My life 2018 B | Hello from the Five Star Vagabond

New Friends Restaurants Shops 2018

December 5, 2018 by David Herd

The end of another eventful year.

New Friends Restaurants Shops

This is not a travel blog just a personal photo collection from the 2nd half of 2018, check THIS LINK for the first 6 months.

New Friends Restaurants Shops 2018 in Pattaya & Bangkok & no trips out of the country which is rather unusual. One of my greatest pleasures apart from dining at a good restaurant is watching the sunsets & storms from my 20th floor condo on Beach Road Pattaya. The photo above is at Terminal 21 which opened October 19 & is a truly magnificent shopping mall. In fact you can follow the construction process on THIS LINK.

Drinks at the Atlantic Bar as usual.

Stingy & Chocolates otherwise known as Richard Blair & David Robertson are with a bunch of Thai ladies on August 27.

Still obsessed with Skechers.

They opened a new store at Central Marina so naturally I purchased anther 3 pair & a red hot price.

My current collection.

I’m set for the next 5 years.

The beach restoration continues, check the progress on THIS LINK.

Surprisingly the Thais have stuck with the job at hand for all of this year & the beach is looking great.

Atlantic Bar 70s party.

Here is Stefan & some of the girls. Here is a long history of my time at this great bar, just follow THIS LINK.

The whole gang are dressed to kill.

There is no doubt the Thais love dressing up for a party.

Fabulous new restaurant.

Thai Marché bon appetit, a fabulous new addition to Pattaya’s restaurant scene.

But wait, there’s more.

Wine Connection on Beach Rd Pattaya has finally arrived in our city by the bay. Opened November 28 2018 & a friend & I dined there the following day.

After all these years in Thailand I finally got to visit the Sanctuary of Truth.

On most of the forums the cheap Charlies complain about the 500 Baht entry fee, however in my opinion it certainly is worth it. Check it out on THIS LINK.

The ever changing Bangkok skyline.

What a fabulous city, I try to visit at least 3 or 4 times a year.

Fabulous Bangkok restaurant.

El Mercado is an experience not to be missed. Eleven thousand restaurants & such little time, dining in Bangkok can be rather confusing, because there are just so many good places to eat. More info on THIS LINK.

I always visit the JW Marriott for breakfast.

Apart from having a 20% discount card the breakfast is fantastic.

Some names have changed at Nana Plaza

Plus they have added a roof. More photos on THIS LINK.

Lets go back to the Atlantic Bar.

Right across the road is one of the soapy massage parlors. 🙂

Drinks at Atlantic with Mark Yagalla.

Mark of course is famous for a $50,000,000 Wall St Ponzi scheme. 🙂

Some well known characters here.

Denise is not looking happy, next we have Pothole & Yogurt aka John Martin & Joergen Ulitza, & last but not least Allen from Melbourne who is married to Denise.

The Sabai Resort is diagonally opposite.

Popular with many friends of mine due to the great location. For a very good discount on a room just book on the hotel image.

Clinton from Brisbane.

On his way back to Brisbane from Poland he popped down to the Hilton for the Sunday buffet lunch.

You too can have bodies like this if you abuse them. 🙂

Stingy & Chocolates otherwise known as Richard Blair & David Robertson relax at the Sabai Resort.

It’s often hard to find an exciting new restaurant with unique food. One method I use is to send Chocolates, aka David Robertson along to try it, If he says it’s terrible & there is nothing on the menu he liked, you know you are on a winner.

That’s what happened recently at Thai Marche. 🙂

This is Ron Rigg from Hawaii

He loves visiting Thailand, a couple of days after this photo he flew to Chiang Mai for a 3 day visit.

Lets talk about home cooking.

Lamb shank imported from Australia. Check out the excellent butcher at Big C extra on THIS LINK.

I also buy Aussie lamb cutlets there.

Delicious when served with Gravox & roast vegetables. Or bubble & squeak as shown above. 🙂

My home made pumpkin soup is to die for. 🙂

Pumpkin is so cheap in Thailand, I make enough to last me 2 or 3 weeks.

Les Mcevoy from Perth dining at Leckerle.

Enjoying the fabulous crepe Suzette at Leckerle which is one of the best value for money restaurants in Pattaya.

The Pattaya sunsets are still the best I have ever seen.

Take a look at THIS LINK for many more.

I also love watching the storms rolling in over the bay.

Same as before, you will see a lot more on THIS LINK.

My message for 2018 is quite simple…..

Surely that’s not asking too much. 🙂

Tye Critchlow

Caught up with Tye Critchlow from California at the Atlantic bar, he is a fan of my photo blogs. Tye loves life in Pattaya & hopes to move here permanently.

Brad Robbins cooks up a storm.

Brad just sold his law firm in Townsville & will be spending more time at Pattaya in his apartment on the 22 floor of my condo building. Dinner last night turned into a beer tasting & loud music festival. He is a great chef & a terrific host. After the beer I was forced to drink far too many red wines & am suffering for it today.

NZ lamb shank with baked vegetables.

One of my favourite home cooked meals along with Aussie lamb cutlets.

Darren Loughman comes all the way from Ireland.

Darren promotes tourism through his website askaboutthailand. Here he is enjoying a drink at the Atlantic Bar.

Amazing view

Looking north from the sky bar at the Pattaya Hilton.

The usual suspects

Hamish Elton. Wayne Croker & David Herd on the shortest day December 21.

Potholes moment was photo bombed

His sons aka “the Squabblers” were celebrating a great result at the swimming carnival when the sinister face of Joergen aka Yogurt sneaked into the the shot.