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HRW report slams junta over continuing ‘repression’
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14
Authorities Raid Pattaya Club: Foreigners & Thai Women Found Partying with Alcohol & Drugs
Foreigners & Thai Women Found Partying with Alcohol & Drugs How can you have a party without? -
197
BREAKING NEWS Second Assassination Attempt-Secret Service get Trump to safety
Your Leninist lot is. Bet you would be the first to cheer with your Islamofascist allies. -
8,357
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197
BREAKING NEWS Second Assassination Attempt-Secret Service get Trump to safety
No worries because it won't. He just doesn't know it yet -
197
BREAKING NEWS Second Assassination Attempt-Secret Service get Trump to safety
Maybe, that would be cool. The Swiss and Israelis give practice ammo. All these wars make ammo expensive. Try buying a box of .455 Webley or 9mm Glisenti -
104
Poll: Do you want Ukraine to WIN in the Russia-Ukraine war (it's a binary choice)
In a nutshell Russia is now getting attacked daily, a chunk of its territory invaded, oil refineries destroyed, Black Sea fleet gone, conservative numbers of 1/2 million dead troops, shunned by most of the civilized world, wealth fund severely depleted, interest rates 19%, overseas funds frozen, millionaires yachts impounded. Yeah, Putin! and Russia has lost already He should be begging for peace terms -
10
Tests for Heart, High blood pressure issues
Not that I'm aware of. I was drinking a few whiskys at home each night and out to pub once a week. About 10+ yrs ago I was told post scan that at the beginnings of fatty liver. I'm now down to drink a one whiskey at night twice a week and out to the pub once a week for 4-5 bottles of beer. -
197
BREAKING NEWS Second Assassination Attempt-Secret Service get Trump to safety
Not concerned at all, more pity really. -
30
Illegal Work: Russian Employer and Russian Electrician Arrested
It has happened, there was a case years ago down here, a farang was advertising his wife business on his truck, he got pulled up about it, because it made the news, but I dont know what happened after that -
5
Pattaya’s raunchy nightlife is still expanding
Long read - don't bother. Basically, it's not "gentrification" and it's not the "diversity" mentioned in the article which seems to have been written by someone who has no clue where Walking Street even is, let alone who all the people going there are or what they look like. Stop reading here. "gentrification" ? Which bars and go-gos have been replaced by "posh" buildings ? Is he referring to all those "BB Gun Arcades" that have sprung up on Walking Street ? Which are just another soon to be forgotten fad. Like the "laser pointer" fad. The "6 inch (or higher) platform shoes" fad. The "poofy big hair" fad. Certainly not "posh". Nor are the Indian clubs "posh". "diversification" has nothing to do with people bringing their wives and kids to Pattaya on vacation. People have been doing that forever ! I've been visiting/living here for over 30 years now and there have always been "families" strolling along Walking Street - at night and in the day. For Freddy's Sake - does this guy even know where Walking Street is ? "Diversification" has to do with the demographics of the people spending the most time on Walking Street, not their "family status". Walking Street used to be 95-98% "caucasian" (mostly men, some women, a few families now and then). Once in a blue moon you'd see the occasional Indian or "African" (outside of the Cobra Gold time when the US Navy would descend on Pattaya in droves). And those mostly "caucasian" tourists would spend like the drunken sailors, oil workers, retirees, and horny "mid-life crisis" men that most of them were. And THAT was when Pattaya was rolling in the dough. THAT is when mega-projects like Bali Hai and Central Festival and numerous other big ticket projects were planned and financed. THAT is when hotels, restaurants and bars were making big money and so were their staff. And THEY would spend their money in the salons and gold shops and motorcycle shops as well as the "local" clubs (karaokes and Thai nightclubs) and restaurants. It's called the "trickle down" effect. I knew one Harley club that had about 40 guys in it. All of them were business owners. I was making "war zone money" in Afghanistan and I was literally one of the poorest in the group. But then the gov't decided to try and change Pattaya's image. They stopped encouraging "caucasian" tourism and started promoting tourism in places like India and China, thinking that larger numbers of lower spending tourists would offset the loss of income from the "causasian" demographic. Between 2004-2010, you rarely ever saw "Chinese" tour groups on Walking Street. They were such a rarity that people would stop and stare. You could sit on the street for a week and be able to count the number of Indians you saw (not including at the tailor shops) on your fingers. The only "Africans" (for the most part) were the small groups of "large, angry looking" Nigerian "ladies" that would patrol up and down the street looking for customers. (I had the impression they didn't get a warm welcome in most of the bars at the time.) But then that changed. Suddenly, over the next couple of years (basically from 2011 on), you saw fewer and fewer caucasian faces on the street and more and more Indians and "Chinese tour groups". And businesses were suffering ! I knew a number of business owners down there (bars, restaurants, go-gos) and they all said the same thing. The Street was full of people, but none of them were spending anything. They weren't going into the bars or go-gos (except a few "pre-paid" tour groups here and there) or restaurants (except for a few "pre-paid" tour groups). I'd sit in a beer bar talking to the owner and looking around. Walking Street was full of people but there were barely half a dozen people drinking in the bar - and a couple playing pool. Everyone on the street were just slowly strolling along, sneaking peeks at the "naughty" places and then off they'd go to somewhere else. It was so bad, most of the members of that motorcycle club ended up selling their Harleys. (The luxury items are always the first to go when the money gets tight.) Some had to close/sell their businesses for lack of customers. And THAT was when a lot of projects around Pattaya went bankrupt and were abandoned. Because the "money" dried up and very few of those "new demographics" were buying condos/houses/businesses/cars and so on. And that ended the "trickle down effect". If the businesses aren't making money, the staff aren't making money. And if the staff aren't making money, they aren't spending it in all the "local" businesses. And it was telling. Look at the customers in the bars, the restaurants, the shopping malls. What do you see (still) ? Mostly "caucasian" men, often with their Thai "spouse". Aside from certain select establishments (like Baccara or the Indian clubs) you didn't (and still don't) see very many Indians or Chinese in bars, restaurants, shopping malls, car/motorcycle shops, gold shops (etc, etc). THAT is the "diversification" that has been causing the changes in Pattaya and areas like Walking Street. NOT a few families with kids. (Sheesh, it used to be funny sitting in a bar and some guy would come in with his kid. He'd sit and have a beer and all the staff would be fawning over the kid and bringing (him/her) treats and doting on them while dad checked out "the market" (or just enjoyed a semi-quiet drink alone). (Most of the girls had kids of their own of course "back home in the village" and they missed them so when someone would go into a bar with a kid the girls would smother them with attention.) And it's a hoot that despite the gov'ts best efforts - they STILL haven't been able to change Pattaya's image ! Despite the masses of low/no spending "diverse" tourists, there are still whacks of bars and go-gos around the city making money from the expats and the "caucasian" tourists that haven't found out that Pattaya's "image" has changed. (If they really wanted change, they would have bulldozed Walking Street during the Covid crisis when almost all the businesses there were closed. Especially the "illegal" ones on the "water" side of the street. And they could have introduced legislation to regulate the bars and go-gos to the point it wouldn't be worth trying to keep them open anymore. But there's a problem. Those places are still making too much money and the people making that money have no interest in seeing Pattaya's image change (too much). And they wield a lot of influence. -
30
Texas Chicken Bids Farewell to Thailand
They didn't last long, not even 9 years. Never bothered sampling. Supposed to be one of the best (Church's Chicken) in the USA. -
197
BREAKING NEWS Second Assassination Attempt-Secret Service get Trump to safety
The guy who did take a shot at Trump was a Republican, this latest gun nut says he voted for Trump in 2016. So who is it trying to kill Trump? -
197
BREAKING NEWS Second Assassination Attempt-Secret Service get Trump to safety
Well when Im in the States I sure do LOL, what a bore. Im glad you are concerned about me, but if I have a choice of life lessons between you and an ad in a 40 year sticky copy of Boobies Magazine I guess it wont matter which one I choose. -
2
Illegal Migrant Accused of Horrific Murder of New York Family
Trumps comments regarding immigrants are sometimes 'over the top ' However some observations of his are confirmed by tragic cases like this. -
30
Texas Chicken Bids Farewell to Thailand
That's too bad. Not my experience here. Especially compared to grease bomb KFC.
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