irishman

While I am sure that there are many nice appts. in the View Talay complexes and they do offer an afordable alternative if you like condo living BUT IMHO, the place just feels too cold, impersonel, and seems like an institution. Cheers

Hi Duece, I would dearly love to participate but this year I have an unbreakable committment in the States on the weekend of Nov 5,6. As much as I would like to be there, I think my son's wedding is a little bit more important. Cheers

There are a bunch of guesthouses right along the beach. Looked at them with the idea of maybe staying but then decided to go on to Hau Hin so I can't give you specifics. But a lot of Thais staying there so it couldn't be too expensive. If you arrive during the week, you probably will find lots to choose from. Cheers

Very few hotels have safes big enough for laptops. Bring a hard side suitcase and lock the laptop inside (out of sight ) when you are out of the room. Lots of guys have left their laptop in plain view in the hotels and not had any problems. Things are usually fairly safe in room but small stuff like money and passport should always be protected. Cheers

On my "free days" I usually stay at either a Flipper or Eastiny hotel and am quite used to being asked for a deposit since I pay by cash. Since I tend to usually stay at the Flipper Lodge, they know me by now and only make me 300 baht deposit. This caused a problem once because they tried to give me back 500 baht instead of 300 baht. At first the cashier was a bit irate as she thought I was trying to get more but when she realized I was trying to give her back 200 baht, she turned very friendly and now if the head cashier is around when I check in, she usually sends me a complimentary plate of fruit. Cheers

Had some experience with them on the BKK - MNL run. They were about 4 hours late. I would never use them! Cheers

Forget bringing more cash than a couple hundred dollars. Bring 2 ATM cards instead. You can get up to 25000 Baht from the machines and no waiting in lines or bringing passports to change TC's. ATM's are the only way! Cheers

Jackie45, I would second BigDUSA's advice about bringing your old laptop with you. You don't need much for email and the internet connections are slow enough to discourage use. (That may change now as ADSL is coming more common) The secondary market is almost non exhistant. Cyber, You are usually fairly right on but in this case you are way off base. I'm not sure when the last time you have done any comparison shopping for computers in the States but I have done a bit lately and believe me, you can get almost double the value for the same money when you buy in the US. I just bought the GF a desk top computer in Pattaya that was built from components and after shopping in BKK at Pantip and other places. I wanted her to have it for school so I couldn't wait until I returned. If I could have waited until I reterned, I could have had double the memory, twice the HD size, a faster and better CPU, and a DVD-RW/CD-RW for the same price as I paid in Pattaya after shopping around there for two weeks. There is no place like FRY's and CompUsa when they have their sales (every week) here in the States. Cheers

I don't know if you guys are all on the Piss or what. Flipper House is on Soi 7 just east of the Pig and Whistle. Flipper Lodge is on Soi 8 near Beach Road. Tops has ATM's that work with the Plus symbol on my card at least and that also will dispense 25000 baht at one crack. Tops is at the corner of Pattaya Central road and Second Road and is therefore very close to the Flipper House and about 2 blocks from the Flipper Lodge. Foodland is on Pattaya Central Road, almost to the intersection with Sukhimvit Road. Not close at all to either the lodge or house. Even Carrfour is closer. Big C and Royal Garden are also pretty far away from the Flippers unless you take a baht bus. But they can be walked to in about 20 minutes. Actually, Foodland is on a Baht bus route also but is about a half hour walk from Flipper House. Cheers

I have never stayed there and it really doesn't sound familiar. Looking at the map that Dingo came across though, I am wondering if it is part of a Condo complex that I looked at just past the end of the Jomtien Beach road. There is a restaurant right at the end of the road and you have to take this poor road away from the beach about 100 meters or so to get there. If it is, I don't think it would be a good place to stay because it is a bit off the beaten track. You would almost certainly have to have your own transport. The baht buses seldom if ever go that far. I have never seen one down that far and I go down there once in a while to the restaurant. The road out to Sukhimvit at that location is a dirt road which is a problem if it rains. Even getting down Jomtien Beach road that far can sometimes be a problem because they have been doing drain repairs and cut the whole road up in places. All in all, unless they are paying you, I think I would try for closer in town. Cheers

It's girl friendly and a good value IMHO. Downside is that it is a long walk from the action and on the border of Boy's town. Cheers

From the USA, Federal Express works great. A bit pricy for just one card or something like that but I sometimes get a bunch of forwarded mail from a couple of months and then it works out OK.. Think it runs something like $34 from the SF area for all that you can fit in a 9 x 12 inch envelope. Cheers

For a couple hundred baht more, you can stay in one of the Flipper's or Eastiny on Soi 7 or 8. Or the Welcome Inn on 2nd road. Stayed in Apex one night and didn't like it . Small, dirty and tricky deposit for the room safe box key. Just MHO but I wouldn't stay there again. Cheers

Looks to me like somebody was pissed enough about Pattayalivecam scam to make a website about it. I like to remember my dear departed Mother's favorite saying! "Don't believe anything you read and only half of what you see!" Has made me a bit cynical but I don't fall for scams. Let's see now how much was it that my TG needs this week? Cheers

Just have to ask. Some do and some don't. Most of the condos are furnished by the individual owners so it is up to them if they install one or not. I installed one in my condo when I rented. Cost about 7000 baht installed. Cheers

Don't want to rain on your parade but you need to consider transportation a bit more if you live there. Baht buses are infrequent. But having said that, just take a walk along there during the day and you will see lots of smaller hotels and guest houses at much cheaper prices than the high traffic areas. Stay in a known hotel for a couple of days while you look around. The Sawasdee chain has a big place on Soi Buakaow right next to Cupido (?) beer bar complex. Cheers

Though I might take a look at this book but it looks like out of print and second hand copies of the 2001 printing are selling for around $100. God, that makes it a fairly pricy book! Not sure it is that funny! Cheers

I'm not familiar with the place but we just had another topic on a similar subject. Read BigDUSA's recommendation on : http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10306 Cheers

With all due respect guys, one of the dumbest things you can ever do is change your trip or not come to Thailand because you were not sure of the weather! Since this is the open to all section of the forum, I won't elaborate but please, just trust me on this! Cheers

100 baht will buy a marvelous invention called an umbrella. You open it up and it keeps the rain off of you. Close it down and it becomes a walking stick. One should never worry about stuff like the weather in Pattaya because it is never the same but always interesting. Cheers

I don't have a clue as to how you could miss it. It is just at the bend where you start to curve a bit to the right. Maybe a little more than 100 meters from the intersection. It is most apparent when comint fro RG to South Pattaya road from the RG. Kind of a thin wedge shaped building. 2 - 3 stories high. Big glass windows that you can see the equipment through. Try again, can't believe that you missed it. Cheers

As you go from the intersection of Third Road and Pattaya South along Third road toward the RG, it is on the right hand side about 100 meters from the intersection. Cheers

Probably no problem if you are here. Some start to get booked pretty solid during December but you should OK that early. Cheers

If you are staying for a long time, renting at some of the condos can get you access to their swimming pools. Some like View Taley and Jomtien Condotel are big enough for lap swimming. Cheers

All three are good and I think I would rate them Eastiny first, then Flipper House and then Lodge. But as I said, I like all three and currently I just choose depending on whose bar I want to avoid. In September, you still should be able to do 770 or 660 for the Flippers and 800 for Eastiny. Maybe a bit less for Eastiny if you stay longer but those are the present walk in one night prices. At the Flipper house and lodge, the higher price is the new wing while the lower is the old. I usually stay in the old wings because the rooms are larger but you have to be sure that you are getting a double or queen sized bed. They have some rooms with 2 beds. Cheers