Emil

but your favorite are those that rawlins enjoys. Nice photos but I was dissapointed not to see any smilling Filipino ladies in bathing suits, did see some Filipino men. Have you taken a walk on the wild side?

Where you there in Doha attending the Asian Games? My TGF loves watching the SEA Games, Olympics, and the Asian Games when the Thai are involved and I don't complain as I enjoy watching and am glad shes not into the Thai soaps. I'm really impressed with the eye-foot coordination of that sport they seems to excel in, which is like volleyball only that they use their head and feet to contact the ball.

Tom, When you reach my age everything gets a little fuzzy. I just got back to the states on the 12th and I'm cold, the food taste bland and I'm bored as you can see from me reading some of these threads. At least I've got the NFL games to look forward to later today. Fortunately I'm outta here on the 9th and will stay until the 20th of Feb.

I'm getting confused with this thread. Was Hub's question about delivery date reagarding the A380 or the 787? If it was the 787 my source shows the year 2008, it is Boeing last years annual report so maybe they have moved up the date since then. I don't know when Airbus first start manufacturing different parts of the fuselage in different locations, but I do know that the F-22 was assembled in like manner by the Lockhead/Boeing team and rollout of the first aircraft was April 97. I would assume that when that team built their prototype a few years before, for the flyoff for source selection for USAF, that they used the same process. Whether Airbus or Boeing was the first to do this type of assembly, its been around for over a decade.

You might want to give the Cherry restaurant a try, was told that owner or cook (maybe the same person) was formerly the chef at Brunos.

Thats another one of my favorite places but don't get there much lately as I'm on the other side of town and the cost of transportation is almost the cost of the meal. That breakfast was 36 baht when I first started going there, then they jacked the price up to 38 and now 40, outrageous.

I hope your not including me as one of the Yanks slagging off Airbus. Just because I'm not excited about the A380 as it won't do anything for me in getting to LOS cheaper or quicker doesn't mean I have anything against Airbus. The 787 and the A350 is something that could reduce my comute time and I hope that they can fill them up with enough paxs to fly non stop from SFO and LAX, thus reducing about 4 hours off my time. Nothing would thrill me more if Airbus could develop an SST and get me to LOS is a few hours at a cost that is comparable with Boeing and Airbuses current aircraft.

When it comes to payload, does anyone know how the revolutionary A380 compares to the C-5 which first came off the production line over 30 years ago?

Let me dumb this down for you. I'm talking about non stops from your international airports like LA, San Francisco. Seattle and New York mainly. Those places you mention don't have immigration or customs so you couldn't fly into them and are so small that you couldn't fill a 737 let alone a 787 with enough paxs to fly to BKK.

Should be no problem as the peak season is over and as long as you don't have any specific requirements like wifi and in room safe. Try some of the new hotels as they haven't had time to build a dedicated customer base.

Don't know about seat confort, but the 787 is hyped for providing dramatic savings in fuel use and operating costs. If true it will provide confort on my wallet. Its not a big deal for those of you flying out of Europe as you already have many non stop flights to LOS, but from the states we only have Thai Air flying out of New York and LA. The 787 is a smaller aircraft than the 747 so it will be easier to fill with enough paxs to fly non stop to LOS, thus shaving about 4 hours off our comute time and providing more confort for my A$$.

There are many and it helps if you have a TGF. The Thepprasit night market as already mentioned, the complex in Ting Tong's photo, the Carrefour food court and a small mom and pop place near the Soi Arunathai school. But by far the cheapest, cleanest and and best tasting meals are those prepared by my TGF in our place. Some examples: you can buy eggs for 2 baht each, bread for less than 1 baht a slice, nice cuts of chicken and pork for 50 baht per package, fresh fruits and vegatables cheap (when I first saw the prices in baht I did a quick conversion and thought that was about a third of what I paid here at home, then realized the weight was per kilo and was even happier). A large bag of rice is around 120 baht and will last for a very long time.

When I needed to get one for my retirement visa this past Sep I went to Dr Belem. She is located on that soi where the Bangkok Bank is located on 2nd Rd. Soi 6 is nearby on the opposite side of 2nd Rd. Cost was either 200 or 300 baht. Walked in without an appointment and had the signed certificate in less than 10 minutes.

I do as MM suggested and that is pay for my flights when the prices are low and use my miles when the prices rise. I must be one of the few that actually likes United as I've found their FF program one of the best and with them being part of the Star Alliance they will place you on Thai, ANA and Singapore flights. My next flight in January (freebie) they routed me to Beijing out of SFO on UA and then to BKK on Thai Air and I'm scheduled to get in at 10 PM instead of the usual 11 to 11:30 timeframe when I'm on United out of Narita. I've flown on Thai, JAL, Cathay, Singapore, ANA, and EVA and I thought the cutest FA's were those of Singapore even though they don't show any skin with those uniforms. They do show every curve.

From what I understand, the 2400 baht offer wasn't withdrawn but modified. The last I heard was that instead of a list of names being turned in and then those people showing up at will and paying their 2400 baht was modified to a focal point had to be selected to collect not only the 100 names but also collect their money and then turn in the name and money to the membership office at Tony's. If I was there full time I would have volunteered to do this (although many might have been leery of giving me their baht), too bad a group of bar owners who have been in business for a long time and might have been trusted didn't take on this task. The ads that I saw on the tube last week where now quoting 8,000 instead of the prior 6,000 and I believe to get that rate you had to join with another. Before if you just joined his gym on 3rd RD just north of the Buffalo Bar it was only 4,000 a month while his other place on 3rd Rd and his new Europa fitness club near his disco was 6,000.

1. The prices 2. The large selection of women 3. The weather 4. The food 5. Near good beaches (not Pattaya beach)

Jimmy, Boeing is planning to build a 747-800 which will carry a few more PAXS and more cargo, so as the 747-400 are retired for age, Eva could still opt to buy the newer 747s.

1. White Knight buffet on Soi VC, don't let the gay area scare you away. 2. Cherry restaurant 3. Vientienne on Walking St, haven't tried the one near the Big C on Pattaya Tai. 4. Num Chai on Soi Buakaow 5 Thai Bar b Que buffet joint on 3RD Rd, the one near the snooker place.

I don't like that, now some SOB will be paying for the seat that I always get for free.

One thing about United Airlines is that if you fly at least 25,000 miles a year your considered Premier in their frequent flyer program. They will then place you in their Economy Plus section of the plane which provides an additional 5" of legroom for no additional cost.

I had heard it was 3 entry stamps in your passport within the past 6 months required you to stay out of LOS for 90 days. If that's the case then three one day visits would count the same as three 30 day visit with 15 day extensions. So minimun would be 3 day and maximum would be 135. I didn't take a chance with all the conflicting stories I had heard, so to be safe I got the retirement visa with multiple entries when I was in Pattaya last month.

If you want to save some baht take the skytrain to the Ekamai bus terminal (cost 30 baht) then go to the Pattaya window and get the express bus to Pattaya (cost about 125 baht). they leave every half hour and once you get to the bus terminal in Pattaya jump on one of the waiting baht buses there (cost 20 baht). You want to get on one that is going down Beach Rd and get off at Soi 10 or is it 11.

What you receive when you arrive will be an entry stamp in your passport. It will show the date that you arrived and a date, 30 days later, that its good until. When you arrive at your hotel ask them to photo copy that page. If they don't have a copy machine, ask them if they know of one nearby. Most photo shops along Sukhumvit should have a copy machine.

I will be arriving on Thai Air flight 677 at 10:15 PM. I should be thru immigration and customs around 11 PM. Anyone want to share the cost to Pattaya?