Bazle

I've uninstalled AVG but it is just the same It must have been co-incidence.

How much did it cost you?

Thanks, Frosty.

I'm not sure whether it is co-incidence, but ever since I received an AVG update an hour or so ago, Pattayatalk is the only web-site I can access. As much as I enjoy reading the Forum, access to email is rather more important to me, and I don't have that at the moment. I've tried accessing about 15 of my favourites, some in the UK and some not, and this site is the only one I can get into. For all the others, I get told: "DNS error occurred. Server cannot be found". Any suggestions, please?

That's one reason I like Thai food - no chance of it being infected with the stuff.

It is in Beach Road Soi 1, not Soi 2.

The Jasmine Hotel in Soi BJ off Walking St is relatively inexpensive, has safety deposit boxes at reception, and (at least some if not all) rooms have cooking facilities (except you seem to have to provide your own pots and pans). http://www.jasminehotel-pattaya.com/booking/rezeasy.html

It turned out that Beach Road was closed completely last evening from Central Road down to Walking Street. I saw a bit of the fashion show and felt sorry for some of the models who had to walk around 2,000 metres. The ladies in narrow evening dresses would not have enjoyed the long walk; the ladies and (particularly) guys in swimwear had to endure lots of light-hearted cheering, particularly around Soi 8, and must have been glad to see the finishing line .

A catwalk is currently being erected along Beach Road to try to break a Guinness record. It is on the beach side but looks wide enough to bring the traffic down to just one lane.

Don't forget that you will have UK tax taken from the annual pension. If you have no other income, it will be in the region of £1,300.

When I bought mine, I paid all the attention to the picture. I am pleased with the pic on my choice - a Panasonic 32" LCD. However, I'm far less happy with the sound. A mate has a Panasonic 37" Plasma (maybe the same model as BigD) and both the picture and sound are excellent.

That is my plan. Hopefully, my condo purchase will be completed shortly. It is only small but is in a quiet spot by the temple and just off Second Road - a few minutes walk to most places I need to get to. That's important as I don't intend to drive. I'm hoping to spend mid October to mid Feb in Patts. I'm not expecting it to be easy. I will lose the support system of family and long-standing friends in the UK, and know very few people in Patts. I don't speak any Thai and get very pissed off by things not happening as they should do, so I know I need to change my approach to life if I'm going to survive. I don't think I'd like to live there 12 months a year, but escaping another British winter is a very appealing prospect.

Thanks for that.

I am a computer illiterate so could someone please tell me if a message, at the bottom left corner of the page reached by going to the above link, which says: transferring data from live.smiledj.net is suspicious. The message does not go away.

Just as with your anti-Obama rants, you are confused and mistaken. I HAVE stayed at PBR and would not stay there again because of the noise - thin walls, reverberating corridors and (for the room I was in) the gym immediately above. I HAVE NEVER been to AC. I did go to PI many years ago and have no wish to go back there either.

There are so many posts on the boards about PBR that I am beginning to suspect that the owner (? Kim) instigates them just to keep up the hotel's profile. The number of posts is totally disproportionate - I don't think any other hotel gets mentioned to anything like the extent that PBR does. If you are genuinely asking this question, just use the search function for the info you need.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8566588.stm Tens of thousands of Thai opposition supporters have rallied in Bangkok to press the government to step down. Protest leaders have given the government until Monday to call fresh elections. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva say he will not resign. About 40,000 troops and police have been deployed. The "red shirt" demonstrators are mainly supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. Many of the protesters have come to the capital from Mr Thaksin's power base in the rural north of Thailand. The atmosphere here in the centre of the rally is very noisy, very boisterous, but it is jovial. One of the challenges for the red shirt leadership is going to be to try to maintain that sense of order. There are thousands of police on duty in full riot gear but they are keeping a low profile. The other key test for the red shirt leadership - at the same time as maintaining order - is: Can they put enough pressure on the government to force it to give in to their demands, step down and call fresh elections? The BBC's Rachel Harvey, at the demonstration, says there are about 100,000 protesters. Red shirt organisers said hundreds of thousands would come. Many were gathered in front of a stage in central Bangkok on Sunday to hear their leaders make the demands. One of the opposition leaders, Veera Musikapong, told cheering crowds: "Reds over the land call on the government to return power to the people and to dissolve the house immediately. We will hold out here and wait for an answer within 24 hours." The government of Thailand says it has no intention of standing down. Organisers have promised a peaceful demonstration, but said that if the government refused to quit they would step up their campaign. The protesters, led by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), say Prime Minister Abhisit had come to power illegitimately with the backing of the military and the Bangkok-based elites. Riot police and soldiers have been deployed outside Government House and other strategic points. The military has been given extra powers to impose curfews and restrict numbers at gatherings if necessary. The last major protests, in April last year, turned violent, with two deaths and dozens of people injured. But this may be the red shirts' last chance to reverse Thailand's political direction, says our correspondent, with the movement tiring and probably running low on funds. Thailand has been in political turmoil since 2006 when yellow-shirted anti-Thaksin protesters began demanding the then prime minister step down over corruption accusations. He was later forced out by a coup, but when his allies came back to power in 2008, his opponents occupied the prime minister's office for three months and seized Bangkok's two main airports for a week. Mr Thaksin is now living in self-imposed exile in Dubai after receiving a two-year sentence in his absence for abuse of power; his supporters says that case was politically motivated.

I don't think this works with Windows 7.

Click on your own name in top left corner. Look very near the bottom of the column on the left of the page that comes up and you will see "send message". Click on it.

Please re-read post 4 I'm not sure what you are saying because there is a typing error but I have not tried every hotel in Pattaya; I was saying nothing more than that I prefer Sabai Inn over PBR. I have no experience at all of the other Sabai Hotels. I think you are getting them confused - note that the one I stay at is Sabai Inn, not Sabai Lodge. Enjoy your stay at PBR. Are you in their employ?

I don't really know why I find myself trying to explain this as I have no connection with the place - except enjoying staying there. However, let me suggest what it might mean. They have two types of room. The differences are marginal - the better rooms have a bath with built in shower, the others just have a shower; in the better ones, you get a kettle and a daily supply of tea and coffee making supplies. In all rooms, there are bolted down safes and you get 2 bottles of water a day. The cheaper rooms at the moment are 950 a night and the more expensive ones 1100. After the 10% discount for a 7 night stay, that becomes 855 and 990. The price they have quoted to you seems to be for the better room at this time of year for a stay of 7 nights or more. I don't know where you get the 900 from as that is not quoted anywhere on the website. Perhaps they are asking for a deposit as you are a new customer. I pay in cash and often do not give them any money until I've been there a few days. However, amongst their records I'm sure they have my credit card details.

I'm very pleased to say that I have not been in the employ of anyone for 7 months - and highly recommend it!! I have recently booked 9 days at Sabai Inn for end of March/beginning of April and have not been asked for a deposit.

The walls are so thin you can hear every word spoken in adjacent rooms. On top of that, the corridors reverberate really badly so at night there is ongoing clunking of stiletto heels. And try having the room below the gymnasium!!

PBR has wafer thin walls and is noisy. I much prefer Sabai Inn on Soi 2. Very well run and even though it doesn't have a pool itself, you are allowed to use the one belonging to the sister hotel across the road. Excellent value with 10% discount for a week's stay. http://www.sabaiinn.com/