sgunn65

Here's a thought. Why don't the Thai's exchange her for the Swede who murdered the Kiwi Rob Hollick in front of a score of witnesses in Pattaya, paid a bribe, and was allowed bail for family reasons and promptly buggered of to Sweden? Oh yeah, he paid the bribe! Stupid of me.

Mae'n amryw Cymraeg i mewn Pattaya

So thats the British Consul for Pattaya saying goodbye then. Obviously a man of the people. No offical press release but an honest heartfelt goodbye. Fair play to you, your Excellency and we look forward to welcoming your successor.

I have, in over 5 years, only had one moron want to fight me. However he was sorely provoked. There he was sitting, minding his own business when I had the temerity to walk over and ask, politely, if I anyone was sitting in the empty bar stool next to him. He turned on me and said, "what do want to do, <deleted> me?". A fair point. I explained that I actually only wanted to sit down. Disapointed he offered me a variety of ways that he could re-arrange my face/body. Sadly I had to decline them all. Eventually it got to a point when I gave in to his desires and suggested that we repair to the back of the bar where he could, " <deleted> do my face in". I removed my glasses and he lost interest! Maybe I am better looking with them on.

I did see a Scot get his cummupance last year. I was sitting in an outside bar one evening around 11pm when a barechested Scot around 40 rode up on a 750 and sat down, uninvited with a couple of Indians and the girls they were with. He promptly started calling the girls whores etc loudly. The mamasan who was about 150cm in her stilettoes came over and, very reasonably, asked him to stop being rude. he then turned on her and called her a variety of names. Without missing a beat she bent over, picked up a wooden checkbin holder and hit him over the head with it. His head split open and blood poured. He got up and started shouting that he was going to kill her etc. She didn't flinch but attacked him with her stilettoes before being held back (3 times she got away). Eventually a couple of taxi drivers led the bloke away.

I am not sure as work paid for it but I think it was 4,200 baht. Compare this to a full day queueing at the Bangkok Embassy and it is worth every penny

I got mine from the travel agent (I think it is called seven stars) on the bottom floor at Central Festival near to McDonalds by the beach exit. It took 7 days and was no hassle at all. Going there for a Chinese Visa next as that visa office in Bangkok is Dantes second circle of hell!

My wife wants to go back to work so we are looking for someone to clean, iron and generally look after the house for 5-6 hours a day Monday to Friday. The hours have some flexibility so would suit someone with school age children.

Honesty and reliability are obvious requirements. Also a love of dogs. We have a very friendly, fat and lazy bulldog puppy. She doesn't do walks but likes to chase the mop around!

At approx 200K the maxsym 400i is an excellent touring scooter with all the versatility of a scooter in city traffic ( I use mine everyday in Pattaya traffic). It has a 15 litre tank which will do your daily motoring. Other plusses are a, relatively, huge underseat storage area, wide comfy seats with backreasts for both driver and passenger, triple disc brakes with linked braking and it will cruise all day at 120-140kpm two up (I know I have done it). The lights are excellent and wide at the back so cars give you a wide berth. The windscreen and leg protectors save a lot of strain on the body so that you get off the bike not feeling you have wrestled a python.

I have posted 6 months on the Sym 400i here

I used to use it in the UK and it was good. I have bought it here once or twice and it seems to be the same.

A couple of points. When Japanese Paratroopers landed in Don Muang the Thais chose to join the Axis rather than be invaded. Sensible? Cowardice? Depends on your point of view.

I believe it was the British who bombed Bangkok as a punishment for the Thai's complicity in the horrors that were perpertrated in Kanchanaburi. Yes some Thai's tried to help but most ignored and 16,000 Allied soldiers died along with 100,000 "guest workers".

It is no wonder that the Thai's pretend it never happened.

Since living here I have seen countless tee shirts, flags, earrings etc with the Nazi flag. Louis Tussauds even had a huge billboard of Hitler suggesting he was alive and living in Pattaya. That was only taken down when the German and Isreali ambassadors jointly complained. The owner said that he was considering giving a discount to anyone offended!! Considering?

Actually I believe they only paid 6 million baht, although another report said 3 million

The word is that the Swede or his family paid 1 million US Dollars and was released on the Monday after he killed Rob. A limo picked him up from the prison. Rob's greiving girlfriend was paid off, had a new boyfriend within two days of his funeral and is also in the wind!

Another interesting fact is that the Swede had just come from Koh Samui where another farang was stabbed in very similar circumstances(but not killed). Coincidence?

Money talks and big money shouts. Rob's mum does not have the money to fight this so I guess he will just become another statistic. Shame as he was a good guy.

Don't bother going at 8am as every one and his mother gets there early and the chaos and lack of queueing just makes for hassle and long waits. I went in at 11am was sent straight up to do the tests (no queues). That was all finished by 11.45am. There is a one hour break for lunch and the bike test is done at 1pm. As the poster said this takes a minute then you get your number and wait for the licence. I was out of there by 1.30pm.

I have been told, by a very good source close to the family, that the amount paid to the family was 6 million THB.

I was told, from a very good source, that the family were compensated to the tune of 6 Million Baht and that is the end of the matter.

The place is a cess pit , prostitution is illegal ( ha ha ha ) really corrupt town hall, police . and on and on and on. If you you like this environment good luck to you lots of nicer places to live.

You have to wonder a little bit about the motives of people who move there.

Questionable at best.

Whats so "questionable" about wanting to move here ???

What reasons would one have for voluntarily moving to Pattaya?

1 Being offered a job that is based here.

2 Weighing up the pro's and cons and choosing

3 Wanting to live in Thailand but also wanting easy access to Western food, cinema's etc

4 Wanting to live in Thailand but also wanting to be around people from your own country.

5 Wanting to live by the sea but near to an international airport.

6 Working in the Eastern Seaboard and wanting Western standard housing.

7 Wanting easy access to International schools.

8 Wanting to sail or windsurf.

A few reasons for choosing Pattaya (without wanting to indulge in the sex industry) off the top of my head. I am sure there are plenty more.

Pattaya is 50 sq. kms according to Land survey records. The warren of little Soi's running off Beach Road,1st Road, 2nd Road and the surrounds is a tiny tongue of land 3kms x 3kms. Drive around the perimeter and your dashboard will tell you just that.

Relative to this tiny tongue of land and small population the violence, accidents and other mishaps is significant. In "percentage terms" the crime rate for this tiny stretch exceeds every other ASEAN country. We can gild the lily, pretend there are stars in the sky upon which to gaze or even imagine a UFO will drop something sweet smelling over this tiny tongue of land - 3kms x 3 kms. Its all quite delusional and will remain the stuff of essay-writing.

Balance in essay-writing is important. Its something you have done well. However, comments by bloggers (which you mock) are "in response to" newspaper stories of murder & mayhem in Pattaya this past month. To ask bloggers sommenting on a news item to look at the bright side when offering comment on acts of mindless violence is quite idiotic. Your article is akin to asking bloggers who come home and discover a body on the kitchen floor to then look up at the sky and count the colors of the rainbow. I'd need to be drugged to do that.

Many love Pattaya. Nobody has a monopoly on this affection. However, many refuse to be one-eyed Pattaya diehards. Most are balanced in their views. Comments on blog sites refer to a particular new item such as death or violence. They can be blunt, succinct, sound exasperated. Not everyone turns poetic and dreamy when reading crime stories much as people may love Pattaya. In fact the acidic scathing tones of bloggers are intended to draw attention so that a clean-up (hopefully) ensues.

Your little essay reads well. I liked the prose and choice of words. However, mocking people with concerns about spiraling crime is puerile. It will hardly stifle honest, blunt comments from people on this blog site to mindless violence. Taking their comments out of context and asking them to write about a rainbow each time they are commenting on a grisly murder is quite mad.

I do know at least 4 people who have left these past six months for Bali, Bantam and Manila. I'd need to live on another planet not to know long term residents of Pattaya who move. With the ease of travel and so many markets opening up Pattaya is just one of many resorts. Importantly, there are no sacred cows.

Some of the comments I read were, indeed, on News items relating to violence. And I take your point regarding writing about rainbows. However I do take issue with two areas. One: you, as an obviously intelligent person, should have noted that at no time do I mock the posters (with the exception of the last line of the 2nd paragraph), I mock the puerile and pointless nature of the one liner. When commenting on the violence, surely condemning the violence not the place is more pertinent. It reminds me of the female militants I used to see at university who declared that, "All men are rapists". We are not but it makes a good strapline.

Pattaya is an easy target and I, at no point, defend it. How ever I would say this; Pattaya doesn't kill people, people do. There are lots of posters who want change here (as do I) and others who see it as a male nirvana; I come from a fairly neutral place as I cannot live elsewhere due to my work, but at the same time I actually don't want to live anywhere else for many of the reasons that Londonean made so well. And for none of the reasons that a couple of one line jockeys (the reason I posted, thanks for taking the time out to join us and give us the benefit of your knowledge!)

All I am suggesting is that posters at least stick to the point or defend their position. If that makes me idiotic, purile and quite mad, to paraphrase you, then so be it. It was fun though.

I was just reading about the Russians who were robbed and saw this marvelous insight;

Anybody who goes to Soddom & Gommorah, I mean Pattaya deserves what they get.

What possible contribution does that make to anything. We get it, you don't like Pattaya so why not get on with your life wherever it may be and leave us to this wretched hole we call home. I really don't think that robbing me at gunpoint is something I deserve because my job happens to be here.

In response to a previous poster. I can honestly say that in over 5 years of living in Thailand and two and a half years here I have never met anyone who has left because they feel Pattaya is bad. I know of three people who have left here. One, because of ill health and the other two because they had run out of money! Of those two one has returned after working in England for a year to save. To be fair most of the people I know live in Jomtien or on the Dark Side, so maybe that little bit of distance makes all the difference.