Emil

If your not carrying around a calculator and you want to get a quick estimate of what a specific amount of baht is equal to in USD's, try this: Drop the last digit and divide by 4. So if you see something priced at 2855 baht, drop the 5 and divide by 4 and you get 71. This works almost perfectly when the exchange rate is 40 to 1. Since the rate is less than 40 to 1 you know that the item is going to cost you a few bucks more.

Unless the hotel has those electronic card keys, then any former occupant or former employee could get a key made. I always use the interior locking device and after the room has been cleaned I hang out the "Privacy " sign even when I'm out of the room. There is also a door knob cover that you can purchase for a small amount that you lock over your door knob when your out of the room, again you must wait for your room to be cleaned and this device is only good if you have to insert a key into the door knob.

Scheduled to arrive on United flight 837 at 11:05. Should be finished with immigration and customs around 11:30, anyone wanting to share a ride?

Remember that what you spend in retirement should be significantly less than when you where working if you've been fiscally wise. Your biggest expenditure when you were young should be next to nothing as the 30 year mortgage should be paid off unless your were foolish and took out 2nds. You children should be grown and out of the house so less mouths to feed and no school costs. When your retired you won't have a daily commute burning up gas and other related vehicle cost and the cost you spend on wardrobe will decrease. If your moving to LOS and can adapt to eating Thai food your food costs will be about 1/4. You'll also learn alot where you'll pay alot less than when you were there on holiday. Don't put off retirement if your planning to move to LOS as working those additional years to have a large income might not be worth it. There is no guarantee as to your health and energy level when you get older. Today you know that you can do a S/T or 2 in the afternoon before doing a L/T in the evening, when your in your 60's or 70's you'll probably be happy with a good L/T and an occasional S/T. Worst yet would be to work additional years to achieve the large monthly income and not be around to enjoy it, but I'm sure your relatives would be happy.

Your 3 months late. If you would have booked with UA in May you would have gotten their special bonus of double miles. I got triple miles, the online booking bonus and the deferred miles which works out to just shy of a freebie so the $1100 ticket price worked out to $550.

He'll have that done by one of the squaws.

I fired off an email the other day asking the car service that I use if they would be reducing their prices once the new airport opened. I received a reply yesterday from them telling me that they would be reducing their price from 1200 to 1000 or a 16% reduction. I'm pissed that I didn't take that bet offered by another board member.

I think things are just slow now. I went there the end of July around noon for a 15 day extension. I walked in got my number for getting the 15 day extension (you get didfferent numbers depending on what you need to get done), My number came up immediately and I went over and gave the Thai man my application, passport and 1900 baht. I was expecting him to tell me to come back in the afternoon or the next day which is what has happened to me in the past and was surprised when he said wait in the waiting area. Less than 5 minutes later a Thai lady called my name and gave me my passport with the extension stamped in it. Even if I had to come back later or the next day it would have been no big deal. Was actually hoping to have to stay there until later in the afternoon so that we could spend some time playing pool with the naked ladies at the Las Vegas bar and check out there Sierra Tango rooms.

OnMyWay will be spending alot of time changing all those pre set numbers on his mobile.

There are at least a dozen gold shops up on Centeral Pattaya Rd east of 2nd Rd, look for the red front stores. A baht of gold is around 1/2 oz of gold. When I left Pattaya about 2 weeks ago it was around 12,000 baht for a baht of gold. Earlier this year I saw it as high as 13,500. The price of a baht of gold is shown on the store front window and sometime they change the price twice a day, they are closed on Saturdays. Lets assume that when you go shopping its listed at 12,000 baht for a baht and you want to purchase a baht of gold. The 12,000 is the value of the gold so you will be paying an amount over that listed price to cover the shop keepers overhead, workmanship and profit. This is the amount that you will be negotiating. The shop keeper might ask for 14,000 and you'll be trying to get him down to maybe 13,500.

Yes, a small soi runs along side of the hotel although there is nothing in front of the hotel and South Pattaya Rd. Also there is plenty of action nearby, many boy massage joints and boy go-gos if thats what your into.

It's located on South Pattaya Rd between the school and Com City. I don't know how old the place is but they remodeled the place over a year ago.

I can see that for the taxis that are based at the airport as they have the privilege of parking in front of arrivals and utilize the booking service in the arrivals hall. I was told that they now charge an additional 50 baht above the meter to cover that charge. But unless they install a toll plaza in front of the airport to charge the taxis arriving from Pattaya to drop off passangers and the private vehicle picking up or dropping off there will be no additional cost.

That would be true if he's based at the old airport. If he's based in ceteral Bangkok his trip would be about 50 Ks less as he wouldn't be traveling north and then back tracking. His trip would be even less Ks if he based south east of Bangkok.

The reduction in travel time will be dependent upon the time that you arrive. I leave the airport around midnight and there is hardly any traffic so I'll knock off about 30 minutes. If your arriving during Bangkok rush hour you could save an hour or more. From what I've seen, Thais are very price competitive. If Mr Toon isn't reducing his prices I'm sure others will. I'm hoping that some enterprising person will start a mini bus operation between the new airport and Pattaya. If they can make money running a bus between Bangkok and Pattaya while only charging around 120 baht there should be money to be made running a bus between the new airport and Pattaya for 200-300 baht. In 2 years, if they can stay on schedule, there will be many taxi drivers out of work when the skytrain opens between the airport and Bangkok.

Along with the higher fuel prices people are flying in record numbers. We've been spoiled with low prices the last few years with 9-11, SARS, bird flu and the Iraq war when fewer were flying. I use my miles during the summer and December/January timeframes when the airlines raise their prices.

Mark, For awhile there I thought you had moved. Regarding the electrical shut off when key is removed don't the hotels that have this system have refrigerators that stay on when the key is removed. If so couldn't you purchase an extension cord with outlets to plug in your laptop and rechargers? Regarding the Keerati, when we checked out this place awhile back we were told that if you stay there you have access to the nearby LK Metrople's pool and gym as they were owned by the same family.

Before you move to another state try to figure out what your taxable income would be in the state your residing. It might not be that great once you retire, hopefully it will so some of the states without a state icome tax are Alaska, Washington, Nevada, Texas, Florida and one of the Dakotas. Once you decide which state you want to become a resident, get a driver's license, registar to vote, set up PO box or mail forwarding place and purchase a fishing/hunting license. Shilo, I currently have Kaiser health plan through my federal retirement. I currently spend about 7 months in LOS making 6 trips a year until I sell my house and then move. Kaiser covers me on vacation and when I had my last physical I went into their office and asked them if they would still cover me if I was one an 11 month vacation to LOS. They said yes but only to emergeny issues which I can live with, otherwise I would change plans to another provider duringthe annual open season.

I bought one of those CyberHome unit based on Soi 7's recommendation about 2 years ago from Best Buy. Cost was around $35 after rebate. It was not multi region when purchased, however it was a simple process to change as Soi 7 talked me through the steps over the phone.

On the leg from Inchon to SFO I was reading a Singapore newspaper and they had an article about Bangkok. With a city around 10 million it appears that the governement has finally realized that they have a traffic problem. They are talking about adding 3 more subways lines and extending the skytrain lines. Regarding the airport line, when I arrived this past June I read an article in the Bangkok Post dated 27 June and they were talking about the new airport line. At that time they mentioned that it is scheduled to open in 2 years. They had completed 25 % of the pedestals and 25 % of the conections beween them. The bad new was that they had discovered that a few of the pedastals were faulty and needed to be replaced. Sounds like a potential major fuck up, however being an American I can't critize as this project comes nowhere near the problem of the Big Dig in Boston. I don't know how long that project was delayed but the original budget of $2.5 billion came in at $15 billion and its already falling apart. You would think that a state with Kerry and Kennedy as their Senators could do better.

Larry if thats the case then it sounds like they will have 2 lines going to the airport. I take the motorway which is north of the elevated toll road and they have been installing the pedestals for a skytrain line from the airport.

A friend of mine solved that problem by purchasing 2 tickets and putting his bags in the seat next to him.

Now that this topic is about 1 1/2 month old things have changed. There is another hotel soon to open on Buakaow near the night market and another one down the soi from the Mercure closer to 2nd Rd.

There is also another place across the street from Carrefour, a few meters closer to 3rd Rd. I think its 30 baqht per rental and if its not a new release you keep it for 3 days. One of the other advantages of renting and then copying besdies being cheaper and being assured that it not defective is that you get the chance to view the movie to see if you want to have a copy.

So that's what the front enterance of the Welcome Inn looks like. I've only entered from the back and have stayed in about a half a dozen of their rooms. The best is the one where they recently remodeld the bathroom because Soi 7 fell on his ass and then took out the sink.