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Breaking News
August 2010
Click here to read our July 2010 News.
Sweethearts
reopened Sweethearts A Go-Go on Walking Street reopened on August 28th after being closed a few days for renovations.
Closed
 Paris Super A-Go-Go,
also known as Paris Follies, on Soi Diamond, off Walking Street, has changed hands. Update: On Thursday, August 26th, the bar was open for its dancers only - to collect their belongings... I couldn't see any happy faces. Fire on Walking Street and at BigC Center
 On Friday morning, August 27th, a fire gutted the well-known Timeout Ice Cream Shop on Walking Street. The blaze had most likely started from an electrical short circuit. The venue reopened during December 2009 after a complete renovation.
On August 26th at about 23:30 the Pattaya fire brigade was called to the BigC Shopping Center in North Pattaya.
The fire began on the fourth floor and it took firemen almost two hours to bring it under control.
An electrical short circuit was the reason for the fire at BigC too.
It was the third fire in BigC within a few month.
No fire alarms sounded and no internal sprinkler system ever functioned on these occasions...
Chonburi's Senator Surachai Chaitrakulthong is luring potential investors from Taiwan and other countries by promising 'Thailand's plus is the availability of a skilled workforce'. The contrary is true: Thailand's problem is the lack of a skilled workforce. In the dark
 On Thursday, August 26th, New Simons Bar Complex on Walking Street was in the dark until about 22:00.
 The people from the power company fixed the problem, but disregarding all safety regulations - at least regulations in place in industrialized countries.
New Bar in Soi 7
 On Soi 7, opposite of Tattoo Bar, a large new bar opened. Its name: Three Butterflys Bar.
 For me one butterfly is already one too much...
New on Soi Lenkee
 The Ned Kelly Bar opened on Soi Lenkee, of Soi Buakhaow.
Train to Airport
The new Airport Link train connecting Bangkok and Suvarnabhumi airport began its first day of commercial services on Monday August 23rd 2010.
The Airport Link offers two types of services, the City Line which stops at 8 stations from Phaya Thai and the non-stop Airport Express which runs from Makkasan to the airport.
 The City Line runs every 15 minutes and the Express Line every 30 minutes. Both lines operate from 6am until midnight.
 The Airport Express costs 100 Baht per trip, the fare for the City Line starts from 15 Baht.
The Airport Express fare will be raised to 150 baht after the check-in system are fully set up at Makkasan station. People with many bags may have some difficulties during the check-in process...
Passengers using the City Line pay a flat rate of 15 baht for a trip during the promotion period. Promotion ends on Jan 1, 2011.
The State Railway of Thailand has plans to launch a 40 per cent discount promotion. But the promotion would target people working at Suvarnabhumi airport and school as well as university students.
For more information:
Airport Rail Link
Suvarnabhumi Airport Link [Wikipedia, english] Suvarnabhumi Airport Link [Wikipedia, deutsch] Bangkok Airport Train Suvarnabhumi Airport Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Airport profiteering
 Be warned: A 500ml bottle of drinking water costs up to 50 Baht at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Food too is completely overpriced at most outlets at Bangkok's new airport!
Most goods at the airport's 'Duty Free Shops' have price tags that are far away to be called bargains.
Online shoppers can get all goods at cheaper prices than at any 'Duty Free Outlet' worldwide, a recent survey showed.
Thai Tiger
 Thai Airways International announced to create a new Low Cost Airline with the help of Singapore's Tiger Airlines.
Thai Tiger Airlines will be an ultra-low cost, low fare airline. The new airline would start offering services in the first quarter of 2011.
Low cost airlines already have a 17% market share in Asia's sky. Thai Airways International's market share within the region plunged from 40 per cent to 10 per cent, its domestic flights from 50 per cent to 30 per cent. THAI's own low-fare airline Nok Airlines could not come up with a marketing strategy to expand the business...
Thai Airways International is a state enterprise with Thailand's Finance Ministry as THAI's major shareholder.
 Thailand's Pollution Control Department tested last year 233 beaches in 18 provinces.
Only six beaches got a five star rating: Bi Leh, Koh Rok, Samsao and Ao Kha beaches in Krabi, Lidi beach in Satun and and Tai Muang beach in Phangnga, all located in Southern Thailand.
Click the Map. Many famous beaches in Trat, Phuket, Rayong and Chonburi (including Pattaya, Koh Chang and Koh Samet) have been demoted from four stars to three stars because of poor management of tourism and the environment. Beaches on Phuket gave cause for most concern. Phuket's Patong and Rawai beaches were found to have an excessive amount of coliform bacteria in the sea water. Thailand's Pollution Control Department was worried about the poor quality of beaches: Waste water discharges are the main threat to beaches, a spokesman said. Instead of financing Pattaya's most important projects our Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome and his City Hall are wasting the money for the beautification of Sukhumvit Road and the Mayor's dream of Pattaya's Sky Train... Are you an
average person? According to a research, the average person spends half their waking hours using communication devices.
Men spend nearly an hour more per day using media than women.
The researchers forget to include my Thai ladies into their research...
Check your
P.O. Box daily! There are rumors in the city, that a group of English business men are opening bars and restaurants which can be visited with personal date limited invitations only...
Mafia x 2
The Swiss Mafia on Walking Street needs 2 (two) Websites to distribute the same content:
Goodfellas (now closed) MafiaGirlz (now closed) Usually there is a reason for such a move, but speculations are up to you... Nevertheless: Thanks to Adobe Flash Mania both websites are slow. Dirty Temple Pond
 The once popular pond at South Pattaya's Wat Chaimongkon (South Pattaya Road/2nd Road) is dirty to such an extent that visitors desert & complain and its 'dwellers' prefer to die on the spot.
A disgrace for Pattaya and the temple as well.
Avoid Jetskis
 We can observe scam related problems between tourists and the unscrupulous Jetski operators almost every single day.
With the exception of holding meetings after meetings about the subject, Pattaya City Hall doesn't do anything to stop the scams.
Therefore our advice:
Do not use any Jetski! Same advice for Jomtien, Naklua, Phuket, Koh Samui and every other beach in Thailand. The Jetski mafia is applying the same dirty tricks nationwide. New A Go-Go
 Wanthana's Dance Club opened on Soi 6. It replaces Betty Boup's Dance Club.
The Daily Surprise
 A small surprise every other day (resp. night)...
Nok bar on Walking Street change its layout and its seatings almost every other day, but not its ladies. Nevertheless, since a few days additional coyote girls are shaking their bodies at the venue.
From Hospital
to Motoroom Works are on the way to transfer the failed Hospital Disco on top of King Café on Walking Street into a new venue called Motoroom.
Open
 Silhouettes, the venue that replaces Linekers Sport's Bar on Pattaya's 2nd Road, opened on August 1st 2010.
New Hotel
 The Hilton Pattaya, the new beach front hotel on top of CentralFestival, is scheduled to open on October 1st 2010.
New on
Beach Promenade  Pattaya tries to get a Beach Resort despite its dirty beaches...
Oversupply?!
 Stay 1 month free.
Pattaya takes action
 In our April 2010 Newsflash we published the real face of Pattaya. In the meantime City Hall installed a warning at the stinky Garbage Street: Off-loading any trash will be fined with 2'000 Baht, the sign says.
Banana Republic?
You remember:
On July 7th the Royal Thai Police Inspection Division 7 raided Insomnia Disco on Walking Street and arrested the manager of the venue for not covering advertisements of alcoholic beverages in his bar. Thailand's Alcoholic Beverage Control Act bans both external and internal signs and advertisements for any kind of alcoholic beverages. Thailand - a Banana Republic? Thai TV Channels broadcast almost every evening TV-spots for Regency (Brandy Thai) and its new Drinking Water. 
During the last few weeks we tried to get a bootle, but without any chance: Stores are storing Regency Brandy only...
Funny Pattaya
Sexy Rain
  Bon appetit!
Say Cheese!
 Seen on a T-shirt
 Seen on the beach
 I discovered this sign during the Food on the Beach show. Does it mean that the other departments of Nestlé don't know to work the professional way?
Starts to look good...
 Pattaya ever looked bad?
Soi Arunotai
 Art in Soi Arunotai.
Indian Film Crew
 On August 3rd an Indian film crew shot some scenes on Walking Street.
 The crew arrived in a car marked as School Bus...
 Harley Davidson made by Honda...?
Previous Publications
Previous 'News Flash' Publications
July 2010
June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 April 1st 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 April 1st 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 April 1st 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 July/August 2007 June 2007 April/May 2007 March 2007 Stop the Press
From a usually not very credible source we learned that Phuket will change its name to Fuket.
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Pattaya News Flash August 2010 - The Source
 from Pattaya, the City providing Jobs on the Beach.
NightWalker recommends
Pattaya's most asked Festivals for 2011 & 2012
Songkran, Pattaya Music Festival & Loy Krathong
Songkran, Pattaya Music Festival & Loy Krathong generate a lot of mails in our mailbox. People usually like to know the correct dates of these festivals for the following year(s).
Songkran, the Water Splashing Festival: The Thai New Year doesn't change the date. It always generates fun from April 13th to April 15th all over Thailand, but Pattaya is extending the festivities almost every year from April 13 - 19 to satisfy all that people that never can get enough splashes of dirty water...
Pattaya International Music Festival: This free event usually is attracting up to 600'000 visitors from all over the world during the 3 days of the 3rd weekend in March. For 2011 it should happen from March 18th - 20th, 2012 from March 16th - 18th. But these dates are subjected to Pattaya City Hall's famous Last Date Announcements!
Loy Krathong: Thailand's most beautiful festival happens on the 12th full moon of the Thai lunar year, usually during November. In 2011 the magical night will happen on November 10th, 2012 on November 28th. For this year, Loy Krathong's magic night festival will happen on November 21st 2010.
August 1st 2010
Happy Birthday Switzerland!
Nevertheless, the first 'Swiss Burger' was created using pure Swiss Cheese, but in its successors the tasty Swiss Cheese was replaced by something else.
The 'Swiss Burger' on sale at Diary Queen here in Thailand is a copy of the American counterpart - and because it's a copy Made in Thailand, it uses something that looks like a slice of cheese, but never tastes like a real and delicious Swiss Cheese...
Burgerland CentralFestival
 McDonald's opens 2 fast food outlets at CentralFestival Pattaya.
Both McDonald's are located on the ground floor of the shopping complex. One at CentralFestival's famous FoodPark and a second one at the center's Beach Plaza.
There are now 8 Burger Outlets at Pattaya's most popular shopping center: A&W, Burger King, Diary Queen, KFC (x2), McDonald's (x2) and MosBurger.
Perhaps CentralFestival should launch a BurgerFestival to determine its best burger...
A 'menu' including a burger, french fries and a coke starts at about 109 Baht at most outlets. Therefor we recommend the K. Ken Steak booth at CentralFestival's FoodPark. The kitchen sells a burger (without bun), rice, some vegetables and a fried egg for 55 Baht. K. Ken Steak calls it Samurai Steak. For a Coke you have to pay an additional 25 Baht at an other outlet. A bargain for 80 Baht - and a real meal! K. Ken Steak runs kitchens at Carrefour and Tesco/Lotus too. At Carrefour the booth sells its Samurai Steak for 55 Baht, but including a healthy soup - and probably eliminating an additional Coke. Mindulle visits Pattaya
 On Wednesday August 25th, shortly after 13:00, tropical storm Mindulle visited Pattaya and created heavy rainfalls and strong winds. Within a few minutes the storm watered streets, disconnected power and cable TV lines and snapped off trees.
New Threat
Health Tourists from India are spreading Superbug!
Health tourists flocking to south Asia have carried a new class of antibiotic-resistant superbugs to Britain and the bacteria could spread easily worldwide.
Hospital infections that were already difficult to treat have become even more impervious to drugs due to a recently discovered gene called NDM-1. It can jump across different species of bacteria.
The bugs had been brought into Britain by patients who travelled to India or Pakistan for cosmetic surgery. The superbug was found in Bangladesh too.
NDM-1 is mostly found in E. coli, a common source of community-acquired urinary tract infections.
With the steady influx of tourists from India and Pakistan it is merely a matter of time until the new superbug will reach Pattaya and other popular destinations in Thailand, doctors say.
The Monthly Tukcom Scam
New LED sign shines over Walking Street
The Cavern's sign arrived and shines now over Walking Street.
Inspired by the Tourist Police' electric vehicle? New Irish Bar
Lifestyle Giant from Singapore opened Irish Bar and Restaurant at Pattaya's CentralFestival.
New A Go-Go
Dancing Secretaries on Soi LK Metro!
 New Beer Bar
First Bar at the new Soi 8 Bar Complex opened on August 6th!
Update: In the meantime 2 bars are open on this location.
 Walking Street
Walking Street gets A-Go-Go Street!
Eat as much as you can
New Steak Buffet Restaurant at CentralFestival
 Please keep in mind, you are in Thailand. For most Thais every kind of meat that isn't minced or isn't cut in very small pieces is a steak.
For Thais there isn't any difference between a schnitzel and a steak...
La Cerise
New Guest House and French Bakery on Soi Lenkee.
Lincoln in Pattaya
The Lincoln Restaurant offers 99 Baht Menus!
Starbucks closed
Starbucks says Bye Bye!
 Starbucks closed its outlet near the entry to Walking Street. It was located opposite of McDonald's. The pharmacy, Starbucks other neighbour, to its right, closed too. At both venues we already spotted construction workers.
Tony's Gym Grounded
Tony's Gym on Pattaya's 3rd Road Grounded!
Not so Happy
Happy Hand Massage on Pattaya 3rd Road closed!
August 2010: More Closures
This is the Month of Closures
Rumors...
The Water has gone
BigC's nice Fountains disappeared.
  The fountains at BigC's CentralCenter had to make space for more sales outlets.
Help Yourself!
25 years ago, when I first came to Thailand's Beach Resort No. 1, the flooding of Pattaya's 2nd Road was declared as Pattaya's problem No. 1 and has to be tackled with priority, Pattaya's Mayor said then.
As you can see - nothing ever happened! When they will ever learn...?
New Parasols
Pattaya's Beach Vendors are replacing the weathered blue parasols from Bangkok Hospital with new yellow ones from CP's True Move Corporation...
Gardening in Pattaya
High Performance: Water is spouting everywhere, even at the end of the tube.
Runs on Pattaya's Streets
 Let's hope the brakes of this car are in better conditions than rest of the vehicle.
Design by Italy?
Seen on Soi Lenkee
 This advertisement reads like one of NightWalker's notorious translations.
Nevertheless, Vogue, a luxury boutique hotel, will open soon on Soi Lenkee. Life in Pattaya - or anywhere else...
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Fortune in Thailand
How to make a
Fortune in Thailand #1 Thailand Tobacco Monopoly officials accepted bribes of about US$2 million (62 million Baht) from US-based companies to ensure Brazilian-grown tobacco was sold locally.
Bribes paid to Thai government officials secured contracts with the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, a Thai government agency, for the sale of tobacco leaf.
Kickbacks paid to certain Thailand Tobacco Monopoly representatives were based on the number of kilogrammes of tobacco sold to the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly.
Local officials could not be reached for comments, of course.
Devious Pay Rise
How to make a
Fortune in Thailand #2 The Abhisit government approved the plan to increase salaries for the entire public sector, including teachers, police and soldiers by 5%.
But, without any previous announcement, it furtively added a 15% pay increase to the salaries of members of public independent agencies and parliamentarians, with the exception of ministers.
Therefore the monthly salary of an MP or senator would jump to 71,230 baht from 62,000.
The pay rise was necessary to encourage officials to perform their duties more efficiently, a spokesman said...
Swine Flu has gone...
and you got cheated!
The World Health Organization declares officially that swine flu pandemic is over.
According to WHO director general Dr. Margaret Chan the virus, also known as H1N1, had largely run its course. As predicted by many doctors, the pandemic proved much less deadly than WHO's people 'had feared'.
The pandemic alert was big business for drug companies and millions of US$ from taxpayers all over the world have gone with the wind...
An investigation has found that scientists behind World Health Organization advice on stockpiling of pandemic flu drugs had financial ties with drug companies.
iFarang™
You Get Cheated!
Military and politicians all over the world are cheating you, in almost every country, not only in banana republics.
Check what really happens in your country or in any other country around the world!
The United States of America try to stop the publications of the true...
On August 18th 2010 Thailand has blocked domestic access to the links mentioned above. On security grounds, a spokesperson for Thailand's Information and Communication Technology Ministry said.
iFarang™ ©2010 Technology News
Breakthrough!
Researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology designed an electronic nose that may soon be able to detect cancer.
The device is using a nanosensor array to identify not only the presence of cancer, but the specific kind detected.
It requires only a few molecules per billion to detect the cancerous states.
The researchers are now developping a clinical version to detect active cancers as well as precancerous states.
Such a device could be used during routine annual medical examinations.
Click
The 2010 global shipments of digital cameras will reach 138.78 million units.
Canon will be the leader with a market share of 19.1%, followed by Sony (16.6%) and Nikon (12.8%).
Samsung, Panasonic, Kodak, Olympus, Fujifilm and Casio rank 4th to 9th.
Steve Jobs and Apple don't tell you the true!
Cambridge researchers compared Apple's iPhone 4 to other smartphones.
Overall performance was in the same range as other smartphones, but the Apple iPhone 4 was consistently at the lower end of that range, the researchers said.
The tests indicate that the death grip issue is real, and is worse for Apple's iPhone 4 than for other smartphones Simon Tonks, the consultant who led the testing at PA's Cambridge Technology Centre, said.
Furthermore, PA's Cambridge Technology Centre discovered that Apple's iPhone 4 tended to drop calls earlier than other phones and may suffer more in areas of weak signal...
Now you know the true!
New Apple iPad
Apple is set to launch an upgraded 9.7-inch iPad adopting its new ARM Cortex-A9-based processor and 512MB RAM in the first quarter of 2011.
The gadget company will also launch a 7-inch iPad using its Cortex-A9 processor and an IPS panel with a resolution of 1024×768.
Apple will launch a new Apple TV without a hard drive. It is based on AMD's Fusion solution. Apple's new gadget will support social networking websites, network multimedia and Apple's App Store.
Overheating Apples
Apple's Japanese unit has offered to replace its first-generation iPod nano music player in the event of overheating. The gadget company sold the devices between September 2005 and December 2006.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has said the recharging problems caused 27 overheating incidents, including six fires. The Ministry had to urge Apple to take action and called Apple's delay truly regrettable.
Apple has sold about 1.8 million units of the 2005 iPod nano in Japan since September 2005.
Android smartphones will outsell iPhones!
Android, Google's Operating System, is taking the smart phone market by storm!
It is anticipated that Google's Linux based operating system, known as Android, will be used in 75 million smartphones by the year 2012, while the iPhone will 'only' account for about 62 million phones.
Cell phone OEMs which have committed to support Android, include AsusTek, Huawei, HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and ZTE.
Update 1: The Android smartphone operating system already overtook Apple's OS according to research firm Gartner.
Update 2: HTC is now in the worldwide Top 10 for mobile device manufacturers.
New Notebooks
Acer, Asus and HP are launching new notebooks using AMD's new CPUs with integrated GPU.
The new notebooks feature low power consumption, low heat generation and low price, but strong CPU and graphics performance.
They will reach the shelfs during the first quarter of 2011.
The $199.99 Netbook
Acer launched a 10.1-inch netbook under its eMachines brand for sale at US$199.99 through the Radio Shack chain in the US market.
It's so far the lowest price for netbooks around the world. The machine features an Intel Atom 270 processor, 1GB memory and a 160GB hard drive.
4'000 Baht cheaper!
Sony reduced the price of its overpriced netbook here in Thailand from 19'900 Baht to 15'900 Baht.
The netbook offers a 10.1-inch display, 2 GB memory, a 320 GB SATA Drive and runs on a Intel Atom N470. Included in the new price is the Windows 7 Starter Pack.
Big Brother
is watching you If he can't deciphering your messages, he simply bans the service...
That's todays under-standing of freedom of speech in the United Arab Emirates and in Saudi Arabia. It is very likely that other countries will fellow...
Behind Expectations
 There is no Beyoncé Paris in Paris - and the lady on the picture is Sonya...
 The real Beyoncé is with L'Oréal...
Last Word
Sex is life. Preserve it!
Double-Click
Try it:A double-click in an empty space brings you back to the top of the page!This feature should work on most browsers.
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