gaijin

I guess I'll plug in for Residence Garden as the value for the baht is hard to beat. 1 bedroom suite, balcony, 2 AC units, very quiet at night even for rooms facing the pool and street. Maybe too quiet. Very convenient to Walking Street especially for me who rides a motobike. Sabai Empress was pretty good as well for 1250 baht last I stayed there late April. Hotel room had a nice Western feel to it, very new and elegant, but no balcony.

This KTK Royal Residence looks really nice. However it's got some mixed reviews. Mostly problems due to noise from construction going on around it? Is there still construction or is that all finished by now? Also have heard over at the PA forum that they are almost always fully booked up? And they don't clean your room everyday? You have to pay 200 baht/clean + utilities. Nice thing about it is reasonable weekly and monthly rates. Sandy Spring Hotel definitely looks interesting too. I may have to check out some of these suggestions in person next time I'm in town. Hopefully I'll be able to stick around for a longer period of time my next trip, ~ 1 month or so.

I've only stayed at Sabai Empress for 2 nights and Residence Garden for the entirety of my 2 trips to Pattaya thus far. While Sabai Empress was quite nice and new with a nice reception area with comfortable sofas to sit and people watch, its location was a little far out there. I paid 1250/night baht for their standard room back in late April. Then I moved to Residence Garden which I like a lot. The rooms are 1 bedroom suites and have a balcony, which was one major thing the Sabai Empress rooms were sorely lacking. I do a lot of smoking and internet surfing on the balcony, so it's one of the major features I'm looking for. I think the Residence Garden is a pretty good value for the 1450/night baht special through the forum. I'm just looking for something similar or compares to this RG deal in price and features. Would like to be reasonably close to Walking Street. Probably looking at low season rates as my next trip won't be at least until next February and beyond. I usually stay for 10 nights but will be looking to stay longer next time. Anyone have any recommendations? I'm thinking someplace that's closer to more action would be an option, I'm kinda considering the Areca Lodge in Soi Diana/LK Metro area but heard their beds are rock hard. Just FYI, the room I had on my 2nd stay with RG was nicer than the one I had my first stay. On 2nd Stay, the room had about a 24" LCD TV instead of the tube TV in the living room, and the bathroom was touched up and not as worn as the one from the 1st stay. Other than that everything else was the same. I suppose RG has everything I could ask for: quiet street, laundry and Family Mart right across the street, pool, air con. Some things it could improve on would be better hotel food, better breakfast, larger bed, more comfortable sofa, but these are not deal breakers for me and I would definitely stay with RG again if there are no better alternatives at under 1500 baht. I understand RG may be a little challenging to take a baht bus to late at night but I ride a motobike so it's not an issue for me at all.

Well, I do smoke in most gogos as I find it's a great way to pass time: drinking, smoking, groping, ogling the dancers. But I was a bit surprised when they let me smoke at Excyte disco, I asked a waiter for if ok to smoke, he said yes, I asked for a ashtray, he motioned to throw on the floor. Noticed that's what the Thai guys at table next to us did so I followed suit.

Holy shit the sky is falling! Save us dontcha! Really, no need to be so dramatic. I understand you're bored at home, and probably grumpy as hell, but don't take it out on us.

On the other hand, I don't see why people rent powerful supersport bikes or some bigass chopper. Those bikes are much less maneuverable in Patts. One of the greatest benefits of riding a scooter is you can easily weave in and out of traffic and tight places. There is absolutely no need for big power for the kind of riding that's done in Patts. Although I do wish the scooters had a bit more oomph to them. One ride I took to Ban Chang going uphill I thought I may have to stop and push the bike up, barely had enough power to get me to the top.

My perception of riding a motobike when I first came to Pattaya was #4, then after a day of riding it was #1. I couldn't imagine having to take multiple baht buses to get somewhere and also sit in the horrendous traffic and heat. Also, I rented a motobike for 150 baht/day my first trip, and 130 baht/day 2nd trip. That's $5 or less per day. That's pocket change for me. I may be the only person here that has not even ridden a baht bus yet. Now, before anyone thinks I ride like a Evil Knievel, here's my background. I ride a super fast Honda Fireblade 954RR at home sometimes. I've taken multiple lessons from really skilled riders and have ridden at 'You wouldn't believe riding this fast was possible' speeds, kneedragging, 130 mph with the flick of a wrist. I know how to shift my weight on a bike, I understand countersteering. Now I don't really need to apply these advanced principles while riding a scooter in Thailand, but I definitely am just as aware. I find riding in the USA, is more dangerous than riding in Thailand. Sure it looks loony with all the motobikes zooming in and out between cars and even against traffic when there's gridlock traffic, but that's part of the riding culture and the riders are actually take more precaution than what it looks like. Sure I know many people crash burn and die a horrible death on motobikes, but when you consider just how many motobikes there are on the road, there's bound to be accidents. I'm not saying I'll never get into an accident riding in Thailand, but there are many ways to give yourself an exit strategy in case something does happen, such as if a car cuts you off be ready to slam on the brakes if there's enough distance, watch for cars that are looking to zoom out, give yourself room either side to swerve when that car does come zoomin out in front of you. In the USA we're taught to ride like we are invisible and drivers will never see us and will always cut off out paths, or sideswipe us, and I've had many more 'Oh Shit' moments in USA than Pattaya. So for those of you who are on the fence about riding in Pattaya, I'd say go for it. It's pretty fun and you get places other tourists can't and much quicker. Just take it easy at first, and remember to go balls out when a stoplight turns green because if you don't others will get mad at you. Those little bikes don't go very fast at all and it's almost like riding a bicycle.

I think there's a new Hilton in town that's pretty close to Walking Street off of Beach Rd. They got some Grand opening specials going on right now last I heard. Don't know if it's guest friendly or not.

Based on what reviews say about what happens if flight is delayed which is quite often, they don't re-book you, don't reimburse you hotel, food, nothing. And then they'll charge you more to get on a flight the next day. This Aerosvit definitely sounds like an airline to avoid. I don't know about ya'll, but when I read reviews that bad I don't go ahead and see if I can get better service to counter others say. I've found a lot of people like to do this for some reason.

Those are some awful reviews they have. Based on what I've read I don't think I'd fly with them if they paid me!

10K baht a day is a lot not including hotel. My 'budget' was around 6400 baht ($200) a day not including hotel on my 1st trip, some days went way over, many days under. But yea I agree, there's no reason to cheap out, bring enough cash to have a hell of a time, and no reason to worry if you go over your daily budget a few times. My dream is to move to Thailand for 6 months to a year if I can get a full time telecommute job. I can't imagine spending $200/day then, I'd have to get a live in GF and do mostly ST's like the other expats.

That's not a bad price at all. I would pay it. It's a hell of a whole lot better than paying $4000-5000+ for business class seat on other airlines. That's ridiculous. However this flight is on the East Coast and stops in Ukraine? Does it fly over the Atlantic or Pacific? They wouldn't happen to have any flights out of SFO would they?

Well shit, I just stayed at the Residence Garden from 9/9 - 9/18 and never bothered to bring back more than one girl with me, didn't feel like paying that extra for the 3rd guest. Now I know. However, they do like to all stare at me when I come back with a different lady every afternoon and every evening. BTW, that one tall babe that works reception wearing the Red jacket and short skirt is fucking HOT as hell. Anyone every hit on her and any success? I would totally try but she sees me with a different lady every single night so it's not like I can tell her I'm not a butterfly. I would love to hit that. I would pay any price she asks.

I stayed in the Sabai Empress for two nights. First night I had just flown in to the country, so slept quickly. 2nd night I couldn't sleep at all the bed was so fucking hard. However stayed at the Residence Garden the rest of my stay and while the bed was more tolerable it doesn't compare to my Simmons Beautyrest Cal King pillowtop bed at home. Residence Garden's bed was also only a Queen size only, not big enough for a 3some.

A hard bed eh? I hate hard beds, it seems most hotels in Thailand have hard beds.

If you ride a motobike, you can get from Walking Street to RG in less than 5 min.

Cracking down on foreign gangs is all fine and dandy, but why don't they crack down on the local gangs? Set out rewards for the heads of the most serious offenders and watch them rat each other out.

I stayed at the Sabai Empress for 2 nights recently, and the bed was hard as fuck. The first night I slept well only because I was dead tired, but 2nd night couldn't fall asleep at all. Pretty nice room though, although with no balcony, that kinda sucks. I like having a balcony. I probably won't stay there again, many other hotels to check out.

Aww fuck man! If you had held this last month I would have been there! Shit!

Yes that is a good deal. I paid $1249 all in ticket for my trip just two weeks ago that I booked very last minute out of SFO. But if you're wanting to go sooner that next year then that savings of a couple hundred bucks really isn't worth it.

Thanks man, was waiting for someone to reply to this. So what do you think about the Sabai in terms of value compared to others around that price point. They have rooms for 950baht/night. Also, the Sabai Empress does look pretty good too, they have rooms for 1250.

This Sabai group looks pretty relaxing. I'm in the process of planning my first trip to Thailand, so I have no idea what to expect of these hotels other than what I see in the pictures and your reviews. Can anyone tell me if the beds at these Sabai Resort and Sabai Lodge are soft or hard? I can't sleep well on a hard bed, and prefer softer beds. How about the beds at the Pattaya Bay Resort? At Sabai Resort, they have an advertised rate of 950bt, is that a decent enough room, or is it crap? I'm assuming they would give you a Superior Room as that seems to be the cheapest? Would it be best to book online or call in? Do they have a breakfast buffet and how much?

I've discovered that I only see the problem when I am using a Linux machine. The linux system I was using was a virtual system and I was not able to change font options, I will probably have to reinstall the debian and see what happens. Now using Safari in my Macbook pro and everythings fine.

I don't know if it's just me, but I can't seem to see the text very well inside each post. The font is too "light" colored for me, how can I change it so I can see a darker font?