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Yes , life is like that Crossy........lovely bottles of vin-de-table (mine from France) up to the French Grand Crus, meaty Aussie reds and this Californian beauty. Not to mention the Italian Appassimento wines............the list and life goes on and I've still got loads to taste!!!!

720 baht a bottle.

I wonder if you travelled to Horsham town in 1966 to watch Horsham FC play Swindon Town in the first round proper of the FA Cup......I ask because I was playing for Horsham in those days, although for that game I was in the reserves, and Swindon deservedly won 3-0, without really breaking into a sweat, but it was a major event for Horsham and the ground was full (8000 people). Whilst we are on the subject of "footy nostalgia" I also played in pre-season friendlies against Chelsea and Crystal Palace (and Crystal Palace gave us a hiding) and later on in my career when I was playing for the reserves I had the pleasure of playing alongside Marvin Hinton, the former Chelsea player, and he was great, even at the age of 42, and he could read the game so very well, he was pure class. PS. You wouldn't have got a fat lip on your visit to Horsham, because they were lovely supporters, and I am still in touch with a few of them even now!

Well you had better get used to it because there are great advances being made utilising mRNA based technology............ Researchers say they have successfully completed a trial of a personalised cancer vaccine that uses the same messenger-RNA technology as Covid jabs. The experimental vaccine, made by Moderna and MSD, is designed to prime the immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. Doctors hope work such as this could lead to revolutionary new ways to fight skin, bowel and other types of cancer. AND Years of research exploring mRNA vaccines for cancer treatment in preclinical and clinical trials have set the stage for the rapid development of mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therapeutic cancer vaccines based on mRNA are well tolerated, and the inherent advantage in ease of production, which rivals the best available conventional vaccine manufacture methods, renders mRNA vaccines a promising option for cancer immunotherapy. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(22)00372-2/fulltext

Not sure about plywood, but I do recall someone telling me that the kitchen tops made out of particleboard and covered with a plastic laminate of some sort were not liked by termites, until I saw the house of a friend, and the termites had eaten out just about everything that was wood related, including the kitchen tops where some of the laminate had peeled away – – little barstewards!!

Spot on with your comment Eric Loh.........good article in the NY Times about the differences between the two "cases". One lying through his teeth and refusing to turn over the docs/putting obstacles in the way, whilst Biden is co-operating fully. Poles apart.

There is a small Soi about halfway down Bangla on the left-hand side, almost opposite the entrance to Soi Sea Dragon, and it is called Soi Patong Resort, but I don't recall any Thai stalls down there, but there are a few good restaurants although one of them Da Mario has been closed for a while. There is a restaurant called Eurasian which has an eclectic mix of dishes, including many Thai dishes, then there is a Scandinavian restaurant (and I'm told the steak there is excellent) and the recently opened Italian restaurant which I visited just last week, called, Anema e Core, and the food there was very good and not expensive. There used to be a bar called the Patong backpackers bar, however not sure if it is still there, and there was also a Patong Whiskey shop, next to an Indian restaurant which I think is now closed. Having said that, there is one small bar opposite the Italian restaurant and it doesn't have the thumping music that many others do, and one can order food from the Italian restaurant opposite, and eat it at the bar and it makes a nice break from the racket emanating from some bars on Bangla. Now digging back into my memory banks I think just a few metres past the entrance to this Soi there is another very small/narrow Soi and I have seen Thais going down there and coming out with food, so that maybe the small Soi you are talking about, although I've never been in it!

Such a pity that this thread was "interrupted" by just one poster who described Patong as a cesspit, and this poster was the one who suggested that I was a "barstool monger and beer swiller" (or words to that effect) and that I was "living from cheque to cheque" and who had previously accused me of being ignorant.......not nice at all!!! Fortunately quite a few other posters here took umbrage at his posts and replied accordingly, and it was pleasing to see. Back to Patong........and I will be scooting along tomorrow to get some more of the excellent Californian wine (Gnarly Head Authentic Black) I bought from Aleena House Wine, near Patong Tower, because it was excellent, and I have posted about it on the "Red Wine Bargain in Patong" thread, although not sure that the word "bargain" best describes it, and anyway, now I have tried that one I may well try the Cabernet Sauvignon from the same producer!

I had the same thing happen to me on one occasion and had to copy even the blank pages in my passport (and bank book, most of which were also blank) to satisfy the I/O. Fortunately I haven't been asked for it again, because I think that this particular I/O at that time was after a "tip", which wasn't forthcoming!

Great pics, thanks.

I see it won the award in the "musical/comedy" category, and I'm so pleased that I saw this because I didn't like the movie one bit, mainly because I couldn't see the sense or endgame in what was going on (I won't spoil it for others) but I did read a review which tried to explain the "stupidity/strangeness" of the movie and it in fact relates to the stupidity of the Irish Civil War...............

Well last night I opened the bottle of "Gnarly Head Authentic Black" 2018 Californian wine, which was superb and so hard to keep a little for tonight! When I poured out the first glass I immediately thought of the Durif (same grape) wine which I had a few years ago in Australia, because it was inky black, however that was the only similarity because this wine was "gorgeous" in every respect; a nose of ripe black fruits and a palate of the same flavours, namely ripe plum, blackberry and blueberry, to name just a few – – – and despite the colour being inky black, there were very soft tannins in it and I suspect it had been aged in oak for a while to achieve this. Overall a delightful experience and when I have finished the bottle tonight, I shall be going back for more!

An ignorant and arrogant response, and the only smell I get is from your enviousness after I posted about my life and achievements (in response to your slurs) which seemed to antagonise you no end!! Poor soul, and I'm sure the owners of a couple of restaurants here, who are members of ASEANNOW will be none too pleased about your comments. LOL. And as London Lowf had posted:- "If you detest Patong so much why do you put yourself through the pain of reading and commenting about it? Very odd behaviour. .."

Kickstarting this topic again and thanks to @schlog for his feedback and recommendations, so I thought I'd share the experience I have just had here in Patong. Whilst searching for a wine to accompany a meal I had a week or so ago I came across a lovely wine shop called "Aleena House wine" and it is on the ground floor of a building in the "walking Street" that leads up to Patong Tower, and as I only spent a short time there I thought I would visit it again yesterday, and I am so pleased that I did........... The wine selection is superb, with just a few wines at the lower end of the price spectrum, but many in the mid-range (700 to 1500 baht) and some well above that, and some of these are very well priced indeed. The wines are from the major wine producing countries and viewing some of these brought back memories, this because there was a case of Château Mouton Rothschild for sale and it took me back to the time in the late 70s when I bought a case of the 1970 Château Mouton Rothschild and shared a few bottles with friends at dinner parties in that decade. I ended up with two bottles in my cellar, and because I wanted to sell almost everything before I moved from the UK to NZ, I shifted a lot of the wine and a collector bought the two bottles off me and paid me exactly what I'd paid many years previously for the full 12!!!! I was a big fan of the Bordeaux wines at one time having collected (and drunk) most of them before moving onto wines from other countries like Spain and Italy, and also some of the better class Australian wines, and on that note there were a few bottles of Penfold's Grange for sale, but I had already "been there done that" so I wasn't really interested. It's one of those places that would keep a wine aficionado interested for hours and because there was a selection of wines from the USA, I decided to buy one and try it, along with an Italian Appasimento, and the US wine was just a little different because it was made from the Petite Sirah grape, which is a grape more common in that part of the world than elsewhere, although it was originally discovered in France. I could go on and on, but to anyone who loves their wines, I would recommend a visit to this place, and it's easy to Google the location, and as a bonus there is some parking space either side of that particular "street". Good hunting.

Well LL, here's a bit of an update, but this one is about restaurants in which i have eaten, although there is an element about wine that I was going to put in it, but I will post that in the "red wine in Patong" thread. Whilst I went to look around a lovely upmarket wine shop just off the beach road, I noticed in the same pedestrian walkway that they were six restaurants, and I had eaten at one called "West" (a Norwegian restaurant) and the food was good, and also at the end of that road is a "Karlssons" which has a great reputation for steaks, amongst other things, and I got to thinking about the restaurants I've eaten at here which folks may or may not know about so I thought I'd post about a few of them. I mentioned the Italian restaurant called "Anema E Core" (off Bangla Road) in the previous post and the food was very good, and of course one of my favourites is the Blue Beach Café and Restaurant, not only because the food is good, with a varied menu, but the setting is fantastic, actually right on the beach. I've also mentioned "Da Moreno" in Nanai Road and I believe the pizzas are some of the best to be found anywhere. And to add to that there are a couple of other Italian restaurants, the names of which I cannot recall right now. Also I have eaten at "Lamai" and "Savoey" along the beach road and one particularly good restaurant is called "Sea Salt" (which is part of the Diamond Cliff hotel) and I know the executive chef and you are sure to get the highest quality food and preparation with this particular gentleman in charge. Skipping around a little here and the "9th Floor" has to get a mention because everything about it reeks class, although it's not in a particularly salubrious area, and it was a shame that the restaurant "Higher" was destroyed by fire because I thought that was a very good restaurant indeed. I have eaten takeaways from the "Kohinoor Indian Restaurant" and thought they were good, and I notice it has just opened up again so I'll have to visit shortly. There are a few more around the place which I've eaten at, but I must give the "Yorkshire Inn" a mention because it was a place where you were assured of getting good quality, well-prepared typically English food, and the beef and ale pie with accompaniments was a delight and was often sought after for the "comfort food" effect. I have eaten at a few Thai restaurants, but I wouldn't put any of them in the same class as the restaurants I've mentioned above. Quite a selection here to choose from for the expats, and even though @Adumbration has labelled Patong a cesspit in one of his posts, I have yet to encounter a town fitting that description, which has such a nice selection of restaurants!!!

Best of luck with your TURP, as it is the "gold standard" for this type of operation, and it would be great if you could report back on your progress.

Takes after his father Charles then, because I have absolutely no time for that pathetic individual, and it's no surprise that the Royal family with the exception of the late Queen, is full of twits.

I'm sure that we are all different with regards to our bladder emptying habits, however he is not a daytime drinker, and according to him is mostly a stay at home/watch a video type guy with maybe one beer. I have got to say that learning to use a catheter last thing at night before I go to bed has been a godsend, because then I do get a full night's sleep.

For whatever reason I decided to download and watch the original "Planet of the Apes", starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall, mainly because I couldn't remember much about it as it was released over 50 years ago! It was okay because it refreshed my memory, although some of the settings and props were a little "amateurish" and the very final scene was one that I hadn't really appreciated years ago when I first watched it, and it made sense this time round.

Back on to the subject of the Rezum procedure, there have been a few mixed reports about its efficacy from those guys who have had it performed, and just yesterday I met up with an Aussie guy who comes here for about four months of the year, and we were talking about prostates and procedures and he informed me that he had the Rezum procedure about three years ago!! So I asked if it had made a difference, and his answer was surprising: – marginal difference to daytime peeing, but still having to get up four times a night to empty his bladder! Which I found very surprising, and indeed he was not too happy about it, so we talked about other options and I mentioned iTind, so he is going to investigate this when he gets back to Oz and is also considering a laser TURP.

I noticed a girl in a bar in one of the Sois here, and was sure that she had been here a few years ago, and as she was very attractive she had no shortage of customers then, however she then moved to Bangkok. I stopped and bought her a drink and we talked about the old times (such as they were) and I asked her if she was still in the same "business" when she was in Bangkok, and she said she was, and this next line of hers took me back a little, but was just her being truthful, when she said, "I go with young men or old men and it doesn't matter to me because it's only about the money". Yes, she spoke good English, and truthful with it.

There is certainly a buzz around Patong, but having said that, it's a little bit sporadic.....shoppers abound along the beach road in the early evening, whilst in other areas they are few and far between! Some businesses are doing well and two of my favourite massage shops, with whom I tried to book a massage yesterday, were fully booked, so will have to try another day. On that same note, Big C was busy with a few shelves in the food section being almost empty! Also it is great to see Jungceylon opening up again, although not fully, as there is some serious remedial work going on in a few areas, and I have to say that I miss my Subway sandwich, so I hope that shop opens up soon. I wandered around and went to the third floor to top up my phone via AIS, and although there are quite a few empty spaces (what is left of shops) the cinema is open and a few other shops have sprung up, so things are on the up/looking good. A friend of mine has just returned from Malaysia, so I met him last night at Blue Beach Café and Restaurant for a nice meal and some good wine, and that was three quarters full and it is a wonderful location in which to relax and eat, and as it was his first time back for a while, he wanted to visit a few bars, and especially the folks he knew in them, so we did, where we met up with two other friends and in all visited three bars. However I left them at about 11 PM because they wanted to go on drinking and I have never seen the sense in drinking for drinking's sake and although I enjoyed a couple of drinks which included a beer and some good wine, I felt I'd had enough, so home I went, leaving my friends to their own devices. Before I left it was good to catch up with a girl we had known from way back, as she was now working at a small bar in Soi Sea Dragon and she was pleased to see us, however far from being the petite girl of the past, she had certainly put on a few pounds but she was still a jovial soul. We asked her about the two other girls who worked with her when we knew them way back, and they were both in Australia and I think one was married, and they'd been there for a few years. So it brought to mind some of the girls I had known here who had moved on to other countries, the UK, Australia, Switzerland, Finland and Italy to name but a few that I can recall at this time, but they all had one thing in common inasmuch as they were "bar girls" who have found partners and moved on, and it was pleasing to remember that. Bangla was busy, which was expected as it is the "high season" and the music bars varied in customer numbers, although a couple of them were "murdering" songs which would even make a tone deaf person cringe!

You beat me to it because I was about to suggest that the sequel to the original "Gladiator" would not star a very pudgy Russell Crowe!!

I decided to venture into the heart of what a socially inept poster described as a "cesspit" in order to renew my 90 day extension, and I was very surprised, because I expected to see a long queue – – but there wasn't! In fact there were only three people waiting outside of the office, but nowhere to park my bike until the guy who does the 90 day extensions appeared at the back door, immediately recognised me and asked me for my passport and told me to wait! So sitting astride my motorbike (because there was nowhere to park) I waited just a few minutes and he returned with my passport and the 90 day extension and bid me Happy New Year, and I thanked him profusely, and I have to say that this guy is the one I have dealt with over many years and he is particularly well mannered and helpful. It would appear that the queues of previous months are no longer evident, which will be good news to Patong residents.

I was looking forward to the release of "The Menu", so last night downloaded and watched it, and was disappointed, and I only watched it through because I was waiting for something to happen. The plot was similar to a few other movies that have been made but I won't give the game away. Following along from the title, I thought the movie was full of plot holes, full of itself and not as tasty as the makers would have you believe, and without an understandable ending!