MY trip report

[Sooty]

Well darlings I know you've all been panting to hear of my adventures in Bangkok so here goes.

Arrival:
I've previously posted that I arrived on Saturday 21st from Singapore to find that AOT couldn't organise a limo and so, in despair and trepidation, I took a taxi to downtown Suriwong Rd

Hotel:
I stayed a couple of nights in my originally-booked hotel and then ran into one of my clients who spends his time between Bangkok and the UK who generously offered me his second bedroom. The hotel was one honourable members often post about and have decided opinions one way or the other. As I've nothing to add to or subtract from the sum of human knowledge on that hostelry so I won't mention any more than that it was unremarkable, comfortable, and had a lobby full of old crocodiles (you know who you are!)

The apartment on the other hand is slightly away from the Suriwong/Silom area and quite delightful. First one up in the morning throws open all the windows and the cool breeze flows through the apartment almost the whole day long. In the late afternoon we sit on the balcony drinking home made lime sodas. I go for a long morning walk and find - as my friend says - the most exciting thing you can do in Bangkok is attempt to cross the road. Those sois up the far end of Silom are well worth exploring. The area around the Hindu temple on Silom is also home to a mosque - as you walk through Silom 20 - and the area is a cosmopolitan one with Thais, Indians and Africans.

How dull, you say. WHAT ABOUT THE SEX??

Sex:
I've long believed that the aspiring go-go boy should be locked in a room with a few more experienced hands and fed a non-stop diet of Belami porn. He can graduate to an on-stage role only when he has passed a rigorous test - somewhat along the lines of the Personal Trainer series. Sadly this belief of mine is - like so many of the other great religions of the world - a fantasy. It's a bit of a toss up (and in some cases merely a toss off) whether you go for the 18-20 year old who's inexperienced but (you hope) keen, or the older and more practised 25-28 year old who may actually know something about sex or may (always a risk) know how little he can get away with and still get his tip. In a service industry myself I'm keenly aware that providing a compelling customer experience will bring in repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations. Most of Bangkok's twinks struggle with that concept.

So it's mostly been somewhat-good-ranging-to excellent-massages followed by abysmal sex. In the last episode the massage boy finished the body massage (excellent) and with 5 minutes to go pointed to my cock and said "Massage that too?" I read about the adventures of biggles69 or our own dear pong in the Massage Places thread on on Cruising for Sex Thailand (http://web.cruisingforsex.com/bb/thailand/331556-massage-venues.html) and despair of ever reaching those heights.

Politics:
Having mentioned sex and religion it would be remiss of me to omit Thai politics. If you want to see an Ancien Regime in its death throes, pay attention to what's happening in Bangkok. The old elite sees its privileges ebbing away with the life of He who enabled them, terrified of what is to come. They have joined forces with the NIMBYs of the Bangkok middle class who perceive a political party that is using "their" taxes to redistribute wealth from the better-off to the poor in the way that Western countries have done for at least the past 100 years. When they say they're "against democracy" it's that redistribution they're implacably opposed to.

Suthep is now threatening to "shut Bangkok down" for as long as it takes in the new year, but given he's managed to shut down only a small area on a Sunday (when the middle class had a day off so could turn up for a picnic day out but swamped the MRT and the BTS) I suspect it's more bluster and fantasy than what's likely to happen. The Bangkok Post ran a good opinion piece (by a Thai) the other day, calling both Suthep and Thaksin "old style patronage politicians", each as corrupt as the other, and hoping their day would soon be over. Amen to that.

[Sooty]

I suppose I should add

Places to eat:
Places NOt to eat - Black Canyon in the basement of Silom Complex; Dick's in Soi Twilight; the Mexican restaurant at the entrance to Silom Soi 4

Outside the Silom area - The Loft (Lofts?) at Central Department store, Chidlom - Thai style food hall. Good value

Silom Soi 4. The one thing you should know is that many of those little bars eg. Connections and Stranger, get their meals on sub-contract from Telephone Bar. So if you like the food at Telephone Bar you'll like the food at some of the smaller bars. When we ate at Connections there was a rat tootling around our feet. Not everyone's cup of tea, I suppose, but it did us no harm. Spanish on 4 has an interesting tapas style menu.

In Patpong there's Guido's and I mention it in the same breath as Soi 4 as he used to be the cook at Telephone Bar (yes, all rather incestuous). Guido himself is somewhat OTT, but the food can be tasty. Well, the meat can. The vegetables often leave something to be desired. Too-small portions of wine in the "glass of wine" order so my wine-drinking friends tell me.

[christianpfc]

Thanks for your report.

Places NOt to eat
Why not? (Apart from adding 7% VAT and 10% service charge on the menue prices, a practice I do not support.)

[Oliver]

I enjoyed that, Sooty. You are certainly correct about the joys of the older man. Not only that, but you're in with a chance of a decent conversation.
And your take on the political fuss is spot-on. There's no way that these remnants of a feudal age are going to keep me out of Bangkok in a couple of weeks, however much support they get from The Bangkok Post and The Nation. And it's only in Bangkok that they have any pull.

[Sooty]

Thanks for your report.

Places NOt to eat
Why not? (Apart from adding 7% VAT and 10% service charge on the menue prices, a practice I do not support.)Poor or boring food perhaps? Had you thought of that? Since 7% VAT is mandatory I'd suggest that means there's absolutely nowhere you can eat.

[scottish-guy]

.

If the VAT "response" was made by someone other than a nit-picker himself, I'd let it go....

What Christianpfc clearly objects to is not the legal necessity of paying VAT - but a VAT exclusive price appearing on the menu with the diner perhaps facing a higher final bill than he expected.

[Sooty]

If the VAT "response" was made by someone other than a nit-picker himself, I'd let it go....

What Christianpfc clearly objects to is not the legal necessity of paying VAT - but a VAT exclusive price appearing on the menu with the diner perhaps facing a higher final bill than he expected.Frankly I've never seen that in Bangkok - not that I'd notice particularly - but it's common enough practice in those US places that have State sales tax to quote prices of goods as tax exempt. Perhaps christianpfc's experience of the world is somewhat limited??

[scottish-guy]

I've seen Tax exclusive prices in Thailand - mostly in hotels/places where they think they are a cut above (no offence to the particular business mentioned in this thread)

Elsewhere in the world though I've found it rare (exception of USA, where I recall it being pretty common).

Service charge exclusive prices are a different matter - much more common, but again more so in high-end or pretentious establishments.

Like Christian, I like the price I see to be the price I pay - call me old-fashioned.

O:-)

[Smiles]

Nice post Sooty ... though for some reason I'm getting a visual of a quite old man (help me out if I am wrong), so the sex part made me a bit squeamish.
But, in the end, it was pretty white bread sex so I'm happy with that. Reports replete with detail sex stuff should always be in the 'less is more' vein depending on the age of the author: minute detail including flashlights, butter, Santa Claus hats and leather items left to the young 'uns please (& photos always appreciated) ... descriptions of the off-boy helping-you-into-bed in a drunken stupour, and trying to hide the Depends is what the oldies should be concerned with, and nothing more (& absolutely no photos): Pa Kettle indeed.

To flesh things out, so to speak, without getting further into The Raunch, I'd add a lot more detail to your traipsing round Bangkok part ... especially those dark alleys which for some reason always seem to have a motorcyle repair shop at the very end, leaking out oil and various other fluids into the Soi for the last ten or fifteen years and which nobody ever cleans up, ever. I made it to the end of one one morning (off Suriwong) some years ago and by the time I tried to turn around my flip flops had gotten stuck so severely in the goop that I had to abandon them. Glancing back as I retreated, I watched them slowly slide beneath the tar sands.

And, in my once-in-every-two-years frame of mind, I agree wholeheartedly with you and ~ sit down if you're standing ~ Oliver on the politics stuff: a tidy and succinct encapsulation of Thailand's never-ending 'situation'.

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

[Sooty]

I am, Smiles, unable to fathom why you are gaining an impression of an older man; I am middle-aged. Since you asked for it, here's a further episode dedicated entirely to you. I hope you enjoy it but frankly as I wrote it I thought "how damn dull"

Back passages of Bangkok
I don't go to Sukhumvit apart from perhaps Emporium and Central Chidlom so these adventures are almost wholly around the Silom area. However one feature of the Siam Square to Chidlom BTS line is that there's an overground walkway that provides a very pleasant way to exercise if you happen to be staying in that area. It also provides a connection between what used to be called the World Trade Centre (is it now Zen??) and either Siam or Chidlom BTS without having to cross any roads

Interesting Sathorn Sois
I don't venture below Soi 7 although there is a back passage alongside the Danish Embassy between Soi 1 and Suan Phlu (that major road opposite the Anglican Church on the corner of Convent and Sathorn).
Soi 7 is quite a short side-street; if you like Italian food right at the end there's a restaurant called Il Bolognese. Fixed price menu at 299 or 399 at lunchtimes. Farang owned by one of those pretentious Westerners who if he greets you at all gives you a deep wai and mouths off a Thai hullo

Across Naratiwas Road (there's a pedestrian overpass up a flight of steps) you start getting to some more interesting side-streets
Soi 11 is a reasonably long street full of typical Thai small shops. At the end there are a number of options that (left) lead back to Naratiwas or (right) lead to yet more interesting Thai streets untouched by farang hand. I've heard of gay people staying at Marvin Suites which seems to be owned by Russians and there are a couple of other accommodations in that street. There are a couple of Western style coffee shops
Soi 13. Really, what can one say? A maze of alleys, no footpath in most places, a Catholic school area and dominated by Saint Louis Hospital. For the unadventurous there's a branch of S&P at the front of the hospital just inside the gates, and the hospital itself hosts a branch of Au Bon Pain
Soi 15. Same as for Soi 13. On its left at its entrance is the residence of the Papal Legate. Soi 13 and 15 have multiple back alleys in common but it's a largely residential area. Quite a few guest houses that have Westerners staying there. Very popular dormitory area for bar boys one of them told me (although nothing quite beats Soi 1 for that according to my host)

At that point I head off for Surasak BTS and across the road and then it starts getting much more touristy on the other side

Pramuan is a through road to Silom and runs alongside Bangkok Christian College, one of the leading boys' schools (no loitering!!!). Pan Road likewise. Once you're past the school then there's the usual restaurants and so on that you would expect to find as you approach the Silom Rd tourist traps
Sois 12 & 10 have a number of large, expensive-ish condo developments and some interesting family-owned Thai restaurants. They both end up joining hands with Silom Soi 9. The area also has what was once (20 years ago my host tells me) Silom's most-favoured short-time hotel, the Niagara.
Soi 8 (back across Naratiwas) has its own multiple back passages that lead variously to Silom 5, Silom 3 (also known as Soi Phipat 2, I believe) and loops back around to become Sathorn 6. If you're ever pinged online by a Vietnamese massage boy who wants you to visit him at his hotel, that's likely be where you'll end up

To be continued ...

[Sooty]

Like Christian, I like the price I see to be the price I pay - call me old-fashioned.

O:-)Very old fashioned indeed. I never, ever check a restaurant bill as I've already formed an impression from the prices on the menu itself as to the sort of amount I'll be paying at the end. Only if it's outside that expectation would I bother to look at it. Oh, and if I ordered something that never arrived I'd check to see that it wasn't included. Sadly if I go with a group of people there's invariable some anal old woman (of either sex) who scrutinises the bill in detail. Life's too short for that sort of nonsense.

[christianpfc]

Keep it coming Sooty, it's getting better and better!

Perhaps christianpfc's experience of the world is somewhat limited??
In Germany, there is a law, all taxes have to be included in the price, there is no ++, people wouldn't even get the idea. My experience in dining in England and France is limited, but in all cases everything was included.

So when I first saw 10% service charge and 7% VAT added in a restaurant in Thailand, I thought "What the fuck? I won't be back. You can bullshit someone else." Of course I check the bill before I pay!

The thing is, some places are all included, some add only VAT, some add only service charge, some add both. I clearly prefer places that show the end price, no ++.

[Sooty]

Keep it coming Sooty, it's getting better and better!

Perhaps christianpfc's experience of the world is somewhat limited??
In Germany, there is a law, all taxes have to be included in the price, there is no ++, people wouldn't even get the idea. My experience in dining in England and France is limited, but in all cases everything was included.

So when I first saw 10% service charge and 7% VAT added in a restaurant in Thailand, I thought "What the fuck? I won't be back. You can bullshit someone else." Of course I check the bill before I pay!

The thing is, some places are all included, some add only VAT, some add only service charge, some add both. I clearly prefer places that show the end price, no ++.It's always so sad to read how the poor people conduct their lives.

[marti]

It's always so sad to read how the poor people conduct their lives.

Sooty, your writings are such that I don't think anyone would care if you never posted anything again.

[Sooty]

Sooty, your writings are such that I don't think anyone would care if you never posted anything again.It's so refreshing to find such a different and upfront perspective rather than contributions from the crowd of sycophants who hang on my every word.

[a447]

Now, now Marti; didn't your parents tell you to be nice to old folks??

In Sooty's case, you'd better be extra nice, as he is apparently extra old.

ROFL

[scottish-guy]

Like Christian, I like the price I see to be the price I pay - call me old-fashioned.

O:-)Very old fashioned indeed. I never, ever check a restaurant bill as I've already formed an impression from the prices on the menu itself as to the sort of amount I'll be paying at the end. Only if it's outside that expectation would I bother to look at it.... Sadly if I go with a group of people there's invariable some anal old woman (of either sex) who scrutinises the bill in detail. Life's too short for that sort of nonsense.

As I suspect you well know, I'm not talking about routinely "scrutinising" bills "in detail" - I do exactly the same as you and have an ball-park expectation what the bill will be.

However, if a bill was subsequently presented which is fully 17% higher than I expect (i.e. VAT + Service has been added) then I'm sorry but that WOULD give me cause to examine not only the bill but to re-examine the menu or tariff card to satisfy myself that the additional charges were stated thereon, and that I had overlooked them. 17% extra on a 2 week hotel bill (for example) is equivalent to (more than) two extra nights - it's not insignificant.

:ymparty:

What strange hotels you must stay in, Scottish-guy. I've never made a hotel booking even in Singapore where they seem besotted not just with ++ but +++, where I haven't known at the time I made the booking exactly what the fully inclusive cost is. Restaurants are an entirely different matter and the only reason I ever check the bill is to see if a 10% service charge has been loaded on, in which case I don't leave a tip.

Even then I only ever tip if the waiter is cute.

[Sooty]

Back passages of Bangkok (continued)

Always wear strong footwear. Apart from the risks encounterd by Smiles - losing a pair of flip flops to being sucked off by a pool of engine oil - tapeworms abound even in Bangkok which isn't sewered in the sense we know of a European or North American city. The slightest , smallest crack in your feet can provide an entry point. Do you know why there are little rubbish baskets for you to place the used lavatory paper in any bathroom you visit? Most buildings have a septic tank and eventually the paper clogs it up. Today's trivia point. I'd have thought it was bio-degradable but apparently not.

Interesting Silom Sois
I'll ignore the Sois of Sin - 2, 2/1, 4 and 6. Most Bangkok readers will be more familiar with them than I am

Once you're over Naratiwas almost every Soi is worth exploring. Most are unremarkable in the sense that they have the run of the mill small Thai shops, although those ones are frequently more oriented to the tourist trade. The area is a tourist ghetto in some respects, filled with tailors' shops and other tat, together with massage shops and hotels for every price bracket even the most price conscious. (The same is true by the way of the area on Silom around Soi 6 - there are a couple of cheaper hotels right there and, no, I don't know their "joiner" policy)

Soi 20: As far as I recall there are no motorcycle repair shops for Smiles to visit but there is, as I said in an earlier post, a mosque (why do I always think "bottoms up" as I see Moslem men praying?). There are quite a few mosques dotted around Bangkok; even in this area I know of two. The one in Soi 20 I've just mentioned, and there's another one in the maze of alleys around Sathorn 13 & 15. The easiest way to access it is to take the soi to the left immediately after Surasak BTS which leads onto the freeway but instead of going on the freeway keep to the left and head down Rong Nam Khaeng - it's an area full of cheap rooms (6,000 or 7,000 a month, I believe, some possibly cheaper, that's why it's the bar boy dormitory) and an old mosque. There's also a big Chinese cemetery in there

The closer you get to the river the more touristy it becomes but still many traditional Thai shops and open-air small markets. I'm told there's a porn cinema up there somewhere but I wouldn't risk it myself

I think that's it. I have, after all, only been here 10 days.

[christianpfc]

I'm told there's a porn cinema up there somewhere but I wouldn't risk it myself.

I volunteer. I just need directions or a name.

[Sooty]

I'm told there's a porn cinema up there somewhere but I wouldn't risk it myself.

I volunteer. I just need directions or a name.Go to Cruising for Sex (link in previous post) - the topic (Smiles will love this one) is something like Suck Cinema updates

[Sooty]

And as the sun sinks slowly on Thailand I bid fond adieu to the Land of Scams. I'm catching the midday flight back to a real Kingdom.

[zombie]

Very enjoyable reports Sooty: so well done!

[christianpfc]

Regarding porn cinema, the one in Klong Toey is mentioned on crusingforsex. I went to that one (Rama 4 road, near Klong Toey market) about three years ago (and reported). But that's a bit away from the area you describe.

To continue where Sooty ended ("There's also a big Chinese cemetery in there"): that cemetery (Tae Chio cemetery р╕кр╕╕р╕кр╕▓р╕Щр╣Бр╕� �р╣Йр╕Ир╕┤р╣Лр╕з) is quite large and now used as a park (but not on maps as such), with the gravestones still present. I went there two years ago and will report some time. (I have a series of posts "Cemeteries of Thailand" in mind.)

There is Wat Prok (with unusually shaped Jedi) and Wat Witsanu (Wat Phram Hindu, Hindu temple) near to the cemetery/park. From the expressway you have a good view of these.

[Smiles]

" ... Do you know why there are little rubbish baskets for you to place the used lavatory paper in any bathroom you visit? Most buildings have a septic tank and eventually the paper clogs it up ... "
... and that's why 98% of the toilets in Thailand have those sweet little water hoses next to the bowel. Thais don't use toilet paper and neither should you. Given a decent degree of pressure ~ and I've hardly ever used one which didn't ~ they serve the purpose much more efficiently and hygenically. I mean, think about it: westerners 'smear', not wash. How can they stand that?
The proof is in the pudding: skid marks cannot be found in this country! (Not that I ever had any 'before' ... i.e. BWH)

When I moved to Thailand lock stock and barrel I purchased an 8-pack of toilet paper (for some ungodly reason ... at that time I wasn't 100% sure of what I'd need) for our new home. That was 7 years ago and I still have 3 rolls left from that very same 8-pack. Good in a pinch if the water goes down (rarely), or I get some nostalgic urge-from-the-past to try my hand at 'smearing' for old times sake.

I'm not sure where you go to shit Smiles but I don't recall seeing the "bum gun" in the confessionals in modern public conveniences such as department stores since I imagine (a) your trousers could get very wet and (b) there is no way to dry yourself and (c) although there seems to be a janitrice always lurking about I don't believe they want to be wiping away water from the floor all the time and (d) imagine how many "caution - slippery wet floor" signs they would need. The ones I frequent don't even have the "squat toilet" variety any more. But perhaps in far away Hua Hin things are different? Your assertion that "Thais don't use paper" is illogical and misleading.

[Smiles]

" ... I'm not sure where you go to shit Smiles but I don't recall seeing the "bum gun" in the confessionals in modern public conveniences such as department stores ... "
I guess the Hi-So smear then, eh?
Seriously though, and with no intention of making the rest of the Members here gag, I repeat ... I've hardly ever been in a Thailand hong nam which does not provide the squirting option. Do I use the HN in department stores often? No. So that must remain a mystery until I do a little more digging. Which I shall, and report on.

Meanwhile I believe you could at least use the word 'shite' instead of 'shit' in serious topics such as this one. First off, it makes the general membership quite uncomfortable (shitting that is), and secondly it is much more becoming of an Etonian upper class Scottish tw*t like yourself.
Wait ... has Eton ever actually had a Scot in attendance?

[jinks]

Happy Anniversary OLD MAN.... 10 years with / without me and others on the board !

Meanwhile I believe you could at least use the word 'shite' instead of 'shit' in serious topics such as this one.I leave being twee (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=twee) to others.

[scottish-guy]

Wait ... has Eton ever actually had a Scot in attendance?

Excuse me?

I'll have you know that I, personally graduated from Eton....


....and went on to Drinkin'



:ymparty:

[Rush, Yet Again]

Though your smear campaign possibly includes a bit TMI there Smiles, an interesting observation of the bidet versus paper nonetheless. And it reminded me of one of the great mysteries of the world: how do blind people know when theyтАЩre clean?

[francois]

And it reminded me of one of the great mysteries of the world: how do blind people know when theyтАЩre clean?

They have a keen sense of smell?

" ... Do you know why there are little rubbish baskets for you to place the used lavatory paper in any bathroom you visit? Most buildings have a septic tank and eventually the paper clogs it up ... "... and that's why 98% of the toilets in Thailand have those sweet little water hoses next to the bowel. Thais don't use toilet paper.I have selflessly - selflessly - spent the last 24 hours surveying the public conveniences of my corner of Bangkok. In the course of my research I have been approached by numbers of Thai men, both young and old, who wished me to given an opinion - I think that's what they were after - of the cleanliness of a certain part of the body that usually remains covered and, conscientious person that I am, I naturally fulfilled this request, often using the "taste" test to check for freshness. I can report that, far from "98% of the toilets in Thailand have those sweet little water hoses next to the bowel [sic]", 98% of those toilets did not have a bum gun, next to the bowl or in any other location.

[scottish-guy]

The validity of your Toilet Poll (not bowl) depends, like most polls, on the number and nature of places/persons surveyed.

For example, it could be possible to demonstrate that the average cock-size in Pattaya is 3inches if you survey only women and also ladyboys on hormones!

In this case, I wonder what sort of buildings did you find the toilets you surveyed, and the size of your sample(!) ?

If they were more modern, public buildings like shopping malls etc, then you are probably right that bum hoses are not so common.

If you survey go-go bars, beer bars, and hotels (like LCR) however, then Smiles 98% bum hose count, holds up.

If you surveyed gas stations/rest stops and the Golden Cock, then a bucket of water and a fucking ladle would be the norm.

:ymparty:

[lego]

Oh shit, another toilet thread.

[whitemouse]

Who looks at anything other than the total?

Anybody goes line by line? Tax? What tax, some 7 percent thingy? Or 12? Just pay the bill. Trust me, it is not much!




Like Christian, I like the price I see to be the price I pay - call me old-fashioned.

O:-)Very old fashioned indeed. I never, ever check a restaurant bill as I've already formed an impression from the prices on the menu itself as to the sort of amount I'll be paying at the end. Only if it's outside that expectation would I bother to look at it. Oh, and if I ordered something that never arrived I'd check to see that it wasn't included. Sadly if I go with a group of people there's invariable some anal old woman (of either sex) who scrutinises the bill in detail. Life's too short for that sort of nonsense.

[whitemouse]

No no, Christian, please go back, if you liked the food.

Who gives a fuck if the tax is calculated in the total, or added separetly? In Canada GST and PST, one provincial, one federal tax are added to price at check out. Who cares!



Keep it coming Sooty, it's getting better and better!

Perhaps christianpfc's experience of the world is somewhat limited??
In Germany, there is a law, all taxes have to be included in the price, there is no ++, people wouldn't even get the idea. My experience in dining in England and France is limited, but in all cases everything was included.

So when I first saw 10% service charge and 7% VAT added in a restaurant in Thailand, I thought "What the fuck? I won't be back. You can bullshit someone else." Of course I check the bill before I pay!

The thing is, some places are all included, some add only VAT, some add only service charge, some add both. I clearly prefer places that show the end price, no ++.

[whitemouse]

Cmon, they are not bullshitting you, its a tax. Thats all it is, they are not robbing u. Germany has its way of giving you a bill, but is not Germany, maybe not a big deal. In my homeland, prices displayed always incl all tax, but thats just my country, Im not there now.


Keep it coming Sooty, it's getting better and better!

Perhaps christianpfc's experience of the world is somewhat limited??
In Germany, there is a law, all taxes have to be included in the price, there is no ++, people wouldn't even get the idea. My experience in dining in England and France is limited, but in all cases everything was included.

So when I first saw 10% service charge and 7% VAT added in a restaurant in Thailand, I thought "What the fuck? I won't be back. You can bullshit someone else." Of course I check the bill before I pay!

The thing is, some places are all included, some add only VAT, some add only service charge, some add both. I clearly prefer places that show the end price, no ++.

[whitemouse]

LOL so wrong!



It's always so sad to read how the poor people conduct their lives.

Sooty, your writings are such that I don't think anyone would care if you never posted anything again.

[whitemouse]

No no no.

As a voluntary Pattaya public health official, it is my proffessional opinion and conclusion, that majority of Pattaya breeding age males, have access to those water guns. I am not speaking for the uncultured savages of Bangkok.





" ... Do you know why there are little rubbish baskets for you to place the used lavatory paper in any bathroom you visit? Most buildings have a septic tank and eventually the paper clogs it up ... "... and that's why 98% of the toilets in Thailand have those sweet little water hoses next to the bowel. Thais don't use toilet paper.I have selflessly - selflessly - spent the last 24 hours surveying the public conveniences of my corner of Bangkok. In the course of my research I have been approached by numbers of Thai men, both young and old, who wished me to given an opinion - I think that's what they were after - of the cleanliness of a certain part of the body that usually remains covered and, conscientious person that I am, I naturally fulfilled this request, often using the "taste" test to check for freshness. I can report that, far from "98% of the toilets in Thailand have those sweet little water hoses next to the bowel [sic]", 98% of those toilets did not have a bum gun, next to the bowl or in any other location.

If you survey go-go bars, beer bars, and hotels (like LCR) however, then Smiles 98% bum hose count, holds up.I'm not sure that Smiles wants to be pilloried in a public forum as the sort of guy that hangs around the toilets of go-go bars and beer bars. My point is not the percentage of bum guns around but the sheer idiocy of the corollary - that Thais don't use lavatory paper.

[Smiles]

" ... If you surveyed gas stations/rest stops and the Golden Cock, then a bucket of water and a fucking ladle would be the norm ... "
... and that's we pull in only at Petronas. Their HN's are very clean and they offer a smorgasboard of toiletry styles including at one or two stalls with hoses. (Afterwards, we 'pull out' of Petronas :D )
Nice food courts as well.
____________________________________________

Surfcrest wished for 'more posting', and now he's getting his wish. He will just have to put up with more shit posts.

[christianpfc]

My objection on the ++ is mainly that it's not systematic. Some places have the end price, some add 10% service charge (and I have seen 5% service charge in a self-service food court!), some add 7% VAT, some add both. If it was the same all over Thailand, I could easily live with it.

This practice is called "distortion of competition" (add VAT and service charge to make the initial price look lower), and I try not to support it.

If there is a place that has no ++, I will choose this place over a place that has ++, because this is how it should be and how I know it from Germany. (But there is one place which adds 7% VAT, and I keep coming back).

[Smiles]

Each to his own Christian.
Don't look now, but in fact almost nothing in Thailand is, how you characterize it, 'systemic'. And for me that's one of Thailand's glories, not one of it's faults. For myself the weirdnesses of this crazy country are an attraction, not a detriment as far as I'm concerned.
I retired here for many different reasons, one of them ~ not the main one ~ being to ditch the white-picket-fence, overly structured, dullness of middle class liberal democracies which 'work' smoothly (mostly).

If there is a place that has no ++, I will choose this place over a place that has ++, because this is how it should be.Prostitution is illegal in Thailand but you still keep paying boys for sex, no? Is that how it should be too?

[lego]

Oh my, the old and boring VAT and Service Charge discussion is back in town. Yawn.

Seriously, I couldn't care less, but here's my rule of thumb that works well enough: If it's a cheap place, I assume that the prices are net. If I'm wrong, I don't stand to spend much more, since it's a cheap place. If it's an expensive place, I assume that I'll have to pay about 20% more than stated. If I'm wrong, I end up spending a bit less. One way or another, it doesn't bother me.

Hanging out in Bangkok is that cheap (compared to all the other places I've lived in before) that obsessing over bills is nothing but a waste of time. I can get completely trashed plus the taxi fare back home for the price of just the taxi ride elsewhere. Here's to Bangkok's incredibly cheap taxis! ;)