Emil

Partyanimal, There is a new joint that is nearing completion on Soi 5, remind me next month when I'm back in Pattaya and walking with Soi 7 to check out its status and price. Mike's Orchid should also be finished soon but could exceed your 1000 budget. Also the Beachview's renovation next to the Markland should be finished soon.

For anyone interested in the LK check out this site: http://www.geocities.com/lk_rsvn/lk_metropole The BigD suite looks impressive, but at 10K per night its 2500 more than what I pay for a month. Soi 7 and myself looked at a few of their rooms for OnMyWay last month. One of those 2 bedroom suites had a large bookcase and desk in the master bedroom. The desk was so large that Bill Clinton could have done Monica and her bigger sister on it.

On an email that they sent to Hub they mentioned that they charge a joiner fee of 300 baht, is that true or have they changed their policy?

I found them to be small, so you didn't have any problem with them.

There are 2 things that drive the price. First is the vacancy rate(which usually depends on high season and the 2nd is your length of stay. The last 2 places that I've stayed the published daily rate was 1200 baht. One place I paid 600 a night because I was staying a little over 3 weeks and the other I paid 12,000 baht a month plus utilities. One other thing that will come into play and that is when many of these hotels first open they will have introductory rates. When your negoiating a deal for a stay of any length you need to be talking to the manager.

As Johnny mentioned you can buy anything over here. I would recommend that you bring your own condoms.

Try to avoid the Chinese New Year timeframe or you could end up paying more.

Keep in mind that the lowest fare for a trip is not necessarily the cheapest in the long run. You need to factor in the FF programs of the airlines. I earn enough miles on a standard trip to qualify for 60% of another trip. Currently the airline has a promotion that will provide even more miles so it works out to 70% of another trip and on 2 trips this past spring they had an even better promotion where I earned 90% for another trip. Those of you that live on the east coast would do even better. As an example if I had to pay $1200 for a trip without a promotion going, then the effective cost would only be $750. When I paid $800 this past spring with the promotion the effective cost was only $420. Not to mention that because I stay with one airline I'm entitled to take more bags and have preferred seating.

Maybe he quit coming because you got rid of the go-go image. His target audience are the punters who like to drink and are whoremongers, not those interested in listening to music. Then again maybe because he found out your missus wasn't available.

Across from the Haven is the Ma Maison, next to it and across from the Sandy is the Golden Grab which is currently in the process of building a new wing which I was told would be finished around January

I just received by August mileage statement so if you've deleted your July email all you need to do on your August email is open your Mileage Plus homepage. then open "More great Offers", then open "Asian Pacific Vacations...". If you look at their terms and conditions you'll see that not all fares qualify for this bonus.

Here's the steps I used to register. On my July mileage plus statement that I received from UA, I read down to the URL listed under Destination The Far East and opened it. Then you see Special Offer and I opened it. Then Resister Now which I opened and gave them my UA # and was registered.

cybers, I don't know why they don't have photos of the rooms as they were very impressive. The lady that showed us the place said that if she received an email that she would enclose photos with her reply.

You might want to consider the LK Metropole. It meets your requirement except for being close to Walking St. It would be just a baht bus trip away. The place just opened this year and is located near Lolitias. They have 5 types of rooms and for 3K they list their 2nd best room at 72 sq m. You might get it cheaper depending on your length of stay. Don't have a website but you can send an email to: lk_rsvn@yahoo.com and ask for some photos of the rooms. I also looked at the Murcure and while it had better grounds, the LK had better rooms and wasn't isolated like the Murcure.

Ask for emergency exit row, plenty of room to stretch out.

No problem, the airport is rather unique as they have the security checkpoints set up at each gate area, I guess so that everyone can shop at the numerous shops they have in the terminal. They allow you to enter the gate area about an hour before departure where they have 2 computers set up that you can use for free for 15 minutes.

After being back from LOS for 4 days I thought it was time to get off my ass and book the next trip. I called my travel agent to see if the prices on United had dropped from June. They had but it was still 4 figures so I told her I was going to check for a freebie. I called UA and told the lady that I wanted a saver award to LOS and that I couldn't leave before 8 Sep because I had higher priorities (NFL fantasy draft) with a return date 45 day or less away as I could go to immigration and get an extension. I waited a few minutes and she came back with an 11 Sep departure date and return on 18 Oct. I would be flying over on UA and return on Thai through Inchon where I would transfer to Singapore for the flight to SFO. This is the 4th time that I've tried to use a saver award and have been successful each time. Never have I flown the entire trip on UA and on my last trip it was entirely on Singapore. Let me say that if you get a chance to fly Singapore go for it. The food was great and the entertainment system was the best I've ever used for economy. 40 English movies which you can individualy start and stop, TV programs, music CDs and games. The Singapore Girls were simply awesome, although those uniforms don't show much skin, but they hug the curves and they have very nice curves. I don't think Singapore has an EEO program. You need to call UA direct when you want to cash in these awards for the best success. Booking by computer only looks at UA and you need to be flexible with their partner airlines. The lady quoted me a cost of $24 for the ticket (they didn't charge me the additional $15 this time for talking to a person. I may be cattle class but I'm Premier Executive cattle class) but when I received my confirmation later I noticed that the bill was for $94. I called back and another lady said it was a computer mistake (they tried to pad my bill) and that it was indeed on $24. I thanked her and told her that would cover to soapies or 3 S/T's. Soi 7, I should be able to rejoin you on the exercise program on the 13th and take over for brother James. I'm sure that you'll find it easier to keep up with me than the fitness guru whose also known as the Jack Lalane of Milwaukee.

Those early morning departures can be a problem if your coming in from another city to catch that flight. On my last trip I had a departure of 130 AM from SFO on SQ, only problem is that the last flight out of Sacramento got me into SFO around 9 PM. Coming back they routed me through LAX and because the early evening flight was 1 hour and 50 minutes from my scheduled landing time they said it didn't meet the 2 hours required for a valid connection so I had to wait until the last flight out of LAX, another 5 hour wait. Also if you have to fly in from another city your going to have to pay alot more if your on another airline than if your connecting with the same airline. As an example if I fly out of Sacramento to SFO on a United flight it will only cost me around another $20.

Its a well know fact that Palmeriro has been using performance enhancing drugs for years. I saw him on TV ads a few years back promoting viagra.

I don't think they've raised the stakes, didn't they bomb a Carrefour and airport in one of those southern provinces a few months back?

We all know that its really for pay for view adult movies that your watching.

This must be something new as I've stayed at both places in the past and was never asked for a deposit for mini bar. The best mini bar policy by a hotel that I've stayed in Pattaya was Mike's Beach. If anything was used from the mini bar they would have you sign a bill for the item the next time you stopped by the front desk for your key, that way no surprises at the end of your stay.

I did the same thing about a 1 1/2 years back out or curiosity and discovered the same thing. The T/C's had the best exchange rate but if you had to pay an exchange fee per T/C then the 50/100 bills provided the best return. If your cashing a $500 T/C then that would be your best option. My analysis assumed no purchase fees for the T/Cs, if you have to pay a fee for the T/Cs then you have to factor that in.

Check out the hotel reviews section. Your arriving early August so nearly every hotel should have openings. At around 1000 baht a night your options are too numerous to post. I would recommend booking a place for the fist night and then check out other places to see what you like the best. They will be more than happy to show you their rooms. This way you won't be stuck somewhere that you don't really like.

That's extremely cheap, less than the cost of a mini van from Pattaya to BKK.