syd barrett

There's a little place in Central Arcade called The Little Wonder, opposite Papagayo, which does a great breakfast. About 120 Baht incl a mug of coffee/tea and a slice of decent bread & butter - fried eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, fried tomato, beans, fried bread, all cooked nicely, i.e. the eggs are actually fried, not poached in oil like you get in a lot of places. It's worth trying IMHO. There are a couple of tables outside for smokers. They also do traditional London style pie, mash and liquor - the only place I've seen in Pattaya that offers this.

Thanks for that tip jimmybkk. I had a great breakfast there a few days ago. it is funny, I have walked past it hundreds of times and never given it a try before: Recommended to all.

I found another place this morning on Second Road. It is easy to miss. It is about 235 metres from Pattaya Tai, on the opposite side of the Road to Soi GayBoyztown. It is called the 'Boat Bakery Restaurant'.

A full English breakfast cost just 48 baht.

2 Eggs

2 rashers of delicious high quality bacon

A large fine quality sausage

Freshly baked bread & toast/butter/jam/marmalade

A choice of piping hot tea/coffee and perpetual refills.

I am searching for a shredder.

This post is already 3 years old, so any updates appreciated. One of the posts above mentions a branch of 'Office Depot' in tukcom, I've not seen it, is it still there?

Thanks for any info.

What harm in what he does? And don't get started on some inane rant about some 'health and safety executive' violation.

Don't come running to me when you develop the dreadful parrott-spread disease psittacosis.

massive throwing for a week?

Yes, it makes me vomit too, just thinking about it.

Dates in Pattaya 10th-19th inclusive.

I've already booked a cheap flight to Perth for a mini-break away from the madness and carnage.

There's a guy who posts on TV whose pic is a guy with a big parrot on his shoulder who was offering his services to attend a kids party with his parrot on another thread recently. [name deleted]

Yes, I remember that but this guy on Beach Road is a different man. I am surprised the Pattaya Police haven't pulled him on some obscure bylaw and demanded 200-300 baht.

This week it should rise above 1.40 a good time to get in and sell sterling, because the next low will be 1.30

how do you know this? or why do you think this? reason i ask is i have been reading a so called expert and they said the doolar will go to 1.444. am just wondering if that's a general feeling ecconomists have or was she just talking nonsense.

Nobody knows anything for sure, but currencies go up and down like a yo-yo and last week was a bad week for the pound, early today touching 1.35 but today back up to 1.39 right now. Should break 1.40 this week sometime.

In the UK they think you are a crim if you have a £50 note, let alone a 500 euro (£300+) note.

Not for much longer, by the end of 2009 a loaf of bread will cost 50 pounds!

This week it should rise above 1.40 a good time to get in and sell sterling, because the next low will be 1.30

The berk with the parrot, I see every day walking or sitting on Beach Road. I think he does it for attention. I would not trust him as far as I would throw him. It is just a few steps beyond lollipops or puppies.

Has anyone flown to the UK with Jet Air - Bangkok/Mumbai/UK? The air fare looks very attractive but I am not sure how reliable the airline is. All I know is that it is an Indian Airline and reports about its internal flights within India itself make it seem like a pretty good service, as opposed to the State owned Indian airline.

Here is a report from Airlinequality website from a disgruntled ECONOMY class passenger:

Flight 121G/262G 29 October. Delayed departure due to bags not tallying with passengers. Chaotic transfers outward and return at Delhi. Delayed departure from Delhi. Case missing of one of party. Flight 263G/122G 14 November. Delayed departure, both legs. Given Immigration forms to complete on first leg which we didn't need to. No toilet rolls in one toilet. Roll holders in other toilet inadequate. Malfunction of sink plunger in both. No European food on offer in spite of menu stating there was a choice. Undrinkable Gin and Tonic. No checks done before landing in London with seat in front of me remaining in reclining position for landing.

Economy class is supposed to be whack.

Their business class however gets very good reviews and is advertised in British upmarket magazines.

Well to put this post to bed if I may!!, I have finally booked with Etihad for 31,000 Baht.

Going down to Bangkok next week to pay for ticket and get the re-entry permit. I am a little old fashioned and do not like to use the web for payments having being a victim of fraud in the past!

The agent I have used offered a Thai airways flight for 35,200 Baht, I was tempted but I do not mind changing flights in the middle east; -sort of breaks the journey up.

As the agent is in Nana I may allow myself an afternoon beer and watch a few of the lovelies before back to Mo Chit and bus home.

You are unlucky, during the January sale Jan 1st-9th Etihad had return flights for 21,000 incl taxes.

Special offers with Emirates, Qatar and Etihad pop up all the time on a first-come-first-served basis online.

In your case I would have picked up a cheap single to the UK and a very cheap return in the UK.

I have experience of receiving my passport in Thailand by courier UPS/FEDEX (not for Thai visa reasons) and they scan them as they come into Bangkok and then demand 'compensation'. I had to pay 7,500 baht just to get the courier to hand the package over.

I reported it by mail to the courier company and they said I should have refused to pay the 'compensation'. However I needed my passport back and was worried enough.

My recommendation is to return to the UK every 15-16 months or so. Shop around for cheap flights to London. They can be had for around 400 quid.

Of course they aren't really looking for expats with this bad value offering. They are looking for the passing tourist bar going trade. ONE OFFS. Maybe they can pull it off, they fooled me ONE TIME.

You have been warned.

Sure seems like it with 55 baht per slice of suck azzed pizza from Slices.

Thinking about it. The pizza slices are mean being 1/8th size. They could at least offer 1/6ths. These days 55 baht=1.20pence (UK)

Big thanks. That is fantastic. I wish I had known ages ago. Great!

Mrs Barrett is making so many calls on her 1-2-Call mobile telephone that I think she is buying two thousand baht worth of scratch cards per month. Surely there must be a cheaper way?

A post-paid service it out of the question but is there any deals to be had which can reduce the spending?

If she needs to change the SIM card no problem, I will gladly buy it for her.

None of these phone calls are overseas.

I bought some pizza slices there today.

Very average.

They need to reheat them for longer when you go in.

Maybe they are scared of making you wait. But they are OK if you only have 55 baht and fancy a light snack.

Next time I will ask them to heat it in the convection oven for longer.

I had a look at the curry section. Actually the curries looked very good. I am sure re-heating might make them tasty. I will try them next time.

I must emphasize though, this place is really only for after-drinks snacks or emergency grub.

Letter from Pattaya Mail January 23rd Edition

Wanting to feel more welcome at immigration

Editor;

It’s only a few weeks since Pattaya Immigration office received an award for best outstanding service. But that’s not what I have experienced over the years. They were rather impolite and short to me, also I’ve witnessed a few occasions were they behaved quire arrogant and rude towards falang tourists and residents. Maybe some officers are getting fed up with being asked the same questions day in, day out.

But you can’t blame falang just because some of them are ignorant about visa and immigration regulations. The only thing that has really improved is that they have changed their police uniform for a less intimidating outfit. Especially now we’re in a global down-turn and tourism is suffering, show us that famous Thai smile once in a while for it will make a lot of immigration visitors feel more at ease and welcome.

Best wishes,

Chris

Pattaya

I agree. Most of the time the staff there are rude and unhelpful. One crazy guy there started shouting at me because I couldn't understand his spoken English.

Baht Bus Fare List for you to print out and keep in your pocket at all times.

From Pattaya Mail: January 23-29 2009 Volume XVII #4

Official minibus fares listed by the Chonburi Transport Office are:

The Charoenrat Pattana-Najomtien Village route:

Charoenrat Pattana-Nipa Lodge Hotel 8 baht

Charoenrat Pattana -Asia Hotel 21 baht

Charoenrat Pattana-Soi Chaiyapruk 29 baht

Nipa Lodge Hotel-Pattaya Market 8 baht

Nipa Lodge Hotel-Asia Hotel 14 baht

Nipa Lodge Hotel-Soi Chaiyapruk 22 baht

The Pattaya Market -Soi Chaiyapruk 15 baht

Asia Hotel-Soi Chaiyapruk 8 baht

The around Pattaya route:

From the beginning of South Pattaya-Banglamung Plaza 8 baht

From the beginning of South Pattaya-Nipa Lodge (North Pattaya) 10 baht

From Banglamung Plaza-Nipa Lodge junction (North Pattaya) 8 baht

From Banglamung Plaza-beginning of South Pattaya 10 baht

From Nipa Lodge junction (North Pattaya)-Banglamung Plaza 8 baht

North Pattaya-Central Pattaya:

North Pattaya-Central Pattaya Road Intersection 8 baht

North Pattaya-Somprasong Plaza 11 baht

North Pattaya-Wat Bunkanjanaram 23 baht

Central Pattaya Road Intersection-Somprasong Plaza 8 baht

Central Pattaya Road Intersection-Central Pattaya T-Intersection 17 baht

Somprasong Plaza-Wat Bunkanjanaram 8 baht

Somprasong Plaza-Central Pattaya T-Intersection 12 baht

Wat Bunkanjanaram-Central Pattaya T-Intersection 8 baht

For more fare information please contact the Pattaya Information Desk at 038-253-131-32 or the Pattaya City Call Center at 1337.

When I try and access hotmail on my XP PC by typing www.hotmail.com I get a blank screen with a tiny yellow triangle saying error in the lower left hand corner. I have tried to clear cache and history, run my free virus AVG.

My browser is IE ?

Any suggestions? So far I can access all other sites O.K.

I read the owner recently died so I don't know if that means things are different there, haven't been by recently.

It is still the same. It is best to get there early rather than late.

It might not be the healthy option but fried sausage is the most tasty if you shallow fry in animal fat.

Frying will give ample opportunity to 'brown' your sausage towards the end of cooking by raising the heat and ensuring that pink sausage comes out brown.

I think Delia Smith would agree.

The least rip-off hospital in Pattaya is the Pattaya Memorial. When you go for treatment tell them you are a resident and have NO insurance. Also ask the Doctor to write the medicines you need down on a piece of paper, so to avoid buying them there in the hospital.

They now sell mushy peas in Friendship Supermarket on Pattaya Tai.

Details

Brand: Maple Leaf

Price: 42 Baht

Title: Chip-Shop Style Mushy Peas

Weight: 300g

Shelf-life: 30 months

Ingredients: Processed peas, water, sugar, salt, Colours E102/E142

Very tasy!

I had a eyeball at the food they offered. IT LOOKED DISGUSTING. I am not kidding. This is not the same food they offer at the restaurants. I have eaten at Ahaar itself and what they had in the bins there was not the same quality, it looked vile.

I've not seen how they present the food but to be fair, Indian food is not the easiest to make look good when on display. OK, for a single dish in a nice metal serving dish with a swirl of yoghurt and a sprinkle of fresh coriander it can be done, but I think it's very hard to make a mass produced indian dish look appetizing. I love Indian food but most dishes (at least the curries) end up looking like slops. The proof of the pudding as they say....

OK, I decided to give this place a second look at just to be fair and make sure I wasn't missing something.

Here is my updated assessment.

Looked at the Ahaar food on display. Some of it LOOKED better than the first time, except for the chicken pakoras and veg somosas which looked STALE, the biryani rice and the two chicken curries (tikka masala and vindaloo) LOOKED OK. They had nans but they were hiding them, I am assuming they were not fresh.

Time of visit, dinner hour about 7 pm.

So I ordered thus:

Plain biryani (no extra meat or veg in it) 55 baht

Chicken tikka masala 89 baht

The rice was CRISPY. It was stale. God knows how old it was. The spice was level 1 on a scale of 1 to 10, but not really expecting much spice in that dish.

The tikka masala, again OLD. Tiny portion. 4 small pieces of chicken. The chicken didn't taste particularly tikka, more like stuff you would feed to a dog. The spice level was 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. I know tikka masala isn't is super spicy dish but this was practically tasteless. I can imagine an old white lady from the sticks of Nebraska finding it a revelation, for someone who actually LIKES Indian food, it was an insult.

I realize some rice and one curry is not meant to be a large meal, but after that and a small Tiger Beer (55 baht) my first thought was that I needed MORE FOOD right away. So I went elsewhere and had more food.

If you think eating in a food court gives you good value, this is a case where you are getting much less value than in the restaurant. Tiny portion. Old. No taste. At the restaurant you can of course specify that you want more spice and some places listen to you.

Of course they aren't really looking for expats with this bad value offering. They are looking for the passing tourist bar going trade. ONE OFFS. Maybe they can pull it off, they fooled me ONE TIME.

You have been warned.

I agree! Far better to spend a bit more and go for freshly cooked food. The problem with this food court, is that it will never be truly busy. In the old days the Royal Garden food court was great, always busy and freshly prepared tasty food. The new one at Royal Garden is a waste of time as well.

Let's face it, you can walk to that Indian place opposite Soi Honey on Soi Buckhow and order some personalised food for 150 baht.

This place opened about 6 weeks ago and ever since the opening do I've promised the owner that we'd go there for dinner so tonight we did!

Its a lovely looking place with an outdoor seating area where you can watch the world go by or an indoor and upstairs section also, all very nicely decorated and very modern.

The menus were good with pictures of certain dishes (which actually looked the same as the food we received) and in the end we all ordered Thai although the european menu looked very nice with steaks and pasta's etc.

We ordered various dishes ranging from tom yum gai, satay moo, yam nuea and Kang-Ped Bhet-Yang etc and I can honestly say that all dishes were very nice and flavour wise also very good unlike some of the "farang" style Thai food that you get here.

That with a few beers and a lot more food than I mentioned the bill was 2200bht for 6 people which I think all will agree is very reasonable.

Anyway I HIGHLY recommend this place.

Thanks for the heads-up on that place. I have been walking past regularly and giving it sidelong glances and thinking that the neon is a con and that it might be a no-no. I will give it a go at the weekend. Thanks!