The few girls around those areas are kind of desperate. If they turned 7/8 into a parking lot it would be weeks before anyone noticed. My one look at Tree Town on a midweek night - it was brightly lit but I didn't see any customers. I now understand the blues that hit me earlier wasn't sadness about leaving, it was sadness for Pattaya. Back to the plus side. Soi boomerang is becoming quite interesting. Some GCs and some gogos with GC features like VIP rooms. I'll visit again and hopefully not run into any teenagers from TW's village. LK Metro works. Small enough and enough venues open to make it Almost feel like Pattaya of old. The locals seem to be extremely happy to have some Farangs around, and go out of their way to please. I'm seeing that where I live as well. Best quote of the week from a Thai bargirl: We have to speak politely, because so many of our customers these days can speak Thai.