Gaybutton

Can you please post the URL's?

The baht buses can get you as far as Central Road (Pattaya Klang) and Sukhumvit Highway. From there, you're going to have to use a motorcycle taxi. You can also contact me. If you want to eat with me, I'll be glad to meet you somewhere along Central Road, or I'll even come and get you where you're staying if you don't mind chipping in a little bit for gas. Not that I'm a cheapskate (some would disagree with that), but gas is awfully expensive these days and I would have to drive from where I live all the way into the city to get you, then drive all the way back out here again, and after dinner I'd have to drive all the way back into the city a second time, and then all the way back out here to go home. In other words, folks, I don't usually ask for contributions to the fuel fund, but at these prices and the number of people who ask for rides, since I'm one of the few farang who has a car and is also willing to take people where they want to go, I'm all through being a free chauffeur. It's just too expensive anymore.

I find that a little difficult to believe. Where did you read this?

I agree. Fascino is a reliable pharmacy that isn't going to give you counterfeit pharmaceuticals. There is another Fascino pharmacy, a small outlet, located in the small Lotus store, east of Sukhumvit Highway. If you know where the Bangkok Bank is on Sukhumvit, just north of Central Road (Pattaya Klang), simply enter the soi that leads to the parking lot, but keep going. It takes you right to the Lotus. When you go to Fascino, ask for their membership card. It's free and with it you get a 10% discount on meds.

I think you are talking about the Maela Seafood Restaurant. That's actually on Soi Siam Country Club. That restaurant is also listed in the Door-2-Door menu.

The Lek Hotel, across the street from Villa Market, has an inexpensive breakfast buffet. The quality had gone downhill, but I'm hearing it has become good again, although I haven't tried it myself yet. The Diana Inn also has an inexpensive breakfast buffet, but it's been a good three years since I last tried it. The breakfast buffet at the Hard Rock Hotel has gotten good reviews. I understand the Areca Lodge, on Soi Diana Inn, also has a good breakfast buffet. Other than those and the major hotels, I'm not aware of any.

I just discovered that the Sure Park restaurant has an online menu, photos, etc. Here's the link: http://www.sureparkpattaya.com/menu1.html

I don't think that's an aside. I think it's a major issue. I didn't know that. I had no idea that a person who has no intention of entering the USA has to do so, technically, anyway just to change planes, even when the plane on which he arrived came from another country and his destination is another country. What happens if the arrival plane is also the destination plane, and there is no need to change planes? Do other countries operate like this? For example, when I would come to Thailand from the USA, I clearly recall having to go through an inspection of carry-on luggage in Japan, for a second time, and having my passport checked at the departure gate. I guess essentially that's the same thing, since somebody is checking, but you don't have to clear customs or passport control. Personally, I think all these rigid checks and controls have gone way over the top. When I returned to Thailand from the USA just a few months ago, they confiscated a tube of toothpaste, for crying out loud. A tube of toothpaste! What did they think I could be hiding in it, Dirty Harry's .44 magnum? They said a smaller tube would be permissible in carry-on luggage, but not the size I was carrying. I even asked if I could squeeze a little out into a small container so I could at least brush my teeth en route. Of course, the answer was no. These days you are lucky if you can travel by air at all. No liquids. Take off your shoes. No, you can't have this or that in your carry-on luggage. Stand over there for a pat-down. Tell us about everything you've done and everyone you've ever met since birth. We're going to start charging for carry-on. You have a camera? A flash disk? Give it here. We're going to check it. Aha, you have a computer. We're going to check it to make sure you don't have any porn or plans for building a neutron bomb. Well, now we're going to keep your computer, but don't worry, you'll get it back a few days before it becomes totally obsolete. Hey, are those pirated DVDs you've got there? What's that, a mobile phone? Any porn on it? Is that Bin Laden's phone number on your speed dial list? Tickets are getting so expensive that you can hardly afford to travel by air anyway. Ok, you're clear. Now go on board, strap yourself into a seat that's half the size you are, get some sleep in a seat that reclines just enough so that you're not quite completely upright anyway, and enjoy a dinner consisting of the most miserable excuse for food since your gourmet dinner at Al's Greasy Spoon and Car Wash. What fun.

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Bush to Visit Again BangkokPost.com US President George W. Bush will visit Thailand next month to celebrate the 175th anniversary of diplomatic relations. US officials confirmed on Friday that Mr Bush will visit Thailand and South Korea on his way to China to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. The exact date of the visit is not yet set, but it will be within the first week of August. According to an official White House press release on Friday, Mr Bush will first visit South Korea. "The President will then travel to Thailand to celebrate 175 years of the US-Thailand relationship and to discuss issues bilateral and regional issues with Prime Minister Samak," the statement said. After that he will proceed to China for the Aug 8 opening of the Olympics. Mr Bush visited Thailand and also attended the Apec summit in Bangkok in December, 2003 His stop in China will come as part of what may be his farewell trip to Asia, with stops in South Korea and Thailand, though the White House has yet to announce the dates for his departure from Washington or his return. The White House had said earlier this week that Bush would be in South Korea August 5 and 6, but Perino later retracted that announcement as "premature" but "not inaccurate" while offering a "little bit of an apology" to Seoul. In South Korea, Bush and his counterpart Lee Myung-Bak will discuss efforts to get their respective legislatures to ratify the US-South Korea free trade pact, amid violent protests in South Korea against a deal to resume US beef imports, said Perino.

The east side of Sukhumvit Highway is known to the locals as the "Dark Side." I've never posted about the restaurants out there because I know most of you will never get there. After all, within Pattaya City there are plenty of wonderful restaurants and you would have to stay in Pattaya for months before being able to try them all. However, they're not the only restaurants. There are plenty of wonderful restaurants out on the "Dark Side" too and perhaps you might like to get out there some time for a change of pace. Several of these restaurants border the Lake Mabprachan reservoir. You would have to go out Soi Siam Country Club to get to those. If you are heading south on Sukhumvit Highway, Soi Siam Country Club can be a little difficult to find if you're not familiar with the area. About 1/4 mile before you get as far as Central Road (Pattaya Klang), from North Road (Pattaya Nua), there is a Bangkok Bank branch on Sukhumvit Highway. The trouble is, you have to make the left turn onto Soi Siam Country Club just before you get as far as the bank. However, if you miss the turn, just enter the soi that enters the bank's parking lot. You won't miss that one. Follow it past the bank and you'll find yourself in the parking lot for a small Lotus store. Go to the end of the parking lot, turn left, and the soi dead ahead is Soi Siam Country Club. Turn right on that soi and go on out to the lake. Continuing past the bank, still on Sukhumvit Highway, but just before you get to Central Road, is Soi Neurnplabwan (that means 'sweet plum,' but I have yet to ever find a plum tree on that soi). Some of the restaurants are located on that soi. Continuing south, after Central Road, the next left you'll come to is Soi Khaonoi. Some of the restaurants are located on that soi. Continuing south, the next major intersection, left turn, is Soi Khaotolo and several of the restaurants are out there. If you are coming from Tepprasit Road, you turn left onto Sukhumvit Highway and then make an immediate right. That's Soi Khaotolo. If you click on the link below, you're going to find 19 pages of posts about these restaurants on the Thai Visa web site. 19 pages, and that's just so far! Start with the 19th page and work backwards. The last page is the most recent. I live on the "Dark Side" and have been to a few of these restaurants. Actually, I haven't been to very many because everybody lives in the city, so when I go out with friends, we usually go somewhere in the city. But some out my way are so good, I think I'll be eating in the city a lot less often. Two "musts" if you decide to go to any of these restaurants, are the Sure Park Steakhouse and Ann's Garden. You don't want to miss either of them. They're inexpensive too. I doubt that you'll spend more than 250 to 400 baht for dinner unless you are ordering drinks or wine. If anyone wants to join me at any of these restaurants, all you need to do is contact me. Ok, here's the link. Get set to spend some time reading: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Dark-Side-t172786.html

If you are looking for a good, and very inexpensive buffet, you might want to try the LK Kitchen on Soi Buakao in Pattaya. I've been there with friends several times, and we really like it. There is a small salad bar, a fresh fruit bar, two soup selections, garlic bread, five or six Thai food selections, five or six 'farang food' selections, spaghetti bolognese, and even a barbeque grill where you can order large prawns, all you want, along with various satays and kebobs. The 'farang food' dishes usually include beef, chicken, pork, and fish selections. The selections change nightly. They also include potatoes, white rice, and fried rice. There is even a wonderful coffee machine that dispenses choices such as cappuccino, cafe latte, cafe mocha, hot chocolate, a couple other coffees, and even plain old coffee! The coffees are good too. I don't know how they do it. How much for all this? Would you believe 189 baht? Incredible. They also serve a breakfast buffet for 125 baht, although none of us have tried it yet. Getting there is easy. As you can see from the map below, the restaurant is located at the LK Suite hotel, very close to the Central Road (Pattaya Klang) side of of Soi Buakao. Probably the easiest way to get there is to take a baht bus or motorcycle taxi down Soi Buakao (That's the first intersection past Center Condo, heading toward Sukhumvit Highway. Left is the only direction you can turn.) You won't miss the hotel. It will be on the right side. Their trees and shrubs are decked out in an array of small lights that resemble Christmas lights. On the other side of their soi, heading toward Central Road, there's a Family Mart. If you get as far as Central Road, you went too far and will need to backtrack by a block or two. We really enjoy it there. For 189 baht, you can't beat it!

The following appears on CNN: _____ YouTube Ordered to Reveal Its Viewers NEW YORK (AP) -- Dismissing privacy concerns, a federal judge overseeing a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the popular online video-sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and when. U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton authorized full access to the YouTube logs after Viacom Inc. and other copyright holders argued that they needed the data to show whether their copyright-protected videos are more heavily watched than amateur clips. The data would not be publicly released but disclosed only to the plaintiffs, and it would include less specific identifiers than a user's real name or e-mail address. Lawyers for Google Inc., which owns YouTube, said producing 12 terabytes of data -- equivalent to the text of roughly 12 million books -- would be expensive, time-consuming and a threat to users' privacy. The database includes information on when each video gets played, which can be used to determine how often a clip is viewed. Attached to each entry is each viewer's unique login ID and the Internet Protocol, or IP, address for that viewer's computer. Stanton ruled this week that the plaintiffs had a legitimate need for the information and that the privacy concerns are speculative. Stanton rejected a request from the plaintiffs for Google to disclose the source code -- the technical secret sauce -- powering its market-leading search engine, saying there's no evidence Google manipulated its search algorithms to treat copyright-infringing videos differently. The court has yet to rule on Google's requests to question comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert of Viacom's Comedy Central. Viacom is seeking at least $1 billion in damages from Google, saying YouTube has built a business by using the Internet to "willfully infringe" copyrights on Viacom shows, which include Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants" cartoon. The lawsuit was combined with a similar case filed by a British soccer league and other parties. Together, the plaintiffs are trying to prove that YouTube has known of copyright infringement and can do more to stop it, a finding that could dissolve the immunity protections that service providers have when they merely host content submitted by their users. Though Google said giving the plaintiffs access to YouTube viewer data would threaten users' privacy, Stanton referred to Google's own blog entry in which the company argued that the IP address alone cannot identify a specific individual. In a statement, Google said it was "disappointed the court granted Viacom's overreaching demand for viewing history. We are asking Viacom to respect users' privacy and allow us to anonymize the logs before producing them under the court's order." Google did not say whether it would appeal the ruling or seek to narrow it. Stanton's ruling made only passing reference to a 1988 federal law barring the disclosure of specific video materials that subscribers request or obtain. Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Stanton should have considered that law along with constitutional free-speech rights, including a right to read or view materials anonymously. He said a user's ID can sometimes include identifying information such as a first initial and last name. Viacom said it isn't seeking any user's identity. The company said any data provided "will be used exclusively for the purpose of proving our case against YouTube and Google (and) will be handled subject to a court protective order and in a highly confidential manner." This is not the first time Google has fought the disclosure of user information it had been stockpiling. While gathering evidence for a case involving online pornography, the U.S. Justice Department subpoenaed Google and other search engines for lists of search requests made by their users. After Google resisted, a federal judge ruled that Google was obliged to turn over only a sample of Web addresses in its search index, not the actual search terms requested.

I haven't met one yet who can't come up with a quick, plausible answer when confronted. He took your camcorder without asking. To me, that's stealing, no matter what his reason was. Was there anything else of value he could have easily taken, but he left alone? If yes, then I suppose it's possible he's telling the truth, but I still wouldn't want to bet the farm. You said he already has gotten 25000 baht out of you. I guarantee that no matter how much you give him, it isn't enough. If you get your camcorder back, that will be a pleasant surprise. But whether you do or not, he broke your trust. I learned a long time ago, when one of these boys breaks your trust, the best thing to do is get rid of him . . . fast.

Obviously he was treated badly, but the one question still on my mind is why? What had he done? Why was he on the shit list?

Well, if you look at my headline, I got it wrong a little bit myself. I misread it and thought it happened at Sunee Plaza. It actually happened in the Yensabai Condo parking lot, which might as well be Sunee Plaza, but it isn't.

You don't have to find low fat cream cheese. Just use half as much . . .

But he did leave the international area. It wasn't voluntary, but he left. I suppose leaving in chains, by force of gunpoint, constitutes leaving the international area. Again, solely on the face of the article, it makes about as much sense to me as saying something like, "The 'Flying Farang' wasn't killed because he jumped off the roof at Center Condo. He was killed because he hit the ground."

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Prices Hit 10-Year High By Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation Published on July 2, 2008 Inflation at 8.9% in June; Possibility of 7% Rate for the Whole Year Consumer prices hit a 10-year high of 8.9 per cent last month, heightening anticipation the monetary authorities will soon take interest rates off cruise control and shift up a gear to dampen inflation expectations. The Commerce Ministry said escalating oil prices helped push last month's inflation up to a level not seen since June 1998. With the world oil price pegged to soar to US$150 (Bt5,000) per barrel, the ministry has revised its oil-price base for inflation calculations from $105 a barrel to between $120 and $125. "The ministry expects the average oil price will be $142 a barrel in the remaining months, which would drive inflation to 7 per cent for the year," deputy permanent secretary Pairoa Sudsawarng said yesterday. Inflation in the first half shot up to 6.3 per cent, exceeding the ministry's whole-year target of 5.5 per cent. "Inflation in June surpassed our expectations and market consensus only to firm up the chances for a policy rate outcome of a 50-basis-point hike when the Monetary Policy Committee meets mid-July," Jun Trinidad of Citigroup wrote in a report entitled "Thailand Economic Flash". "We believe policy-makers may want to start rushing the adjustments to the policy-rate setting in view of the accelerating inflation momentum. Core inflation in June crossed 3.5 per cent, the high end of the Bank of Thailand's annual core-target range, a first since the Bank of Thailand adapted the inflation-targeting programme." However, the Commerce Ministry remains optimistic the oil-price spurt may have run out of gas and that oil prices will not rise as expected in the remaining months, so it has left its annual target unchanged at 5.5 per cent for the year. Oil prices averaged $103.80 a barrel in the first half, peaking at $136.50 late last month, compared with $65.70 in June 2007. Pairoa said last month's high inflation rate was acceptable for the economy and in academic terms, because it was due mainly to the skyrocketing oil price, which affected all other countries. In May, inflation peaked at 25.2 per cent in Vietnam, 10.4 per cent in Indonesia, 9.6 per cent in the Philippines, 8.2 per cent in India, 7.7 per cent in China, 7.5 per cent in Singapore and 3.8 per cent in Malaysia. However, the heat-up in inflation may suffocate consumer sentiment as the cost of living goes up, but incomes remain stagnant, she said. Prices of food and beverages increased 11.4 per cent last month, with flour jumping 35.8 per cent, pork 31.6 per cent and eggs and dairy products 11.1 per cent year on year. Non-food and beverage prices increased 7.2 per cent, largely from the oil price increasing 44.7 per cent and transportation and communications costs rising 16.8 per cent. Last month's core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, increased 3.6 per cent year on year and 0.9 percentage point from May. Core inflation in the first six months of the year was 2.2 per cent.

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ 3 Airlines Cut Routes to Save Costs By Suchat Sritama The Nation Published on July 2, 2008 Three low-cost airlines - Nok Air, One-Two-Go and Thai AirAsia - have cut and rescheduled flights in response to record-high jet fuel prices. Effective yesterday, Nok Air cut three domestic routes - Bangkok-Chiang Rai, Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani and Bangkok-Krabi. It is also considering reducing its 21 flights a week to Phuket. Affected travellers are being transferred to Thai Airways International and Thai AirAsia. The domestic route changes followed the cancellation of its international Bangkok-Bangalore and Bangkok-Hanoi flights. "We're losing money," an airline representative said, who declined to confirm if losses were as high as Bt1 billion as had been reported. The reports have fuelled expectations that the airline would be shut down soon. Meanwhile, One-Two-Go has cut the number of Bangkok-Chiang Mai and Bangkok-Phuket flights from 28 per week to 21, starting yesterday. The flight frequency to Hat Yai has also been cut by half to seven, while those to Chiang Rai and Nakhon Si Thammarat are down from seven to two flights per week. The daily flight to Surat Thani is to continue. Thai AirAsia has cancelled the weekly flight to Xiamen, China, due to lack of passengers. Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer of Thai AirAsia, said operating costs had jumped from 30 per cent to 50 per cent due to spiking oil prices. "However, we have no further plans to reduce or cut more flights," he said. The airline planned to add more international routes from Bangkok to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, within the next two or three months. It is also studying scheduling flights to Bali. The airline recently started flights to Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City. Thai AirAsia has increased its flights to Phuket and Chiang Mai. The airline expected the number of passengers to reach 4.6 million this year, a 25-per-cent growth rate. To survive the lower passenger traffic due to higher travelling costs, the airline has approached 15 corporate clients to encourage more business travel. To boost loyalty, the airline has launched a programme paying up to Bt1,800 to compensate passengers whose flights are delayed more than three hours.

Those bagels are made by Continental Bakery. They may not be the same quality as you will find in mid-town Manhattan, but considering what is available in Thailand they're pretty good. Villa Market also carries frozen Lender's Bagels.

As if Sunee Plaza hasn't had enough troubles lately, now a bizarre shooting has occurred. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. The following appears in PATTAYA ONE: See http://www.pattayaone.net/news_01_07_51_4.html for photos _____ Woman Shot Following Argument over Sunnee Plaza Bars In the early hours of Monday Morning, Police Lieutenant Colonel Sawai made his way to the front of the Car Park of the Yensabai Condotel in South Pattaya to investigate the aftermath of a shooting incident which injured a 23 year old woman. The injured woman was taken to the Pattaya Memorial Hospital by her brother, Khun Tanapon aged 29 who explained to Police that the two were sitting and drinking on the side of the road when a man known only as ”Hua” approached the brother and suggested he was taking care of bars in the Sunnee Plaza area. A verbal argument between the two men took place and Mr. Hua left the scene and returned with a gun. It is thought that he mistakenly shot the woman who was sitting next to her Brother. She was taken to Hospital with a leg wound and Police are now searching for the shooter who remains at large.

You need bigger bags . . .

"I love America. I love all the rights and freedom we used to have." - George Carlin (RIP)

On the face of it, the whole thing seems like a horrendous miscarriage of justice to me. I would like more details, though, before forming my own opinion. Two things in favor of the USA position, as I see it, are the fact that the USA officials who sent him on to Jordan had no way of knowing he would then be turned over to Syria and end up tortured, if indeed that really happened. Also, nothing in the article specifies the reasons why he was sent on to Jordan and why the Jordanian officials turned him over to Syria. If he was tortured in Syria, why? What did the Syrian officials want from him? Why did they torture him? What had he done or was suspected of having done? Why did they eventually release him? How did he hire an American lawyer to represent him? Wouldn't he have had to enter the USA to do that? If yes, then why would he be detained and sent to Jordan in one instance, and then allowed to enter the USA later? I'm no lawyer, but my personal logic tells me that if he was technically not on US soil, then how can it be justified that he was seized by US officials while in transit? Also, since he was held for several days, wasn't he held on US soil? Wasn't he on US soil when the actual decision was made to send him to Jordan? What bothers me is not so much that a decision was made to send him back to Jordan, but the fact that the US courts ruled that they won't even hear the case. Again, I'm no lawyer. If anyone reading this happens to be a lawyer, I would like to know your opinion. Do you agree with the court's ruling? This whole thing is now on my "I Don't Get It" list.

I don't know where you can get them, or even if you can get them in Thailand, but I would think your best shot at it would be at the Paragon, in Bangkok. What about that same Thai lady you had dinner with? If she's flying back and forth to LA, maybe you can get her to bring some for you.