John Galt Presents: Rumors and Scuttlebutt

I razz the Great Stickman when he tries to generate cash by first talking nicely about a business and then following up with advertising from that business. I work him over because when you first conduct a flattering interview, the value of it comes into question when its then discovered to be a prelude for Stickman advertising web space.

Stickmen in this week's interview is very flattering to Marc and the Eden Club business. Just how much of this "friendship" interview will come into question if Eden Club become a paying subscriber to Stick Weekly Column?

I like what he wrote. I enjoyed reading it. It must very interesting to be the owner of a club like the Eden Club.

From general comments made by others over the years, I believe Marc runs a tight ship. I would also have to believe him that it's not easy making this type of business successful. I'm sure he does works very hard at it.

I thought it funny when Marc talked about people who spread false rumors on the net. I'm sure he was referring to a number of current people on forum chats sites, however, Marc conveniently forgot about the nasty rumor Stick posted about The Eden Club back in 2002:

In a recent column, I included an extract from a reader which stated how one can determine whether a mirror is two way or not. Well, another reader did that very test on the mirrors in one of the rooms in the Eden Club, and well, guess what.... Go and do the test yourself and see what you find. And don't forget to to say cheese! And no, one shouldn't think that is being paranoid at all! Up at Panthip Plaza, some of the biggest sellers are the aeb doo and aeb tie series of VCDs. Translated into English, this basically means hidden video! Yep, there are MANY VCDs available there with folks unknowingly filmed while partaking in the bedroom olympics! And I just love what it says on the cover of one of the aeb tie series which translates roughly as - "don't laugh too loud because it might be you who is in this movie"! I guess one suddenly has to question the wisdom of using short time venues!

Link to that web page is here:

Marc contacted Stick immediately and probably bitched him out for running a stupid piece like this with absolutely no evidence to back it up. To further exacerbate the claim of the two-way mirror, Stick even when as far to suggest this footage could be on sale at Pantip! Whoa brother. Man, if that wasn't shaking a hornets nest? Not too smart there Sticky-baby (eye wink).

Marc probably came out loaded for bear! (don't need large shells to gun down a weasel).

Dear Mr Stick, are you completely mad? I'm going to come over there and rip your damn head off. How dare you publish shit like this about a business that you know little about. Ok, so I threw you and your friend out the front door last time you guys were here soaking up my AC. Sorry about that but we run a business here and you damn English teachers are a pain in my ass.....

I received an email from Marc, the manager / proprietor of the Eden Club in Sukumvit Soi 7/1. As you may remember from last week's column, I included a piece from a reader who had emailed me stating that he had carried out an amateur test on the mirrors in the Eden Club, and concluded that they were two way! Marc's email refuted these claims and he adamantly states that there are no double mirrors in his establishment. Apologies to Marc and the Eden Club for any harm that the comments might have done to his club's fine reputation.

Link to that web page is here:

But hey, Stick and Marc are friends now and Marc wouldn't want to air out any dirty laundry. Besides, the Eden Club's fine reputation was immediately reinstated.

But what reputation is that? I notice that Stick and Marc carefully tip-toed all around the actual subject matter in this weeks column? That is not by mistake. The Stick is cleverly cleaning and packaging the Eden Club for promotion on Stickman's site. Oh yes. I can see it now. Banner ads for the up and coming Eden Club Pattaya?

What I really wanted to know Marc, is the famous "yellow line" still part of the business? I pulled an old picture off the web. At one time it looked like this.

If I remember this correctly, the girls on the left side of the yellow line will entertain back door activities while the girls on the right side do not. (does anyone who believes in reincarnation have any vague notions about coming back as a green bar stool?)

Marc didn't tell us about his silent business partners: the men in brown. Businesses like the Eden Club are highly illegal (so are go-go bars and the like). The only way to operate these types of businesses are through payoffs to the local law enforcement officers. Hearing about that aspect of the business would have been interesting. Perhaps procurement of police protection was the secret he was hiding about why the other competitors failed? Let's remember, that all of prostitution is illegal here. But, I suspect that Thailand will suckle off that tit until it runs dry. For now, that "card" in the "tower of cards" will stay intact as long as money flows to the parties looking the other way.

Wait a minute -- I remember the reputation now. Like Marc says: "Value for Money". I got that straight now. It's not Sex for Money, its Value for Money. Ok, great word. When I pick up my next bar girl and I'm going to explain to her the "Eden Club Concept" of "Value for Money". When the Eden Club prints up their new "Value for Money" T-shirts I think I'll buy one of those.

Update Sept 29th. I'm starting to get email from customers who have had bad experiences at the Eden Club.

One guy told me that his Stickman "reader's submission" criticizing the Eden Club was removed. This only reinforces the idea that the Eden Club will begin to advertise on Stick's site. Is the Galt correct? Or does the Stick get personal discrete services there?

If your a "Thumbs Down" person and want to voice your opinion, write a few honest lines and I'll put them up in the next weeks column. Be objective and just state the facts. No personal attacks will be printed.

Stick unleashed some news this week about an Internet provider in the Soi 4 area who MAY have some spy ware running on their machines. (there are basically only 2 Internet businesses there)

A reader send this in to Stick and he published it (not Stick's responsibility to be truthful because someone else wrote it remember?).

I am writing to you because I would like you to expose a scam I experienced in a Soi 4 internet shop recently. I am a frequent tourist to Thailand and was accessing my stock brokerage account at one of several internet shops on Soi 4 in June. The fraud investigator at my stock brokerage in the States said they must have had a key logger program. I assume it is in all their computers since I used different ones. On August 1, these crooks entered my account and sold all my holdings (sizeable) and started buying penny stocks in an effort to drive up the stock price and in another account simultaneously sell, hopefully at a profit to the crook. According to other farangs I know who live around Soi 4, this has happened to three other foreigners they know. The Thai tourist police know of this and won't do anything so I hope you bring this to light.

It strikes me strange that anyone with enough money to play the stock market (takes thousands of dollars), why would they not have a laptop? A laptop can easily connect to a Wi-fi connection. It can even by plugged into the network at any Internet shop and everything is safe and secure on the laptop.

Did this customer even contact the shop about the possible problem? It doesn't say. (Do I smell a possible fraud here?) Is there a hotel in that area that is trying to scare customers into using their in-hotel Internet system?

This is second time that the Stick has "stuck it to" the Internet businesses at Soi 4 with this type of highly speculative unsubstantiated publishing.... Hum...(head scratch) I have a great business idea. How about Stick bashes someone with false rumors, then when that business takes a beating, then retract the comment, make a friend out of him, declare his shop "healed", then hit him up for advertising. Wow, what a brilliant idea. See now if Stickman was a really sharp cookie he would have come up with that idea first.

Stick published a piece this week about a new book that is for sale about buying land and building a house in Thailand. News flash for you. The Thai government doesn't want you to buy land and own buildings (outside of a 49% share of condominiums). If you come here and violate the "spirit of the law" with loopholes in the literal law you are going to get burned. Thailand is a protectionist country. The law here out-laws quite a number of things and if you step over those lines, be prepared to pay the penalties.

Have you ever enviously watched Mr. Non-Descript walking down the road with his gorgeous Thai teeruk who was obviously madly in love with him, and clearly had never spent even a night with her hands on a chrome pole? How did that guy get a doll like her? There is one approach that seems to work with Asian women and that is playing the goofball. Yep, the guy who says daft things, is always making jokes, and even pulling silly faces, appeals to many Asian women hugely. While it is not easy (nor a good idea) to try and be someone you aren't, the goofball approach does seem to work wonders with Thai women.

What are you "envious" of above? Mr Non-Descript saying Daft things or the gorgeous teeruk?

Guys who say daft things???? Stick -- most Thai girls don't understand "daft" things because they don't speak enough English. I've been here for a number of years and can sometimes make a girl laugh with something in Thai, but Thai girls almost have no sense for humor in English because they really don't have a mastery of the language.

Silly faces / Goofball approach? (damn this subject matter seems familiar doesn't it? - sounds like my column last week on Lowering the Cost of Fun)

Let's face it. You're a talker and not much of a doer in this area. You wrote about having an "unspoken relationship" with the little rich girl in your column 8/1/2004. Perhaps you better stay with something that is more real?

Why don't you write a few pieces on how to keep Thai wives happy? Certainly this would be a more believable and pertinent coming from you.

Stick, there one genre of writing that to my knowledge has yet to be explored in the Internet. Care to open up some topics for the cheating husband? There would certainly be readers for that topic.

Time to talk about the coup and Thaksin. I have consulted with several very senior people who have been here many times longer than I have. I have digested their thoughts and I'm going to lay it down for you here.

It was suggested to me that quite a number of things that happen behind the scenes are frequently initiated by the matriarch of families. Therefore, it was suggested to me that the queen may have called on the generals behind the scenes. Perhaps she had a chat with the king saying "What do you think honey? Think we should pull the plug on Thaksin? I have a luncheon with the general's wives this week. I think we can line this up in time for his trip to the UN".

One thing I can guarantee is that those generals didn't make a move without knowing full well the King was in agreement from the start. I just don't believe it otherwise. We got the "show version" of a coup when those military guys came in and asked for the king's approval.

Another point I want to make that is interesting. Locals are convinced that if Thaksin did come back, he would be confined to his home or perhaps in due course put in jail. Notice that every time he is in the news he is saying "I hope that Thailand will return to normal rule of law as soon as possible?"

What he is basically saying is that while martial law is in effect, the former PM with all his money is powerless to circumvent the judicial system. His whole army of lawyers can do nothing to protect him. Daily, I suspect the entire former Thaksin empire is being disemboweled one piece at a time. Funny how things can turn so fast.

Ok, ok people, I got the message. Can swing by my house? I just want my stuff.

Speaking of rumors and scuttlebutt, there have been some postings on the web about Stickman taking a beating. Does anyone have any information about this? I wouldn't be surprised. I may even get one myself someday at the Eden Club. Oh yea, baby - bring it on with those leather straps! (Marc, says they have the "real thing" there).

I want to thank the people at www.MangoSauce.com for putting a piece up about my site. I was front page for about a day. Traffic to my site peeked to record highs -- which is not saying all that much because my work here is pretty new and I certainly don't claim to be a web super star.

I looked over the MangoSauce site, and I must say, it pushes the limits on dirty Thai humor. There is lots of sauce there but I came away hungry because there was no meat.

Please don't take my word for any of this. I could have some of it wrong. Understanding Thailand is all about seeing it for yourself. Take an opportunity to venture out here. Nothing beats your first hand experience (especially at the Eden Club). LOL.