Emil

Like when you and Jack where hyping the place as good value for monthly stays. Once Tom found out what the monthly rate was, it showed that you were greatly exaggerating Skytop's value or you have no clue about what one pays for a months stay or more in Pattaya. If your paying 60 baht an hour for internet your over paying. Many places at 30 baht an hour and a few at 20 or 25 baht an hour if you prepay for time.

Don't forget the recent postings of: 1. Skytop has openings for the month of January. 2. A reply to another poster who was talking about his problems with a TG and BigD told him if he stayed at Skytop the owners wife would handle the problem. 3. Another reply to a poster who asked for a list of new hotels that have are less than 2 years old and BigD told him that Skytop had been recently remodeled. I've been waiting for someone to post that they haven't had a holiday in over a year and they're coming to LOS and want to splurge and treat themselves to a high price hotel room costing them 4,000 baht a night and then have BigD tell them that the owner of Skytop would be happy to reserve them a ro0m at 4,000 baht a night. I wonder if its possible to do a count of BigD's posts that have "Skytop" in the post or in a Skytop topic. Vegas would probably have low odds that its over a 100.

By chance does he have life insurance? Even a small amount by US and UK standards would go a long way in LOS if used wisely.

Alan, Quoting some prices doesn't really give most of us any idea of how good the deal is/isn't unless you provide the size of the unit or give us the cost per square meter. I'm also looking to buy a condo, my biggest concern is how is the condo fees managed and by whom. Here in California the board is elected by the owners and any increase in fees has to approved by the members.

I can manage to get by in economy, 3,800 pounds is a little more than the total I paid for my past 16 R/Ts plus my upcoimg trip from California to Bangkok. Unless I'm placed with Singapore the food and entertainment suck but I like the 17 to 1 ratio. I grab the emergency exit row aisle seat so plenty of leg room and the only person in front of me is the FA on take offs and landings

Hong Kong is a nice process. I connected through there last month to BKK without having a boarding pass prior to landing. There they have an airlines transient station prior to reaching security so you can pick up your boarding pass. Just be prepared to do alot of walking as that place is big.

The only thing you should pay would be what you owe for utilities. Most of these places that have the vastly reduced monthly rates don't include your utilities. When you check in they want the 1st month and a deposit. So when you check out they will deduct your utilities from the deposit and you'll get money back unless you owe for damages. They should be happy that you paid for the entire month and left early in that they can now get additional revenue for this room during the next 10 days.

This process seems to be a simple solution and was also my recomendation to the UA customer service rep. He assured me that I would be able to get my Thai boarding pass in the states so I can't wait to see if this happens. If they gave me 8,000 miles for an experience that caused me no inconvience, I wonder what they will do if I don't get this boarding pass and I have trouble making my connection. I'm keeping my email correspondence with them to show them my warning and their assurance just in case.

I've flown all three and PSA was back in the late 60's. Back then the PSA stewardesses were all women, they couldn't be over a certain age and they had a height /weight ratio. When I first got on the plane I was awed by them as they all looked like they were former homecoming queens and they were wearing very short dresses that showed alot of leg. Today Cahtay or Singapore are the best.

Harvey, I've had about a dozen saver awards to BKK and have always been able to get dates that were within 1 or 2 days of what I asked . I'm retired so any day works for me. The key to getting these I believe is to have a United agent do the work and pay the extra $15. If you try to book online you only have access to the UA flights, with the agent they have access to all their Star Alliance partners. Only one trip did I fly all the legs on United and on another I flew all the legs on Singapore (sweet), otherwise I'm flying on at least 2 to 3 different carriers. Your too young but up to the early 70's the stewardesses (they weren't called FAs back then) were hot on the US carriers especially on PSA with those mini skirts. Then the EEO got involved and then you had any age, any weight and any sex on the job. Last year on my flight from BKK to Narita the entertainment system went out. The FAs passed out some forms where they asked for your name and whether you would like a flight voucher or miles credited to your account. They didn't state how much of either but I checked miles. About a week later they posted 8,000 miles to my account. Now I always hope that the system goes down.

As many of you already know I'm a big fan of UA's frequent flyer program. I might even pimp this program as much as BigD does Skytop, alright we all know that would be impossible. A few days ago I called them and wanted to book my next trip to LOS using miles and I wanted the saver award program where one only needs to use 60K miles. Got an agent told them my desired travel dates but also said I was flexible on those dates. No problem got the dates I had asked of Jan 6th and Feb 20th. Flying on United Express from Sacramento to SFO, then SFO to Beijing on UA and then Thai Air to BKK. I told the agent I flew that itinerary last year and that when I got to Beijing that China doesn't work like any other airport that I've transiented through. Even though your just making a connection you must fill out an immigration form (no problem) and pass through immigration (no problem) and that immigration official want to see a boarding pass before you pass by them on your way to your gate(big problem) as there are no Thai agents working at SFO let alone Sacramento. Last time it took well over an hour (felt like the Tom Hanks character in the movie Terminal) before some high ranking immigration official arrived and allowed me to pass. Now I only had less than 40 minutes to find my way to the front of the terminal and get my boarding pass at the thai Airline counter, then pass back through immigration and security and find my gate. Made it with 10 minutes to spare although I was looking forward to relaxing in the lounge prior to loading. When I got back from the trip I called United to let them know of the problem when they route someone like they did with me. I asked the agent if they had corrected this problem but they didn't know so I told her to book me anyway and the agent said that a UA customer service person would contact me. The next day I received an email and was told that I would be able to get a Thai boarding pass at either Sacramento or SFO. I replied thanking them for their quick response but was a little lery of getting this Thai boarding pass as just last month I flew UA using miles and was routed on Singapore and Thai to BKK and when I tried to get a Singapore and Thai boarding pass at Sac they couldn't issue one and when I got to SFO I couldn't get the Thai boarding pass. But I wasn't bitching as I flew through Hong Kong and it was no problem making the connection there without a boarding pass. A couple days later I received a reply back from UA apologizing for the inconvience (never told them that I was inconvienced) I experienced in November in Sacramento and San Francisco and please accept 8,000 miles for this inconvience. I sure hope the UA person is right about this as I don't want to go through that same maze as last time.

Thank God for that. Maybe now those mongers from the UK will quit spending their baht like drunken sailors on shore leave and drive up the prices in Pattaya. Should I have excluded the Scots from my comment?

That's their wishful price as of today. As Pattaya comes out of high season the vacancy rates will go up and on top of that more places will open between now and then. Just down the Soi from them I noticed another small hotel that should be ready to open by then. Really best to contact them not to far in advance from when you plan to arrive. Agree 100% that there are many superior dwellings available and at even lower cost. I recently moved into a 1 month old 1 bedroom apartment that costs me 11,300 a month near Nova Park. I'm getting a small discount because I'm staying more than a month but the 1 month rate is 12,300. One just needs to get out and look around.

If this is the place not to far from Pattaya Tai, a friend and I took a look while it was still under construction. It's realitively new and was at that time being marketed as a condo project. Probabley the 50% that must be owned by Thais is owned by a Thai Corp and they are using those units as rentals. From the outside the place looked nice and you are just a short walk to the baht bus line on Pattaya Tai.

That way you won't have to go to far for a massage.

That would be the LK Metropole located off Soi Diana however surrounded by Soi LK. When myself and a couple friends checked out the Metropole when it first opened besides the dialy and monthly rates they had rates for 2 months, 6 months and a year which were significantly less than the monthly. Another place that has just opened in that area is the Pasadena just across from the Cock and Bull and I had heard that they had a lift. Lets not forget the Jasmine (operated by one of our BMs) it was the first hotel to be up and running in that area. I rember walking thru that area about 5 years back as it was a direct route to the Buffalo Bar from 2nd Rd. Then it was a dumpy area with some small beer bars and karoke joints. The next time I walked through there a couple months later the entire corner had been bulldozed. The places then gradually began to open with the Pasadena being the last piece. I did notice that at the corner enterance on Buakaow last week that one place had closed and extensive remolding is taken place.

Alot depends on when your going to be there. Also if you are staying for a few weeks or more and they have a large vacancy rate then you might be able to get a discount but you need to be dealing with the manager and not the desk person.

I got the form in the mail when I returned from LOS on the 18th. I added up my days and it total 790. I wish they would have gone to the end of this year then I could have added another 240. I'm too lazy to do option 3 even though I have my statements back to the beginning on 2001.

I might have some of these name wrong, hopefully someone will correct. Soi 1 Crown, also a Sabai hotel Soi 3 Seaside Soi 4 Hong Soi 5 Right behind the Hoing, can't remember the name. Soi 6/1 Diamond (very, very expensive) Soi 7 Eastiny Hotel Soi 8 Another Eastiny hotel opened in November Soi 10 Imperial Place Soi 14 Secrets The southern extension of 2nd Rd, accross form the Vault where the bowling alley was located. A Nova property. Between the Pattaya Bay Resort and Mercure there is another hotel called Balithai. Soi LK Metro The Pasadena Soi 21 between Soi Buakaow and 3rd Rd the Panalee which opened this month. Soi AR The Nova Amari also the Siam View. There are more but they are located out by Carrefour.

If you want to try Pan Pan you'll no longer have to go to Jomtien, they recently opened another one on Beach Rd just south of the Royal Garden.

But Steve we earn less miles on our flights to LOS than you guys in the Midwest and the East Coast.

If your getting your monthly income statement from the US Embassy in Bangkok you don't need to show any proof of income, only affirm that the figure you put on the form is true. Also it ccan be any income not just from a pension.

After you arrive I would look for a place that has monthly rates. At 800 a night your paying 24K a month, you should be able to find something either alot better for that price or something similiar for alot less.

Alan, Its located across from the large Tony's gym. From Howard's report one of the owners has a Steak Lao up in Bangers and the other partner is Tony.

Has anybody tried this restaurant located on 3rd Rd? The wine and dine review by Howard looked promising but would rather hear some reviews by boardmembers.