VoxVader

Same me and even born in Urbana. Illinois probably has the best shot of any single team to win it all, but it's still probably only about a 35% chance. -Vox

If they say they cannot sell it, just bribe them to sell it. -Vox

MM and Pete, Just curious if the forum software has an "ignore user" feature and if you might consider allowing it as an option if there is. -Vox

One solution is to use a CC that you know you will never use abroad and call the credit card and say that you wish to bar any charges from outside your home country withthe exception of a one-time charge to Dynasty (or whatever hotel). You might not even have to authorize the one-time charge because I think they just keep the number, not put a pending charge on it. In this case you could probably just give them a fake one... -Vox

I have a sanukmaps map of Ratchada from 2001 that does NOT list it as guest friendly. Might want to give them a call to clarify their policy. Sorry no better info. -Vox

http://www.bangkokhospital.com/english/lasik/lasik.asp Another link. Sorry I'm too lazy to hyperlink it. -Vox

I once got the mini-van from Nana. You book through the tour desk and you do not have to be a guest. I may have just had an unlucky experience. I assumed that the mini-bus would take us all the way to Pattaya, but I was wrong. First you have to wait for the mini-van to show up. If you are lucky you'll be the last one it picks up and you wont have to pick up anyone else. The mini-van then took us to the edge of Bangkok where we had to get out and wait for a big-bus. We waited for about an hour in this bus station and then got put onto some big bus that was mostly filled already. Upon arriving in Pattaya there was a second mini-bus waiting for us to take us to our hotel. It was NOT a pleasant way to travel and took longer and cost more than just taking a bus from Ekamai. Essentially the mini-bus was no better than an overpriced taxi to and from the bus station. If you take this option try and find out if the mini-bus will take you the wholel way or not. If it does then this is a much more reasonible option than otherwise. -Vox

As Greg suggested, one option is doing a night in Bangkok first. I've never gone directly to Pattaya, in large part because I love Bangkok, but also because the last thing I want to do after travelling for 30 hours is sit in a can for another 2 hours. Taxi to a hotel in Bangkok should be about 200-250 including tolls or about 150 if you skip the toll road. The next day or two you have several options to go down to Pattaya 1) take a taxi off the street (price 800-1200 baht) 2) take a car from the hotel (price 1200-1600 baht) 3) have the hotel travel office arrange a cheap "mini-bus" (price 250-350 baht) 4) take taxi or sky train to Ekamai bus station, take AC bus that leaves every 30 minutes (90 baht). With option #2 you can even get a full mini bus to yourself if you want. Dynasty has a very nice mini-bus for 1300. If you can find people to share with you, this is a very nicxe and cheap option. If you are just going to get a car then you have no real advantage over a taxi other than maybe you just can't be bother with flagging down a taxi to save $10. I would recomend against #3 as often the mini-bus simply collects you and others from other hotels and then takes you to a big bus and then another mini-bus picks you up in Pattaya. May take a long time. Option 4 is one most people don't bother with simply because they don't want to go down to Ekamai and don't want to have to hire a baht-bus to get them to their hotel once in Pattaya. However, it is clean, comfortable (AC and bathroom on bus), and you get to sit with BG's. Personally, I'd split a taxi or the Dynasty van if tavelling with others and take the bus if I'm heading down alone. -Vox

Do you mean DSL? If so Sandy Springs is news to me. If you just mean dial up, you can get a dial-up package at most 7-11's that you can use from your hotel. -Vox

I don't see any advantage that Dynasty has over Nana other than the free travel to Pattaya. If you like a pool, Dynasty Bkk does not have one. -Vox

You could also just aske them to hold your bags fora few hours after check-out if you don't need to take a shower, nap or get one last shag. -Vox

This thread just made me realize something. I've never had a wank in Pattaya... -Vox

There's Buddhist sect that does not eat beef. I believe it is mostly practiced by a few of the Chinese-Thais but you occasionally run into a BG that will not eat beef. I'm very ignorant of it, but I believe that it revolves around either A) some spiritual leader from the past is supposed to be continually reincarneted as a cow and you don't want to eat him or there's too good a chance your anscestors were reincarnated as a cow and you don't want to eat one. How was that for an ignorant and unhelpful post? -Vox

Only a certain number of the American troops are allowed on leave at any given time, they don't all flood in at the end. You don't really have to worry about it. -Vox

This is hard to answer without knowing what you think of as 'good' If you want a place right on the beach where you can look down on sunbathers then there are not any really. If you want a place where you can sit on your balcony and look out over the gulf and see the boats (and on a clear day some islands) there are plenty. If you want as just described with absolutley no obstructions, your list will get shorter again. I was pretty happy with a 'sea view' room at Inn House. Back a 1/4 mile from the beach and a building which obscures the view if you look SE but mostly was nice and I loved sitting there with a beer just gazing out. I suppose the standard Pattaya hotel advice is apropos: get a place you think will be fine and once there start looking for better places. In your case you will probably see the better places from where ever you are staying so it should be an easy task. -Vox