xyzzy

I found The Expanse in it's first season. I'm a SyFy junkies so really enjoyed it. It gets some mentions in the top 50 lists of best shows of the decade. Those lists are where I find some of my video. The Irishman is OK but really long and it's no Godfather. Worth the watch but you may end up wishing it was shorter. If you haven't already seen it and looking for something a bit lighter Californication is a good choice. It is just a 30 minutes show so one can burn though episodes pretty fast. SyFy junkies will probably like 12 Monkeys (the TV show). Killing Eve is entertaining. Only two short seasons with season one being a bit better. Of the new stuff this season Prodigal Son is my favorite. But it's in a mid season break and there are only 10 episodes so far.

What? They finally got away from their Adidas shirts with three stripes on the shoulders?

I hated tattoos when I first came to Thailand in 2006 and have none myself. But they are everywhere here so I have mostly become accustom to them and they don't usually bother me anymore. If I only went with LBs without tats it would be slim pickings. There are a few bad exceptions like the beautiful Atom (old Baby Boom, Surprise Yourself) who had a big tat on her leg covered up with another tat and is just looks like a big dark blob. But I have no problem with a full back tat as long as they are done well. I bought the LB pictured below a couple of drinks last week. Her great ass drew my attention more than the tats. Strangely while her arms are almost completely covered in tats the rest of her body has none. I figure the older farangs guys getting tats is just an extension of the notorious mid life crisis. One that isn't so easy to get rid of when one out grows that phase of life. Photo by Bumblebee:

Yep. I sometimes judge how busy Pattaya is by my favorite restaurants. When I would go out to eat last year around 9 PM I was sometimes lucky to get a seat. This year no shortage of places to sit. A little different than judging by bars. But in past years the restaurants would start getting slow around April 1 and be very dead a few weeks later.

There is also a plan to add beer bars later. I've been through at least three refits of The Avenue and nothing ever seems to work. At least retail wise. I still think stocking many new Gogos with decent looking GGs will be tough. A look in the LK Metro Gogos usually doesn't result in seeing a lot of lookers. That number of new Gogos sounds a bit much. But I guess we will see. I'm out a lot and never went to The Roof. But on party nights they seem to have pageants or walk way shows. Not really my thing.

Baku Group have told Thaivisa that they have rented The Avenue on Pattaya 2nd Road for nine years. Their complex will be closely modeled on Bangkok's famed Nana Plaza that rose to prominence in the capital through the 1990s. It will be called "Avenue Plaza" and is set to open its doors to the public at the end of March 2020. https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1139086-thaivisa-exclusive-indian-entertainment%C2%A0moguls-plan-to-open-nana-plaza-style-go-go-venue-in-pattaya/?tab=comments#comment-14865782

Apparently there is serious plan underway to have 39 Gogos in the Avenue with some open by spring. Hard to imagine being able to staff that many much less open that many.

Grab prices went up when they bought out Uber. Two night ago the app showed 290 from TJ's to my place. A year and a half ago it was 170 and somewhat more recently 210. 170 was very competitive with two moto taxis at 80 baht each. Not so much any more but still not terrible I guess.

I will know when her time has passes as that is when she will come over and ask me to buy her a drink. Great pictures BB. Makes me feel like I was there...

Further strangeness at Kasikorn FX. They had US$ 30.05 in the window when TT Exchange had 30.24. A couple of times in the last week K-Bank was actually showing 0.01 more in the window than TT. I used my US VISA debt card today at an ATM and got 30.285. Better than TT and Vasu.

There are a couple of big indoor bars at Treetown. One is closed and the Beer Hubb (lots of real ale, etc $$$) doesn't seem that busy. Much of the rest of Treetown seems busy but the two big expensive bars not so much.

Not sure how up to date this might be. Looks like they really jack up the price for Americans. https://www.travelfish.org/orientation_detail/thailand/bangkok_and_surrounds/bangkok/bangkok/135

There was a USD 1.6 billion jackpot once but there were three winners. Once in a great while I play my state lotto. The jackpot is usually 3 to 10 million USD. If I win I will consult pdoggg on how to get by on only US$ 3M. The odds of winning the state lotto are like 40x better than the big lotto. Which means it's still a snowballs chance in hell.

I don't know that HIExpress is not guest friendly just that the original regular Holiday Inn (near Beach Road and Soi 1) was not guest friendly when it opened. But I have always though Buakhao was a curious location for a big hotel chain to open a hotel. I guess they have smokers rooms now...

It was under construction last winter when I was here. A bit lower price point than a regular HI. HIE advertises a lot via TV commercials in the US. When the HI opened in Pattaya it was not guest friendly. Not sure if that is still the case or the policy at HIE.

I never quite understood why HIE chose Soi Buakhao for a location. I sure don't want to see Buakhao getting big tourist hotels.

Kasikorn (K-Bank) used to be a big player in Pattaya FX. They formally had three FX booths on Soi Buakhao that were all closed after TT took over the market. Each of these booths also had a K-Bank ATM. I have a K-Bank account/ATM card. When the booths/ATMs disappeared there was only one K-Bank ATM between Diana/Buakhao junction and the K Bank at Buakhao and Soi MIT. That ATM was often out of baht as was sometimes the case at the ATMs at the K-Bank. They did eventually put in another ATM next to TT Exchange across from the entrance to Soi Chaiyapoon. But one trip getting baht with my K-Bank card in that area was kind of a crap shoot. Typically not a problem any more.

I sort of noticed this recently but actually paid attention tonight. At 8:45 PM Kasikorn exchange at The Avenue is showing USD = 30.15 in the window. The nearby TT Exchange is also showing 30.15 as was the one on Soi Buakhao a few minutes later. Is Kasikorn trying to become a real player?

Now for a bit of dental work.

The junction is a bottleneck even with fairly modest traffic flow. Just never saw it that bad before. East bound Lengkee has been closed for a few days which must not be helping. But it was west bound Chaiyapoon/Xzyte that were jammed up. Now the next two days are the actual Beach Road afternoon/evening closures along with not so well timed road construction. Fun, fun, fun...

VERY!

Right now Soi Buakhao/Chaiyapoon/Xzyte are pretty much a non moving traffic jam. Big mess if driving. Not even good walking with motorbikes going where ever they can.

Well at least the Chinese will have some place to take a shit.

WTF I would be hard pressed to recall a day I ever spent 10,000 baht except when paying the rent. Maybe they do a bunch of shopping and take stuff home. But since Pattaya is theoretically their first day stop they would have to carry all that stuff around.

Maybe high season has finally started. But it's almost like someone flipped a switch a few days ago. Buakhao was quiet, traffic wise, around 1:30 AM last night (this morning) but was a zoo around 8:30 PM when I went out.