Stickman

Sterile & characterless, and unnecessarily long queues at Immigration aside, I don't think it's that bad.

Black Pagoda used to do it and Bar Bar still does from time to time.

I won't even carry stuff for friends, let alone a stranger. The risks are just too great.

And former visitor to the old get togethers at Woodstock.

2Bangkok.com has a rich history of April Fool's Day pranks

Being dutiful to the other half would perhaps be the best description. She does not like to visit Thailand alone, or perhaps it is more that she doesn't like me to be home alone with the sheep...

Horribly hot and steamy in Bangkok today....it did drizzle a little this morning and more rain would be nice....

Complete and total utter nonsense. Get a taste for real food cooked well (or even not cooked at all) and you will find yourself rapidly going off all of this packaged food / junk food crap and lose the taste for it completely. I used to eat a lot of crap but as I adjusted my diet to healthier food I found that it tasted better i.e. it tasted real. And it doesn't mean that you have to avoid all food that might be bad for you - I still enjoy hamburgers - I either make them myself or go somewhere which uses high quality ingredients.

I don't think it is. There was an Italian guy managing Dollhouse for a while several months ago and Dino only came on board around 3 or so months ago, maybe a little longer.

The manager of Dollhouse in Soi Cowboy is Dino. He was appointed maybe 3 months ago. He's an affable American who has managed other gogo bars including Las Vegas in Nana.

I think Coss and I are just about neighbours....he is, I believe, in the next suburb over.

You do have to wonder what they were thinking having sex on a glass coffee table....the inevitable was obvious, surely?! http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sex-tourists-thai-romp-goes-9603386

You can do it at: Siriraj Hospital or at the Police HQ on Rama 1 Road (at one of the office buildings entered from the Henri Dunant Road side). In each of these cases you'd need to be comfortable speaking Thai otherwise you'll need a Thai with you. Alternatively, Bumrungrad used to offer a service whereby they assign a nurse to you and you are taken across the river to Siriraj and it is all done there, with Bumrungrad effectively acting as an agent for you, handling everything and reporting the results - and adding on their fee, naturally.

Merry Christmas to all from Kiwiland.

Coyotes will be dancing there tonight....John will have a heart attack over that, especially when you consider he had this sigh outside recently:

I'd bet the farm they were taken Sunday of last week which was a Buddhist holiday and all bars were closed.

No idea about joiner's fee but seen the rooms in there and not impressed at all.

Went for a nosey to Soi Cowboy this evening. Doubt if I have ever seen it so quiet. The large neon signs above bar awnings are off. About 1/4 of bars were not open. Those bars which were open didn't have many staff and there weren't that many customers. Some bars had music at a low volume, others had no music. This photo was taken after 9:00 PM.

Soi Nana was closed down by the Army at 12:30 last night, that is Nana Plaza, bars on the soi and EQ.

Everything open, mood very subdued, less lights and in many bars no music.

Last night Nana Plaza was closed while Patpong and Soi Cowboy open. From Cowboy, there was drinking but not much dancing. Friday morning and there is little clarity - bar bosses aren't sure what will happen. There's talk of closure between 3 and 7 days for some and subdued operations for 30 days.

Margarita Storm at the start of Sukhumvit soi 13 has Aussie steaks at decent prices. I think the striploin is around 499 and the fillet 599, from memory. It's one of the better deals about town for imported steak.

I noticed the Thais seem to have become much more coarse with their language particularly females (outside the bar industry). The number of times I heard "e-dock" made me cringe!

Yep, I am in agreement with the general premise about the lack of manners in Thailand. In certain situations, especially in the workplace, dealing with people of influence or with respected family members or government officials, Thais can be impeccably mannered. But out and about in general public they can lack manners and it can be every man for himself. What used to always irk me was when you're in a restaurant and the staff would shout across at each other from one side of the room to the other, destroying any semblance of ambience, when it would have taken almost zero effort to walk across and talk quietly with their colleague.

Oh, I quite like the Vietnamese streetside beer culture too. I know Hooters in Bangkok seems to have polarised a lot of folk and it seems to be a price thing as much as anything. 400 baht for a burger isn't cheap, but then it's still cheaper than a decent place in Auckland where you're looking at $NZ20 (500 baht) for a burger and needless to say, the serving staff don't look anything the staff in Hooters!