Whilst blogging yesterday about assaults on tourists it did occur to me that there's another potential knock down threat to Pattaya that could easily rear it's ugly head in 2008.
It relates to the growing influence of Russian money on Walking Street. A friend who's lived and worked in Russia once told me that life in Russia is just as cheap as it is here in Thailand. That being the case then any conflict between the Russians and the already established Pattaya mafias could well turn ugly with tourists and BM's caught in the crossfire.
Thus far, all parties appear happy to share the Pattaya money pie so my concerns could at best be described as alarmist and equally as being without factual basis. Dangerous ground I know but what happens if/when the Russians want to expand further into Walking Street. Independent operators will be the easy targets but the crunch will come when they want a property owned by a syndicate. We will have to wait and see what there reaction is to 'niet'.
Sierra Tangos
- Pattaya Rag Quiz sponsored by Club Blu (opens in just 9 days)
I will post questions most days from my Jan 19 post until Jan 30. You should e-mail your answers to me at pattaya.rag@gmail.com . You can e-mail me each time there are questions are you can mail me one time with all answers before midnight (Thai time) Jan 31. The questions will be sequentially numbered so you will know if you've missed any. Include in the mail the name you want to be known by if you win. I don't want to use a mail address to identify the winner. The winner will be announced on Feb 1.
The prize for the most correct answers is a free 'barf' in Club Blu so it will be of most interest to residents and regular visitors to Thailand. Here's the next question:
Q9. Which is the first animal listed in the Oxford English Dictionary?
Note: Barf covers the barfine only and not ST/LT fees. Also, it's up to you to get your choice to say "yes".
- Taboo Go Go, Soi 16, Walking Street, has introduced Sambuca Sundays and Tequila Tuesdays. A case of light the blue touch paper and retreat me thinks.
- Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse - the current turmoil on world markets indicates a "significant shift of power and influence" from the US to emerging economic giants such as China and India, international financier George Soros said Wednesday. Soros, in a BBC interview at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, said it would be "very difficult to avoid recessions" in the US and in Britain. [via Bangkok Post]
- Khunying Potjaman Shinawatra denied all charges related to the 772-million-baht land deal when she appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning. This is the first hearing of the case, as she and her husband Thaksin failed to appear before the court last year. She told the court Mr Thaksin would return in May to fight the charges. The court scheduled to check evidence of the defendant on April 29 and 30. [via Bangkok Post]
- Heath Ledger, the charismatic actor whose charming smile and edgy talent made him a top Hollywood heartthrob, was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment from an apparent suicide. Australian-born Ledger, 28, had reportedly been in bad spirits since his October split from actress Michelle Williams, with whom he fathered a baby girl, Matilda, in 2005. He had reportedly been battling a heroin addiction. [via Bangkok Post]
- Why I detest Burt Reynolds and Nicolas Cage by Kathleen Turner - her autobiography is being serialised in the Daily Mail and she appears to be a shoot from the hip sort movie star. Makes interesting reading.
- I watched a couple of movies over the weekend and the one worth seeing is Charlie Wilson's War with Tom Hanks, (good), Julia Roberts, (average) and Philip Seymour Hoffman, (star). It would be interesting to know how much of it is true and how much is Hollywood rewriting history. Good copy, entertaining movie and yet another case of winning the war but not the peace.
The second movie Warlords, (with English subtitles), contains some brilliantly choreographed battle sequences in the early stages but sadly, that's where the positives end. The English subtitles were clearly translated by somebody high or with a dictionary and no rudimentary knowledge of English grammar. The word 'God' kept appearing in the subtitles with alarming regularity and I thought this is hardly a religious film. The 'light' eventually went on when I realised the translator had taken the 'Lord' of Warlord and translated it into 'God'. The second most common word was 'clue' and I still haven't figured out what that was about. So as a silent movie, Warlords is one to miss. If you are in to Chinese movies then I would suggest you wait for the Grade 9 copy to come out in the hope that the sub-titles are sorted.
- An easy way to make a web page - Roxer takes a new approach to making web pages, based on the idea that you should never have to bother with code. With Roxer anyone can make visually stunning and fully functional web pages online using only a web browser. [via Go2Web20]
- THAI has launched special fares for travel across the entire network for all economy class travellers. Book by 29 Feb 2008 and travel by 22 June 2008 (there are some travel restrictions that apply around Easter and school holiday periods depending on the destination chosen). Seats are limited at the lead fares shown and all flights are subject to availability that changes daily. Depending on proposed travel dates and destinations, there may be seats available at higher, more flexible fares. [via eTravelBlackboard]
- Anya Daydream
- A little old lady is walking down the street, dragging two plastic bin bags, one in each hand. There's a hole in one of the bags and once in a while a £20 note flies out of it onto the pavement. Noticing this, a policeman stops her. "Madam, there are £20 notes falling out of that bag..."
"Damn!" says the little old lady...."I'd better go back and see if I can find some of them. Thanks for the warning!"
"Well, now, not so fast," says the policeman. "How did you get all that money? Did you steal it?"
"Oh, no", says the little old lady. "You see, my back garden backs onto the car park of the football stadium. Each time there's a game, a lot of fans come and pee in the bushes, right into my flower beds!" So, I go and stand behind the bushes with a big hedge clipper, and each time someone sticks his thingie through the bushes, I grab it and I say: '£20 or off it comes!' "
"Hey, not a bad idea!" laughs the cop. "Good luck!" By the way, what's in the other bag?"
"Well", says the little old lady, "Not all of them pay."
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