On Thuesday January 27 a short circuit shut down the lights from Golden Mile Plaza (Soi Happy) down to Soi Diamond.  Just when the crew tried to solve the problem a new, but similar problem arised at the the transformer-station on top of Seven-Eleven's shop at the entry of Walking Street. A few days ago I saw the same crew fixing a problem at the transformer-station above of Walking Street's Lollipop A Go-Go.

According to the Chonburi Office the minimum minibus fare (?) for the city is 10 baht. But:

Charoenrat Pattana-Nipa Lodge Hotel Charoenrat Pattana-Asia Hotel Charoenrat Pattana-Soi Chaiyapruk Nipa Lodge Hotel-Pattaya Market Nipa Lodge Hotel-Asia Hotel Nipa Lodge Hotel-Soi Chaiyapruk The Pattaya Market-Soi Chaiyapruk Asia Hotel-Soi Chaiyapruk	8 Baht 21 Baht 29 Baht 8 Baht 14 Baht 22 Baht 15 Baht 8 Baht
From the beginning of South Pattaya-Banglamung Plaza From the beginning of South Pattaya-Nipa Lodge (North Pattaya) From Banglamung Plaza-Nipa Lodge junction (North Pattaya) From Banglamung Plaza-beginning of South Pattaya From Nipa Lodge junction (North Pattaya)-Banglamung Plaza	8 Baht 10 Baht 8 Baht 10 Baht 8 Baht
North Pattaya-Central Pattaya Road Intersection North Pattaya-Somprasong Plaza North Pattaya-Wat Bunkanjanaram Central Pattaya Road Intersection-Somprasong Plaza Central Pattaya Road Intersection-Central Pattaya T-Intersection Somprasong Plaza-Wat Bunkanjanaram Somprasong Plaza-Central Pattaya T-Intersection Wat Bunkanjanaram-Central Pattaya T-Intersection	8 Baht 11 Baht 23 Baht 8 Baht 17 Baht 8 Baht 12 Baht 8 Baht

A genius did this work. Minimum minibus fare 10 Baht, but from North Pattaya-Central Pattaya Road Intersection the fare is 8 Baht only! City Hall recommends to call the Pattaya Information Desk at 038-253-131-32 or the Pattaya City Call Center at 1337 for more (fair) fare information ... And our lovely Mayor said: As gas prices continue to drop, a corresponding fare reduction should be considered...

Republica, the new discotheque (in Pattaya: discothek or discotk) on Walking Street, had to close: 'Incomplete papers' the relevant authority said. After a few days the Disco reopened again.

On December 19th 2009 the new Ring The Bell bar in front of Champion A Go-Go had its official opening party.

On January 19th 2009 a film crew was capturing scenes on Walking Street for an Indian music clip.  The crew used Soi Diamond, Soho Square and a few sexy Thai girls for their shootings.

Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol Khunplome presents his latest idea:

New Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol Khunplome shelft his plans to introduce skytrains & cablecars in Pattaya. 'It's simply to expensive', Itthiphol said. 'Due to Thailand's unstable political climate, Pattaya's pockets are empty', he said. But let's the new year start with good news, Pattaya's Mayor said during his virtual interview with Pattaya-at-Night and presented his latest idea to ban Baht Busses and the dangerous Motorcycle Taxis from Pattaya's crowded streets. Pattaya's new Low-Emission Samlor Transportation (LEST) system. Newly designed Samlors will replace all Baht Busses as well as all Motorbike Taxis on Pattaya's streets, Mayor Itthiphol Khunplome said. According to City Hall, the Samlor is also the best and cheapest health care system for all that overweighted taxi drivers. Pattaya's Minibus Cooperative will be renamed to Itthiphol's Samlor Cooperative. Transportation fare will be collected by weight. To avoid problems and discussions between drivers and clients about the fare, City Hall will install calibrated high-tech scales all over Pattaya. Each scale will display the weight of the passenger(s), the number and the name of the Samlor driver and the fare for any given trip in Thai, Russian and English. Chinese, Japanese, German, American English as well as a few Arab & Scandinavian languages will be available as a second choice on the touch screen. For the security of the passenger(s) a built in camera will capture the face of each passenger and will store it on City Hall's supercomputer together with the number of the samlor driver, the destination, the total weight, the fare, the date and the time of the trip. Every night the files will be transfered to Pattaya Police (Soi 9), the Tourist Police, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT Pattaya Office only), the Pattaya Immigration Office and the Pattaya Revenue Office in Jomtien. The glassy tourist will help City Hall to understand the needs of its visitors, the Mayor said. The collected information will tell City Hall if Pattaya's visitors are more interested in Pattaya's Shopping Centers or in Pattaya's Cultural Life. Tourists visiting Pattaya's red light districts only, without spending their money in shopping centers, temples or Thai boxing arenas, will be blacklisted. To publish their pictures in the Internet Pattaya City Hall will create PRDV, a completely new and Flash based website (www.Pattaya-Redlight-District-Visitors.in.th). During the first few weeks sexy ladies from Russia will distribute free samples of Itthiphol's Energy Drinks to the drivers of the samlors, Pattaya's Mayor promised.

Is it Walking Street or Soi Marine Plaza? Walking Street gets louder and louder with every night. Some venues are heading for an overwhelming victory...

When Republica's Liveband at the entry to the disco starts playing, then it outperforms Hammer's Band easily in case of sound intensity, but not in quality. The new disco is a strong candidate to win Pattaya's Noisemaker Award.

New entry: Jenny Star Bar, Walking Street's famous Kratoey Bar across from Goodfellas installed a speaker just in front of the bar and is now shouting at Goodfellas with full power.

Goodfellas small speaker attached below its LED screen is the largest noisemaker in the area around Marine Disco. Its restricted frequency range it's a real threat for most ears.

A few meters onward the two Hot Tuna Bars on one side of the street and Ocean 10 and the I-Bar from Insomnia's club on the other side of the street are the other contestants to get the award of the street's greatest noisemaker. The competition seems to get harder with every night. Contrary to Ocean 10's announcement 'disco inside' it seems that at the moment all available speakers have to work at their limits and on Walking Street. Tony seems to play the clown at this contest. With the two small speaker he placed at the entry to his emporium, he never will win the competition. His speaker's simply can't generate the sound pressure level it needs for a victory, but perhaps Tony will show his competitors, that's it possible to attract visitors without generating too much noise outside of the building... Tony always was the most clever player in Pattaya.

At the entry to Soi 16 Rolling Stone Bar 2 has entered the competition too. The police working outside of that venue has to be deaf already. The venues at Soho Square entered the competition in a pooled attempt to win the virtual competition. Utopia Lounge replaced Coyote Girls with the powerfull Climax Band. At the ground floor of the B-52 Club the Russian Band plays with full power and at the stage of Soho Square's Beer Garden another Thai Band tries to beat its competitors. Soho Square seems to have a good chance to win the competition. The combined sound pressure of the three bands is hard to beat. At least Soho Square should get a special recommendation for creating the best kakophonie in the city.

The winner of the contest at Marine Plaza seems to be the Titanic 2 Bar. The sound level that this venue since many years generates is realy hard to overtrump, even with using the the latest equipment. The workers at that bar, as well as its customers command our admiration for withstanding that enormous sound-attack of the ruthless speaker system.

Thailand's law says that the average noise level at an entertainment venue has to be below 96 Decibel. But the law restricts the level inside a venue and not outside. Nevertheless, I hope that Tourist Police will start distributing ear protectors to all visitors of Walking Street and distribute them free of charge. At least until that dangerous and unhealthy competition ends. A few years ago Pattaya's Police 'terrorized' the venues with their sound pressure measurements. But since then police apparently didn't use the measuring instruments anymore. I suppose that in the meantime the batteries must be empty and nobody at Soi 9 knows how to replace them. Many Thais suffer 5-10 decibel hearing loss by the time they are 21, a study says. To protect the ears, ear specialists recommend to wear earmuffs at Pattaya's Discos, at some parts of Walking Street and the southern end of Soi Marine Plaza.

The add on the left (Red Hot) tells that Tops will sell a single bottle of Coke for 22 Baht and 50 Satang (instead of 25 Baht). The add on the right informs, that if you buy 2 bottles you have to pay 43 Baht only for the two.

But the cash receipt from Tops Supermarket on Pattaya's Central Road tells another story. It shows that you have to pay a total of 50 Baht for the 2 bootles! Don't even think of a refund! To get the advertised 'Red Hot' price(s) you have to have a 'Tops Member Card'. Tops seems to 'milking' tourists. At BigC, Carrefour and Tesco/Lotus you get Tops' so called "discounted price(s)" without the need of presenting a 'Membercard'.

At least Tops receipt says 'thank you'... ...for paying 10% more than mentioned on the shelf.		Tops Supermarket again: Imperial Cheddar Cheese 12 slices (250 grams) cost on the shelf at Tops Supermarket on Pattaya Central Road 120 Baht. The cash receipt tells another story again: 132 Baht! 10 % more than mentioned on the shelf!!!

Royal Garden Plaza FoodWave: A soft drink usually costs between 10 and 15 Baht in Pattaya's restaurants and some Baht more at American Fast Food outlets, but at Royal Garden Plaza's new FoodWave a cup of softdrink costs 49 Baht. This horrendous price includes the possibility to refill your cup free of charge. But it is impossible to buy a single cup for a small thirst at FoodWave. The cash register at the exit has another surprise: It adds a hefty 10 % service charge to the advertised and already expensive prices mentioned at the food boothes. FoodWave is a Food Court and Food Courts are virtually self service restaurants. The quality of the food at FoodWave is mediocre. At our last visit on January 5th 2009 at about 21:00 at the FoodWave's Vietnam food booth we met some unexpected guets: Ants! We decided to left the food to them ...
Recommendation: If you want to slim go to see this booth first. At S&P Restaurants a service charge of 10% is added on the invoice (entirely written in Thai). The waiters scam Farangs (and unknowing Thais) for (extra) tips. At Bars and A Go-Go Clubs ask about lady drink prices before purchase. Some quite ordinairy venues are billing Baht 150-160 for a lady drink! In most cases lady drink prices are not posted anywhere. The same is true for barfines. Ask about the barfine before you buy out a lady.

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Scams like this one aren't rare exceptions at Pattaya's Shopping Centers, Supermarkets, Restaurants and Entertainment Places - they happen almost daily... Check all the bills very carefully, no matter where you are buying. Often the price on the shelf does not match the price on the receipt. Sometimes promotion stickers remain on the shelfes for weeks. Carrefour and Tesco/Lotus installed Barcode readers in most of their shops. Use them to check the real prices of the goods. The Barcode Readers show the same price as the cash registers.

Seen in Naklua. Even the motorcyle seems to be made from recycled materials.

Simply the best countdown Pattaya ever organized. 100'000s of happy people attended Pattaya's 7 days countdown at Bali Hai Pier. The countdown ended on December 31 with a big party at Bali Hai Pier presenting popular Thai singers and a spectacular 'Surround Sight and Sound' firework at midnight. Enthusiastic spectators recorded every moment of the evening(s) with the built-in cameras of their mobile phones.

Crowded streets not only in Pattaya, but also in Jomtien. Jomtien's beach was in the hands of Thai's, coming from all over the country, but mostly from Bangkok and happy to get some place on the beach.

The visitors arrived on their Benz, their PickUps or their 'Do It Yourself' vehicles.