Damon

I lasted 2 days before deciding that enough was enough. I now flee to elsewhere in SE Asia during Pattaya Songkran. It's a great time to explore where the wanker tourists are not.

I've had this problem too -- along Beach road at the Soi 1 area (where my condo is right now). Sometimes it takes 4-5 baht buses before one (already packed with passengers) can be bothered to stop and pick me up. Meanwhile the empty ones just roll on by... Yeah, I can understand that it makes good business for them to rip off the Russians and whoever else will pay crazy prices for a private hire, but it can really be annoying at times. So many times I just say fuck it and walk down Beach road instead. It doesn't take much longer (the traffic jam once you're south of Soi 13 or so just k

For streaming, this site is normally pretty good: http://www.sportstreamlive.tv/ But as always, it's hit and miss as to whether a given feed is any good (or even available). If SuperSport can be found again here in SE Asia, that would be great. But my understanding is that they changed the satellite settings so there's no longer a signal to grab in this region. It's really unfortunate that no one could come to an agreement on that, because SuperSport was the best rugby channel going. Dr. Mick, you could also add Jack Tar bar on Soi 6 as a possible venue. Some days, we might be

I didn't know Metro Apartments was a rugby bar, so thanks for the info on this thread. I normally go to Jack Tar bar on Soi 6 for rugby, so now I have an alternative.

On their website, I haven't seen any mention of cooking facilities in the room. Is there anything you can use for cooking or will you have to bring your own gas burner or electrical hotplate? Obviously this isn't important to the guys staying for a few days, but those of us considering a monthly rental will want to be able to do a bit of cooking (at least I would!) ...

That timing is excellent. Wish those kinds of layovers were available on the Vancouver flights I examined!

The images aren't working for me, but otherwise this sounds very interesting for later this year. I'd be interested in 2 month stints at a time in between my other travels elsewhere around SE Asia.

I hope you checked out the length of the layover in Incheon. I looked at a similar deal from Vancouver and the layover was something like 8 hours, which is about the worst possible interval. If it was shorter, it would be OK (but awkward) to wait a bit for the next leg (I could read a book, play a PC game, etc for 4 hours at a stretch, I guess). Longer and you could book a small room at an airport hotel and get a good sleep. But 8 hours? Worst of both worlds, IMO. Too much time to keep yourself amused and too little to make a hotel worth the bother. You got a good price - I didn't see

Agreed 100%. NP is perfect when all you want to do is have a long discussion with your mates and solve all the world's problems during the course of an evening. There's no point in going there alone, but when you can shoot the shit with your friends over the course of a 4-5 hour chin-wagging session and walk away with 400b damage ... well, it makes for a cheap night and leaves plenty of baht in my pocket for the nights when I'm headed for pricier venues and areas elsewhere in town. The fairly quiet music is another bonus as it makes conversation easy. And as a side note, I've found

I hope this service is in full swing during the Rugby World Cup next year, as I'd love to visit NZ to take in a few matches during the course of the tournament.

I've been there a few times recently (afternoons only) and never had a problem. The Thai food there costs twice what it would in a Thai food court (or the like) but the portions are twice as large, so it all works out nicely. Excellent Thai food! And of course the music is normally quite good too. I've had no problems with the wifi either, for those who like to take their netbooks with them (like me).

This is the latest problem I was thinking of at the time I posted. No professionally-made AV (or any other) program should ever cause a major problem like this. AVG has been going downhill for at least two years now and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. That's why I now lump it in with MacAfee and Norton on the "do not touch with a 10m pole" list...

Why are you guys downloading/installing AVG and Norton when they are well known to be very poor products? Get that shit off your systems ASAP and go with avast! or pretty much anything else. nod32 has a good reputation as does Kaspersky if you don't want to go the freebie route. AVG, Norton and MacAfee should NEVER be going on any user's PC system as they are often worse than the viruses themselves!

Try avast! anti-virus software. It's free, updates automatically in the background, and I haven't caught a thing since I first installed it two years ago. Avast AV Highly recommended. And whatever you do, don't install McAfee or Norton AV systems. They're cures that are worse than the disease. Another one with a bad reputation is AVG which used to be great until a couple years ago. (That's when I switched to avast!).

Oh yeah, they LOVE pulling sleds (or wheeled carts when there isn't any snow). On Vancouver Island where we lived, snow was not a very frequent occurrence so the only way to give ours a taste of "husky work" was with a specialized cart that was essentially a metal sled on 3 wheels. Our "tracks" were empty logging roads and that kind of thing. We didn't take them out often enough to allow them to develop any real stamina (they'd last 2-3km before getting pooped out) but their initial excitement was unbelievable. Around the house we had to be very careful about hiding the harnesses and not l

Any indications on when it will be opening? Hopefully soon, as I'd like to do a bar crawl in that particular area when I get back this weekend ...

Nice pics, thanks. Don't have any of my own to post as they were all pre-digital photos. At one point we had easily 500 puppy pix of Mischcha but none of them got scanned for Internet purposes. Not even the official show photo when she took Group 4th to get her final Championship point. (We were all excited and jumping up and down at that, but the look on her face was "WTF? You silly humans, we're just did the same thing today as all the other shows!" But she did very much enjoy the small ice cream cone we bought as a special treat for the newly minted Champion, LOL) Very interesting

One of the most interesting posts on here in a awhile. Thanks for that. I've never owned a bird of prey although falconry is pretty cool and something to think about one day. Back in Canada my family had Siberian Huskies (one of which made it to Canadian Champion status in the ring) plus a Silky Terrier. But I live in condos/apartments here so buying even a small dog is out of the question, unfortunately. But it's nice to hear you can still find a good dog despite the inherent risks. Good show on finding a Malinois. I don't think I've ever seen one but I did surprise the hell out o

For eating out, I still like Globetrotters in the little soi between Pattaya Klang and Soi 7 as the taste and price is right. Plus it's close to the beer bars too which makes for a pleasant evening overall. Look for the bright yellow and blue colors as it's a Swedish restaurant When I order in, I like Pattaya Pizza as they're simply excellent if slightly pricey. They're the only place that reminds of Scoby's before that place shut down some time last year.

Cheers, Idefix. Some good research there. I've never been in Cosy's and it's been 2+ years for Roxy for me. How does the talent in those places compare to Champagne? I hope you're willing to suffer a little to do a bit more research In the meantime I'm not in Pattaya so you'll have to do the legwork for me :)

I don't drink draft as it's utter shit. Bottled beer is considerably cheaper in Champagne as compared to WS. Cheapest bottle I've found is 105b in Champion. (95b bottled beer in Champage and 65b during happy hour from 2pm-9pm) Strangely enough, when I've paid bar at Champagne it was 550b. Maybe you're getting the "special tourist" rate or only going for the showgirls? Ladydrinks are 95b, lady drink cocktails are 120b. Looks like you need to be a bit more alert when in Champagne!

I am extremely selective about any WS places I visit these days. Crazy prices and largely poor attitudes from the girls there, to the extent that any WS visit is a short one once I say hello to a friend or two in the area. Otherwise I'm much happier with the LK Metro area and the news of another LK Metro gogo (hopefully another good one too!) is great news for when I return. I sure hope LK Metro doesn't become another WS. The LDOP's need a place to go and the tourist trap that WS has become is a perfect spot for them to hang out and be LDOP's. Let LK Metropole remain the quieter, friendlie

Yes.

I am in almost exactly the same situation except my room is in Markland on Soi 1 and costs a bit more than 7k. The ocean view is worth it (at least for now) but when the 1 year contract is up I will be weighing my options. If I decide to give Indonesia a go -- and I like it -- then I'd be in Thailand only 1/3 of the time. So keeping a permanent room in Pats would be rather silly at that point. We'll see what the new year brings, but I do enjoy being a bit of a nomad (hey, it's my name spelled backward!). If I give up the room in Pats then I'll leave my excess belongings in a friend's house

Bay Breeze just had a large number of expat Philippines-based golfers booked in for the last two weeks. I think there were about 20 of them so there's no doubt they contributed significantly to the room shortage during this time (if your report is current, that is). At other times there is probably a lot more flexibility in changing rooms, but the large group they had booked in didn't make things easy for you. Those guys are leaving tonight (Saturday October 23rd) and won't be back until the second Saturday of October next year, if it helps with your trip planning. From what they've sa