Category Archives: 2000s

TO LIVE AND DIE IN PATTAYA by Peter Nolan Smith

September 14, 2022 – 1:32 am

Pattaya isn’t what it used to be in the 90s or 80s. The coconut plantations have been replaced by luxury villas. Interpol and the Thai Police hunt down fugitives and the Russians have taken over the hills, so three summers ago I moved north to Sri Racha with my son Fenway and his mom. The […]

By Peter | Also posted in farangs, NEW YORK, Pattaya, semi-fiction | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

TWO SECONDS LEFT WITH THE BALL IN MY HANDS by Peter Nolan Smith

August 1, 2022 – 11:39 am

Every high tide deposited beer bottles, oil containers, fishing lines, shiny candy wrappers, and plastic bags onto the sloping shoreline of Jomtien Beach. At low tide I harvested the trash into sea-worn rice bags. Within a half-hour the sand was devoid of any human refuse and I smugly regarded the pristine strand with pride. While […]

By Peter | Also posted in East Village, myth, NEW YORK, Pattaya, semi-fiction, Sports | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

QUEEN OF THE PLAZA by Peter Nolan Smith

March 17, 2022 – 7:46 am

St. Patrick’s Day promised to be another disaster for the Retail Collection of the Plaza Hotel. Hordes of green-clad spectators streamed down the escalator into the basement. Their eyes averted the luxury goods on offer, as their destination was the hotel’s public bathroom. Within the first hour I had given directions to the toilet over […]

By Peter | Also posted in Bet On Crazy, ireland, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

JAI YEN MAI by Peter Nolan Smith

December 27, 2021 – 8:48 am

Several years ago on Boxing Day my daughter was playing on our soi in Pattaya. A pick-up roared down the street like the driver had murdered his wife and was bell-bent for the border. From my perspective the bumper came too close to my little precious daughter and I jumped on my scooter to chase […]

By Peter | Also posted in Driving, family, fights, Pattaya, semi-fiction, Thailand | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

AN XMAS EVE TALE by Peter Nolan Smith

December 22, 2021 – 12:21 am

Nine years ago the holiday sales plummeted to near-zero in New York’s Diamond District 47th Street. The Greater Depression had robbed the middle-class of their imagined wealth and jewelry purchases had been sacrificed to pay mortgages and credit card bills. America as a nation continued to suffer from the banking debacle, the collapse of the […]

By Peter | Also posted in Drinking, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)