Kerryd

What do you think you mean by "VIP" table ? An exclusive, private table out of sight of the rest of the club where the girls dance just for you and your buddy ? Not sure if there are any of those around anymore. Used to be a high-end coyote bar on Soi (5 ?) years ago that had private VIP rooms overlooking the main stage. Not for your average "wife beater and flip flops" crowd (they had a dress code for starters and the price of a cheap beer was twice the price of most other bars). Many of the dancers were Penthouse (or other men's magazine) level models and the customers where usually wealthy local businessmen. Or do you just want seats in front of the stage where the "action" is so close that you have to be careful taking a drink or you may find your nose buried in a girl's rear end ? If that's the case, pretty much every go-go bar has seats around their stage where you can get close enough to smell the fragrance. Or - just do a bar crawl down Walking Street. Pick a random number between 1-5, go down the left side of the street until you hit the (whatever number you picked) bar, have a drink, then go down that many bars again, have a drink, do it again. Get to the end of Walking Street, turn around and start hitting the bars on the other side of the street until you're back at the beginning (or passed out in the gutter, or being dragged to some nearby hotel by the latest "Mrs Right Now"). And if you're still "thirsty" - go back and check the bars on Soi Diamond, Soi 15, Soi BJ. (Probably best to stay away from Soi 16 if you're a pasty white, English speaking dude that could easily be mistaken for an American.) Some of the go-gos can be pretty entertaining - especially if the girls are getting a bit drunk or have lots of "hansum" men to try and impress. (Here's a clue - if you have a pulse - you qualify as a "hansum man".) Pro-tip - do NOT buy "lady drinks" for the girls unless you KNOW what you are doing and how much they cost. There are usually signs posted telling you how much a "lady drink" costs - regardless of what's in it. (Note: - the girl gets a portion of the cost of each lady drink someone buys for her. Some clubs have quotas the girls have to meet in order to get their full salary for the month so they can be pushy. Also, in some clubs, the girls will try to get you to buy drinks for their "sisters" who are actually their room-mates or just friends that need to make their quota as well.) Pro-tip - ALWAYS check your "bin" after each drink (or round) you order. I have NEVER had a bar try to "pad" my bill but MANY tourists lose track of just how many drinks they've ordered - or how many lady-drinks they've bought for the girls. You get a cute girl gyrating on your lap while another one is massaging your shoulders and another one is trying to grope you and you can get "distracted" and lose track of just how much your bill is. As well, checking it after each drinks shows you the cost of the drinks and shows the staff that you are paying attention to what goes onto your bill. Clue - a "bar fine" is NOT "prostitution" or a "pimp fee". That is some old B.S. from old farts in days gone by that were too skint (broke) to bar fine hot chicks from bars. The girls in those clubs, be they service staff, regular dancers or "star" dancers - get paid a monthly salary. Most clubs have time cards and the girls have to punch in/out every day so they get credit for working. But - if someone pays the "bar fine" the girl can punch out early and not lose her salary for that day. The bar usually keeps half the bar fine to make up for the salary they have to pay her and the girl usually gets the other half. Think about it. If you meet a chick that's working in a 7-11 or MacDonalds or Makro - what are the chances you're going to chat her up and she's going to just drop everything and leave with you ? Not a chance if she still wants to have her job the next day. You can't just take staff out of normal working places or they risk losing their job. But some cheap charlies whine that they should be able to just smile and wink at any girl in a beer or go-go bar and she should just head straight out the door with them for some reason. (A lot of those guys will wait until the club/bar closes and try to get the girl to go with them "for free" because "they ain't never paid no bar fine". Yawn.) And yes, "star" super hot, lithe young hotties you'd never score in your wildest dreams usually have higher bar fines than the old lady that mops out the bathrooms and still has 2 of her own teeth. Just ask a waitress what the cost of lady drinks are if you don't see a sign and ask how much the "bar fine" is. It's not a secret and it's not something to be embarrassed about. Pro-tip - do NOT try to scam a bar/club by running up a bill, having the rest of your group leave and then pretend you are just stepping outside to take a call or some other BS. Unless you want to be a headline in the news the next day that is. There's always some joker who thinks he knows how to scam his way out of paying his bill and the staff at those clubs have seen them all. Probably a couple times a month or more. And here's another clue - you may not notice it - but there are probably a dozen sets of eyes on you from the minute you step into a club/bar until you leave and if you think you're going to pull a fast one on them and skip out on your bill - I suggest you read some of the headlines about other people that have tried the same thing first. It usually doesn't go well for them. Lousy way to end your holiday as well. But the good news is - hundreds of thousands of regular guys visit Walking Street every year and never have a problem.

Tried calling the Embassy - got a long, drawn out automated message, got to the "leave your message" bit, left a message - which they never responded to anyways. However they just responded (4 days later) to the email I sent at the same time. I had asked them if Mr Gagnon contacted them, could they give him my name/phone number/email address so I could arrange to get his ID back to him. And their response (minutes before they closed for the day) ? They asked if Mr Gagnon had contacted me but they didn't say if he had contacted them or that they'd given him my contact info. So I'm not sure why they would ask if he's contacted me - unless he did contact them and they pass on my info. If I haven't heard anything by end of day tomorrow I'll ask my friend to show me the passport and then if everything is good to go, take it to Immigration and see if they can track him down. If there's a problem (i.e. if he's on overstay) then it's probably best to just mail it all to the Embassy and let them deal with it.

I actually know a guy who screwed up one year when he was trying to transfer the exact amount (65k) each month and he was 100 baht short one month (according to him) because of fluctuating exchange rates. And his Extension was denied. He had to go back to the States and apply for a new Non-O and start over again from scratch. Because of 100 baht, one time. If you can't afford to send say, 66 or 67,000 (or even 70,000) each month to be safe and avoid such complications then there's something wrong. It's the ones who try to send the exact amount each month for some reason that run into problems. Kind of makes you wonder (not really, you know why they are doing it).

WATCH the WHOLE video. It shows the Brit was involved in a confrontation on the street, seemingly with maybe a couple people (one being a guy in a white shirt) in a pushing/shoving kind of match. But they don't let the clip run. They clip it and then show just the end part where he is aggressively following a security guy who turns around and belts the Brit. The clip is blurry and they keep putting the stupid graphics in there but if you look close you see the Brit and a guy in a white shirt dancing (i.e. shoving each other) which was a few seconds after the Brit had apparently been trying to confront someone else (possibly the Security guy as it looked like someone in a dark shirt). The clip ends and picks up again with the Brit following the Security guy and then getting laid out on the street. So it wasn't just some Security guy popping a tourist for no reason. It appears the Brit was involved with a couple other people before that (and you can see the other people all looking towards him).

OK, no word from the Embassy (as expected). Tried searching for the guy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Even did an address search and contacted a "Gagnon" I know that lives in Quebec though that is a huge longshot. (I'm sure you've heard the stories where you tell someone where you are from and they say something like "Canada ? I have a friend in Canada ! His name is (Joe Smith) - do you know him ?" Meanwhile, I'll ask my buddy if I can take a look at the stamps in the passport to see if the guy is "legal" or not. If he's good to go I'll tell buddy (who will likely just give it to me) to take to Immigration to see if they can track him down. If he's not "good to go" then the best thing would be to just mail it to the Embassy. I may try calling them again this morning to see what they say.

Asean Now - the Hub of GoFundMe scam stories lifted directly from the pages of various British tabloids. Surely there are AN/TV members living on Koh Samui that could go visit this poor guy and bring him some flowers or something ? I think that's why all these scam stories happen in Phuket or Koh Samui. Places where apparently no one cares enough to maybe go check on a fellow countryman and offer help. It's also why these stories never have any specific details. Want to bet this never made the local (or national) news when it happened either ? Lol - you have to donate to the GoFundMe in order to make a comment so I can't ask which hospital he is in - which I doubt would get a response anyways for some reason.

I've never heard of them frisking anyone or "torturing them" either. But I have heard of them asking foreigners to produce their passport and it is possible they could demand to see it. Especially if you were stopped at an alcohol checkpoint and maybe had a bit of booze on your breath. A regular person - with nothing to fear - wouldn't need to toss his ID so he could claim he "forgot" or "lost" it, which could lead police to ask for proof. Would it happen ? It would depend on the cops - and the person being questioned. But if you have something to hide, are you going to take that chance ? Of course it could be something simple like he was driving down the road and his wife was angry and tossed his ID out the window. Or he was riding down the road and hit a bump and his passport, driver's license and bank card just fell out of his pocket. In ANY event, one might assume he'd like it back if at all possible, which is why I've taken the effort to try and locate/contact him, regardless of how it ended up on the side of the road.

You can't think of any reason why someone wouldn't want the police to look at their passport. During a time when there's a big crackdown on foreigners ? From a current news article in the Thailand News forum: Gee, if someone was on overstay and saw a police roadcheck ahead, what do you think would happen to him if the cops checked his passport ? You KNOW what would happen. He would immediately be arrested, sent to Pattaya jail and then to the IDC in Bangkok where he'd be charged, ordered to be deported, blacklisted and have to sit in jail until he could arrange a flight out of the country. Or maybe he tosses his ID on the side of the road, expecting to come back for it later only to have someone else find it first. Pretty sure if someone knew they were on overstay they would stay as far away from the police as possible - especially if they had their passport on them.

Called them and sure enough - automated menu and recorded message. Left them a message but unless someone there is really pro-active (lol - gov't employees so not likely) I probably won't get a response until Monday. I suspect he won't go to a police station as he probably wouldn't know where one is, probably wouldn't trust them and if he's read ThaiVisa at all, would worry that he'd be arrested for not having a passport. (My Thai friends are usually adamant that one never contacts the police unless it's a dire emergency.) And as I have no idea what the guy's Visa status is, it might not be a good idea to go to the police anyways. (Maybe there was a police check on the Railway bypass road last night, being Friday and such, and the guy tossed his ID in case he was stopped, thinking he'd come back for it later.) Who knows how it ended up on the side of the road. Couple weeks ago I pulled up at a friend's shop on my Harley. Put the kickstand down, leaned the bike over - and my phone fell to the ground. Swung my leg over the seat - and my wallet fell on the other side. (Needless to say, never wearing those pants on a motorcycle again. Straight into the rag bin when I got home !)

Roger. Message sent. C-r-a-p - it's Saturday and they are closed until Monday. I'll try their phone number just in case.

I was thinking of going to Immigration. They should be able to run the name and come up with a phone number/address. (Have to check his stamps first - in case there's a reason that ID was "lost". The passport is valid but buddy only posted a shiny pic of the face page and cut the passport number off.)

Friend of mine found some ID (Canadian Passport and Quebec Driver's license) on the Railway Bypass road near the Khao Talo crossing. Luc Gagnon from Terrebonne, Quebec. Contact me and I'll put you in touch with the guy who has it.

Why is this c.r.a.p. being included in the newsletter each day ?

The only thing missing from the story was a "GoFundMe" link (and a photo credited to the Daily Mail or Mirror). I used to teach Defensive Driving and one of the key points was, from the moment you start your vehicle until you are at your destination, you HAVE to be aware of your surroundings. If you KNOW you are going somewhere, you HAVE to think about the route you're going to take. The time of day. The weather. Is it a holiday. Are YOU physically/mentally capable. Is your vehicle reliable. As you KNOW what soi 6 is like, you KNOW there will be hazards and not just for you. Did YOU ever even stop to think that maybe the vehicle driver ahead of you was FORCED to make a sudden stop because some slobber-mouthed geezer was staggering on the road in front of him ? If YOU had of been paying attention, you would have KNOWN and been LOOKING for potential hazards like that. And if you were REALLY going just "10km/hr" and couldn't stop on a dime - on a 2.8 mil Harley - and the front wheel locked up and the "handlebars wobbled" then I suspect the problem was YOU and not the guy in front of you. I have an older bike (2003) and it doesn't have ABS but at 10km/hr I have no problem stopping almost instantly. But I pay attention to my surroundings and don't follow people 1 meter from their bumper in a congested soi full of gawkers and trawlers while scanning for the next "Mrs right now". And if you were riding a Harley down Soi 6 then that is exactly what you were doing. Scoping out the talent to see if any of them would fit on the back of your bike instead of watching the traffic in front of you. Take responsibility for YOUR own actions and next time, park the bike and WALK. (And don't forget the "GoFundMe" link next time to add "authenticity" to the story.)

READ the fine print. Deposit Terms and Interest Rates USD 4- months Fixed Deposit Account, interest rate is 4.35% p.a. USD 7- months Fixed Deposit Account, interest rate is 4.20% p.a. At maturity, the Bank will automatically roll over the deposit to a three-month fixed term deposit using the interest rate available at that time under the Bank’s conditions, provided that a depositor has not withdrawn any money from the account, or issued any subsequent instructions. In other words, at the end of the 4 or 7 month period, the interest rate will drop to the regular rate for an FCD (or other Fixed Term account). You have to deposit a minimum of $10,000 and it has to stay in the account for the entire period or you lose the interest for that period. It's the same deal they often make with regular Fixed Term accounts. They had plans that were 3, 4 or 6 months long and offered higher interest rates but when the period ended, the rate dropped to the regular rate for that kind of account.

I thought The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) was supposed to be monitoring all foreigners in the country now (Big Brother/Gestapo style) ? https://aseannow.com/topic/1352541-internal-security-operations-command-isoc-to-monitor-foreigners in-thailand/ Surely they must have seen the incident. Oh wait - they are only concerned about foreigners committing crimes, not locals committing crimes against foreigners.

Duplicate - please delete.

Wow - these scam "news" articles are being posted at a rate of what, one every 2 days now ? And shocker - just like the guy supposedly in the Hua Hin hospital with a "mysterious ailment" - she was in India just before coming to Thailand. And lol - both stories claim they had insurance - but it expired. In this case they are saying they had 2 policies, one that only covered them in India and another for Thailand - but (naturally) it had "expired". "John said: 'We have two insurance policies. One [...] was for like 134 days, which covered us for India. And of course, we came over to Thailand. 'What they're saying, because we were in India and then went to Thailand, we're not covered on the insurance policy. 'The [other] they're saying you get 31 days of cover, which is free, but because we left the UK on November 2, that cover ran out on December 2. We were thinking that would cover us for Thailand, but it didn't.'" And, naturally, the story appears only in the Daily Mail - and has a GoFundMe already set up. It's like there's a site somewhere that people can go to, pick a format and create a fake travel story that they can then sell. What are the odds that 2 Brits (it's almost always Brits for some reason) both were in India, then both suddenly decided to travel to Thailand as well (within days of each other), and both end up in a hospital with a mysterious disease/infection and both find out their travel insurance "expired" and they suddenly need huge amounts of cash to pay their bills and return home. And both stories end up in the Daily Mail within 2 days of each other, with GoFundMe links already set up. Amazing coincidence eh ?

ASEAN Now - the Hub of GoFundMe Scam stories lifted straight from quality media sites like the Mirror and Sun.

01:35 in the morning - coming back from the Burapha bike event. I left that party (sober) at 11:30 and there were thousands of people still partying hard. Can't say who was at fault because we don't know all the circumstances. In Canada the SUV driver would have immediately been given a breathalyzer test. Also we can't really see the accident scene so it's hard to tell who swerved into who's lane. One would hope the SUV had a working dash cam. Not that we'll ever hear the outcome of the investigation anyways.

I'm guessing a certain nation to the north doesn't want it's citizens to have to worry about paying taxes in Thailand while working on Chinese projects Thailand has contracted Chinese companies to do with money borrowed from Chinese "investment banks" who will own/operate/collect revenue from those projects for decades. Guaranteed this sudden "re-evaluation" has absolutely nothing to do with a couple thousand white-hairs squeaking by on their meagre pensions being worried that their non-taxable pensions might be taxed because they have no clue about the tax treaties or the actual Thai tax scheme itself. When "Big Red" whispers these days, Thailand is quick to jump. Hence the recent announcements about changes in condo ownership rules (in "certain designated areas only), changes in Visas, proposed casino legislation, submarine deals. Many expats have the ludicrious notion that the Thai economy hinges on what they spend in the country every year. A lot of them actuall think that a few thousand "Farangs" - most of them barely skimping by on their pensions as it is - has such a huge impact on the economy that Thailand makes all those changes with them in mind. And not the 10s of millions of Chinese coming here every year. And the multi-billion dollar projects like the high speed troop transport - er, I mean "rail link" between China and Thailand. Or the condo projects. The weapons deals (i.e. submarines). The proposed "southern bridge" entirely meant to allow Chinese shipping to get to Europe without having to pass through the Straits of Malacca - which China has no influence or control over. One just has to look at how Big Red has it's hooks deep into Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia to see that Thailand is a priority for them to gain control over.

I suspect it's the same story as the Uzbek and various African hookers. They come here for the money, their "handlers" hold on to their passports, when they stop "earning" or get too "independent" suddenly Immigration gets tipped off on exactly where to find them and then they are someone else's problem. And the handlers simply make a call or text and a couple days later "new talent" arrives at the airport and once they've cleared Immigration they hand their passport over to the "handler" - probably unaware of the rules or what's expected of them and maybe after a party or two to "test" the new talent they get put to work making money. That stuff has been going on since the first civilizations started springing up and people in the "oldest profession" found they could ply their trade and earn better money in other locations.

It's been awhile since I was in a go-go but I recall most of the ones I visited had signs all over the walls mentioning how much "lady drinks" cost and what "ringing the bell" meant. (It used to be that "ringing the bell" meant every person in the bar got a free drink regardless and many would take advantage of a bell ringer by ordering the most expensive stuff available, knowing it was unlikely the bell ringer would realize it until too late.) A lot of bars changed it to either just the "dancers on stage" or "just the staff". Some even have 2 "bells" (or a bell and a siren). That must have really killed the "balloon chaser" crowd who would (literally) patrol the bar areas looking for places putting up loads of balloons, indicating that a party was going to happen there that night. And the parties almost always included a lot of food - and a lot of bell ringing. I stopped having my birthday parties at the old FLB bar when I found out the manager would put out the word to all his buddies so they could come to his bar for a free night of food and drink - at my expense. Years later, a guy I sort of knew (friend of a friend) bought the go-go bar in the Center Condo complex and named it the "Wet & Wild A-go-go". It never did a lot of business due to it's out of the way location and lack of advertising. But they always had 15-20 attractive ladies and 5-6 staff. And "ringing the bell" bought the staff a shot of tequila, which was only 90 baht (and it really was tequila, not water). So on a "full night" when they had all the normal staff working, ringing the bell would cost you about 2,400 baht. And they would put your name in letters on one of the large mirrors around the sides of the club. I'm not saying I drank a lot or rang the bell a lot - but by the time the club was closed (when the cops found out how the owner was really making his money) I had 3 full rows on that mirror. (And dear old dad had his name up there 9 times as well the randy 75 year old bugger !) But I always knew what the cost was for the lady drinks and the staff would bring the new bin and show me how much it was so I knew the new total. In some clubs they gave you individual bins with each drink order and then totalled them when you were ready to leave (hence the "check bin" phrase - check the bins and total them). More updated clubs used computerized printouts and they'd bring a new, updated (and longer) bin with each new drink order so you knew the new total right away. I've never seen them not give someone a bin or purposely keep the bin cup by the cashier to hide it from the customer. Sounds like a load of crap to me. And whenever you see a case where there were 2 or more people involved but the other "friend(s)" left beforehand and were waiting outside - it's often a failed attempt to scam out of paying the bar tab. 2 guys drink, one guy leaves. The other guy pretends to get a phone call and starts walking away "distracted" by the call and "forgets" to pay his bill or "forgets" which bar he was in. I've actually WATCHED people try to do that. Some even tried to leave an (empty) cigarette pack and (dead) lighter on the table as "proof" they meant to come back. (I've seen service staff immediately check the cigarette pack and alert the guys at the door to stop someone from leaving - they've seen it all before many times.) Remember the case on Soi 6 when "security" put the boots to that guy ? Same thing, he'd been drinking with "friends" and they left before him. Then he tried to leave without paying, claiming he wasn't paying their bills (or was it he claimed one of the other guys had already paid the bill which was BS). All those "newbies" arriving everyday and a lot of them seem to think they know a sure-fire way to party all night for free. And probably got away with it a few times "back home". And think that the locals in Thailand won't be smart enough to figure out what they are doing until it's too late. And the "locals" are beating them with their high heels and manishly large feet.

People sometimes forget that for every jaded, pence-pinching, balloon-chasing old expat in Pattaya, there are 500 "newbies" that have just arrived off the plane and have never been outside of their home region/state, let alone in a foreign country on the other side of the world. And despite how widespread and easily available the internet is - very few ever do a detailed search on their destinations aside from things like "where is the hotel and where is the beach". But they've heard stories. Hand-me down tales from cousins and uncles and that nice man who used to take you out to the shed in the back for naked "sword fights" when your parents weren't around. But those stories usually lack two important things. Relevant details and - reality. For example. When I was in Afghanistan and people found out I was living in Thailand, invariably there'd be someone in a group that "had a friend who went to Thailand and he rented a house right on the beach, hired one woman to do all the cleaning and laundry and another woman to do all the grocery shopping and cooking - and he was sleeping with both of them - and it only cost him $75 US a month !" Seriously ! Between 2003-2005 in Kabul I heard that same story, almost word for word, from 3 different people ! And it was hilarious to see the confused look on their faces when I told them the Vietnam war ended 30 years ago. And then had to explain that things haven't been that cheap in Thailand since the mid-late 70s. (Then ask who their "friend" is and invariably they'll have forgotten his name or it will actually be a "friend of a friend" and so on. Because what they are really doing is retelling an old wives tale that gets passed around in bars and schools and workplaces for decades and none of the people hearing the story ever question the details.) But then some people hear such stories, hop on a plane and arrive in Thailand - totally clueless about how things really work here. And then they go to a bar, thinking it's just like the bars "back home" except they seem to be full of young(ish), attractive(ish) women that actually seem to like them ! And they start thinking all those stories they heard are true ! Until they get their bar bill and that "reality" that was missing from those stories hits them. Some sheepishly accept their newly learned reality that things aren't as cheap - or easy - as they were led to believe. And some get into drunken brawls with ladyboys in high heels. And one day, maybe, 2 or 3 of the 500 (per jaded expat) will become older, wiser and equally jaded expats themselves. (Right about the same time they learn about ThaiVisa/ASEAN Now and join the rest of the "socks with sandals and wife-beater undershirts" brigade of expats.)

Undoubtably this has to do with the vast amount of Chinese tourists passing through the airports. I too am a former smoker and I remember getting off a plane and zipping to the nearest smoking room for a butt before zipping to the Immigration lanes. Canada was actually one of the first countries to ban smoking on Domestic flights. And then they told airlines that smoking would be banned on any flight departing from Canada or landing in Canada. That was in the very early 90s. Some airlines even threatened to reroute flights to US airports instead so Canada softened the rule to flights that were less than 2 hours in duration. By the mid-90s though the ban was again on all flights. I remember flying on a charter 747 when we deployed to Croatia in Sept '92. Once we were airborne and out of Canadian airspace the smoking light was on. That deployment was also when I took my first flight to Thailand. Flew Lufthansa from Zagreb to Frankfurt to Bangkok. The plane took off from Frankfurt and you could hear the wheels retract and "clunk" into place and bingo ! The smoking light was on. I waited until I'd seen half a dozen other people lit up before I did myself. But when our rotation was over in Croatia in Apr '93 and we were flying back to Canada, the chalk commander declared it was a no smoking flight. We landed in Ireland for refueling and they let everyone off the plane. There was a mass rush for the smoking room and it was way too small. The chalk commander relented and allowed smoking only in the rear 8 rows of the plane. I swear that 747 flew tail down/nose up all the way to the West Coast of Canada after that because of how many people were crowded into the back of the plane so they could smoke. But when I took my 2nd trip to Thailand ('97) there was no smoking on pretty much any commercial airline And yeah, in SOME airports they have (or had) very nice smoking rooms. The Emirates Business Class lounge smoking area was a huge, well ventilated area above the main lounge area so the smoke never went into the rest of the lounge. The smoking rooms in the Taiwan airport were nice as well - when they weren't busy. But there was literally one room for the entire International terminal and one for the Domestic terminal and if you arrived at a busy time they'd usually be very crowded. The smoking room in the Bahrain terminal (Departure side) was terrible. A tiny room barely 4 meters by 4 meters with almost no ventilation. Whenever the door opened a huge cloud of smoke would fill the corridor. And it too was so crowded that people just started smoking in the corridor. I pitied the people who had to walk past there to get to the bathrooms. Swampy was a bit better - mostly because the smoking rooms were hard to find if you didn't know where they were already. But regardless of how nice or uncrowded the room is - you will still stink of smoke afterwards and your breath will still smell horrid. After I quit (13 years ago) I was shocked when I suddenly started noticing what other smokers actually smelled like after they'd had a cigarette and then I realized that I used to smell exactly like that as well. Then I thought of all the times I sat in a smoking room right up until my flight started boarding. I imagined a cloud of smoke following me all the way to my seat and hovering over me the whole flight. And then I imagined what my breath must have smelt like whenever I spoke to anyone just after having a cigarette. Not pleasant at all. And no, the smoke does not stay in the rooms because every time the door opens and people enter/leave, clouds of smoke usually escape. I remember finding smoking rooms in airports literally by smell. I could smell the stale 2nd hand smoke in a corridor and knew there had to be a smoking room nearby. And of course - the people who have to clean those rooms get exposed to the smoke as well. People getting cancer from 2nd hand smoke is what led to smoking bans in bars and restaurants in the 90s as well. But - there are 10s of millions of smoke-happy Chinese arriving every year and if they don't give them a place to smoke - you know they'll be doing it somewhere.