Gaybutton

Now you know why I moved away from Florida.

At the corner of Third Road and Pattaya Tai, Tony's (of Tony's Gym) bought out the entire block and built an open-air international food court, complete with small mom-and-pop restaurants (some of which are open 24/7), small shopping outlets, etc. It's a large complex. Most of the restaurants open during the evening, but some are open all day. I've passed by several times, but have not yet had a chance to stop in and check it out.

There is an international Wat in Bangkok, at which foreigners who are seriously interested are welcomed. English is spoken there. I would advise checking with this Wat before committing to this "Monk for a Month" program. That way you will have a basis for the best choice.

That's true, and most of it comes from drunken, low-life farang! If I recall, there was even an incident in 2007 when one idiot farang was actually caught spraying people with a caustic substance and he injured a young Thai boy's eyes with it. I don't know what ended up happening to him, but I hope the penalty was severe.

When people carry it to that extreme, that's when I stop giving a damn whether they like it or not, although I'll still put out the cigarette. Apparently not. Some people still wish to discuss it. That's their privilege.

There may be some who do enjoy that! Actually, I don't recommend doing something that could backfire (no pun intended) on you, but if you could get away with it, why not just shit in his face or drop a couple turdlets into his drink. I'm a smoker. I'm not proud of it, but there it is. When I am with people I do try to be polite about it. I always tell people to let me know if my smoke is blowing in their direction and I'll immediately put it out. If someone lets me know my smoking is bothering him I have no problem at all about putting it out or moving elsewhere. I dislike smokers who impose their smoke on others as much as non-smokers. I really don't understand why so many other smokers refuse to be polite about it, but many don't seem to care, and I think that's definitely a wrong attitude.

I'm with you on Songkran. So many farang hate it and many locals find somewhere else to be during that time, but I'll be right here and enjoying every bit of it. Having a car comes in very handy. I get to decide for myself whether I want to be splashed or not. But on the main day . . . all those boys in soaking wet t-shirts or, better still, shirtless . . . I love it! You can bet that I'll be out there for it. By the way, the main water splashing day in Pattaya in 2009 will be Sunday, April 19.

Wine Dinner at Poseidon hosted by Hugh Millar January 16, 2009 Amuse Bouche *** Dill & Pepper marinated Scottish Salmon with pan-fried Alaska Scallop and Truffle Vinaigrette *** Green Pea Soup with Tea smoked Duck Breast *** Gigot d’agneau à la Provençale -or- Sliced Turkey in a mushroom & Pommery Mustard Sauce *** Puff pastry and Crème Pâtissière Bar Wines White Wine Peppermint Grove, Australia, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillion, Chardonnay Blend Blue Moon, Australia, Chardonnay Red Wine The Little Penguin, Australia, Cabernet Sauvignon Gossips, Australia, Shiraz The price for this dinner is 1,400 baht net / person Booking Deadline is Wednesday, January 14th For further details and bookings, call Hugh on 081-577-8727 or 038-303-300 With our best culinary regards, Kim, Pascal & Hugh

Here is the latest, as of January 9: The following posters, as of January 9, have exceeded 100 posts since the contest began: Slackersam: 130 GaySacGuy: 142 Steve1903: 160 Laurence: 191 Pattayamale: 221 Fountainhall: 238 Lvdkeyes: 322 MonkeySee: 519

http://www.pattayamail.com/current/news.shtml#hd11

You are arguing an issue that isn't going anywhere. The fact is a regulation exists that prohibits smoking in bars. The fact is that several bars are ignoring the regulation. The fact is that those who tried to get the authorities to do something about it have gotten nowhere. Ideas such as petitions, letters-to-the-editor, etc. have no practical value because it simply doesn't work. I see only one solution. Patronize venues that do not permit smoking and refuse to patronize venues that do.

That's when you should have left. For GT to have written a negative review, then I have a feeling the service he received was much worse than the post suggests. If I was subjected to bad service or poor treatment merely because my group consisted of Thais, I'd be damned if I would have eaten there. An expensive restaurant treating its customers like shit? That's not for me. Where do they get off giving "second class" treatment to their customers for any reason? Let them watch over 8000 baht worth of business walk right out the door . . . and let them know why. Since you stayed, I wish you refused to pay the service charge and tipped a total of 1 baht instead . . . and let them know why about that too. After all, if they are charging for service, then they at least ought to provide it.

Even if Pattayamale's suggestions about pressure, petitions and letters-to-the-editor would actually work, how long do you think it will be before enforcement goes by the wayside again? Jaded as this may seem, I believe there is only one way you'll ever see these regulations seriously enforced: Pay the powers-that-be more than the bars do.

How terrible! To think I might have to go through life without ever having visited Senegal is almost more than I can bear . . .

If you folks want to go into a pissing contest about this, fine with me. However, none of the arguments alter the fact that the bars are not supposed to allow smoking inside, period. When this law went into effect all the non-smokers were delighted. At that time I predicted this regulation would last about as long as most of the others. Actually, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. Here we are, a few months later, and apparently the regulation is not going to be enforced. I doubt that phone calls, petitions, or anything else will change a thing if the bars won't voluntarily comply. Unfortunately, the only thing I believe you can really do about it is to patronize the bars that comply with the regulations to the exclusion of the ones that don't.

The fact that two of us posted different threads about the same subject reminds me of a line I liked in an old John Wayne-Kirk Douglas movie, "The War Wagon." As the two are exiting a saloon and are walking toward the livery stable, two bad guys try to ambush them. Of course, they both draw and "drop" the two bad guys at the same instant. Kirk Douglas looks at John Wayne and says, "Mine hit the ground first." John Wayne replies, "Mine was taller."

Just for the record, this morning a friend and I were going to meet at Continental Bakery, Jomtien, at 10:00am. It was so packed we literally couldn't get in. Every table was full. We went to Linda's instead. Linda's also serves a fine breakfast.

"In New York it's a $2000 fine for spitting in the subway. Vomiting is free." - George Carlin

All right, so I missed a post . . .

I'll give you a piece of advice regarding laundry. Yes, it certainly is much less expensive to have your laundry done via a local service rather than from your hotel. But make damned sure the laundry will be open when you need to pick up your clothes. A friend of mine was going to have his laundry done the day before he was due to leave Thailand. He thought this would be a great way to have everything done and folded. All he would need to do would be to pack it up and have clean, fresh laundry upon arrival back in his home country. Next day he went to pick up his laundry only to find the place was closed. Nobody had told him the place would be closed. He had no choice. He had to leave Thailand and ended up leaving nearly all of his clothing behind. Needless to say, he was furious. Make sure you check little things like that if you're going to need your belongings back the next day. I don't know if he ever got his clothing back, but if he did at least it was clean . . .

What you have is a debit card. They call it the Visa Electron card. It can be used as a Visa card for purchases, but it is actually only a debit card, not the same as a credit card.

The following is from CBS News: ____ Man Dies After Having Penis Set On Fire ADELAIDE, Australia, Jan. 6, 2009(CBS/ AP) An Australian woman accused of setting her husband's genitals on fire because she thought he was having an affair has been charged with murder. Prosecutors said 44-year-old Rajini Narayan confessed to neighbors that she set her husband on fire on Dec. 8, 2008, after she saw him hug another woman. She was initially charged with endangering life and arson but the charges were upgraded to murder after her 47-year-old husband, Satish Narayan, died from his injuries last week. Prosecutor Lucy Boord said Narayan told neighbors she was a "jealous wife" but she hadn't meant to kill him when she doused the sleeping man's genitals with an alcohol-based solvent and then set him on fire. Boord quoted Narayan allegedly saying: "I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else. ... I didn't mean this to happen." The husband jumped out of bed and knocked over the bottle of alcohol, causing the fire to spread and resulting in 1 million Australian dollars ($711,000) of damage to their town house and an adjacent property, the Adelaide Advertiser reported. "She poses a substantial risk to others given her flagrant offending," Boord told the newspaper. "Witnesses also heard the accused make references to using a police officer's gun on herself, and references to whether she should be alive at all," she added. Narayan was remanded in custody for psychological assessment and will reappear in court Friday. She has been charged with murder, arson and three counts of endangering life, as the couple's three children were at home during the incident.

Thank you for this post. I've never heard of this restaurant. Based on your review and their web site I'll definitely be giving it a try very soon. It looks like a real "find."

Ok, have it your way. Violate the laws to your heart's content. I think I'll stick with obeying the laws, whether I'm in the USA, Thailand, or the moon.

On the other hand, it is entirely possible for a running clock that was incorrectly set in the first place never to be right at all.