striderman

i watched the water powered guy doing a demo yesterday afternoon. he was good at it but i saw a young indian guy having a go at it the day before and he was struggling.

looks like quite hard to master, physically demanding and a lot of dunking involved.

i was quoted 100 dollars (approx 3,000 bht )for a session by a ruskie who seemed to be running things. said trainer was certified in canada.

located most of the day near central festival shopping about opposite the sizzlers sign

they have 2 sets of kit or at least 2 options. training takes place with the power controled from the jet ski, but they also have another fitting with hand controls for the rider

today 17 10.

location directly opposite mike shopping mall in front of the steps 2 scams going down within 5 mtrs of each other.

1 involving indians 2 nd south koreans.

the koreans tried to walk off 3 times each time being stopped by the thais. in the end 2 of pattaya's finest rolled up on a motorcy i think to deal with the indian's problems but hey it's like a supermarket here bogwof.............buy one get one free.

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The Indians where still being held captive on the beach at 18.45 in the dark.

i never hang about these days esp when it gets dark and i cannot get a pic anyway

been here a couple of weeks and a combination of afternoon rain storms, furthering anglo thai relations, lazyness on my part and trying to wade through the entire series of the sopranos have limited my beach walks.

but yesterday i made it about 17 45 not much renting going on (rain earlier) but got 2 scams going down.

1st one opposite Tipp Plaza near mike shopping mall group of indians on the receiving end and a second one opposite Mulligans bar near Centrale shopping centre.

.

life on pattaya beach goes on

yesterday had a bit of luck when one of the door locks failed in daytime rather than 02 30 or whatever.

after trying with a spare set of keys and with the help of the passing condo electrician got it open, so new lock required.

had a look to see if i could tackle this myself but to release the knobs looked like i needed a set of allen keys which i didn't have so off to see the keyman beside the tues / sat market on buakoaw armed with a couple of pics with the problem lock.

this was about 14 30 so he says can come 17 00.

ok lovely.

turned up at 16 45 does the job and fits a new lock with 3 keys and the bottom line .........550 bht.

seemed fair enough to me...............keyman 0815776752

champers, i do not live in pattaya i only visit and i have stealth photos of at least 93 scams on pattaya beach.

i hope to be back soon and i hope i cannot get to the 100 mark by the time i go back.

but i am not optomistic.

smoke me a kipper i'll be back for breakfast !!!!!

and that is since april 2010

i have warned people before but it's tricky to do it discretely.

cheap day out 10 baht each way on a bht bus, catch it from the junction of second rd and south pattaya rd they line up outside the school.

much deeper beach at least the bit nearest pattaya than the narrow strip along beach rd

the phuket scheme failed as the scammers demanded down time for when the "damaged" ski's were out of the water for repair.

expect the same here in pattaya.

Deal with Tony Justice only and get a free quote.

have used him twice, no problems at all, more than happy with his service

this may sound daft but i had some problems with my hitachi and i thought the door seal on the fridge bit was not closing as it should.

somebody on another forum suggested rubbing vaseline on the door seals and door and believe it or not it worked.

cost me 50 bht and i still have most of the contents of the jar.

good enough for me thaibob, but then again pizza hut or weatherspoons is the norm back home so maybe i am easily pleased!

Is it shutting down or opening up?

To be honest,I think it is opening down,once again.

Is the pool hall using the premises previously used by Cawow?

the bit they have put glass around for the pool hall was previously the round open area towards the rear surrounded by rocks/water feature, i have only seen it used for temp open air sales

that's my shift over this trip, back to falang land without my "hansum man " disguise outfit which i will hand back in at swampy.

this trip i think i had 3 beach walks which failed to result in me spotting a scam, but this is low season and there are fewer customers/targets about.

did not get "made" once i reckon i could go undercover for the FBI /CIA i have had that much practise at blending in.

and thankyou arnold for your continued support

last sat me and a mate went to Cherry's 3rd rd opposite where x-zite night spot used to be.

International buffet 350 baht , enormous choices of starters , mains and desserts and if there is a better one in town for that price lets hear about it

they have it wed and sat and other specials on different nights.

as we left i did a quick head count of 60 + covers at 20 20 hrs , which speaks for itself in low season.

i am one fussy git when it comes to food and i couldn't fault it.

the bill for 2 was 935..........350 x 2, two tiger x 100 one soda x 35, for what we had great value (i would have had a 3rd tiger but my mate was picking up the bill and i didn't want to give him a heart attack)

have not been down to the coconut bar that much recently but 2 days ago on a walk back from naklua mkt i happened across 1 in the usual place (to the right of the steps near mike shopping mall ) at 15 40 two indians getting stiffed.

whatever the talk is in the real world nothing has changed

Does anybody know how many tourists are scammed on jet skis each week/month/year? Please, no speculative replies.

I've always been curious as to how big it really is.

Thanks, to anyone who enlightens me on this issue.

There is an English guy on another well known Pattaya forum who has a whole photo dossier diary going back years on these guys and even knows down to a 't' what is going down...nearly always Arabs,Indians and Russians who get caught..Surprisingly he has highlighted a turban wearing Sikh Indian as also in on the scam...It'll be all same same come the high season around xmas and everything will be forgotten!

he sounds familiar.

it's all smoke and mirrors, same as they clamp down on fake products till the nike guy is on his way back to the airport and things return to normal.

they got round the insurance thing in phuket by demanding loss of profit (which wasn't covered )from the customer.....ie it will take 5 days to fix and it would have been rented out to the max every day so you owe a shed full of money still

thanks for the link arnold, but news of this initiative has yet to arrive at ground zero.

yesterday during my beach walk i drew a blank i guess bad timing, but today that pesky lightning strike was at it again.

exactly the same place as the last 2 just to the right of the mike shopping mall steps (which by the way look like they are to get a revamp with some wood decking ).

group of either chinese or south koreans time 14 40

day off yesterday spent the afternoon walking from south pattaya to north point wongamat beach and back, but today normal service was resumed.

lightning they say never strikes twice. it does of course and the same applies to jet ski scams.

so 14 30 as i stroll along just to the right of the mike shopping mall steps looks like a scam going down with 3 indians. confirmed as one of pattaya's finest walks past me and straight down to the incident.

so after a walk to the far end of the beach and a 99 bht pizza and two 28 bht beers on the way back (c/o dolphin beer garden), i pass exactly the same spot at 17 40.

this time a bigger group of indians v an even bigger group of thai ski guys. this time i even sneaked off a picture as so many of them were down at the waters edge.

another day on the beach

meanwhile having phoned in a take away for lunch i had a walk down and past bali hai to see how the marina is doing.

answer very slowly.

long walk back in the sun to about 10 mtrs past yesterdays incident and there was another event bang on 17 00 hrs

5 by 5, as it was five indians were getting squeezed right opposite soi 13/3 at the start of pattaya beach.

i was too hot to walk any further i had done enough for the day.

so far i have yet to draw a blank on any day that i have been to the beach

i have had a couple of days off visiting the beach, there are other things which distract me in pattaya.

had a brief walk along the coconut bar at 14 50, much earlier than usual but got 1 in play right at the very start of the south end of the beach.

2 indians getting the shakedown.

what happened later in the day who knows, but the problem is still very much active

only spotted one today 2 italian looking guys directly opposite the KFC royal garden plaza. time about 17 00 hrs

furthering anglo /thai relations delayed me to beach rd this afternoon which was awash with colour and marching bands.

so it was 17 20 as i strolled the hard sand at the waters edge for a change and came across a lone indian in bother just south of the royal garden plaza. a big bloke but heavily outnumbered who had tried and failed in an attempt to leave the beach. nice twist with 2 of the crew defending him from the others in a good cop bad cop system. 1st time i have actually seen physical force used.you have to remember what you are watching is a game, a play that they have enacted many times. it's theatre.

i get 1 brief shot as i trudge south as another one unfolds almost on top of me directly opposite pattaya walk. i see 2 crew signal to 2 indians in the bay and also signal the rest of the crew up on the coconut bar to get ready.

i know what's coming seen it before and of course i was right.

so that was 2 in about 50 mtrs of sand.

time to exit stage left

meanwhile while the air is thick with talk and meetings, where the rubber meets the road it is business as usual.

out earlier today but still picked one up going down just to the right of the mike shopping mall steps about 15 30.

2 indians ( as i strolled by i heard one of the indians say 15,000 bht a demand or an offer i don't know which) and it looked like they off in the direction of soi 9.

i got talking further down the beach to MJB the pattaya cartoonist and by the time i came back at 16 15 they were all back at the scene with no sign of the cops so i suspect they never got to soi 9

in bangkok at 12 o'clock they foam at the mouth and run but mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.(noel coward)

i tend to leave it a bit later.

today at 17 30 three luckless Indians opposite the pizza co / svensons ice cream royal garden plaza.

saw the money change hands but it was too fast for me to get a shot of that off. the deal was done after the lead Thai appeared to signal ok lets go down to the police station and sort it there.