player

This is making bigger news on the board then it did in the local Hawaii media (one night and out, here). It's probably a 12 hour direct flight from Newark to Honolulu and I don't know about you, but I would not want to sit by someone that is coughing like she apparently was, but it happens. The pilot does have the final say. Can't see any discrimination in this case, he just made a cautious decision that he thought was best for the young lady and rest of the passengers on board. Now if they could only do something about crying babies on long flights (ear plugs). That said, Cont

Mark, Sorry to hear you had to go through the hassles at the airport. I have used Toom many times and never had a problem with his drivers. Always punctual and drive safely (well for Thailand). Just keep Toom's phone number handy, in case there is a mix up! I think Stevoman is right, the taxi mafia are having a go at taxi services that do pick ups. On my way to the airport from Pattaya a few days ago, the driver, who I have driven with before asked for payment as we were approaching the airport. Never happened before, he said it was because of the taxi mafia, who would probably as

Secrets has a nice bar with some good looking BG's. I would highly recommend attending one of their Sunday evening (6 PM) meetings. A good way to meet some BM's and friendly ex-pats that are more then willing to share experiences and chat. Sort of reminded me of the old FLB Sunday night meetings from the past.

Yup! I went by JP Bar last week at 9 in the morning and it was going strong. Some go go's open till 3 or so depending on number of customers.

Dave, This "redemption" thread seems to have gone down the toilet, don't you think?

To add onto what Wally said, the brite smile cost me $370 USD last month. There is also a whitening kit that will cost $100-150 USD (you will want that at some point to refresh the brite smile treatment). I would quote Thai baht, but the USD exchange rate seems to be fluctuating for the worse at the moment. It's not a painful process, but was told not to eat or drink anything that would stain teeth for 24 hours. Keep away from coffee, tomato's anything with color, that could stain. Let us know what you decided and how it went. Good Luck

Not surprised, look at the title of the thread, "Bar owners redemption thread". They obviously have nothing to atone for! The things some BM's want to hear or know about (BF's, etc.), are considered off limits to discuss or get ignored (their advertising continues though, good for them). How dare BM's bring these things up to the Falang WS Bar Owners Association, when most BM's have no idea what it is like to own a bar in Pattaya, shame on us. Certainly no excessive profiteering or gouging happening, just business as usual. Same but different.

Dr Michael Schlatter is supposed to be good in that area. He has his office right up the road from the Residence Garden on the way to Jomtien. There was a thread about dentists and this same topic a while back. Have a look and good luck.

I'm not aware of any direct discount. On a related issue, is the airline you fly to Thailand still rewarding miles at 100% of the miles flown on their frequent flyer program? The reason I asked is that China Airlines have lowered the miles rewarded to 80% of actual miles traveled since June 2006. So instead of getting credited with 13,200 miles in their frequent flyer program, now only get 11,500 for round trip. Apparantly they do this for the less expensive economy tickets booked via internet and such. They claim that they lowered some other thresholds to offset this.

Very enlightening and funny post!!! I think the most appropriate letter to fill the gap in this sign would either be: Wanking Street or Warking Street, since Thai's prounounce an r as an L

okiehick, it's not 50 cents for the baht bus, it's an entire 25 cents per ride, regardless of which of these hotels you stayed at.

For my money, I would go with Sandy Springs, deluxe seaview room for about 1500, if you get get it. Great location, convenient and pretty quiet. I think the rooms are much better then BJ's, but haven't stayed at Areca. Good luck

You could share a taxi with someone?! That would cut down on the cost and then you share bullshit stories on the way to Pattaya and have a laugh. If you take a bus to Pattaya, you will need to find a baht bus to take you to the hotel, which could cost you up to 100 baht if you have to hire one. It will probably take you at least one hour extra to get to Pattaya. Up to you, tell us how it went.

Is EVA still rewarding miles at 100% of the miles flown, or have they lowered it to giving only 80% of actual miles traveled? Just curious, since China Airlines adopted this policy in June for lower priced economy class tickets, such as those purchased over the net.

I just got back from staying a few days at the Whitehouse last week. The elevator was still not working, but no noise from construction, so that was a plus. My room was nice, furniture was fine, shower worked good, the staff was friendly, breakfast was decent, not outstanding. On the down side, the safe was big enough for an IPod, but not a PC. I had to ask to get a telephone put in my room and then had to go through the operator to call out, not sure what that is all about. When you close the door, it does NOT automatically lock, you have to turn the key. The first time I did

Last I heard, there are over 200 key logger programs circulating. I use a program called X-Cleaner to look for keyloggers etc.. It's small enough to copy to a CD and simply run it before you use an internet cafe PC. There is a free version and a fee version. I'm surprised more people don't use a program like this when they travel.

Jimmy, You have been posting the same questions about Pattaya on various boards for over 2 years! Aren't you ever going to give Pattaya a try and find out for yourself?

I would not recommend the low cost carrier One-Two-Go run by Orient Thai. I used them in July. They flew an old 747 "Classic Model" to Chiang Mai and for the return trip ended up cancelling their flight, which they seem to have a habit of doing. I agree with other members that use Bangkok Air, or if you don't mind paying close to double the price, Thai Air has many flights.

Gus, I haven't stayed there in a few years, but when I did, they did want the joiner fee (800 baht). I simply asked to speak with a manager when I checked in and he waived the fee. Also, on a recent trip, met someone staying there who had booked a twin room (for two people) and he said he was not charged the fee. Have a good trip and hope it works out. Let us know how it went.

"Bangkok 8" by John Burdett is a good murder mystery. Told from a Thai detectives perspective, it has plenty of action, twists and turns. It describes the city, bar action and Thai way of thinking/living versus falangs with some pretty clever humor. Just got done reading it, only problem is, as it just came out, so it's only in hard copy for a few more months.

I also enjoy reading Clive Cussler novels - easy reading, good to relax to and agree, Private Dancer, Money Number are also good reads. On my last trip to Pattaya, found a book called "Working With The Thais, A Guide to Managing in Thailand", by Henry Holmes and Suchada Tangtongtavy at a book store on Soi Post Office. I don't work in Thailand or plan to (like most of us), but found it gave some interesting information on Thailand's hierarchical social structure, social circles, kreng jai,..... and the 13 smiles that Thais have. Shit, I only thought they had 3 - for when I paid too much

Pete, that helps and kind of explains the situation for me. Like you said, use the navigation links and it should clear up the problem. I have seen this problem on other yabb boards, not a big deal. It's probably due to the fact that I'm running Windows 98, Internet Explorer 5.5 - real old software that I haven't updated. Are the other members seeing this problem also running older software? Not bragging, but my 5 year old machine also has a massive amount of RAM - 64 mb - go ahead laugh, all my friends do to.

I've had the same problem for a long time, not sure if it's due to the old software I'm using to access the board. What I end up doing when the page expired message comes up is click on Refresh and then click on Retry. To get rid of this from happening for one login session on the board, I have to select the brown colored text 'FLB Bar Pattaya Pages' on the top of the page and everything works fine from that point on (I can use the back function fine after that). Not sure if I explained it clearly, if not let me know, else try it and see if it works for you.

My TG used my first name for the password. It probably helped her remember which farang the email account was for.

Upena, I think the new schedule is only for flights from Honolulu to Bangkok and back on Thursdays and Sundays, the rest of the days, you get to enjoy the Taipei airport for the full 5 or 6 hours after making a stop at Narita as well (ugh). A 50 minute connection time sounds real tight. Hopefully some board member will let us know how that connection works out.