Only a few more hours remain for St. Padraic’s Day in Pattaya. I’m only starting the day here.

With a Guinness.

But if I were in Pattaya, I’d be where I celebrated last March 17.

In honor of beer, because my apostasy to the Christian faith is well-known. My adherence to the Beerastian religion answers many mysteries of life in a mug of beer. While home-sudsing is acceptable for these spiritual explorations, I can plumb the depths of my emptiness best at temples of public libation and one of my preferred pilgrimage sites is Maggie May’s on Soi Chaiyapoon.

“Drink Guinness it’s good for you.”

The perfect greeting for a man of my devotion.

The Guinness at 150 baht is the cheapest and best in Pattaya and Tony the patron prides himself in keeping the pipes clean. Last year when his supplier provided a batch of spunky Guinness, Tony returned the kegs rather than sell the suspect beer to the punters. No philistine that man.

Asahi is only 85 Baht at happy hour. The AC is kicking in like a corpse just out of the freezer is breathing down your neck. The crowd noshes on curry pasties and stale peanuts. The TVs can cover all betting interests on sports. Conversations revolve around the arcane aspects of sports and rehashing adventures with your idiot friends. The only girls are the affable barmaids and the occasional girlfriend. Some guys like to have a witness to their drinking. The CD player accepts all form of music and no one really cares if the girls are the DJs.

Hey, living this long in Pattaya we have all come to love boy bands.

Maggie May’s Soi Chayaphun off Soi Buakhao

I haven’t a clue what time it opens or closes, but Happy Hour is 5-6pm

Another bonus is the wooden jockey at the entrance and even better MAGGIE MAY is a great Rod Stewart song.