maipenrai

After staying at the Dynasty in Bangkok for a couple of weeks I took advantage of their free ride to Pattaya in return for two nights stay in the resort - have to agree that it is a pain in the ass to get back to at night. The room was nice - seemed triple the size of the BKK room for the same price. The first night I was trying to get home with a couple of shopping bags full of stuff - saw a girl on a motorbike and asked her how I could get a taxi there - she replied that if I took her to the adjacent hotel for short time she would give me a ride home on her motorbike!! Only in Pattaya ::)... I demurred, I was just too tired, hot, sweaty and generally pissed off at the situation to take her up on it. Just then a genuine taxi came into view and off I went for the exorbitant sum of 100B. That was the only night I slept alone during my entire six weeks in Thailand.

Have to agree with Pieman, Soi 7/8 area is a great place to stay - he mentions that last drink just before you get home... one of my favourite memories of Pattaya happened on a night when I'd had a tiff with a BG I'd been seeing on Walking Street- continued on and had too much to drink, and then walked all the way from there to Soi 7, dodging ladyboys and the odd ugly freelancer all the way. Walked up Soi 7 until I hit the last beer bar before the turnoff to my hotel, Bella Vista, and there were four BG's and an old drunk Swede sitting there and inviting me in for drink. How could I refuse? Just ordered my first Carlsberg, and who shows up but the seafood vendor? I bought a whole pile of prawns and crabs for us all at 3:00AM, and we proceeded to stuff ourselves silly. I ended up going home with a lovely and sweet little 20 year old from this group - just a doll - unfortunately I had to travel to BKK the next day and never saw her again - you ever notice that you always run into the real sweethearts the night before you leave? Jeez... Yeah, this is a great part of Pattaya to stay in.

Hello all - On my recent visits to Pattaya, I remember on at least three or four occasions watching assholes on big sportbikes roaring down Soi 7 or 8 doing at least 50mph during the late afternoon or early evening when the soi was starting to get busy; I felt like throwing my beer at them. I'm suprised more of these jerk-offs aren't killed, and can't believe that anybody off the street can rent these big bikes. One of my beer-drinking buddies in BKK is an ex-Canadian champion from the '70's, and still owns the TZ750 he won with. He rides in Thailand, but just a 150cc bike - he says that anything with enough power to spin its back wheel will see you dumped sooner or later on wet and/or oily pavement. Personally, one reason I go on holidays is to enjoy my beer and leave the driving to others - I drive too much here at home. I occasionally take motorbike taxis when I am in a hurry or they are convenient, and I'm not going to say no to a BG offering me a ride home on her bike, but I still don't feel comfortable without protective gear. I rode big-bore dirt bikes for many years and always dressed for it. And yes, I've seen the scars on a few of my BG's. One spent four days in hospital in a coma, and lost her hotel job as well because of it. One day on Walking Street I saw a gorgeous little BG wearing almost nothing drive up and park a blue Honda Fireblade; her little tippy-toes hardly even reached the ground. I wish I'd had my camera - this bike was far too big for her, but she just approached the whole thing with total Thai nonchalance while I was sitting there shaking my head in disbelief. I hope she's still in one piece. Safe riding to all.

Hi Sprinter - The rate I paid for the room was 800B for a superior room - the standard rooms are the same layout but about 2/3 the size for 650B, I think. Also, the standard room I looked at faced in the direction of Soi 8, whereas the superior room I ended up with was right beside the elevator facing toward Beach Road, so on those rare nights I came home a little early I didn't have too much racket from Soi 8. They take credit cards, but of course with a small surcharge, so I just paid cash. This hotel is just the right size for me; I don't care for the bigger hotels, they just seem to be too impersonal for me, and the lack of a pool doesn't bother me either. I stayed here on two separate occasions for a few days, and never had any hassles at all. Hope this helps. snowbird

Hi Sprinter - I stayed at the Bella Vista twice on my recent trips to Pattaya, I really like it as it is clean, friendly, and reasonably quiet given its location. Their e-mail is bellahotel@hotmail.com - hope this doesn't come to late to help you. snowbird

On my first and all-too-brief visit to Pattaya last winter, I liked to wander around and check out various beer bars (and the quality of their staff )from early afternoon until early evening, take a break for a while, and then head out to the go-gos in the late evening on the hunt for a decent L/T. You're right, it is nice to have such choice. I love the informality of the beer bars; it seems in Thailand that anywhere you have enough room for a counter, a fridge, and a few stools, you have a bar! Who needs walls? This is so refreshing when compared with the myriad of laws the average bar proprietor faces in our supposedly more civilized western world. snowbird

Hello all - Very helpful info, guys - I'll be looking for cheaper but still decent digs myself when I arrive, as this will be a much longer visit than last time and I'd rather save my baht for babes and booze . If I had pounds or USD to spend I'd probably go a little more upmarket, but I have to stretch my CDN dollars somewhat... snowbird

Hi Pete - I was never able to download your latest videos using Netscape; for some reason I have been having trouble with other sites as well with this browser. Also the "back and forth" while perusing the forum was glacially slow. Then I realized that I had Internet Explorer on my computer as well, so I tried that out and everything works fine. Simple fix - I still have to do my e-mail with Netscape, but that function works fine. Just thought I'd mention this for anybody else out there who is having the same problem. Regards snowbird