Well the Songkran madness is upon us, so I shall be staying put in my condo until the madness has passed, although I can hear the shouting and screaming from the road near me, so I will know when it's over, when that stops!

Heard some bad news just recently because my favourite massage/manicure/pedicure shop is closing down on the 25th of this month because somebody has bought the small row of shops/building in which it sits. They were put up for sale by the bank, so I suppose the previous owner couldn't pay the mortgage or something like that?

I asked the present shop renter/occupier what she was going to do and she has no real idea other than joining her sister in another shop which her sister has rented further down Nanai Road, and as for the other girls, it seems like two or three of them have gone home whilst the others are still there in a state of limbo!

I feel sorry for them because that shop has been open for a few years now, and for a lot of the women, that is their only job and many of them support parents and children back home, wherever that is. Bearing that in mind I often hand out some money in the shop so that the girls can go out and buy some food, and they appreciate it, but that's now come to an end. However I do admire the resilience of some of these women who manage to get by no matter what the circumstances or life throws at them.

Another sign that the times are changing here is the fact that quite a few of the property booths in Big C have now disappeared and I think that's been a pretty regular occurrence over the years although this time it seems a bit early, given that there will be an influx of foreigners here for Songkran. A wonderful woman/agent who worked there and who got me into this condo has gone home for a holiday, and I do hope she comes back because she was absolutely superb and I would highly recommend her to anyone and if I need to change condos for any reason, she would be the first one I would speak to.

Jumping around a bit, I visited Churassco restaurant the other evening because I really did feel as if I needed some protein in my diet, even though the steaks at this restaurant are reasonably expensive, they are good, so I popped along, taking my usual bottle of good wine with me and thought I would enjoy a good steak. However I must have ordered the wrong one because rather than being the thick/chunky steak that I usually have, this one was was not up to the usual standard.

Having said that, it won't stop me from going back and ordering the correct Wagyu steak or ordering a takeaway to go with the rather special bottle of Australian wine I have got at the moment. I will decide later.

Now that I've reached the age of 78, something I never thought I would achieve, I find that my urge to go out and visit bars went out of the window a couple of years ago at least, and I really have no interest in chatting up bar girls any more, but the occasional visit to the Blue Beach bar and Café is still on the cards whenever a friend or two visits Patong, or indeed a visit to La Capaninna, although it's menu has changed somewhat and I'll have to go back and explore further.

Finally, I have just completed my 90 day report online and I'm very pleased that I've been able to do this for at least the last three of them, and it works well and is one hell of a time saver.

Thought I would just apprise anybody who bothers reading this thread, that I have sold my watch and whilst I was sad to see it go, at least it has gone to "a good home" and it was bought by somebody who knows about its history because he is an horolgist and was able to apprise me of the model and background of this model, which was interesting, and to add to that, he was a nice guy. So that saga is over and I'm happy about the outcome.

I was also pleased to read about the arrests of some Songkran idiots and I hope they are now spending time behind bars, which is no more than they deserve.

It's been an eventful few days what with selling my watch, losing my Bangkok bankcard, and my newly acquired Apple iPhone (2022 model) going haywire, so I have some work to do. I paid a visit to Bangkok bank here and obtained a new bankcard with no problems at all (great and good service). As for my phone I may well take it to the Apple repair shop in the basement of Big C in Phuket town, as they seem to do a good job on anything I have taken to them previously.

My daughter has just left Phuket on her journey to Phitsanulok to spend three or four weeks with her mother and some of her extended family, so I funded her airfare and living expenses so she won't have to worry about anything and can just relax and enjoy time with her mother whom she hasn't seen for nearly a year.

I have not visited the massage shop which is due to be taken over/closed, but will do so in the next two days to see how they are faring and what the future holds for them and see if there is anything I can do to help.

Carrying on with the massage shop and its relocation, I visited the new shop and have got to say that the two girls who moved from the recently closed shop they had for many years, have not made a great choice!

This shop is smaller than the old one and is down a very narrow Soi and can't be seen from the road, so I fear for its future, and I mentioned this to the girls and they both said they were looking for new premises!

I hope they make it because they've been in Patong for many years and are my regulars for manicures, pedicures and foot massages and also great to have a relaxing break in one of their comfortable chairs when I'm out and about. Good luck to them.

Over the past couple of weeks I've had a few visits to Phuket Bangkok hospital to try and find the cause of a painful left testicle and the urologist wanted to take a urine sample to check for an infection (which I didn't think I had) so had to use a catheter to draw out some urine to test, which proved negative. He gave me some painkillers and sent me on my way with a prescription (from the hospital) for the painkillers add a catheter. I checked the price of the catheter and at the hospital and they were charging 1600 baht for the same catheter which I buy on Lazada for 780 baht, so I cancelled it and when I explained to the nurse why, she was quite surprised at the difference in price??

Following on from that visit, I have had two more since, one for an MRI on the left testicle, and one for a CT scan on the abdomen and bladder and the overall cost for both was 37,000 baht, but I felt it was well worth it because the MRI showed up a cyst inside of the testicle and the CT scan showed nothing remarkable, for which I was most grateful – – so keep taking the painkillers was the advice.

Whilst at the hospital for one of my visits I encountered someone who looked like they were rehearsing for the main role in one of the "Mummy" films as they were covered just about from head to toe, including fingers, in bandages, in what looked like to have been a motorbike accident – – I wasn't surprised to see that what part of his face was uncovered was that of a Chinese-looking guy and although they are terrible drivers, I did feel sorry for the poor guy.

Finally the hole in Soi Banzaan has been repaired, well it wasn't actually a hole, more a deep indentation in the road where the concrete had cracked and sunk and it covered just over half the road so it was dangerous. I believe it was caused by some heavy trucks a couple of years ago which were using the vacant space just off the road, as parking, and the load was too much for the concrete and the support thereof.

Having said that, from what I could see of the repair which looks okay, I don't believe the repairers dug down deep enough to fix the underlying problem, so IMO it is a problem waiting to happen again – – time will tell.

There is a major demolition of shops, or one long shop, opposite Jungceylon and I never saw much activity in that row of shops which seemed to sell natural/beauty products, so I wonder what's going in there now?

I have lived in Patong for almost 20 years, and have never experienced the type of "crime" which is becoming quite rampant now here – – dine and dash, shoplifting, brawling, certain folk speeding noisily up and down the roads on their large motorbikes, just about all of them not wearing crash helmets and so on, and it's got to the stage where some friends of mine who have lived here for almost as long as me are looking at moving out somewhere quieter.

And a tip for the local BIB........ stopping these helmet-less idiots on large motorbikes would bring in much needed revenue, and in addition, clamping down on the shops which hire out these motorbikes, ensuring that they have copies of passports and licenses etc would help keep idiots off the road and cut the death toll.

i have given up on tests totally at hospitals ( i'm over 72) or even visits unless i am really bad
Had pneumonia last year, when admitted they said my bp was high ( 138/68). I've got white coat syndrome

so put me on BP meds,

nothing but side effects, dizziness when standing up, slight diarrhea
so 3 months ago i wanted to see if i needed the meds so quit taking them but still monitor my BP
its now averaging 128/66
sooo, no more
hospitals are a business and the drs feed the system

watch this
https://youtu.be/Q_pdY91BGPg


4 fyi's
1.super cheap in town is cheaper than lazada for meds and such

2. I have yet to go for a massage in Thailand ( over 40 years here)
There are over 40 massage shops here in kamala and more opening all the time, cant see how they all make money, same goes for weed shops
3.i am SO glad i left Patong in 96 for Kamala :-)
4.there is a sorta permanent check point between kalim and Kamala around noon, they make lots of baht each day


'I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.'
Jimi Hendrik

Edited May 10May 10 by zzzzz

zzzzz, the American all time guitarist is Jimi Hendrix, not Hendrik, all good, music from my childhood.

Xy, get out of Patong. You've already said you live a quieter lifestyle so, rental Panwa? Pretty quick to Phuket town, forget all that Patong headache. When you want to get a Patong visit in, Grab.

1 hour ago, Priorexpat said:

zzzzz, the American all time guitarist is Jimi Hendrix, not Hendrik, all good, music from my childhood.

Xy, get out of Patong. You've already said you live a quieter lifestyle so, rental Panwa? Pretty quick to Phuket town, forget all that Patong headache. When you want to get a Patong visit in, Grab.

Well it's something I have been thinking about/toying with over the past few months, along with a friend of mine who is also tired of living in Karon, although it's quite difficult for him because he has a very large apartment which he keeps saying he wants to sell, but never does anything about it!

He has mentioned Phangnga as a possibility, however I'm a bit concerned that it is just that little bit too far away from any life/restaurants – – anyway I have signed another one-year lease on my condo here, so I'll probably see that out before I make a move, but thank you for your suggestion I hadn't thought about Panwa, so I will give it some consideration and pay a visit over the next short while, to "case the joint".

PS. My daughter lives in Phuket town, so Panwa is still pretty close if I want to visit her, which I like to do at least once a week.

3 hours ago, zzzzz said:

i have given up on tests totally at hospitals ( i'm over 72) or even visits unless i am really bad
Had pneumonia last year, when admitted they said my bp was high ( 138/68). I've got white coat syndrome

so put me on BP meds,

nothing but side effects, dizziness when standing up, slight diarrhea
so 3 months ago i wanted to see if i needed the meds so quit taking them but still monitor my BP
its now averaging 128/66
sooo, no more
hospitals are a business and the drs feed the system

watch this
https://youtu.be/Q_pdY91BGPg


4 fyi's
1.super cheap in town is cheaper than lazada for meds and such

2. I have yet to go for a massage in Thailand ( over 40 years here)
There are over 40 massage shops here in kamala and more opening all the time, cant see how they all make money, same goes for weed shops
3.i am SO glad i left Patong in 96 for Kamala :-)
4.there is a sorta permanent check point between kalim and Kamala around noon, they make lots of baht each day


'I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.'
Jimi Hendrik

Your BP results are very good, even without the meds, and the only reason I am on this medication is because I have an aneurysm in the main aorta near my heart and the heart specialist wanted to make sure I could control my BP, which wasn't too bad, but now I'm happy where it is, taking the meds.

I used to get some meds from Super Cheap, but on a couple of occasions they didn't have them in stock so occasionally I have to buy them from the hospital, however Lazada is good and cheap for things like catheters, and I don't have to travel to get them, they are delivered a couple of days after I order, which is marvellous.

I do like the occasional good strong massage as I spend far too much time sitting in front of the computer, and in my past have had many football injuries which seem to flareup from time to time, so a good massage, IMO, is essential for me. However having said that, a lot of the massage places are complete rip-offs and only want to provide the "extras" in order to get more money, that's why I also visit one fantastic massage place here in Patong, called, "Sweet Lemongrass" which is straight up bona fide massage, and I have known the owner almost since the time I first came here.

Thanks for the tip about the checkpoint, which I will look out for if I ever go that way, but as I never drink during the day I would be pretty safe.

Xy "He has mentioned Phangnga."

I know two guys that have rentals now in Thai Mueang. One guy is there permanently, the other has kept his flat in Rawai as he says it's just too slow up there. Really quiet.

Well the rain has arrived at last and I don't mind it one bit, especially as it coincided with the "outflux" of tourists from Patong, although the traffic is still pretty bad, however I think that's because the road layout is poor and there are also roadworks going on around the place, some of which look very messy indeed (or should I say poorly constructed) and traffic lights are being installed at a couple of T junctions here, which will make traffic on the main road even more horrendous!!

On quite a few posts on AN, posters mention the farangs here who don't appear to have much money and those who prefer to sit at bars all day long in their "wifebeater" T-shirts and grubby shorts, so here's a story about two who don't fit that mould.......

I got to know an American guy here (from Starbucks actually) because I helped him quite frequently with his computer, not that I am a computer whizz, but I certainly knew more than he did and was able to help him out on many occasions. The last time I saw him he said he was going to Bangkok to have an operation on a leaky valve in his heart, or was it an aneurysm??

I hadn't heard from him for a while so I tried to get in touch via mobile and computer, but to no avail, however I recently learned that the poor guy had passed away whilst having this operation. He wasn't a particularly fit guy, being quite a bit overweight and he was 80 years old, so I wasn't that surprised that the poor guy had departed this mortal coil, all the same, RIP to him.

This story links to the next one, because yesterday I bumped into a German guy who was a sort of acquaintance with whom I had exchanged opinions on movies when we bumped into each other in Starbucks over the years, but whom I hadn't seen for many months. I had purposely steered clear of him because he had borrowed money from me about a year ago on the pretext of paying me back when his ex-girlfriend had sent him some money he was owed, but that never came to fruition and I was out of pocket about 3000 baht.

Because he was a bit down on his luck I used to buy him a coffee and something to eat in Starbucks but after he had lied about the money he had borrowed, I really didn't want to know him any more. It was about this time that I learnt he had borrowed money from the American guy I mentioned above, a total of 40,000 baht in all, and I suggested to this guy that he would probably never see it again.

The day before yesterday I bumped into the German guy in Big C and he was looking skinny and dishevelled and told me he was now sleeping on the beach because he had been evicted from his 200 baht a night room because he couldn't pay the rent. I remember asking him previously if he had any source of income, to which he replied that he hadn't, somehow having missed out on a government pension etc in Germany so he had no source of income apart from that which he could scrounge from friends, who were becoming few and far between these days.

He asked if I was heading towards Starbucks or similar for a coffee or something to eat and I said that I wasn't and I didn't particularly want to get involved again, because I pretty well knew where it would lead.

Now I have thought about this situation quite a bit since then and wondered if I was doing the right thing by staying away from the guy, rather than trying to help him out of his financial situation, but I keep thinking to myself that it is a no-win situation because he hasn't got any money, he doesn't work (although he was a good photographer in his day) and I think he has sold all his photographic equipment anyway, and of course he lied to me about being able to pay me back last time, and that is the bit that irks me and serves as a warning to stay away from him.

Although I feel sorry for him in a way, there comes a time when we have to be responsible for our own sources of income and indeed planning for the same, and this has not been the case with him. Having said all that I may well shout him a coffee or two in the not too distant future, but lending him money will be an absolute no-no.

give a man a fish, he eats for the day
teach him to fish, he eats forever

Unless he was a close personal friend, and from what u said of his past
i'd tell him to F#@K off

My childhood friend's Mom's saying has ringed true all my life. neither borrower or lender be.

8 hours ago, zzzzz said:

give a man a fish, he eats for the day
teach him to fish, he eats forever

Unless he was a close personal friend, and from what u said of his past
i'd tell him to F#@K off

Well he wasn't a close personal friend, just an acquaintance whom I would catch up with from time to time, and until fairly recently would shout him a coffee and a muffin, and I certainly won't lend him any more money, but I'm having second thoughts about buying him the occasional coffee/muffin!

I say this because when someone is down on their luck, I've often helped them out, if not with money, then certainly with computer items and even an old Nokia flip phone (which got them out of a dilemma because the phone worked!).

In fact, in writing this I'm coming to the conclusion that I will catch up with him over a coffee (coffee only – no money) if only to find out exactly how he has landed in this predicament and how he is unable to receive a pension from his home country, just to give me some peace of mind.

3 hours ago, xylophone said:

Well he wasn't a close personal friend, just an acquaintance whom I would catch up with from time to time, and until fairly recently would shout him a coffee and a muffin, and I certainly won't lend him any more money, but I'm having second thoughts about buying him the occasional coffee/muffin!

I say this because when someone is down on their luck, I've often helped them out, if not with money, then certainly with computer items and even an old Nokia flip phone (which got them out of a dilemma because the phone worked!).

In fact, in writing this I'm coming to the conclusion that I will catch up with him over a coffee (coffee only – no money) if only to find out exactly how he has landed in this predicament and how he is unable to receive a pension from his home country, just to give me some peace of mind.

Not so sure I’d want to hear his history of poor choices Xylophone.

Hearing his plight may make it harder for you to say no to another loan…

He’s not your responsibility but you don’t seem the type to sit back and watch him starve either.

Maybe encourage him to go and help out at a temple, they will provide food and shelter at least.

10 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

Not so sure I’d want to hear his history of poor choices Xylophone.

Hearing his plight may make it harder for you to say no to another loan…

He’s not your responsibility but you don’t seem the type to sit back and watch him starve either.

Maybe encourage him to go and help out at a temple, they will provide food and shelter at least.

Good points HP and I certainly won't be handing out any money and your suggestion about getting him to help out at a Temple is a good one....thanks for that. On second thoughts perhaps I will let him go his own way as he has made his choice(s) and is responsible for the outcomes, whether good or bad.

Xy, it is not your obligation that this guy survives there. I realize you are a good soul but over the next coffee you discuss, income sir to be able to stay here (?), alternatives, embassy will fly you back to Germany...

2012 or so one of our good friends, German, gets liver disease has to go to gov hospital Hat Yai. We all put up 5-10,000thb to help out. 10 of us I think, on terms he'll pay us all back. Gets good, cured. Later, I tell him no good, 5,000thb bro, you're my friend I'm good there. But then tells everyone else I've forgiven the debt, and I'm catching hell from the guys that put in 10,000 !!!!

Borrower no lender be, glad my long term friend lived.

3 minutes ago, Priorexpat said:

Xy, it is not your obligation that this guy survives there. I realize you are a good soul but over the next coffee you discuss, income sir to be able to stay here (?), alternatives, embassy will fly you back to Germany...

2012 or so one of our good friends, German, gets liver disease has to go to gov hospital Hat Yai. We all put up 5-10,000thb to help out. 10 of us I think, on terms he'll pay us all back. Gets good, cured. Later, I tell him no good, 5,000thb bro, you're my friend I'm good there. But then tells everyone else I've forgiven the debt, and I'm catching hell from the guys that put in 10,000 !!!!

Borrower no lender be, glad my long term friend lived.

$200 helped save your friend, thats enough reward, leave it at that.

6 hours ago, Priorexpat said:

Xy, it is not your obligation that this guy survives there. I realize you are a good soul but over the next coffee you discuss, income sir to be able to stay here (?), alternatives, embassy will fly you back to Germany...

2012 or so one of our good friends, German, gets liver disease has to go to gov hospital Hat Yai. We all put up 5-10,000thb to help out. 10 of us I think, on terms he'll pay us all back. Gets good, cured. Later, I tell him no good, 5,000thb bro, you're my friend I'm good there. But then tells everyone else I've forgiven the debt, and I'm catching hell from the guys that put in 10,000 !!!!

Borrower no lender be, glad my long term friend lived.

You are right of course and after reading a couple of other posts regarding this, I decided to meet up with him in Starbucks and told him that I would shout him a coffee, which I did.

The main intent was to explain to him that he could go to a temple to seek shelter and perhaps food, (as HighPriority suggested) and even "spiritual guidance" if he needed it . And although he has lost weight, and is still living on the beach, he seemed bright enough, so I enquired after his well-being and financial situation and although that has improved a little through a few benefactors he has known here over the years, his situation is still pretty dire.

I asked him if he could get a pension from Germany, and somehow it appears not, or not very much and if he wanted to do that he would have to travel back to Germany and according to him, he has no relatives, no friends there, or indeed anywhere to stay, so it would seem to be a pointless exercise indeed, even if he had the money to travel back there.

We chatted for a while and although he seems happy enough staying here, I did say that he would be in trouble because he had no funds put aside for the retirement "Visa" and he suggested that he might go to Malaysia as things seem to be a lot easier there, whatever that means.

Anyway, whatever he decides to do, he's not in a particularly good space and I really don't feel sorry for him (so I will lend him no money) because this appears to be of his own making and he doesn't appear to have made much in the way of an effort to improve his life here, so I bade him farewell and I'm not sure that I will want to meet up with him again, even though it is a possibility as time goes by – – but no money will change hands apart from perhaps a coffee!

why buy him coffee instead of a meal
price of starbucks coffee would buy 2 meals form 7/11

farangs dont stay at wats and thye wont help him more than a day or 2

IF he went to his embassy an told them he is broke. i'd bet 100% thye would assist him in

1st trying to reach someone back in germany to lend him funds

2nd, if that didn't work would assist him with a short term loan for a flight back which he would need repay as they would hold his passport

Ur only prolonging the outcome that he needs get the f@K out of thailand
this is NOT the place for him

4 hours ago, zzzzz said:

why buy him coffee instead of a meal
price of starbucks coffee would buy 2 meals form 7/11

farangs dont stay at wats and thye wont help him more than a day or 2

IF he went to his embassy an told them he is broke. i'd bet 100% thye would assist him in

1st trying to reach someone back in germany to lend him funds

2nd, if that didn't work would assist him with a short term loan for a flight back which he would need repay as they would hold his passport

Ur only prolonging the outcome that he needs get the f@K out of thailand
this is NOT the place for him

I'm sure you mean well with your post, however I have tried all that you have suggested and when I saw him yesterday at Starbucks, he had already managed to buy himself a roll of some description and when I asked him if he would like something else to eat he declined suggesting that a double black coffee would be sufficient.

Believe me when I say that I have explored every opportunity/avenue/etc with him, including going back to Germany, however he doesn't want to be there and he made that quite plain. Also he has no one in Germany from whom he can borrow funds, although as I said previously, he does appear to have a couple of "benefactors" here who are supporting him one way or another, but not in any great financial way.

My intent on catching up with him was to try and explore every opportunity with him and to get him thinking along those lines, but he is quite prepared to stay here for as long as he can (Visa funds notwithstanding) or go to Malaysia, or indeed he did suggest Jordan, wherein he has a female friend.

I've done everything I can with regards to helping him and my suggestions to trigger some sort of action from him, but to no avail, so now it's purely down to him what he wants to do and how he lives his life, whichever way that may be.

I am not prolonging any outcome, as indeed I have suggested ways that he can get out of the situation he is in and leave here – – many times.

Now as the old saying in Thailand goes: – "up to you" by which of course I mean "up to him".

Well, the high season in Patong is well and truly over it would seem, and although there are very few people in the bars in Bangla Road, with most folks walking up and down the road, the bars do get a bit busier around midnight – – this from a friend as I haven't been out for yonks!

And with the high season over, holiday romances will follow the same route, and on that note whilst I was sitting in Starbucks waiting to meet another friend, I witnessed the parting of ways between a farang and his Thai holiday romance, and it wasn't a pretty sight! He was standing next to the taxi with his suitcase and carry on bag, waiting to depart for the airport by the looks of things and his Thai lady was also standing there.

He was desperately keen to give her a few big hugs and kisses before he went on his way, but she really didn't seem interested, almost to the point of pushing him away when he was trying to kiss her (now I know many Thai women do not like to show affection in public, but this was rejection pure and simple). Whenever he tried to kiss her she would push him away and the most he got was a peck on the cheek!

I think what he failed to understand was that he was trying to say farewell to the woman who he thought he loved, whilst she was saying farewell to a customer, and she was keen to get started on meeting another one – – after all, income is hard to come by in low season! Welcome and goodbye to Patong!!

Whilst having lunch with my daughter in Phuket town the other day, I again met up with Eric and his wife (former owner of Soi Eric way back when it was the Soi) and we had a little chat and he appears to be doing well and when he asked if I had frequented Bangla recently, I told him that I hadn't, and that friends had told me it was a little "dead". He said something along the lines of, "I believe the good times in Bangla have gone" and I had to agree with him.

I visited the new massage shop of the two Thai girls I have mentioned previously, and it is doing no business whatsoever and it hadn't had a customer in the previous five days! I had a manicure and tipped both girls well, mainly to ensure that they could buy something to eat. According to them, many other massage shops are also suffering badly.

On that note, I hate to think how the very large massage "emporiums" which now seem to have sprung up in Soi Sansabai and environs, with more than a dozen and in some cases many more massage women, are now faring.

Ever thought of writing a book Xylaphone ?

16 hours ago, BarraMarra said:

Ever thought of writing a book Xylaphone ?

There's a dang great idea, sell it in all the airport shops in Thailand, get Amazon to publish, 'Musings from Bangla" or maybe musings is bad. How about "Been to Bangla?"

Do it Xy, take all these TV/AN posts and make them chapters.

Bangla or Bust.

18 hours ago, BarraMarra said:

Ever thought of writing a book Xylaphone ?

Actually I have BM, however it would be more about my previous adventures/escapades in the likes of Libya (Sahara desert) just after the Gadhafi revolution and the same in Nigeria just at the end of the Biafran war – – and would also include the fact that I had a warmup game of tennis with Steffi Graf and also Jelena Dokich!

I could also mention the fact that the German guy in this pic, fell overboard and was taken by a shark, whilst I and others were looking on in stunned silence. So many more adventures, oh and I could mention that I played a good standard of football in England and was asked to go for trials with QPR (but decided against it because I was doing an apprenticeship).

I could go on, and on, but getting back to your point BM, and the one of Priorexpat, the target market would be potential visitors to Patong, and they really wouldn't be interested in my overseas adventures etc........but thanks for the suggestions!

On 6/17/2026 at 3:39 PM, xylophone said:

Well, the high season in Patong is well and truly over it would seem, and although there are very few people in the bars in Bangla Road, with most folks walking up and down the road, the bars do get a bit busier around midnight – – this from a friend as I haven't been out for yonks!

And with the high season over, holiday romances will follow the same route, and on that note whilst I was sitting in Starbucks waiting to meet another friend, I witnessed the parting of ways between a farang and his Thai holiday romance, and it wasn't a pretty sight! He was standing next to the taxi with his suitcase and carry on bag, waiting to depart for the airport by the looks of things and his Thai lady was also standing there.

He was desperately keen to give her a few big hugs and kisses before he went on his way, but she really didn't seem interested, almost to the point of pushing him away when he was trying to kiss her (now I know many Thai women do not like to show affection in public, but this was rejection pure and simple). Whenever he tried to kiss her she would push him away and the most he got was a peck on the cheek!

I think what he failed to understand was that he was trying to say farewell to the woman who he thought he loved, whilst she was saying farewell to a customer, and she was keen to get started on meeting another one – – after all, income is hard to come by in low season! Welcome and goodbye to Patong!!

Whilst having lunch with my daughter in Phuket town the other day, I again met up with Eric and his wife (former owner of Soi Eric way back when it was the Soi) and we had a little chat and he appears to be doing well and when he asked if I had frequented Bangla recently, I told him that I hadn't, and that friends had told me it was a little "dead". He said something along the lines of, "I believe the good times in Bangla have gone" and I had to agree with him.

I visited the new massage shop of the two Thai girls I have mentioned previously, and it is doing no business whatsoever and it hadn't had a customer in the previous five days! I had a manicure and tipped both girls well, mainly to ensure that they could buy something to eat. According to them, many other massage shops are also suffering badly.

On that note, I hate to think how the very large massage "emporiums" which now seem to have sprung up in Soi Sansabai and environs, with more than a dozen and in some cases many more massage women, are now faring.

I thoght you guys might like to see a video of Soi Eric in the old days....

The title of video is not much about the video...

1 hour ago, redwood1 said:

I thoght you guys might like to see a video of Soi Eric in the old days....

The title of video is not much about the video...

'What the' was that meant to be,

On 6/20/2026 at 6:06 AM, redwood1 said:

I thoght you guys might like to see a video of Soi Eric in the old days....

I remember these days like it was yesterday.

If one only could go back in time, this might be one of the places on my list to visit again.

What do you suppose the year was on that vid? 2010?

6 hours ago, Priorexpat said:

What do you suppose the year was on that vid? 2010?

2007,you were close, dates on the begin of clip