Stickman's Weekly Column July 16th, 2006

Pattaya, More And More A Better Option


My first visit to Pattaya was in July 1998 and that was as part of a training course and seminar, hardly the reason most Western guys venture there. I was overwhelmed by it all and my over-riding memory is the cacophony of sounds as I strolled along Walking
Street, wide-eyed to it all. I'd experienced Nana, Cowboy and Patpong before, but this was, to steal Mr. Stearn's classic quote, Patpong on steroids.

But while it did make something of an impression on me, I have to admit that Pattaya really didn't win me over back then. I thought that the place was a bit down-market – not that I wanted upmarket, it just struck me as being all very one-dimensional.
I didn't eat one good meal, I found the baht bus drivers to be threatening and intimidating, the hotel I stayed at was shabby and the girls I saw in the bars were hardly the cream of the crop. I left with little desire to return.

He Clinic Bangkok

My next Pattaya jaunt was later that same year, in September if my memory serves me right, when a mate from home and I went down for a couple of nights. It was my first real chance to check it out, without the prudish work crowd with me this time. But
my thoughts were much the same as the first trip. I quietly thought that everything was about the girls, and that was it.

But the truth was that I simply didn't know where to go back then. There were no good Pattaya online resources back then, and Asia Books didn't carry any of the fine works of Messrs Hutchinson or Stearn.

I didn't return again until 1999, when I visited just the once.

CBD bangkok

In 2000 I found myself going down to Pattaya more often. In fact there were periods of a month or more when I would be down there every weekend, sticking my nose in where it wasn't always wanted. Pattaya started to grow on me, but the old complaints
remained.

These days I go down to Pattaya often, at least once a month, if not more. In the last 6 years I guess I must have been to Pattaya about 50 times, that would probably be a fair guess. And with an average overnight stay of a couple of nights, that means
I have spent, on and off, more than three months down there. But you wouldn't think it, for I always ended up doing the same thing on every visit.

A few years back I befriended a Pattaya local who I make a point of catching up with on every trip down. A long-term visitor and a resident for a number of years now, he has slowly unlocked doors and shown me more and more of what Fun City has to offer.
Restaurants, bars, short-cuts, shops, if it exists, he has told me about it, or taken me to experience it. And the more he has shown me, the more I have begun to really enjoy what he refers to as Fun City.

I once told a Bangkok friend that the lack of dining options in Pattaya was something I found lacking. He recommended Casa Pascal, the wonderful fine dining restaurant opposite Shenanigans. But as good as it is, I always felt that it was a little bit
stuffy, and while I enjoy good food and fine dining, that establishment never really hit the spot. It was like that with other things. I moaned about the bars and was told to check out Soi Pattayaland 2. Great neon, but the bars weren't great,
with Misty's the real exception.

wonderland clinic

The more I visited Pattaya and caught up with my friends, the more of these great little restaurants and other spots we discovered. Bruno's, Olivier's, White Knight, Cuisine Au Beurre and of course the perennial favourite, the absolutely excellent Mati Hari, prove that Pattaya really has grown up – and has a large number of fine dining options – or as is my preferred option, great food at reasonable prices.

One of the things that has really impressed me about Pattaya is the variety and quality of food available. There are some really good, really affordable restaurants. And frankly, "affordable" is being cheeky – some places offer spectacular bargains.

Of course Pattaya is known as a place where you can get cheap liquor all night long, and Pattaya really does embarrass the capital when it comes to the cost of a night out on the turps.

But it is not just food and drink which are cheap. You can get some really nice deals on long-term accommodation in Pattaya. A clean, tidy shoebox can be had for well under 10,000 baht, while for not a lot more you can get a decent one bedroom unit. Go
over 20,000 baht and you can get a very nice unit with European quality fittings, as the ads like to remind you. And unlike Bangkok, wherever you are, you're never too far away from the main entertainment areas, the shops, or the beach.

I get bored in Bangkok, and sometimes I get downright fed up. The traffic is stifling, as can the weather be, at times. But you seldom have major traffic problems in Pattaya, and the sea breeze keeps things more pleasant with humidity much less of a problem.

I know that the prices of most things are moving in Pattaya, but for sure they are not moving anywhere near the same rate they are in Bangkok. Of course being the capital it is always going to be more expensive than most other spots, but a number of venues
now really are charging at the top end of the price scale for what at times can be mediocre quality. If I compare the prices with back home, Bangkok may be a bargain in certain areas, but in others it is not nearly as cheap as one might think.
Pattaya on the other hand seems to offer bargains across the board.

OK, so Pattaya is far from perfect. The state of the roads is poor, the traffic seems to get worse and worse, and if you're a prude, it be won't for you. But given that one of the major attractions of Thailand for both holidaymakers and retirees
is the relatively low prices, then Pattaya really does offer you most of the Western comforts you get in Bangkok, but without the same, increasingly steep prices.

I am beginning to see that there are more and more people living in Pattaya who are there for the reasons I mention, the quality of life and the affordability. I have even discovered that for some who choose Pattaya, the nightlife is of little interest,
or considered merely as a bonus.

When I first came to Bangkok with the intention of living and working here, one of the great appeals was the low cost of living. It cannot be denied that Bangkok is cheap, that is if you are comfortable living a lifestyle similar to the way the locals
live. The truth is though that not so many Westerners really live this way. A Western lifestyle will cost you a lot more than you think. Pattaya is much, much more affordable than Bangkok, and that is a huge attraction for many of us.

Over the last couple of years I have got to know Pattaya much better and I have become quite impressed. I don't want to live there at this point in my life, but I can see the appeal for sure. You can have a great lifestyle down there, even if you
are not interested in the girls (or the boys), and there really are many areas where Pattaya is clearly superior to Bangkok.

There is no doubt in my mind that Pattaya is the naughty nightlife capital of the world for Westerners and that will always be the image of the city, one which it will in all likelihood never shake off. But it really does offer so much more.

In the past I never did understand the appeal of Pattaya, for guys to live, or to retire to. But that ignorance is long gone and I am envious about the lifestyle that guys down there have. Yeah, it's far from perfect, and no, I have absolutely no
plans to move down there in a hurry, but it is an option for many, a very real option, and I personally feel that Pattaya 2006 vintage is better than ever.



Where WAS THIS PICTURE taken?

It was the city of Nakon Sawan.

Where is that?! About 150 clicks from Bangers…

Last week's picture was taken from the hill overlooking Nakon Sawan. Only a couple of people got it right. Was it really that hard?! This week's picture is easier, I guess, but it is outside of Bangkok. The first person to tell me where the picture is wins a 500 baht credit at Tony's Bar in Soi Cowboy. The second person to get the prize right gets a 500 baht credit at Oh My Cod, the British Cafe in the Khao Sarn Road area. The third and forth prizes are a 500 baht credit at Sin in Sukhumvit Soi 4. The prizes are only available to people in Thailand now – either residents or tourists, and must be redeemed within 2 weeks. You MUST say that you are in Bangkok and able to claim the prize or I will consider you ineligible. If you have a preference as to which prize you would prefer, do not be shy to let me know!

FROM STICKMAN'S EMAIL INBOX

Something is amiss.

It was a very interesting piece with which you wrote about this weekend. The examples that you gave would seem only reflect a small number of fatalities. I don't know, but my suspicious mind tells me that something is amiss. To be quite honest, I
really don't like many of the locals these days. I've always known that deep down they don't really like us. Nowadays, they don't pretend to hide their contempt towards us. However, when you do meet some nice, genuine Thais,
it's a great feeling. They don't have to be rich or poor, but just genuine and with good attitudes. My own personal point of view, is that Mr. T brought Thai nationalism to the fore. He opened the genie in the bottle. I don't
have the same feeling towards Thailand that I had in days gone past. I think I'll probably try to visit or re-visit other Asian countries.

Stickman is a target!

I can not help thinking you might be in the wrong place, as far as your safety is concerned, and this is not a result of reading today's column. You are vulnerable, with ex-students, parents, co-workers, bargirls, bar owners, mamasans, investigation
targets, and God knows who else. We all know Thailand is changing. I grew up in the third world, and it is a comfortable environment for me, but you have to keep your senses on high alert. Do not roll the dice too many times. Avoid balconies,
getting that feeling when a moto taxi with a rider on the back pulls up next to you, walking at night and hearing footsteps, noticing a change in attitude from the security at your building, getting up at night to make really sure you locked
up well, looking hard at food you are served – living like this is no fun.

The 1,000 baht runner.

On a recent visit to Pattaya I got smitten by a particular receptionist in the hotel I stayed in Pattaya Soi 8. I asked her out on the night before I was due to leave to go to Chiang Mai. We went out had a few drinks & some food but nothing happened
in the bedroom, after all this is her place of employment. Anyway a few days in to my stay in Chiang Mai I decided to send this girl a SMS asking her if she could come & stay with me in Bangkok on the last night before I was due to fly
home. A few hours later she SMSed me back saying she will try to change her day off so she can come & see me. Anyway a day later she said she can come & stay with me but she wanted me to deposit 1,000 baht in her bank account beforehand.
She provided me with account number & I duly deposited the said amount. Finally the day arrived & she say she would go to the bus station in Pattaya & she would be in Bangkok in about 3 hours. 3 hours passed and still no news from
her. I tried to call her and she hung up straight away. Now I know she was doing the dirty on me, taking my 1,000 baht then not coming. Anyway I thought how could I trick her out so I buy a TOT public phone card so when I call my number not
show on her phone. Anyway what happened next the Phone was answered by a Thai man… Maybe husband or boyfriend I will never know… All my fellow farang out there beware of the cute receptionist cos she will have the last laugh & your
money too.

The Japanese love Bangkok.

What low season? Not in Sukumvit 22, 24, 39, 41: areas favoured by Japanese men. How can you be sure? Just follow the taxis – they pour in every night between 22:00 and 01:00 for the Japanese customers coming out of the bars. Or watch in the hotel lobbies
of an evening as the local girls – each with a Japanese customer – line up to hand their ID cards to the security guard waiting at the lift. Many of the customers are middle-aged Japanese men who arrived from the airport in bus loads, each
with a well-endowed golf bag. But plenty are 20 – 30 somethings. At night they all pour out of the hotels, like salmon going upstream to spawn. Shops in the area are adding Japanese language to their signs. The Japanese bars are remodeling
and adding more hostesses sitting out front. Many have started imitating the Suk 33 style of long gowns. In the foot massage shops, the girls have stopped asking me to help them practice English; now they are practicing Japanese with each
other. A few years ago, those massage girls would show off photos of sponsors from Norway, Switzerland or America. Now they are showing photos of Japanese men. This low season is very busy in the Japanese quarter of Bangkok.
I wonder what high season will be like.

It's a worldwide trend.

What we all tend to forget living in Bangkok and reading about violence, is that violence is on the increase in every major city in the world. And therefore the increase in Bangkok is just the trend. Generally I would say Bangkok is safer than most capital
cities in the world, try parts of London, Paris, or New York at 3 AM or even with muggings whilst you walk from the tube to your home early evening. I have also noticed some long term visitors to Thailand have a very aggressive / negative
attitude to the local population especially when under the influence and this can lead to trouble for them. Your comments the previous week on who you mix with are so true we mix with my wife's family and Thai business professionals who
generally speak English they earn very good Thai salaries 100K+ baht per month. They would never ask for money and we generally help each other with our cars or investment talk about where to visit and the plight of the Thai government they
have opinions and a proper conversation is carried on. If you mix and go to the equivalent of the working Soho bars of London you can easily end up in trouble there also and so many scams it makes Bangkok appear a real paradise. I never see
my self returning to Europe or the USA long term, however I do travel there on business so I do get a "western" fix on a regular basis.

After the major debacle of the last couple of weeks at Babewatch in Pattaya, the bar was sold this week to a farang, an Irish fellow. I wish him all the best in getting it up and running again. The bar will be closed for a few months to be gutted and
the interior will be totally redone. The buyer got the bar at a vastly reduced price because so much had been stripped out already. There is however a lot of conjecture as to whether the former staff of Babewatch have been paid for June. The mamasan
pawned off a number of items for the bars, purportedly so the girls could be paid, and the chits from the pawn shop were supposed to be given to the previous owner. But many of the girls claim not to have been paid. Hmmm…

Most of the former Babewatch showgirls are in the popular Catz now – they didn't last long in Club Boesche and have found a new home at Catz which now has a really good line up.

It's party time at my favourite Pattaya bar, Catz, in the Covent Garden area. They will be hosting James' birthday party on Tuesday 18th of July. James is laying on a lavish spread including turkey, ham and all sorts of other goodies. With shows
every 30 minutes and one or two surprise events scheduled to take place, this promises to be a fun night for those in town. For any readers who don't know the location, a map can be found on their newly launched website www.catzagogo.com.

As mentioned a few months ago, Roxy is the newest club about to open on Walking Street. This is the old Electric Blue renovated and turned into a completely new concept. Over the last few months the building's interior has been completely renovated
and the project is nearing completion. I am informed that the new bar will feature a state of the art computer controlled lighting and sound system, custom designed costumes, and will have a series of professionally choreographed dance shows performed
at regular intervals throughout the night as well as a large selection of regular gogo dancers. Roxy is scheduled to open on the 27th of July.

On Sunday, July 23, 2006, Coyotes A Gogo in Pattaya will hold it's 1 Year Anniversary Party. The doors open at 8:00 PM with free food and at 10:00 PM the games start. The feature of the evening will be "The Sexiest Ass In Pattaya Dance Competition."
The contest starts at 11:00 PM. All ladies are welcome to enter and there will be 15,000 baht in prize money for the winners. Regardless, ladies entering the contest will receive 700 baht for their efforts. Coyotes A Gogo is located on Soi Marine
Plaza, Walking Street, Pattaya.

Business seems to have picked up in Bangkok over the past week or so. Post World Cup, the bars of Sukhumvit seem to be up (although those bars which experienced a peak due to showing the World Cup matches in English may be down) and reports coming out
of the Khao Sarn area suggest that there are more tourists there than there had been in weeks past. July is obviously the northern hemisphere summer and a number of Europeans and Americans are in town. Further, it's the middle of Winter down
under so Aussies and Kiwis may choose to escape the cold weather.

Metro Bar in the Raja Hotel car park has a few new promotions including a free pool challenge before 6 PM every day and buy four, get one free on Heineken, Singha, Tiger and San Miguel Light. On Thursdays they have a no uniform day. No, it is not quite
what you were thinking! Rather than wearing no uniform at all, the staff can wear anything they like – and they make an effort to look good.

Well, at least it is not only me, not that that really makes it any better. A number of readers have reported that just like me, they are infuriated that SMS messages (which I despise by the way) can take up to 24 hours to reach them, but SMS spam from
the major mobile phone operator, AIS, arrives within seconds of it being sent.

One of the best breakfast deals in town can be had at Oh My Cod. You get a fried egg, English sausage, streaky bacon, baked beans, tomatoes (tinned or fried), fried bread, toast and coffee (all you can drink before 10 AM) PLUS a large bloody Mary, all
for 180 baht. And for those of you who miss Blighty, they also show 2 hours of Eastenders on Sundays between 1:00 and 3:00 PM.

Pattaya’s Deputy Mayor asked beer bar owners to help clean-up the city’s image as the city works toward transforming itself from fun town to family town. He is not happy with the image portrayed by open air beer bars and wants bar owners
have their employees cover-up and act less crudely. Gogos were excluded from the discussion. So far just talk, it seems.

The rainy season official started here last week. There has been little rain in Pattaya since the beginning of the rainy season. Some overcast, but otherwise the weather has been hot and humid. Despite the weather, tourist numbers seem even lower this
week than last. There are the large group tours in constantly from Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Asia countries, but the number of Europeans and North Americans seems to have declined further.

Reflecting that, Walking Street looked less crowded this weekend than has been for the last couple of months since low season set in. With few exceptions, beer bars citywide were thirsty for punters. Along Walking Street, Beavers, Dollhouse,
Honey, Paris, and even Super Baby failed to attract crowds, while Catz, Peppermint, Angelwitch, Diamond, Coyotes, New Living Dolls 1 and even Windmill bucked the downtrend.

And Heaven Above, which this week presented a new look, also attracted good crowds this weekend. The upstairs gogo bar removed those uncomfortable couches (beds?) and the poorly placed glass-top tables (spill much?) The changes add space and provide more
comfortable seating. More changes are in the offing.

It's funny how things and people change. I used to love Mahboonkrong in the old days, and used to go there every other day. These days I avoid it like the plague. It is oh so busy these days, and with far more shops jammed in than ever before, the
walkways are narrow, making it difficult to walk at anything faster than a dawdle. And my pet hate, it is even noisier than it used to be. I have to say that it is not a pleasant shopping experience. That said, I don't really like Siam Paragon
either, that is a bit manic too. Give me a quieter suburban shopping centre like Central Rama 3 any day!

For the cheap Charlies, or those who like to watch their pennies, Living Doll Showcase drop the barfine to 200 baht after 2 AM which is good for customers, but also good for the girls who can pay that amount and go home if they feel tired or less than
100%. Remember, in that bar the girls actually get 100 baht from every barfine, so essentially it only costs them 100 baht to go home.

Where can the cheapest beer be found in Thailand, that is the cheapest large bottle of beer? Archa beer is going for just 17 baht a bottle down in Songkhla. Is that a record for a large bottle of beer in Thailand?

Many, many Westerners work in Thailand without a work permit, but let's talk about this one particular friend who doesn't have the little blue book. Recently he did some work for the Immigration Department, funnily enough. After feeling that
he had done a good job, and had befriended some of the officers, he boldly told them that he was working without a work permit and asked them for their advice on his personal situation. While not an official policy, the officers who he spoke with
said that so long as he was not doing anything illegal, was not doing anything harmful to Thailand's best interests, and the money he earned was staying in, and being spent in Thailand, they really were not concerned at all. I'm sure
a few will take encouragement from this. This is not an official policy of course, but to me it shows sensible policing of the law.

While I am loathe to re-report something which appears on a discussion forum, I will make an exception this time due to its relative importance and the fact that I have met the person who made the posting several times – and therefore know that it is 100% kosher. Did you know that visas can be backdated. What does that mean? It means that if things don't go quite how you expect them to go, a valid visa can be cancelled and effectively expire at a time already past, meaning that you are effectively an overstayer, are illegal and could be fined – or worse! In certain situations, when the reason for which a long term visa is no longer valid, the visa might actually be cancelled, even though the stamp in your
passport is not changed. Take the situation of leaving a job. Let's say you leave at a time before the visa has expired, and your employer decides, for whatever reason, to file some paperwork effectively saying you no longer work there. You might find that when you go to the Immigration Department that your visa had effectively "expired" earlier, and you are illegal. Not good at all, even though one can see how this would be the case. I would also like to warn any readers of the errant advice being given by at least one dodgy visa company operating in Bangkok. They have stated time after time that this sort of thing cannot happen. Well it does happen, 100% for sure – so they are very clearly wrong.

Wandering into some of the bars in RCA, known as the area most popular with teenagers, you wouldn't think there was a dress code. Most teens out there seem to wear street wear and are not necessarily looking as flash as they could. A friend went
out there recently and was refused entry because he was wearing sandals, even though clearly a good percentage of the crowd in that particular bar were wearing sandals. He was supposed to meet someone inside and couldn't get them on the phone,
so he asked the security what he could do to get in. They pulled out a pair of socks for him and he had to throw on the socks, and then the sandals before he could get in. Socks and sandals! I'd love to have seen him in those!

A foolish young farang almost got himself into trouble this week in the On-Nut area. He staggered home late, drunk, as is the norm, and when he entered the house he had a huge great row with his 17 year old girlfriend and ended up throwing her out into
the soi, NUDE! She was screaming out in the soi for him to open the door, totally starkers! After much screaming and protest which resulted in half the neighbourhood being alerted to their soap opera like existence, he let her back into the house
and then the savage coward proceeded to give her a beating. She did a runner. At about 7 AM the next morning the fellow gets a knock on his door and opens it to see there are 4 of the girl's male relatives who go about giving the guy a revenge
hiding. Good job. They then cart him down to the police station where miraculously he escaped with a 300 baht on the spot fine. He was VERY lucky. Irrespective of the situation, never ever hit a local woman. It will be all down hill after that.

The next time a Western bird gives you some grief for your oh so frequent holidays to the Land of Smiles, point her at this article and tell her that the fairer sex
are not so innocent themselves.

Whenever I say something even remotely negative about Thailand, all and sundry jump on my back and tell me that I can't do that and that I am clearly wrong. Worst of all is when they accuse me of being jaded! What, you mean if you say something negative
you are automatically jaded? Well, for anyone who thinks that my odd negative comments about certain aspects of life in Thailand aren't balanced, check this out. And again here.

Ask the Sticks

Mrs. Stick is here to answer questions surrounding anything that confuses you in Thailand, particularly issues of the heart. Please note that for general bargirl related questions, Mr. Stick might answer them. It has to be said that Mrs. Stick is not your stereotypical Thai woman. She simply offers the perspective of one Thai woman. She is not Buddhist and she is not shy to criticise things about her own country and culture, although having said that, she remains proud to be Thai. Mr. Stick will try and answer the questions which Mrs. Stick is not so sure about. Please do try and limit the length of questions to Mrs. Stick to about 100 words. We get many questions that are entire stories of several hundred words which I'm afraid are just too long to run here.

Question 1: Recently my girlfriend has wanted to break off with me. The reason is she got hurt, and needs time to think what to do. Before, she hinted to me about marriage and how to be together and also her future. And I her hurt by not answering her
or not knowing how to answer. Maybe I hurt her, some small incidents and after some time everything just came out from her. Now I ask her to give me a chance, since now we better understand each other feeling after some communication. And she
told me she can't give me an answer now and needs to think about her future. And I also told her that I am waiting for her decision. Now I need advice on how to win her back and assure her that I am real. * Note – she is not a bargirl, and
she works at a hospital as PR and I am not a farang, but Chinese from Singapore.

Mrs. Stick says: She wants you to be strong and to be a leader, the guy who will be the head of the family. But not knowing how to answer some questions she had, you failed to show the leadership skills that she wants to see in you, and you put doubts in her mind. You need to show her that you are strong, stable and able to provide for her. From what you have said, my best guess is that she has serious doubts about all of these things.

Question 2: I've been married to an honest, hardworking and beautiful Thai girl for 6 months and we've known each other for about 1.5 years. We can talk freely about any subject and while we disagree at times, we are both willing to listen to
the other's opinion. She was never a bargirl and works as a professional in Bangkok. Everything is very good in our relationship but I do have a little question. My wife says that Thai people would rather demonstrate their love through action
rather than say, "I love you". She does both but will never say "I love you" to me in Thai. She says it's because she is shy yet she admits to saying it to her ex-Thai boyfriend, but only because she was too young to understand
better at the time. She says she only wants to say it to me in English and that there is no difference. I know she truly cares for me and I do not doubt the sincerity of her feelings for me. Why is this a big enough deal to her that she can't
or won't say it to me in Thai? And is this a common problem among Thai – Thai couples? She has told me that in the future she will say it but not for a few years until she is sure I won't leave her. She left her last boyfriend after
he was caught cheating on her which put her off all Thai men as she says they are all the same. Is it me or Thai girls in general or her own personal issue stemming from her last relationship?

Mrs. Stick says: Words are cheap. You can say anything you want to make someone feel warm and good about you, but there is very little value in this. You need to show her how you feel, by doing things that demonstrate your love for her. There is nothing worse than a man who keeps making claims of love, but never actually doing anything to show his feelings. It is a shame that your wife – note that word, WIFE – is not sure that you are with her forever. I guess she must have either been hurt pretty badly in the past, or you have done or are doing things that put doubt in her mind about whether you'll be around, or both. Your wife's feelings should be more settled than they are.

Question 3: What is your opinion of a farang husband being asked to foot the bill of his wife’s father’s funeral. I am currently married to girl from Isaan for about 6 months. She is not an ex-bargirl but from a poor family. My wife’s
father has been in bad health for a long time. He was 75. The dowry paid was 100,000 baht and was deposited into the father’s bank account. However at the funeral I was told by my wife that the money was withdrawn from the bank only 1 month
before he died (he was in hospital and very seriously ill at the time) and used to buy a brother some farmland – this was to earn an income. The request for the funeral expenses was 100,000 baht and the masked by quite a few lies. Anyway, the
essence of all this in my view is the family had the funds for the funeral but decided to use the money for their own purposes, so what has this got to do with me, especially after all the diversionary lies.

Mrs. Stick says: In a situation like this everyone chips in to help out with the cost of the funeral. It is always expected that the wealthiest members of the family will contribute more than the poorer members of the family and as you appear to be a full member of the family, you may be asked to contribute more. But, you should not have to meet the entire cost of the funeral. If they are lying to you at a time like this then that is a bit sad and disappointing, and perhaps shows that you are not quite the full member of the family that they make you out to be.

I may change the time the self-imposed deadline, when the column goes up online. When I first started the column a few years back it was 9 PM Sunday night, Bangkok time, but after several months I pulled it back to 6 PM. I am thinking
of pushing it back to 9 PM again. I would prefer to keep it at 6:00 but sometimes that time can get in the way of other things. Quite a bit of time is spent tidying the column up on Sunday which clashes with other things. We'll see what happens.
But if you pop by around 6:00 PM and it is not up yet, it will be up within a couple of hours. Sometimes I can be a bit slow to get it up…


Your Bangkok commentator,

Stick



Thanks go out to
Bangkok Grasshopper, Mr. Write and Dave The Rave.


nana plaza