blacknight

Dave i have always wondered why more of the falang bars, gogos and clubs dont have a one card suits all card which could be given to regulars or expats. It would certainly encourage some of the guys on a tighter budget to come out more often. I personally only have one from Mark for the Insomnia owned places and it is deffinately a good marketing tool. The money i save i usually just give it as a tip to any staff that has given me good service, but i am sure guys would appreciate the gesture. From a business point of view i am sure it would have to be as near cost neutral as possible coz there are just as many cheap charlie falang owners out there as there are customers. ( not aimed at you mate ) Good idea look forward to see how you get on. Graham

I am an Emirates/ Skywards gold member and fly with them approx 8 or 9 time per year Glasgow to BKK and have to agree their prices have went up slightly. Like always it is about time your tickets right. I am in the fortunate position of being able to by 3 or 4 flights in advance and am still paying on average 550 per flight with the good connection times. Emirates seem to strickly stick to the block release system wherby they do not release all seats for all classes at the same time. This means that one week your ticket may be 700 return but if you check on a regular basis they usually release the next block and the same class ticket falls by say £100. Maybe i am just lucky but i always book via their website and have never paid more than £700 and that was during Xmas time. Do have to add though that their service and time keeping have ce3rtainly got worse over the last year, and you just about always have to circle in the multi storey plane park before landing in Dubai which is a pain in the ass.

99 services under the VC hotel do a deposit box for about 6000 baht per years. the beauty about this place is that it is open 24-7 365 days per year so if you give me your key i can access your money when I (you) need it.

Ian I have not stayed there in a while but as I pass there most days I can confirm that the construction starts early in the morning until about 6pm and can be quite noisy at times. There is also alot of dust about. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply Jacko, I know that there are plenty about I just wasn't sure where the better ones were and hence asked if anyone had any recommendations. I appreciate your reply and will try out some of your suggestions.

I am due over to LOS on Friday and was looking to hire a pick up for a week to 10 days. I have previously been i n touch with Jon from Q-cars and it seemed like this is where I would hire from, until I read on Thai visa the there branch in Bangkok had ceased trading a couple of weeks ago. I have tried both emailing and calling them over the last couple of days with no luck. Can anyone tell me if they are still in business in Pattaya and if not can anyone recommend any other reliable car hire places with good condition cars and first clas insurance. Your help is greatly appreciated.

I have recently completed on a house purchase and it cost approx 30K baht but 20 of that was the setting up of the company. I used Magna Carta Co. LTD on south Pattaya Road. Here is a link to the website.Magna Carta The contract was in English for both parties and all the appropriate searches were carried out on my behalf. The reason I used this office was firstly due to recommendation and also due to the fact that the company is owned by 3 Thai barristers and hopefully is as above board as you could expect. The English guy who runs the property section is called Tony Justice and I believe he is a member of the Secrets board but I am not sure about on here. Anyway good luck no matter who you end up using.

Alan, I sometimes fly business clas and this entitles you to a free chauffeur pick up and drop off service. This service doesn't apply in Thailand but does in most other Emirates destinations and certianly does in the UK. I have used the Edinburg to Glasgow service a couple of times and it take approx 45 minutes and the cars are usually Merc or big Volvos. hope this helps Graham P.S. the first 80 miles are free and anything after that is charged for, but you will certainly be well within this range.

I fly Emirates most months and have found that if you don't book your seat when you first buy the ticket you are usually better waiting till you check in. If you get there early enough you can usually get a better seat from check in but like I say only if you get there early. I am a Gold card member and when I try the 24 hour online check in you can usually only get the seats towards the rear of the aircraft, whereas if you go to the check in I normally get a seat in the first 6 rows. These seats were not available on the online check in system.

Emirates Lounges List of all emirates lounges worldwide

The lounge that you will get access to is situated around gates 9-10. This lounge used to be shit because everyone just crammed in and you could hardly ever get a seat. Recently they have tightened up and you have to show a combination of your skywards card, boarding pass and lounge invitation card which you should get when checking in at your origin airport. The facilities are reasonable with several TV's about 8 free internet stations and around 4 -6 hot dishes and a large selection of cold foods as well as free alcohol and soft drinks. I have heard that when the new terminal opens next year all emirates flights will then transfer to it and the old terminal currently in use will serve all non Emirates flights, so this should improve the facilities and eleviate the overcrowding even more.

We just came back from Angeles City last week and flew with Thai Air Bangkok - Manila return was 13220 thb. We could have gone with Phillipine Air for approx 7500 thb but the flight times did not suit as waell as the Thai Air ones. If your going to Angeles City you can as lajimmy said fly to Clarke airbase which is only a couple of km from the City centre however to do this you have to go via Hong Kong, KL or Singapore. I have never stayed in Manila but the nightlife is meant to be great although like most large Asian Cities it is meant to be extremely dangerous if you go of the beaten track. All in all Angeles City is a great place to spend a few days and I will definately be going back soon. Hope this helped.

Sammy there is a company who advertise a very similar service for builders wanting large plans copied or scanned. I am sorry but I forget the company name but they advertise on Pattaya Mail & Pattaya People TV all the time claiming to be the only company in Pattaya to offer this service. Hope this helps.

Can confirm that the Deluxe rooms are 2200thb as I have stayed there several times recently. This price does not include breakfast. The location as already said is perfect and the non smoking rooms which are on the outside of the building are slightly roomier than the inner ones facing the pool. Unlike the hotels in Pattaya you don't have to get visitors ID's checked at reception although you can if you want to. All in all a great hotel and very clean with IMO some of the best looking receptionists I have come across.

Hi all I fly back and forward every month and would always be grateful of any additional FF miles. I usually fly Air China, KLM or Emirates so if anyone has any miles they wisjh to offload for a fair price please PM me and I will be happy to take them off your hands. Cheers Graham

Try staying in the Dynasty Grande just round the corner, much quieter only been open approx 18 months and the deluxe room approx 2000 bht. They have internet in room a huge bathroom and the rooms are all big and very clean, also in room safe and you only need to produce lady ID if you want. I seen a couple of guys with 2 girls last week with no joiner fee.

Sorry to hear about your attendant problem. Myself and a couple of other BM went to this place a few weeks ago and were pleasantly surprised. The overall service was good and not really that expensive for a venue that provides great live music. The food itself was certainly edible but I wouldn't say brilliant. What really made the night was the truely excellent Phillipino band who if I recall rightly sang in 6 different languages and had a very varied range of music. All in all this place is somewhere that you should at least visit once, just try and avoid the parking attendant.

Glad everything worked out well for you in the end Scumbag, but a quick piece of advise for uk boardies. I am in LOS pretty regularly and transfer money from my Nationwide account to my Thai bank account at a cost of £20 per time. The main reason I do this is in case my cards was to get cloned or stolen they would only have access to a small amount of money, and not full access to my full account complete with overdraft facility and visa. When I set up my Thai account I considered internet banking as I thought it would be handy for transferring money back and forward. This plan was soon scuppered when the Nationwide informed me that due to UK anti-money laundering legislation this option is not available and the only way to tranfer funds abroad is by Swift transfer. During this process you need to show your full passport and not a photo copy or they will not proceed. If anyone knows a simplier way I would be glad to hear it.

Hi guys I know some of this has been posted above but here is more info from the Emirates website. Emirates to launch non-stop flights to Newcastle Emirates Airline today announced it will launch a new non-stop daily service between Dubai and Newcastle in the United Kingdom, starting 1st September 2007. This will bring the number of UK destinations served by Emirates to six, and will also be Newcastle's first-ever scheduled long-haul flight. The new service will provide international travellers and shippers across Asia, the Middle East and Africa with a new direct link to the UK's North-east region via Emirates' across Dubai hub. It also represents a massive boost for travellers and cargo shippers throughout the UK's North-east region, with a new non-stop connection to Dubai - one of the most popular tourist destinations and fastest emerging markets of the Middle East, and convenient one-stop access to cities in the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, Africa, the Indian sub-continent and elsewhere in the Middle East. HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group said: "We are pleased to be able to provide our customers around the globe with a new gateway into the United Kingdom, and better access to the North-east region - one of the UK's fastest developing areas for tourism and commerce. ''We believe there is a significant potential market, and are confident that this new route will prove successful for Emirates as well as for travellers and shippers in the UK's North-East. We look forward to working with the local community to boost inbound tourism and commerce, and foster strong trade and tourism links between the UK's North-east, Dubai and the other destinations we serve.'' John Parkin, Chief Executive of Newcastle International Airport, says: ''We are delighted that Emirates has shown such a huge vote of confidence in the region and Newcastle International Airport by introducing daily services to Dubai. Newcastle can now offer its customers direct services to one of the most important destinations in the world and an enormous choice of destinations beyond, on one of the world's leading airlines.'' Emirates' daily non-stop service to Newcastle will be operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft, with 27 Business Class and 251 Economy Class seats. It also provides a daily cargo carrying capacity of 14 tonnes. Starting on 1st September, Emirates flight EK035 will depart Dubai at 07:20 every day, arriving in Newcastle at 12:10. The return flight EK036 will depart Newcastle International Airport at 13:40, arriving into Dubai International Airport at 00:05 the following day. (All times are local). Emirates currently operates 91 non-stop flights each week, or 13 flights each day, from Dubai to the UK - five services daily to London Heathrow, three services per day to London Gatwick, double-daily flights each to Birmingham and Manchester, and a daily connection to Glasgow. Destination Fare (GBP) Class of Travel Book by Depart between Fare Conditions Destination Book By Travel between Delhi 339 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Mumbai 339 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Dubai 385 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Beijing 397 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Shanghai 397 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Johannesburg 407 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Kuala Lumpur 438 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Hong Kong 439 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Bangkok 451 Economy 31 Mar 07 1 Sept - 9 Dec 07 Fares are for travel on our new daily flight from Newcastle which starts 1 Sept 07. Fares are inclusive of taxes, airport charges and service charges. Please choose the option to search by schedule on our booking engine to find these special Newcastle fares. Some good deals here, hope this is of interest

Hi northsink I regularly travel emirates but usually manage to get short stop overs in Dubia. As a frequent flyer I have access to the business lounges and can confirm that I have seen people in a similar position to yourself being refused entry to the lounges as the are for memebers only. However if you follow this linkEmirates I believe that you can turn up and pay approximately £12 and you can gain access to this lounge. I have never used it so don't know what it is like but based on the fact that it is £10 for 2 pints in the airport bar even if you just get comfy surroundings and soft drinks it is probably still worth it.

I stayed here the begining of November for 1 week and the place was nearly full so there must have been alot of scatter cashes about then. I plumped for the deluxe room with large jaccuzi and was very impressed with the facilities. The staff in this hotel are among the friendliest I have come across in Thailand and the roof top pool was quiet and you got the sun all day if thats your thing. The food from the restaurant was also reasonably priced and pretty good. The room cost me 3000 per night and on the 7th night i stayed until 10pm with no extra charge, it should have cost 3800 per night. I agree that at this price it is overpriced and way out of budget for some people, I just gave it a try because my usual place the Areca was full and I wanted to stay somwhere close by that area. I stayed at the Dynasty for 1 night on my return from Phuket in a standard room and wasn't at all impressed with it and Sandy Springs had no rooms. The hotel is girl friendly and you can take back more than 1 without joiners fee. I spoke to Mama Tim the owner and she said return customers got " special rates" but didn't say what these were. All in all to sum up if you wanted a treat for a few days this is a great hotel in a good area, however I couldn't justify spending that sort of money on a regular basis.

Hi Cookie/Basil your diary is superb and well worth reading. I wish to enquire about your penthouse, is it finished yet and if not do you have any idea of when it will be. I have looked at your website and wonder if the prices quoted are pre modernisation or will they stand when it is completed and available? I am over then end of next month and am staying just round the corner so I plan on popping in to view your establishment. Cheers Graham

Get a Mcdonalds or KFC and give this guy a try Thai flying club

Cheers for the info gents, much appreciated.

I stayed there 2 weeks ago and they just got the lift fixed on my last day. If you get a room at the front of the hotel the noise can be very annoying as they are building directly opposite. This building work starts around 8 am and can go on until 10pm som evenings. Cannot say about the pool although it wasn't in service while I was there. Hope this helps.