Asianrider

I was going to post this fascinating story in the general topics section, but Pattaya local forum seemed so much more apt.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7988169.stm

I see agent's in Pattaya requesting 3-5% for sales which i believe is excesive. In uk London i would negotiate 1-2%, outside London a flat 1%.

Do agents in Pattaya incur higher overheads or are they just more greedy ? There must be something like 150 plus agents now ?

Taxi mafia would be inconsolable if they put a direct link in Pattaya to airport !!

staying at an ICU for 12 days is not a cheapo anywhere in the world.

and if you check their regular in-patient-room-rates, you will find out they are reasonable.

oh, my credit-card-data was stolen there while I was at the ICU (had to hand over my card and 2 days later, while still stuck at the ICU, I allegedly went on a shopping-spree in Australia and Japan, but thats another story )

that's pretty scary - you are in hospital on your death bed while they rip your credit cards !!

this weekend will be a treble Whammy - Asean security means tight security and bars on best behaviour; thousands of Marines descending for a week; and lastly large number of girls leaving town for Thai New Year to "tamboon" in their village with their families.

Oh and i forgot the odd red shirt popping up as well !!

I'm sure Thaksin is shaking in his boots .... NOT

THINK THE SUM IS ACTUALLY INSULTING FOR A MULTI-BILLIONAIRE

I like the new Mall, but after a 4 billion baht investment i would be cheesed off with architects & contractors in a tropical country if it floods every time after an hour or two of rain !

Went to a party in Surin last week. My girlfriend knew days in advance i planned to leave early. On the morning she's running late, so there was no time for breakfast. We had planned to stop at a restaurant after the National Park in the mountains approximately half there. It is a 6 hour drive depending on your speed. Unfortunately i overshot the restaurant and had traffic behind me. I explained to her never mind we will crack on and eat in Surin when we get there. I got a grunt back.

Less there an hour later girlfriend's mood deteriorates really quickly, and making sounds like a seal being clubbed to death because she hadn't eaten for a few hours. Eventually she insisted on stopping at 7-11 for a snack. Are all thai girls like this ? where is their backbone ??

Last week i made by first visit to Surin by car. The single lane parts of Route 24 made me cringe with some of the crazy overtaking going on ! At one point a police pick-up was undertaking trucks on the verge. Driving through vehicle check-points managed to avoid any contact with the boys in brown, but the general attitude to over-taking gave me a few more grey hairs !

Just spent 2 nights up at Surin at the Thong Tarin hotel for a friend's party at Lam Deuan. Hotel was okay, 740baht per night, a lot cheaper than the internet rate advertised on their website.

Every day had lunch at Farang Connection. Run by an amiable chap called Martin who spared the time to make every one feel welcome, the English breakfast there was as good as i have ever had in Pattaya !

They have internet room upstairs as well. Recommended.

whose Kevin Quill ?

walked past hel_l Club yesterday, all shut up, signs taken away, definately no girls hanging around.......hope we haven't lost this venerable institution ? perhaps somebody in the KNOW can update us ?

some UK trucks / vans have a number on the back to report the driver if the vehicle is driven safely.......umm i know why the Bahtbus's don't have these

This unfortunate has just spent a fortune opening a new place ( next to Tourist Police ! ) and the boys in brown go and lay the boot in !!

A term like special tourism zone just gives the authorities more wriggle room when it comes to charging for licences etc....

Good one u had me fooled !!!

I wouldn't have thought anyone would be so reckless to buy offplan and not visit the site first........but i know i'm wrong.

This map would put La Royale virtually in Walking Street !!

They all look like typical Miss Universe entrants, could be from any country.

Not very Thai looking - very hi-so BKK, (if you like that sort of thing).

Any day, any street, you will see more natural beautiful Thai Ladies

I couldn't agree with you more!

I see ladies in Pattaya who are a lot slimmer.

Who or what is M ?

I have read this book and thought it was extremely worthwhile - had a great debate with gf after. Believe they do a German version now as well !

Very shocked that she can get into the top 5.

Extremely shocked when she was annouced the winner.

On the first close up, I saw a small scare on her face. When she was in the swimwear, there seems to be some reddish pimples on her lower leg / back of thigh area.

She was all excieted and is not compose when answering the Q&A. One of the female judge need to wave signal with both her hands to slow her down during A&A.

Only 'impressive' thing is that she is tall and slim ( 1.77m ). Has good body proportion for the international competition .

ps

I have nothing against her. Just that there are more beautiful faces and equally intelligent contestants last night.

On reflection I wonder how independent the judges are ? she certainly wasn't the attractive lady on the line-up !

Often thai makes much more sense when you learn to write the language rather than English transliterations that seem to vary from book to book !

Sorry to read this tragic story, but have had a few hairy rides on thai bus's, especially in the South. On one overnight journey the driver was driving with one hand, and whiskey bottle in the other !

This was on thai TV last night. The winner's name was Panprapa Yongtrakoon, a 20yr old medical student from Chulalongkorn, nickname "Boom" ?.

Picture here http://www.global-report.com/pattaya/?l=en&a=349637

Personally i thought the 2 runners - up were more attractive.

My girlfriend guessed correctly though Boom would win as a Luk Krueng, half thai-half foreign. Her English was flawless.

( I would rather have watched the England match but wasn't on UBC !!)

I never understand why Thai's tend to construct a lot of single storey houses, the cost of the foundations & roof is the same, but they can double or treble their useable floor space with additional floors !