partyanimal

Just booked for 808 on United. Btw-BigD thanks for cluing me into Enconomy Plus. When I only had 19,000 miles I convinced th egal on the phione that since I'll have 25,000 when I reach Narita I should be economy plus for travel from thatpoint onward, They put me in the system as economy plus and then I got the extra leg room seats for all legs of the trip. Best seats other than emergency exit rows on the NYV-Narita leg are 17B and 17H

I got turned down for ShangriLa (or Banyan Tree) for 55 the other day. Planning to bring my own girl from Pattaya since a paarde of talent would surely be frowned upon not to mention joiner fees. Are all the 5* Sukumvit hotels from Priceline, places without joiner fees? Btw my name on that board is Will Gettheshangrila.

I always stay at the Grand and paid 990 baht for their standard room with queen bed. These rooms are in the back of the building so it's quiet. Very friendly staff and they know your face which I like but others may not. Guests leave ID at desk and then they call your room when the girl takes back the ID to make sure your OK. 24/7 access to house safe. Their wake up calls always on time but I also ask the bellman to bang on my door if I'm not in lobby in time to get to airport on time. Negative is no pool. You feel like you're a million miles away from the madness of NE

Hey V-as far as pool, this place is right on beach right? Not like Pattaya where water is full of shit? Too bad hotel wing is nicer than beach cottages cause I like the idea of beach cottages.-PA

Hey Valentino, Can u fill me on Chaweng Gardens Beach Resort? They have hotel wing and bungalows and cottages? Price? Which type of room did you like best? Thanks! Next being the hotel wing of Chaweng Gardens. ( Chaweng Gardens Beach Resort Chaweng Beach Road, Chaweng Center 162/8, Moo 2, Tambon Bo Phut 84320 Koh Samui, Suratthani, Thailand Tel: 0 7742 2265, 0 7723 0993 Fax: 0 7742 2265

I don't pay deposits in Thailand since there are so many hotels that don't require deposits. But I can understand why hotel owners want deposits; it's a reasonable way to business. But by wire transfer, fugedaboudit. I'm not jumping through hoops to stay anywhere.

Vox Vader says it best. Book for two nights. Then on your second day, scout around, look at a bunch of hotels to find one you like best. Extending your stay at the original hotel should not be a problem. Neither the Sabai Lodge on Soi 2 or the Welkom Inn on Soi 3 require deposits. If booking at Welkom Inn request the best available room since the room quality goes up tremendously for an extra hundred baht or two. VIP 1 (with balcony) or VIP 01 (Welkom Suite) are the best two rooms.

Was looking around the Frommers site and it appears that American and Delta do not fly to Bangkok; instead their codeshare partners do and not an eligible flight to Bangkok. United is now running a similiar special and they do fly to Bangkok. However with United the two qualifying flights can not be at the lowest published rates. Bottom line, it's a good deal if you have a real reason to pay and fly twice between the east and west coasts. But otherwise not such a hot idea cause the free flight will be heavily restricted.

Grand Inn on Soi 3 is perfect for a two night stay. The standard rooms which are in the back of the hotel are very quiet (and cheaper). It's a small hotel with a friendly staff that gets to know you. No problem with guests,, they keep the ID at desk and call when she picks it up to make sure all is OK. Never had a threesome there but assume there is no problem or extra charge. Saftey boxes at desk with double key and 24 hour access. Most importantly since I'm staying before I leave for the airport their wake up calls are always on time but as a backup you can ask the bellman to

Welkom Inn on Soi 3 has two rooms with baclonies, VIP 1 and VIP 2. Although they are next to eachother VIP 1 has the MUCH nicer view. They overlook the beer garden where the frelancers hang out in the afternoon. Welkom Inn only has a house sage but has a small swimming pool, gret food and to be sure no guest hassles. These rooms with balconies are about 1000 baht a night.

Greg-You buy into the foriegn fund before 4PM on a day that the Dow/Nasdaq is doing extremely well. Maybe one day out of ten is a day you want to buy in. You sell the foriegn fund before 4Pm the first day the Dow/Nasdaq is doing poorly.

Greg-My thing is not buying in and out as the fund goes up and down. My thing is buying into the foriegn fund before 4PM on a day that the American markets are up 1% or more. It's working for me with real dollars but it's not luck. I have spreadsheets with two years of data showing the obvious correlation. If anyone wants to look at them I'll be happy to email them to you. Anyone else trying this just be aware that the Japanese market will be closed on some non-obvious days in the next couple weeks. I know many of you may have a hard time believing that something like this co

Alex's limo is an option, 1500 baht and he is a nice guy and drives safe. His number is posted somewhere on this board in one of BigD's posts,

Greg-I do it within my 401K too. I made 2K in the last month moving a little more than 50K around. Question-Did your fund eventually stop you from rapid trading? I have two foriegn options, one fund from Templeton and one fund from Nicholas Appelgate. Yes, more European than Asian and I think Vodaphone is the top holding in Nicholas Applegate. If the big market move is in the afternoon much better sincethat will then influence the European stocks.

Wombat-Just noticed you're not American. You have to be buying into American mutual funds that invest in Asian stocks.

1) The idea of this system is to make a small profit, about 1% in one day. So in order for this to work the mutual fund must have no sales charge to get in, and no defered sales charge if leaving. 2) Asian markets all close before the USA markets open. 3) If Americans markets do extremely well then about 80% of the time the Asian markets will do well the next day. Or if American markets go down substantially then about 80% of the time the Asian markets will do poorly the next day. 4) So if around 3:30 (New York time) you see the US markets are having a great day (like Thursd

If any of you want to make some easy money....................if you are in a mutual fund family with no front end or back end load...........on a kick ass day on Wall Street, before 4PM you move all your money into an American based mutual fund that buys Asian stocks. It's like past posting.......a slam dunk!

I enjoyed "Into Thin Air". It's about climbing Mt Everest and even if that's not a subject that you think would turn you on, it's still an excellent read. Any John Grisham book, I think Runaway Jury is one of his best. For the flight over you can download, "Expert Play in Connect Four" .

Just checked and my return flight in January, BKK-Narita-JFK is only 9,632 miles so I miss out on the bonus.

Thanks Emil. Maybe I'm a wimp but I don't want to be on the back of a motorbike without a helmet (especially when I'm reducing my pleasure by wearing a condom).

If you are calling from the land of the free and the home of the brave dial 1-800-356-8900 to find out what class you're flying in. If you are NOT in class W,S,T then dial 1-800-447-6772 I wanted the 5000 miles so I punched in code 798 so presumably I'll be recieving 5000 bonus miles.

So how far is it from the main road? Someone said 200 yards which is no big deal. But is it really much further. Don't like three on a motor bike, will my Thai girl not be thrilled about walking?

Before you get too excited JTE, "qualifying miles" may be for only "full coach fare" tickets. Hope I'm wrong buddy.

I'll be staying at Koenig in a few weeks, sounds like a deal! If you can't walk too far Sabai Lodge, Sabai Inn or Welkom Inn might be a good choice cause empty baht bus often turns around on soi 2 so you don't have to walk at all catching the bus. Returning you get off at 2nd Road and the walk is all downhill, maybe a minute walk.

I'd book a hotel for the first 3-5 nights and if you like it extend your stay. If you find something more to your taste, then switch.