maipenrai

Happy Birthday, Adam - wish I was there to enjoy it with you but I still have two months to go..

I never caught much of his stand-up routine, but I did love his movies....

The exchange rate for my Canadian dollars to baht was crap for most of my last five-month trip and continues to be so.....I can only hope it improves somewhat over the next few months until my return but I'm not gonna hold my breath....

I can recall a night in Chiang Mai years ago when I got pissed on Chang, and woke up the next morning with the attendant hangover, plus a spot of food poisoning, plus a heavy tropical cold...haven't drunk much of the stuff since...

If this is the guy I am thinking of, he was a homeless Thai fellow nicknamed "Chicken George" who used to hang around Soi 8; I used to see him in the old Cherry Bar there and he passed away some years ago. There are homeless people everywhere, even in my part of the frozen north where they have a pretty good time in the long summer days but face a different outlook in the long winter months - mostly aboriginal, they usually find a place to crash somewhere when it's really cold but I certainly don't envy them the lifestyle....

Nicknamed "Hellfire Crossing" by some...gives me the willies just getting across this corner on foot.....

I looked for a Thai license plate for years without any luck, even after asking several long time expats about it - then one day I took a long walk along Sukhomvit from Pattaya Tai to Pattaya Klang, and just before the turning lane to Pattaya Klang I found a small shop that was displaying some on their wall, and when I asked about them they told me they had plenty for sale - I ended up buying two plates in excellent shape for 500b.

Exactly as Teelack says here; I finally opened a Thai bank account in November and I went to the Kasikorn bank branch in the Central Festival Mall on the 4th floor at the 2nd Road end of the building - was in and out in half an hour or so, very easy.

Jeez, that's a lot of water - you'd be better off taking a kayak with you instead of a motorbike for nights like this....

Evil, have you ever stayed in the Dynasty Grande across Soi 6 from the Phachara Suites? If so, how would you compare the two? I've been staying in the DG every time I am in BKK for a couple of years now, and like it, but I wouldn't mind trying the Phachara on my next trip.

What ever happened to OnMyWay, anyway? He used to post here a lot and then vanished...one of the few people I've met in Pattaya who had feet bigger than mine...

There is one tailor somewhere around the Pattayaland area on Beach Rd that I get a kick out of - he often tries different accents and greetings with his approach, such as the Aussie "G'day, mate"; a couple of months ago I was walking by and he comes up with a baseball hat on backwards, sticks his hand out pointing downward, and says, "Yo, bro, whassup?" I couldn't help it, I just cracked up into laughter as I kept on walking by.

Thanks for the heads-up, I was wondering what this year's dates would be...as stated here, Beach Road gets so packed with people that you can hardly move - thousands of Thais come from Bangkok and elsewhere to enjoy this festival...

Thanks, lespaul, we finally get a straight answer on this.

Over there, I'd say that's an accurate assessment - if I were hiring a big Mercedes or BMW I'd consider it to be a limousine. I guess I should have just said "car for hire" in the original post. As mentioned, I've only ever seen one real stretched limousine over there, and I can't imagine trying to manoeuver it or park it on some of the tighter sois. She got right back to me with prices, which are: Airport to Pattaya - 1000b BKK to Pattaya or vice versa - 1000b, or 1900 for round trip BKK to Hua Hin - 2200b She pays the tolls.

Every time someone mentions a firm price for anything on this board, every cheap charlie has to chip in with their views on why it's too much, or how much cheaper they can get it, etc etc etc...e-mail her yourself and ask her - better yet, I'll do it and ask her what her rock-bottom price is as that usually seems to be all that anyone is interested in anyway. A figure of speech, old boy - just trying to make the point that it is a regular car and not a taxi. In all my trips to Pattaya I have only ever seen one genuine stretched limousine there.

Great info, guys - I tried to open an account with Siam Commercial last month when I was there and they wouldn't do it without a permanent Thai address, so it looks like Kasikorn is the way to go. I paid way too much money for ATM fees over my long visit, and I've got to set things up better for the next time.

After quite some time and consideration, I've decided to advertise my regular driver's services on this board; she has been complaining for a long time about how slow business is and I asked her when I was there if she'd like me to find her some more customers via my internet contacts, and she agreed. We - a small circle of friends and I - have been using her for years and she has never let us down. She works out of the airport and makes regular runs to Pattaya and often Hua Hin as well, in addition to taxi service into Bangkok. She drives a late model Camry, speaks passable english and is lots of fun to chat with along the way. Her boss, Nicky, has a few cars and only employs women to drive them, so if Ann cannot make it she will ensure Nicky or one of the other girls will; I've had Nicky pick me up a couple of times and he is a really nice guy. Ann has never been late, in fact she is often much too early and I've often had to make her wait while I packed up and checked out! She knows her way around BKK and Pattaya both quite well and doesn't play the kind of games that the taxi drivers do. Anyway, here is her contact info and a photo as well - I'm not going to quote prices as I always give her a healthy tip because she has served me so well, so you can discuss pricing with her but I am sure you will find it competitive. I generally e-mail her before I come and she is always there in the airport @Gate 3 meeting area to pick me up.

I used to get bad reactions to Thai mosquito bites, big red patches and a lot of swelling; but on this last trip they didn't bother me any more than bites at home in Canada do so I must have built up some kind of tolerance to the little pests over time. That being said, I rarely get bites in the daytime, mosquitoes are more likely to be active at night when it is somewhat cooler, especially if you are around any kind of vegetation. They tend to fly low, I always get bitten from the knee down unless it happens at night in my room when I am sleeping. When I remember to, I coat my lower legs with a product named Muskol which we used to be issued with where I worked - strong and very effective, don't get it near your eyes!! The worst mosquitoes I came across on my recent trip were right on Sukhomvit Rd in BKK - sitting at the the little sidewalk bars next to the planters by the curb, I got eaten alive - this goes to show that you can be attacked by them anywhere.

In most of the smaller hotels and guesthouses where I stay, the cleaners will soon learn your individual habits and clean the room accordingly - for example I seldom leave my room before noon and they know this. In a Bangkok hotel recently the gf and I didn't stir until almost 3:00 in the afternoon and the front desk actually called and asked if I wanted the room cleaned or not.

Rick, I would advise getting traveller's cheques in $500 denominations, but don't wait until the last minute to do it as many banks don't carry them in their inventory and may have to order them - I was lucky in that the Royal Bank I deal with in my home town just happened to have enough for me. As for cashing them, some places are easy and some seem to take forever; I cashed a $500 cheque yesterday and had to go to four different places to accomplish it, as two said their "system" was not working, another was out for lunch, etc.....also for some reason in Pattaya they insist on knowing where you are staying whereas in Bangkok last week it was not an issue and the whole process was quicker and easier there.

This place has been re-named three times or so in the last two years; according to Eddy from Rich Man Poor Man it is now owned by a fellow that also owns an Aussie bar just around the corner on Beach Road.

Too true, it's a pain in the ass trying to negotiate the sidewalks and half the time I walk on the street itself to make time; what annoys me is the shoppers who stop right in the middle of the sidewalk to galk at stuff as if no one else in the world existed and totally jam things up. Later on NYE when I went from Walking St back to the Soi 6 area I walked right down the middle of Beach Rd between the cars, dodging motorbikes all the way - it seemed to be the only way to make any real progress.

A classic remittance man, methinks...

Thanks for the info and photos, I'll be looking into bike rental and riding for sure when I get there.