Gaybutton

You didn't say why you dislike booking companies such as Agoda. In Pattaya the further you are away from the beach and the "Pattaya part" of Pattaya, the less expensive and less likely to be fully booked hotels get. If all else fails for those of you who want to come to Pattaya, but can't find any vacancies, "The Dark Side" is an option. Maybe not a very desirable option for holiday makers, but at least you can get a room. There are numerous hotels and guesthouses on "The Dark Side" and you would be unlikely to encounter a serious problem finding something. And several of these accommodations are new, some less than six months to a year old. If it were me and I couldn't find a room where I really want one, I would try the Eastern Grand Palace Hotel. It's on "The Dark Side" just a couple hundred meters up Soi Khao Tolo. That location puts you only about ten minutes away from the beach and the gay venues by motorbike taxi. If you are interested, have a look at the following web site: http://hotelpictures.info/eastern-grand-palace-hotel-pattaya/

For the handyman, I recommend Toon. I won't use anyone else. He does everything except air conditioning, does it right, guarantees his work, and at very reasonable prices. His number is 081 694 6206. For TV repair, I really don't know, although I do know that the electronics shop in the basement of Tuk Com does that kind of work. If you use Toon, he might know someone who will do TV repair in your home. To get to the Numchai on Sukhumvit - if you're going northbound, you'll see it on your right after you pass the Pattaya Klang intersection, just before you get to the next intersection at Soi Siam Country Club, a few hundred feet further on. Make a U-Turn at the Soi SIam Country Club intersection. I understand Numchai does repair work, but I've heard that you have to bring the TV to them and they send it out somewhere. If you have a Sony, there is a Sony repair center, also on Sukhumvit. I forget the precise location. It's on the east side of Sukhumvit just north of the Pattaya Tai intersection as I recall.

As an afterthought, when it comes to buying computer hardware, such as a monitor screen, another hard drive, DVD drive, or whatever, I no longer go to buy those things myself. I call Killin at 081 295 3860. He'll get what I need, will make sure it's best for my computer, he'll bring it to me, and he'll install it and make sure it works. He'll get it cheaper than I am ever able to find it myself. And he doesn't ask for a deposit.

None of these stories come as any surprise to me. The surprise would be when things go smoothly. We've illustrated the point many times over the years in various posts about how if you go to one bank and don't get the answer you want, just go to another branch of the same bank and you're almost certain to get an entirely different answer. The most glaring example that comes to mind was the story a few years back about the farang who was going to take a trip to Laos. He held a retirement visa and went to immigration to buy a reentry permit. He was told that a trip to Laos does not require a reentry permit. Off he went - without the permit. About two months after he returned he went to immigration to submit the 90-day address report. They told him he has overstayed his visa by more than a month and will have to pay the fine. That's when it was made clear to him that the information given to him was wrong and not only has he lost his retirement visa, but also has to pay the fine for the number of days he's overstayed. Those were the days before you could get a retirement visa with only the 30-day privilege. He ended up having to pay the fine, leave Thailand and go to Singapore, get a new tourist visa, return to Thailand, and start the process all over again to get the retirement visa. By the time he was done, it had all cost him hundreds and hundreds of dollars. Meanwhile, when he was told that he had lost his retirement visa because he didn't have a reentry permit he went to speak with the chief of the immigration office. He was told that the immigration officer was mistaken and there were several other farang in the same position, but the law is the law and they can't do anything to help him even though they knew he had been given erroneous information by their own officer. Welcome to Thailand - That's just the way things are here. It can be very frustrating, for sure, but if you're going to live here you have two choices: One is to get frustrated and angry. The other is to accept that this is the way it works here and sooner or later (probably sooner) you're going to run into these kinds of problems. As for Michael's monitor screen - I learned a long time ago not to give a deposit for anything around here. If one store doesn't have it, I'll look for it in another store. If I still can't find it, I'll do without whatever it is. But as soon as you hand over any money, if something goes wrong - even if it's their fault and they admit it's their fault - good luck ever getting any of it back.

I'm going to try the beer cheese bread recipe soon. As for the bagels being hard to make, try it once and see. I find it very simple and easy to do. There's a little more to it than putting ingredients into the bread machine, turning it on, and waiting, but there's really nothing to it. And they sure come out good.

How about posting the recipes for the beer cheese bread and any others you really like. I, for one, would like to give them a try. Do you like bagels? I found a recipe for making bagels using the bread machine to make the dough. They come out really good. I've been making them and giving them out to friends and the bagels have gotten excellent responses. Two New Yorkers told me they are almost as good as any you can get in New York, and if anybody knows bagels, it's New Yorkers. And they're really easy to make. You'll find the recipe at: http://www.gaybutton....php?f=6&t=5148

I'm glad you got it. I made the dough for baguettes with mine. I found the secret for getting that crunchy crust baguettes are supposed to have. Get a small spray bottle. Put ice cold water in it and mist spray the baguettes a few times while they're baking in the oven.

I was in Central Festival, Pattaya today. On the third floor, just outside the entrance to the main department store, a set of small appliances were being sold, one of which was a bread machine. That may be the only one. I checked the kitchenware department on their 5th floor and didn't see any others. This one was being sold new, at 4550 baht. At that price, it's an absolute steal. If you or anyone else still wants a bread machine, I'd get over there and grab it - fast - before it's gone.

I eat breakfast only rarely, but when I do and sausages are offered, my first question is whether the sausages actually taste like sausages. Too many restaurants serve those flavorless, insipid things they call sausage, but they're rarely any good. So, how are the sausages at O'Garas? They certainly look good in the photo. Lvdkeyes posted several sausage recipes on my board ( http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4320 ). Usually, when I want breakfast and want sausage with it, I just make my own using one of his recipes and it always comes out good.

It's true. Do a Google search. Many articles will come up verifying that. Here's just one of them, published by Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt

It's working for me now using Firefox.

The dent is caused by the mixing blade. Maybe somebody will eventually come up with a different technology, but without the blade, there is no way to mix the ingredients and knead the dough. It doesn't bother me because it extends only about ¼ inch into the bread. Regarding salt, most recipes call for between 1 to 1½ teaspoons of salt. My instruction booklet says the salt is used primarily to stop the rising process. Besides, the latest medical information says now salt is not dangerous to your health after all. Even so, 1½ teaspoons of salt distributed over an entire loaf of bread - I don't think there would be enough to worry about in a slice or two. In any case, the amount of salt used in home-made bread is very likely far less than the amount of salt used in commercial loaves. The bread machine is another one of those things that I saw no particular use for until I had one. Now I wouldn't want to be without it. It's best, though, if you also have an oven. If you want to make things like bagels, baguettes, etc, the bread machine will knead and prepare the dough, but you would still need an oven to bake those sorts of things. But for loaves, the bread machine does the whole thing. All you have to do is put in the ingredients, turn on the bread machine, and a little less than 4 hours later, there's your loaf. The only other tip I can think of at the moment is some recipes that call for baking in an oven instead of the bread machine, the recipe says to use a greased baking sheet. I used to to that, but I didn't like it because the oven tends to french fry the bottom of the loaf - at least when I do it. I've never found a way to avoid that. So, I don't use a greased baking sheet at all. Instead I use baking parchment. For 279 baht you can get a 50m roll of it at Makro. For me, that's enough to last at least two years or more - and you don't have to grease it.

I've been using bread machines ever since they first came out. I haven't bought commercial breads in years. One further tip: In most recipes, make sure you're using bread flour, not all purpose flour. It does make a significant difference. A second tip: If a recipe gives you a choice between making a large loaf or a small loaf, I always make the small loaf. You might have to make the bread more often, but with use of the timer, I think it's worth doing - nothing like waking up to the odor of a fresh, hot loaf of bread baking . . . A third tip: If you don't like the "dent" made by the mixing blade, when the bread is ready to begin its final rise, remove the dough, take out the blade, and replace the dough. Now you won't have the "dent." I almost never do that, though. The "dent" doesn't bother me.

Is this another example of how software upgrades improve the board? Two days ago I started having problems when trying to view this board with the Firefox browser. Now I'm using Google Chrome to view this board and with use of that browser the board displays correctly for me.

In Pattaya, they used to carry bread machines on the top floor of Central Festival, but I think they stopped carrying them. You might as well have a look. That is the only place in Pattaya I've ever seen them for sale. I bought mine on the top floor of the Pargon in Bangkok. I paid 9000 baht for it there. Naturally, after I had already bought it, that's when I spotted them at Central Festival. Same make and model as mine was being sold there for nearly 3000 baht less than I paid in Bangkok. In Pattaya, I've seen bread mixes at Makro, Villa Market, and Foodland, but I don't buy them. It's so simple to use "regular" ingredients and there is a wide variety of flours available in Pattaya as well as yeast. Do a Google search for bread machine recipes and hundreds and hundreds will come up. I use my bread machine to make everything from rye bread to baguettes and bagels. I have no idea where to buy the kind of coffee machine you're looking for. If nobody else knows, you might ask the managers at some of the restaurants and coffee shops where they got theirs. I have a few bread machine recipes on my board. http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5148 http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4618 http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3841 http://www.gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3535

I can't remember the name of the place, but that electronics repair shop in the basement of Tuk Com is very good. If no one posts a better suggestion, I'd start with them.

And I will continue to do so. Of course I haven't been "dragged into court." That's because I get rid of those kinds of posts and get rid of those who would submit those kinds of posts. If I didn't, I might have been "dragged into court" a long time ago. I have yet to ever see a post so essential that it's worth taking a risk. I don't want those kinds of posts on my board in the first place. I'll agree the chances are quite remote that it would ever happen, but it's very easy for someone who would be under no risk whatsoever to tell a board owner that he should take the risk, and take it on the basis that no board owner has thus far been dragged into court. Michael is correct. So far none of the gay Thailand board owners have been "dragged into court." On my board, I'm going to keep it that way. Very sorry if you don't like that, but you're welcome to start your own board and take all the risks you want while you're singing to your own hymn sheet.

Purple Space Monkey has it, or at least they did the last time I was there for breakfast, about a year and a half ago, but it's hard to get there without your own transportation. It's on Soi Chaiyapruek, about a quarter of a mile toward the beach from Sukhumvit. Their number is 038 074 734 They have a Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Purple-Space-Monkey-Bar-Grill-Thailand/196708077031082

Unfortunately, in my opinion, that is what American presidential politics has become - who's got the most money. Who's got the most and the best commercials. Who looks best on TV. Who's got the wittiest one liners and sound bytes. I don't pay attention to polls or news "analysis" to predict who's going to win. Here's why:

Several cable TV companies have CNN and BBC. They'll broadcast the debates live. The debates are also broadcast live on the internet. You could also do what I did - watch it on YouTube at whatever time you wish.

That is correct. I'm not much of a breakfast person, so I can't really help you with opening times, but I would imagine the major hotels start serving breakfast at early hours

Regarding Corner Bar, I posted the following on my board: I posted a message for Michael (Crabby) to see if he could confirm and explain the above, about the lease reverting back to Madame Sunee. Maybe that is an option in the contract, although I don't know why she would want to take back a lease, it the above turns out to be correct, if the tenant is still paying rent. I have not yet heard back from Michael. Regarding Euro Boys, the bar next door - Eden Bar - has bought out Euro Boys and is expected to reopen within the next ten days. The reason for the delay is they are in the process of recruiting go-go boys.

Are you kidding? With all the names I've been called over the years, you don't really think that hurt my feelings, did you? Quite an interesting word. Maybe in that sense 2+2 really does = 3. The word I use is Arithmetic. That's where 2+2 somehow manages to = 4 . . .

How true. This particular moron uses an outdated version of Windows XP because it works perfectly, rather than using a new version of Windows that gets more complaints than Carter's has liver pills. I think I'll just continue my "moronity," thank you very much. Well, since Windows XP doesn't explain the current problem, now you get to tell me again all about how wonderful this trouble-free board software works with all the updates - you know, the ones you are refusing to explain what improvements they've made, what security issues they cure and what security issues this board ever had in the first place. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!