Lodestone

I was explaining the saying,
"If we had bacon, we could have bacon and eggs... if we had eggs." to a Thai I work with and she wanted to know where it came from. I said, I didn't know but I'd check. Google turns up about 5 pages of results including one from 1997 ( http://www.usnews.co...hive_005986.htm ) but no real source that I could see. I would have guessed it was from a TV show or movie, but not too recent, as it seems to go back a ways. Anyone know where it comes from?

It'd been a while since I'd been to Patpong. In fact, the last time was during the Red Shirt protests and the place was surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers. This time, that side of lower Silom and the sois were packed out with western tourists and vendors selling the usual counterfeit and souvenir ware. From my latest, rather brief, survey I'm left with these four observations.

1. As I said, in mid evening the streets and sois were absolutely jammed with people and vendors, more so than Siam Square.
2. Apparently from this seemingly brisk business, there appears to be little incentive to upgrade or really even maintain the area. What I remember from last time either is still there looking even more shabby and decayed, or perhaps has had a name change in the form of a new sigh slapped over it and pretty much nothing else done.
3. There are now many fewer upstairs bars, less than half a dozen. This kind of business may be gone entirely in a few years.
4. What upstairs bars remain are even more a shadow of past times, to the point you wonder why they even bother. Certainly the crowds are staying outside.

After taking a disappointed peak inside all of them (no great task), I finally circled back to Super Pussy, at least by name, a mainstay upstairs bar of Patpong for some decades now. Because of that, I mistakenly, and I guess naively, thought it was still an honest bar, and let my guard down. I sat at the bar that surrounds the stage. The place had maybe a dozen other customers, making it vastly more popular than the others. No sooner had I been seated and ordered a Chang, two 'girls' (at least one was definitely a ladyboy) were sitting on either side of me. I made clear my disinterest and soon they were gone. Instead, a few moments later one of the staff appeared with a laminated A4 sized card stating that the first drink was 300 baht and telling me to pay up now or it'll cost more later. I refused and said I'd finish my beer first, which I did, though rather quickly, to her great protest. I then paid the 300 to the cashier, rather than have more trouble, and left, the card girl calling back to me that I still owed some, unspecified, additional amount. Just for comparison, two years ago I went to Queens Castle 1, which appears to be now gone, and was paying 85 or 90 baht a beer, and though, as you would expect, hustled for drinks by the girls, everything was on the up and up.

Oh, well. I guess I'll check things out again in another couple of years, at most.

My air conditioner is dripping water and would like any quick/easy fixes for it. I rent and have building maintenance do most repairs as it's both their job and I'm too busy. However, they're not available much after Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday unless for real emergencies, so any ideas would be appreciated. See attached photo for details. Thanks.

...to begin the new year!

Don't let the still gutted buildings closer to Sukhumvit shy you away. Directly across from the Amari Boulevard hotel is a new smallish sign welcoming you in. There are still a few empty shelves and most prices aren't yet posted, but It looks generally the same. The most noticeable difference is the Took La Dee lunch counter is now larger with an oval shaped counter with seating all around. Also all the aisles are pretty much in a different order, e.g. produce and booze are now on the right side (as you enter) rather than the left as before.