Thai gov. to tax (remitted) income from abroad for tax residents starting 2024 - Part II

[PattayaOneTeam]

Nightmarch

An eventful month: The Diamond go-go (Soi Diamond) will be celebrating its 11th anniversary with a party on Tuesday night 19 October. In what they obviously hope will be good month, the anniversary bash will be followed by a Full Moon party on Saturday night the 23rd, then a Lingerie Fashion Show on Wednesday 27th, which will feature a number of Bangkok models parading the kind of gear designed to be worn to bed, but not meant to remain in situ much past 30 seconds later, and end with a Halloween event on Sunday 31st. Diamond remains somewhat of an enigma in the go-go ranks in the sense that it has survived 11 years, prospering at times, while at others it has looked down in the mouth.

Even now it can be as quiet as an undermanned mortuary one hour and be party central the next. One thing is for certain, that on each of the aforementioned nights the place will be busier than a Saturday night hooker in a one-horse town on payday at some point during the evening. The later in the night, the better the vibe Diamond seems to have, and when the place is in party mode there aren’t many better joints in town.

A Saintly win, prayed for in Heaven: He had to wait 31 years to celebrate, but I’m sure Greg Clee, one of the driving forces behind the successful and popular Heaven Above go-go in Soi Diamond, did it in style after his rugby league team St George-Illawarra took out the Australian premiership in early October. Nicknamed the Dragons, Greg’s team was two points behind their rivals the Eastern Suburbs Roosters at half time but finished too strongly to win easily by 32-8, for the first time since 1979. I have no doubt Greg and his mates partied long and hard into the night after the deserved win.

Guilt by association: While Walking Street easily dominates as the number one nightlife attraction for foreign visitors, Soi Buakhow (known by some wags for many years as ‘the English Patient’; after the movie of the same name) is probably the premier region for long-term expats and regular visitors. As Soi Diamond is to Walking Street so, arguably, is Soi LK Metro to Soi Buakhow. Carved out in a dogleg alongside Soi Buakhow and with an entrance off Soi Diana Inn, Soi LK Metro has an eclectic collection of booze-flogging establishments as well as sleeping palaces and nosheries.

According to an email I received a day after the first edition of Pattaya One hit the streets, the business owners in the soi have created a Soi LK Metro Association, obviously to promote the area to locals and tourists alike. A great idea and I sincerely hope it works well, although I suspect mutual jealousies, rivalries and the United Nations syndrome will hinder progress over the longer term.

A new logo and LED screen signage is to be installed at both the Soi Buakhow and Soi Diana Inn entrances. A website is being created which is designed to provide information about the various businesses in the soi and offer special promotions.

The soi already hosts the very successful Champagne go-go and the newer The Office and a third den of chrome pole molesters is set to open on the site of the former Blue Moon boozer. If the latter pair can achieve success, and with the very popular Club Oasis a mere wet g-string’s throw away in Soi Buakhow, then the area will attract even greater numbers of punters, especially those who like to look at ladies cavorting around chrome poles.

No more Cardinal Sins: I don’t really think there are many people who would express surprise at the closure of the Club Sin City go-go in the Covent Garden Complex. In a previous column for another publication I began with the following: ‘No confession is enough to save these Sins: I knew it was going to be an ordinary experience when the Thai manager collared us outside the entrance to Sin City (opposite Club Boesche). Dressed in garb that made him look like a cross between Wyatt Earp and Annie Oakley and not much taller than the hood ornament on a Cadillac, he guided us into the den. It was all ownhill after that…Sadly, the place is let down by the number of chrome pole molesters for whom a McDonald’s Big Breakfast and a Diet Coke have probably replaced a bowl of noodles as their main meal of the day.’

Obviously enough punters felt the same way and Sin City closed down towards the end of September. This is yet another location that is turning into a Fun Town entertainment ‘black hole’. In the short life of the Covent Garden set of boozers, it has had four incarnations already. After starting as Babewatch it then became Taboo followed by Black and White and finally, Club Sin City. ‘Club’ is about right, because the joint has been well and truly ‘clubbed’ out of existence. There’s no real reason why the place couldn’t succeed, but it does need someone or a group of people with some money and talent to turn the joint into a profitable enterprise. I know a bloke who dresses like Wyatt Earp who’s looking for a job.

In the Doghouse: Surviving in the bar scene in Fun Town is no easy matter but in November this year ‘Scootish’ Dave will celebrate 13 years in charge of The Kennel beer boozer. Perhaps not surprisingly, after such a long time at the helm, he’s looking either for a partner to take a stake in the joint and give him some free time, or someone to come along and take the place off his hands.

Located in the lane between Pattayaland Sois 1 and 2, The Kennel reached a measure of fame earlier this year as being the hangout of that nutcase Derrick Bird who decided to kill a swag of family, friends and a few innocents in a shooting spree back in Pommyland. It appears the looney tunes had a Thai bargirl companion who, in the time-honoured fashion, managed to extract a reasonable wad of money from her absent paramour and then found someone else with whom to play games of hide-the-sausage. The British tabloids had a field day with the ‘sleazy’ Pattaya connection and I can imagine the queue of Jack-the-lad journos ‘volunteering’ for a hardship posting to Fun Town to ‘cover’ the story stretched as far as the eye could see. Dave told me tabloid hacks were milling around his bar like fleas on a mangy mongrel and easily outnumbered his small but select staff of wallet emptiers.

The end result is that The Kennel achieved notoriety in Britain and the hacks managed to turn most of their stories about Fun Town into a real dog’s reakfast of hyperbole.

Numbers Up: In time for the expected high season, the bar scene in Fun Town is starting get livelier and more competitive with some old places re-opening their doors. The Sakura Club 69 in Soi 15, off Walking Street, re-opened on 1 October after a six-month closure, with new owners. The popular French Louis, former meeter and greeter at the Paris go-go, is handling the managing duties.

Just a short walk away, in Soi Diamond, Carousel kicked back into life on the same night after being taken over by new management and remodeled. These two re-openings have once again given Walking Street and its surrounds a solid 52 go-go bars.

Mao Lao you Doll: Rambling Ricky, the face of the Babydolls go-go in Soi 15, tells me the den is now selling that wonderful amber brew Beer Lao, in both light and dark, at 115 baht a bottle. Beer Lao has not been available in Pattaya for a few months but a new supplier has emerged and supplies are now flowing again.

While on the subject of Babydolls, I happened to be in early one evening recently and was impressed by the number of ladies who had the kind of chest that would make a champion weightlifter green with envy, and all of them were natural, not the result of a surgeons’ implants. The overall line-up was about the best I’ve ever seen in Babydolls, which is not really high praise because its earthy operational style doesn’t lend itself to attracting the kinds of wallet emptiers who have celestial looks, and usually an attitude to match. Nonetheless, the many hands on the one-eyed trouser snake approach has always been a winner in what is one of Fun Town’s more raunchy joints.

Piece of Pith: You’re never too old to learn something stupid.

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-- Pattaya One 2010-10-26

[Jingthing]

Are all the go gos straight?

This is not as flip a comment as it may first seem.

Your pub has a gay column, that's rather a pablum puff piece so far. Frankly, it reads like it is written for straight people's public relations (we're OK, don't beat us up please!), not for gay people.

If you can publish hetero go go news, are you for equal coverage, OR NOT, so why not publish gay go go news? Do you have the gonads for that? I doubt it.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Jingthing

[SantiSuk]

Beer Lao - whoopee. Worth running the gauntlet of 'one of Fun Towns more raunchy joints' for.

Save a few bottles for me guys.

[britmaveric]

Jing, maybe you can work as P1 Boyztown gogo expert?

[Jingthing]

Jing, maybe you can work as P1 Boyztown gogo expert?

I can't because I know very little about such places. But I'm sure there are people who do know. The problem isn't finding a writer, it's that this pub has clearly decided not to cover gay nightlife in the same way they cover straight nightlife, and frankly, I smell a rat. I think the gay writer doing the PR pablum column should probably quit; otherwise isn't he acting rather the gay Uncle Tom? What is the justification/rationale for covering straight nightlife one way and gay nightlife another way (in this case, not at all)? To me this pub is openly stating we don't think the two sexualities deserve the same respect. Don't get me wrong, if they want to be a straights only publication, go ahead, same thing as there are gay publications. But acting like it is an open minded pub with a gay column and then treating gay nightlife coverage differently is rather insulting.

(BTW, yes, I am uppity, thanks for asking ...)

Also note, I certainly would like to read a Gay go go roundup column if they do decide to offer it. There is an audience.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Jingthing

[hm1973]

Are all the go gos straight?

This is not as flip a comment as it may first seem.

Your pub has a gay column, that's rather a pablum puff piece so far. Frankly, it reads like it is written for straight people's public relations (we're OK, don't beat us up please!), not for gay people.

If you can publish hetero go go news, are you for equal coverage, OR NOT, so why not publish gay go go news? Do you have the gonads for that? I doubt it.

Funny you should say that.....coming in Issue 3.....GayMarch, a round-up of go-go bars for men who like men. Finally Nightmarch has some competition

[Jingthing]

Are all the go gos straight?

This is not as flip a comment as it may first seem.

Your pub has a gay column, that's rather a pablum puff piece so far. Frankly, it reads like it is written for straight people's public relations (we're OK, don't beat us up please!), not for gay people.

If you can publish hetero go go news, are you for equal coverage, OR NOT, so why not publish gay go go news? Do you have the gonads for that? I doubt it.

Funny you should say that.....coming in Issue 3.....GayMarch, a round-up of go-go bars for men who like men. Finally Nightmarch has some competition

Excellent! Thank you for clearing that up.

I withdraw my critical comments as I don't think it's a problem if you were a little late on this, such things are perfectly understandable especially with a new venture. However, I still do wonder about the intended editorial slant of the gay columnist; who do you imagine is the audience exactly for a gay content column, Iranian families?

Edited October 26, 2010 by Jingthing

[hm1973]

who do you imagine is the audience exactly for a gay content column, Iranian families?

Errr, Gays and Bisexuals might be a good place to start

We must all appreciate that there is a huge gay nightlife scene in Pattaya. We don't only have female chrome-pole-huggers but also men doing it as well. Pattaya One is not a "straight" publication, it is not a "gay" publication, it is a publication which appeals to a cross-section of the adults who frequent this fine city. Many publications shy away from combining the best of both worlds....we just broke the mould!

Edited October 26, 2010 by hm1973

[britmaveric]

Jenny's Star Bar?