eyebee

"falong" = an addition to my Thaivisa collection:

farang

falang

farlang

farung

farlung

falung

furung

p.s. any kind soul willing to add to my collection? perhaps furlong? farunk? farong? fallang?

Noting your avatar Naam - how about Ferengi?

The Philippines! That's where I'm going...

Here, from Wikipedia is a list of the most widely spoken languages in the world by native speakers (spoken as a first, second or foreign language, however, pushes English way into first place with up to 1.8 billion speakers).

Mandarin 845 million

Spanish 329 million

English 328 million

Hindi-Urdu 240 million

Arabic 206 million

Bengali 181 million

Portuguese 178 million

Russian 144 million

Japanese 122 million

Punjabi 109 million

Just for information...

My mother used to work in the Deed Poll office in the Royal Courts of Justice in London many years ago. One of her favourite changes of name was a chap called "Ping Ying Ten" who changed his name to "Kwik Kwan Kwok"! <deleted>! She also told me that the most common name change was from "Balls" to "Ball"....

Lots of barber shops in the old Hollywood soi near Tukcom. Just look for the archway over the soi on Pattaya Tai, between Tukcom and the smelly market. Cost for a shave is around 70 baht, I think.

Or Aeon ATMs (usually found in shopping malls).

head to 3rd road south pattaya road junction, turn left towards sukumvit about 50m on the right just past CAT Tele there's a soi (forget name) about 20m in on the left you have the Gold shop, best rates I have found yet in Pattaya for converting cash

The soi is called soi Rungland, and the Gold Shop is opposite the OK Corral bar.

Another good place to exchange cash, and which is much more convenient to get to, is the TT Exchange on Beach Road just a few metres before the entrance to Walking Street. They have a big yellow sign and their rates are much more competitive than the major banks. They have a few other branches around town, too. However, I think they only take cash.

There is a shop on Walking Street that does this (it's by the alley that leads to New Living Dolls 1). The airfares are $50 or €50 from your home to Thailand. The catch is that you have to stay at a designated hotel at 37 ($ or €) per night, which seems very expensive to me. You can see the full rules if you look inside the shop.

I live in soi 1, Beach Road, and often take a baht bus towards Walking Street. 90% of the time the bus goes all the way, but occasionally they turn off at Pattaya Klang. If this happens, I ring the bell get out and pay the driver 5 baht. I specifically say "haa baht" to him or her. I've never had a problem with this as they know they've deviated off the route, and I guess 5 baht is better than nothing. I also hope it makes them realise that they've lost some money by doing this (a vain hope I know).

Le Katai restaurant in soi Lengkee (straight across soi Buakhaow from soi Diana), has specials each day of the week. On Thursdays it is sirloin steak with baked potato and salad. The steak is very well cooked to your liking and is a fair portion. The cost? 129 baht! And a glass of wine costs 60 baht. Unbeatable. On Tuesdays it is rib-eye, but I haven't tried that.

They have enforced that idiotic 2-5 law pretty religiously here in Bangkok since its inception, which has ensured that I stayed home more and saved money. Now they have made Jatujak Market a no alcohol zone, which is simply retarded, and once again I stay home and save money. I have never seen anyone raving drunk anywhere in Bangkok between the hours of 2-5 (and I do get around, well I USED to until I couldn't drink in those hours any more) ) even once in ten years so I just don't get what the problem is- its probably all the work of some hypocritical fossil of a politician who pushes through a backwards, meaningless law that inconveniences a lot of people and hurts a lot of businesses just so he can play the highly moral fellow to his wife's majhong club.

The law was actually passed in 1972, by the Revolutionary Council (an unelected junta who had participated in one of the many coups) to prevent trouble during their rule. It was unenforced for many years until Thaksin found it had never been revoked, so imposed it supposedly to prevent youths from buying alcohol. The law was stupid then, and is stupid now.

Also, in the UK , it is up to each local authority to decide when pubs can open and when they should close. Perhaps something similar could happen in Thailand?

BAT cigarettes (Benson & Hedges, Dunhill, London) have not been available in Thailand for some time now. Only Philip Morris (Marlboro, L&M, etc) are available. This is however reversed in duty free at the airport - Philip Morris not available, but BAT are! BAT cigarettes are made in Singapore and Philip Morris in The Philippines. Go figure...

There is also a quiz night every Tuesday at 8pm at Shenanigan's in Jomtien (right by the archway). It's a very good quiz, with lots of prizes on offer. I'll also PM you with the details of the quiz league.

There's also one at the Sportsman on soi 13, Pattaya, every Thursday at 9pm. Another very good quiz.

Edit: I can't seem to PM you (there's some sort of internal error), so please email me on quizpattaya[at]hotmail.com. Change the [at] to an @.

Markland, on the corner of Beach Road and soi 1 often has studio condos for around 15,000. Great sea views as well. You might be able to bargain down to 12,000 for a long stay.

Unfortunate, we are unable to give you the exact information regarding to attend the test in the UK whilst she is in the UK.

And this piece of ungrammatical nonsense comes from an agency supposed to test a person's level of competency in the English language???

If you have Sophon cable, Pattaya People TV (channel 11 on my set) is in English 24 hours a day. Alternatively there is Pattaya Mail TV (on channel 2) about 4 times a day, Pattaya One TV (channels 27 and 40) on 4 times a day, and Sawadee TV (channel 27) a couple of times a day. They are all in English and present news and views from around Pattaya. But they have LOADS of adverts that are very amateurish (as are the programs) and never change.

I got mine done at the photo shop at the corner of soi 6 and Beach Road. A bit of a haphazard operation, but the photos were quite acceptable. The large photo shop on 2nd Road opposite soi 7 is supposed to be quite good, too.

A fast-food lunch at a traditional cost you about $ 1.

Interesting....

LaoPo

At a restaurant in soi 15 in Pattaya you can get khao man gai plus a bowl of chicken soup for 30 baht - that's about a dollar. Noodle soup costs about the same also.

I like Somsakdi's in soi 1, good atmosphere and a huge menu at reasonable prices. Also the pub (forget its name) in soi 2 opposite the Honey Pot, does pretty good Thai food, and has live entertainment.

Here's a picture of the village sign (which should get round the board's censorship software):

Darkie Toothpaste had to change its name to Darlie because of complaints, but it still sports the same image:

However the picture of the guy has been softened considerably.

Many of the places you mention are not in Soi Bua Khao at all. Nevertheless, with your post you confirm that the area appears to cater for a certain demographic. Perhaps it is this that some people choose to avoid.

Sure, maybe they aren't on soi Buakhaow itself, but I see soi Buakhaow as an area not just the street. Soi Chayapoon, soi Lengkee and LK Metro are as much part of Buakhaow as the street itself. And I don't see how my examples point to a "certain demographic", everyone needs to eat and sleep and some people like to read, others do not.

I like soi Buakhaow! There I've said it. I'm British, but no chav, have enough income to last me here and live in a nice beach-side condo (all paid for). However I do like to go to soi Buakhaow from time to time for the variety of very good and reasonably priced restaurants. 18 Coins, as already mentioned, has incredible specials every day. The other day I had chicken casserole with heaps of mashed potatoes and peas for the exorbitant price of 99 baht! Canterbury Tales has one of the best breakfasts in town, and there's also Neeroys and Chow Soy (?) for good Indian and Chinese food, plus the Jolly Friar and Juice. There also used to be the best Italian restaurant in town in soi X-Zyte, but that has gone downhill now.

In the area you also have the Bowling Green, home to the Lawn Bowls League, and the Bridge Club. I also enjoy Oasis, Champagne, Baby Boom and The Office (well, who wouldn't?). Other good things include Canterbury Tales bookshop, various sexy clothing shops, a multitude of reasonably priced hotels (Areca Lodge could in no way be called downmarket) and Crazy Dave's!

Sure it's a dangerous road for traffic, but that adds a bit of spice to life.

Even worse though are native English speakers who can't spell properly or make basic grammatical mistakes. For instance there is a restaurant in Pattaya (that shall remain nameless) run by a native English speaker who wrote the menus. According to the menu you can have "Sausage's Chip's and Pea's"...