maipenrai

Beer, beer, and more beer. Occasionally if I am feeling bored with it or a little bloated, I may have a gin/tonic or two. As for brands, I really don't discriminate that much; when I started travelling to Thailand Carlsberg was still big, and I'd order that just to listen to the girls attempt to pronounce it - "Kaw-sa-bug"... now I'm more likely to order Tiger - "Ti-guh"...

I'm first generation Canadian, my "parentidge"(sic) is European, Mom being a war bride from Birmingham and Dad born to German stock in Namibia (yeah, he fought on our side in the war).

This is good news, hope to join one of these myself in January.

I'm glad to see some info regarding visa entries here - I just had a discussion regarding this with a couple of friends whom I believe don't have the right idea. I just received, for the first time, a 60 day tourist visa with two entries. The way I interpret this is that the first entry is for when I arrive in Thailand, and then I am entitled to another entry any time within that original 60 day term, after which I have to leave the country; then if I wish to have another 60 day visa, I have to re-apply at a consulate outside of Thailand - or simply fly back to Thailand and receive the regular 30 day visa, or come back overland and receive 14 days. Now I have two friends who have been going there for years with 60 day visas, but they never leave the country - they stay for their two months and then go home. They seem to think, however, that if I go out of the country again with my original 60 day visa, I will be granted another 60 day visa upon my return. I think they've got it all mixed up - after all, my Aussie niece was over here last year with a multiple entry visa, and she used it to go in and out of the USA, but it was still only good for the original term of the visa - same sort of idea in Thailand, methinks - the visa is good for the original stated term even if it has more than one entry allowed. Somebody please tell me that I am right and they are wrong....

This room looks perfectly acceptable to me for the money it represents - I'd prefer a little more counter space around the sink, but at least it has a screen of some type for the shower, I don't like those open concept bathrooms where the shower water gets the whole room wet.

Lovely bird and it sounds like a great hobby if you are willing to put the time into it. I've never had any pets myself because I always travelled too much both for work and recreation, and have spent far too much time working in peoples' back yards and encountering miserable animals tied up forever in their own mess and totally neglected. My neighbours have everything from dachshunds to malemutes so I can fuss over them if I wish to. Spending a lifetime in northern Canada, I have certainly seen my share of husky dogs, and while I agree that they make very good pets because of their generally docile temperament, I would say most of them are dumber than posts - then again, as Damon theorizes, maybe it's just the sled dog origins bred into them. I get a real kick out of the animal rights fanatics whining about how these poor sled dogs are mistreated by being made to pull sleds, etc - this is really silly, just attend the start of any sled dog race and you can tell these animals love to run, they are bouncing a meter off the ground in their traces because they are so eager to go.

Telecom, but not for much longer....

Jeez, I learn so many interesting things from these boards...."Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford is mine.

Yes, and this is one of my main criteria when I choose rooms - I don't like those open showers that get the whole bathroom wet, I insist on a shower curtain or better yet enclosed stall, and the bigger the better.

Where is this "Murphy's Law" bar located?

I'm arriving on the afternoon of New Year's Eve, just in time for the festivities, and will be there off and on until April, I hope.

Hi Fluffy - I'd recommend Rich Man Poor Man, on the corner of Soi 9 and Beach Rd, having stayed there before myself: http://rmpm-guesthouse.com/ Nice rooms, good food and right on the bahtbus route, also within your price range and certainly guest friendly. There aren't a lot of bars right in that area, but with the bahtbus there are bar complexes only a couple of minutes away, or Pattaya itself in 10-15 minutes.

I generally don't drink anything except beer, although occasionally I'll get tired of it and have a gin/tonic or two. I try not to drink to excess every night and usually succeed, but you can also go through a lot of beer just doing the slow and steady routine all day while you are walking around and exploring - there's always an oasis to be found wherever you go in Pattaya, it seems. When I was there for Songkhran last year it was a different story, that was a one week drunk and it took a physical toll on me; I remember one severely hungover morning when I put down nine beer before even leaving my hotel bar in the late morning and then carrying on until 0300 the next - but it was sure better than having to face Songkhran sober!!

Glitterman's next episode: those nice young men in their clean white coats come and take him away....

Oh so true, whether you are driving a bike or a car; I feel more out of touch with reality if I have a bad hangover than I do when I am half-drunk. Here in our wonderful western world, police have been known to pounce on those people returning to pick up their cars from the pubs in the morning after leaving them behind the night before; dirty pool, I think, but it happens and the "offenders" are often still legally impaired from the night before.

I recently booked an open return from Vancouver with EVA, was the same price as the regular r/t price.

I agree totally with Bushcraft regarding this establishment - I've been staying here off and on for years and Vic's always been friendly and helpful with me; the rooms are well appointed and consistently clean and I like the fact that the ground floor is a restaurant and not a regular bar.

Where exactly is Jomtien Beach Condominium? This mountain bike idea interests me as well.

I'm not sure how the barbers approach real ear cleaning, but I had mine done properly at the hospital on Soi 4, I believe - can't remember the name of it - and it was great, much more fun than the same procedure at home thanks to the cute, cheerful nurses.....I have always had heavy wax buildup and need to get it irrigated and syringed out with the proper gear every year or two. I get this done free of charge at home with our health plan, but then I have to make an appointment, take time off work, etc....in Pattaya you just drop in and they take care of you. Can't remember the price, unfortunately, but it was reasonable.

Baz, if you like Evergreen Deluxe you'll love Premium Laurel - I've upgraded with points to this class a couple of times and it is great. Electric chairs, all the legroom in the world, multi-course meals, wine lists, etc....I'd fly it all the time if I could afford to. Doing the currency conversion, you're able to fly Premium Laurel from LHR to BKK for only a couple of hundred CDN$ more than I am paying for Evergreen from Vancouver - go for it!! I wish they'd give us a break from Vancouver sometime, but they only seem to bring out deals for Economy class from there.

Those rooms of yours look great, Mulphy - you may hear from me once I finalize my next trip dates. I've been wanting to check out that area for a while now.

Good list, thanks for putting in the effort, Evil. I'd just like to add that I used to stay in the Majestic Suites when it was new, but in the last couple of years I never seem to be able to get a booking as they became more popular and are always full. I've been staying in the Parkway for the last few years, and generally enjoy it, iit's a friendly little place and I like the rooms. This month I stayed in room 703, which has just been renovated with a huge shower stall, really nice - also a good view of one side of Nana Plaza, but far enough up that the noise doesn't bother me even if I am home from the bar early(uncommon for me!!) I was paying 1400 a night, just like last visit, although they do have one suite on the top floor which is a little more - I stayed there once but can't remember, maybe 1800? It's not much bigger than the other rooms anyway. And the location is great, I just get my driver to drop me off and pick me up in the Landmark's parking lot next door. As for some of the others, I stayed at TownLodge once and wasn't impressed, smallish room and quite out of the way; Livingtone's didn't do anything for me either, room was starkly furnished with nowhere to put my suitcase and not even any pictures on the wall, and they charge a 10% "service charge" on everything there including the room; I checked out in disgust after two days of my four day reservation. I've been a little suspicious of these so-called "boutique" hotels ever since. My flight out on the 5th was cancelled, and I found out about the gov't putting stranded travellers up for free at the Imperial Queens Park Hotel on Soi 22; I went there and got four days for free, quite a treat as the regular room cost is 6000b a night. Normally I do not like these big hotels, though - I like the smaller, friendlier ones like the Parkway. Interestingly, I thought this place would be picky about "guests", but I was dragging girls home every night and they never even looked at me, didn't ask for ID cards or anything. Maybe it was because I was never home before 5 or 6 in the morning, having too much fun at the Sukhomvit street bars.

Hi folks - I always buy a new pair of running shoes before my holiday, and the ones I bought this year unfortunately turned out to be a little too small for me and were cramping my feet. They are Saloman, worth about $100 CDN/US, and brand new; size is 11 1/2 UK or 12 US. I would be willing to pass them on to someone else for 1000b or so, as there is no way I want to pack them all the way home again. If you are interested, call me at 0848691211 or PM me here - I will probably be in town until the 5th or 6th.

I stayed at the Grace a couple of years ago with a friend who has been going there for the last twenty years - they gave us rooms on the 8th floor, above the main desk area; the elevators only go to the 7th floor, so you walk up to the 8th. At that time this friend told me that they saved this floor for "regular" farangs like us; I don't know if he was right or not because I never saw any of the other guests on that floor. The room wasn't too bad, cost about 950-1000b or so at that time, I think; it is an old hotel, however, and I don't know if they have done any renovation lately. My friend likes this place because they have all kinds of shops and activities under the one roof; there are always lots of freelancers hanging around and many are the chunkier ones that he and the Middle Eastern types seem to prefer; and they know him and treat him well. I didn't really care for it because I would rather stay in smaller hotels, and the front desk can be pandemonium in that place around checkout time. The Middle Eastern clientele didn't bother us at all, although I saw a couple of them get into some kind of disagreement with the front desk staff and be extremely rude to them. And yes, this place is most definitely guest friendly!! As my friend says, "I could have the time of my life here for a week and not even leave the place!"

Whatever currency you take, make sure the bills are in excellent shape - no torn off corners, handwriting on the bills, etc. - or they will be refused. Before I leave on vacation, I go to my local bank and withdraw a few hundred dollars worth of $100 bills, and let the teller know I need good bills and why, and it is never a problem. When I've used up this amount of money, I just go to the ATM's. I haven't bothered with TC's for years. As for denominations, I have been able to cash $20 CDN bills in Thailand without problem, but have never tried anything smaller.