landy2a

I found this site advertised and out of curiousity entered details of my trip next month. The result was cheaper by about AUD 200.00 and I am the original cheap charlie when it comes to flying, but alas and woe they will only accept a credit card with a billing address in Canada or USA. Maybe the Canuks and Seppos could get some use out of it. Any reports good or bad? John

BigDUSA, Who did you rent your room at Yensabai through? Baht400 is a good price and better than Pattaya rent a room is advertising. Uc Dai Loi cheap charlie, he no buy me Saigon tea, Saigon tea cost many many P, Uc Dai Loi he cheap charlie. This is sung to the tune of knick knack paddywack and is the chorus to the Bargirls Lament and was top of the pops in Vung Tau in the sixties and early seventies. Mythology has it that Uc Dai Loi is Vietnamese for tall, handsome man from the south. John

Thanks all for the replies. BigDUSA, If I stay at Yensabi it will be the day after you leave and chances are I may have your room so purely in the interests of your family and friends health feel free to leave any SARS infected US$100 notes you have left over under the bed and I will dispose of them free of charge. John

Thanks Pete, I was hoping to have skippy going across the bottom of the page the same as Code Monkeys somersaulting monkeys and name. Thanks John

Pete, Code Monkey has a neat animation on the bottom of his post. In words of two syllables or less could you explain how I can include a similar gif in my post. The gif is already in my album. Thanks mate John

Hopefully I will be over again early May for 3 months. I have planned to rent a studio condo or apartment in either South or Central Pattaya and to this end I have been checking the classifieds in the Pattaya Mail. There seems to be a few around ranging from 8000-14000 Baht per month. Centre Condotel, Nirun Grand Ville and Yensabi are a few mentioned. Have any members gone down this track and please pass on any advice or pitfalls that may occur. Thanks John

Onya Steveo, not too much news about the world cup cricket win from all the losers. John

Pokerboy, Suprise is right on the money, That is the web site. John

OmarinUK, I have just had 10 days staying at the Jan Bar Guesthouse in walking street, ( you can crawl home on hands and knees from FLB in 5 mins) and paid Baht 405 per day for 10 days. The bar is run by two great aussies (Bob and Roundy), has good clean rooms, good cheap western meals, lots of Poms, Aussies, Kiwis, Canuks, South Africans etc. Great golfing trips organised by Bob and Roundy and great info on Pattaya freely given. Landy2a

Valentino, Sure the normal baht bus is 10 baht but this is a flat rate for you and your luggage to your hotel door anywhere in Pattaya. The baht bus is waiting when the Thai airlines bus arrives and the convience is worth the extra 40 baht ( AUD $1.60). Besides it gets you used to being ripped off most of the time. John

Emil I am sure about the noon departure as that was the bus I caught. As much as it hurts this Aussie to admit to maybe being wrong I will not mortage the house and bet on the accuracy of 6 am and 6 pm departures. I thought that was what I saw but was only interested in my bus and the next 10 days activities so may have missread the sign. The Thai limo service in terminal 2 sent me to window 7 in terminal 1 to buy ticket and the bus left from outside terminal 1. John

I used Thai bus service on March 4. Bus leaves at 6 am, noon and 6 pm. Cost 200 Baht. Buy ticket from window 7 in terminal 1 BKK airport. Bus dumps you off up near the dolphin roundabout and a baht bus ferries you to your hotel for 50 baht. The 50 baht is not negeotiable. John

Deuce, Make a killing, ship soccaroo shirts back home. John

Rooman You got a brother called roodog.... John

Tin Tin in Thailand available for download from www.bangkokbob.net/literature.htm John

Doolish, Far be it for me to be a nit picker but if your mate was lost on a QANTAS flight in 1976 contact them and they may have found him by now. All searches show Qantas has had no fatalities since at least 1970 and I know they have had none since they went all jet in around 1960. BTW I am not a apologist for Qantas, they suit my travel needs. John

Tom, Qantas management are quite open about the fact that Frequent flyer points are a profitable part of their biz. I use my visa card mainly to earn points and although i do not chase points if all things are equal I will buy where I receive the most FFPS'. In 4 years I have had 3 return flights Brisbane to Adelaide, 1 return Brisbane to Hong Kong and I am going Brisbane to Noumea in April. The experts say "earn points on short hops and burn them on long runs". A trip Bris to Sydney can be got for AUD $110 and if purchased on Visa gives 1100 points or miles. John

Anything by Carl Hiaasen, his take on the natives (human) of Florida is extremely humourous. John

I am off to Hong Kong and LOS for a month starting Feb 17 and also plan to have anothe 3 overseas trips in the next 12 months so have searched out inexpensive travel insurance. I thought AUD $490.00 ( all dollar values in australian dollars) through Qantas frequent flyers was not bad for a year but have found Columbus Direct offers 12 months for $225.00. Some of the excesses are a bit higher but cover levels are good. Had my son who is in the insurance biz check it out and apart from high excesses it seemed a standard policy to him. If insurance is purchased with Columbus direct through www.frequentflyerclub.com.au a 20% discount applies. This $40.00 discount covers the joining fee for www.frequentflyerclub.com.au which is $34.95 The frequent flyer club will search out the best deals for your points and is good value. Any views good, bad or indifferent appreciated. John

Doolish, Search the memory banks and let me know when the last QANTAS aircraft fell out of the sky. Who cares about alleged leanings of cabin crews, the blokes up the front and in the hangars have got me up in the air and down again safely over 200 times. John