Taxi

Actually for those who haven't seen it, here's the follow up story from the Pattaya mail. http://www.pattayamail.com/ Victims of High Five fire provide chilling account “It’s a Christmas miracle he survived,” one witness said Elfi Seitz Norwegian Hans Mueller is afraid that he will lose the use of his leg. On Christmas Eve last week, an electric transformer exploded next to the High Five Hotel on Soi & in Central Pattaya. As reported in Pattaya Mail last week, there were no fatalities, but there were a number of injuries ranging from rather minor to quite severe. In the aftermath of the terrifying event, Pattaya Mail managed to talk with some of the victims. Here is what we found out: All who were interviewed agreed that the firefighters did a great job and were true heroes of this sad event, as was the staff of the neighboring Sunbeam Hotel, who did their utmost to console and help the injured. But almost all lamented the lack of fire security at the High Five Hotel. Laurent Betourne praises the prudence and care of the Sunbeam Hotel staff. German citizen Manfred (last name withheld) and his Thai girlfriend said they were in their room on the third floor of the hotel when they heard strange noises from the street. They wanted to leave their room, but dark smoke hindered them. They returned to the room and used bed sheets to try to climb down from the balcony. But when Manfred stepped on the balcony balustrade, it broke and he fell onto the grounds of the Sunbeam Hotel. He was lucky and broke only one toe and has a few bruises on his arms and legs. William Koerber rests in his hospital bed. This young man has a long road of rehabilitation ahead of him. “I think the security in this hotel is a scandal compared to European standards. There was no fire alarm and not enough ladders to help the people down. Worse yet, the fire escape leads back into the hotel and not to the outside,” Manfred said. Gnter Franke, another German from Stuttgart, was asleep in his room on the fourth floor when he heard the elevator alarm before the lights went out. Opening his door, he saw the heavy smoke. Since his room had no balcony and the fire-escape was not in reach, he quickly soaked all his clothes and took the only way out for him: through the fire and smoke all the way down the stairs. “It was either me or the fire. I am lucky I made it,” he said. He was full of praise for the manager of the hotel, who immediately came to help him. Suffering from smoke inhalation, he managed to get to a hospital by himself. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, the end of this fire escape led back into the hotel to an area quite close to the fire. Norwegian sailor Hans Mueller said it was his first time in Pattaya. At the outbreak of the fire he was on the sixth floor with his girlfriend. A room maid knocked on his door and when he opened it, he saw that the floor was full of smoke. His girlfriend found the way to the fire escape, but many people were there already and they were pushing to get out. Hans fell to the ground next to the Sunbeam Hotel, injuring his leg. His unharmed girlfriend brought him to the hospital. American William Koerber is at the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital and will have to stay there for many weeks. The young man was staying in his room on the 10th floor when at 12:55 (afternoon) he tried to go outside to visit his brother John in Jomtien. He hadn’t heard a fire alarm and was shocked to see the heavy smoke. He couldn’t reach the nearest fire escape, so crawled on his hands and knees to the other one. “I made it down to the 6th floor I guess, but then the smoke was so heavy that I couldn’t manage anymore. So I tried to reach the window to climb down the window bars, but unfortunately they didn’t hold my weight and I fell down all the way,” he remembers. William also landed on the grounds of the Sunbeam Hotel and all who watched his fall in horror thought he must be dead. But he survived. Staff at the Sunbeam Hotel cared for him until, according to some witnesses, the ambulance arrived about an hour later. He suffered several breaks on both feet and legs, hips, pelvis and left arm. After two emergency operations, he will have another operation next week and from then, “all is in God’s hands” according to his brother. John added, “We are happy he survived and has no real major injuries like a broken back or skull. I most probably wouldn’t have survived this fall.” An English couple who witnessed the horror unfolding said, “All of a sudden smoke engulfed everything and we saw people running down the fire escape. It was horrible chaos. When we heard that the young American we saw falling had survived, we thought this was a true Christmas miracle.” Laurent Betourne, former GM of the Mercure Hotel in Pattaya, at that time was a guest at the Sunbeam Hotel with his wife Cristina and his three kids. Laurent said, “The actions of the staff of the Sunbeam Hotel were exemplary. They went from room to room, asking people to leave the hotel quietly, since there was danger that fire could spread. They also took very good care of the injured until the ambulances arrived.”

you want smoking or non smoking floor

OK, Sandy Springs came back to me and said the Scandibar.com rate in Jaunary is 2,500 per night and would I confirm my booking again. I have gone back and said I confirm I am arriving 22 Jan, but have 10 nights in February and will they apply the Scandibar rate for those nights or should I book via them. Will keep you posted, the difference is 500 baht a night so well worth trying to get the better rate. Cheers

Alfred, I would recommend you are non commital about how long you stay in Dynasty, it's OK, clean rooms, new, but the rooms are fairly small. There are a few hotels in Soi 13, I would suggest you check them out, just go ask to look at their rooms. My preferred hotel is two buildings up towards beach road, Sandy Springs, but everyones different. Dynasty does have a nice foyer...... but you probably won't be doing much shagging in there!! Cheers

You can make call without operator assistance from your room. I was able to connect to my work via a bangkok number as I need to hook into the work network so any other ISP is usless to me. I did have trouble but eventually figured out I was using 9 then " for a pause and and I think it was 9 then' or - or , shit I can't remember now but reception knew the right way. I didn't use it but from what I gathered you can sign up for a local ISP immediatly and dial in via the local ISP in Pattaya, or something like that. I'm not 100% sure but the did seem to have something you could sign-up for. I think whatever it is will only be max 56K connection. Cheers

SoCalGuy, will let you know, 48 hours so far and no reply, very unusual they normally are very quick. I'll give them another 24 hours then just make a booking, if that gets confirmed via the agent I'll cancel my existing one. Cheers

SoCalGuy, thanks for the link, I had booked 20 days, 11 in Februrary at their rate of 2,500 per night for a suite, your link just potentially saved me 5,500 baht or 11 x barfines. I have written to them and asked for the rate or asked them should I cancel my booking and rebook with the agent. My guess is they won't give me the rate....... it's a Thai thing, so will give the agent a go. Have you used them before? Thanks for that, I like this hotel, cheers

Jimmy, ask for a high floor at Sandy Springs (prefer eigth floor 8) , they have nice views. Also don't bother dealing with the front desk staff re discounts, they wont help, you need the boss for sure. I really like this hotel but the front desk folks are not empowered to do anything other than follow the rules. Cheers

BKB, I have stayed at the Marriott but not recently, it's one of the best in my opinion, great location. I have stayed at the Dusit and think it's over rated, also I had big TG trouble at that place. I had a long argument with the night manager before finally getting my TG in for no cost. The best place is probably Royal Cliff, I have not been there and it's a little out of the way. In my opinion your friend should spend 2,500 per night and stay at Sandy Spring, the 10,000 or so he saves a night he can be the most popular bloke in town. It's not the Marriott but to be honest, I spend a lot of time in 5 star hotels in Asia, I'm a fussy prick when it comes to hotels, and your friend will be very happy at Sand Spring. it's two minutes from the Marrriott so he can walk down and check their rooms, for the price and quality differnce he won't change, actually I'd bet he prefers Sandy Springs suite (get him to ask for 8th floor) . There's pictures etc in the hotels section. Generally hotels in Pattaya are a little more basic than big city 5 star. Book direct with SS or many online booking agents for Marriott, just search on google or something. Think I paid about usd $70 - 80 for the Marriott but it was a while ago. Cheers

I stayed in a suite at Sandy Spring Oct / November 03 and also checked out Dynasty while I was there. In my opinion thre is no comparison, Sandy has much better rooms, Dynasty rooms feel small and dark by comparison. Dynasty has a nicer reception area and that would be it. Also Dynasty will be affected by the building work, I never heard a thing. There's also a few pics in my folder of the suite room....... and a couple of my guests. Sorry quality is a bit poor.

Soi 7 one is the same, at least in the mini suites (which is a bit of an overstatement, slightly bigger room but big big tub.

JW Marriott, but there has been varying reports on the GF side. I only stayed there once and had no problem, great location also. Dusit - I recomend not to stay there, overpriced and 100% not GF at all.

Mark, Good to see you made it home, although I have to admit you do look different in the shower!! Cheers Greg

I had a look at the rooms 3 days ago, they are clean but fairly basic and a little small, the foyer area looks good. There is also as mentioned digging for the foundations of a building next door. In my opinion the rooms are significantly better in Sandy Spring about 50 meters up the Soi, I took a few pictures and will post them as soon as I work out how. Also I checked out the rooms with a fellow board member who is staying at Eastiny Place on Soi 8, his view was also that Dynasty was not as good. Having said that, the hotel is new clean and comfortable, also the location is great. Cheers

Actually I prefer the quiet or low season, I was there in April and will be there again next week, I'm pleased to hear it not too busy...... all the more for yours Truely!!

iwan, you'll have a great time, you wont regret it for a second

Flipper on Soi 7 was was not all night but can't recall how early it closed. I guess the trouble is they always had staff up there to man the bar etc....

I should have mentioned EVA Air the other airline from Taiwan has never had a fatal accident. I know which one I'd choose. Cheers

Was ready to post this when I noticed Torrenovas link to the same site........ for those who didn't go to the link, China Airlines has one of the worst saftey records in the developed world. Having said that, your chance of being in a crash are extremely remote. Happy reading fellow travellers. http://www.airsafe.com/events/regions/asia.htm Fatal Events Since 1970 for China Airlines The following events are those involving at least one passenger death where the aircraft flight had a direct or indirect role. Excluded would be events where the only passengers killed were stowaways, hijackers, or saboteurs. 12 August 1970; China Airlines YS11; Taipei, Taiwan: The aircraft was on approach under conditions of heavy rain and low clouds when it struck a low ridge about 660 feet (200 meters) about one half mile (800 meters) from the runway. Two of the five crew members and 12 of the 26 passengers were killed. 21 November 1971; China Airlines Caravelle; near Penghu Islands, Formosa Strait between Taiwan and the PRC: The aircraft was believed to have been destroyed by an inflight explosion caused by a bomb. All 17 passengers and eight crew members were killed. 27 February 1980; China Airlines 707-300; Manila, Philippines: The crew executed a steep and unstabilized approach, touching down hard short of the runway and bouncing, eventually stopping on the runway after having the two outboard engines and parts of wing departing the aircraft. Two of the 122 passengers were killed. 16 August 1982; China Airlines 747; near Hong Kong: The aircraft encountered severe inflight turbulence. Two of the 292 passengers were killed. 16 February 1986; China Airlines 737-200; Pescadores Islands, Taiwan: The aircraft touched down on the runway but crashed during an attempted go around . All six passengers and seven crew members were killed. 26 October 1989; China Airlines 737-200; near Hualien, Taiwan: The crew was using an incorrect departure procedure and hit cloud shrouded high ground at 7000 feet (2130 meters). All seven crew members and 49 passengers were killed. 26 April 1994; China Airlines A300-600; Nagoya, Japan: Crew errors led to the aircraft stalling and crashing during approach. All 15 crew and 249 of the 264 passengers were killed. 16 February 1998; China Airlines A300-600; near Taipei, Taiwan: The aircraft crashed into a residential area short of the runway during its second landing attempt. The scheduled flight had been inbound from the island of Bali in Indonesia. The event occurred under conditions of darkness with rain and reduced visibility due to fog. All 15 crew and 182 passengers were killed. At least seven persons on the ground were also killed. 22 August 1999; China Airlines MD11; Hong Kong, China: The aircraft was landing in Hong Kong at night and during a storm after a flight from Bangkok. The aircraft struck the runway and came to rest upside down and on fire. All 15 crew members survived, but three of the 300 passengers were killed. 25 May 2002; China Airlines 747-200; near the Penghu Islands, Taiwan: The aircraft experienced an in-flight breakup and crashed into the sea about 20 minutes into a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong while the aircraft was just above 30,000 feet.. The impact area was in the Taiwan Straits near the Penghu Islands about 75 km (47 mi) from the coast of Taiwan. Apparently, there was no distress signal, emergency message, or other indication of any problem sent out prior to the event. Weather and flight conditions were normal, and no distress signal or other communication was received prior to the crash. The 19 crew members and 206 passengers were all killed. The accident aircraft was the last 747-200 in passenger service with China Airlines and was to be sold to another carrier next month. According to Boeing, the aircraft was delivered to China Airlines in July 1979 and had accumulated approximately 21,180 landings and 64,394 flight hours. This nearly 22-year old aircraft was newer than similar models in the fleets of U.S. airlines. According to the FAA, the average age of Boeing 747-200 and 747-300 models in U.S. airline fleets is 24 years. This was the 26th fatal event involving the Boeing 747. The next most recent 747 event was an October 2000 Singapore Airlines accident in Taipei that killed 79 passengers and four crew members. There have been several fatal events in recent years involving in-flight breakups, including the 1996 event involving TWA Flight 800 and last November's fatal event involving an American Airlines Airbus A300 over New York City. The investigation is in the early stages and no cause for this event has been either identified or completely ruled out. Previous in-flight breakups involving jet airliners have been due to varied causes, including a fuel tank explosion, severe weather or other atmospheric phenomena, bombs, missiles, and midair collisions. The November 2001 in-flight breakup event involving the A300 over New York City is still under investigation, but the breakup was apparently not due to any of these reasons.

I agree with crackpot........ if your girl understands your in a more expensive hotel she will try for more baht in the early negotiations. I like the better hotels, so when a girl asks me where I am staying I will say, I stay soi 8 or Soi 13 (wherever you happen to be), so they dont know until we get home and the pricing is all settled. More directly, I dont think the girl will feel much different about you between say Tims or Flipper etc.... She will be more likely to judge you on how you treat her rather than where your bed is.

partyanimal.................or a heart attack while showing your Thai lovely how mut you luv her. Still I'm more a 5 star airline man myself, can forget China airlines in my book, but thats just paranioa I'm sure.

Gordon, I'm with you on Singapore, I fly them often, also I usually opt for free ticket in business clss, 85,000 miles needed. Last year I decided to go first class Sydney BKK, I was the only one up there on a couple of legs, was great!! I have enough miles for one more b/c class trip then I'm back on Qantas where I have lots of miles. Cheers

Gordon, looks like both you and torrenova are worried about going down on the flight!! Think I'll wait until they put the 747-400's on the Sydney route, but how many uni students will there be in first class with me........ 8)

Gordon, think I would be more excited if not for the "two 25-year-old B747-200s from Kuwait Airways" the rest sounds good, just need to start saving for first class.

Aj, thanks, wasn't worried about finding ladies on arrival, just a good way to kill two hours on the way down. Appreciate the info, cheers