Butch

GTFO. Where's the secondary safety precaution, failsafe etc?. I'm harnessed up like a madman in a straightjacket at 2 Metres, and have a harness, arrestor, secondary and a "Gotcha 2" from 100m upwards depending upon risk level. That is not something I'd say is a good idea by any stretch of the imagination. You're trusting a cargo net to keep you from becoming pavement pizza. Even a secondary harness would be a bit more reassuring.

I've heard that @Nightcrawler is "resting" in his room at the moment. I heard mention of the words "daisy chain" , "Jamaican beef party" "banana marathon" and "San Francisco Steam train" but I have no idea what he was so excited about. This was apparently the scene at the dockside yesterday though...

All the hallmarks of a cyber attack, but they're citing "operation issues with NATS". Maybe one for the conspiracy topic, but it just seems a bit too close to when Putin promised to step up attacks against the UK. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6x2z0yy32ejt lots and lots of flight delays, LHR at saturation point due to no flights taking off, other airports affected. hope no BM's are flying in or out today.

I believe with that kind of a set up they can go f**k themselves.

We have fully automated vehicles at work, and the tech behind it is nothing if not incredibly complex and clever, way way way beyond my pay grade. They use advanced laser rangefinding, LIDAR, RADAR, GPS, and numerous other acronyms beyond my general comprehension. What is also very clever is that they use AI to "learn" their way around random obstacles. For example, if a Seagull lands in front, the vehicle stops, because many Seagulls are protected and we can't have the beginning of a sky net disaster by wiping out endangered species, because the Automatons might get the wrong idea. now, despite some naughty people throwing grain on top of the automated vehicles so the Seagulls represent them with food and then learn to fly in and stop in front of them (maybe they could train the gulls to drive them, they seem to learn faster) the Automatons have now started blasting their horns. How long it takes the gulls to realise they are not in any danger is anyone's guess, but I'm thinking not long. We had a tame gull in our messroom years ago, it was an orphan / rejected chick. He recognised individuals, who would give him treats and who wouldn't, so he'd come and peck some people but not all. RIP "Cliff", you were friendly, but not very observant when it came to 38 Ton Articulated Trucks. Anyway, the safety redundancies built in to these things are numerous and ours operate on 5 levels of failsafes, so we have 5 different systems covering the same event, and probably hundreds of events programmed in.

hope your arse isn't too sore.

I ate at Sharples on suggestion from a friend last trip and was arguably the most disappointed I've ever been in a long time when it comes to hype and how good it as supposed to be. He boasts to be the best in town but it was terrible , possibly the worst I've ever tasted, and a total waste of money. The chips were greasy and cooked in old oil, the fish was undercooked and the batter oily and dark, which would indicate the fryer temp was way too high and cooked the batter and not the fish. Best bit was the mushy peas, pretty much perfect but they should be, they came out of a catering can and were heated up in a microwave. Sharples was absolute dogshit. Apparently it was down to the chef being useless and now replaced, my mate seems to think it's the best in town but I'd argue it's not even the best on New Plaza. Best I've had in Pattaya was at the Pig and Whistle and in recent times, The Sportsman took some beating, but that was 2 trips ago. While of course fish makes up the main part of the dish, for me it's how light the batter is, how well cooked and fresh the fish is (not slimy, but firm and white, flaking off the main body of the fish without much effort), the chips being properly cooked and not tasting of burnt oil. I grew up in a coastal town in my very young years where the Cod and Codling were caught off the beach, the fish and chips on the Suffolk coast really takes some beating, so I've been kind of spoiled.

Pis from ages ago, took me ages to get @Nightcrawler out of the place... SM MOA Manila

Technically, an enterprising person might be stood at the top of Soi 6 with a sign offering the US Navy fellas free transport to Soi pothole and thereabouts, with a link to google maps so they can get back to the bus station. Or, if you're name's @Nightcrawler just stand there with a sign saying "Sailors boys, follow me..."

Hotel security is so hit and miss across Town. Page 10 where I normally stay is essentially one bloke on the door until 10pm, well, I say bloke, I mean young fella just out of secondary school. It's reception girls that are the real rottweilers, especially during the daytime. Compare that to when I used to stay at the LK Royal Wing off Bukhao, I could have barfined half of Pattaya and they'd let the girls in with no ID checks. One time my luggage was lost (cheers Cebu Pacific), it turned up but the guy just dumped it in the reception area. I came back from a few beers and saw it just there in the middle of the floor, grabbed it and went up with it. Not a word was said. Hence I never stayed there again.

On the subject of asking Questions about pattaya I should know the answer to: Do the large food halls like in Festival , T21 etc use a "ticket" system like RGP used to, when you'd load up a card with THB and then proceed to get your food, or is it all cash / card now?.

While travelling I have a "secret" zip compartment on my backpack into which I put my cash in an envelope. My biggest concern is the Hotel safe, they're very easy to open if YT is anything to go by. I tend to put a "throwdown" amount in the safe along with an expired CC and keep my cash hidden elsewhere, so anyone breaking into it thinks they've had a result and hopefully won't trash the room looking for the rest. Ideally I'd like a lockable luggage strap that is reinforced with wire so it can't just be cut through as well. Also, TT Cuurency have lockboxes at the branch on 2nd Rd and also at Naklua.

I echo the sentiments of others. Really enjoyed this thread, it's given a great insight into everyday life and every update has been interesting to read. There are a lot of parallels to life in the PI as well, and at times I've found myself smiling in the realisation that something similar has happened to me!. Thanks Grog, hope you got home OK and looking forward to the next trip!.

It's a bloody racket.

I might be tbh, but one thing is that every ATM withdrawl made in Thailand using the Wise card is charged regardless - I did give it a go because my Barclays card was going to be charged and I wanted to see if I could pull some out with Wise. I've never used it to withdraw from an ATM since, I just use it for contactless all the time in LOS (can't recall the last time I used an ATM anywhere come to think of it)