GONBUST

My first trip to Pattaya i stayed at the Queen Vic, great food, great staff rooms are always clean but no lift which does not matter, later on you use the fire escape at the back to get in, some of the stairs have low headroom. As the previous posters say, its in the middle of Soi6 and through the day there are hundreds of girls sitting outside their bar waiting for customers and at night a lot of Ladyboys, the bars are quiet on a night time. Definately do not take your wife here to stay for 2 weeks, try a hotel near Soi 13 where there are not so many bars or Jomtien.

Try this site http://www.asiawebdirect.com/ i used it for a hotel in Bangkok for 3 nights, it was the only site i could find that had the '3 night for the price of 2' offer for the hotel i stayed at, all the others did not mention it.

Flew with Thai in April for Songkran, overhead screens for all and the planes where a bit tired looking. Does not matter for me, i am usually asleep for most of the flight and only wake up when i smell food.

I like Emirates, have flown with them twice but recently the connection times have been rubbish making the flight 20+ hours and the flight prices have risen. Good airline but i go with the cheapest now.

I usually stay at Sandy Springs hotel on Soi 13, i get a de-luxe room for 1600 baht, but prices start at 1200 baht. For me it is ideal, it is in the centre of the one-way system with easy access to soi's 6,7,8 and walking street by baht bus. Last time i left Pattaya in October there was a lot of flooding on second road but soi 13 was ok apart from the second road end, outside the hotel was dry.

I had a suit made in Phuket for 6000 baht a few years ago, paid extra for Versage lining, shirt and designer belt. The suit was well made and fitted perfect. If i ever need a suit again i would get one made in Thailand. As far as i know they all get made in the same place, some Indian sweet shop somewhere.