131 Bar (Pattaya)

[Guest]

Thank you for those pictures bumblebee (any more from anyone ?)
Be good to keep this 131 thread going because so far as I can see from here (6000 miles away) the place is just being run as a sort of a non profit making co-operative by a bunch of ladyboys with the ''propietor'' of the business based in the US.
Those of us who make regular ventures down that way need places like 131 to survive.

[Guest]

Some more photos
Weina

[Guest]

Cartoon

[Guest]

WTF She has to be 50 years old from that Photo and ugly as sin. You could have broken your camera lens mate!

[Guest]

Yes that picture does not capture Kartoon at her best.
Here are some better shots I took in July

[Guest]

Also, it is worth point out that, although I have not indulged myself...Kartoon is the highest earner at 131 and is very funny with it

[Stewart]

(stogie bear @ Nov. 07 2007,15:32) Fuck Franck... He's a con man and Pattaya and it's patrons are well shot of him.  

Conmen are only that if people let them be that

I have read both forums about Frank borrowing this and that.

I just shake my head and think.......WTF is anyone doing lending money to a bar owner in Pattaya??

In terms of a Darwin Award for NON-life threatening stupidity, this HAS to rank alongside marrying a lb 25 years your junior and believing she is going to stay with you forever.

The LENDER deserves everything he gets. Fucking twat

[stogie bear]

Conmen are only that if people let them be that...

You are being ungenerous in your assesment of the people who fall for conmen.

The whole point is that they are convincing and plausible, from the smug waiter who knows what's best on the menu to the car maker chatting up the government minister looking for investment capital!

Living in Thailand means that I've met loads and loads of conmen. (They migrate here from all over the world.) They are affable and come across as sincere and genuine.

It would take an extremely sharp and focused mind to tell some of these rodents apart.

Nobody deserves to be duped (as you seem to think) but at the same time - people doing business of any kind over here need to be very very VERY sure of who you are dealing with.

[Stewart]

Nobody deserves to be duped (as you seem to think)

Disagree.

As I said......lending money to a Pattaya (the scam centre of the universe) bar owner is plain stupidity!!

I have zero sympathy. There were 100 great charities he could have given it to. Total tosser.

[jimslim]

Thats a bit harsh , ok Its foolish to lend money to someone you hardly know but no one deserves to get ripped off just because of their good nature .

The guy in question who lent Franck the money seems like a very kind hearted genuine sort of guy , ok not the smartest thing in the world to do , but done out of good intentions , just a pity Franck hadnt the decency to realize that .

[stogie bear]

I know something of the stories behind some of these 'loans.' In all the cases that involved large amounts of money the amount started off smaller or was given for the reimbursment of services.

Yes - in hindsight I'm sure some of the people conned are feeling foolish, but I still don't think that they deserved it.

Franck is an extremely engaging and affable (and probably experienced) fraudster. Many people on this forum still probably refuse to believe that he is a common thief and opportunistic conman.

"Oh - Franck... he was so nice and friendly and made me feel special... he helped me out... he introduced me to so-and-so... he... blah de blah..."

Even the people who were conned can still hardly believe it and a couple I know still sincerely believe that they will get their money back!

That's how con men work... They just exploit your good nature and gullibility without any remorse.

The first time I ever met that arse before 131 even opened I told Mardhi that he was full of shit and not to be trusted. He agreed with me way back then and we kept quiet about it.

He's a con man and he was good enough to ply his dispassionate scams to many people EVEN IN Pattaya!

Even the poor sap he teamed up with to open the bar in the first place is out of pocket by millions...

He's just a cunt and my opinion of him hasn't changed since the very first day I met him.

I like him... He's a good host of the bar... but I wouldn't trust him with SamperDocs ex-girlfriend!

[stogie bear]

Always ALWAYS work between 2am and 5am...

[pampamsam]

(stogie bear @ Nov. 13 2007,00:30) I know something of the stories behind some of these 'loans.' In all the cases that involved large amounts of money the amount started off smaller or was given for the reimbursment of services.

Yes - in hindsight I'm sure some of the people conned are feeling foolish, but I still don't think that they deserved it.

Franck is an extremely engaging and affable (and probably experienced) fraudster. Many people on this forum still probably refuse to believe that he is a common thief and opportunistic conman.

"Oh - Franck... he was so nice and friendly and made me feel special... he helped me out... he introduced me to so-and-so... he... blah de blah..."

Even the people who were conned can still hardly believe it and a couple I know still sincerely believe that they will get their money back!

That's how con men work... They just exploit your good nature and gullibility without any remorse.

The first time I ever met that arse before 131 even opened I told Mardhi that he was full of shit and not to be trusted. He agreed with me way back then and we kept quiet about it.

He's a con man and he was good enough to ply his dispassionate scams to many people EVEN IN Pattaya!

Even the poor sap he teamed up with to open the bar in the first place is out of pocket by millions...

He's just a cunt and my opinion of him hasn't changed since the very first day I met him.

I like him... He's a good host of the bar... but I wouldn't trust him with SamperDocs ex-girlfriend!

Have to say something about all this because I should be considered one of the "poor saps" you refer to.

My experience with Franck began when he spent a long time with an inexperienced guy, explaining to me the LB scene as he saw it. My first time speaking with him was for maybe 10-15 minutes talking about various LBs. That followed by his meeting me in BKK for drinks at Guess Bar. My opinion of him at the time was that he was a very sincere and nice guy. Very helpful. He didn't ask for anything.

After he told me of his plans to open 131 he didn't ask me for anything either. The subject of money came up when I offered to lend him some money to help pay for stock. It was I, the mark, that offered to lend him money. At the time the amount was small, under 30,000 THB. Could I have said no, I am sure I would have been able to say no to him, but the amount seemed so small at the time. WTF, who would think that a 30k loan was a scam?

But looking back at my experiences with Franck, and after speaking with other guys who have given him money, I have concluded the following:

1. He has a sincere, deadpan manner about him. If anyone has had a conversation with him can attest, he never cracks a smile when delivering a punchline. This sincerity is what guys remember most about him.
2. He had a way of harnessing every crisis into a vehicle to collect money. Remember the Mo Story? Remember the parties in honor of websites and personalities on the websites? Remember the past few months of low season in Pattaya? I don't know if anyone remembers the memorable visit by the BIB in early March, that was the occasion for my second donation to the Franck Fund.
But all these events were used to elbow his way into your pocket. Am I being cruel or crude? No Way!!! All this for me was a crash course in the way business is done in Pattaya and I thank Mr. Miguel for being such a great teacher and mentor to me.

3. Once a person agrees to give tis guy a sum of money, Franck is relentness in tracking the mark and making sure the money is forthcoming. It becomes a matter of honor for him. It was quite comical re-reading  emails and sms I exchanged with him, they had the right touch of truth and honor about them.


Regarding Pentire's earlier post about how the bar is being run by a group of LBs with a proprietor in the US as a non-profit co-operative. All I can say is that all the bills are paid on time, I have insisted that the staff pay cash for all stock purchases and if our friends, the BIB, didn't visit us again a month ago, the bar would have had a very nice balance in the bank.

Cheers,

Sam

[mardhi]

Simple reality is a business is in business to make money, not to employ people, not to make peoples dreams come true and certainly not to manufacture widgets or whatever - anybody that says any different is totally loopy. When its my money - if it dont make money, we change it to make sure it does - it is that simple. I am hearing good things about how management are taking back the asylum and I hope it continues to develop - but guys make no mistake - bars are not charities, they are profit centres and if it dont make a profit, they must be closed regardless of the sentiment, unless you have deep pockets in which you might as well just set light to a few greenbacks, Euro, pounds etc etc and be done with it.

Sentiment is all well and good however it does not pay the bills as people soon discover.

Cheers
Mardhi

[Monkey]

well said


there's that old adage that goes: It's easy to make a small fortune in Pattaya, you just need to start with a large one...

From what I've heard Francks problem was he had his dick in the till...

A bar is a business and like any other business it needs to make money else it becomes an expensive hobby, but with so many people wanting there share it's not easy in Thailand for 'falangs' to do it, it is however possible but it's a damn sight easier to mess it all up.

Half the 'business' owners I've seen in Thailand I wouldn't let run a bath. How many of these people come over on holiday and see it as a way of 'living the dream' but wouldn't or more likely couldn't do it back home?