TCW

I prefer the ladyboys.

At least they aren't wasting taxpayer's money, and they aren't reinforcing the sexually patronising stereoptypes Thai women in government and other jobs have to put up with day in day out, at the hands of fat, lazy, unproductive, stupid men.

This was a letter to In Pattaya Now. The chap seems to have had enough.

I must say I like the Russian women holidaymakers on Walking Street.........

http://inpattayanow.com/2012/03/27/opinion/readers-letter-the-russians-are-ruining-pattaya/

I came to Pattaya 2 nights ago, surprised and disappointed to see there is another market on Beach Road until the New Year, which prevents my nightly walking along there.

I also read this item on In Pattaya News site:

As we head towards New Year, we thought we’d compile a list of sure-fire predictions for Pattaya in 2012...

http://inpattayanow....tions-for-2012/

I wonder what Thai Visa posters would predict, humorously or not humorously, for Pattaya in 2012.

Mine would be:

1. City Hall to clean the beaches better and more often.

2. Stop holding markets on Beach Road, although I know a lot of tourists seem to enjoy looking at the stalls.

Some useful information and photographs - but why is a Pattaya based website able to do these updates and nobody in Bangkok seems to be doing it as well?

http://inpattayanow.com/2011/11/08/opinion/bangkok-flooding-in-pictures/

Just read the update - sounds like it will be OK there - I hope so. I fly out on Tuesday.

http://inpattayanow.com/2011/11/05/opinion/bangkok-airport-not-flooded-yet-but-still-affected-by-the-crisis/

Good reassuring article from In Pattaya Now, which I just read, for anyone flying: http://inpattayanow.com/2011/11/03/opinion/bangkok-airport-not-flooded-yet-but-still-affected-by-the-crisis/

Can you set up the website off shore...so you can be brutally honest about the REAL PATTAYA, as opposed to the sanitised "family-resort-with-world-class-facilities-cum real estate boomtown-cum-everything is hunky dory" versions we see in other papers.

Hmmm...not sure what papers you are reading, but the ones I've seen describe the area fairly well...as long as you avoid the articles written by the various sponsors.

Overally, Pattaya still seems well served with English language press.

From my recent visit, when I bought all the papers to compare them, I thought Pattaya One was best for entertainment and an entertaining slant on news, and - I never thought this could happen - Pattaya Mail for more controversial local news. Pattaya Times and Pattaya People seem rather pointless and directionless, but no doubt fulfil a useful function for their owners (perhaps they might merge, but that would give rise to unthinkable consequences in terms of self-promotions ), and Pattaya Mail seems to have stagnated of late, which is disappointing as I rather enjoyed it a few years ago.

Both the airport link and the BTS need more trains, and rush hour is now shocking. Well done to the writer of this article for bringing publicity to a subject many just accept.

Another irritant - the increasingly loud advertisements blaring away at commuters in all the train carriages. Annoying and intrusive.

I just read the latest edition and it says they will move online totally from October, not bothering with the print costs any more probably.

I mostly download it in Bangkok, or back in England, and enjoy it, but there didn't seem to be much advertising in it.

Will people in Pattaya notice or care, as there is still too much press around. That "just" leaves the Pattaya Times, Pattaya Mail, Pattaya Today and Pattaya People as the mainly English language newspapers to fight it out for smaller advertising revenues in the city.

I can't find the Pattaya One forum which used to be here. Can anybody kindly tell me what has happened to it? Thank you.

Terrible for the Thais of course.

My only consolation being an expat Brit is that the GB Pound is finally strengthening, after a couple of years of terrible exchange rates, making everything about 30% more expensive, without any price increases.

A notebook dummy is a notebook that you can see for example in the furniture shops. This is a notebook that looks like a real but without function.

It might be easier to go to Pantip and buy a defect 2nd hand notebook. Unless someone can point you in the right direction.

You will get one very cheap if you tell them they can keep ALL the insides, as you just want the outsides!

A plunge in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index in the past few days stemmed from normal profit-taking by investors, not by any fundamental change in the country’s economic basis, according to the Bank of Thailand.

Hmm. Perhaps the onset of demonstration season in the capital might have something to do with it, the border troubles with Cambodia and the general perception of a weak government caught once again between coloured shirts?

Last. I find that russians try to be confrontational like they want to show how macho they are and they tend to be worse in presence of women.

I have yet to see any actual trouble with drunken Russians in Pattaya but they do seem to be a different lot to the ones I see walking around in Bangkok. And they seem to drink more too, especially on Walking Street and Beach Road.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the beach had more garbage on it than it did in 1984.

When I was there last week the sea was full of plastic bags and other refuse washing up on the beach. Horrible.

Do they still dispose of sewage into the bay?

In all my years of dealing with agents in Thailand, i can tell you they are pretty much useless.

The mechanics of it is very different to the West. Agents basically advertise or find a tenant, you pay the deposit to them(this money they keep as fee) and after that all your dealings are direct with the owner.

Also you will find, many of them do not even have an agreement with the owner, they go around condo's to see where have free room.

My best advice for you is to pick area you like and simply walk around all the condo's asking juristic person if have any available rooms.

You will find yourself condo you like and i can guarantee will also pay much cheaper price.

From my experience(example) in the condo where i lived for 5 years i changed 3 times. First time i used an agent and was paying 32k per month. I then asked Juristic person if there were any units free as i wanted to move and got same size unit, on the lower floor for 22K.

You will also find in many condo's the owners are Thai and they do not use internet or not aware of of Internet prices, so they rent for pretty low prices or i should say "local" prices rather then foreigner prices.

Good luck, i am sure you will find condo in less then 1 day, i know i did

I would agree with all of this.

My experience of agents in Bangkok has been bad. VERY bad!

It is better to go around a few buildings in the area you like and speak to the people in the management office.

I would not be surprised if these are vibrations from the nearby roadway amplified by the ground conditions. Also settlement cracks in any new building are normal.

Probably nothing at all to worry about. I hope not anyway.

I've been waiting for A russian to get in my face and strong arm me.I won't have it. I think their arogant and try and push people around to get their way.

From my visit last weekend, just go down Walking Street and you will get you your wish in about 2 minutes flat, and within every 25 paces after that!

I KNEW IT WAS PATTAYAONE BEFORE I READ A WORD

The headline alone screams this terrible sensationalist publication.

Nothing new to see hear, move along folks.

Each to his own my friend.

For example, I think Pattaya One is an excellent and entertaining publication, and bravo to Thai Visa for hosting it, so Thai Visa members who do not live in Pattaya, like me, can enjoy it too.

At least the paper covers relevant matters in Pattaya, instead of filling their pages with rubbish about Chamber of Commerce parties and The Great and the Good.

Their front page stories are always entertaining as well.

Keep it coming P1.

don't know the condo you speak of but do know the area - living on Petchburi Road wouldn't make my top ten list in Bangkok.

Thank you for your reply.

A friend of mine interested in moving to Bangkok asked me to check out the "My Resort" Condominium on Petchaburi Road, opposite that pink Pleasure Palace, and closer to town than Bangkok Hospital (and not far from the Makkasan Station).

I took a look at the weekend and was quite impressed, but I do not know that area at all.

Does anyone know the Petchaburi/Asok area or the condo well and have anything positive or negative to say about it/them?

Thank you in advance.

Food court at Platinum always works for me when I am in the area, but certainly not the dining experience you may wish for to impress the family!

Please let us know where you chose and how it went.

At the weekend I saw a comment on here from Andrew Drummond, normally a reliable chap, about Pattaya One having put the photograph and name of a 12 year old girl involved in a sex crime in the paper, which sounded outrageous, but I didn't see it in the PDF download.

When I came up to Pattaya yesterday I bought a copy of the paper, thinking it might be in the hard copy, and discovered they didn't name and photograph her there either, just her mother, and now I can' see Mr Drummond's comment. Can anyone shed any light on this. Was he simply mistaken?

If so, how could he post that inflammatory comment and not have checked or read the item properly? Maybe just having a go at the competition - or hungover?

Not very responsible journalism or fact checking by Mr Drummond anyway.

Anyhow, another good front page story and edition Pattaya One. Thank you.

About the Baht bus article - I walked from Manhattans to Second Road last Saturday night at 9pm, as all baht buses were completely full, or had Russians couples in them, who had rented them from Jomtien. Many people were waiting for a long time, or walking into town, given up waiting.

I was not happy

Time for a bus service?

Nothing serious will change on drugs until there is a complete shake-up of the police, and probably immigration police (or do pushers get work permits?).

The Soi 13 problem sounds bad. Only sustained joint action will help you I think.

Best of luck.