Rogie

I recall discussion about the problems parking your car or motorbike on the street perfectly legally and getting nasty looks (or worse) from the owner of the premises or gangs of m/c taxi riders - that's one thing but to have to pay (no doubt a small amount)is quite another. Is this common practise? I've never being approached in Sunee for payment of this sort when parking my m/c, hence my surprise.

Forgive my ignorance, but am I to assume that balloons in or outside a bar means the food (and maybe drink too?) is free?

Quite so. The museum at Auschwitz, where the possessions of those sent to the gas chambers is exhibited behind glass in a series of huge display cases, is equally chilling. There are displays of photographs and piles of battered suitcases, and thousands of spectacles, hair and shoes collected from the bodies.

I haven't stayed here but did get shown round about a year ago by a pleasant Thai guy who may have been the owner's bf. Rooms looked fine but it was fully booked. Orchid was fully booked again when I enquired on my last visit in November, but that was my fault as I wasn't able to commit myself to dates until the last minute. So best to book well in advance I would imagine, especially in high season. Maybe if you've stayed in Pattaya at a few places, and assuming you haven't stayed in Jontien, why not try it? Last time I fancied a change so stayed in Jomtien at the DD Inn, 500 baht a night. Beach within spitting distance and the nearest gay bar, the Bamboo, just across the way.

You can choose the text colour by clicking on the symbol which looks a bit like a paintbrush right next to the 'Sizes' box.

You can have any colour you want as long as it's black Untrue, of course, there's a whole range of colours - I counted 39, excluding white which isn't too useful. The Board is presumably set to 'light pink' by default unless another colour is selected by the poster.

It would be for me as I wear prescription specs to watch ordinary, 2D, TV. Otherwise, whilst it may be a bit of a laugh to don 3D glasses with your mates in a cinema, how stupid are you going to feel doing it in the privacy of your own house. If I wanted to, I could overcome the first 'hurdle' by wearing contact lenses, and, if the technology really was top rate it wouldn't take long for wearing glasses in front of the boob tube to lose its nerdy tarnish as more and more homes got wired in. Has anybody seen the film that came out recently that was in 3D I believe? For some sort of comparison, going back in time, I remember watching Apocalypse Now in the cinema on release - wow! - but I wouldn't bother to get the DVD to watch it on my pathetically inadequate domestic set. So, unless home TV's fill an entire wall, they'll always struggle to achieve potential. There's the sound system to perfect too.

Me too. Most likely in either a low-key (but up-market) host bar such as La Cage, or finding my male company by other means, popping into a mom & pop store for a large Singha or Tiger for me and whatever he's having and enjoying the rest of the evening unhampered by pushy mamasans, piercingly loud musak and wallet-sapping drinks prices. (Technical note: La Cage serves up Happy Hour between 5 and 9 (if my memory serves) - my G & T costs 80 baht and comes with proper Schweppes tonic and in two glasses with ice and slice of lemon - once they missed the plastic stick but I can forgive the occasional oversight).

I stand corrected when I said earlier she doesn't sell used m/bikes. There weren't any for sale that I could see - goes to show the folly of making assumptions.

And just think how many injuries! Must run into the hundreds. Many of which will be truly horrific. When I went to the police compound to inspect the motorbike my Thai friend had crashed, it didn't look too bad. That pleased me as my share of the accident damage was 50%, based on the insurance policy I'd take out. But then I saw something else: although the rear tyre appeared undamaged, remaining inflated, there was a nasty dent on the inside of the wheel rim. My thoughts swiftly returned to the hapless pillion passenger laid up in hospital with serious fracture injuries to his leg.

Hi kokopelli, The original poster asked about buying either a new or second-hand motorbike. Buying a new bike is easy: you just call into a showroom, choose your bike, pay the money and its yours. Buying a bike second-hand calls for more caution. This is where knowing somebody in the trade could be helpful, which is where the lady tdperhs and I mentioned comes in. Her business is motorcycle rentals. She does not sell bikes, nor does she do car rentals. She does not have any other items for sale in her shop, Christian or otherwise. I haven't asked her directly but I am assuming she is a Christian, hence her use of the term Christian values.

Hi aot87, directions above from tdperhs plus some other observations of mine if you are coming from the sea front, turn left into Jomtien Complex, pass the 7/11 or Family Mart, not sure which, and it's up there on the left - there is a conspicuous sign at the end of the soi (the Tappraya Road end) and the proper name for the shop is Mai Pang. Opening hours are Mon - Sat 8.30am - 7pm. NB. Closed Sunday. Tel: 081 000 7943 089 903 1922 (there is also an e-mail address but it wasn't working last time I used it)

I agree with everything you say about this lady. Nothing is too much trouble for her. I rented a Honda automatic from her (on my bf's behalf) on my recent visit to Pattaya. Within 24 hours he had been involved in an accident. It took 2 and a half days to sort it all out - nightmare paperwork - police - insurance - hospital - but she did it. Without her help I would have been bouncing off just so many brick walls.

Just caught up with this thread, and I see it is now over two weeks since your original post, Taylor. Taylorsquare: Following your comment, I have deleted the rest of my original post - I'm sorry I wasted my time and yours - I had no idea you had suddenly become all coy. Please, if in future you decide to throw a topic open for discussion by other Board members, please have the decency to listen to what they have to say.

I'd rather that kind of honest opinion (which in itself tells you he was more articulate than average, perhaps owing to a better understanding of English) presumably 'freely' given than copious smiles and before you can say Jack Robinson, a disappearing butt with 1000 baht tightly clenched.

I'm sorry , i have to take serious issue with this anonymous know-all expat. Well, for sure nobody wants to end up there, but what are the chances, honestly, of somebody involved in a non-fatal RTA being sentenced to incarceration in that hell-hole? Let a Thai madman drive me off the road, hell no, I'm as hotblooded as the next guy behind the wheel.

I used to wear my backpack (cabin luggage) onto the plane until one time a cabin steward told me to take it off. That made me reflect on what I was doing and since then I have always taken it off prior to boarding.

You quite sure? Looks to me like the name of your greatest fan is Anna Gram

Yes, it does. I can't help feeling that some of these PC fanatics rely on the blurred edges of sense and stupidity to bulldoze their objectives. Once it's entrenched it's very difficult to reverse. The example below falls into one of the more sensible changes of recent years, but I still keep it at arms length because once it becomes part of your everyday speech or thinking you can't go back. I may well be the only person on this Board who still likes to distinguish between Miss and Mrs. I meet a lot of older folk and always establish their title. All the older women I meet would greatly dislike being addressed as Ms.

Some Londoners pronunciation of the word 'due' is more like Jew than dew, but nobody else was bothered by that. Every accent has its peculiarities. In fact if you wanted to be reverse-PC you could argue it was discrimination against those London station announcers with a local accent.

Humbly beg your pardons - substituting Detroit for Chicago was my stupid mistake, but it did lead inadvertently to a geography lesson for me. Londoners get everywhere these days so in a manner of speaking it could be considered a suburb.

Jew

If that isn't opting for hope over experience I don't know what is. Of course we all wish Obama well, maybe in future we shall look back and be able to pinpoint 2009 and the year he became a Nobel laureate as the makings of the man, but personally I'd rather see a bit more substance first. I would prefer to see a proven track record of achievement first, suitable recognition later.

Exactly. Does it make the supposed target of an undesirable term feel any better or actually help them to overcome their situation? I would say no, or marginal at best. Many years ago on the London Underground (The Tube) the escalators were inundated with posters and this is what they said: "You say mongol, we say Down's Syndrome". Needless to say, what must have been a very expensive campaign worked. Now very few people still use the term mongol. However, as an adult, I do not like to be told what to do or say; perhaps it reflects badly on me that, at the time, I resented that blitzkrieg. Another tale of PC-madness from The Tube: station announcers were told not to use the word 'due', as in the expression "a train is due in 5 minutes on platform 2", in case it could be confused with a certain ethnic minority.

You are joking aren't you? If it is true discussion of these things is banned, welcome back 1984! Euthanasia is one topic I am genuinely sitting on the fence about - it's a hot topic and deserves a full airing to enable people like me to come to an informed and personal decision as to its desirability.