The Build Up Begins For 2008

 

Okay, I lied, but this is not really a post. Just a few photos taken around town late in the afternoon today, (mostly Soi 7 / 8) and showing bars already playing to full houses and balloons going up for tonight's festivities.

Pattaya on an off day is party town so I'm not sure what words you would use to describe it on New Year's Eve. Sodom and Gomorrah like is the best I can do.

More photos of the evening's events in tomorrow's post.

Again, Happy New Year To All,

Ed

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BuzzNet Tags: Pattaya, pattaya, pattaya_rag, pattaya_nightlife, go-go_bars, bar_girls, pattayarag, bar_go-go_pattaya, beach_pattaya, news_pattaya, girl_pattaya, girl_thai, bar_girl_thai, lady_boys, katoeys

Fireworks In Pattaya

Starting about 10mins before midnight on New Year's Eve one of the best free firework shows you'll ever see takes place in Pattaya. Yet mongers one and all show their true professionalism and dedication to duty by sitting in go-go's all over town until well after the show is over. You'd think they'd be able to spare 20mins of flesh ogling time to see a show which runs from Bali Hai to the furthest end of the bay in Naklua.

The main show is at Bali Hai but just about every hotel in town has it's own display so the whole skyline is alight with fireworks. It really is awesome and although I've seen it before, I'll be there again this year with a vantage point that gives me a view of the whole bay.

Mongers - I promise you the girls will still be available after the fireworks show so why don't you treat yourself to the best free show in town. Or to put it in a language you'll understand, "get a feckin' life".

There will be no Pattaya Rag post on 31 Dec so my next post will be late in the day 1st Jan, Thai time.

A Happy & Healthy 2008 To You All

Sierra Tangos

• A total of 707 road accidents took place in Thailand on Saturday, resulting in 85 deaths and 776 injuries. It was the second day of the "seven high risk travel days" of the New Year holiday, with most revelers having left Bangkok for upcountry to join their family members or for touring, said a senior Interior Ministry official.

  Niran Jongwutiwes, deputy permanent secretary for Interior, said so far 1,147 road accidents had been recorded over the past two days, bringing the total death toll to 118 - up nine people from the corresponding two days of last year. 1,254 people were injured, 46 less than last year.

  Most road accidents over the two days took place in the northern capital of Chiang Mai and in Nakhon Pathom, near Bangkok, said Mr. Niran.

• A Norwegian tourist was beaten by four Thai men outside Wonderful Bar Beer early Sunday morning. Geir Andre Sirevag, 26, remained unconscious at the Pattaya Memorial Hospital. Rescuers found his unconscious body in a bush behind the bar, police said. A witness told police that the tourist was beaten up by four Thai men at 2:30 am and they carried his body into the bush and fled on motorcycles. [via The Nation]

• Thais returning home for the New Year festivities have been the victims of stone-throwing gangs in separate attacks on lonely country roads, local news reports said Sunday. The windscreen of a car driven by a Bangkok woman was smashed when a group of men threw stones on the highway in Surat Thani's Ban Na Doem district in southern Thailand. [via Earthtimes]

• An explosive Muay Thai heavyweight clash tops an excellent bill at the annual "Battle at the Beach" card in Pattaya next Friday, Jan 4th. Former WBC Muay Thai heavyweight title challenger Ricardo van den Bos faces hard-hitting Tomasz Wozack over five rounds at the Fairtex (Theprasit) Stadium in a fight that looks certain to produce fireworks.

Dutchman van den Bos was stopped in two rounds by Shane 'Rocky' del Rosario in Los Angeles for the vacant WBC heavyweight crown in September and faces another tough match against unbeaten Wozack, who trains at the Rompo Gym in Bangkok. The mouthwatering match is for van den Bos' WBC international title. Main support on the bill is Thai heavyweight Appichai against Russia's Malek. In total there are eight fights on the card, all involving adults.This is the fifth year the event has taken place and action starts at 8pm.

Tickets can be obtained from the Hoek van Holland cafe on Jomtien Beach or by telephoning 083 111 6501. They are priced 1,500 baht and 1,000 baht. Any left over will be available at the stadium on the night. [via Bangkok Post]

• AlbumArt.org is a site that provides searchable CD and DVD art in large format. I’ve always used Amazon to download album art, which doesn’t provide large size images, and is on occasion unable to deliver artwork for some titles. My second resource is typically Google image search, which is unpredictable.

This is why I was very pleased to discover AlbumArt.org. It allows you to search for either CD or DVD artwork and instantly produces (mostly) large format results. It also contains album art from international and/or rare releases. [via freewaregenius]

Ed. I tested it with something a bit outdated, The Lettermen, (something my grandfather used to play), and it came up with a staggering 181 hits. If you like your Mp3's tagged with album art then this is the go to guy when sites like Amazon can't deliver.

• Limewire is one of the most popular Peer to Peer file sharing applications around, and it's easy to see why. With its simple but powerful interface, it's the next best thing to old school Napster. One thing that cheapskates and teenagers don't like about it, however, is its tendency to nag the user to upgrade to Limewire Pro for a fee.

Enter Frostwire. virtually indiscernible from Limewire, this program works just fine. It allows the user to download just about any kind of file from a massive community of Limewire and Gnutella users. Hypothetically it's possible to get copyrighted music as well, but you'd never even think about such a thing, we're sure.

Frostwire is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. Ubuntu and Debian users can grab it from Synaptic, and everyone else can check out the download site. [via Download Squad]

• Fujitsu, a plasma display pioneer, has decided that they have had enough of the plasma TV business and has taken the decision to quit it, no doubt with competitive pressures from lower cost LCD panels being one of the main reasons. It looks as though LCDs are the way of the future, so if you’re seriously considering your next TV purchase, you’d best stick to the LCD side of things instead of plasma. [via Coolest Gadgets]

• Nicole Graves Penthouse

• Petra Nemcova Lingerie

• Classy one liners:
  

• He always listens to his conscience -- that still small inner voice that warns him when somebody's watching
• He's probably the only guy in town who ever got his finger caught in a screwdriver
• When it comes to cooking, If it's moral, my wife's done it to a chicken
• Have you ever wondered why the same candy bar that rots a child's teeth is a wonderful source of quick energy for adults?
• Studies show that 100% of those who advocate abortion are people who already have been born.

• Saying Goodbye
  

This one just tickled my sense of humour. Definitely worth a look if you haven't seen it.

Saying Goodbye

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Identity In The Thai Soul

The Thai election last week has laid bare a burgeoning crisis of identity in the Thai soul, hitherto grounded in loyalty to king, nation and the Buddhist Sanggha. Of course, the immediate issue is how ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra will manoeuvre -- either from luxurious exile in Hong Kong or London or by "facing the music" in the courts for his alleged corruption in Bangkok, to exercise the real power his new party, the PPP, a pop-up for the Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party which won almost a majority in the new parliament.

It isn't a Vladimir Putin-like situation, where the named nominee for the presidential succession didn't give a decent interval before promising that Putin would remain in substantive power. For there are four factors limiting Thaksin despite his unlimited funds, huge electoral plurality and unchallenged supremacy in the countryside, where his free medical care and job stimulation are, of course, popular.

One is the fact that he doesn't have a majority. Khun Samak, his stand-in, must concede some ministries to the small allied parties. Secondly, there are real corruption cases unresolved in the courts against Thaksin. There are some honest judges in Thailand -- a friend of mine once on the constitutional (highest) court resisted every blandishment five years ago to "overlook" the then charges against Thaksin. Justice is a real "risk" in the kingdom.

Thirdly, the military has inserted a clause in the existing Constitution giving legitimacy to their intervention if they deem fit. It's another hurdle Thaksin can jump, but it risks another coup, especially if he is contemplating treason charges against those very generals for the Sept 19 coup last year.

Fourthly......

 

Ed. This is an extract of an article from today's The New Straits Times. Click on the link to read the full article. It's content would be deemed 'too sensitive' for the Thai press. 

 

 

Sierra Tangos 

 

• New Living Dolls 1 is planning to party hard for New Year's Eve. They will be giving things away ALL NIGHT, bar fines, bottles of drink, beer, check-bins and more!! Draught beer still 50 Baht and shots start at 50 Baht

  

• Katoey has many surprises in her underwear - not least of which is 1,956 yaba tablets. Maybe 'she' had 2,000 tabs but 44 got sucked up when the Boys In Brown appeared. [via Pattaya Daily News]

           

• Hundred of thousands of New Year celebrants are expected to leave Bangkok Saturday to either to join their family members up-country or to take a long weekend holiday. Looks like being a busy few days in Pattaya.

 

• Myanmar has reported an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus among domestic chickens in a village near the Myanmar-Thai border, state-run media reported Saturday. The unusual deaths of domestic chickens in a village in eastern Shan State's Mongphyat township, about 50 kilometers (28 miles) north of the Myanmar-Thai border, was reported to the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary department on Dec. 23, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported. Laboratory tests confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus, the paper said. [via Macroworld] 

 

• Why is it farangs 'dumb down' to Thai standards when riding their motorcykes around Pattaya? Twice in the last month I've had a farang try to cut through on the inside as I make a left turn. A turn I indicated for and indicators the farang must have seen as I had to crawl in traffic to get to the turn. Is it a case of checking their brains at Immigration? I know I'm being naive here but why can't farangs maintain their home standards in the hope that something rubs off on the Thais who haven't had the benefit of lessons. I know, I know, dream on.... If the farangs who tried to carve me up are reading this, you're a pair of fuck wits.

 

   

• On the morning of 29th December, the Pattaya police were informed of a fire which broke out at a Pattaya building on Soi Post Office off Second Road. The officers, rescue workers and fire brigade rushed to the scene and it took them two whole hours to get the fire under control.

The body of Mr. Ravi Gupta from India was found in the toilet on the second floor. He was only 23 years old. Another victim Mrs. Jampa Jaitrong(Thai), 33 was found on the third floor. Both died of smoke inhalation.

As per witnesses, the fire had begun in a sauna room on the second floor, however the actual cause of the fire will be determined after police investigation. [via Thaindian]

 

• Transferring photos from your camera to your PC just got a whole easier with Eye Fi Wireless Memory Cards. Yes, there really is Wi-Fi inside that tiny little card. No cables, no waiting, no hassles.

The Eye-Fi Card comes with everything needed to make it simple to set up and connect to your home Wi-Fi network. After that, pop the card into your digital camera and start capturing those memories. It stores pictures like a regular SD card no matter where you are, and uploads your photos automatically as soon as you return to your home network. All you have to do is turn the camera on.

             

 

• Download 300+ famous fonts for free - Have you ever seen a really cool font on a sign, product, or website and you wanted to use it for something? If you have then you need to go visit TypeNow which has a selection of over 300 fonts all available for free. Each one is designed to replicate fonts for popular movies, bands, games, television shows, and more. [via Cybernet]

 

 

 

• Only 39% of the people browsing Pattaya Rag use Firefox. Around 53% use Internet Explorer (IE) and I have to ask myself why. I mean Firefox loads pages faster than IE, it has some brilliant add-ons and if the techie press are to be believed, it is more secure. So why use IE. Well, I do use it to get MS updates but only because MS won't allow me to get the updates with Firefox. Other than that, forget it. If you use IE but would like to see what 39% of Pattaya Rag readers already know, i.e. Firefox is a superior browser, then click here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Ten reasons why you should move to Sweden.... Top 10 sexiest Swedish babes

 

 

 

 

• Iga for Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

• A husband and wife, out enjoying a round of golf, were about to tee off on the third hole, which was lined with beautiful homes. The wife hit her shot and the ball began to slice - her shot was headed directly at a very large plate glass window. Much to her surprise, the ball smashed through the window and shattered it into a million pieces.

They felt compelled to see what damage was done and drove off to see what happened. When they peeked inside the house, they found no one there. The husband called out and no one answered. Upon further investigation, they saw a small gentleman sitting on the couch with a turban on his head.

The wife asked the man, "Do you live here?"

"No, someone just hit a ball through the window, knocked over the vase you see there, freeing me from that little bottle. I am so grateful!" he answered.

The husband asked, "Are you a genie?"

"Oh, why, yes I am. In fact, I am so grateful I will grant you two wishes, and the third I will keep for myself," the man replied.

The husband and wife agreed on two wishes - one was for a scratch handicap for the husband, to which the wife readily agreed. The other was for an income of $1,000,000 per year forever.

The genie nodded his head and said, "Done!"

The genie now said, "For my wish, I would like to have my way with your wife. I have not been with a woman for many years, and after all, I made you a scratch golfer and a millionaire."

The husband and wife agreed.

After the genie and wife were finished, the genie asked the wife, "How long have you been married?"

To which she responded, "Three years."

The genie then asked, "How old is your husband?"

To which she replied, "31 years old."

The genie then asked, "And how long has he believed in this genie crap?"

 

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Coalition Courtship Already In Troubled Waters

Talks to set up a stable coalition government in Thailand hit a snag after the party backing ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra rejected all conditions set by small political outfits.

The pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) has been wooing small parties to launch a strong coalition since it won 233 of the 480 parliamentary seats in Sunday's poll, just short of the absolute majority needed to govern alone.

But the party rejected five conditions set by two small outfits - Chart Thai and Puea Pandin - for joining a PPP led coalition government. The two parties have a combined 61 seats.

"Those five conditions are irrelevant to political bargaining," Surapong Suebwonglee, PPP's secretary-general, told a news conference.

The five conditions include reverence for the Thai monarchy, no revenge against political foes and respect for Prem Tinsulanonda, a top adviser to Thailand's revered king.

Mr Prem is believed to have played a prominent role in last year's bloodless coup ousting Thaksin last year.

PPP leader Samak Sundaravej also slammed the conditions.

"I want to tell Banharn that you are insulting me [by including respect for the monarchy in the conditions]. It means that I am not loyal to the monarchy," he told reporters, referring to the leader of Chart Thai party, Banharn Silpa-archa.

The five conditions also include no dissolution of the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), a powerful anti-graft panel set up by the junta after the coup.

The panel is investigating a slate of corruption claims against Thaksin, who has been living in exile abroad since the coup. But the deposed premier told reporters in Hong Kong Tuesday he planned to return to Thailand by April. [via ABC News]

 

 

 Sierra Tangos 

 

• Spicy Girls, Pattayaland 1 closes tonight and there are reports on the boards that the new Spicy Girls has already 'soft' opened in Soi Post Office.

 

 

 

• Festivities for Pattaya’s official New Year’s Eve celebration will begin at Bali Hai pier at 5:10 p.m. and continue through to 2:20 a.m. Highlights include a concert featuring God Jakapan, AF#4, Chin JKI, Cherry Cherry, Punch Black Head, plus the Du Dokkradon Comedy Group, and the most beautiful woman in Thailand, Nong Or, Miss Thailand 2007. At 11:55 p.m. the countdown will begin, with fireworks over Pattaya Bay to welcome 2008. [via Pattaya Mail]

 

• Suspect your teelak is playing away from home in your absence, then this is for you. For $65 and change, put an end to suspicions of infidelity and doubt with the Check Mate semen detection kit." It contains everything needed to detect semen on undergarments or clothing, for up to 2 years if "they haven't been washed" even if the stains are invisible. The test only takes five minutes, so they can't get far. [via Crave]

 

 

• You can find a new blog on Pattaya at Jizzflicker CUMs in Pattaya. One good thing about Jizzflicker is if he doesn't get shut down, then I never will....

 

 

• A Danish member of the notorious Bandidos criminal syndicate was sentenced to 18 months in jail by a Thai court for intimidating other foreigners on the resort island of Koh Samui, a local news report said Friday. Kim Lindegaard Neilsen, 36, on Thursday was also found guilty of extortion, but will be released soon because he has already served 17 months in jail. A 43-year-old former British soldier and fellow Bandido member, Crispin Paton-Smith, was acquitted Thursday for lack of evidence.

The court had heard that Neilsen and Paton-Smith had take over a bungee-jumping business from a fellow Bandido member, Briton Neil Patrick William, after threatening to harm him if he reported their allegedly criminal activities, reported The Nation online news service. [via Earthtimes]

 

 

 

• One web messenger for Yahoo!, Google Talk and MSN - like Meebo, AirTalkr offers a web based instant messenger that lets you stay connected with your buddies on Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live and other popular IM services.

But there’re a couple of reasons why you may want to give AirTalkr a shot. Unlike Meebo which is available only for the browser, you can also install AirTalkr IM on your desktop using Adobe AIR runtime. AirTalkr can run on Windows and Mac.

The other useful feature in AirTalkr is something called AirCards. You can view the latest photos that your buddies have uploaded on Flickr, read their most recent blog entries and Twitter tweets right inside AirTalkr. [via Digital Inspiration]

 

• Create perfect group photos from multiple images with Group Shot - Group Shot is a free program that can automatically create a single ’perfect’ image from multiple image sources. It does this by merging the ’good’ parts from other images (typically shots of groups of people) into a final, perfect composite image.

If this is sounding a little bit strange, or if it sounds like it might involve a lot of work/tweaking — I have some news for you: it works like magic; a few clicks will auto-magically deliver perfect group shots that never existed in reality (its almost disconcerting). Group Shot can be found at Microsoft Research

 

 

 

 

• The ultimate site for all things Maria Ozawa  - what a looker.

 

 

 

 

 

• NUTS gets the gang back together for the 50 Sexiest Moments Of 2007

 

 

  

• 11^th Husband

A young man married a beautiful woman who had previously divorced 10 husbands. On their wedding night, she told her new husband to 'Please be gentle; I'm still a virgin'.

'What?' said the puzzled groom. 'How can that be if you've been married ten times?'

'Well, husband#1 was a Sales Representative; he kept telling me how great it was going to be.

'Husband # 2 was in Software Services; he was never really sure how it was suppose to function; but he said he'd look into it and get back with me.

'Husband # 3 was from Field Services; he said that everything checked out diagnostically but he just couldn't get the system up.

'Husband # 4 was in Telemarketing; even though he knew he had the order, he didn't know when he would be able to deliver.

'Husband # 5 was an Engineer, he understood the basic process but he wanted three years to research, implement, and design a new state-of- the-art method.

'Husband #6 was from Administration; he thought he knew how but he wasn't sure whether it was his job or not.

'Husband # 7 was in Marketing; although he had a product, he was never sure how to position it.

'Husband # 8 was a Psychiatrist; all he did was talk about it.

'Husband # 9 was a Gynaecologist; all he did was look at it.

'Husband # 10 was a Stamp Collector; all he ever did was........... God I miss him.

'But now that I've married you, I'm so excited'.

'Wonderful', said the husband, 'but why?

'You're with the government..

This time I know I'm gonna get screwed.

 

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Master Of The Universe

Any attempt to block a return of the Master of the Universe won't work now. For the moment, the Master is basking in the glory of his latest victory.

First, his People Power Party has won 233 parliamentary seats out of 480, giving him a good chance to form the next coalition government. Second, the Criminal Court has sentenced Sondhi Limthongkul, his nemesis, to three years' imprisonment over a libel case against him. Third, if his Manchester City team prevail over Liverpool tomorrow, it would complete a triple triumph.

The next item on the agenda of the Master of the Universe is to plot his return to Thailand after more than a year in exile. He would like Samak Sundaravej to form the next government and his people to be in all the key positions before he boards a flight home, possibly on Valentine's Day. Thousands of his supporters will greet him with red roses at the airport. "We all miss you dearly, Master," they would cry out from the top of their lungs.

Then perhaps it will be time to settle scores. Read the full article at The Nation

 

 

Sierra Tangos 

 

• The Castle, Third Road - 4th Anniversary Fetish Party, Friday, Dec 28th

 

• There have been plenty of comments on the various Pattaya boards this week that bars around town are doing less business than usual for the time of year. It certainly seemed that way to me on my last wander with the majority of bars having more staff and more seats available than I would expect in high season. For sure one or two bars are bucking the trend but they are in a minority. Bar-keeps will be hoping for another surge now that the 'dry' weekends are out of the way.

 

• In the Truevision Magazine for Jan 2008, there is an article detailing Truevision's plans for 2008 which include PVR set top boxes, 8 day Electronic Program Guides and High Definition (HD) broadcasts with Dolby 5.1 surround sound. Wow, that will be some achievement if the pull it off by 2010 never mind in 2008.

 

• New hotels to heat up competition - THA president Chanin Donavanik said  "Next year, hotels will have to work harder due to more than 30,000 rooms being added to the market in the 2006-2008 period, especially in Bangkok, where 3,000 new rooms are set to open. This does not include competition from serviced apartments and guest houses," he said. Chanin said hotels' average room rate in Thailand was the lowest in the region, being 50 per cent lower than in Singapore and 30 per cent less than in Hong Kong. "Even hotels in a world heritage city like Luang Prabang in Laos have a higher one than in Thailand," said Chanin.

 

• Benazir Bhutto Assassinated - Who gains from a destabilised Pakistan? India? Al Queda? Taliban? Afghanistan? weapons manufacturers? With unrest spreading from Burma to Turkey we have to hope it's not another Archduke Ferdinand moment. Just when we need an American leader of real stature, we get George W. Now I'm starting to scare myself...... For the record, oil, gold and US bond prices rose on the news.

 

 

• Microsoft recently launched a preview version of their Download Center website that’s more convenient and easier to navigate than the current version. The downside is that you should install SilverLight in order to enjoy the revamped Microsoft Download Center.

Do not confuse the Microsoft Download Center with Microsoft Windows Update website as they two separate resources.

The Windows Automatic Updates program connects with the Microsoft Update website to download all hotfixes, security patches and other recommended updates for Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office programs after validation.

On the other hand, the Microsoft Download Center is the place for downloading new software that have just left the Microsoft stable. This could be a new version of Windows Defender, Games, Windows Live Messenger or some new PowerToy for Tablet PCs.

And Microsoft offers no RSS feeds for new or updated downloads posted on the Download Center but there’s a workaround for subscribing to the Download Center RSS Feed. [via Digital Inspiration] 

 

• Is it just me or are the Japanese the most innovative nation on the planet when it comes to entertaining their men. Chee On The Rocks is just one example of what I'm talking about. In case you are suffering with a surfeit of hyperlinking then here's a snippet from the article to tempt you:

"They also had a service where the ice served in drinks is first inserted into the hostess's private parts". 

Loy, I say Loy, this is just your sort of bar.

 

 

•  Best Mass Nudity Of 2007 - involves yoga, tennis and penthousing........

 

 

 

   

• The Month After Christmas

'Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house,

Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.

The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I'd taste,

At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales there arose such a number!

When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber).

I'd remember the marvelous meals I'd prepared;

The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rare,

The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese

And the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."

As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt

And prepared once again to do battle with dirt--

I said to myself, as I only can "You can't spend a winter

disguised as a man!"

So--away with the last of the sour cream dip,

Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip

Every last bit of food that I like must be banished

'Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won't have a cookie--not even a lick.

I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.

I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,

I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore--

But isn't that what January is for?

Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.

Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!

                                              [From Bill Stebbins]

 

LiveJournal Tags: Pattaya, pattaya, pattaya_rag, pattaya_nightlife, go-go_bars, bar_girls, pattayarag, bar_go-go_pattaya, beach_pattaya, news_pattaya, girl_pattaya, girl_thai, bar_girl_thai, lady_boys, katoeys

Et Tu, Samak?

The fact that PPP didn't win an outright mandate to govern has created a significant problem for Thaksin. He can't return until he knows the make up of the coalition government. Even when he knows the parties involved in the coalition he has to be sure that all parties in the coalition agree to his amnesty. In the wheeling and dealing going on this week it's quite possible that the smaller parties being courted by PPP might make Thaksin's prosecution a condition of consummating a political relationship. On top of that the Bangkok elite and generals are going to keep the pressure on with regard to prosecuting Thaksin. Otherwise, the coup will have all been for nought.

Samak used Thaksin's popularity to win the rural vote but now that he has it, I'm not sure what long term value Thaksin has for Samak. I mean, Samak now controls his own destiny with or without Thaksin's support. It could well be that Samak will have to be Brutus to Thaksin's Caesar if he wants to run the country. One thing's for sure if I was Thaksin, I would chose my friends very carefully in the coming weeks. For the rest of us, it could make fascinating viewing.    

  

Sierra Tangos

 

• Baby Dolls Go Go Party, for new Mamasan - 8.00pm, Thursday, Dec 27th

 

• LK Metro Block Party, 7.00pm, Thursday, Dec 27th - Sponsored by San Mig with sounds from the San Mig Band and food by Big Joe

 

• A number of bars have increased their bar fines for the holiday period. You can find a detailed list at Thai Anxiety. Strangely, non of what I consider to be top tier bars are in the 2,000 Baht category.  

 

• Just when you thought it was safe.... Eastern Thailand may face water shortages within five years unless additional resources can be made available to meet growing demand, says Chakramon Phasukvanich, the permanent secretary for the Industry Ministry. He said raw water reservoirs in the region could run dry as demand grows from 300 billion Baht worth of new petrochemical complexes planned in the area. Water resources would be put under additional pressure as new independent power plants, automotive plants and other industrial projects come online. Eastern Thailand's tourism industry is also consuming vast quantities of water in places including Pattaya, Rayong and Trat. [via Bangkok Post]
  

 

• Ladyboy freelancers are congregating at the corner of Beach Road and Soi 13 between the hours of 2am - 4am. Just thought you might want to know.

 

 

• Are you a retro sort of guy named Geoff? Are you one of those types of people who really, really need their CDs, DVDs and CD-Rs organized into some sort of jukebox formation?

  

If you are, then the CD Carousel Plus might be for you. Basically the Carousel is capable of holding 150 discs, and thanks to the included software + USB cable, you can connect it to your computer, create a database, and afterwards search all the collection of CDs, DVDs and CD-Rs by title, or keyword.

How to select a disc? If you know the number of the disc, just use the keypad. Otherwise, double click the title you want from the search results (on your PC) and the disc is delivered to you in seconds. The Carousel can also be used standalone (minus PC).

It's not clear to me how you return a CD to the Carousel and maintain the integrity of your database and numbering system. That apart, the Carousel will cost you around $200.

 

• I used the holiday to install Windows XP SP 3 and the install was trouble free apart from the fact it took 4 hours to complete. Thank goodness I had the Queen's speech to entertain me..... It takes forever backing up each Windows SP2 file individually before replacing it with the SP 3 equivalent. I have been so overwhelmed with the differences between SP2 and SP3 that I had to go to System Properties to double check SP3 had been installed successfully. It had and 24 hours later I still haven't spotted any differences between SP2 and SP3. Looks like the changes are all under the hood.

 

• Quote Of The Day by Trey Ellis when commenting on the joys of Christmas Day with kids - I immediately recognized in the eyes of my kids the purity of the joy that I knew on that day when I was their age, still untainted by the disappointments that, with time, will meet us all.
  

 

 

• Liz Fuller, UK TV presenter, nip slip

 

 

• The President's Christmas Eve Letter [via Toby Barlow, Huffington Post]

Dear Santa,

It's been a so-so year. Could have been better. Jenna wrote a book (Gosh, didn't see that coming! Who'd a thunk it. I sure couldn't do that.) and, well, I guess that's all that happened that was any good.

Okay, real quick 'cause it's bedtime, here's my list of the things I want:

(1) Rebuild New Orleans: No one around here seems to want to do it, so I guess it's just up to you and the elves.

(2) No Child Left Behind: Sure it sounds great but turns out to be kind of tricky, and I tried but I seem to have just messed it up even more. (Momz probably right, I'm just no good at nuthun.)

(3) Peace in the Middle East: I don't know if you have any supporters over there in Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Pakistan, or Afghanistan. I'm sure I don't. But maybe you can do something. Boy, I've tried. Me and Condi, we've done near done everything we could think of!

(4) No More Climate Change: At first I tried to wish it wasn't so, but I guess there's just no ignoring it. And now Al Gore's gone and got himself both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize while all I've got is a couple hundred boxes of Jenna's stupid unsold book. Hey baby Jesus, thanks for nothing! Anyway Santa, save the polar bears and stuff, okay? Thanks.

(5) No More Foreclosures: I thought the phrase "Ownership Society" would make everything okay for everybody, but guess what Santa, it didn't. Just last night I was getting upset watching the news about how people were getting thrown out of their homes and so now Dick says they won't let me watch the TV no more.

(6) Lastly, and this is an important one, whatever you do, Don't, Don't Don't let Hillary win. That would be soooo embarrassing. My mom would just never let me forget that one. Not ever.

That's it. Thanks for doing all this stuff. You know, being President is real hard. My head aches. I'm going to bed now.

Enjoy the milk and sorry I ate all the cookies,

George

 

• One day, a little boy wrote to Santa Clause, "Please send me a sister." Santa Clause wrote him back, "Ok, send me your mother."

 

• What two things in the air can make a women pregnant? Her feet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to one and .... well, to my one reader.

Photo courtesy of Krowden at either Pattaya Addicts or Secrets, (can't remember)

I was planning a post for Christmas Eve but TOT in their wisdom had me offline all day. Of course, being a Bank Holiday all I got from TOT was an answering machine but it must be some answering machine. I tried to log on Christmas Day morning and presto, everything's working just fine, touch wood.

 

My next post will be late Boxing Day, Thai time.

 

Again, have a brilliant Christmas and don't forget your party hats if you go out on the town.

Ed.

 

 

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There's More To Pattaya Than Politics

As mentioned in a Friday's post, I had a wander round the photographers and flower ladies of Walking Street last week and I found the time to sit at a street side bar to watch the world go by. Well, I was with my other half so the alternative was wandering indoors and having a lovely run up and throw her arms round me. If that happened, Santa would not be coming down my chimney but my brother-in-law and a few of his pals might. In the time it took me to down one beer, three tour groups of Taiwanese negotiated their neck bending way down the Street but not a Baht was spent that I could see. The Street was busy but Western bar hopping punters were clearly in the minority.

This was confirmed in the bars where more staff were on display than I've seen for sometime. Score one for the residents. Yahoooooo. Well, I suppose that should read residents with no financial interest in the bars, other than borrowing their staff now and again. Yahooooooo.

The busiest bar of the night without doubt was What's Up, Soi 15. Great buzz, great fun, no seats. We had to stand at the back by the changing rooms but it gave me a good vantage point for the Jacuzzi. Who ever thought up the gymnast's rings over the Jacuzzi deserves a medal. Brilliant. Think Olga Korbut without the leotard......

The bar with the most staff had to be Peppermint. They have an unbelievable number and although there's no No. 87 there are more than enough to keep you warm on a cold winter's night. I think you get my drift but it's hard not to wax lyrically when you get confronted by an unlimited number of happy smiling faces. A couple of girls in the cage are top drawer but getting a seat in that area is nigh on impossible.

The bar with the friendliest, touchy feelie staff had to be Baby Dolls, Soi 15. I can only report this as a distant, hugely disappointed observer but this is the bar where no holds are barred, none, nada, diddly squat. If, that's your thing, Baby Dolls is the bar for you.

This is always a subjective one but for me the bar with the best lookers is still Happy Go Go. How easy it is to get involved with said lookers I don't know. My lead's getting awfully short these days so I suspect I'm never going to be able to answer this important question.

The bar with the biggest improvement since my last visit was Club Boesche. I'd posted in Pattaya Rag some weeks ago that I'd called in Club Boesche early in the evening and everything had been pretty ordinary. I went in late evening this time and it was buzzing. Totally, different bar to my previous visit. The girls were plentiful and plentiful up top too, and dancing with enthusiasm. I guess timing is everything on the Pattaya bar scene.

The new development of the night had to be King's Cafe next to Hammer. The question is what was there before?  I can't remember. 

We had a look in the new Russian bar, Ocean 10 and I was surprised that it didn't open out like Lucifers inside. It's a long, narrow bar with a good Pinoy band but customers were in short supply. There again, it was probably too early for FL action.

The bar with fewest customers had to be Gothic. In fact we were the only customers so they will have to come up with more than a Middle Aged theme to attract more middle aged punters. The runes are not good.

 

 

Sierra Tangos

 

• An interesting article on Thailand's next premier, Samak Sundaravej can be found at Time. Hard to believe a man with his track record can still be popular. He's obviously a consummate politician.

 

 

• People Power party (PPP) leader Samak Sundaravej announced on Sunday night he is ready to become Thailand's new prime minister.

"I will be the next premier for sure," he said.

His announcement came after unofficial result showed that his party has won about 230 seats out of 480 total. About 70 per cent of votes have been counted when he spoke.

"It is a victory of people of Thailand," he told reporters.

Mr Samak, a strong supporter of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, thanked his supporters and invited other political parties to help PPP to solve national problems. He also said Mr Thaksin called to congratulate him already, adding that the deposed premier said he is ready to return to fight criminal charges after a new government is formed. [via Bangkok Post]

 

• Christmas Eve parties Monday night at TQ2, Blues Factory and Secrets

 

• Channel 4's My Boyfriend The Sex Tourist Part 1 is on Youtube

 

• A thread on Pattaya Secrets forum is claiming bars will only open from 6.00pm to either 1.00am or 2.00am from Jan 2008. Maybe this is a cunning plot to solve the traffic problems on the Beach Road. No fecker will be here. 

 

 

• Khun Thaksin is coming home on Valentine's Day at the latest. Hope he can get his money back so he can buy a car.

 

 

 

• I can't help thinking ESPN's Friday night Football Forecast program, a.k.a. Don't forget to phone your bookie" has taken a turn for the worse. It's gone from previewing the weekends games to shouting the bookie's odds for the same games. Sure the program will appeal to a massive market of gambling mad Asians but is that sufficient justification in itself for the focus of the program. The program could well be encouraging viewers to punt money they can't afford to lose.

On top of that, you have John Dykes and his panel bemoaning the fact that Asian gambling syndicates have the financial clout to influence officials or arrange power failures when games aren't going their way. Yet it is the very same syndicates that profit indirectly, after ESPN and possibly Profitable Plots (PP), from the program. As a side note, I wonder how PP have been affected by the sub prime crisis in the States. I guess Robbo, Macca and Reevo's other half got theirs for free for doing the promotion so alls well for them no doubt. It will be the people they've encouraged to invest in PP that may well have got burnt. I suppose when there's 'brass' to be made, conscience is in short supply and that certainly seems to be the case here with ESPN and the boys....

  

• Zoo's 200th Issue with 200 hottest women 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Michelle Marsh 2008 Calendar  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• 15 Great Media Managers To Organize Your Photo Albums & Carry Out Basic Editing [via Techlicious] 

 

 

• Christmas Quotes

• The Christmas season has come to mean the period when the public plays Santa Claus to the merchants - John Andrew Holmes
• The one thing women don't want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husband - Joan Rivers
• Mail your packages early so the post office can lose them in time for Christmas - Johnny Carson
• I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph - Shirley Temple

 

 

 

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