mats

Depends on which class your ticket is. Most tickets are changable for a fee, but most likely not if your ticket is part of of a special offer from the airline. Normal fee to the airline is 100 euro / usd and then the fee to the agent is on top of that. Most likely every travel agent with a phone can change your ticket. you can also do this yourself.

I can see why people demand their ticket just 2 days after paying for it, but I`ll give you a reason why it can be good to get your tickets at a later time. I always book the dates I want and pay the fee, but I always tell the agent not too issue the tickets untill 2-3 days befoe my departure. If something comes up ( and in my case, it ALWAYS does ) and I have to change my dates I can to this free of charge if the tickets aren`t issued. If the tickets are allready issued I will have to pay the fee the airlines demand for changing the tickets, normally 100 euro or usd. This also depends on what booking class you have. Mats

Route : OSL – SVO – BKK in business class. Arriving Gardemoen airport 1 ½ hour before departure, check in was easily done in 5 minuts. ( note, in the C class check in ) Aerolfot uses a Tupolev from Oslo to Moscow and the seating is 2-2 in nice big leather seast. Should you ever use this leg, ask for seat nr. 3 a or b. That`s where the exit is and the leg room is so huge you can lay down and have yourself a St there. Before take off I was offered a choice between orange juice and water + one of the never ending hot towles. You also get a small set of soap, shampoo, shoe polish, etc etc The stewardes looked nice and was aged between 30-35 and always seemed to smile. Beverages came and we where offered a choice between vodka ( suplise suplise ) and cognaq, beer, wine and soft drinks. Just local russian beer, but it was quite good. Food has always been a bit of hit and miss with Aeroflot. This time I was offered chicken pork or beef. I took the chicken and it came with a cold pasta salad of some kind…. Not very good so I asked for the beef. No problem at all with the change and the beef came straight away. It was better then the chicken, but nothing to write home about. Beverages came 2 or 3 more times during the flight. Plane touched down at the right time. Transit in Moscow is never fun, espacially when you have 5 hours to spend. Update. In recent times they have changed the take off time from 2250 to 1850 so if your comming from Oslo you can only have a couple of hours to kill. The lounge is quite nice with comfy chairs and a nice bar. There is no meals served, but sandwiches with salamon , cheese and ham. Not together though And lot`s of different cakes. And natuarly a fully stocked bar. The leg from svo to bkk: seat`s here a small, about 38 so that `s no plus. The seating is 2.- 4 –2. There is no on board entertaimnet on this flight so be sure to bring a book.Most magazins are in russian,exexp one. The service is great though. Towel, orange juice, water was served before take off. The meals where the same as on the first flight, but with one more option in fish. I skipped it all so I can`t comment on the food. Drinks where served reguarly, and we had easy acces to the drink table when they didn`t served. I always try to board a plane as the last person as I then have full overview on wich good seats are avaliable. So on this leg I had a full 4 row for my self. They also give you a small pack on this flight with lots of Aeroflot objects such as slippers, towels, more shampoo and soap and some other stuff. I dozed of after a couple of hours and woke up just before breakfast was served. Ahhh… The perfect flight  Breakfast was nice, yougurt, bread with jam and butter. There was 3 choices for breakfast, but I can`t remember the other choices. I took the cheese and bacon omelet which was nice, but a bit dry. And after we finished breakfast we where served more rools and tray with salamon , cold chicken and 3 types of ham and cheese. Since the omelet was a bit small this suited me very nice. They used about 10 hours from Moscow to Bangkok. So all in all a very nice flight. The price for Aeroflot Buisness is about the same as a full fare economy KLM,THAI,CHINA AIR. The only thing that can compete in price range is the EVA Evergreen class, but it`s always full if you don`t book 6 months in advance. Best Regards, Mats

Hi, and yes I would suppose it`s a bit out of the way as it`s on Jomtien. But I hear that the hotel area is very nice... Shouldn`t be a problem cathcing a ride into town with the baht busses.

Bonzo, Can you smoke on Garuda flights ? How many seats in the aircraft is booked for smokers ? Thanks !

Hi Cess, See if you can get a copy of "RCA dance hits" or "Best Dance 199" on the net. If not : Here are some artist / song name you can search for : Jessica Jay ( coco melon, My Macho ) Objectors feat. Marie Noel ( allons enfant ) Clon ( First Love ) Pizza Boy ( oh, le le ) DJ Finarski ( Calinca ) Paffendorf ( where are you ) Be aware that there are plenty of remixes of the songs out there so you might have to look awhile before you find the original song Also look for "kat" "annita" & "china dolls". I can give you alot more names if you want to ??? ! Looking forward to the report ;D Hope this is of any help ! Best Regards, Mats

Stayed there last year and can confirm that the hotel is guest friendly. But as Dave said, the hotel is packed with Chinese grous and that can be a pain in the ass when you`re trying to get into the elivator.... With one elivator working and you`ve got 50 people standing in line. The rooms are HUGE and have a great view, but it seems like they have jacked up the prices big time since I`ve stayed there. I paid about 1100 for a super deluxe or something and was a great value for money then, but not so great now considering the price jump. Mats

Anybody knows the price for a t/r flight from Bangkok to ChristChurch ??? Just a 4-5 day trip. I`m flying to Bangkok with EVA in early January and i don`t think they have any connections. TIA Mats

Hi Tom, Sorry, but I can`t find the article your thinking of, but I assume that you`re talking about the recent "crackdown" in the after hours places. ?! Simon, join the members board, There is a discussion going on there about the recent crackdown. Althoug I didn`t notice any of it 2 weeks ago. Just be smart and stay away from the drugs and you should be fine ! Mats Ok, I just found the article : http://www.pattayamail.com/current/news.shtml#hd12

Hi Simon, The " fish tank " you`re thinking about is the Freewaybar, located on second road I think. There is a big poster just before you turn left to Jomtien which can show you the way. Try the Jenny Star bar, locaded under Marine 1 on walking Street. They have a theme ;D

Hi Simon ! Lot`s of places to go to if you like trance / dance ( as I do ). Marine on walking street is good, but closes at 3 am. Watch it when you order drinks there, they charge you seperatly for alcohol and the mineral water you are gonna mix it with. A Vodka lipo might cost you 300 Bath. Marine 2 or marine plaza get`s going at around 2 am and play great music. kind of mix between R&B and dance. If you`re really into partying, you should check out Boom. It get`s crowded at about 3-4 am. Don`t close untill 6 or 7 am I think. ALL trance music in this place. If you like Ibiza, you will LOVE boom. Just follow the crowd from Marine.... Forget about Tony`s. As you said, there is WAY to much hassle in there. And the band there really sucks. For a mix of Thai / western music, go to Exyte disco. Huge place and the girls love it. Or Hollywood, but Exyte is much better. Great shows, but not your typical Ibiza club, this is Thai style disco Ok, Have a good time !

ANDY69, I stayed a couple of days in BP last year and they charge 300 Bath fee for guest`s. BUT, they have a Penthouse on the 5`th floor with LOTS of girls who are avaliable. + They have massage parlour on the 1 st floor where extras are avaliable. Their rooms are a bit worn down, but one floor has been totally renovated. So try to get a room there. Baiyoke : I stayed there for 1 night in March / april and they had a sign saying that NO guest where allowed after 10 PM. So I didn`t even try there. But very nice rooms, not to mention the view EDIT. The Baiyoke I stayed in was in Bangkok. Cheers

Why in god`s name did you tell here that you where comming to Pattaya in the first place ??? You could have just told her Hua Hin ;D Take her to Hua Hin would be my suggestion. If not, there is plenty of hotels in Jomtien which you can find on the net. I recommend Jomtien Thani or Cosy Beach. Let me know if you decide to go to Hua Hin and I`ll give you a couple of pointers on golf courses and hotels. Mats

And the correct way to say that is : ha sip Bath. I stayed at Jomtien last week and couldn`t get them to go lower then 60 Bath. Which is : hook sip Bath. Mats

Hi S1exer, The cost is about 9000 -10000 Baht with Thai Airways. You can check out these prices yourself on www.thaiairways.com Mats

Hi Steve G, I`m in Bangkok at that time and I will be glad to give you a lift to Pattaya. The ride is free, but you have to pay the tolls as I have to get you at the airport Still not sure if I`m going to Pty that day, but I`ll let you know as the dates are closing in. Regards, Mats

Aeroflot is not good at serving drinks at a regular basis. But if you MUST have drinks all the time, try to get a seat at the back of the plain as this is where they stock all drinks. If not, do as Chumley says and brink you own water/ vodka... whatever ;D Mats

What do you think ? I`m positive that this year is LFC year ! So many players have signed over the summer and proven themselfs as good players in the pre season matches. problem is, will Houlier let them play ??? I no longer fear Man U as they got NO defence whatsoever, expect maybe for Ferdinand. Only fear Arsenal as they seem very strong at the moment and will improve their game even more after the return of Pires and Ljungberg. But still I think that LFC got a better team and can handle inguries better than Arsenal. So what do you think ? Best Regards, Mats

Some good bars in Soi White House. I think I paid about 10 Bath for the Bath bus from Jomtien to Pattaya.

Bigdguy, " Their safety record and quality of service are among the worst airlines in the world! " Is that a fact ? I really can`t remember the last time SU crashed... But I can tell you the last time China Air did, aswell as Thai A and SAS. I`ve used Aeroflot 4 times now and I`m quite happy with them.Sure the service on board isn`t quite the same as Thai. But I wouldn`t say it was the worst in the world. Have you`ve ever used LOT ? Now, THAT`s bad service. Aeroflot business class is about the same price as a Thai ticket. + you get the free lounges + maybe upgrade to 1 st class if you`ve got 50 USD for a member of the crew . The deal is great ! Really, Aeroflot isn`t that bad. The sevice isn`t the best in the world, but to blame the safety reasons are just stupid. I now use Thai, because of all the FFP I get with them thrue my work. Best Regards, Mats

Hi Shilo, If you`ve read Stickmans book review site, it should give you plenty of pointers already. But here are my takes : I`ve read almost every single book from Christoffer G.Moore and can recommend each and every one of them. Most of them are set in Bangkok exept Final cut, wich is in Cambodia. Many of them are a "series" about the Bangkok private eye V. Calvino. Superb books ! Private Dancer is also great ( + free ) you can get the link to the download from the FLB site somewhere. Everybody who is planning to come to LOS, should read this book first You should also try The Big Mango, written by Jake Needham ( ? ). Absolutely on of the best books I`ve ever read. Also set in Bangkok and SF. The few one`s I`ve read about Pattaya, I really like Daniel Stern`s "Pattaya, Patpong on steriods ". Lots of short stories from a Australien guy that owned a bar in Pattaya. Great book ! I don`t know if you can buy it online though. I haven`t read the books you wrote about, but it`s sertenly on my " books to read " list To you guys from Norway, you should read " Kakarlakkene" ! Written by Jo Nesbø. Best Regards, Mats

Hi Tom, You seem to know quite a bit about music, is this song orginally made by Blondie ??? Best Regards, Mats

You`re flying Swiss Air`?? How long is the stopover ? Mats

Hi Burt, Daniel is right, the song is from the Coyote ugly soundtrack. Don`t know if you`ve seen the movie or not, but the scene where she sing this song is great ;D The CD should be avaliable in almost every big music shop !

Are you telling me that you got a deal with China for 6000 NOK during the holidays ??? At what time where you offered this deal ? If I understand you corectly, the price with SAS is now 11500 NOK ? Why don`t you book with EVA on their Evergreen deluxe class for about 9000 NOK. MUCH better then flying economy class with SAS. Best Regards, Mats