MrWorldwide

Because her Handler turned herself in , because of Death Treats, in Philippines

She was in jail for five years before this person turned themselves in the night before her scheduled execution - death threats or no, even a Hollywood script writer would struggle with that. I still cant work out from the garbled media reports whether the handler is male or female - one read 'she turned himself in' - but whoever it is must figure that the inside of a jail in the PI has to be better than being killed by an angry mob. I have to wonder how that's working out for him/her.

Hopefully the truth - or something resembling the truth - will emerge from the trial that is bound to have the media pack frothing at the mouth.

Wow bar still open at 4am, says it all for the largest brothel in the world.

Some of the bars here are open 24/7 and many will remain open at night as long as they have paying customers. I know many ladies who've not been able to go home until dawn because they still had one hard-boiled egg at the bar.

That area stinks of shisha. It reminds me of bad nights out in Bahrain. Awful loud

deafening music, louche limp men, but some crazed with alcohol which they have not learned to consume. But the stink of Shisha evokes all I hate about the MENA region. I spent too long there......And seeing Thai girls suckling on shisha nozzles is disturbing. The worst of the worst most degraded whores hang out in that area. I would love to see that area returned to Thailand again.

The 'worst most degraded whores' is quite a claim in Pattaya, but I'm prepared to bow to your superior research effort.

Why do you feel the need to go into detail on things that, well, lets face the detail of is more interesting to us than them.

OK, I know you probably feel a bit more detail will enhance the experience, I've been there, Rode the pony, eat the pie and got the T shirt. I have found myself in the past explaining a sub plot running in a movie to a Thai girlfriend........Don't bother, your wasting your breath, I've learnt to not give explanation to anything unless my wife asks me a direct question on a topic or subject.......Or I think she is about to do some dumb sh#t.

Bottom line.......No one, not even Thais appreciate a smart A##!

I was asked what the 'movie' was about and I tried to explain that it was about a group of angels who had decided to wage war on humanity. That relies on the assumption that others know what an angel is supposed to be - clearly, that wasnt the case. No biggie.

OK - I make a lot of assumptions based on the number of Hollywood movies many Thais are more than happy to watch, but I was surprised when I had to try to explain what an angel was (much less an Archangel ..) to several Thai ladies with a good grasp of the English language :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_%28TV_series%29

Given that the movie it seems to be based on was a stinker, I'm not expecting great things from this series but a change is as good as a holiday. What our discussion drove home to me is that while Thais definitely 'get' demons, perhaps the angel concept isnt as immediately obvious to someone from another culture. They certainly have enough scary apparitions in the Hindu-Buddhist-animist mix that most Thais seem to adhere to, but even when I showed them stills from the series - complete with black wings - it was difficult to try to get the extensive mythology around the angel concept across. The best I could manage was a feeble 'they fight the demons' but going any further requires some understanding of the whole 'God lives in heaven and the demons come from hell' schtick. You either nod along with that lot or you change the channel - I suspect that many Thais will be inclined to change the channel.

I dont want to turn this into a discussion around religion - I expect that the Romans and the Egyptians had all manner of winged deities long before JC rocked up - but it was interesting to run headlong into something I took for granted based purely on the mindshare that Hollywood enjoys even in Asia. No shortage of supernatural themes in the film and TV output in this neck of the woods, but somehow the angel concept doesnt seem to have made the transition. If we can keep the moral minority out of this and avoid stereotypes, I'd be interested to hear intelligent feedback from anyone who has found themselves in a similar position.

So this is what they do when they're not too busy plotting Israel's and USA destructions? or

enriching uranium?

Relax, they've had a man on the inside for many years ensuring the complete devastation of the US as a military and economic power. His minions are just waiting in the shadows for their next stint in the Oval Office.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney

Experienced this myself the other day, but its someone else's problem now and when the unit they paid good money for no long powers up no doubt they will blame the Farang who tried to tell them that simply pulling the power plug out of the socket isnt the correct way to power it down. Its all in the extensive user manual which I have no doubt remains untouched - as I said, its all their problem now.

All we need is another knucklehead here look stay working and paying taxes look I got over 5 million USD in the bank I live great anyplace I like bang the best eat the best stay in the best travel as I please no money worries. so if you need to count your pennies forget here and stay working.

I've read your post 3 times, tried to insert punctuation and quotation marks where I believe they should have gone, and it still makes no sense beyond 'All we need here is another knucklehead'. I *think* you're referring to some of the earlier posts in this thread, but that's just wild speculation at this point. Care to enlighten us ?

Using my Strangebrew to English translation program:

"All we need is another knucklehead here. Look, stay working and paying taxes....look, I got over 5 million USD in the bank, I live great anyplace I like, bang the best, eat the best, stay in the best, travel as I please, no money worries. so if you need to count your pennies forget here and stay working."

You'd think with "over 5 million USD in the bank" he could hire an editor or at least a proofreader.

Interesting interpretation - I didnt take it to mean strangebrew has 5 million in the bank, I took each of the 'look' sentences as an example of a claim someone here has made. With one or two exceptions, I'm not aware of anyone claiming to have that much money on TVF but I havent read every single cost-of-living thread. 5 million might not be what it was when we started our working lives, but I wouldnt be wasting my time posting on internet forums if I had that kind of money.

All we need is another knucklehead here look stay working and paying taxes look I got over 5 million USD in the bank I live great anyplace I like bang the best eat the best stay in the best travel as I please no money worries. so if you need to count your pennies forget here and stay working.

I've read your post 3 times, tried to insert punctuation and quotation marks where I believe they should have gone, and it still makes no sense beyond 'All we need here is another knucklehead'. I *think* you're referring to some of the earlier posts in this thread, but that's just wild speculation at this point. Care to enlighten us ?

"The suspect claimed that he had just been released from prison on April 3rd after he had been jailed for robbery and because he had no money he decided to rob again."

Is it really so surprising ? Who's going to hire these people, even if they are prepared to work for 2-300 baht a day ? Doesnt justify their crimes but I doubt that any part of the Thai justice system could care less about recidivism : without family to support them when they get out, its difficult to see how the repeat offenders are ever going to be anything else. Faced with the prospect of being savagely beaten by an angry mob if they're caught stealing in their own communities vs being arrested and thrown back in jail, its not hard to see why they are prepared to go after the low hanging fruit in a tourist town.

I went to great lengths in another post to explain why I believe there are ~700 Thais in Pattaya - male and female - between 15 and 55 who I would consider sufficiently desperate to commit violent crime to get money. If the only thing holding a large proportion of them back in any given week is the fear of being jailed, what deterrent is there in a revolving-door system ? I have no doubt that the Thai prison system is hopelessly overcrowded and in dire need of reform but putting them back on the streets with a couple of hundred baht (my assumption) isnt helping anyone except yaba dealers and cops looking for a photo op. Doesnt make Thailand unique - the US incarcerates a higher percentage of it's population than any other country - the difference is that no-one seems to give a flying frack until negative publicity from outside the country threatens to damage Thailand's image among the tourist horde.

I'm just going to come out and say it - if she wasnt hammered and she wasnt stoned, and she looks neither in the photos, what would any halfway street-smart Russian working girl be doing on a beach in Jomtien at 3am ? I'm not calling the woman a hooker, but unless her partner of friends (!) left her completely in the lurch I'm at a loss as to what happened here.

Naive at best.

Pattaya is a tourist town and a party town.

Some of the discos open late and are operating until sunrise.

These are tourists, who do not know Pattaya too well, and are out to enjoy themselves, she may well not be a hooker as you believe.

They come out of a venue, the streets are quiet, the baht bus driver wants 500 baht, a lot of money now to a Russian with the lowly Ruble.

So she starts to walk back to her hotel, not knowing the'land of smiles' (as she has been told by TAT) has an underbelly of crime and poor policing.

She isn't the problem.

No, she isn't the problem, and this isn't 'blame the victim' week. Of course she should be free to walk wherever she wants at that hour - I certainly do and have done for the last 12 months, with a couple of exceptions and I'm afraid anything resembling a beach is one of them. I dont know how many bars or clubs in Jomtien are still going at that hour, whether she had a fight with her companion(s) or what, but in 18 years as a weekend warrior I managed to hang onto my wallet.

Whatever the case, she seems to have her bag back - a little older and hopefully a little wiser.

RIP. If he really wore a helmet it would not have saved him anyway if it was a cheap Big C helmet. It's really just plastic and most people here wear them just to avoid getting fines. In a speeding accident like this you need a real , certified 5000 baht helmet to protect the head.

Apologies for taking this slightly OT, but if we're going to go down this road I'd like to make a couple of general observations, with all due respect to the deceased.

I've read a lot of criticisms of full-face helmets over the years - misting in the visor, reduced peripheral vision etc - but if wearing a helmet meant I had my neck broken (as many claim) I still think that has to be preferable to having my face mashed into the asphalt as we see in so many photos of road accidents here. I agree that the cheap 'skid lids' are basically useless, but when you see some of the crashes that professionals survive in motorsports its hard to deny the value of a full face helmet. Granted, not being run over by the vehicle behind you is a major plus, but even in those instances its astounding what some of the pro bike riders survive. Fit young guys on a purpose-built track with medical staff standing by - sure - but the helmet has to take some of the credit.

Helmets are PITA at the best of times, particularly in a country that is so hot and humid, but if I was going to spend any serious amount of time on a bike I would definitely want something that cost more than the skid lids - I guess it comes down to how highly you value your melon. Based on the last few cab rides I've taken between Pattaya and Bangkok, I wouldnt even limit their use to two-wheeled transportation

I'm just going to come out and say it - if she wasnt hammered and she wasnt stoned, and she looks neither in the photos, what would any halfway street-smart Russian working girl be doing on a beach in Jomtien at 3am ? I'm not calling the woman a hooker, but unless her partner of friends (!) left her completely in the lurch I'm at a loss as to what happened here. Naive at best.

I would have gleefully handed out 100-baht notes to the locals on an island to avoid those last two days of Songkran. Realising you are trapped here with 100,000 or so hillbillies from Isaan hellbent on destroying your hearing, your eyesight and your appreciation for any Thai festival other than Loy Kratong.

Dont blame them - the noise was absolutely inescapable anywhere in central Pattaya. I like a lot of things about Isaan Thai people, but being born with industrial deafness isnt one of their more endearing characteristics. Add alcohol and water and it's just a bunch of hillbillies let loose in a trailer park.

....

My taje on Cambodia,,,Siam Reap could get boring fast

like PPO,,,don't know why and can't esplain it but I do,,,perhaps because I have some Camodian freinds there

that are wonderful people

also they seem to really understand customer service

I tend to avoid Sihonukville lately as it seems to get sleazier every year and I hear from e pat friends that klive there that the crime is getting worse every year

...

over all Thailand gets my vote,,,ecept of course for the corruption and I do realize I would probably be better off in Mayasia

Interesting perspective on Malaysia - I'll find out for myself soon enough, but my gut feel is that sooner or later the cracks in any society start to show. I grew up in Sydney, had an absolute blast in my teens and early 20s - still enjoy central Sydney for a weekend - but I would never advise anyone to move there (regardless of their income). Some places are simply victims of their own success - Sydney, Melbourne, SE Queensland, even Patts. Like your good self, I've had nothing but positive experiences in Malaysia, but it will be interesting to revisit this post in 12 months time - every country has a criminal element and I dont share your optimism re the level of corruption in Malaysia. That said, I'll never know if I never go, and Cambo/Laos/Vietnam wont be going anywhere over the next 13 or so months

And here we are, ~12 months on, and I'm packing my bags for PP. I dont have a problem with Pattaya beyond the traffic/idiot bike riders, and I know I'll miss the sheer convenience of the town - it's simply time to move on. I should have left 6 months ago, but it didnt work out that way - c'est la vie. Onward and upward - I doubt that the genuine 'old Asia hands' spend too much time looking at maps and thinking 'Man, I hope the food is as good as Thailand !'.

(FWIW, it didnt take long for me to realise I may as well have stayed in Oz as live on Penang, but others love the place - its all about finding the right fit)

my worst experience was with a component powered by a Lithium Ion battery : EMS refuses to ship anything with batteries and DHL's rates made it an insane proposition for the asking price. I was forced to refund my buyer and call it a day.

You are aware of course the constantly changing rules worldwide as regards shipping lithium batteries, therefore can understand to a degree EMS's refusal, which is their right and DHL asking for lots of money to do it, the point being if they accept such shipments and things go wrong, its on their head not yours

http://www.customsinfo.com/Industry-Blog/bid/162527/New-Regulations-for-Shipping-Li-ion-Batteries

DHL charge on the size/weight of the box, regardless of whether it contains Li-ion batteries or not, but you're right about the regs particularly here in Asia.

Chinese, something like satay chicken with rice. Not satay sticks but chicken breast cooked in satay sauce.

Vietnamese, again not Thai style but more authentic Vietnamese .

I dont think the Chinese invented satay -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satay

It's not bad but I cant say I've ever had it in either country and thought 'Whoa ! I wish I lived here !' : each to their own,

OK, some of you will have seen my other posts, but I'm relieved to report that 6 of the 7 shipments I've made over the last month or so reached their destinations, hopefully meaning I wont have any PP flak to deal with. Not wild about the 21-day deal with PP but a little planning earlier in the year could have fixed that - such is life.

For the benefit of anyone else contemplating shipping anything expensive - everything was over 500USD - from Thailand to the US, UK, Australia or Europe may find some of this valuable:

- DHL seems to get a poor rap online : while their pricing is exorbitant, they deliver : excellent tracking and delivery within 4 days of handing it over to the somewhat clueless staff at MBE

- EMS (Thai Post) mystifies me - I sent two packages to the US just before Songkran (arguably the worst possible time) : one arrived within 9 days delighting the buyer, the second took 18 days and fortunately the buyer seems pretty laid back. That wasnt the case with another customer when they managed to break part of a pair of headphones, but fortunately the manufacturer came to the party on that one.

- my worst experience was with a component powered by a Lithium Ion battery : EMS refuses to ship anything with batteries and DHL's rates made it an insane proposition for the asking price. I was forced to refund my buyer and call it a day.

- none of the buyers gave me any feedback re customs duties or state taxes but I guess that's the lottery. One parcel spent an inordinate amount of time in US Customs, others breezed through - again, luck of the draw, but DHL is definitely a lot faster than EMS in this regard.

- tracking for EMS is great in Australia (surprisingly ..) but patchy with USPS in the states. DHL absolutely kicks butt in this area, even if their packages seem to take the scenic route ex Asia then do something of a tour when they get to the US : I'm sure the logistics experts know why that has to be the case.

I know there are other options but I guess I'm like most people : once I get into the flow (paperwork etc) I dont want to change unless I can see a significant upside.

Why would you ever think they could? They eat Thai food!

And Chinese food and pizza and kebabs and hamburgers and ice-cream and Korean BBQ and Japanese food : we're talking about people who will happily chow down on grasshoppers here. OK - not all Thais eat insects but it's accepted here. The only roadblock I'm aware of is if something 'smell bad' - personally I think Indian food smells fantastic but it usually gets wrinkled noses and 'mai aloy !' in rapid succession. No idea how they feel about Cajun, but thats not a given for most Westerners either.

The Thais, like everyone else, do get bored with the same-old-same-old day after day and, yes, I've seen Thais buying patisserie.

Not sure I really get why anyone would dob them in - do the high-low games end in violence when someone loses their shirt or is caught cheating ? Seems odd in a country where the national sport - Muay Thai - is dominated by the insatiable gambling tendencies of a large number of Thai men.

Oh, behave JT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laksa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goan_cuisine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Creole_cuisine

OK, I stole that last one from my thread that wasn't even supposed to be about food, but all 3 would make a welcome addition to the culinary options available in Pattaya. Not really that hard for someone raised on meat pies, Amigo, but why I dont see more Laksa here escapes me. The Thais would absolutely love it if you didnt tell them where it was from. Indian food seems to be a tougher sell to the Thais, but I had the prawn dish below - apparently a Goan specialty - in BKK last year and it was jaw-droppingly good (with an appropriately killer pricetag, sadly).

Though Thais can be proud that their Kingdom/country was never colonized ....it certainly shows. Congratulations. NO understanding of the city planning or building codes (hey, ok to have a strip bar next to a temple or have an office building right on the property line at an intersection); sidewalks - they're for vendors, utilitiy poles, and light poles; electric wiring (doesn't matter if it looks like a twisted ball of yarn and hangs down 4 feet from the ground);a city police force- (ok, but let's not have any walking patrols along the Beach Road promenade to protect the citizens;education (no social studies in schools,for we are the only country on the planet).

No argument from me but this is very much a user pays society. Councils in Australia are staffed by little Hitlers with plenty of cash to play with, and they have absolutely no problem fining people for parking at the front of their properties : they can also be an absolute PITA to deal with if you need a simple building approval for a pergola in your backyard as I found out to my detriment a few years back. The pendulum has swung too far in the other direction in Nanny State Oz, but I agree that Pattaya is basically screwed without a clean slate and some very large wrecking balls.

That's about the extent of my interest in St George, I'm afraid - far more interesting stories around dragons in contemporary fiction. Board rules prevent me from posting anything more revealing than this, but the Queen of Dragons is easily one of the best things in the series.