jesimps

10% unless I'm not pleased with the service, or if there's a service charge. 

First 13 years.

Second 17 years.

This one 16 years (so far).

You can't say I don't make the effort.

My preferred mode of travel between Pattaya and Bangkok is car to Suvarnabhumi. Park up and take sky train into city. More expensive than big bus, but gives me more flexibility. On no account will I use a minibus or taxi.

On 8/13/2023 at 11:15 AM, Lemsta69 said:

Why not, they do the job?

Yes, but it's often a white-knuckle ride. Taxis too. I refuse to travel in either on an inter city trip.

On 8/13/2023 at 1:10 PM, JeffersLos said:

No matter how long and hard I pump away for, I just cannot spurt properly.

 

I've had her for 2 or 3 years and at the start I was spurting 3 times a day, endless amounts. Now it is barely a dribble. Push deep inside, pump endlessly, it doesn't make a difference.

 

 

 

Is there a way to clean out her plumbing, so I can happily spurt away again in full quantities? 

 

 

I thought you were talking about peeing in the wee small hours.

3 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

People too ready to jump on the bash Thailand wagon.

If something's running well, we tend not to comment. It's actually boring if you do. Bashing somewhere or something gets far more response. Being that most of us live here, it's obvious that Thailand is going to take a lot of bashing. Doesn't mean that we wouldn't rather live here than anywhere else. I tend to bash my own country of the UK far more, because I genuinely think it's going down the nick and I've no desire to live there ever again.

23 hours ago, pomchop said:

Try and imagine the "food chain" that participates in the big $$ that is paid to agents to provide false bank books showing people have 800 k baht which they never had....lots of people pay these agents around $1000-1500 usd for this service.  That is a lot of $$....so then the fake bank balance is shown to an immigration clerk who no doubt knows all the agents and knows it is BS so I guess she gets a small percent of the "fee" ...and then her boss gets a little bit more and on up the chain to who knows who but it  is likely the one driving a Mercedes and wearing a rolex at the top of the chain....all appears to be done pretty openly and you would have to be blind and dumb not to see it if you spend a few hours around immigration watching the agents as well as all sorts of farangs openly bragging about how they paid to get around the rules...and i do also think that some of the clerks may just be inclined to make it a bit more difficult/discouraging for people who do not use the agents  and attempt to do it on their own by the rules to have all their various papers in order as if it were easy then the chain doesn't get fed as much.

Seems to be the case with the dragon lady on counter #6 Jomtien. She appears to get more awkward and miserable as the years go by. My missus hates her because she's as nasty to Thais as she is to farang. I think she just hates the world. Either that or she has a huge boil on her rectum. I know the job must be soul-destroying, but she could at least pretend to be pleasant. After all, without us applicants for visas, she'd probably be driving a buffalo on her parents farm, or shouting "Hello hansum man" outside some girly bar. 

7 hours ago, jvs said:

Very well done by the Police,de escalate!

No need to create more violence!

No one really got hurt and the two other officers were just standing by just

in case it got out of hand!

I know some people want to use tasers but why?

So happy we are not in the USA here.

The undisciplined voice of the left.

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

The owner isn't using the airconditioner so why should he pay for the maintenance?

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

The owner isn't using the airconditioner so why should he pay for the maintenance?

A classic NanLaew reply.

The missus and I walked along Jomtien Beach prom yesterday evening with friends and it was very crowded and noisy. All the noise was coming from pick-ups parked alongside the pavement blasting out bass-heavy "music". The occupants were sat across the pavement from their vehicles getting tanked up, dancing etc. All young Thais, male and female. We ate at a restaurant on Beach Road road, but it was difficult to hear yourself think. 

I used to live at a condo across from the beach, but moved out when I saw the writing on the wall some 14 years back. It was getting noisy even then, but nothing like it is now.

The police could make a start by clamping down on all the pick-ups with the souped-up music systems, they aren't hard to find!

I might add that all the farang were behaving themselves and had nothing to do with the noise production. Like Thais everywhere, even away from the beach areas, they just have no thought of playing music with the bass turned down.

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

And fighting over a girl hardly seems necessary here, one does not lose the girl, only one's turn. 

Maybe she was going cheap and they were fighting like two women at a Harrods sale.

The odd whisky or six late at night guarantees that I normally have trouble staying awake, not sleeping. However, I don't go to bed if someone in the area is playing bass-heavy music or dogs are barking persistently, two things I can count on to stop me nodding off.

5 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

These the two mouthy <deleted> I heard about giving it large to the bouncers and got a touch up ?

 

They deserved it.

No they didn't. As far as I can see by the vid the father started it, but that's no excuse for the unprofessional and animalistic behaviour of the bouncers. As someone mentioned, it's lucky the older guy wasn't killed by one of those kicks to the head. The old guy is probably three times the age of any of those thugs, I thought locals were supposed to have great respect for their elders. I suppose that only applies if the old guy is Thai. 

11 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Forget increasing financial limits that won't help at all, do a criminal record check instead

Problem is, it'd probably be up to us to produce one from our home country, which would mean yet another piece of paper to hand to immigration. I don't have a clue how to go about it. Would it involve the good old British Embassy? I'm sure they'd be very helpful.

In my 17 years of living in the Pattaya area I've never seen any major violence here, much less been involved in it. In the last town where I lived in the UK on a weekend, it was like walking through Beirut during the troubles. Violence of some description guaranteed, you could smell it in the air. During my early years here I spent a lot of time in the city centre, most times until the early hours, but always felt perfectly safe. However, in a place with a high number of different nationalities, you're bound to get the odd incident. 
When something does kick off, it always gets a big splash in the media providing fuel for the Pattaya-haters to wade in with their twopenneth.  

22 hours ago, novacova said:

Eat buffalo, it’s cheaper and lasts longer in the mouth ????

Ate buffalo occasionally during my 4 years in India. Quickly got fed up with the taste and texture. 

Cheek!

6 hours ago, bbko said:

Just wait for the typical AN posters to put a negative spin on this.

Here we go. I won't be going anywhere near Pattaya City or the beach areas until next Thursday at the earliest. I've got my booze in and any small items I'll get from the local 7/11s. The only thing I won't be able to avoid is the locals playing their loud bass-heavy music, which happens during every public holiday break. 

On 7/27/2023 at 4:14 PM, CharlieKo said:

If you read my first comment after your OP. I stated that I use a UK address. That fact that I don't live at that address and never have seems to be irrelevant to the bank. 

Me too, but it seems a shame that expats who don't have family or friends in the UK whose address they can use are beggared. In my opinion, everyone with a UK passport and pays tax to the UK should be entitled to a bank account. I've never had enough cash in the bank to go into the ins and outs of money laundering, so I'm willing to conceded that that could be a somewhat naive view.

10 hours ago, lordgrinz said:

You mean pro-vote buying.

That happens across the board and isn't unique to one party.