Hoot

Before:

Removing Bullet Points From Uploaded Photos I don't know why this started annoying me recently, I don't think I've even noticed the forum had been doing it in the past, but when you simply attach an image to your post it adds a bullet point next to it and the "Attached Image" text. If you want to get rid of them and you haven't figured this out on your own already, you just need to click the "Add To Post" link next to your image after it has been uploaded. Plus, that also gives you the ability to move the photo anywhere you want in your post simply by cutting and pasting the link it generates.

I can upload pics fine to posts - except for a bullet point issue I've been noticing, you can see the example on the image below, but I'll come back to it in another post. Since Route67 mentioned creating a gallery and I'd never tried it before - I went looking for that functionality. Here's the error message I received when trying to upload a photo. I'm not sure if that is the same error message he is getting...over to you Route67? On a side note - is there a post somewhere you can direct me to explaining the Gallery Functionality and why one might what to use it? I've seen the link in the menu bar before but never gave it much thought.

The recent topic of the farang beat down at the Kangaroo Bar in Patong got me to thinking. There are so many dangerous situations in Thailand where I believe my reaction should be different than they would be in the western world. But I'm not really sure how I'd really react - my human nature vs. what I've been told. It's painful for me to sit idly by and watch someone I know in distress and not even try to help them. I've got a few real life situations that I know people have been through. This is the first one, I'm curious how you would react in this situation. Ladyboy on Ladyboy Beat Down A few years back a friend recounted this true situation to me: You're strutting down walking street, proud as can be - the ladyboy of your dreams is on your arm. You've been having an amazing night, fantastic dinner at Central Festival, a trip to the movies, now you're about to hit the discos because she love's to dance - even if you don't. You've only known her for a week, but you've connected. If you weren't a butterfly man, this would be the one. Your attention is focused down walking street, navigating between the nimrods clogging the passage on your way to the disco. Out of the shadows pounce three or four ladyboys. You don't see them coming or even have time to react. They grab your date, throw her down and begin to give her a severe beating. She's bleeding but they don't stop the onslaught of punches and kicks. You are sat there watching. What do you do?

Hell Yeah - just don't show me the other non-glam shots where he just looks like a dude. Let me have my fantasy.

The article mentioned they weren't necessarily attacked by Thai's - it specified 'Other Patron's', i.e. customers. Is that not a plausible story? I know the whole 'Thai Justice' is always a possibility and not something to be discounted but what makes everyone assume that is what happened when the article asserts otherwise? I know I've been in a bar or two where some jackass has gotten way out of line and the regulars have dealt them a bit of justice. Mob mentality knows no cultural bounds. I also doubt it knows international borders. Is it so hard to believe that these drunks just pissed off the wrong bunch of customers? Hell, some asshole farang hits one of you in head with an ashtray while I'm there - I'm sure we're about to get dirty. You seriously think a Thai will make it there before I've rearranged that dudes grill? Where is this Thai security in most bars? I know I was in C&D when a drunken lout was in there messing with the girls, me, and Jimbo himself. I thought he was about to throw down on Jim and I was poised take him out - but Jim calmed the situation. This dude was so drunk he didn't stand a chance...much less if (as dixon says farang on farang = entertainment) the dozen or so ladyboys and staff decided to join in. Jim had a security agreement with the Thai's but actually had to run up the street to get them. I got the job to watch the douche till they came back. He didn't mess with the Thai security when they finally arrived, rightfully so. But it was a few minutes before they showed up, plenty of time for damage to be done. Not the first time a customer has had to step in to help, and there are many more guys in Patong that'd I'd fear a hell of a lot more than me. Not that I'm to be feared at all, I'm a wall flower most of the time. For me it is not so hard to believe these jackasses walked into the wrong bar, with the wrong patrons - started some shit and the customers finished it. You don't have to just be wary of the Thai's in Thailand, there's a lot of bad dudes in Pattaya/Patong. Get the mob mentality going...good night lollipop.

I'll be up for it... and as "someone" has been known to say - November is party season I quite liked that side of town when BigTel took me on a loooong hike out that way a couple years ago. (OK - maybe I'm exaggerating the distance a bit, but I was out of shape and if you want to really feel out of shape you go on a hike with BigTel ) I know I had an excellent time, clean beaches, less populated, more relaxed - I liked that area very much. Never got to experience any of the nightlife though. Let's do it. Bring on November!

I can see a plan hatching for November, I'm up for it if you'll be around. Though I best get back on the treadmill soon, don't want to keel over clutching my chest half way there... It's been awhile, hope you are doing well my friend.

Oh I knew what I was getting myself into ​. That last post was just a bit of my sarcastic humor. I agree with and understand pretty much every thing you posted. I wasn't really looking for any specific Guest House recommendations, it was an open ended question looking for a better way to search for guest houses - I don't think one could argue that isn't a better way. The answers were spot on for the question I posed. I was a bit surprised that feet on the street seems to be the best way to find guest houses. I would have thought someone might have capitalized on that niche at some point - like a dedicated website. Though I can certainly understand why guys would be reticent to recommend a place they like (or see it recommended by others) publicly, as they could quickly find they can no longer book a room there when they want it. It's a tough enough problem when a hotel becomes popular, much less a guest house with so few rooms. I believe Bumble Bee had that issue at his old favorite. I saw he recommended it recently somewhere on the forum, but only because he had a new place to call home.

That will surely be a challenge, especially in a forum style format. Very easy for stuff to get lost in dozens of pages of comments.

Interesting that so far, the responses fall into two camps - One side - that It'd be valuable resource to have a section on Hotel/Guest House Recos and the other side "F@#K you Hoot, you've been coming here long enough, you should of planned ahead on you're last trip two years ago for something you didn't know you'd need." Perfect. Like dealing with a two party Government.

Looks like a nice place to chill out and watch the sun go down. The Beer Garden of Naklua maybe?

I concur, that was what I was alluding to when I mentioned knowing about a place in advance. I'm guessing a lot of return visitors have a Rolodex filled with there favorite places to stay and some backups. I know I'm that way with hotels - but I often like to stay in new places I haven't tried before as well based on reviews and recommendations. I intend to do the legwork for guest houses the next time in town...however my options for this trip have come up a bit limited as this is the first time I've decided to go the guest house route. Good to hear, I think that will be a nice addition to the forum. Let's get going on the Guest House section...I got a trip to plan my good man - chop chop (just teasing )

How do you find a Guest House or Hotel for your next trip? I find looking for suitable accommodation in Pattaya to be a frustrating experience. I use reviews and recommendations on the forums to help me narrow down my choices. However they don't seem to be as prolific as they once were. Sites like TripAdvisor are useless to me - unless I know exactly what places I'm looking at and have 30 minutes to read each places review. But then they still don't list the basics - does it have wifi, pool, gym, restaurant, etc...plus they don't mention pertinent information we need such as joiner fee. Yes, easy enough for me to send an email, but that's just another added step. Guest Houses are the hardest to find info on. I think there are so darn many of them, yet you can't find any info, much less how to book. Seems the only option is actually know about the place in advance on get a recommendation from a friend. I'm currently looking for info on guest houses and I feel like the only information I can find is by sifting through pages of trip reports and post across multiple forums (not a bad job - but I get easily distracted.) Is there a better way???

I've notice from your posts you're a pretty good arm chair investigator based on the bits you see in the news - were you in law enforcement in your previous career or just watch a lot of CSI?

The exchange rate is depressing, but that alone would not keep me away at this point. However with the combined increases in airfare and hotel accommodations over the years it sure adds up and I have to make some adjustments. I work off a budget for the trips - airfare, accommodation, and fun. If one budget area goes up I take it from another. My accommodation is usually what gets adjusted. This year I'm looking at staying in a guest house vs. a hotel which will actually increase the money I have to spend for the 'fun' category. The exchange rate would have to drop another 10 baht to the dollar before I would think about not going, and even then I think I would shave a few days off the trip vs. not going at all. Is it inappropriate for me to play the 'poor American' card? I would love to have the exchange rate that the GBP or Euro is getting against the THB right now.

I didn't say it was a fabrication - I said it was not confirmed report and misinformation. Misinformation often comes out early in chaotic events. The news organizations try to get whatever information they get out to their readers. People pass on what they think they hear. The NY Post is still reporting an explosion at the JFK library... other major news outlets and the boston police are saying it was a mechanical fire. Could this all change as they get even more information? Absolutely. What do I mean by Misinformation? You said they have arrested a suspect, the NY Post said they have a suspect under guard - those two statements are not the same thing. Especially if you are that suspect. I fully expect more information to come out on this.

I've been watching this all day - there has been no confirmed reports of anyone in custody or that of a Saudi National. The opposite - they (Boston Police Chief) refuted those reports. Other than the NY Post, whose report is unsubstantiated. I haven't seen anything other than rumor mongering and misinformation, related to this speculation. It's a horrific event. My thoughts go out to the people in Boston.

Welcome aboard Nix. Good to see you found your way over here, make yourself at home.

I echo BigTel's comments, great images. I think Wil looks stunning in the photo on the website. I can see why she is so popular.

That gets me all nostalgic of my initial years in the IT business. In the early 90's we were selling 1-TB EMC arrays. They were the size of a couple of refrigerators, heavy enough to have flooring requirements, contained 100s drives, and sold for about $1 Million. Today a 1 TB drive can fit in your back pocket and cost you about a hundred bucks.

hopefully in a shallow grave near Berlin still smelling of petrol and cyanide. ...Or maybe the art walk next to mike shopping mall? (**EDIT** I see my friend Alphabet soup beat me to my guess while I was still typing...hope we're both right.)

Nice to see you helping out with the postings four. It is great to see regular updates on the LaBamba clan once again.

Great set of photos. Sensations seems to have a crack staff and great atmosphere. keep the updates coming, my unrequited love for Karn needs regular feeding.

Depends on what version of firefox you were using; there was a bug in Firefox that was keeping sites marked as reported attack sites even after they had been cleaned. Firefox gets their DB of malicious sites from google, but there was apparently some wonkiness (technical term..cough...) on the firefox side. Shows verified fixed on 1/9 It was apparently released recently...firefox v18. I didn't feel like reading the entire bug report. If you have a desire to go full nerd, you can check it here.... Bug 820283 - Sites stay marked as a malware or phishing even after removal from the SafeBrowsing DB Upgrade to the latest version of firefox...18x or later. Should take care of it. IT geek, over and out.