The dog's first choice: Beer Chang - but if you donate a few Baht he will pose for Leo, Singha, Heineken, Marlboro, Red Label or any kind of Vodka.

Hundredthousands of spectators attended Pattaya's International Music Festival from March 20 - 22, 2009 on Bali Hai Pier and on different locations along Pattaya's Beach Road. During the event, Beach Road was closed for traffic. Whole the street was transformed into one big 'shopping, food and drinking center'. Knowing the shaky electric situation in Thailand, the operators of the shows produced their own electricity with huge generators. Drawbacks: Thai officials and Thai presenters are merciless: Once they catch a microphone, they speak for hours... Shortly after the concerts ended, the police opened Beach Road for traffic, destroying the unique atmosphere on this road. The road got dangerous too.

New open bar with 'authentic cowboy music' and 'original Thai squaws'.

The law in Thailand requires that all entertainment venues close at 02:00. If a club forget to close its lights and its soundsystem the police has the right to raid the place and to arrest the manager of the venue as well as its visitors. That's exactly what happened on Saturday morning March 14 2009 at about 05:30 at the new Insomnia Club on Walking Street. The police acted generously and expelled all farangs from the club, but checked the remaining people for the presence of narcotics. 34 women and 6 men failed the test and got arrested. Nevertheless, I never will understand how the Police choose a venue for its raid. There are a few well known venues in town that are open every night - and never got a visit from a Police, not from Pattaya's Police, not from the Tourist Police, not from Chonburi's Provincial Police and not from Bangkok's Police. Perhaps Thailand's Prime Minister forget to add that a law is a law, but nothing else. It's up to the police to decide who is breaching a law - and who is not. It would be interesting to understand how the police make their decisions and why all the different Police divisions involved in the control of Pattaya's Nightlife forget to check the very same venues year after year... Update: At about 03:30 on Monday March 16 2009 Police raided the Mixx Nightclub at the Bali Hai Pier. The manager of the club as well as 46 people with traces of illicit drugs in their urine had to accompany the officials to the police station on Soi 9 for further investigations.

All the buildings between Lobster Pot and King Seafood, including Pinky's A Go-Go, got demolished. A crew is working around the clock to 'create something new'.

Donald Crabtree from Vassalboro, Maine (USA) has found the the recipe for his success. He opened a Coffee Shop where the waiters and waitresses serve their customers topless. His brother describes the business as 'fantastic'. Donald Crabtree hired 10 women and five men. Hiring the people wasn't a problem, he said. The flood of job applications - more than 150 - for his Grand View Topless Coffee Shop reflectes the rough job market in the USA. Who opens the first Topless Coffee Shop in Pattaya - Starbucks, Ninety-Four Coffee, McDonald's, KFC, Segafredo, Jim Thompson or - YOU? Thailand will face 1.2 million workers without work this year. Give them a nice and funny working place. According to Donald Crabtree the coffee shop jobs are paying off: One waitress received a US$100 tip for a single cup of coffee, and most of the wait staff make about US$30 a table. A waitress told us "I'm so excited, so excited to have a job". It's not exactly what you will hear from your Thai staff, but it will sounds similar: "I'm so excited, so excited to make so much money!"

The first bar at the new bar complex across from Soho Square on Walking Street opened. Its name: C & C Bar. A nice place. You can play your game, drink your beer, chat with your darling - and enjoy the music from nearby Utopia Lounge's famous Climax band. And perhaps you start philosophizing why a good band can attract a lot more people than a house full of beautiful ladies...

On March 02 2009 most ladies from Soi Praisani had a happy night with a band and a comedy show performing at the entry to the Soi. During the last few years I never saw such a lot of happy faces on that street. Two cameras recorded whole the event.

On Sukhumvit Road, about 1.5km from Jomtien Beach and 5km from Central Pattaya Road, a new & beautiful Shopping and Entertainment Complex opened.

The new Village Shopping Centre offers a unique shopping and dinning experience for all visitors & expatriate residents of Pattaya. Please click
The Village Website
for more information. All pictures courtesy of The Village.

Thailand's motorcycle market is dominated by 4 Japanese brands: Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. These manufacturers run assembly plants in Thailand. Three smaller Thai 'manufacturer' claim to run assembly plants in Thailand too - JRD, Platinum and Tiger - but all their products are identical to products manufactured by Chinese manufacturers. Tiger is also the importer and distributor of Sachs branded motorcycles. Dealers & repair shops here in Pattaya believe that Sachs is a German brand and that their motorcycles are made in Germany. A dealers told me, that he got this information from the distributor. This information is wrong. Sachs equity had been acquired in February 2006 by New Superior Ltd, a holding company controlled by Hong Kong investors fronting for China's Huanan motorcycle company (Guangzhou Panyu Huanan Motors Group Co., Ltd). Sachs (Germany) declared itself insolvent and went into voluntary administration in July 2006, just three months after celebrating its 120th birthday. All Sachs branded motorcycles are manufactured in China by Huanan or one of its affiliates. Tiger is distributing another brand called Stallion and sells that product with the appendix 'Japan Technology'. In fact all Stallion products are nice copies of Honda or Yamaha motorcycles, but are made in China. Another Brand - Ryuka - can be seen on Pattaya Streets too. A dealer told me that Ryuka is a Japanese Brand. I asked my friend in Tokyo, a dealer and exporter of motorcycles and he told me that he never heard of a Japanese manufacturer of this brand and thinks that the Japanese name is part of a scam to hide its origin. The manufacturer of the Ryuka branded motorcycles is Zongshen, a chinese company. Ryuka is a Japanese term for short lyric songs traditional to the Amami, Miyako, Okinawa and Yaeyama island groups. Zongshen itself advertises its products in Thailand with the appendix 'European Technology'. All retailers will tell you that they run their own service station(s) and that the flow of spare parts is 'no problem'. We first tried to get some selected spare parts from the retailers of JRD and Platinum. 'Don't have' was the answer. Then we wanted some spare parts for a popular Kawasaki cruiser from Pattaya's largest dealer. Same answer: 'Don't have!'. None of the dealers wanted to order the parts from the manufacturer, they all told us that the local repair shops will have this parts 'in stock'. If we contacted the repair shops on 3rd Road, Central Road and on South Road for JRD and Platinum parts all the people told us the same: 'We don't make repairs on Chinese motorcycles. Chinese motorcycles are bad'. But they are inconsequential. Most of the accessories they are selling in their shops are 'Made in China' and are used by Chinese manufacturers. The repair shop classify the origin of a motorcycle according to its brand. None of the tested repair shops discovered that the Sachs MadAss's components are made in China. In no single case we could get an original part, not for a Chinese motorcycle and not for a Thai made Japanese one... One of my neighbours drives a Kawasaki Boss, 175cc cruiser. Its hand bar is fully rosted as well as many of its screws. Another neighbour owns a 1 year old Honda Wave 100. Its exhaust already shows a lot of rust. A third neighbour wakes me up almost every morning when he tries to start his Yamaha Fino in front of my window. It needs between 5 and 10 kicks until it starts. None of the owners complain about the quality of the motorcycles. If the same happens with a chinese bike, the owners as well the repair shops would complain about the bad quality of motorcycles made in China. That's Thailand. Be carefull if you buy a second hand motorcycle. On Beach Road I discovered a BMW branded motorcycle. After a careful inspection it showed up its real brand: Platinum. At a shop on 3rd Road I discovered a double branded motorcycle: On the front it told to be a Honda, but the back suggested to be a Yamaha. A few days later I saw the same motorcycle again - without the Yamaha sign. There are even Harley-Davidson rebranded scooters on Pattaya streets. A Pattaya policeman showed me his 'Dirt Bike'. The dealer told him that's a Honda, made in Japan. I had a closer look. In reality his second hand bike was from a popular Chinese manufacturer and never had seen a Japanese factory. The engine was one of the many Honda copies made in China. For repair you even can use the original engine parts from Honda. The dealer not even replaced the brandless engine cap with a ready available Honda one. I didn't tell the policeman my discovery. He was happy with his 'new' toy. Low Tech Country Thailand No sales person could answer the questions about the capacity of the fuel tank of a specific motorcycle or its fuel consumation. 'Service intervals' is a unknown term in Pattaya's motorcycle shops. Air pressure gauges usually are 'out of order'.
Air pressure of tyres are 'measured' by hand or by feet. The most used tool at a motorcycle service shop is a - hammer! Don't ask for an 1156 or 1157 bulb. Dealers don't know any bulb classifications. LED replacements for motorcycle bulbs are virtually unknown in 'High Tech Thailand'. Europe's badest serviceman would be a 'king of knowledge' in this country. The only problem: He never will get a work permit in Thailand. According to Chonburi's Senator Surachai Chaitrakulthong Thailand's plus is the availability of a skilled work force. I don't know where the Senator discovered this 'skilled work force'... Without professional training Thailand never will have a 'skilled work force'. Don't believe blatant politicians Potential investors should have a closer look at Pattaya's electro instalations, at Pattaya's repair shops, at Pattaya's building sites and its streets & pavements. I bet, they can't spot any 'skilled work force'. As long as Bangkok's so called elite doesn't change its mind Thailand will remain a nice but underdeveloped country. Underdeveloped in every sense.

CentralFestival Pattaya Beach (Pattaya's new shopping center), made by Thailand's 'skilled work force': Open for less than 1 month and already under repair. Any comment superfluously...