THAILAND NIGHTLIFE REVIEW
Welcome to my website. Unlike the universe, this website has a purpose: to offer rants, tirades, opinions and discussion about books on Thailand, give an overview of nightlife in Thailand and, yes, to provide a few news items which might not appear elsewhere. And to have some fun.
Bar, club and restaurant owners who would like to send material on their special events, birthday bashes, anniversary parties, etc., are welcome to do so but please remember men in Thailand are a bit jaded so if you’re just going to offer the usual free gourmet food and free full band entertainment and free beautiful and eager-to-please women, well, the lads have been there, done that. So do try to offer potential patrons something special. ;-)
There is a contest every month when this column appears and the first to answer the question correctly or identify a photograph correctly will receive vouchers worth at least 3,500 baht in food and drink, i.e., 500 baht each, from Larry's Dive, Shadow Bar, The Old Dutch, the Big Mango, The Duke of Wellington pub, Doll House and Bourbon Street Restaurant. The prizes will build up in case anyone doesn't win it immediately so the bonanza for the eventual winner could get quite interesting. It will double to 7,000 etc. Second prize is a "I Support Single Moms" T-shirt. Third prize is an "Explore Your Hidden Self" voucher from the S&M club BarBar. And please remember a part of all money received from the sale of my books goes to needy Thais (in the form of payment to go go dancers, coyote dancers, waitresses and hostesses).
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AROUND
AND ABOUT OUR FAIR CITY
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Coyote Dancers Celebrate Khun Fah's Birthday
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Rumor-Control Headquarters has it that Spankys on Patpong 2 has reverted back to the Twist or whatever it was before. As I mentioned the girls at Spankys Nana Plaza were attractive; the ones at Spankys Patpong much less so.
And the lovely Ann is still round and about working for Corona, etc.
Sukhumvit Soi 14 still doing a good business with both Thai and Mexican food.
Patpong Road is, according to one bar owner there, "dead." But there is yet a bit of life left in the old girl. Here is Patpong Road II, the two center pictures being Cosmos, a nice place for a drink if you're in the area. Reminds me a bit of Patpong in the 60's and 70's. Same Same with Crown Royal but Crown Royal is more laid-back so take your choice.
Nana Hotel new rates as of January are baht 1,490 for a standard room but you still get the free drink on check-in and the complimentary buffet breakfast at the famed Nana coffee shop. So for those who choose to stay where the action is, now you know. I saw a sign in the window of the Elite book store on Sukhumvit near soi 33/1 which says it is closing. Sign in bar on Soi Nana 4: "Sexual harassment in this area will not be reported but it will be graded."
Washington Square: Silver Dollar closed for two nights due to elections (sob), New Square One, Moonshine & James Parmelee's book signing at the Texas Lone Star Saloon. Lots of rumors about Washington Square closing again but again new leases have been given out for one year. Doug Harrison's Bourbon Street Restaurant is staying where it is but he is also opening another one on Ekkamai very near the BTS station. Figure about April.
As always, Soi Cowboy was colorful and entertaining. And have you noticed the bathroom set up on the Asoke sidewalk new Cowboy for 5 baht?
The lovely Cheer joins the lovely Ann at the Londoner Pub on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve on Soi Cowboy 2010. Quiet but fun. Nice Baccara drawing of Santa without his trousers. Yep, I'm a leg man; I have a special button on my camera that is set permanently on Female Legs.
The Christmas season with coyote dancers: just what the imam ordered.
Londoner Pub Christmas Day, Picture of the late Frank Olcott at Frank's Corner, with a WWII book and his lamp out on the bar just as he used to have it. Lovely, hard-working Londoner staff. Frank's Corner folks at the Londoner.
Once upon a time there was a very bad man who liked to play Dunk-the-dog-in-the-beer contest. And he was a Biiig bad man and everyone was afraid to stop him. But one day a beautiful little angel swooped down from heaven to save the little dog from the bad man in the nutty Christmas hat. And the sweet little angel said, Hey, look asshole, you dunk that mutt in the beer again and your ass is grass and I'm gonna be the mower, got it? And after the angel chastised the bad man the bad man felt bad and although he did not give up beer, he gave up dog-dunking. And everyone lived happily ever after. The end. Copyright Big Bad Man Stories, Ltd. 2011
Pigging out on 12 kinds of dessert at Bourbon Street including Georgia pecan pie.
I didn't make it to the Bank Club but they certainly had some nice ads.
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So this went on with me pretending not to understand by pretending to speak less Thai than I do (first time for that) and she called a guy who spoke pretty good English and said yep one visit per day end of story. Then after I hung up I said what about leaving the books and she called him again and he said go back to the foreign office and leave them. I checked their signup book and it was some farang who had visited in the morning. So it was yet another looong trip by taxi back to Mo Chit and then home. And before I left the prison the chick had gone so I couldn't give her the two baht for photocopying my passport so she will no doubt think all farangs are dishonest bastards who belong inside.
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What is a day in this prison really like? http://steveatbangkwang.bravehost.com/normalday.html
Some of the prisoners seeking contact and how to get there (Important: check visiting times with the embassy of the person you are visiting for accurate, up-to-date information.) http://steveatbangkwang.bravehost.com/writing.html
Anyone else making New Year's resolutions? I make the same one every year:
I resolve to show more emotional maturity and act my age and appreciate the inner beauty of women as opposed to only craving their outer charms, and plan on spending very little time in Bangkok’s nightlife areas during next year. And, as any feminazi will tell you, men who hang about with beautiful, succulent, curvaceous women much younger than them do so because they are "socially inept" and "afraid of accomplished older women" hence not only will I demonstrate more emotional maturity but, baring exceptional circumstances, I also resolve not to muck about with women less then 6/15th my age and, even then, only if they seem accomplished.
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The Saga Continues
I might well have mentioned before how I used to have an account with Washington Mutual in a bank in Florida and every month the bank sent an automatic wire transfer to my savings account at the Bank of Ayudhya. That way I had proof that I was receiving enough funds each month from outside Thailand to avoid sleeping in an alley off Sukhumvit. That way Thai Immigration was happy and I was happy. And bargirls and go go dancers were happy.
Then one day I noticed the funds had stopped coming. No notice from anybody. So I scrambled on the web and learned that Chase had taken over Washington Mutual. So after lots of effort I managed to get hold of someone at Chase Florida and learned that I should speak with Chase New York. So I called them and learned that they had cut off automatic wire transfers and if I wanted one it would be US$45 per transfer. Lovely. No notice. And the cost went from zero to forty-five dollars.
Not wanting to pay that outrageous price, I switched to using an ATM machine. The costs of using those also mount up quickly, of course. Banks love to add outrageous charges anywhere anytime they can. Which no doubt is why Mark Twain said something to the effect that a banker is a person who will lend you an umbrella on a sunny day. But I digress.
So a couple of months ago I learned I had a message from Chase in my inbox at their website. So I went in there and was informed that my WAMU card would expire and I would need to replace it with a Chase card. And I should do this within 30 days because then the WAMU card would no longer be valid. And I should write a letter and make sure it was signed and had blah, blah, blah on it as well. Actually, I had let 15 days pass because I had assumed it was some kind of announcement of some minor and esoteric paragraph change in Chase's agreement with customers. It wasn't. So I had 15 days left.
I wrote to the bank right away on the website and said whatever you do do not cut off that card until I get a new one. And I sent the letter to the Chase Texas address they specified. And I signed the letter twice. I did that because banks seem to have wannabe graphologists who think they know signatures. I waited. At last mail from Chase came and I opened it expecting my new card. No. They had determined that the signature did not match that on file and I should now sign a letter, have all others who opened the account re-sign and also sign a signature card that they were in the process of sending me. And it should be notarized, etc., etc. etc.
Now everyone who knows me knows that I am a mild-mannered, composed, easy-going scholar-gentleman, known for not even raising my voice or letting an unkind word pass through my lips. But there is a limit.
So after downing a few black russians and attempting to calm down, I went into the internet and found the names of the top people at Chase NY and sent them a lovely, lovely email. One they will I am certain treasure for a long time. Basically, I pointed out that the other signers - my mother and stepfather - had died years ago; the embassy was across town; the notary would cost at least US$30, and that I had signed the letter twice precisely so that some mongoloid clusterfuck son of a turtle's egg foul droppings of a misbegotten shepig at their bank would not tell me that that was not my signature, etc., etc. I made it crystal clear that I would not be doing any of that shit and I had taken enough shit from Chase and I rued the day Chase took over WAMU and basically said if they did not send me my new card I would huff and puff and blow their fucking bank down.
So I got an email from the executive assistant to the Chairman. I believe executive assistants used to be called "girl Friday". I take it that is no longer the case. The response was, among other paragraphs:
This letter is in response to your email addressed to Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for JPMorgan Chase Bank. On behalf of JPMorgan Chase and Co., I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or frustration you may have encountered as a result of this issue. I welcome the opportunity to respond.
In review of your recent correspondence, you indicate requesting a debit card to be sent to you residence overseas. You submitted the request in writing, and were instructed to have the signature notarized. I can confirm the request has been processed as of November 3, 2010 and the debit card will be mailed to your current residence.
She even included her phone number if I needed to call her. Good news, right? So I waited but meanwhile sure enough my WAMU card had been rendered useless despite my plea and I had bills to pay. But then it came. My brand new thin-as-a-hooker's-excuses card: right in my hand. So off I went on the back of a motorcycle taxi to the nearest ATM machine to use it. Visions of Soi Cowboy dancers dancing in my head. I inserted the card into the machine: "Invalid code." Stupid me. Whatever made me think that when Chase gave me a new card they might also transfer the pin number with it so that I could actually use the fucking thing?!
Soooo. More black russians. Wild Turkey on the rocks. After which I sent an email to the executive assistant as politely as I could (at this stage) explaining my situation. Immediately I received a reply. Good service I thought. Not quite. It was an "Out of the office until such and such date" reply. Right. So I went on the internet and into Chase.com and found that Chase sends out pin numbers - it can be done through the internet - but it takes five to seven days. No doubt if they send the pin to me in Thailand it will take longer. Assuming they send it to the right address and not the old Florida or New York address. Which is assuming a lot. And so I wait. And so the saga continues...
If I still lived in New York City, the only question would be: which to head for to fight against first - the Ground Zero mosque or JPMorgan Chase and Co.?
Paul Spurrier's Wise Advice on Relationships with Thai Bargirls
If it doesn't work and you split up, it doesn't mean the relationship was a failure - it was just a temporary success..
Ignore all advice about dating bargirls.
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Khun Cheer on my book cover and at work
By the way, getting Asia Books/Bookazine (now one company) to stock up enough copies of Permanent Damage is like pulling teeth. Some of their stores have it, many do not. Many people have told me they cannot find it so I can say for sure that as of now there are copies at Asia Books Siam Paragon, Kinokuniya Siam Paragon, Kinokuniya Emporium and P&S bookstore within the Four Seasons Hotel. Also inside the bookstore at the Nana Hotel. Any bookstore can order it and have it for you within one or two days, same with any of my titles.
Riots break out in Bangkok when customers realize Asia Books have run out of stock of Permanent Damage.
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Hong Kong: A report says many prostitutes have complained about undercover police having sex with them before busting them. "In one case, a Hong Kong police officer visited the same prostitute for sex 10 times before." (I hope he got enough evidence.) Speaking of Hong Kong and China, folks are still burning furniture and other items that their deceased loved ones might find useful in the underworld but now such sendoffs include items such as paper replicas of digital cameras, cell phones, expensive sneakers and the latest computers. I wonder if paper whips and shackles are burned for deceased dominatrixes.
Meanwhile, in the Land of Smiles, I am told it now costs $84 to add pages to a U.S. passport and although I thought it was US$30 for a notary inside the Embassy, somebody swears he was charged US$50 to notarize something there. Moral of the story is whatever embassy you go to these days, bring lots of money.
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Wikileaks: Poetic Justice from Feminists?
Everyone has their own opinion on the disclosures of Wikileaks. As for me, I do not see this guy in any way as a Daniel Elsberg and the Pentagon Papers. I think the Wikileaks guy is a spoiled brat needing attention who is happy to release anything anytime no matter how damaging. And I have no doubt had he had them at the time of the D-Day invasion, he would have released Allied plans for the Normandy Invasion, all the while babbling about freedom of the press, etc., etc.
I think this guy is the type we have all met in life: the type who can justify anything he does. I mean, for example, ask yourself this question: if you were a diplomat, after all these leaks, would you be more likely to be more open or more likely to be more cautious and secretive? Diplomacy does often need to be conducted in secrecy. And if you were a dissident suffering under some horrible regime, and you have been risking your life to inform the outside world of events inside the country, would you now be more or less likely to continue?
What interests me here, however, are the charges of rape
against him. As I understand the story, the two women involved were more
than willing to meet him and (at different times) went to bed with him.
There was talk of a broken condom in one case and, apparently, he did it with
each woman bareback, no condom. So the women got together, thought about
it, and then, supposedly worried about getting pregnant or getting a disease,
marched into a Stockholm police station and the rest is history. (Also it
is history because the police report was leaked which I find a delicious irony.)
The thing is at least one of these women was known to be heavily involved in feminism. Apparently, that set off no alarm in the mind of the Wikileaks Hero. So, as far as is known, he forced no one to go bed with him, raped nobody, but because of weird Swedish laws, can be charged because he did not use a condom. The thing is, the women even saw him after their various sexual trysts with this guy. One partied with him at her family house and the other even bought him a ticket to travel. It was only later when one called the other and they met and "thought it over" that they headed for the police (and publicity).
For me, at least, the moral is: If you are dumb enough to take a Western feminist to bed, you get what you deserve.
"When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity; when many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion." - Robert Pirsig, Writer
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Readers can now download Christopher Moore's Calvino titles as ebooks for the price of a drink. Chris wisely has put his titles on the Kindle. I will, sooner or later, maybe, someday, get around to putting my titles on Kindle as well. Just don't hang by your thumbs until I get around to it. By the way, Chris's latest book is
Nine Golden Bullets and, as is the case with my books, can be found in some Thailand stores and not others.If you have a Kindle or other reading device, then you can read ebooks in the Calvino series. They are inexpensive. $5.95 for seven of the titles or Baht 180. The great thing about ebooks is there is no shipping cost and no waiting. You have the book in a couple of minutes.
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A Quick Note from Friends in Pattaya
Iron Club & four Russian bathing beauties
The Man They called 8-Ball
A ballad from the book The Go Go Dancer who Stole My Viagra
now on YouTube
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Khun Nana's Corner
Khun Nana is a savvy local expat who keeps in shape by hitting most of the bars of Nana Plaza as often as possible. From his vast experience, he will enlighten and entertain us with his recollections of the bar scene be they humorous, tragic or somewhere in between.
I was out having fun on the town with a male Thai friend the other night, and I casually asked him what personality characteristics a Thai man looks for when sizing up a Thai woman’s attractiveness as a potential partner. I was really just wondering if in general Thai guys were similar to western guys in the way they measure these types of things. Well I must say that although this guy is quite young and innocent in many worldly endeavors, he gave me an extremely detailed and thoughtful response.
“When I look at a Thai woman, I consider 3 aspects of her life. First, I look at what she does with her free time. If she prowls around at night, frequents clubs, discos or other party places then I am not interested in her. If she spends her free time doing positive things such as improving herself, being with friends or family or engaged in some hobby then she may be a keeper. Secondly I look at what she does with her spare money. If she spends most of her money on expensive clothes or jewelry or other ridiculously frivolous items then I definitely am not interested. On the other hand, if she is smart with her money and is buying a property or otherwise investing it then she may be a good gal to know. Thirdly I look at how she treats her friends and family. If she is close to her family, has many good friends and acts respectful and true then I may well be interested in her.”
Man, I gotta say that this guy may be young, but he really has nailed down the art of sizing up women as potential partners. I never really spent much time summarizing my own set of criteria in choosing partners, but after that night with my friend I started to think about his words and how similar his philosophy is to what I have always done in my life. I have always avoided women with expensive clothes and jewelry. Heck, I don’t care if she wasted her own money on that useless crap, is a spoiled rich girl and her family bought it for her, or some poor schmuck boyfriend just got fleeced. Any way you look at it she is to be avoided like the plague. What man wants a spoiled rich family girl, a girl who already has a rich boyfriend (or several) or a girl who is incredibly reckless and stupid with her own money?
As far as what a gal does with her spare time, I definitely don’t want a serious party gal for a steady girlfriend. Sure I would be happy to nail her a few times, but for a gal to hang out with on a regular basis who wants a tramp? My personal philosophy is that I will hold a woman’s hair back while she vomits only the one time. The next time it is some other guys turn to humiliate himself simply to get some easy hot monkey sex. Ooooh memories of smelling cheap booze, stale cigarettes and vomit are not going to make my highlight reel when I look back on my life experiences.
Then we come to choosing a gal who is close to her friends and family. He really is smart to include this in his criteria. When I look back at all the gals I have been involved with in my life, it has become clear to me that nearly all of the total whackos had very few if any real friends as they had obviously alienated all the people in their lives. Add on to this the fact that most of the crazy jealous control freaks have no one close to them and therefore must turn their aggression and hostility toward the new guy in their life.
My Thai mate is barely half my age, but for this one evening the student was the master.
I was watching a special on TV the other night about Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy. We single guys around the globe, guys who enjoy all that being a single man on the go has to offer, really owe a debt of gratitude to the first guy who dedicated his life to creating magazines, videos, gentleman clubs, and many other forms of entertainment that celebrated the single man’s lifestyle. As a confirmed bachelor I can testify to the fact that there is very little appreciation for or acceptance of the single man in this world of ours. Even in Thailand, the single man’s Paradise, I have to constantly make up excuses or white lies to explain why I happen to be single. Telling any person in this world that you PREFER to be single, that it is a choice you have made and that you thoroughly enjoy it will only draw blank looks, or worse, total condemnation. Thanks Hef for all you have done for us. We all owe you big time, dude.
Speaking of the single lifestyle, my good friend Peter the Pie Eater had an excellent response the other night when a young lass who likes the amiable Englishman asked why he didn’t want to marry her. His response was “I am still paying for my last marriage.”
I will wind up this month’s column with a funny story about one of my favorite bargirls in Bangkok. We all know that the game with the professional gals is just about fun for us and money for the gals, but sometimes it just gets too mercenary even for my savvy local guy taste. This lass was “married” to a foreign guy last year and I lost touch with her. Now I must say right here that I put the word married in quotes because in this life there is married married and bargirl married. Bargirl married is a big party where the gal and her family receive a bunch of money and gold after which she does whatever the f*ck she wants to. Anyway, this gal was “bargirl married” and apparently the guy died. When she told me the news I felt badly for the lass and told her how sorry I was to hear about her husband’s passing. Her response was “it’s no big deal, I can always find another guy.” Cold, bloody cold these gals can be.
Until next time. Khun Nana
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Prim & Proper Victorians?
London Newspaper Article 1885
"flogging or birching goes on in brothels to a much greater degree than is
generally believed. One of Mrs. Jeffries' [the pimp of the most exclusive
brothel in London] rooms was fitted up like a torture chamber... There were
rings in the ceiling for hanging women and children up by the wrists,
ladders for strapping them down at any angle, as well as the ordinary
stretcher to which the victim is fastened so as to be unable to move. The
instruments of flagellation included the ordinary birch, whips, holly
branches and wire-thonged cat-o'-nine-tails."
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Regarding Hooters Girls
...I always thought hooter girls have a different outfit and "style"; the
Beijing ones look more like a hooter-parody (or they did not find enough
Chinese girls with breast implants). Here's a short description of what a
normal / typical Hooters Girl should be like:
"The looks of the waitresses are a main selling feature of the restaurant. A
Hooters Girl is a waitress employed by the Hooters restaurant chain. The
girls are recognizable by their uniform of a white tank top with the "Hootie
the Owl" logo and the location name on the front paired with the famously
short nylon orange runner's shorts. Originally, the shirts were white
cotton, pulled tight and knotted in the back to emphasize the breasts.
"Hooters" is slang for "breasts" in some American parlance."
And here is part of the contract the girls have to sign:
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Thai Immigration Ruling
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A response from Mike York:
Interestingly, I got fined once because the TM officer said (this is back in 2007) that the visa "clock" and the 90 day "clock" were THEN separate. After I had explained this carefully to an expat acquaintance, he went and got his one year visa and, sure enough they re-set his 90 day clock! The exact opposite of what had just happened to me! And in the years since, my 90 day and visa clocks have always run independently. But not for everybody. TIT..........................
AND AGAIN FROM ANOTHER READER REGARDING IMMIGRATION:
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"Give me chastity and continence, but not yet." – Saint Augustine
Dear Mihnea,
I am busy working on the sequel
to Hangman's Point and
chasing women (less than) half
my age so I cannot read and
comment on the stories "at this
point in time." (Great
cliché, no?) Anyway, am
happy to give your new book
publicity but you should know
that "small independent presses"
publishing short stories have
the shelf life of fresh milk.
And based on recent sales of my
books and complaints from
writers both here and abroad I'm
not sure anybody is still
reading books anymore. But
good luck!
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(Um, you would think that the men in the office who devised this policy might have expected just a bit of, um, blowback? Duh!)
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Switzerland's "Sex Boxes"
http://life.globaltimes.cn/odd/2010-09/576677.html
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Letters from Readers
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Dean,
I always think of you when I see odd T-shirts. Sorry, no picture.
Not fast enough! LOL A rather frumpy Thai female wearing a
faded black T-shirt with white letters.
Save a Virgin
"DO"
me instead!
Doubt if she got many takers! Les
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Hi Mr Barrett,
I just want you to know that I appreciate your monthly column. I happened
to be in BKK last month and the pictures in your Dec column looks
like the hotel
I stayed in, which is the Grand Hyatt Erawin and the girls are the dancers
in the little temple outside the hotel. I have to google the 3rd picture
and I
guess it is in Suk Soi 31.
I never read any of your books, but someday I hope I will. Right now I am
trying to read Decision Point by GWB, but surprisingly my 13 year old son
got
hold of it and started reading the book. I have to take a bold guess that
your book
Skytrain to Murder involves the Skytrain? :-)
Thank you for writing the column
George
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Thanks, George, appreciate your letter.
"Someday" you will read my books?
George, I'm gonna be dead some day and then other people
will get the few
dollars for each book sold. For God sakes, rush out to you
local bookstore
and buy some now.
Happy New Year!
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Wife takes me and her family to the renowned Perfume Pagoda (an hour and a half from Hanoi). To get to the pagoda, you had to first ride in a sampan. Unbelievably, the sampan people said that with me being a foreigner, I had to ride in a separate sampan - away from the rest of the family - and pay a foreigner's rate! I said forget it - I'd go back to Hanoi by myself, and they should continue without me. Wife works something out, and I end up on my "own" sampan, of her and me, separated from the rest of the family, with their on a separate sampan. The unnecessary extra sampan created problems, for each "coxswain" had a mind of her own, and we'd come close to getting lost from each other.
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Christmas in Thailand. In 1965-67 (the three Christmases I spent here the first time). Merchants on Sukumwit and Petchaburi Tat Mai were just beginning to put up a few, usually rather forlorn looking, Christmas lights for the benefit of their farang customers. Most Thais had absolutely no idea about Christmas -- neither the Coca Cola version or the real deal).
The malls are filled with Christmas music (including very explicitly Christian Christmas music--Christ the Saviour Is Born, O Holy Night, Handle's Hallelujah chorus, you name it. Thais are, thank God, completely oblivious to modern PC sensibilities). But of course the lyrics are completely lost on all but the tiny percentage of Thais who are really fluent in English. The average Thai thinks that Christmas is farang New Year (very ironic, since the Julian Calendar New Year is, of course, western in origin). Thais love almost nothing as much as a good party, so we celebrate New Years three, or maybe four, times a year. Once on Christmas. Once on Jan. 1. Once whenever Chinese New Years happens to fall, usually in February, I think (Jan 20 to Feb 20 always). Finally, once during Songkran, the water festival, usually in April.
And although gift and card exchanges are not as elaborately
developed as in the west, there is a growing tradition of gift baskets
given to parents, uncles, aunts, bosses, etc. And, among middle class
and upper class Thais, Santa Claus has made his presence felt, so there
are presents for kids as well.
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Links You Might Enjoy
A video of a five-minute walk down Soi Cowboy. Click here and then click "preview videos."
http://www.pbar.info/videos.html
Like to check out some bars in Thailand? Try
Like to know what music is playing where in Bangkok each week? Try http://www.bangkokgigguide.com.
Like to know more in depth about what music is playing where in Bangkok each week? Try this great site:
Tired of shoveling snow? Check out Bangkok's sunshine.
A great site for listening to Thai Morlan music and other folk music of Southeast Asia.
A bit of black leather never hurts. But she does.
Like to learn a bit about retiring in Asia?
Maps of all the provinces of Thailand
http://www.thailand-guide.org/maps/index.htm
Listen to RadioBangkok.net
mms://wma.radiobangkok.net/bangkok32?MSWMExt=.asf
Helping Kids in Thailand
A fine independent Pattaya Bookstore:
Links You Might Not Enjoy
Politically incorrect rants and raves from Uncle Fred.
http://www.fredoneverything.net
Girlfriends looking for Taliban boyfriends.
Very satirical writing and videos.
http://www.thenoseonyourface.com
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Do
you have a product or service you would like to adverti
se
on this website? You can, you know. In fact, you don’t have to have a product or
service at all; you can just send me money. Or perhaps you would like me to plug
a product or service that you are involved in? Sure, just send me cash. Be sure,
however, to mark the outside envelope:
“Birthday money for Dean Barrett –
Absolutely No Bribe Enclosed”
Got feedback to this column? Got information on Thailand you would like to share? Happy as a dung beetle to be living in Paradise? Been ripped off? Just write me.
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CONTEST
Enter and win a prize! This contest's first prize is worth 3,500 baht in food and drink vouchers. The first to give the correct answer wins the vouchers; second wins the sexy shirt; third wins Nada Diddly-Squat Special.
First prize: Vouchers for food and drink from bars, pubs and restaurants in Bangkok
Second prize: Nifty shirt with the "I Support Single Moms" slogan
Third prize: Nada Diddly-Squat Special 4 U, U number ten!
Last column's Contest:
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This Column's New Contest: Be first to win!
Just tell me what used to be here:
And answer these two questions:
The name of my musical is Fragrant Harbour. What is another name for Fragrant Harbour that we in Asia are more familiar with?
They used to be called the Sandwich Islands. Today they are known as?
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Answers to last column's contest:
Just tell me where the three pix below were taken and answer the question. Hint: the third one is near a famous person's house.
The novel Skytrain to Murder most likely involves:
A tuk tuk
A samlor
A songtaew
A skytrain
Answers: Peninsula Plaza, shrine by Hyatt Hotel, Green Route or Sukhumvit soi 31. A skytrain.
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That's all for this monthly column. Drop by again. Explore the rest of the website. Meanwhile, as the girls used to tell me during the 1960's: "I no lie you, GI, I love you long time; you number one!"
And, remember: nothing says goodbye like a bullet. And the more people I meet the more bullets I need.
Dean Barrett can be flamed at: deanbarr@loxinfo.co.th
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So far
this Christmas, Religion of Peace devotees have bombed a
church in the
Philippines,
blown up 45
flood refugees
waiting in line
for Western food aid, plotted to bomb a
Christmas tree lighting in
Oregon and a
recruitment center in
Maryland,
massacred 86 innocents
in attacks on
Nigerian churches,
planned to
poison American food
buffets and
implant bombs in
human bodies,
plotted the slaughter
of civilians in
Holland,
London
and a newspaper office in
Denmark...
and even set off the first suicide blast in Sweden,
which was intended for
Christmas shoppers.
So when do we stop pretending that Islam is just another religion?
"At least one thing seems certain: against people who are ready to die in the cause of destroying freedom, people who are not willing to speak up for freedom for fear of being called a racist or an Islamophobe don't stand much chance of victory."
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More News on the "Religion of Peace"
The "Religion of Peace" continues to visit Southern Thailand
Just some of the recent atrocities committed by Muslims in Thailand
2010.12.24 Thailand Narathiwat Muslim separatists walk into a tea shop and machine-gun two patrons.
2010.12.23 Thailand Narathiwat Two off-duty security personnel riding a motorcycle are shot to death by Muslim militants.
2010.12.21 Thailand Pattani A 43-year-old construction worker is murdered by Muslim gunmen.
2010.12.21 Thailand Pattani A married couple selling pork are shot to death in their stall by Holy Warriors.
2010.12.18 Thailand Yala Two guards providing security to Buddhists are gunned down by Religion of Peace proponents.
2010.12.18 Thailand Yala Islamists slash the throats of two people.
2010.12.12 Thailand Narathiwat A 67-year-old woman and her son-in-law are shot to death by Muslim militants.
2010.12.11 Thailand Yala Muslim terrorists murder a Thai soldier.
2010.12.03 Thailand Yala A 41-year-old rubber plantation worker is gunned down by Islamic separatists while walking home.
2010.12.03 Thailand Narathiwat A 36-year-old man is shot to death in his home by Muslim militants.
2010.12.03 Thailand Pattani Two men are murdered by Mujahid gunmen in separate attacks.
2010.12.03 Thailand Narathiwat Muslim terrorists shoot a Buddhist to death in his home.
2010.11.30 Thailand Pattani Jihadists shoot a school janitor to death.
2010.12.28 (Pattani, Thailand) - A Buddhist man and his wife are machine-gunned by Islamic terrorists in front of their home.
2010.12.28 (Pattani, Thailand) - Muslims shoot a Buddhist civilian to death as he is riding his motorcycle.
2010.12.28
(Narathiwat, Thailand) - A
man and his elderly father are murdered by Islamic gunmen.
And Many More badly Wounded
(Isn't it interesting how silent the Bangkok Post is about all this. Yet they have lots of space to run stories and photos on pandas and a boring, predictable column written by a Muslim fanatic every other Sunday.)
Over 4,400 Thais including monks and teachers and children have been murdered by Muslims in Southern Thailand and
over 45 Thais have been beheaded including Buddhist monks
Beheaded Thai soldiers
.........................................
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." (Blaise Pascal, mathematician, 1670)
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http://www.stopshariahnow.org/
THE RELIGION OF PEACE (in the real world)
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YET ANOTHER GREAT PAT CONDELL VIDEO
Goodbye Sweden!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZtc2ma2GEQ
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VIDEO: WOMAN IN SUDAN BRUTALLY WHIPPED FOR WEARING TROUSERS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve_JJFF5X-g
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WHAT DO THESE WOMEN HAVE IN COMMON?
MUSLIM MEN KILLED THEM IN "HONOR KILLINGS"
Killed by Muslim fathers, brothers, etc., for trying to live as a human being
Chicago campaign on taxis to stop the Islamization of America & the killing of Muslim women by their family members. The campaign is now in danger of being discontinued.
..................................
This woman had a nose once; until Muslim men decided she wasn't Muslim enough. Women want go to school? Talk to a non-relative? Muslim men have ways to stop that. Acid, for one. Click on the photographs.
91 percent of honor killings worldwide are done by Muslims
84 percent of honor killings in US done by Muslims
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Happening Now in America:
Islamic foot-washing basins in airports; Shariah finance being introduced by American banks; college campuses designating Islamic prayer rooms for Muslims only; Islamic compounds practicing Shariah law springing up across America; public schools using tax dollars to indoctrinate American students into Islam; demands by Muslim parents that their children be provided private prayer rooms in their public schools; Muslim workers demanding special workplace accommodations no other religious person would ask for; creative people being threatened as with South Park; publishers self-censoring out of fear of Muslim anger and hate; plays self-censored out of fear of Muslim backlash; Muslim Associations on college campuses interrupting speakers they don't like; Muslim taxi drivers refusing to allow guide dogs for the blind in their taxis; high school texts whitewashing Islam; and the list goes on. And on. And on.
http://www.watson37.com/-Misunderstanders--Roster.html
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"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog...No stronger retrograde force exists in the world (than Islam)." Winston Churchill
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Mohammad Playing with his Six-year-old Bride to Be
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Raping boys is called "MAN-LOVING DAY"
Is She or isn't he?
"Sexual abuse of boys in the Islamic religious schools known as madrasas is not uncommon, and neither is the rape of boys in Afghanistan, especially on Thursday, known as “man-loving day,” because Friday prayers are thought to absolve a sinner of all his guilt."
http://www.glapn.org/sodomylaws/world/afghanistan/afnews009.htm
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"All it takes for evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
The cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten raise the most important question of our times: freedom of expression. Are we in the west going to cave into pressure from societies with a medieval mindset, or are we going to defend our most precious freedom -- freedom of expression, a freedom for which thousands of people sacrificed their lives? A democracy cannot survive long without freedom of expression, the freedom to argue, to dissent, even to insult and offend...Unless, we show some solidarity, unashamed, noisy, public solidarity with the Danish cartoonists, then the forces that are trying to impose on the Free West a totalitarian ideology will have won; the Islamization of Europe will have begun in earnest.
"I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad...it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are more to be feared, and I regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself." Alexis de Tocqueville
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"All religions take care to silence or to execute those who question them...It has, however, been some time since Judaism and Christianity resorted openly to torture and censorship. Not only did Islam begin by condemning all doubters to eternal fire, but it still claims the right to do so in almost all of its dominions, and still preaches that these same dominions can and must be extended by war." - Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
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'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.' - Benjamin Netanyahu
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The Bodies of Two Dead Gays in Iran
(killed by adherents of "the religion of peace")
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There is not one Muslim country in the world which gives equal rights to non-Muslims but when Muslims enter other countries they demand more than equal rights! Write your congressman and tell him to stop kowtowing to Muslims.
“No other religion in Europe is so demanding, and no other migration group depends so much on the social welfare state and is so much connected to criminality.”
“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” -- by Nobel Laureate physicist Steven Weinberg.
"Mohammad poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex...and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. The essence of his doctrine was violence and lust: to exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature" - John Quincy Adams
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FROM THE KORAN:
—The unbelievers are your inveterate enemy. (4:101)
—Mohammed is God’s apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another. (48:29).
—It is unlawful for a believer to kill another believer, accidents excepted. (4:92)
—Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. (5:51)
—Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God’s religion shall reign supreme. (8:40)
—Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme. (2:193)
—The true believers fight for the cause of God, but the infidels fight for the devil. (4:76)
—We will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. (3:151)
—I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers. (8:12)
FROM THE SAYINGS OF MUHAMMAD:
—Muhammad said to the Jews: “If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. “
— Allah’s Apostle said, “You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, ‘O ‘Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.‘ “
—Mohammed said, “I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, “None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and whoever says, “ None has the right to be worshipped but Allah , his life and property will be saved by me.“ (otherwise it will not). Vol. 4:196
—Mohammed said, “Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him.“ Vol. 9:57
—Mohammed said, “ No Muslim should be killed for killing a Kafir” (infidel). Vol. 9:50
—Muhammad said: “Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war, … “. (Sahih Muslim 4294)
Some books that tell it like it is!
Now on trial in Holland for "insulting Islam"
The Islamization of Europe
Muslims are rapidly destroying freedom in Europe and have even brought about self-censorship and real censorship in the United States. But there is one city in Holland where a new reality can be seen with the naked eye, more than anywhere else. Here, entire neighborhoods look as if they have been lifted from the Middle East, here stand the largest mosques in Europe, here parts of sharia law are applied in the courts and theaters, here many of the women go around veiled, here the mayor is a Muslim, the son of an imam. This city is Rotterdam, Holland's second largest city by population, and the largest port in Europe by cargo volume. Europeans, especially politicians, will not lift a finger to fight against Islamofascism. And future generations will pay the price.
The hate-filled Quran (Koran) consistently uses offending remarks whenever it mentions non-Muslims. It describes non-Muslims as animals (Q.7: 179, Q.25: 44, Q.47: 12). Then it describes the Jews as donkeys Q. 62:5 then as apes and pigs (Q.2: 65, Q. 5:60, Q. 7:166). To be described as an animal is a bad insult in Arabic culture, but pigs, apes and donkeys are particularly bad. "Religion of Peace," my ass.
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More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition combined. (source)
EXCUSES OVER THE YEARS THAT POLITICALLY CORRECT PEOPLE HAVE MADE FOR MUSLIMS KILLING NON-MUSLIMS IN AMERICA & ELSEWHERE
- 1990: "A prescription drug for … depression" (to explain the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane)
- 1991: "A robbery gone wrong" (the murder of Makin Morcos in Sydney)
- 1994: "Road rage" (the killing of a random Jew on the Brooklyn Bridge)
- 1997: "Many, many enemies in his mind" (the shooting murder atop the Empire State Building)
- 2000: A traffic incident (the attack on a bus of Jewish schoolchildren near Paris)
- 2002: "A work dispute" (the double murder at LAX)
- 2002: A "stormy [family] relationship" (the Beltway snipers)
- 2003: An "attitude problem" (Hasan Karim Akbar's attack on fellow soldiers, killing two)
- 2003: Mental illness (the mutilation murder of Sebastian Sellam)
- 2004: "Loneliness and depression" (an explosion in Brescia, Italy outside a McDonald's restaurant)
- 2005: "A disagreement between the suspect and another staff member" (a rampage at a retirement center in Virginia)
- 2006: "An animus toward women" (a murderous rampage at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle)
- 2006: "His recent, arranged marriage may have made him stressed" (killing with an SUV in northern California)
- 2009 "Pre-Traumatic Stress Syndrome" Ft. Hood Killing
For the latest roundup of Muslim atrocities around the world click here:
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
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Please note, I do not and never would advocate violence against individual Muslims in any community. For one thing, the guy you beat up with a baseball bat may turn out to have just escaped from some horrible Islamic regime. Individual violence against Muslims or doing damage to mosques, etc., is just stupid and is also counterproductive as Muslim fanatics will show pictures of that all over the Muslim world to incite people against the West.
A good case can be made that Islam is a fanatical brotherhood masquerading as a religion, and, indeed, the adherents of Islam often act that way. But, as individuals, a Muslim neighbor might possibly be more honest than a Christian neighbor. It is only that the Muslim will have been brought up in a religion/brotherhood with a medieval mindset that is centuries behind the times and has a penchant for violence, especially against those who criticize the Koran and other aspects of Islam. Winning the war against Muslim fanatics will take a long time and be hard-fought but, assuming people wake up to the clear and present danger of Islam, it can and will be won. But we must demand that more and more moderate Muslims join the fight against fanatical Muslims. We must demand that our leaders absolutely reject any "compromise" on our right to free expression. Compromising with the fanatics pulls the rug out from the Muslim moderates desperately trying to reform and secularize Islam. And we must never bow to Muslim demands to curb our hard-won freedom of expression. And freedom of expression always includes satire and even insulting satire including satire of glorified tribal myths called religion.
" U.S. Air Force - Travel Agents To Allah"
"Barrett has a gift for taking us into cultures worlds apart from our own, displaying a reverence for their exotic and grotesque as well as their beauty and history....”
- The Poisoned Pen Book Review
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“The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal god and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism.” - Albert Einstein