Gary

Different people value things differently. Beach view condos bring a premium for reasons that I really don't understand. The salt air corrodes things that normally have no corrosion problems. The best thing about a sea view is the normal breeze. The breeze is nice but the salt air problems are not worth having the breeze to me. A decent fan gives you the same thing without destroying electronics or appliances. As far as beach access, I refuse to swim in Pattaya or Jomtien water so that is also a waste. I do put a premium on a nice big fresh water swimming pool. I have a large picture of a Tahiti beach on my bedroom wall. My condo is within walking distance of the beach (less than a kilometer) but I can't remember the last time I even went to the beach. About the only places I walk to are the bars, restaurants and 7-11. Different strokes for different folks. I much prefer a bigger unit for the same money as a smaller beach view.

Years ago when I was condo shopping, I looked at VT 2 and at that time they were having major problems with the maintenance team. (Theft of money). For my tastes, that would have been the last place I would have chosen. If I remember correctly, they still had some shells available starting at 450,000 baht. A friend of mine bought one there and got scammed. He was told his unit could be in his name and he ended up with a bogus company owned unit.

Ban Suan Lalana complex on Soi Chaiyapruk in Jomtien. The picure was taken outside the front door of my condo on the third floor of the five story building.

This is good ????????? The cherry on the cake is the total lack of any security....

My bedroom balcony;

This is my "hallway"

I actually don't like condo living. I especially don't like the narrow dark hallways in the high rises and the fear of fires is always there. That made my condo shopping quite a challenge. I refuse to live in a shoe box and a separate bedroom was a requirement. A TV in the living room and another in the bedroom makes living with a Thai lady much easier. I discovered Lalana and I immediately liked the buildings. They are only five stories high and built in a rectangle shape. I open my front door and have open air. The center part of the building is garden area open to the sky. The monthly maintenance is ten baht per square meter per month and the electricity is billed directly from the power company. The maintenance fund has a big surplus and is very healthy. I would advise anyone shopping for a condo to check the electricity rates because some complexes double or triple the rates. That is a plain and simple rip off. Check the monthly maintenance charge and what it covers. My ten baht per square meter covers trash disposal as well as basic insurance. I had some water damage from the condo above mine and the insurance covered it. A gated complex with a high wall all around the complex is also a big plus. I had a painter come in and I had to go to the front gate to authorize his entrance. It is a big complex and is quiet with no pets permitted. The grounds are very well kept and the swimming pools are sparkling clean. Last but maybe not least, I didn't buy my condo for an investment. I bought it because rent is usually a big part of my living expenses. It's like a security blanket for me. No one is going to throw me out or raise my rent, After seven years I don't expect my wife to throw me out of her house but one never knows for sure.

That screen is made from Gorilla glass. Many other phones have screens made from the same material. I have a Defy Plus and the best thing about it is that it is water and shock resistant. The phone is now priced at about 8,500 baht. It is an Android phone and I am very happy with mine.

Why and how can you criticize a place if you haven't tried it?

If the quality of the burgers is as good as when I lived in So Cal, I will be a great place to get a rare treat.

I have a 60 square meter condo with a separate bedroom located in the Lalana complex on Soi Chaiyapruk. The grounds and the swimming pools are spotless. It is a gated complex and security is second to none. I had it temporally rented to a friend of mine for 9,600 baht per month until he found a permanent place. I am now using myself it for my infrequent on the road trips. It's nice to have a getaway place.

My advice would be to NOT get in a hurry doing anything. You can buy a vehicle anywhere but beware on the tent sellers. They are like most used car salesmen and will tell you anything you want to hear. You may decide that you don't like the Pattaya area. I think further south near Ban Chang is a delightful area. Don't get connived into buying a house via a Thai company. It is clearly illegal regardless of what real estate agents or slippery lawyers tell you. Foreigners cannot own property in Thailand except for a condo that falls in the farang 49 percent portion.

Years ago I used to frequent a certain bar. One day I went in and on the other side of the horseshoe bar sat a couple of guys from what appeared to be the Middle East. They would be in the bar nearly every time I went in. Since they always sat in the same place, I had a chance to observe them and how they interacted with the girls. I admit that I first based my opinion on how they treated the girls. They weren't big spenders but they bought at least their share of drinks and eventually we were on speaking terms. As it turned out they were from Iraq and that was the beginning of Desert Storm. I was a bit surprised that their behavior remained exactly the same and that they enjoyed their beer and the girls the same as I did. If they had smelled bad, the girls would have certainly reacted. Generalizing about anything is never an accurate thing to do.

Large condo? It's a studio.

I too have a Nokia with a GPS. The Nokia map has the soi numbers in Jomtien mixed up. Google maps on my Android phone are a little better but if you ever use a dedicated Garmin, you will find that any of the maps available for smart phones suck. The native ESRI Thailand maps are the best. The Garmin South East Asia map is outdated and points of interest are also way outdated. Tom Tom maps also suck and are outdated. I'm not a Garmin fanboy but the fact is that if you want the best Thailand map, a Garmin GPS with the ESRI map V 12.1 is the best. The Garmin Thailand prices have come way down and for 4,000 baht you can get a new GPS with the latest map. ADDED - http://www.eaglegps.co.th/index.php/lang-en/car-navigation

This is from the Thai ESRI map. This map is absolutely the most up to date map available for Thailand. It is compatible with Garmin GPS devices.

The press wood furniture with the plastic covering is truly crap. The fact is that it is very difficult to find anything else. My computer desk was falling apart and the plastic coating was coming off. I looked far and wide for a new desk and ended up buying an ugly steel desk. It too is cheaply made but at least it won't de-laminate.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't walk across the street to see her. I guess that I simply don't like her style of music. It's just a bit above that rap crap.

I think that he only likes blonde women.

A wild animal is a wild animal and never to be trusted. This is natures way and no one should ever put them in a position to be a supposedly tame animal and have fools petting them and having their pictures taken with them. Even the docile elephants sometimes go crazy.

I think it is a horrible thing to poison any animal. There are always better ways to deal with them. I have shot my share of cats but a bullet in the head is much more humane than a painful poison death. And yes, I know a bullet in the head is not an option here.

I think that could have easily been forecast. They were selling lifetime memberships for very cheap prices. Once most of the members have a lifetime membership how does the company pay the overhead? I really think they are guilty of out and out fraud. I'd bet that the company executives still have fat bank accounts.

I too refuse to follow the Apple lemmings. No way will I pay an Apple premium price. I have my Kindle and the e-ink display is better and sharper than a printed page. I have my cheap 10 inch netbook that takes a memory card, has WiFi, a decent keyboard and I know of nothing an iPad can do better except to be more expensive, fragile and needing an expensive case to protect it. I have progressed further than Jacko because I do depend on my phone to check email and have a good camera in my pocket. My smart phone is no longer very smart. I don't allow it to sync things that I'd rather do manually and I don't use any of the social networks. I did have to root the phone and install an application that will not allow it to connect to the Internet by itself. The phone and SMS messages work but the Internet data is shut off until I toggle it on. The Motorola Defy Plus can be purchased from invadeIT here in Thailand for 9,500 baht. It is an Android phone and I use maybe a half dozen Android applications. In addition to doing what the 28,000 baht iPhone will do, it is water and shock resistant with a Gorilla glass no scratch screen. As much as I dislike touch screens, I must admit the the swype typing is amazing. Checking my battery with my normal usage shows it has been running 140 hours and still has 39 percent battery left. Having to charge a normal smart phone every day and pay for an unlimited account sucks. All smart phone applications still work, BUT, only when I want them to.

There are eight text sizes available plus different fonts. There are also some additional settings. You can rotate the screen in any direction you like. I had about a thousand different books on mine and found it too hard to navigate and keep track of them so I now put less than fifty on it at a time. Actually I put them on by author so It's easy to remember which ones I read. I then then delete them after I read them. I use Calibre to load the books.

That is why I give my Thai wife 30,000 baht per month. She pays all the utilities including my Internet, buys my cigarettes, clothes, household needs and food. It works well for me and allows me to be my normal lazy self.