digbeth

My guess is that none of the Bangkok brands will move in and it'll be empty of tenants and derelict in no time

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

That's good info to know since according to Wikipedia, "... the city of Pattaya is a special municipal area which covers the whole tambon Nong Prue and Na Kluea and parts of Huai Yai and Nong Pla Lai." I recall seeing a map that defined these areas and thinking that's handy but I lost the bookmark.

on Thai Wikipedia and the City Hall's Website, unfortunately no English,

Naklua Moo 1-7 (Whole area) 7 being Koh Larn Island

Nong Prue Moo 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12  and  13 

Huay Yai Parts of Moo 4 

Nong Pla Lai 6, 7 and 8

The definition of the Pattaya area seem to be north from Krating Lai Canal, presumably that's north of Naklua, down to Huay Yai in the south and the east perimeter is 900 meter parallel to Sukhumvit in the darkside

1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

 

I initially went to Nongprue office and was directed to Pattaya City Hall.

I live in Jomtiem and went to Nongprue as the address on my blue book says Tambon : Nongprue.

The very helpful guy at Nongprue said "you only come here if your Blue book says Nongprue"

I did consider questioning at the time, but let it go and went to Pattaya.

 

It's the moo in front of the Nong Prue that determines if you falls within the jurisdiction of Pattaya City

Moo 5 and 6, and 9-13, I believe is the area of Nong Prue that's Pattaya

A Thai owner don't even need to have their name on the blue book... if they already have it on somewhere else like their home in Bangkok, you can only be present in one book at a time

Being in blue book doesn't imply ownership, only domicile.... but being on the bluebook means steps towards getting utilities... credits.... and if a resident on the bluebook is defaulting on loans and went through the court... the bailiff could come and collect at the address and it'd be troublesome to prove ownership of the contents within that address doesn't belong to the deadbeat.... hence most landlords are reluctant to let people 'move in' to the blue book even though they're supposed to

I think sign up service is available at all toll office in the inner city ones, only the 2nd phase expressway (the one that goes from victory monument out over rama9 to Srinakharin and onto Airport and Hwy7) and the ring road bits between Bang Na and the south that's not available at all office

Burapah Withi is supposed to have them available at all toll office as well 

Otherplace I recall seeing signing up place is the PTT station inside the expressway service area as you are heading out to Bang Na

The Hwy7 M-Pass used to have mobile truck from KTB bank doing the sign up at the Motorway service station when they first became available, that's convenient too bad they didn't make it permanent... they just outsource all customer handling and payment to the bank which is ideal in theory... but the government KTB bank is just about the worst... and the problem of not being able to pay at the office means a trip to the bank means probably the M-Pass will get sidelined into obscurity

Just an ID and not even a photocopy of the car's bluebook was asked for, you just had to provide the car's registration on the form

Just a reminder for those of us that has both pass is that you need to take one of them down before going through the tolls from now on

Many of us here in Pattaya and Chonburi who drives to Bangkok on a regular basis would have en M-Pass to get through the tolls on Hwy. 7 (and parts of 9)

Since the 1st of November you can now use either the M Pass or the Easy pass to go through any toll system interchangeably now, so you can just use the M pass on the expressways in Bangkok and The Buraphawithi to Bang Na, and Bangkokians with their easy pass can go through the M-Pass toll booths on the Hwy 7 and the bit of the 9 that goes up north now....

The problem is those of us that has both the M-Pass and Easy pass...  It used to be that the separate systems deduct from their own pass no problem... maybe with the new cooperation they might both deduct both pass at the same time

I'd expect it to be problem and indeed there is.... you can't use both at the same time... meaning that you have to remove one from your windscreen, or the system would get confused and can't decide which one to deduct the tolls from... I'd found out last night where I went on the Burapha Withi expressway, on the entrance the thing beeped and show me the balance of my M-Pass okay, but on the exit the gates won't open.... there were notices on pieces of A4 paper but only in Thai, and the booth attendance came out and explained that I have to choose which one I use from now on; and  I can make an application for a refund of the balance on one of the pass if I want.

So now one of the pass goes in the glovebox instead of both on the windscreen now.

So it's a matter of convenience on which you'd choose which pass to use from now on,

the Easy-Pass can be topped up by most banks' online banking and ATMs, and at some expressways offices in person for no fee.... but there is no where near Pattaya to apply or top up in person.

the M-Pass on the other hand cannot be applied/topped up in person at the motorway toll booths office on the roadside or even at their service area, only at the Government's KTB bank branches only, most branch in Pattaya and Chonburi have the M-Pass kit to sell and you can top up in person in Pattaya which is convenient for some, at branches where the kit is not available they can still makes the application for you to collect later or receive in the post.

For the M-Pass I get monthly printed statement and SMS reminder when the balance is running low, I think for the Easy Pass you can choose to receive the statement for extra fee or not I'm not too sure

Oh and for the M-Pass, the top-up card works as a Visa Debit card without the need for a bank account, so you can put money in the card and withdraw it from ATM and swipe it at the shops... maybe useful for people who can't get bank accounts? 

M-Pass might be more convenient for those of us in Pattaya that don't have access to online banking or willing to use ATMs to top up, but that involves going into a bank branch.

For me the easypass is more convenient in that I can just top up at the toll office in Bangkok for no fee, on some tolls you can even top up with cash at the booths too 

Pub owners and restaurants and even supermarkets are not in the business of importing foods, there are importers that do that

Enterprising importers should see that there are killings to be had but maybe the red tape i setting up new permits/licence for a very seasonal item like turkeys is too much hassle

There are high-end food importers that fly in foods from Europe  every week, even they aren't interested in bringing in European turkeys, maybe the cost would be too much, the Americans turkeys were shipped in and they had shelf life in years, to fly in european turkeys might make the price unreasonable,  

Last 'winter' was pretty cold, I remembered a couple of days of 16-18 degrees right here in Pattaya

albeit it only came in spells of days and sparingly

what would you prefer, a couple of days of really cold days like the opposite of British summer, or a not so cold days that last a whole month if not more

The lifting berth equipment at the marina looks to be 'missing' or has that been deemed infeasible and removed long ago, like the automatic car park?

Never understood the need to tow out the boat every night? is the boat that shoddily constructed that it'd rot through the wood core if they were left in the water? back home dry docking is only for wintering 

12 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

 

Would you even be able to get in to park your car / motocy at 8am?

The hotel, and carpark is open 24 hours

A lot of countries have visas class for superyacht crew, as when they come onshore to get supplies and food that's considered working.  I see a lot of the big boats at ocean marina seem to use Thai registered company and probably get work permit that way... 

I'm sure some of us get to enjoy the newfound quiet during these period of mourning for HM the king, 

No blasting music from markets etc....

Last week I was in Bangkok and on the skytrain all the screen advertising were off

Went to the cinema last night and the sound is turned down.... which although I felt like I've not got my money's worth but could be a boon for many who feels that the cinema is too loud

which could point to the fact that the Thais are at least aware that loudness is disrespectful / not enjoyable

There seems to be  a trend of 'Japanese' second hand shop where they ship container loads of junk from Japan, some of these shops have guitars as well, quality of finds in these shops vary and most of the good one would have been snapped up or priced accordingly anyway,  These shops are all pretty similar but the way to notice them is that they'll have rows of 2nd hand bicycles parked up front

There's one of these Japanese 2nd hand shop on 3rd road between south and central Pattaya, and one on Sukhumvit south of floating market, 

I've been to one of these Japanese 2nd hand warehouse in Bangkok in some out of the way place where they actually open and unload the containers but even the price seem similar to what you'll find here 

Only lucky finds might be electronics where they'll have a row of plastic wrapped electronics that's been tested to work for one price, and the rest of the pile are sold 'as is' and with no way to test the stuff in the shop

10 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

OK, that at least has a reasonable chance of succeeding. The main location is very popular with all sorts (weekender Thais, local Thais, expats, tourists) and surprisingly enough does fairly good pizza for fairly reasonable prices, though they must make a lot on the drinks and other non-pizza dishes are quite pricey.

I hope they can find decent band for the second location

Thappraya/Jomtien 2nd road is shaping up to be quite a nice area for restaurants come to think of it, Mata Hari, Bruno's, Pastrami on Rye, Indian by Nature and Pan Pan... all are Pattaya institutions now...

Who knows how the off-street parking situation will be 10-15 years down the road

Can't you turn it inside out? 

1 hour ago, how241 said:

In the Festival Mall,  there is a hard to find place where mostly staff eat at...Between the first and second floor in the parking garage, there is a door...Cheap food, 30-50 baht...Has air cond. ... Sorry I can't give better directions but ask a Thai staff and they will know ... I'm not sure they want a lot of Farangs eating there .. I went there with my Thai g/f  when she was working at the mall ...

That's a good find! You can see it on the left on the first couple of landings as you drive up to the carpark, you can walk out of the Hilton hotel entrance and go up the carpark, or go to the lowest level in the mall that has access to the carpark, FL3 I think and walk down the carpark's stair 

On 23/10/2559 at 10:02 PM, OMGImInPattaya said:

If you don't mind the trek to Harbor Mall next to Foodland, the pre-cooked Thai and farang foods at the Max Value market are in your price range (and even cheaper...the thai "pork" omelette over rice is 20 baht I believe and tasty it is as I've scarffed down a few ). There is also an air-con seating area provided,  which may even have a free water dispenser (not 100% sure on that last point). Enjoy your stay in Pattaya.

Hot water and microwave is provided... and after they become stale/close to the expiry things get discounted first to 30% and then 50%

It might be possible to use it to bypass Thepprasit and South Pattaya traffic to get into Central Pattaya, but on weekends the queues at the Hwy7/Sukhumvit intersection is pretty bad too

Most of the Thai pen-fed beef seem to be Charolais-Brahman hybrid

Rent no, trailers are a rare thing in Thailand

There are a few manufacturers though

37 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Hmm. Doesn't sound like they're all in on that. Thanks for the info.

Look on the good side is that you're getting a chef's table experience for cheaper than the normal price... with the whole restaurant to yourself.... come to think of it, what's the popular brunch options these days? the Hilton? 

Mata Hari lunch menu

After somebody reported seeing a sign out earlier this month for a *discounted* price lunch service at the venerable institution that is Mata Hari, I went and had a try.

The new menu is just a page with light options like omelet and schnitzels, priced around 300-350 per dish. They would cook you dish from the regular full price menu if you asked, providing that they're not too busy, which, by the look of things... never.

We were the only table there... Louie the proprietor says he's doing it as en experiment since the kitchen staff's there anyway... it is by no means full service like the evenings, no waiter, just the kitchen staff and owners.

It'd be interesting to see if this'll develop into a 'brunch' destination like Casa Pascal 

The only problem is that not many people knows about this yet... 

At least most of the bar girls are now wearing their little black dresses which is unusually classy for Pattaya

the one that used to be where the construction is