WinnieTheKhwai

Won't stay that way, it'll get even better real soon.

LOL.. funniest frankly are some of the replies here.. Other than that, I'm a big fan of Clarkson and try to find every last scrap of Top Gear vids on the Internet. In fairness though, the has written funnier columns than this one. And what a huge opportunity missed to make fun of expats in SE Asia..

Showing my age here, but I miss the old Bar Beer Center when it was the best bar place in town..

(Or at least it was in my memories; objectively speaking it probably wasn't any better than the bar center with the boxing ring on Loi Kroh is today)

I have very good experiences with Neramit also. Would use him again. (k. Wirat I believe)

LOL.. Sassienle embarrasses himself once again.

Anyway, I'd focus on quality first; prices tend to be in the general ballpark no matter what, and related more to the price of the fabrics than anything else, least of which the geographical location.

Seems just about all clubs are in the Central region though..?

On the plus side, this is another great excuse to visit the Pattaya area.

Yeah, though they do say stuff like:

" For conservation reasons please do not kill these animals, but catch them and free them in the wild. "

When talking about these guys:

That's just nuts.. Kill on sight.

[ http://www.siam-info.de/english/centipedes.html ]

I think it was pretty obvious all along that the EC (and constitutional court for that matter) are corrupt? (Well, depending on one's definition on 'corrupt' perhaps 'not independent' or 'managed' would be better)

Plus.. give it up..

Khaoniaw:

I was discussing Giles and his flight with a very earnest Brit at work, all for Giles and his fight for democracy, but who thought I was blackening the man's name by suggesting he was a Marxist! I shouldn't believe all that his enemies say about him!

Well, that's beside the issue too. He CAN be a Marxist for all I care. In a democracy you should be alowed to voice views that some people may find Marxist, never mind if they are or not.

Clearly this political and academic freedom currently does not exist in Thailand. What makes it especially sad is that it isn't even necessary; this isn't a country that has to fear for a big revolution.

Thats GREAT to hear!! I was on the NCA website yesterday and indeed noticed an additional Chiang Mai - Rayong bus route, via the Tak route!! I presume that was the one you took. (Ther other one drives the old road 11 and stops everywhere).

So that's very good news.. 12 hours is pretty acceptable.. Going via Bangkok you wouldn't be much quicker I think (if at all).

BTW, driving myself it takes 8-9 hours.

So, makes some excellent points? Not really. Pretty hazy, confused points mostly.

How about the ones you ignored?

1. The Thai Rak Thai were voted into office and Thaksin was the ranking man within that party. He went to New York in Sept 2006 and the army took over. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't want to come back with a renegade army obviously running the country either.

The army was not and is not and has not been in the past 60 years or so been 'renegade'. They are very much obeying orders, just not from the political system. [Refer to General Prem's speech on who owns the horse and who may get to take it for a ride for a couple laps]

Many of the anti-Thaksin mob will actually argue that's a good thing. (A valid point of view that I can respect, whilst not agreeing with it)

2. So then, the court in his absence finds him guilty of corruption. I don't know too many people who would go back home and face a deck so obviously stacked against them, unless they are total fools.

Chances are he'll be back at some point in the future, looking at Thailand's history: every time polticians were ousted by the military they eventually came back to power/politics.

3. Not only that, when elections were held, the Thaksin-supporting People Power party (PPP) was the clear winner, and, once again, the elected government was forced out of office by the People's Alliance for Democracy, this time with the army looking the other way.

Well actually that was the courts. 'Same same' possibly, but hey.

I'm confused. Who assaulted who?

Everyone suddenly got real quiet about the weather and visibility..

What an awesome day yesterday, and this morning.. And that for March!!

OP hasn't been back..

He got quite a few of you guys so credit where credit is due.

I think we're getting distracted. The original poster was not at all posting/asking about commercial sex, just relating on how a night our went. If anything he seemed (overly) focussed on 'good' girls. Most respondents however are running off in the usual direction.

I think the best course of action is to go look around. First visit a real estate site but NOT to find a good rent because most of them tend to be over-priced, but it WILL give you a good idea of the typical standard of houses. Of course it needs to be a site that doesn't play childish games about the location of houses, so something like www.jasminehomes.co.th. Search both rentals and 'for sale' houses because you're just looking to identify areas, not commit to renting something.

Now, you obviously want a higher-end / better standard area in with that budget. For many housing developments it's immediately obvious that they're crap.. Tiny houses, no space, few facilities..

So typically what I would want when spending 20-25K is:

1. SPACE! The house needs to be on AT LEAST 100 square wa (tarang wa), preferably more, like double that. Avoid the places where the houses are so close together that the roofs pretty much touch. (Sadly that includes most)

2. Size and quality of the house.. 4 bedrooms at least on the budget, preferably 5 and including a maid room / maid bathroom, an office room, etc.

Ok so with those two things in mind you can identify some housing developments that have houses in that range. The remaining issue of importance relate to the specific house that you're looking at, you know, the usual:

A. Overall state off the house; watch for signs of leaking roofs, termite damage etc.

B. 'Stuff' provided such as furniture, air conditioners etc. (Not a deal breaker because furniture is not expensive, but you'd expect the rent to be lower for an unfurnished house with no air conditioners.)

C. Sewer/drainage, electricity (turn everything on and see if something goes 'boom'), water pressure/water cleanliness

D. Neighbours.. If they're Chinese Shitzu Breeders then look elsewhere.

E. Estate facilities.. A well kept pool is nice.. (Security is crap no matter where with very few exceptions. )

F. Flooding : Ask the neighbours when was the last time the area flooded. (Preferred answer: Never ever)

G.. probably more.

Of course don't try to arrange this from back home in Europe, do something temporary and then select a nice house. Shouldn't be hard with that budget. Oh and finally, when paying that kind of money it needs to be VERY clear that you expect prompt maintenance from the renter when stuff breaks. You don't pay or arrange for anything; if as much as the toilet is clogged then you call the renter and he should get people to go fix it. And of course the deposit should be reasonable; a deposit should depend on the value of the movable 'stuff' in the house and not be over the top. One or two months rent in advance is reasonable, though often renters ask for more. (meaning they'd have a choice to make....!)

I agree with Ulysses that Trink often recommended condom use, and every single time he'd mention that that would be to prevent pregnancy and STDs but not Aids.

HOWEVER, that's no excuse to promote his own oddball medical theories over and over again ad vomitum, especially at times that people were dying left right and center from Aids. Along with all the other regurgitated crap that reliably found its way into his page/column. Stupid Burma Shave rhymes, stupid jokes, stupid 'oxymorons', stupid whining on whatever is out of stock at Foodland, stupid acronyms immediately followed by the acronym spelled out every single time thus making the acronym completely useless..

God I miss it.

( By the way, did we actually go 6 pages without the word demimondaines? )

go down to the beach at sattahip ,you pay a toll to the army ...

Navy.

Yes, karaoke sucks big time. Are there any other clubs in the area that have "good" girls?

Let me respond with a few things, and at the same time get this topic back on the rails again after some appalling snide comments aimed at Eek for absolutely no reason.

Firstly: No. If they were good girls they wouldn't be in clubs late at night hanging out with drunk Farangs.

Secondly: You're too over-focussed on finding 'good' / 'wholesome' girls. That's a concept in your mind but has no bearing whatsoever on how much fun you'll have on any given night out. Don't mix up short-term fun with long-term goals. So that means to not confuse going out, getting drunk and having fun with any kind of longer term agenda of finding a 'good' girl.

Thirdly: If you must know, finding a 'good' girl is best done on-line. NOTE to the dyslexic: This statement is NOT the same as saying that all or even most girls you'd find on any given site online are therefore 'good'. But stick to mainstream social networking and community portal sites, preferably Thai ones, and chances are you'll come up with some interesting dates at least.

Fourth: You can do the second and third one concurrenlty; pursue some dating with regular Thai people while still doing your thing at night.

Fifth: I do like the small non-fancy karaoke shacks.. But also there I ask about pricing on everything and keep a check on things. I mostly find prices reasonable, but perhaps that's just a result of visiting the lo-so ones. The fancy ones such as those on Chiang Mai land charge a bundle for everything and get expensive quickly. Also they're less fun. As for your bill, they ordered a bottle of whisky and lots of food.. Whisky is 1500 baht easily, so could be the food, add mixers and drinks and you're already at 3500-4000 at least. Yes that's expensive but not uncommon. Possibly those girls even worked at the Karaoke before going to Spicy and then deciding on making some money, so assuming those girls were on the meter then that adds a couple hundred baht each as well and he presto, you're at 5000. It's in the ballpark for those kind of karaokes. Just say no next time.

Yes, both Bake and Bite locations have the best crisp BLT sandwich, pancakes with real bacon pieces and maple-ish syrup, even a turkey sandwich with cranberry inside.

Could someone supply directions to the one on Nimmanhamin? Pretty close to where I work at the uni and sounds like a good lunch or breakfast stop.

It's in a soi leading up to that huge parking lot area in between Nimmanhaemin and the Canal Road. See the link below, it's probably Soi 6, or the one just south from it:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=18....mp;t=h&z=18

Good idea. Maybe I'll go for a drive instead.

Seriously though, I don't see how this would make any kind of point.. Obviously you'd want people to reduce how much energy they consume. All my lights are the low energy ones, I manage 17 km/l in my truck and don't use air conditioning almost the entire year. I compost just about anything remotely organic and generally try to respect the environment and nature. Clearly that's the way forward, along with using more renewable energy sources. Turning the lights off for one hour and then going back to turning the aircon and everythign else on again is a bit silly.

Then again there's no Premier League this Saturday so they did pick a good day for it.

I have a feeling that not many Thai Visa moderators will be there!

Youthink?

(I even notice a "The Nation" logo with the Thaivisa logo now, so that should give people an idea from where the wind is blowing politically.)

Would that be Nakhon Chai Air? Their terminal is just behind Arcade. (Same entrance as Arcade, but different building)

(Couldn't find that route on their website though... But did learn they now offer a Chiang Mai - Rayong (and Pattaya, presumably) bus that takes the Tak route.. So that's faster than the other one that stops everywhere. )

PB, that's an insinuating post, seemingly intended to incite a flame. I will not respond to that. Clearly there were (and are) thugs on both sides, and nobody on this forum including Koo has any way of knowing which individuals (thugs or genuinely concerned people) will be in what rally.

You also seem to think that all Reds have an anti-gay or even right-wing agenda though obviously some might.. Like the yellow camp, it's not a homogeneous group. Currently the only thing that unites them is that they don't like the way the Dems and establishment cheated their way to power. Perhaps Koo can comment on that.

Either way the questions in your post insinuate that Koo knows who those thugs are, and even if they will join that rally. It's a pointless question from which no good can come other than flames. I would expect better, to guide a discussion in a balanced and respectful way.

I've found it fastest and easiest to go:

Chiangmai, Nakhon Sawan, Chainat, Suphan Buri, U-Thong, Kampaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom, Petchburi, Hua Hin

There is a short stretch near Kampang Saen which is not 4 lane highway yet.

Ditto. Done it many times and going way around BKK via Chainat makes the trip much easier.

JXXXL, what's your best journey time using this route?

It's possible.. I plugged that route into Google Maps and in kilometers it's nearly the same:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source....481445&z=7

(slightly more but not significant). I guess it would depend on the time you drive in the Bangkok area, you could lose time there if that's rush hour (or any time during the day really)

Last weekend I drove to Chiang Mai from Pattaya which is a very similar distance; took me 9 hours total. I think 8 or 8.5 hours is possible driving mostly 120 km/h. Between Tak and here I couldn't drive that because of rain (and night).