LAY Beach Club Makes Waves in Pattaya

In the heart of Thailand's vibrant Pattaya, a new hotspot has emerged, promising to revolutionise the city's nightlife and dining scene. LAY Beach Club, situated on Beach Road along the Gulf of Thailand's east coast, has officially opened its doors, offering an unparalleled beachside experience.

books about Thailand: Hardship Posting - true tales of expat misadventure in Asia ...

Let me start with full disclosure. The author and editor of the Hardship Posting series is someone I know really well. Have done for years. In fact, all of my life. We grew up together, went to school together, and are practically inseparable as adults.

Well, it's um ... me. Jing jing!

I am blogging about this series of books now because they are just being released for the first time ever in an e-book format on Amazon. Click here to see inside the book online [insert subliminal ad message here -- Buy it! Buy it! buy it!]

Some have said it's the best Thailand travel guide because it deals with Bangkok bars, notorious Thai nightlife, airport and immigration stories and so on. But it's not really a travel guide to Thailand like the Lonely Planet. Nor is it a novel set in Thailand. Instead, it is a collection of 400 amazing and amusing stories collected from expats in Asia, covering the full spectrum of life. It just happens that most of the craziest episodes seem to happen in the Kingdom, for whatever reason (such as the British gent who posed as the High Commissioner to impress Bangkok bar girls).

There are bent police, slimy con-men, corrupt officials, and shady taxi drivers -- in other words just another day in Bangkok or Pattaya! There are also philandering expat husbands, language boo-boos, moving company dramas, etc.

I could go on and on raving about it ... it makes me feel a little awkward to do so. Honestly. Rather, listen to what various readers and reviewers have got to say about the best-selling series of 3 volumes which has already topped 70,000 sales.

"Sleazy, disgusting, politically incorrect and shockingly insensitive; I loved it" - Nury Vittachi of the HK Standard raved.

"Good fun. Everybody gets the shaft. Indeed the 280 page book isn't long enough. This reviewer often chuckled out loud." - Bernard Trink, The Bangkok Post

And, finally, one more from The Expat Magazine Singapore, who said:

"A mighty collection of tales. The bawdy humour comes thick and fast throughout. A rib-tickling read for the not-so-faint hearted."

Those last two words are important. Don't even open the cover if you are the least bit thin-skinned. You WILL be offended. No wonder it's banned in China, and unwelcome in polite society just about everywhere else.

So luckily you can buy it and download it from the privacy of your own computer now.


[The cartoons in Hardship Posting Vol 1 above, are by Larry Feign, the whizz behind the long-running World of Lily Wong strip.]

If you like the 'Washing your balls' cartoon, I have plenty of Thailand golf course stories and reviews on this blog. Such as this one from Phuket.

.

Rubs that tug ... at the heart and soul (AsiaSpa Awards 2012)

Take a second to just think of the collective aromatic whiff of a whole [insert collective noun here]* of 350 spa operators and health and wellness resorts gathering in one hotel ballroom for AsiaSpa magazine's 8^th annual AsiaSpa Awards for 2012. What would dominate? Lemongrass. Ylang Ylang. Lavendar. No, you're right ... fine French bubbly.

With a record number of entries this year, the competition for the coveted trophies was fierce, but being the shiny-skin-scrubbed, colon-irrigated, positive-kharmic, chakra-aligned crowd that they are, of course it's all smiles and pleasantry and bon homie. Not like the Oscars with their supercilious 'congratulations, you bitch' plasticity.

But one table that smiled the most. And increasingly as the night went on. That was the Thailand table. Why not - after all, it is THE land of smiles, isn't it?

As the awards were dished out, one to the Maldives, one to Thailand, one to some other place, another one to Thailand, some other place, Thailand ...

In all, Thai spa and wellness operators ended up the most awarded overall, with four specific product wins:

• Day Spa of the Year: The Oasis Spa Lanna, Chiang Mai, Thailand 
• Spa Retreat of the Year: Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary and Holistic Spa, Ko Samui, Thailand
• Medi-Spa of the Year: S Medical Spa, Bangkok, Thailand
• In-Spa Training of the Year: Banyan Tree Spa Academy, Phuket, Thailand

I've got a question: is there a certain closing time required to qualify as a Day Spa? Are the owners afraid to go out at night, or just too stingy to pay the electricity bill? Or is it an eco-friendly thing whereby everything runs on solar power so is no good after sunset? (Ok, that's 3 questions ...)

The Grand Prix award of the night, Asian Spa Capital of the Year, then also went to Amazing Thailand. The only real surprise to me is that Pattaya came up empty-handed ... 

Some gratuitous Titiporn ...

Titiporn (gotta love that name!) Manenate, Director of TAT's Hong Kong office, positively gushed: “When the Chiva-Som Health Resort opened in Hua Hin in 1995, it broke new ground in the annals of Asia-Pacific health and wellness tourism. Ever since then, Thailand has continued to raise the bar in the quality and diversity of its spa offerings.”

All I'm going to say is I am glad there is a double 'N' in 'annals' and I'm not even going to touch 'raise the bar' ...

Titiporn added: "Thai spas blend traditional well-being therapies with relaxing massage, holistic treatments and numerous other ways to relieve and detox an overworked physical and mental system. Thai spas are becoming as popular as Thai cuisine.” I'll eat to that ...

At the end of the evening, groaning under the weight of their trophies, the triumphant Thailand contingent went off into the Hong Kong night ... in search of a good massage for their aching face muscles, the result of waaaaaay too much smelling, er, I mean, smiling.


* What would be a good collective noun for Spa, Health and Wellness operators?

I'm going to kick off with some suggestions: a SIGH of spa operators, a RUB of massage therapists, a MERIT of meditation councilors ...  What can YOU suggest here? Leave your comments below.

Damn right Thailand's got the (live) Blues!

Talking, laughing, crying, singing.

These are all emotions we normally attribute to humans. But after watching amazing blues guitarist, Boy, these are also things he can make his guitar do. Sometimes simultaneously!

Close your eyes and you could easily imagine you are at Monterey or Woodstock watching Jimi Hendrix, or even Eric Clapton or Stevie Ray Vaughan. 

But open your eyes and you remember that you are in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In Boy Blues Bar, an open rooftop blues joint at the bustling Galare Night Market (usually known to most as 'The Night Bazaar')

Boy is a tremendously engaging performer. His shaggy hair resembles Hendrix if you've had enough Singha beers, which I had. But his cheeky grin and sheer joy of playing is infectious. What's best, if you are there on a Monday night they have an open mic jam, and you can hop up and embarrass yourself for a couple of tunes.

So when you think of Amazing Thailand for music, don't just think of Full Moon rave parties, discos, and chill lounges ... seek out some great live music, especially blues. 

Damn right Thailand got the Blues, jing jing.

Some of the best Live music bars and live blues venues in Thailand:
Boy Blues Bar, Chiang Mai.
The Blues Factory, Pattaya. 
Adhere the 13th, Bangkok

Rockin' Angels Bar, Phuket

Samui Blues, Koh Samui 


This is just a very small starting list. Please feel free to add any 

bars, pubs and live music places you think locals and tourists should check out and support. 

All stand (still) for The Royal Anthem Thailand

The Royal Family is venerated in Amazing Thailand, and rightly so, the King and Queen are not only the longest reigning monarchs in the world, jing jing, but they have done untold great things for this country and its people. Just last month he celebrated 66 years on the throne, a world record.

In just about every office you will see pictures of the King and Queen in the lobby, even giant posters several stories tall outside office buildings in Bangkok.

Travellers should also be aware that the Royal Anthem is played often at 8am and 6pm daily. You will notice that Thais will stop dead in their tracks and listen quietly and attentively while it plays for a couple of minutes. You are expected to do the same (just yesterday, it was quite funny to watch those tourists who were not in the loop wandering about and wondering why suddenly everyone has frozen stiff in the spot where they were).

If you go to a movie in Thailand - and the cinemas in Bangkok, Samui, Phuket, Pattaya, etc are excellent and cheap and play new release* movies that are on the same time schedule as the rest of the world - they will also play the anthem before the movie starts.

You should stand and listen quietly. I have seen farangs not do this, and it is openly disrespectful to local customs and to the locals who have genuine adoration for the Royals.

So if you're sitting, get off your fat ass and stand up. If you're walking, just stop where you are. And enjoy the fact that at least one country has a stately figure head who is actually worth respecting.


* Spiderman, Abraham Lincoln and The Dictator are currently showing in Bangkok cinemas and around the country.

Pattaya - Sleazy does it.

Just returned from a weekend in Pattaya in Amazing Thailand, and pleased to say that NOTHING has changed form my last visit! ;)

See my previous blog http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1464710307120745531&postID=8292168080960829518 about the bars, great new Pattaya hotels, bars, the red hot Walking Street, bars, the beachside attractions, bars, and more.

If you enjoy reading Thailand Jing Jing then ...

Dear readers

Thanks to your support, we have now had over 20,000 pages of my Amazing Thailand travel blog stories downloaded ...

So, I thought you might also like to know I have another blog called THAILAND FACES AND PLACES.

In it, I set out to get locals (and long-term farangs living in Thailand) to invite you into their life story, and then take you to their top 5 places.

We go way waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond touristic Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui, and Chiang Mai. Instead you'll find yourself in known-only-to-locals back streets, coffee shops, stores, noodle houses, Thai restaurants, and so on in places like Pai, Nan, Chonburi, Koh Turatao, etc.

Check it out, and tell your friends about it too. It's the best travel blog since Thailand Jing Jing. Jing jing!

Thailand travels just got cheaper -- hot hotel deals from Agoda

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Travel Easy 45% Thailand sale, Agoda have come out with their special hotel sale prices for the Kingdom too.

Click on http://www.agoda.com/asia/thailand.html now to save on your holiday to Thailand.

They have 3103 hotels in Thailand listed, jing jing, so choose from these exotic destinations:

• Bangkok
• Phuket
• Pattaya
• Chiang Mai
• Hua Hin / Cha-am
• Samui
• Krabi
• Koh Phi Phi (Krabi)
• Koh Chang (Trad)
• Koh Samet

Hmmm, just looking at that list I realise I've never been to Koh Chang yet. 

Time to pack the bags and head out ... 

Fighting breaks out in Pattaya

Just shortly before he punched my lights out. 

I recently blogged about the Fairtex Hotel and Sports Club, where the whiff of liniment and thwack of gloves on body herald the fact that it would not be mistaken for The Ritz any time soon.

As a bunch of wannabes lunged and thrust and kicked and jabbed in the Muay Thai rings around me, one quiet figure stood off to the side, observing. He looked like quite a nice boy, so we got chatting.

Well, chatting's not the right word ...

I started with what I thought was an easy question: "What's your name?" Fair enough, easy right? Well, the delay that ensued before his response allowed me to go off to the men's room. He was still thinking. So I dashed off to grab a cup of coffee. Still thinking. Went for a bite to eat at the cafe. Still thinking.

Eventually, having considered his answer carefully, the answer came: "Lor." Clearly this man had been hit in the head far too many times.

It turns out I was talking with Mana 'Lor' Chaiknansuk, a good looking guy from Chaiyapum who's reached number 2 on the Muay Thai rankings. After 9 years in the sport he reached a peak and dropped off, and is now making an earnest comeback. At the age of 22. There's not an ounce of fat on him; there again he's not as muscular as I think a prizefighter out to be.

Now he's here from 7am each day, running. This is followed by a 2-hour training session from 8-10am and another each afternoon from 3-5. Gee, this guy puts in more hours than the average travel writer, I think to myself, jing jing.

Lor's knee-into-gut move.

"I want to be Thailand champion," he tells me, in a voice which is almost a soft whisper. I've got all day so I decide to ask him a couple more questions to help me get inside the head-space of a kick-ass Muay Thai boxer. I use the term 'head-space' deliberately.

So what does he, um, think, before a fight? Pause. Think. Cogs whirring. Eventually he delivers his wisdom: "Strategies to win it."

He rates his elbow strike and knee into the gut as his lethal weapons. He demonstrates a little too eagerly on me.

So why has he been successful? Clunk, clunk, whirr. Lunch order. Siesta. Set the alarm. Back to ringside to receive his answer. "Determination. Regular practice."

By now I've run out of tape on my recorder and the battery's nearly flat. I sadly have to call this incisive interview to an untimely halt, dashing my chances of a Walkley Award for investigative journalism which Lor's full story would have surely delivered me.

I just hope he doesn't read this -- he'll beat the living daylights out of me.

Aaaah ... a bit of romance in Pattaya

Roses are so cliched. Nothing says Valentine's Day quite like a hosepipe up the bum!
Rasayana Spa, Pattaya (photo: Stu Lloyd)

Latest health news from Thailand ...

100% orijinal. Wanna buy a vowel?   (Bangkok street market)

Forget the gym -- Smoke your way to a healthier life! It's amazing what technology can do. (Pattaya street market)

Blood, sweat and beers at Fairtex Pattaya Sport Club and Hotel.

Many hotels wish they could treat their guests like this.

You hear it long before you see it. In fact, you smell it too before you see it. The pounding of leather gloves on body or protective pads. And the astringent whiff of liniment rubbed into aching muscles.

Following your ears and your nose leads you to the Fairtex Muay Thai Boxing ring, where the morning training session is on and a motley assortment of tattooed locals and foreigners is beating the tripe out of each other. Knees rise into guts. Sweat beads fly as a head flicks back. Groans of effort. Moans of pain. Then rrrrrrrrriiinnngggg -- the digital buzzer signals four minutes is up, and the 20 or so belligerents ease up for a quick swig of a drink and draw their breath.

I must admit there are more genteel welcomes to hotels, involving iced towels, and damsels on bended knees proferring frozen lemongrass drinks, but Fairtex Hotel and Sports Camp is not your average hotel.

It was built on the back of blood, sweat and tears by Khun Jong, founder of the Fairtex sportswear label, himself a former boxing promoter-turned-squillionaire who used to get around in a massive Chicago-pimp-style gas-guzzler, which is still parked under this hotel.

It's actually a quiet place.

Pompous touches are evident everywhere, from overstuffed animal skin couches that would make Louis X1V feel inadequate, to glass banisters, and carved-glass fittings in the reception, although it's overall a mid-class family resort hotel in a faux ancient Thai-brick setting. Rooms range from barracks (10 to a dorm) to 65m deluxe suites.

If you're keen to knock yourself into shape (or be knocked into shape more likely!) Fairtex is the place. Sign up for just one day, or a month like many, and enjoy an hour of boxing each morning and afternoon, plus badminton, pool, tennis, basketball, bicycle spinning, gym and table tennis. All this from just 2400 baht per day (about $80).

This camp has produced a number of champions, including Yod Sanklai and Naruepol. Plus Mana 'Lor' Chaiknansuk, who reached number 2 (see next blog for his fighting story).

Then the buzzer rings again and it's action stations. All around, the explosive percussion of thudding leather. Rhythmically at first, then building to a rousing climax as the bell nears. Not a ripple of flab anywhere, jing jing.

And this was the moment I discovered I am a wimp. Having done several years of high-grade karate, I declined with thanks when one of the grinning instructors beckoned me to join him in the ring (the last time I was asked to join anyone in the ring was at Mardi Gras, but that's another story. For the record I declined then, too.)

An instructor getting kicked in the ring

I just couldn't see me soaking up that amount of punishment. Elbows, and kicks, and jabs, and knees. Forgeddaboutit!!! He feels my bicep and laughs. Ouch, that really hurt. The laugh I mean. Jing jing!


On balance, I think I'll settle for a game of badminton. Mind you, those feathers can hurt a bit too.


Glutton for punishment? Click on www.fairtexhotel.com

DusitD2 Baraquda Pattaya: a new wave hotel

Check out the check-in bar area. 

Every hotel boasts of their warm welcome. Here's one that prides itself on a cold welcome ...

I like a place that calls its reception area the 'check-in bar' and immediately proceeds to hand you a drinks list and invites you to choose your welcome drink. None of this namby-pamby lemongrass punch stuff -- ANYTHING you like off the bar list, sir.

Right-o, make mine a Cuba Libre. And my friend will have a Vodka Screwdriver, jing jing.


My cheeky request for a double is derisively dismissed, as it should be. Such is the easy and friendly tone of this D2 resort, part of the funky Dusit spin-off franchise.

You immediately feel as though you've got the sand between your toes here, and you're about to built a giant sand castle that no wave could ever knock over. The team is dressed in casual creams and blues, the walls are all wavy, and out there is what they call 'Thailand's sexiest swimming pool'. (OK, so the PR team's been at the Vodka Screwdrivers, too!)

The Gods must be crazy ...

Their restaurant is like an Asian tribute to Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein with huge explosions of Oriental pop-art bursting all the way up to the ceiling. As fun and fresh as their breakfast selection.

Pressing the flesh ...

The rooms are like my favourite swimsuits: one-piece. Open the door and it's all there before you -- bathroom  in a curved glass panel to the left, smart work desk ahead, big comfy bed behind that, with one wall just about all mirrors for that extra feeling of spaciousness and whatever your imagination might conjure up. Which brings us the the tempting Desires button on the telephone ...

But while many couples may well lose themselves in the room, D2's location puts you right in the throbbing heart of Pattaya. Cross the road and you'll be enjoying happy hour with the lads at Bodega Bar (never mind the facial tattoos, he's quite a nice boy, really!). Or 50 metres down, there's Dicey Reilly's Irish pub (one of at least 1000 Irish pubs and bars in Pattaya, conservatively speaking). And the beach is at the bottom of that block, oh a couple of hundred metres down. And Walking Street.

Bottom line: I would give this D2 an A1 grade (as have several renowned magazines and travel awards). And that's not just the rum talking.

Ever experienced a more fun check in somewhere?


Want more? See www.dusit.com

The only international resort style hotel in Pataya? Wow.

One of three pools: like Goldilocks, one of them's just right

Well, blow me down! When you think of Pattaya you think of ... well, I  mean, you ALSO think of resorts, resorts and more resorts catering to the sun-worshippers flocking to the beaches of its bays.

So you could've knocked me over with a feather when Khun Pat, a senior sales manager at Sheraton Pattaya Resort, fixed me in the eye and said: "We are the only international resort-style property in Pattaya." No, that can't be right ... there's ... there's ... well I guess she is right. "The others are city type."

The Sheraton occupies the headland near that old stalwart the Royal Cliff Resort (now a multi-hotel-cum-exhibition extravaganza called PEACH), so it's a little ways out of town, but shuttle buses run frequently into the guts of town if that's where you'd rather be.

But out here, the views towards Koh Laan are forever on a clear day, watching the flotilla of pleasure boats plying their way towards that island.

Can you hear the tinkle?

A massive chandelier-like wind chime tinkles in the breeze, knocking several valuable points off my blood pressure immediately. And if it needs more reduction, I can hop a golf buggy down to the Amburaya Spa where five different techniques will be applied over an hour and a half, along with English, French and Thai natural products in a super signature called Amburaya Embrace.

There are plenty of wistful touches in this 3-pool resort (like a golfer, I judge a hotel by how many 'holes' it offers, in this case swimming holes or water hazards). The bougainvillea in the receptionists' hair for instance. And the pant-skirts they wear, which look like they have three legs, but they have the grace to carry it off.

Exhibit A: solid door

Solid wooden doors are a feature throughout the resort, and shoulder injuries must be the leading cause of days off work here, as the petite lasses try to open and close guests' doors, and doors to the various outlets such as Elements, Latitude Lounge, Papaya meeting room. Thankfully Infiniti -- their Italian restaurant -- is al fresco with no wooden barricades to barge down.

As for the rooms, cool mint tones soothe like a choc-mint ice-cream on a summer's day, jing jing.


A feeling of airy spaciousness, and a balcony from which to survey the pools, the ocean, and the rest of the resort's villas, which present something half way between traditional Thai and Spanish-Mexican hacienda.

A sophisticated playground atmosphere. But if you've still got work on your plate, Link@Sheraton business centre can sort you out with free internet (or you can pay to play in your room).

So Khun Pat is absolutely right. It is international. It is a resort. And it's the only one like it in Pattaya.

Like the sound of this? Check out www.sheraton.com/pattaya for more