WISteve

"Yesterday at the annual BCCT Xmas Dinner, when they are doing the run up before the actual raffle, they usually ask for a number of silly items, eg Business Card with the Longest Title, Viagra, Tatoos of Cartoon Characters, well this year they asked for an Elite Card and believe it or not, there was a guy in the Audience with one. It was help up for all to see........

So I have now seen one "

I'm betting that getting your picture taken with the god father of Chon Buri on his birthday is worth far more in the "fast track" line than any silly Elite Card......

~WISteve

"It's just that it shouldn't be that way...it's really sad"

I can see your point Alex ...... that a vacation spot should have more of a official nightlife.

The thing is that Pattaya does, it's just unoffical is all. You've been around long enough to realize that nothing is quite as it seems in Thailand. It's actually kind of funny and entertaining when you get used to it.

The bright lights and loud music for the most part ends early (well, it was still pretty loud inside Xzyte at 3 am in November when I was there...) but the party goes on until dawn.

Take care,

WISteve

You can always get a drink or anything else 24/7 in Pattaya. It's always been that way. I'm sure it always will be.

When they start enforcing 1 am hours for the Thai karaoke bars, then we will know they are serious. I don't see that ever happening except the occasional raid for PR purposes on the ones that are late with the "tea money".

As to the official closing hours...... it only affects the high visibility places on Walking St and I'm out of there by midnight anyway.

~WISteve

"1918, 1945, 1966 and now 2006.

Ho hum, will they ever learn?"

Glad you mentioned the football game, because I couldn't remember the frogs surrendering in 1966 either (but they probably did SOMEWHERE..).

---------------------------

A drunk falang asleep in the street is hardly news, but when the news people show-up at the scene you don't really know what took place yet. It was assumed to be news since they got the call about someone refusing to pay and draw a straight line to a falang laying in the street? Might be some news there, so take the pics first and figure out the story as it goes along. It becomes news after the assault.

~WISteve

"Don't like the competition Dave ? "

Got that right!

But a Heineken is only 110 baht at Top Girls I might add.....

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But no word yet if the gerbel made it out alive?

He was a cute little guy.

They used to pass him around in the crowd before the shows would begin....

~WISteve

""He is our Prime Minister and if me and the Thai people decide that we dont want him any more then we will VOTE him out."

Good for You! I applaud your common sense and desire to be self-governing.

It is afterall, the matter of the Thai people who shall be prime minister and not some unknowns on the internet.

However it turns out, I hope it is peaceful and within the letter of the law.

"Ah, the charming innocence and beauty of the Thai people comes through again.... They have nearly as much simple-minded belief in democracy as George W. Bush, who rants about bringing democracy to the Middle East, then is horrified when Palestinians vote for Hamas. I'm afraid that Toxin has entrenched himself far too deeply in the Thai power structure, with all his friends and relatives in key positions, to ever be simply voted out.

It's obvious the poster has NO RESPECT for the people of Thailand!

Calling someone simple-minded is an insult to anyone.

You have no say in who the peole elect.

Just because they choose someone you do not like does not mean they are stupid.

In other words, folks, get rid of power-monsters like Toxin by any means at any opportunity, or be prepared to suffer at their hands for many, many years to come."

So the poster is apparently an anarchist who would tell you to let mob rule trump free elections.

Whoever or whatever you are, you are not a friend to the Thai people.

Peaceful demonstrations to express the feelings of the electorate is to be encouraged and closely protected.

Allowing a small group of dissidents to unseat a duly elected official is not democracy by any means.

If the PM has broken any laws, let him be prosecuted for them, like any citizen.

Encouraging violent overthrow of a government is not in the interests of the people IMO.

~WISteve

"Why do you people always blame alcohol?"

Well considering the best witness to the accident said he was drinking heavily and he was subsequently found injured on the ground below his balcony?

No mention is made of a disagreement and he is awake and with his faculties intact it sounds like.

Seems like a straight line to me...?

~WISteve

"...the guy was on his way to LOS to get married."

So did the party go on without him you wonder?

Quite a memorable beginning for the happy couple!

I hope any of the passengers assaulted press charges.

We don't need that kind of thuggery onboard any airplane.

~WISteve

I agree. The breakfast buffet was a good value at 75 baht, but I wouldn't stay there.

Hundreds of apartments all along Soi Buekow from Pattaya Tai to Pattaya Klang. I paid 8k for the month of November for a large one bedroom apartment near the Tuesday/Friday market. Just park your bag at a bar or restaurant you are familiar with and go knock on some doors.

IF you're arriving after the April Madness, you can likely find something starting around 4-6k/month. Newer buildings will be a bit higher, but still very reasonable. Budget 2k for the electric and water and you're set.

Good luck,

WISteve

"I hate to be provocative (it's a Thai thing) but; 1. accepting a ride from any man in Pattaya??? "

If you read the account, and Howard has been kind enough to interject that he has a high degree of confidence in that report, he was representing himself as a moto taxi. Apparently convincingly so. Thousands of women, thai and falang, ride on motos every day in Pattaya.

The only two people who TRULY know what happened, regardless of all this sheer speculation, are in agreement. She said he raped her. He confessed that he did.

Give the b*llshit speculation a rest.

Put some energy into preventing the next one, because that one might hit a little closer to home....

Education is a good thing. Women need to be aware of potential danger to their safety.

But sometimes even if they are doing everything "right" they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong moment. Publicizing every assault and vigorous prosecution of every attacker is another form of education. Swift and sure justice that is made known to every potential criminal has an affect as well IMO. Trying to find a "cultural" excuse or saying it happens all the time (hence giving them tacit approval) will only encourage monstrous behavior.

~WISteve

Thank you Sheryl for adding some sense to this.

Anyone who wishes to assign any portion of the blame for this crime to the victim has rocks in his head. And I sincerely hope you never experience the trauma of this crime in your own lives.

It would appear that guilt is not debateable in any reasonable mind at this point.

--The victim reported it promptly.

--The victim I D'd the criminal in a line-up the following day. It is irrelavent if YOU couldn't do that same thing in the past. SHE DID.

--Subsequent to the ID, the perp confessed to the crime.

--They also have some physical evident (i.e. genetic material) that they could also use in the trial.

Rape is all about power and control.

It has nothing to do with prostitution or sexual desire.

There is nothing in this world that the victim could ever do to deserve being assaulted.

Once you learn that you might have a chance to do something to prevent the next one.

Until you learn that, consider yourself to be part of the problem, not the solution.

Making excuses for the perp is disgusting IMO.

~WISteve

I've been packing one for about five of the last ten years.

I've never lost so much as a button off my shirt during that time in Thailand hotels and apartments.

~WISteve

"Do you bring your laptop to Pattaya when you travel?"

It might be clearer to the purposefully confused to write it:

Do you bring your laptop when you travel to Pattaya?

Seems like a harmless enough question, doesn't it?

Perhaps the residents could read the question carefully and determine he wasn't asking you?

I do for reasons 1, 3, and 5 above. and yes, I too have flat speakers for use in the apartment.

When I'm here one month at a time, several times each year, it's good to have my office along.

~WISteve

To be honest with you Chuchok, I'm not at all certain what mogoso is getting on about. I guess paraphrased he's saying something about "we Americans aren't as stupid as you are saying", but no one had stated that (yet, anyway.... ). Just a distraction IMO.

I DO find the opinions of the long time residents both interesting and informative, i.e. the trends in crime directed towards foreign residents. Since I plan to be living in Thailand myself in a couple years, it is important to me.

I didn't mean to go off on you in an uncivil manner.

But then, I wasn't cussing at you either.

It's good that we hear about these sad events in a forum like this. I just hope we don't hear about them too often.

~WISteve

"Jaffy would no doubt have been able to perceive the likelihoods for himself, but, you see, the "information" came from a fellow clever Brit--in a MP--and not from one of the unclever Yanks."

"Oh dear, yet another undercover officer whose job relies on anonymity telling a perfect stranger what he does for a living.

Just another bullshitting wannabe with about as much of a clue as to what is really going on as a deceased rodent.

The Thai cannot handle the Russians?"

Poor Jaffy!

The Thais will tolerate the Russians just as long as it suits them. And when they tire of it, there will be a whole lot of floaters and flyers from mother Russia and the provinces.....

~WISteve

So Mr Chuchok,

"Am I missing something here.I must be blind.Nobody has been bashing Yanks, although from the posts you deserve to be....Christ, you guys really take the cake.

Please show me where the bashing has taken place?

"

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Try page two of this string:

""Yes it's on the increase. Thailand is obviously trying to catch up with the rest of the world on this. They have a long way to go though. Pehaps if it increases 100 fold then we may catch sight of America's tail." "

Soooooo...are you blind or just choose not to read?

And it's a gross exageration as well, but we wouldn't want to let the facts get in the way of our usual feeding frenzy, would we?

"Didn't Michael Moore do a documentary comparing the two countries? Finding that in Canada doors were left unlocked and so on?"

Using Michael Moore as your source of "fact" tells a lot about you, but I live in rural America and we leave our doors open too actually. I fully recognize that there is a serious problem here with violence, particularly in urban areas, but that still has NOTHING TO DO with the death of this British citizen in Thailand.

This is so completely off topic, along with sleepyjohn's little lecture.

But it seems some of you are so intent on USA bashing you don't even recognize it anymore. WHAT does the incidence of violence in the USA have to do with this murder in Thailand?

So either read or get out your white cane please....

~WISteve

For those of you who lose sight of the subject so quickly (we are talking about the tragic death of a British citizen) and insist on bashing the Yanks at every conceivable opportunity: at least get your stats right.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_mur_cap

I'm not proud of the violence in the USA, but the per capata murder rate in Thailand is twice that of the USA.

Why don't you save your venom for another string and discuss the issue at hand?

Whatever his trade or occupation, there was no judge or jury that sentenced this man to death. My sympathies are with his family.

~WISteve

This is the Pig & Whistle on Soi 7:

New beer bar complex where the bushes used to be.....

~WISteve

You guys must be talking BIG CITY PRICES, ay?

Go way, way out in the 'urbs and you could pick-up a little honey like this for that kind of money:

Chicken and hog confinement extra.......

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Thailand politics keeps getting stranger all the time.

Renting the auditorium probably tripled that 3.5 million baht price tag.

Expensive public relations paid for by a very wealthy man!

This is starting to get scary IMO.

~WISteve

"If they will come from Surin or Isaan,around 20 years old, and in addition to the skills they learned thay will be pretty and sexy ,I take 2....where can I make a booking?"

Could I order twins please?

Their really serious about this? They can say this with a straight face?

Amazing Thailand!

~WISteve

Ah yes! Pattaya: famous for it's floaters and flyers!

At least they both didn't have plastic bags over their head at the time?

~WISteve

"Russian girls remind me of shot putters."

The Uzbeks in that establishment will bring back memories of track & field for you then! They might be ethnic russian, but surely aren't very good specimens.

The clammy white-skinned freelancers prowling Walking St with their minders give me the same creepy feeling as this bunch.

I would assume they cater to the asian and middle eastern crowd, because they would have a tough time making a living in Moscow. I saw ONE about a year and a half back on a baht bus coming into town from Jontien that was interesting. I was with a TG but that didn't stop her from giving some sob story about how she had broke-up with her boyfriend and needed money. She spoke good english and I speak a bit of russian from work travel. But when she got a call on her cell, I couldn't understand anything she was saying. We got off and she kept traveling. I'll likely never know......

Being the rude sob I am, I grabbed my camera, but she didn't want me to take a pic of her face, so all I got was a head full of corn rolls....

~WISteve

Horrible way for the family of the lady to find out: a phone call from her murderer? Creepy. My heart goes out to them.

Senseless tragedy for all IMO.

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On a lighter note~~~~~~

"My husband finds Asian women unattractive, except for the stunning beauties in Chiang Mai. Notice that we will be living in Korat."

And he's convinced you of this, right cathyy?

Smart man!

If I was a falang woman, I wouldn't let my husband or boyfriend anywhere NEAR THAILAND! I've been out on the prowl with too many guys, later to find out they were married. I've been divorced for ten years and visiting Thailand for the same. Once you dip your toe into the seedy life, I doubt you are a good candidate for an exclusive relationship.

Living, working and making "big money" in Thailand I think you would need an iron will not to wander. I have no idea if that has anything to do with this tragedy. But it wouldn't surprise me.

~WISteve

I live in a community in "tornado alley" here in the States, and the city has been struck twice in the last ten years. Both times the warning siren only preceeded it by a minute or two. But it probably saved lives since even though dozens of homes were destroyed both times, there were no fatal injuries.

We have a false alarm occasionally, but I far prefer that to no warning at all.

They'll get the kinks ironed-out and as long as they keep the politics out of it and let the engineers and technicians run it properly it could be a life saver some day.

I sincerely hope they only have practices and false alarms....

~WISteve

Salons are everywhere. Keep trying until you hit one you like.

Soi Yamato has a couple good ones and I got a good haircut from a katoey in a joint up on Soi Chaiyapoon in November. Without intending any shades of grey here, the "persons of the third kind" seem to listen to your instructions better from my experience. I'm serious. Little Noi and Lek will nod their pretty little heads and just cut it the way they always do.

~WISteve