NorCalKid

You’re not alone. I paid the most I have ever paid for my upcoming December trip($1427). SFO-BKK. Not to get off track here but I am getting close to having to choose a new destination. I started researching AC and Reo. If the prices continue to rise I will be going else ware next time. I try to keep my 3 week trips to under 4k usd. With hotel (550b a night or about $420usd) + air it’s getting harder and harder.

Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls Akon - Right Now (Na Na Na) Pattaya Pattaya song

It will be my first choice next time I am there also. Assuming I'm not there long enough for a condo.

Try La Katia on soi Lankee. They had nice rooms last May/June for 350b.

The cheapest places are far below 400-600b. Lots of nice rooms can be had for those prices in the LK Metro area. These are comfortable guesthouses not cheap rat holes.

Some of you know my situation. I was laid off work while on holiday here. Decided to stay for a while. Budgeted 100us a day. I haven't spent more than 2400b yet and I'm having a great time! I would consider myself in semiholiday mode. I get a LT lady about every other day. Just food for thought. Yesterday took lady to Ko Larn, ferry both ways, rented bike, eat thai, She stayed LT, Had a great day for 2400b-hotel. But I'm in a nice 500b loom with balcony overlooking LK Metro, might move into an identical room no balcony for 400b. I think this was my most expensive day since beeing laid off.

This was one of the places that I was considering for this trip. I didn't end up booking there. I am planning to check out the rooms in Jan. Good to hear the positive reviews on the place.

Back in June I contacted them about a room and they never got back to me. Ended up staying at the Kilkenny. I liked it but it is now under new management. Contacted Kilkenny about a room for Jan and “all full”. So I booked a room at the Billabong. Looking forward to trying the place out.

Thanks to all those who replied. I bit the bullet and got one of those pre paid visa gift cards and paid with it. If this was low season I would probably have just booked somewhere else. But most of the places I wanted to stay came back “all full”. And to be honest I have been wanting to try this place out. So I spent the extra $5 and got a prepaid card. I will do a review of the place when I get home for anybody who cares.

I am trying to book a room at the Billabong on sio LK Metro. They are requiring a 10% deposit up front. I have no problem with this. But they want me to email them my CC details. Have any of you done this at the Billabong? I am very hesitant to send my CC details in an email. Just wondering if any of you have done this and what your results have been. It’s only about 40 bucks. I am more concerned about my CC info. than the money. Is the best bet to just go get one of those pre paid CCs for 50 bucks and send the info on that one? thanks for the help

http://aatourist.com/index.php?p=home Has anyone booked a flight with this company? Are they reputable? What are your experiences? I just got a quote from them that was over $100 cheaper than anyone else online or direct threw the airlines. Just wondering if anyone has used them in the past. Thanks for the help

I have been looking recently at tickets. Around $900 SFO-BKK, SFO-Cancun Mexico 240 OTD, SFO-SJO(San Jose Costa Rica)$303 OTD. All RT These are some of the best prices I have seen in years. Travelocity is allowing flexible date searches again with international fares.

jasmine mansion, I am going to add this place to my short list. What has your luck been with negotiating a longer stay rate? I am looking at 3 weeks in June. Also it says that they have a mini bar. Will they allow you to empty it out on arrival and stock it with your own stuff? Do they have 24hr reception/security? Thanks guys

Are you guys booking direct threw the airline or threw an agent?

I stayed at Tropical Bert’s for about 3 weeks in Jan 09.Here is a little review of what I thought of the place. It is a guesthouse type place. My room was 700b a night. I believe it is 600b on a long stay rate. I have no idea how long you must stay to get that rate. I couldn’t get it for 18 days in high season. Location: It is located on the corner of soi 6/1 and 2nd Rd . You can walk out the back door and directly into the back door of Saigon Girl on soi 6 Pros: · It’s a nice clean place to stay. · Price 600-700b seems reasonable to me. · Every morning they put 2 free water bottles in your room. · Free coffee and tea in the room. · Room has a wall mounted electronic safe · There was a sitting area with 2 chairs and a table in my room. (I haven’t seen the other rooms so I don’t know if they all have this.) · Comfortable bed. ( The bed looked cheap on their web page so I was a little worried about it. It turned out to be a good bed.) · Free WIFI I didn’t bring my laptop so I can’t comment on quality. · Great friendly staff and guest friendly · Quiet location · No prepay and reservations honored. · Good food down stairs Cons: · Key card thing. The room had a card that must be inserted in a slot to have power in the room. I think this is fairly common in guesthouse type accommodation in Pattaya. · The bathroom is the type that the shower is not separated from the rest of the bathroom. Meaning that after a shower the whole bathroom floor is wet. Neutral: (these are a few things that didn’t effect me but a potential guest may want to consider.) · No lift and a steep staircase. This didn’t affect me but if you have a disability it will defiantly be something to consider. · No security. I like the privacy of the place. But you are on your own. No one is holding your hand or checking Ids for you. Probably something to consider for a newbee. You are given a key to the back door which is locked after dark. So would I stay there again? I might stay there the first day or 2 of my next trip. Just long enough to find other accommodation. This has nothing to do with the hotel itself. I would just prefer to be in the LK Metro/Diana area next time. If this hotel were in that area I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again. None of the cons listed were a big deal to me. For someone wanting to be close to soi6 it would be a good choice. Either Tropical Bert’s or the Queen Vic would be my choices for a good cheap room in the soi 6 area. One other thing to note. I was a little worried about the Lady Boys on soi 6/1 after people kept warning me about them. They are on the other end of the soi. They don’t come down to the 2nd rd. end of the soi. In 18 nights I never had any problems with them. Out Front The Lobby A little food The room The steep stairs The bathroom

That sucks but I suppose this can happen any where in the world. It’s defiantly not a situation unique to Thailand. Just out of curiosity is there anything that a landlord can do if a renter simply skips town? I know if there is enough damage to make it worth your while here in the states you can go after them civilly. My family has a lot of rentals and I can tell you that this will happen anywhere. And usually there isn’t much you can do about it or it’s just not worth your time.

I am glad to see these positive replies. I booked with them SFO-BKK this morning. They were the cheapest I could find and had a good itinerary. (+ AA miles) See you guys in Jan.

Not to mention if you(or anybody else, I thought I should probably add that the way this is going.) get status with the airline they will usually give you even more miles.

Just looked for this book on amazon. Looks like there is a new version coming out this week. The New Market Wizards: Conversations with America's Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager (Hardcover - Sep 15, 2008)

I found this to be a very interesting thread. I didn’t think you could day trade from Pattaya with the crappie internet. I am just starting to trade options on a practice account. Mostly covered calls(30 day). I am just starting to get the hang of it. It seems to be a fairly conservative way to trade. And most importantly I am comfortable with the risk. Course I guess that might change when I am putting up real money. If anybody has any advice for me I would welcome it.

I would also be interested in these flights. But all the info I have found on them has been crap. I was looking into SFO-MNL but the flights weren’t too cheap. I don’t think there are too many of these flights left in the US. Between 9-11 and electronic documents I think these flights are becoming a thing of the past.

Just doing some quick research not worrying too much about dates or layover times this is what I found. BKK-SR 6460B= $209 +20visa Bangkok Air SR-PP-SGN bus=cheap +visa Air Asia SGN-KUL $77 KUL-CRK 202MYR= $62 MNL-BKK $86 Cubu Pacific Total $434 + visa costs

I don’t know what I’m going to do. I haven’t got my dates off work yet so I don’t know how much time I will have. Do you know if there is any visa service in pattaya. I don’t want to go to Bangkok. I could possibly return cheaply from SGN.

The place looks great. I can't wait to check it out this summer.

Wow your right it’s expensive. Didn’t expect it to be so expensive. Looks line it is cheaper to fly BKK-SR-BKK then BKK-MNL-BKK rather than trying to move on from SR. Thanks