js007

I was in that place one afternoon. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was late and I was hungry. If it's the same place I'm thinking of, they have hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, etc., and there are some Ladyboys working in there. They play country music? I'm not sure it's the best example of "American" food, but if you're in the neighborhood, why not?

To be sure, Bangkok has smog. Pattaya, not so much. Ditto for Patong. Pattaya does seem to have something in the air, though. I always get a terrible cough there after about three weeks. In Patong, I'm always fine.

Looks like fun, but I'd be just the kind of guy to trip and break my neck. I can't even walking around the Pattaya sidewalks without falling, most of the time.

I've never noticed any problem. But then again, I usually look around this time of day.

I think there was a thread about this place a while back on one of the Pattaya boards. Maybe do a search? Anyway, the location is OK and the food is decent and, from the looks of the bar and restaurant, it looks clean and well run. I wonder if you have 24 hour access to the room via a back entrance?

I'd try another hotel. Or else try pre-booking a room through one of the online booking sites.

It sounds like a major fuck up, somehow. Planes aren't supposed to land like that in good weather. From what I can tell. most on board got out alive. 2 dead and 62 injured. The plane had 290+ aboard.

Well, I guess you could always ask them in advance if they'll answer at 0230. My guess is that there'll always be someone around wanting to make some easy money, even at 0230. I can't say that I've ever tried it at that time of night, but I have had a similar situation at 4AM.

Yep. Right on the money. The front desk of every hotel in town probably has a list of taxi drivers they can call at a moment's notice,

Tequila Reef can be good. I'm not sure about the other places. Any excuse for a party, I guess.

Is it reasonable to assume that if you get your Thai currency from a Thai bank (via the ATM) that you'll be getting the real thing?

If you have a cell phone, why not collect the numbers of a few taxi services? That way, if one doesn't show up you can call another.

The must have some schedule to clean the beach, right?

Good pictures. I always like Bangkok. There's lots to see and do.

Since the original is Thai, I guess we get to spell it however we want. There's no right and no wrong.

Isn't there a Cosa Nostra place on a side street off Soi 7? Or at least there used to be one there. It's not in Pattays, but there's a good pizza place on Soi Sansabai in Patong Beach. I forget the name, but they use a brick oven.

I wear soft contacts and have never had a problem finding them in Thailand. There seems to be an optical shop on about every block. Anyway, you can get the usual name brands, or, you can get Thai brands. The Thai brands are a little bit cheaper. I think the Johnson & Johnson daily wear lenses are about 800 baht? for a box of 25. The Thai lenses (I forget the brand name) might be about half of that. They seemed to work OK, though.

Actually, trying to talk to Thai girls in English can be sort of fun. Of course, there are those girls who are pretty much fluent in English. But the ones that only know a little bit can still be fun. Sometimes, it takes two of them together to complete a sentence. Or, they can teach you some Thai.

One of my friends recently bought a new laptop, and it came with McAfee anti-virus. It also came with Windows 8, so I don't have much experience with it all. Anyway, she's having trouble with the computer running slow, etc. Maybe the McAfee program is crap?

The generic drugs are surely cheap at places like Wal Mart. Still, if you need a drug that has no generic substitute and is still under patent protection, you're likely to pay dearly unless you have insurance. At one point in my life I was on some medicine that would have cost about $1200 a month, but for my insurance. With my insurance, I paid about $15. And the poor guy without insurance? He was in trouble. Thailand seems to get around the patent protection on some drugs by just manufacturing their own and selling them at a reasonable price. For instance, they may do this wi

Of course. I guess I was just thinking about myself. I can't think of a single ancestor who had heart problems. In fact, they all seemed to live a long long time, into their late 80s, into their 90s. One is 107 and he's still doing OK.

Of course, they have pills that will control your blood pressure, but the best course of action would be to lose weight and get some regular exercise. Eating certain foods, like bananas, can also help lower your blood pressure.

Why can't the people on the other end use Skype or Google Voice or whatever to call your Thai land line? That would be easy and wouldn't cost much.

I've tried just picking up a taxi off the street. No problem at all. The driver was glad to get the money, I'm sure. The only problem was that when we got to Pattaya, he didn't know where he was going and he finally had to pay a motorcycle taxi guy to show him the way to my hotel. As for taxi services? I've used these guys a few time without a problem: http://www.pattaya-taxi.com

On a cell phone? For cell phone long distance that uses VIOP (I think) instead of the more expensive regular long distance rates, you dial 007 or 008 (or 009?). The long distance rates are considerably cheaper.