Stickman

On 2/15/2021 at 6:02 PM, Mekong said:

The setting up of Patpong night market is a sight to behold, totally choreographed by one woman and her whistle, like Swan Lake inFork Lift Trucks.

The best part is once the stalls are erected and the roof tarpaulins are laid out “PEEP” on the whistle, everything stops for 5 minutes and they all have a quick break and a drink of water then “PEEP”, they grab ropes and haul the tarpaulins up too the roof, not a few at a time, the whole lot at once, it is like watching a Big Rig Sailing ship go to full sail.

Sorry to go off on a tangent but I heard that the main guy who runs the Patpong Market died a few months back and the future of the market is uncertain, even when visitors return.

And yes, I agree, what a sight the setting up of the Patpong Night Market is!

18 hours ago, cavanami said:

I suggest that the next time you are in Bangkok, we have a meet up, like we did some years ago when the writers/contributors to your website, we all met up a Nana Plaza.

Sound possible? Do you have any idea when you might be back in Thailand?

Back in Bangkok? Oh, gosh, that won't be for a long time.....best guess is some time next year. Almost certainly won't be this year. Always happy to meet up.

8 hours ago, Pom Michael said:

Still have both http://www.nanaplaza.com and http://soicowboy.com domains for sale!  

You own those two domain names? They'd be worth something. Probably not huge money, but still a decent amount, I imagine.

Planning on doing anything with them or just going to hang on to them?

8 hours ago, Pom Michael said:

Hey Stick - good to see you here again.  

A few weeks ago you write an article about the old Bangkok based bloggers - that was a time travel piece back in history for me.  

Time for someone to consolidate a few newer bloggers/vloggers or now Twitter/Tiktok stars - something for Stickboy or someone. 

I'm surprised I never figured out the connection between Stickman and Stickboy. 

Still have both http://www.nanaplaza.com and http://soicowboy.com domains for sale!  

My feeling is that bloggers will slowly become a thing of the past as more and more people move over to YouTube and become vloggers. Some of the vloggers get more views in the first 24 hours of posting a new video than sites like Stickman get across the whole site in an entire week.

As for the relationship between Stickman and Stickboy, it is complicated. I can't say too much as I signed an NDA so forgive me for sparing a lot of details, but what I can say is that the person who bought Stickman was not Stickboy.

10 hours ago, Soi biker said:

shortly after Dana posted every week. By the way do you know what happened to  Dana?

Thanks for the kind words.

Dana has been suffering from cancer for some years. From what I understand, it started in the prostate and then spread. I have not heard from him in several months but the prognosis was not good and last time I heard it was terminal. (I wouldn't normally talk about someone's health issues but Dana has been remarkably open about it, hence I mention it.)

24 minutes ago, paul101 said:

Must have gotten pretty boring covering bars and nightlife every week when not really interested in the subject. The photos were the quality side of the site. Like the terminator he'll be back.

In recent years it really was a hobby that paid and filled in a few hours in the day. I was in a groove, had a decent network of people on the ground helping me out and it was easy to put out something reasonable each week. Stopping, even for a short time, loses momentum - and means a comeback becomes more difficult. If I was a betting man, I'd say I won't be back. I say that for a combination of reasons but ultimately, I think it comes back to the state of the industry and viability of the site. I won't do it for peanuts and that means the owners need to sell a decent chunk of advertising each month to pay me. Given tourists won't likely be back in decent numbers for some time to come, it's hard to see it happening. And I am totally cool with that.

Despite what was written in that last column, I think the chances of making a return are slim. It was a nice run and nice to get another 2.5 years writing the column but my best guess is that I won't be back. And I am cool with that.

Let's face the truth: It is daft that I guy living in New Zealand who hasn't lived in Bangkok since early 2015 was writing a column about expat nightlife. Of course, I gave it my best shot every week and did everything I could to remain relevant, but there is only so much you can do when you're 10,000 km away.

Currently only New Zealand citizens and holders of resident and permanent resident visas can travel to New Zealand.

Pre-Covid - and I presume post-Covid when the border opens up, anyone who has the skills to fill one of the many jobs on the "skills shortage category" can apply for a work visa. If a Thai can show they have the skills needed, they can apply for a work visa. Nursing is one of the major skills shortage areas....but there are many!

Minimum wage in NZ currently is $18.90 / hour and will increase to $20 / hour in April.

I spent a couple of nights at the "Jugendherberge" (spelling?) in Dusseldorf in the early '90s. I don't remember a great deal about the city but I do remember Koenigstrasse as apparently being one of the swankiest shopping districts in all of Germany.

I would later learn from a German friend in Bangkok that there is something of a rivalry between Dusseldorf and Cologine, where he comes from.

Just to be clear, I did not take those photos. They were taken by probably the best Western glamour photographer in Thailand (he does work for Playboy, calendars etc.)

For sure, too many tattoos for me too....but hey, that's pretty much how things are in the bars these days, right?

Just curious.....did the ATM screen come up with a message saying that there was a 3.9% fee levied on the transaction?

8 hours ago, buffalo_bill said:

Soap is out all the time. 1 piece of soap in my home lasts for 2 weeks I believe. What do you want with 20?

Self-isolation for 40 weeks

43 minutes ago, Coss said:

Those countries with adequate food and water and 'lectricity, will fare OK, until the hordes begin to cross their borders.

I know, it sounds like I'm waving my end of the world flag, but if you think about all those "Zombie" movies and their ilk, and who the audience, for those pieces of drivel is, then you might wonder, if a significant proportion of the worlds less intelligent people, might be ready to believe in an armageddon-like reality.

As they say in the world of politics, Perception is Reality.

It's a pile of shit, it really is. I reckon most borders will be closed soon and sooner or later, most countries will go in to lockdown i.e. people will be house-bound, only allowed out to get essentials and go to work. It seems that is the only way to stop this thing, short of a vaccine being found - but word is that would be at least 12 months away.

The death toll is bad enough already but God knows where it will end up. And the economic carnage will be HORRIFIC!

Best to plant your ass where you want to be for the next several months because real soon it's going to get real hard to relocate....

Some of my favourites include Margarita Storm (mouth of Sukhumvit soi 13), Bad Burger (on Sukhumvit around soi 20) and Daniel Thaiger (deep down Sukhumvit soi 11 on the right-hand side).

18 hours ago, Coss said:

This photo is how White Island looks, almost all of the time, sometimes getting quiet, sometimes livening up. It's an active Volcano.

There is great fishing around it. The only way I'd go anywhere near it, is if my boat could get away quick and I was fishing upwind of the Island.

Hand's up anyone who wants to land on the Island and go and poke around the crater?

Bingo....it's an active volcano FFS! I'm quite happy that it's 50 km from land!

Trauma Center

Bruce Willis is a cop who is investigating the murder of his partner and protecting the one witness who was injured. Unfortunately this is not Bruce's finest hour and I would not bother. 1 star out of 5.

On 11/4/2019 at 10:26 AM, The_Munchmaster said:

I doubt it's all about gogo bars, seems to be more about the history of the place and a bit about the bars.

That's exactly right - it is much more about the history of the area and it really helps to fill in a lot of the background about the place. If someone is only interested in the bars, it should be of some interest but if you're interested in the history of the area then it's truly fascinating.

3 hours ago, Flashermac said:

Was that "Cigar Bob?" Or am I confusing him with someone else? "Cigar Bob" is long deceased. Or was it the guy who ran the bar in Soi Cowboy?

p.s. My avatar is back! I wondered what happened to it. 

Cigar Bob must have died several years ago. Heart attack if I remember right? He was always trying some new business venture but the poor guy seemed to be broke more often than not...

On 10/30/2019 at 1:43 AM, Flashermac said:

Anyone else remember Santos, who ran the Titty Twister bar in Nana? It was quite a successful go-go bar, so much so that Santos was able to sell a 50% share in it to 8 different people. 

Yeah, remember that episode.....very nasty business. Whatever happened to him? I seem to recall he fled to India, if my memory is right (and often it is not!).

7 hours ago, bust said:

All Black v Boks in the final. NZ will put 30 + on England and SA will dispose of the Welsh without too much trouble.

All Blacks to win final by 10 or more

I'd love to think you're right but I think England will provide a stern test this weekend....that match could be quite an arm wrestle. And I don't think South Africa will find Wales to be easy beats.

My prediction is two close semi-finals and a NZ vs Wales final.

For the earlier rounds of the Rugby World cup featuring the big teams, The Kiwi was booked out i.e. EVERY SEAT in the bar was booked....so if you want to watch the games there, you might want to give them a call and see if there is space...

18 hours ago, Nasiadai said:

Yes, Shibyao, you're right. The air in Bangkok is terribly bad and polluted.
Cars, trucks, mopeds and motorcycles pollute the air with their exhaust fumes. Dense clouds of exhaust gases consisting of fine dust, carbon dioxide,
carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide - and what else do I know - drift through the street canyons of Bangkok.
This is a poisonous cocktail that is harmful to the lungs and health.

Traffic is obviously one cause of pollution, but traffic is generally constant year-round, and is not the main contributing factor when the pollution levels get really bad. I gather that the main cause is burning of crops.

The pollution was really bad early last week and I see that it's been even worse this week. The sad part is that there is no reason to think that the problem will be addressed any time soon.

1 hour ago, paul101 said:

Could have been the Thai visa before Thai visa as it was the first Thai board as sanuk fun in Thailand. Poorly run and moderated is the reason it died, blaming social media is just an excuse. Being involved in advertisers extorting posters and attempting to did not help of course, that sort of thing does tend to put people off!

No, that's complete nonsense that it is poorly run and moderated. I'd actually say it is far and away the best moderated board.

Social media changed things a lot, and the mix and profile of expats in Thailand has changed markedly too.

I think it works well enough as it is. Obviously, you might have some concerns as as perhaps it is costing you more money to run it than you want to spend / is causing you grief or worry etc. Unless there are any problems that perhaps we might not be aware of, it would be a shame to see it change and a real shame to see it close down.....perhaps it's nice just knowing that it's still here and if you want to go and say something then you can?

16 hours ago, Flashermac said:

Wow, less than 5 million Kiwis, but they still manage to hate each other?  Christchurch sounds a bit like New York City, in believing that they are superior to everyone else.

It's kind of a little different to that. Christchurch folk don't see themselves as superior, rather they just don't like rather a lot of people including many of their fellow countrymen.