js007

It's an OK place. No elevator, though. Great location at the end of Walking Street. Some rooms have great views. The pool bar and restaurant is across the street. I'd stay there again.

What's the "low award level"? Economy? I think I've got about that many miles saved up, but when I looked into RT fares to asia using points, I got the impression it would take about 125000 points.

Looks like a nice place, but those prices are a bit much. Couldn't I stay at the Marriott for the same price? And with less hassle?

Until Toyota comes clean about its sudden acceleration problems and comes up with a fix, I'd buy a Honda, only. Why buy a car that could kill you?

One time, in Bangkok, at a lunch counter, I had some Thai food that was so spicy I couldn't even put it in my mouth. I'm not sure what it was. Some Thai girl ordered it for me.

So far, I've opened two Thai bank accounts. The first, at Siam Commercial at the beginning of Walking Street. I was in and out in 15 minutes. The second, at Kaiskorn bank in Pattaya, down by Tuk-Com. Again, I was in and out in 15 minutes, with no problem. It costs me $40 to wire funds from the USA. If you only do that every other month or so, it works out OK. The greedy US banks got so bad with their ATM charges, it was almost obscene. Imagine paying about 500 baht just to the US bank, every time you use the ATM. Do the Thai banks still try to charge an extra 150? That adds up to over $20 US, to use the ATM. I'll pass on that.

Maybe I've already posted this once, but why not just open a Thai bank account and periodically wire money to Thailand? Once the money is in your Thai bank, that should be the end of the ATM charges, for the most part.

That sounds like an improvement. I sometimes fly NWA (now Delta) from Detroit or Minneapolis to Narita and then on to Bangkok. I'm not really a big fan of the old 747-400 seats. Pure torture.

I wonder how much a person would actually save, going through all that? I was looking at tickets yesterday, to BKK from the midwest USA. $1200. If I wanted to leave from LAX, I'd have to spend $300 RT, just to get there. I also priced tickets to Australia, just for the heck of it. Interestingly, not much more than to go to BKK.

Obviously, having a good Thai lawyer look things over and advise you would be a good thing. However, my concern is that the whole deal seems kind of flaky. What makes you so sure you can trust the falang owner? What are your remedies if he refuses to transfer the title after you've paid? What if he sells to someone else after you've paid most of the money? And finally, if you can't come up with 220,000 baht, should you even be thinking of buying a place? I'd figure out a way to borrow the money back home if need be, then buy the condo outright. Forget the contract sale plan.

Did they ever put in in-room safes? That's the only criticism I'm heard about the place before. They didn't have in-room safes.

Try the Summer Breeze. It's not right on the beach, but only two blocks away. Soi Bangla is about 1/2 block away. So you'd be perfectly located for the nightlife.

Soi 6 itself has a safe deposit box place. Maybe you could rent a box there and then, every time you visit Soi Six, deposit your valuables, other than what you're going to spend.

This place is cheap enough: http://www.libplace.com/EN/index.html I've never stayed there, but from what I've heard it's not too terrible.

US law? But you alluded to the law of 50 states, with each being different? I used to take a lot of pictures, but I never tried to publish them anywhere. Still, most photographers don't run around collecting model releases unless absolutely necessary. And what about the celebrities? If all they had to do was say no, what would happen to all the Paparazzi's? Public figures are different? where do you draw the line? One time, when I was a little kid, the AP ran a photo of me, from coast to coast. Every major newspaper in the country. I can guarantee you I didn't sign any model release. I don't think my parents signed anything. Somewhere, I still haver the clippings.

It's always a question of degree. There are no bright line rules. If I'm on walking street taking pictures and you happen to be one of 200 people in the background, then you have little right to privacy. If I'm in your face with my camera and want to sell the photos to CNN and the BBC, then maybe I need your release.

Once upon a time, I tried to explain all this to everyone. I didn't get very far. First, there were the guys who thought it was their right to wrap my camera around my neck. Then there were the guys who were going to punch me out, etc. It's not that I carry around a camera all the time. But when I do, and when I take pictures, you're fair game if you're out in public. One the other hand, for 99.99999% of the people, no one cares if you're in a picture or not. You don't matter. That's a good thing.

My Safari browser on my Mac used to do that, then, with one of the updates, it was fixed. Why not switch browsers for a while until they work out the bugs?

That sounds like thievery to me. I'll cross that place off my list as a possible place to stay. Maybe someone should start a "Pattaya Black List." Keep a list of all the businesses that rip off customers.

Pretty good story. You don't have to be in Thailand, though, to have a communication problem. When I worked in the DC area I'd sometimes go to the Wendy's drive-up window to pick up lunch. I'm not sure where the employees of that place came from, but I can assure you none were from America. One time I ordered a cheeseburger combo with a Sprite, paid for it, and went back to work. What did I get? A chicken sandwich, fries, and a coke. The first time that happened, I wrote it off as a mistake. But it happened a few more times before it finally dawned on me that the people taking the orders couldn't understand English very well, if at all. I finally stopped going to that place. Here in my current location there's a Vietnamese place nearby that has decent Pho. I went with a friend for lunch and he ordered sir fried chicken with cashew nuts. When his food came it was stir fried beef with veggies. He didn't want to hurt the girl''s feelings, so he just ate it. The next week, since he liked the beef, he ordered beef from the same girl. What did he get? Stir fried chicken. Anyway, that place is off the list from now on.

A few years ago I bought a PS3 in lieu of a Blu Ray player. It played Blu Ray discs just fine, but I thought the web browser sucked. At the time, I had it hooked up to a 40" HDTV. As for hotels fitting the bill in Thailand? You can easily find what you want if you remove the HDTV from your list. If I were you, I'd just bring my laptop. I don't take trips to Thailand to play video games.

I've never had a problem booking a flight online. I've used Orbitz, the Thai Air site, and the NWA/Delta site. Just have your credit card ready to pay if you see a good fare, because the prices can change at a moment's notice. About once hour ago I did a search for some flights from the USA for October or November. About the same as last year. $1000, give or take $100, R/T, for the economy fares.

Sorry for the dumb question, but is there no such thing as overtime to break a tie? How does it work if it's the final game and they're trying to pick a winner?

Unless I'm watching a delayed broadcast, the score is 1-1 and the clock says 45:36, whatever that means.

Soi 2 is not sleazy. Sabai Lodge is not sleazy. They have an awesome large pool and several smaller pools, I believe. It's girl friendly and right on the baht bus route. A fairly laid back place. For the right price, I'd stay there again anytime. In the year 2002, I paid 800 for a room by the large pool, on the second floor. In 2006, over Christmas, I was forced to pay 1800 a night. Today, I'd stay there, but only if the price was less than 1000 baht. Otherwise, I'd stay on Soi LK Metro.