CheshireTom

At the moment. I'm sure EK373/374 is slotted in to go A380 in the autumn.

Any idea which flight number it will be? If it connects with the BKK-DXB A380, that's good news. Edit in: Got the flights .... "But the carrier has now confirmed that it will roster the A380 onto one of its two daily flights between Dubai and Manchester from September 1, replacing its Boeing 777 aircraft. The flights in question are EK018 departing Manchester at 1410 (arriving 0015 the next day), returning from Dubai as EK017 at 0755, landing in Manchester at 1225."

It would be interesting if someone could actually put a figure on how much you need per month for overpriced drinks and so-called ladydrinks to lead the "good life" in Pattaya. Someone must have some idea of what the additional costs are to live in Pattaya as compared to the rest of the country.

It seems to be an oft-repeated fallacy that if you don't live in Pattaya or BKK you're out in the "boonies" scraping a living together by "living like a Thai", whatever that means.

Depends on where you live and who your neighbours are, I suppose. I have no problems with mine whatsoever. If you want to spend your days discussing Volvos, pickled herrings and Abba though, the Scandinavian Village might be right up your gata.

Err, it's a Pattaya board. What did you expect?

Yes, but it's not a REAL CITY, is it. It's certainly not a Thesaban Nakhon, much the same as Bangkok isn't a Chan Wat. They're both metropolitan municipalities.

Right on the button. At 169 Baht it's a bargain. The "free" soup, salad and dessert would cost that elsewhere.

What a complete load of nonsense.

Sometimes they need a bit of farang co-operation, such as Dietrich Mateschitz. He and his Thai partner have done rather well, IMHO. Without wishing to generalise, opening a beer bar or Go-Go in Pattaya hardly quailifies as being innovative when talking about entrepreneurs. Anyway, as nidnoyham pointed out, there are enough farangs about who will happily rip you off without worrying too much about the Thais.

William Heinecke would disagree.

Jacko, We've got most of that down here ... Macro - well, we've got a Makro if that counts Expats Club - no. I've got ThaiVisa. English Pubs - what are they? We've got them and Irish and American Country - call it The Green Lion/Wyoming or something and add 25% to the prices. English friends - and English hooligans, drop outs and other undesirables by the ton - Nope, you can keep them. Immigration and Land Transport - yes, without the queues of farangs. Motorway - yes, we have them too. and six lane highways and pedestrian bridges over all of the busy main roads. Great nightlife - not sure what you mean? Beer Bars and GoGos, or what? Restaurants - I'll give you that. Our choice of Farang-style restaurants could be better. But you can still get a "Full English", scoff supplied by Yorky in Jomtien apparently, Sunday roasts and all the international/Thai chain restaurants except Burger King for some reason. Lots of tarts.. - Quantity with dubious quality and half of them started life as blokes. We have quality and variety - Isaan, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Chinese, Vietnamese. Got to admit, Pattaya has a few more ladyboys though. Tourist Police - yes, we have the friendly and helpful variety. Great medical facilities - yes, we've got them at 20% of the price as well as the more expensive Bangkok Group International option. Ditto. You can get that in Chester. Ditto Inside or outside of Thailand? Serious question - Would you live in Pattaya if it wasn't for the availability of the tarts i.e. was it a deal-breaker in your decision to live there?

You can get many of the western amenities in just about any of the larger provincial cities. Even Tesco hypermarkets are to be found everywhere from Had Yai to Chiang Mai and Nong Khai.

I've lived down south now for 3 years and each time the thought of moving crosses my mind it doesn't take long to conclude that the grass isn't likely to be much greener anywhere else that I'd consider moving to. I actually enjoy the fact that I'm not surrounded by thousands of other farangs and don't find the language, or at least my lack of language skills, to be too much of a hardship, nor do I find the food, bureaucracy, services etc to be much of a hassle (or at least not to the extent that I'd get wound up about it for very long). If I need a break, there are a whole host of places to visit within a two hour drive of my house. I also have one airport 30 mins drive away with flights to BKK, SIN and Phuket and another a further hour away with flights to KL and Air Asia's main hub. Throw in the main railway line and main north-south road are less than 30 mins away and 3 border crossing points with duty free facilities around a 90 minutes drive away and I think that you'd be hard pushed to find an overall better location anywhere is LOS. As for the girls, we haven't got the quantity that Pattaya has but the variety and average quality of the girls is way better IMHO. At the same time we don't seem to have the grief with various scams/attitudes/rip-offs that go with the girls/bars and are often reported on the likes of this forum.

Bear in mind that (currently) there aren't any HD transmissions on True satellite so a high-spec model is probably only going to be beneficial for playing HD discs. It's worth keeping an eye on the likes of Craigslist to see if something comes up that fits your needs.

Sorry - I should have explained that a bit better. The official fare is still 1,500 but if you call out an offer of 1,200, you'll get plenty of takers. As I said, doing it with a smile gets the result and, yes, it's 1,200++.

jacko, The two booths have been replaced with 2 lots of 5-6 counters and is really quite efficient now. The taxi drivers are all lined up on the other side of the counters and a call of "Pattaya pan song" normally attracts a rush of volunteers from them. The folk at the counters seemed quite happy as long as you do it with a smile.

I appreciate that, however, where the special rates are offered (by whichever booking agent) the no refund policy is determined by the hotel, not the agent. You would have encountered the same issue with any agent that was offering that specific deal. It's a bit of a bummer but no different to booking a flight - the cheaper the deal, the more restrictions that will apply.

I can't see the issue. The cancellation conditions for each particular booking are spelt out at the time of booking. Although I choose not to book through Agoda for different reasons, it's not their blanket policy to apply the charges you encountered to all bookings. Normally "no refunds" are only applied to special deals.

Oops.

Nah, we're just keeping it going until Boeing manages to deliver its first 787. Or BigD relocates to Pattaya - whichever comes first.

Hardly. The aircraft is flying operationally. Unlike Boeing's offering.

I didn't hear you complaining about getting a discount on your subsidised Vibe.

Any further info on those 5 star hotels doing deals at under 1.8k a night would be appreciated by lots of BMs I would think.

There aren't hundreds of 4/5 star properties available in BKK for under 1,800 Baht a night.