striderman

they were dishing out flyers today of the menu but without prices (i guess not to put the Thai's off ) cos by the time you are in there and ordering it's a bit late to back out.

3 rd floor on the right hand side overlooking the brazilian place Zico.

i think it has a terrace but i need to confirm that.

being english i had never heard of this mob till today

it was the late late show today. i was waiting in the high five bar (something like that) by the mike shopping mall steps but gave up as the 4 indians i had seen leave must have agreed more than the usual 30 mins.

i figured 1 tiger enough as the chances of getting reimbersed by rimmer were lower than getting bitten by an emohawk anytime soon!!.

but 18 45 passing mcdonald's royal garden plaza, bingo a group coming back in got hit.

how they could claim to see any damage in the rapidly fading light is beyond me.

with the flash set to off i got off 1 fast pic and scarpered.

that brings my photo scam total to approx 83. I would tell you where to look for them but it's a Secret

Thought it was a quiet afternoon, but another going down with the turban guy in front of TQ 1 right now! Then a good one a bit further down, with an anchor rope including anchor sucked into the impeller all the way to the hull of a ski in front of Mike Sh. Off course the renter is in fault and has to pay. Unreal...Shame on these people. JH.

i think i saw them fixing that last one using a hammer and a beach umbrella sand spike as a handy tool. it did not take them too long.

meanwhile i realy need to make up a template for my reports it would make life so much easier i would just have to change the day and the time slightly and keep the rest.

2 to report on today.

1st one to the right of the dreaded mike shopping mall steps 4 indians at about 16 10 getting the treatment.

they were still at it 40 mins later when i had another pass. initial debate is by the ski's but it's usually too hot to debate money there so they usually decamp to the 2 trees to the right of the steps. 1 it's cooler and 2 there is a wall behind so it's not as easy to try and do a runner. the guy who last year had the orange hair and was then missing for a while was in the thick of things. i went off for a couple of cold ones and by the time i got back it was over.

2nd one about 17 40 in front of burger king royal garden plaza again 4 luckless indians

i could have written todays one from the room i've seen it so many times.

another case of deja vu........

14 10 and as i walk past the dreaded steps to the right of mike shopping mall 2 indian guys got swamped by even more ski guys than yesterday.

fired off couple of swift pics then scarpered up the beach for a while.

when i return 40 mins later who has swept in to save the day on his trusty white honda wave?

that well known arbitrator and seeker of truth and justice the old Sikh guy.

God help them

an afternoon at a jomtien condo with wine, imported cheddar and a bit of swimming kept me away from the coconut bar yesterday but normal service was resumed today.

16 15 and as i walk by the dreaded steps to the right of mike shopping mall 2 middle eastern guys got swamped by about 9 thai ski wallahs as they returned to shore. lots of jumping around, lots of pointing, lots of scamming. those guys looked hungry with baht on their mind.

just another day on pattaya beach

and at the moment the beach is about as dead as i can ever remember there are few punters and the risk for renters is higher than normal.

by the way i forgot to mention the incident from two days ago the policeman was accompanied by a marine department offical

the sign says "prepare for new fabulous entertainment complex"

i will not be holding my breath

a whole day since i posted so time to report another 1.

out all day exploring the dark side and down to rayong with an expat and car so late to the beach just after 17 00.

the beach is unbelievably quiet at the moment very few people about but as i get down to opposite the best friend bar complex i see a group of about 7 europeans/russians/who knows sitting in a line of chairs.

no thai is with them, but there are no beers on the tables and the umbrellas have gone, so why are they still sitting there?.

my scam o monitor is going off the scale, and i notice the footy mob who work that section are between the falangs and the road.

now there are many more people down this end than near mike shopping mall and it's a lot easier and safer to watch events unfold.

sure enough 18 10 and a thai policeman shows up for a ritual inspection and i've seen enough time to get a swift pic of him and offski

by the way these guys looked fit enough but even with 7 bodies they would have been outnumbered by at least 2 to 1

earlier for the coconut bar walk today but i catch one going down to the right of the steps by mike shopping mall at 14 40.

2 indians getting the treatment and discussions were still ongoing 40 mins later as i passed by on the return journey

[

If so, not surprising. The blurbs are hot air mixed with procrastinating. If they put me in the Mayor's seat for one day, those jet ski extortionists would be frog marched to jail, to await trial for extortion, and threatening bodily harm, and brandishing deadly weapons. Furthermore, jetski rentals would be past history, 100%.

easy to say, lets say a Mr Somchai is put in charge tomorrow.

either he stands to become rich quite soon or intimidated even sooner ie we know where u live where you wife takes your kids to school etc etc

not an easy problem to deal with whoever is in control of things

Interesting ?

a search on youtube using the terms pattays and scam gets lots of hits, but most of them are deleted.

just put jet ski scams in and u only get as far as sc and up it comes

bloke i know who runs a guest house/bar in pattaya managed to get a pic of himself and the mayor together all smiles last time he was on the campaign trail.

he has it on the wall by the till to unsettle any greedy officials who might drop in as they think he may have friends at the top of the food chain.

seek and ye shall find.

after a couple of days of blanks due to unlucky timing, i spy a group of indians departing avec ski's at 17 25 from opposite pattaya city walk.

oh dear, not a good time.

as it was scorchio still and not wanting to hang about i tooled off to watch for their return with 3 beers at the pattaya beer garden.

sure enough as i watch i can scope with zoom at maximum some waterside activity on their return.

i walk back to take a couple of innocent sunset snaps and get a couple of the incident into the bargain.

left them to it in the gathering gloom at 18 35

another day in pattaya's answer to punxsutawney.

big group of indians getting a kebabing just to the right of the steps in front mikes shopping mall about 17 25 .

on the first pass i was not certain but 20 mins later they were still at it and this time i could see the dreaded signed jet ski rental form.

in Pennsylvania it's called groundhog day in pattaya it's same same

arrived at swampy last night.

as a by the way completed immigration collected bags and met my driver in 35 mins from touchdown.

so today was my first day in town. quite windy and rain expected when i had a walk down the coconut bar about 17 45.

not much happening except 1 large group debating near a group of beached jet ski's.

location?

opposite the royal garden plaza entrance of course.

i wasn't 100 % sure at first but if it looks like a duck and quacks it's going to be a duck.

sure enough after a few minutes 2 of the party returned to the ski's for a bit of pointing.

it's like i have never been away

came in last night and reached immigration snake lines at 19 40 hrs. 1 line of the snake was full, took 10/12 mins to be processed. got to the baggage carousel before it started up with first bags.

reached my waiting driver 35 mins after touchdown.

.it helps a little bit by having a low seat number, i try and book row 20/25 that way u are 1 of the first off the plane and then a swift walk to immigration

went in one near the walking st end of soi diamond couple of trips ago without the touts and without paying at the door. upstairs bar lots of tourists a bit on the dark side. nothing special not overly expensive but had to pay for the bottled beer when it turned up rather than later. i guess the tout customers pay before entry for a drink included with the entrance fee.

i

1 bedroom is gonna cost more but at night you can just air con the bedroom rather than the whole of a studio.

neighbours permitting the 1 bedroom should be quieter and of course the place will be bigger.

at a guess the landlord wanted too much to renew the lease

numchai. a friend who lives there told me when i was looking for a tv that the aftersales care if there was a problem was very good. they delivered the same afternoon.

A couple of kids arrested, they are really cutting into the heart of the operation LOL

yes these two at the bottom of the food chain

The only physio I know of in Pattaya is in the Nova Lodge hotel on Pattaya Klang between 2nd road and beach road IIRC. I don't know if that's the same guy, he might have moved there?

the bloke who was there that i knew was called pack, but i think he has moved

This is thailand where logic/planning do not exist-which will happen first the Hotel or bar complex closing down?

the hotel rooms are lovely looking and new of course, so getting customers in the first time should be fairly easy but getting them back next trip extremely challenging.

as for the swimmimg pool apart from it being too small it has been cunningly designed so there is no room for even a single sunlounger at pool height.

the jury is still out on the underground car park but it may provide a much bigger swimmimg area when the rainy season arrives on soi buakoaw

i looked at this hotel about a week after it opened. the rooms looked great for the price but my review on another forum carried a warning about bar noise. at that time the new complex had yet to open but the problem was obvious at least to a falang.

alas you cannot switch sides because as pointed out there is another complex on the other side

the only thing that suprises me about this story is the huge drop from demand to settlement. I am not in pattaya now but my photo/scam count is now on 72. i am also certain that only a total ban on the renting of ski's will cure that particular scam. anything else, new rules, new arbitration etc etc will simply be either ignored or dodged one way or another.

as a ban is unlikely expect topics like this one to repeat on a regular basis, and just hope that by reading threads such as this some newbies can avoid the pain.