Harvey

For the OP, not only do you need to understand the acronym. You have to understand that just one LDOP ruins it for *EVERYBODY*

Wow, that cod and chips plate looks extraordinary. Thanks for the info, I'm hitting this place next time I'm in town.

Wow, this is like the photographic definition of comfort food. Thanks a million, EP. I must try this next time I'm in town. Edited to add: Out of curiosity, have you tried their cod and chips?

All the new media/social media stuff: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare/Swarm, Foodspotting, Vine. Airlines and hotels (travel for work a lot). - I like United Airlines android app and the Hilton app a lot. Seat guru helps me choose the right airline seat. Also, travel related, Yelp and Trip Advisor. Scout (GPS), Pandora, Skype.. And I use sound hound a lot because I can never remember names of songs so I end up signing it into my phone. Starbucks app gives me a free drink every 15.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (he's gonna win the Nobel Prize for Literature sometime soon). It's a big book (I like hard copy books vs e-book). The thing is almost 1,000 pages long.

Evil, I generally try to hit the HND-BKK flight on ANA that arrives about 1500. I have always beaten my checked bags into baggage claim. If you're arriving about then, you're golden.

Asahi super dry (nama biru) - on draft. My fave beer! :-) I'm dropping by next month.

Public kudos to Evil for the recommendation. I really enjoy eating roast duck. Had an mid-afternoon meal. Medium order of duck, rice, and a coke. The aircon section wasn't opened, so it was sitting outside watching the traffic and pedestrians get up and down Pattaya Klang. The duck hits a sweet spot of being good AND pretty cheap. I love duck and have had it in the great Chinatowns of North America (Toronto, San Francisco, NY, and Houston) as well as in Yokohama Chinatown and, of course, in China. I've had better in Hong Kong, but at a much higher price. I've had worse and more expensive in Shanghai. No muss, no fuss. Grandma (or auntie -- as I've gotten older, women I used to think were grandma have moved into auntie status) tells you to sit anywhere, you look at the very extensive menu, order the duck, it gets to your able quick and fast. I notice that they also have the pigs feet stewing near where the ducks hang. I LOVE that even more than duck -- I love the fatty pig skin and rice. Anyway, the medium order is almost too much for one person. I was eating it like a westerner -- with more protein than rice. Next time, a small order of duck with side of rice will be enough. In all, a very positive experience. Medium order of duck, rice, coke -- 230 baht.

+1 for yet another great report, Evil. Question: (For evil or anyone else that has eaten there). Anyone tried their pizza? A pizza Margherita and that tomato/onion salad would make a great meal.

Wow -- $789 round trip between Washington Dulles (IAD) and Saigon -- straight from the United website. Searched Nov 3-10, 2014 (at 12:13 p.m., Pattaya time). That's a good price. Routing Outbound: IAD-SFO-HKG-SGN Routing Return: SGN-HKG-EWR-IAD

Paid about $65/night USD. But I booked kinda late. If you plan ahead, you can get a one bedroom unit for in the mid 50s/night USD. Cheaper if you opt out of the daily breakfast. Or you can get regular studio rooms for cheaper as well. Harv

Here is the hotel's official website: http://www.atmindgroup.com/pattaya/ I've about completed a two week stay at the @Mind and here are some impressions. As always, YMMV. The facility is relatively new. I'm booked into a one-bedroom unit for which I got a good price on via Agoda. Everything works well and is in good working order. The front desk staff is particularly helpful, cordial, and effective at meeting your stated needs. The women working the front desk all wear that nicely fitted uniform shirt and short skirts that make you want to boff them all. The guys are a hoot. When you stagger in from a short time at nearby Soi 6 or a body massage from nearby Honey 2. Or you bring your lady up to the room, they'll all give you that knowing laugh. They're cool. Moreover, everyone at the desk is pretty discreet. My lady of the past week has not found out about excursions to Soi 6, a daytime short time in my room or body massages from anyone who works here. While that doesn't seem like something to celebrate, at one hotel recently, one of the desk ladies snitched on me with my TG and I got royally busted. I don't want to mention any hotel names or anything -- cough, cough -- Page 10 -- cough, cough. Your visitors must leave their IDs at the front desk. The room comes with its own safe (in a fully-functional walk-in closet). The kitchen area includes a full-sized refrigerator, microwave, booking burner unit and various pots, pans, plates, utensils, etc. A hot water boiler (I think you guys from the UK call it a kettle) rounds out the kitchen. There's a small, four-seat dining room table and a sofa/ottoman in the living room which faces one of two flat screened TVs in the unit. (The other in in front of the bed). It's cooled by two separate AC units, one located in the bedroom and one over the dining room table. The bathroom features (only) a glass-enclosed shower stall with two shower heads. The pool is good, open until pretty late at night. Problem, totally unmanned. So you have to call someone if you want a pool towel and wait for them to come and unlock a towel locker for you There seems to be a sauna in each pool bathroom (the men's is not working now). The workout room is a lot larger than most I've seen in Pattaya. This is open late as well. Rounding out facilities are a little minimart, a massage place next to it who'll give you a good foot massage in their space or come up to give you an outstanding oil/lotion massage in your room (just dial 7) from a pretty, young massage girl -- they're all pretty and youngish compared to most massage places. They'll all offer you a happy ending and are all quite skilled at it. Actually, the massage was really great too. My back felt great afterwards....as did little Harvey. Breakfast came with my Agoda booking. Beware, it'll be a bit odd. If you book and come alone, the hotel will only comp you one free breakfast per day. You're paying for your TG to eat breakfast with you. The food is almost exactly the same, so after about 3 days, you're done with their breakfast and will be going out just for variety. And speaking of going out -- the location. This looks a lot more convenient on Google maps than it works out in real life. Particularly since it backs up Second Road with the ongoing construction, my getting around involves lots of walking, including inhaling all of the dust on the road. It's a bit of a walk to get to Beach road to catch a taxi to WS area, so if you're a fan of the Walking Street scene, do not book here. Quite actually, this place is good if you're a creature of Soi 6, Big C, and the N. Pattaya area. Despite me liking this place, I don't think I'll return only because of location. Finally, the thing that irks me the most about this place is the housekeeping crew. I can count on my room not being attended to until very late -- once as late as 7:00 p.m. And that's with me vacating the room most mornings about 9:30. This is really unacceptable. Okay, while their website has lots of photos, here are some random ones of mine: This is the kitchen sink area. Dining room table and living room area. Essentially the front of the unit. The front door is there, right next to the refrigerator. A safe is located in the walk-in closet. Always something that I look for (safe, not walk-in closet). The bedroom includes a small desk, a flat screen TV, and the requisite Pattaya rock-hard king-sized bed. (I actually like a hard bed, IMO sex is better and easier on it). Desk is kinda small and you get claustrophobic if you have to spend too much time on it working (as I do). I ended up moving my computer to the dining room table and working there. A couple of photos of the bathroom

I think there are a couple of different concepts being discussed in this thread. 1. Future and continuation of Ptty as a male playground. 2. Martin's discussion - which I found interesting - of the Thai constitution, public support for martial law, etc. On item #1, above. That ship has sailed a long time ago. Those that decry the ongoing changes are spitting in the wind. Look at all the huge condo construction projects. These will bring new populations into the zone. GGB and BBs are losing the fight for space to other, primarily retail, entities. My personal experience horizon in the city (1998-present) -- and many of you are much older hands at this than me -- illustrates in my mind where the city is headed. It'll be primarily a beach destination. Yeah, there will be the odd BB zone like on Sois 7&8. And maybe agogos may end up on LK Metro. But know this: things have been changing, slowly, for years. And that's perfectly okay. Nothing in life remains static....hell, I'm sure there are Thais who decry change and want their fishing village back. (That's not coming back either.) Bottom line: enjoy life now, while its in front of you. Don't sweat the small stuff or things you can't change. On item #2, above. Martin, I only wish there were another board somewhere where you could expound on your thoughts, for I found it interesting. Just sayin'. But I would leave you with the observation that it's not uniquely Thai to support political and legal systems which are not in your best interest. Here in the states, a large number of folks do that...it's maddening/amazing/laughable to watch. Keep on trucking, dudes.

That moment when, after screening a thread title and being sure it's just snarky humor, you dig down and realize that it's all true. What a laugh. A couple of Russian "tourists of quality" were harassing a baht bus driver in front of Central Festival today and backing traffic up. Get 'em!

Wow, it's like a typhoon blowing in right now (8:20 p.m.) Torrential rain, thunder and lightning, high wind gusts. Yikes!

To echo Evil and Tequilareef, took a TG for drinks at the Hilton and scored lotsa admiring female murmurings and major buffalo falang "points"....if one could consider that to be an honor. Or not. We scored an outside seat/table and just drank and hung out. Tasteful house and trance music at just the right volume. Service that was attentive without being hovering. Certainly, if youre thinking of limiting your spending, this is not the place for you. My simple vodka tonics (with whatever they use as a well brand, not a call or premium) were 300. I don't even want to start with my girl-of-the-day's blended tropical drinks. But every once in a while, it's nice to get both of you dressed up - at least by Pattaya standards - and have a nice time. And again, my temporary girlfriend was so impressed (and tipsy) that she unilaterally called off post drink plans to go karaoke so we could go straight back to the loom so she could boom boom me good. She's been in the bathroom for the last 10 minutes and counting getting something special ready. She asked where I kept my razor, so I got a hunch she's in there dulling my last blade on herself. But it's all good. And all for cost of a few rounds of drinks. Life is good.

Austhai, i had a chance to meet Pum (Poom?) -- I think that's her name -- this afternoon. If it weren't for the fact that she's probably swallowed the load of every BM here, I'd marry that girl right now. My God!

Buy *money* with your mileage card, then use the money you bought to pay off your bill. Money meaning gold coins for sale, etc. You'll still end up paying a premium, but they'll be cheap miles in the end.

I assume you mean the soda. I've never seen it. When I'm hung over or don't want to drink, my go-to is a Lipo and soda. It has kind of a ginger ale-ish taste to me.

Number 4 is dangerous. The kind you end up sending money to and, eventually, marrying.

I call for a recount. Number 4 was robbed!

Ugh...reminds me of my high school cafeteria. No thanks.

Thanks for the 411. I will adjust plans accordingly. P.S. I want to steal your Landshark user name for a basketball board I participate in. It's a really good and funny one -- assuming you got it from SNL.

Very good and informative report. A real service to fellow BMs. I need to apologize. I meant to up vote your original post, but fat-fingered me accidentally hit the red button on my iPad screen. And I can't figure out how to undo that. Sorry. (This is the second time I've done this in a week. I need, perhaps, to stop voting.)

If anyone in Ptty has laid eyes on target, would greatly appreciate a report. Looks like I can put my current work project to bed by end of September, so looking to make early October reservations. Not keen to drag myself into town really needing a break and booking myself in a construction zone. If the construction is still going, will book myself somewhere else. Advance thanks for your help.