neilri2001

I had crispy pork and rice. Food was not bad but have frequently had better in London Chinatown. Portion size was modest but so was the price. Agree with Evil that the service was extremely friendly

I ate twice here on my most recent trip. Great views over beach rd. Ok its not in the same league as the Sky bar at the Hilton but neither are the prices. Thai and farang menu although i only ate from the Thai one.Many main courses were around the 150 baht mark going up to 350 to 400 baht for whole fish dishes. A bit of an undiscovered gem i think as it was very quiet on both of my visits. If you stay in the hotel breakfast is also taken here. I took a look at one of the rooms but they were too small for my liking

A few years back i flew from Stansted on Maxjet on one of their all business class flights to the states. Whilst the airport itself had / has a reputation as a low cost / backpacker type place my experience was pretty good. I arranged private car transfers which took me pretty much to the door of the executive lounge ( admittedly at an additional cost of almost £200 ) and then it was straight from lounge through fast track security and onto the plane. If Emirates offer their premium passengers a similar experience you would barely be aware that you were flying from Stansted. Unless there has

Flights to BKK are widely available for £1699 in the recently announced BA premium sale for April, May and June 2018. The product may be much maligned but for regular BA flyers ( especially those with status who can take advantage of advance seat selection and earn avios / tier points ) its got to be worth a serious look. I understand from another member that EVA have also announced a flash sale so you obviously need to compare prices on your proposed dates.

A few months ago i asked if any members had experience of Gulf Air Business class as i noticed through skyscanner searches that it was often possible to find fares around the £1000 mark even for short notice bookings. Consequently they were my first point of call when i was looking for a last minute booking in early December. After a couple of days the fare suddenly dropped from over £3k to just over £1100 on West East so i got it booked straight away. A lower fare of £1024 was available on the same dates through Fly Sharp but the online reviews of Fly Sharp were sufficiently varied for me to

I generally book my car for at least 60 and sometimes 90 minutes earlier than i really need to allow for traffic problems and any possible no show.

Yes. I personally think that the 1 2 1 layout on EVA is pretty much unbeatable and probably as good as first on BA ( although the BA lounges are better ). I would definitely choose it over business on the Emirates A380 where the seats are quite narrow and it can take an age to get served if you are seated near the back. Its been a few years since i flew business class on Thai so i don't feel qualified to give a comparison with them. Flying from the UK EVA have got more expensive in recent years but you can still find fares of around £1800 when they have a sale on. Anything up to £2k would be

Wifi was absolutely fine. Code on check in and a new code after one week. The code only supported one device but they happily gave me a second code for my tablet. Only slight annoyance was that you needed to log back in every day but as this took all of 10 seconds it was no great hardship.

Having traveled with a different airline and stayed in a different hotel on my most recent trip i thought that i might as well try a different transfer service and so after many happy years with the Limo Pattaya i decided to give Nam's taxi service a go. Advance communications were good and the airport Pick up was flawless by a lady called Mai a Bangkok based driver who Nam uses often for late night and early morning arrivals. Between arrivals and the car park Mai must have decided that i was sufficiently trustworthy and so removed all the junk from the front seat and invited me to ride up f

Despite the declining service huge numbers of people continue to use BA. I have flown BA business to Bangkok a couple of times in recent years but only using avios / upgrade vouchers ( and even then the taxes and charges were not far short of £600 ) but would only spend hard cash if they were at least £300 cheaper than EVA

H Boutique is one of at least three hotels owned by the same group on Soi Honey ( The others being 24/7 Boutique Hotel and The Honey INN ) and staff seemed to move around the three venues as required. Some facilities were shared between the group as everyone took breakfast in The Honey Inn and had access to the pool in 24/7 Boutique hotel. It's possible that the recently built Aqua hotel on Soi Honey is under the same / related ownership as i saw staff in Aqua hotel uniforms working in both H Boutique and The Honey Inn. Rooms are classed as either Superior or Deluxe but are actually the sa

In the early years i was a very regular visitor to Flipper Lodge on Soi 8. Tried Flipper House once for a change but went back to the Lodge on subsequent trips. At the time there wasn't much between them in terms of facilities but i was known by several of the staff in the lodge at the time and that made for a better overall stay

Well in the space of 48 hours the price for my dates went from £45 to £75 to sold out. My second choice The Whisper was also sold out. Whilst the demographic of Pattaya is undoubtedly changing fairly rapidly talk of its demise is still somewhat premature. I sill still take a look round the hotel though as it is sometimes available around the £40 mark and as i have status with Accor would probably get a room upgrade

Another vote for Bangkok Pattaya Hospital. I had a ( very minor ) procedure there three years ago. Happy with the service and price. Collected from and dropped back to my central pattaya hotel for an additional 120 baht each way if my memory serves me correctly

Thanks for the replies Gents. If i choose the Mercure i will share my thoughts ( for what they are worth ) with the board

I have a couple of questions about the Mercure hotel just off second Rd if any board members are able to help. I have done a little research online and it appears to be guest friendly but the hotel's own website plays up the family friendly aspect and talks about enhanced facilities for kids. Has anyone stayed there recently and did you feel comfortable bringing back overnight guests? Second question is more of a geographical one. Is there direct access to both Soi Buakhao and second rd from the hotel? Thanks in advance

£1800 for business isn't too bad either as EVA offer a very good product. In my opinion EVA business seats are as good as first on BA ( not that there is a first class on the BKK route ). I have an acquaintance who works for BA and has a Thai wife. They pay staff rates and almost always get upgraded to at least business and they still prefer to go via Hong Kong rather than take the clapped out 777 that BA use on the Bangkok route. Mind you as long as they can fill business class with eight across at a higher price than the middle Eastern carriers charge for a superior hard product then they re

Looks an interesting option. Just over second Rd from a former favorite Page 10 which has gone down a bit over the past year or so

If you fly into Bangkok there is a certain amount of ambiguity about where you might be going in Thailand and what you might be doing. No such ambiguity if you fly into Pattaya! Might be an issue for some.

Think that my post may have come across as a little critical Roy. That wasn't my intention as i have respect for the military and those who serve in it. Even though i observed many drunken marines on those exercises i never saw any actual trouble. As you point out the system of self policing worked well. It's also one of the golden rules of Pattaya that whoever splashes the cash gets attention. Doesn't matter if they are military or not.

My first trip to Pattaya in 1988 coincided with a huge naval exercise and i recall the waves of marines arriving via the beach with many of them rolling drunk in the streets just a few hours later. The stories of bus loads of girls arriving from Bangkok are also true. I don't know if prices going up per say are true but if the military were in a bar splashing the cash no one else got a look in until they returned to the ship. I recall spending an interesting evening in a bar with a MP ( or the naval equivalent )

Assuming pricing is similar i would go for Thai in economy and EVA in business

Courtesy of the Flyertalk premium fares forum. China Southern currently have business class fares of around £1100 return for LHR to BKK. Availability seems wide open and connection times good. The only negative i can see is that the 2-2-2 seating is more appealing to a couple or two friends travelling together than to solo travelers. Flights from London are on the 787 dreamliner which seems to get decent reviews in business ( although the reviews of economy are lousy )

I've probably eaten at least once per trip at Kiss for the past 25 years, usually on the way back to my hotel after a session. Never had a great meal there but never had a truly awful one either. Average food at modest prices and not a bad place to people watch

Thanks for the detailed reply Valentino. I have found flights via Venice on my preferred dates for around 1300 euros but at the moment i am struggling slightly with avios availability for the positioning flights to Venice