BugJackBaron

4. You Are White Therefore You Speak English - they hear what you say assuming it is English and mapping it onto whatever they think is the closest English equivalent, even if you are speaking Thai with godly pronunciation.

Number 4 is not really common. Usually it is due to the farang who thinks his Thai is actually intelligible to anyone but another farang. Sorry but I call 'em as I hear 'em. The two farang coworkers I know who speak Thai - one at intermediate level and one fluently do not have this problem. If your pronunciation is truly good they will understand.

As an aside, If you are in Pattaya being white means being thought of as Russian these days.

It's not common for me, and I'm not fluent yet, but it does happen. I've even talked to someone on the phone with no problem but in person they had a problem initially. It takes a minute for it to click with some people.

Don't forget that the context is important. Obviously if you are ordering pizza then the person on the other end of the phone is probably used to farang pronunciation and can predict. to a certain extent, what will be asked or ordered.

In some situations there is no context and so accuracy in pronunciation becomes more important. Examples may be as simple as telling the motorcycle taxi driver where you want to go.

When they understand me - and I am getting better - I know I've said it correctly.

There are a number of very poor service staff who basically don't listen. Even when they do listen, they don't understand or get it right, even if you speak Thai.

Face it, if they had had good secondary or basic tertiary educations, they wouldn't be working as service staff in regular restaurants.

Added complications can include:

1. Not really Thai - Burmese or Cambodian or Lao and possibly not proficient either in Thai or in English (though to be frank, if they are not Thai and working as service staff the chance they will understand some English goes up).

2. Not proficient in central Thai - they may have grown up mainly speaking a dialect which most foreigners haven't learned.

3. Learning disabled or extremely educationally disadvantaged - a very real possibility and a sad one. Some service staff may not even be able to read Thai.

4. You Are White Therefore You Speak English - they hear what you say assuming it is English and mapping it onto whatever they think is the closest English equivalent, even if you are speaking Thai with godly pronunciation.

4. Don't Care/ They Don't Get Rewarded For Good Service/ They Don't Notice When They Get Rewarded For Good Service - these are the ones who should get out and out fired, but good luck with that.

Number 4 is not really common. Usually it is due to the farang who thinks his Thai is actually intelligible to anyone but another farang. Sorry but I call 'em as I hear 'em. The two farang coworkers I know who speak Thai - one at intermediate level and one fluently do not have this problem. If your pronunciation is truly good they will understand.

As an aside, If you are in Pattaya being white means being thought of as Russian these days.

one 'add on' you might get is 'mud'!!

An extremely intelligent answer.... Just the kind of brain-dead help that people are looking for when they post a serious question...

I thought it was funny.

No 1 a Go-Go in Jomtien is now No. 1 a No Go in my book as they have

stopped serving the 60 Baht draft and now only offer the "normal" priced bottles of 120 Baht.

Hopefully just a short-time situation.

I doubt diabetes is an issue if I keep tasty Pink Oishi stuff (it isnt really tea, is it?) consumption under 2L a day .. ok, maybe 4L on hot sticky April days

regardless, they better have the pink stuff available by Nov 10th or I gonna leave for KL. Floods or not.

Don't worry. High sugar consumption is a risk factor in developing adult onset diabetes, but it's linked more to obesity. Keep your overall calories in check and stay active and you'll probably be ok.

Eat natural unprocessed food only and you really will be OK.

What does that mean? There's still no cure for death, so at some point everyone will not be OK.

Who said death was a disease? What I mean by Ok was that you would grow old gracefully(or in Pattaya maybe that's disgracefully) and die peacefully in your sleep. No need for canes or to suffer from arthritis, cancer or other "diseases of civilization" for the last 20 years of your life.

Best is unprocessed natural food - so choose the fresh pig roast over that "7 hot dog". Choose fresh fruit juice over sugar laden crap.

.

That's what I meant by "naturally".

I doubt diabetes is an issue if I keep tasty Pink Oishi stuff (it isnt really tea, is it?) consumption under 2L a day .. ok, maybe 4L on hot sticky April days

regardless, they better have the pink stuff available by Nov 10th or I gonna leave for KL. Floods or not.

Don't worry. High sugar consumption is a risk factor in developing adult onset diabetes, but it's linked more to obesity. Keep your overall calories in check and stay active and you'll probably be ok.

Eat natural unprocessed food only and you really will be OK.

My predication is that some places in Pattaya will see enormous increase in business because they are he places Bankokias with money like to go. Hello Starbucks. Hello Central Festival.

Now you go me going! As for the New Jomtien 2nd road and Thrappaya jomien just off from it:

The streetlights recently installed are sometimes on during the day(new 2nd road near jJomien market) and others - down that same road and even on Thrappaya are off during the night.

Glad I got that out.

BTW, I haven't noticed any shortage or price increase for CHICKENS. I heard millions of chickens died in the floods. Do we really want to know the story behind the story of the ample supply of cheap chicken?

whole roasted chicken was up from 89 baht to 129 in Big C at the weekend

In Jomtien Market the honey-glazed roast chicken has gone down from 130 to 120 baht.

Some people are not so greedy.

One thing I have noticed about Russians on the Jomtien baht bus which I find admirable and interesting is that different groups of them board as strangers, likely coming from different regions of Russia and probably ex-USSR Russian speaker countries as well, and they instantly start socializing with each other. Most every time. I don't see that often among other nationalities. It's not just that there are so many Russians either.

Of course the downside to that group behavior is that if you don't speak Russian, you become invisible.

A little bit like the way Thais who don't speak English appear to us maybe?

Communication goes both ways and it is amusing to see some Thais vendors now speak at least

survival level Russian.

As to the topic, I have seen boorish behavior from people of all nationalities here(and anyone remember the gang of Thai pickpockets that used to ride the Baht buses?). I don't find the russkies, on average, any worse than the rest.

I can recommend the burgers at a new place '1921' in Jomtien . excellent.

the best !

Well their tuna sandwich and fries was gawd awful. Their "refreshing drink" was sugary slop - you a friend of the owner?

What are their daily opening hours? Is it true they are for dinner hours only? Many people would like a deli sandwich during lunch hours instead.

3pm-12am by your command.

As someone who is eternally skeptical about good food in Pattaya (odd how similar to Korea that is)

all I can say is .....

all i can say is........

well

Hey its like I was back in Montreal(hey HABS the greatest city in N America) in 1985 eating the FAMOUS REUBEN SANDWHICH on PEEL ST.

Hard to believe but it's true. Also as authentic as what I found nect to Sharky's pub in Pnom Penn.

This is the REAL DEAL folks...go for it....

The pickle was nice touch too/

500 Baht wouldn't work here but in CEO haven Bangkok it probably would. Different markets.

I'd be interested to know how many of you would pay 500 Baht for a proper burger...not just occasionally but say once or twice a month?

If it is a decent burger and comes with proper chips I would have no issue in dropping 500b for a burger. I dont mind paying for good food.

I would second that. Especially if the beef came from Alberta, Texas or Argentina and was cooked according to your specifications.

...snip....

Then move to Bkk. Speaking of reading comprehension.....read my post again. Between the lines. Something I pointed out many here seem to have trouble with and you just proved it.

Nah, Bangkok is overrated and as I stated - between the lines - has a lot of junk food and culture just like Pattaya. You seem to not want to delve deeper into the issues but view any response as a direct challenge. Interesting.

'Interesting'.....lol. Yea, clearly a "direct challenge'.....bahahah. Thanks for the laugh. Too funny

No, thank YOU! :) You just proved my point.

My Buddha all they have now in the 7 and Family is LEO beer.

When that happens you know there is a supply problem

...snip....

Then move to Bkk. Speaking of reading comprehension.....read my post again. Between the lines. Something I pointed out many here seem to have trouble with and you just proved it.

Nah, Bangkok is overrated and as I stated - between the lines - has a lot of junk food and culture just like Pattaya. You seem to not want to delve deeper into the issues but view any response as a direct challenge. Interesting.

This thread should be renamed...."Best burger in Pattaya and that is why the place went out of business".....Which is my whole point. You cannot get the quality without the price going up and nobody stays in business doing that unless you are a mega chain like Burger King....who's food (and I use that term very loosely) barely passes the legal definition of food btw.

Nobody doubts that the price will go up. What they may - and should - doubt is whether the Cheap Charlies of Pattaya are willing to pay for it. In Phuket , Chiang Mai, Pnom Penn and Singapore the expat community is more sophisticated and willing to pay, within reason, a bit more for a better burger. Sadly the perception is that most Russians and beer drinkers who are here don't care a fig about food(and even in Bangkok I am amazed at how poor western food often is).

Hello, all the burger joints pointed out in this post that have gone out of business. I don't know how much more evidence you need. But at this point if you can't read between the lines you are not interested in the truth. Still convinced you can get your Grade A American beef top of the line burger in Thailand for 50baht or whatever. Like trying to argue with a dish cloth

Sounds like you failed reading comprehension in school. Who said anything about 50 Baht.? Just saying reasonable quality for a fair price. My point was simply that the standards of Pattaya are low, even compared to other parts of Thailand..

This thread should be renamed...."Best burger in Pattaya and that is why the place went out of business".....Which is my whole point. You cannot get the quality without the price going up and nobody stays in business doing that unless you are a mega chain like Burger King....who's food (and I use that term very loosely) barely passes the legal definition of food btw.

Nobody doubts that the price will go up. What they may - and should - doubt is whether the Cheap Charlies of Pattaya are willing to pay for it. In Phuket , Chiang Mai, Pnom Penn and Singapore the expat community is more sophisticated and willing to pay, within reason, a bit more for a better burger. Sadly the perception is that most Russians and beer drinkers who are here don't care a fig about food(and even in Bangkok I am amazed at how poor western food often is).

A while ago people used to rave about Mo's Burger ( Japanese!) at Central but when I just googled it, one post states its closed down?

MOS Burger is long gone!

Yep gone and it was the only decent burger i ever had in Thailand....BTW I am not an expert of burgers but have tried a few

They still exist in Bangkok but I wouldn't call them decent - they have that peculiar Japanese fast-food taste.. For a quick fast food burger it

is not so bad though,.

Ask yourself why Chiang Mai and Phucket and Pnom Penn can have decent burgers at

prices not much higher than local beef but Pattaya can't. I'm pretty sure some places in those cities use imported beef.

I don't totally buy the imported beef is way

more expensive argument. Seems to me local greed is the main factor. Plus a belief that expats here just don't want quality.

They have to do something about that guard. Imagine wanting to see what the fuss is about and

getting stopped with a "no no no" at the gate until you explain you want to go to the Pizza place.

That was my experience last night. Location is everything.

STARBUCKS UUUGGGGGHHH

Doesn't matter what you think. They are very popular and nobody is making anyone spend money there.

So you never have a coffee outside?

Not locally as these days I only drink coffee in the morning and leaving the house without caffeine is not an option. Oddly when traveling I drink more coffee.

It's the popularity of Starbucks that amazes me, who is it popular with? No-one I know would ever admit to having been in one more than once!

For one reason only: atmosphere. Tell me a place where I can just go and sit down and order coffee maybe an hour later if I feel like it? Where I can read the Bangkok Post and fall asleep in a comfy chair with no worries?

The food is barely passable and the coffee is at best so-so but all that is made up for by the atmosphere.

After long time I didn't go to Jomtien I read this post and decided to go and check out the area. I am Italian and was interested in trying the Italian restaurant La Merenda (one of the few things I miss of my country is the food). Once there I noticed a place called Eataly. It is at the corner between soi 5 and Jomtien 2nd road, between a 7/11 and a dental clinic. I went in an with my big surprise it is not a restaurant (even if they have a few tables and serve espresso coffee, sandwiches, piadina ecc.). It is a shop that sells Italian food and wine. They have an impressive selection of Italian cold meats, cheeses, wines, spirits, pasta, oil, ice-creams and Italian products in general. Believe me, even in Italy it's not easy to find a shop that sells so many different products all together. And all products have an excellent quality and a normal price (for Thailand). I am a pretty good cook but I have always had problems to find some of the ingredients I was looking for, here in Thailand. I used to shop at Villa, which for me had the best selection of Italian products so far (better than Foodland). Now this place has a much bigger selection than Villa and more or less the same prices. I spoke with one of the owners of the place (who are Italians) and he told me that they can afford to have such a huge choice of products because they are suppliers for restaurants and hotels. They decided to open a shop where they sell the same products as retail sale to normal people. Now this shop really made my day. So at the end I didn't try La Merenda but I highly reccomend Eataly if your looking for genuine Italian products.

The place strikes me as a litttle odd. While they have a good selection of wine and an interesting but limited selection of cheese, i coudn't figure out why they were sellingNutella sandwhich spread!(Why not sell kraft dinner while you're at it?) And the cakes sold by the piece were the same second-rate stuff sold in many coffee shops around Pattaya. I guess they cater to the low standards of the local market....

As Darrel said Nutella is a typical Italian food. Maybe not a classic but for sure everyone in Italy loves Nutella. The selection of cheese didn't seem limited to me, considering that we are in Thailand and these products expire quickly. On the contrary I found some cheese that I have never seen before in Thailand. I don't eat cakes so I can't tell you about them.

Interesting. Many people will just think of Nutella as like a jam product ...a spread and not a particularly healthful one at that..but maybe that is just the American "kraft" version.Yes some of the cheeses were exotic like sheep cheese(no Venezualan beaver cheese though )but I didn't see old cheddar, chesier or even blue cheese there. For sheer vatriety I have yet to see something better than Emporium in Bangkok(though I hear that special supermarket in Chiang Mai could be better)

After long time I didn't go to Jomtien I read this post and decided to go and check out the area. I am Italian and was interested in trying the Italian restaurant La Merenda (one of the few things I miss of my country is the food). Once there I noticed a place called Eataly. It is at the corner between soi 5 and Jomtien 2nd road, between a 7/11 and a dental clinic. I went in an with my big surprise it is not a restaurant (even if they have a few tables and serve espresso coffee, sandwiches, piadina ecc.). It is a shop that sells Italian food and wine. They have an impressive selection of Italian cold meats, cheeses, wines, spirits, pasta, oil, ice-creams and Italian products in general. Believe me, even in Italy it's not easy to find a shop that sells so many different products all together. And all products have an excellent quality and a normal price (for Thailand). I am a pretty good cook but I have always had problems to find some of the ingredients I was looking for, here in Thailand. I used to shop at Villa, which for me had the best selection of Italian products so far (better than Foodland). Now this place has a much bigger selection than Villa and more or less the same prices. I spoke with one of the owners of the place (who are Italians) and he told me that they can afford to have such a huge choice of products because they are suppliers for restaurants and hotels. They decided to open a shop where they sell the same products as retail sale to normal people. Now this shop really made my day. So at the end I didn't try La Merenda but I highly reccomend Eataly if your looking for genuine Italian products.

The place strikes me as a litttle odd. While they have a good selection of wine and an interesting but limited selection of cheese, i coudn't figure out why they were sellingNutella sandwhich spread!(Why not sell kraft dinner while you're at it?) And the cakes sold by the piece were the same second-rate stuff sold in many coffee shops around Pattaya. I guess they cater to the low standards of the local market....