Evil Penevil

I could be wrong, but the way I read it, the dinner is 795 baht and the free flow of beer and wine is another 995 baht. Still a good price.

In the past, the Christmas buffet at Starz Diner at the Hard Rock Hotel was one of the best options in Pattaya. It featured an enormous selection of food, ranging from traditional Christmas fare to sushi and plenty of fresh seafood, plus a huge tables of appetizers, Western and Asian main dishes and desserts. I was afraid the TG I had with me one year was going to eat herself into a coma the way she was packing in the raw oysters, sushi and other seafood, then a heavy load of desserts on top of it. It was a great place for families for Christmas dinner as the Hard Rock had a lot of activities/entertainment that appealed to kids.

The first two sittings at Nicky's were booked by late November, so I imagine it is now fully booked. Tigglebitties Tavern is usually sold out by mid-December. The all-you-can-eat buffet at Chik-N-Coop bar is probably the best value-for-money Christmas dinner in town. Coop's buffet always tastes just like your Mom made, assuming you had an American mom.

Yes, I recall that, too. I was living on Soi 15 at the time. Evil

What he said. RIP to the victims, condolences to the families/friends. Evjl

Oops and thanks for the correction! I thought it was Oct. 4 based on a comment from a friend in Canada that I read too quickly. And I agree- four people is the minimum for roasting a whole bird. Last year I got a small 8-lb fresh turkey for Thanksgiving and there was still a lot of leftover meat even with four. Evil

Oct. 4 was Canadian Thanksgiving day and I celebrated with my own turkey dinner. To be sure, I used frozen turkey breast, but it was quite good. And I do love stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce!

The guy at the sushi counter at a mega-supermarket made this for me while I watched. Freshness is the key to good sushi. Evil

And doing them well! 🙏 Of all the millions of words and graphics posted about Pattaya, your maps are among the most helpful to visitors. Evil

Not grade D by Uzbek standards. Rather, Miss Tashkent Tractor Driver of 2002. Evil

If you actually visit the site, this is the notice that comes up: Anyone who actually advertised in that fashion would be committing all sorts of serious crimes, ranging from promoting prostitution to human trafficking. Evil

Pre-Covid there was a toy store on Pattaya Tai between 2nd Road and TukCom that had a lot of plastic novelties like fake poop and puke. I have no idea if it's still in operation. Evil

According to its Facebook page, the Marquee has raised the price to 120 baht. Roast dinners are available now on Wednesdays as well as Sundays . PreCovid the Marquee was doing about 200 roast dinner covers every Sunday and and they were always sold out by early evening. I had the roast chicken dinner quite a few times and was always happy with it. I didn't much care for the beef or pork variations- industrial block meat- but you can't expect too much for what was then 100 baht. Chicken was fine, though, and a big enough portion for me. Evil

I read elsewhere the minimum is either 1,100 or 1,000 baht. The price of the dinner is otherwise 395 baht. Evil

I got this email from Kinnaree: I don't know if it's the same offer as pre-Covid, but it used to be the Sunday roast was free if you had a high-enough tab. Evil

A couple of "walk-through" videos on YouTube. The BTS link looks like a decent option if you only have light carry-on luggage, but I wonder how much time you save considering all the walking involved, especially from international arrivals at DMK. The big problem I found with the AirLink from Swampy was buying the tokens at the Phaya Thai station to connect with the other BTS lines. AirLink was popular with the Russian, Indian and Chinese groups, so there was a big crush of people (no real queues) at the machines which sold tokens. Often the foreign tourists didn't know how the kiosks worked or didn't have coins, which made waiting times long- like 20 or 30 minutes- and caused considerable frustration among Thais in a hurry to get home. Bottom line: It's easier and usually faster to take a taxi or even the bus from DMK, whether your ultimate destination is downtown Bangkok or Pattaya. The first video is an optimistic "walk-through" of getting to DMK with the Asoke MRT station. A lot of stairs involved. Second vid covers ALL options for getting from DMK to various points in Bangkok. The BTS option starts at 7.00. DMK has definitely improved the taxi system since the days I took taxis from DMK. Evil

RIP, Your Majesty. You served your country very well all your life.

I guess we've been talking to different bar owners. All the go go bar owners I've spoken with have said the revenue from drinks far exceeds bar fines. They earn a lot more from the girls remaining in the bar than leaving with a customer. Also keep in mind that a customer who is willing to pay 2,000 baht or more to take the girl out provides more revenue for the bar than two customers willing to pay an 800-baht bar fine. The same principle applies to drinking customers. One who runs up a tab of 5,000 baht yields as much revenue as 20 who have tabs of 250 baht. Where is Bruce Mangosteen when you need him? This is a question of how you are using the word "brothel." In the conventional sense, a customer in a brothel picks a girl and she is will provide sexual services for him. The brothel owner keeps part, often most, of the fee the customer pays. That's understood when the customer enters the brothel. The dynamics are entirely different in a go go bar. The customer pays to take the girl out of bar; what happens between then is up to the two of them. The bar owner gets no cut of the girls' fees for sexual services. The go go dancer also has more freedom to accept or reject customers. I'm not saying the girls in brothels are forced to take customers, but they wouldn't be employed by the brothel if they weren't willing to accept just about any customer who walks through the door. That's the whole purpose of a brothel. Evil

Exactly! The purpose of a high bar fine has always been to discourage punters from "taking out" the girls early in the evening. When posters on forums or FB groups write something like, "That's crazy! I'll never pay x,xxxx baht for a bar fine," it just proves the tactic is working. It's no coincidence the most popular go go bars on WS are the ones with the highest bar fines. Stages full of pretty girls attract the steady stream of drinkers who pay the bars' bills and earn their profits. A go go bar is not a brothel, nor is a lady drink a down payment on a bar fine. Most customers go go to watch the girls on stage and perhaps buy a few lady drinks. They aren't worried about high bar fines because they have no intention of bar fining. One experienced go go owner told me he figures only about 20% of his customers ever bar fine. However, some visitors are willing to pay high bar fines, particularly Asian customers. It's clear budget-oriented farang may feel left out, but the demographics of Pattaya's visitors have changed considerably in the past 10-15 years. High bar fines are here to stay because they are good for overall go go business. Evil

Worst for me was in September 2011. I had a condo near Tukcom and it took five hours to get back from Walking Street. I spent most of that time sitting in a restaurant near 2nd Road and Pattaya Tai. The restaurant stayed open to give shelter to people stranded by the flooding. The water was too deep and moving too fast for me to even attempt to wade to the condo before about 6.00 a.m. in the morning. Evil

And that's hugely difficult to fix at this stage. Central Pattaya now rests on a layer of concrete. The spongy ground which 20 to 50 years ago soaked up much of the runoff from excess rainfall has been covered over to allow building. As a result, the East-West roads and streets have become runoff channels to the sea during every heavy rain. The water has nowhere else to go, thanks to an inadequate drainage system. Since Pattaya is built on a bit of an incline, the water gathers force as it rushes towards the sea. In past years, I've seen water in a torrent down Soi Diana between Soi Bukhao and Second Road, while the water was waist-high at the intersections of Second Road with Pattaya Tai and Pattaya Klang. The "torrential effect" reaches its culmination as the water reaches Beach Road, hence the massive erosion to the beach. The new drainage works will hopefully help limit flooding, but it's almost impossible to alleviate the effects of 50 years of intensive building done without proper thought to drainage. However, it does seem from the photos that it's now easier to repair the erosion to the beach. Ever beach in the world takes something of a beating if it's hit by runoff from flooding. Evil

UPDATE: Gas leak believed to be cause of massive explosion at restaurant in the center of Pattaya

Massive explosion obliterates Thai restaurants and buildings in the center of Pattaya, one Laotian worker seriously injuried I've eaten in Govindam, the Indian restaurant said to have sustained minor damage. It's located on Pattaya Klang near 2nd Road. The explosion appears to have occurred in a subsoi off Klang. Lucky it occurred at 5.30 a.m. and not 5.30 p.m. Evil

I'm posting the news story here in case anyone missed it. I'll post my reaction and any follow-up discussion in the Politics Club.