Bazle

Apart from price, you haven't expressed any sort of criteria. I like Sabai Inn at Soi 2. It's a Baht bus ride to Walking Street but there is a lot of action around there, including the 3 Sabai soapies and Big C. http://www.sabaiinn.com/ http://www.sabaiinn.com/internet_rates.html

This might be slightly OT but might be of interest to anyone with a kidney stone. I had a large one dealt with above 5 years ago here in London. It had grown too large to blast and if I had relied on the National Health Service I would have had conventional surgery. That would have been painful with a long recovery period. Fortunately, I'm covered by private medical insurance. I ended up having keyhole surgery and was only in hospital for 3 days and back at work after a week. At that time, there were only 3 surgeons in the whole of the UK doing this procedure. Fortunately, I had been admitted as an emergency case to a NHS hospital where one of them worked, so got to know about this. If you have a stone too big to blast, do enquire about this.

Yes, the walls are paper thin (you can hear every word spoken in the adjacent room) and noise reverberates along the corridors. If you can put up with that, it's a great place. Personally, I will not be returning.

I hope your recovery is going well. Out of curiousity, how was the stone removed? Was it blasted? Did you have keyhole surgery? Did you have regular surgery?

The above posts should be moved to the foreign language section.

I notice that the City Garden development (very close to the first two mentioned developments) is not listed as an option. Any particular reason for that?

http://www.netporn.nl/gala_jpr_2006-5b8cf8...909fce-1-mr.php

So it wasn't mist, it was smoke. The place should be renamed immediately.

Just a couple of points - Sabai Lodge and Sabai Inn are two different hotels Sabai Inn is a great place to stay, BUT make sure you ask them for a room which faces the outside world. Some rooms are in an inner core and the windows face the internal corridor.

Yes, I always take two cards with me. I leave one in the hotel safe, and carry the other one. On two occasions, I've needed to use the back-up card. However, when you are using the back-up you worry about there being no back-up! On my next trip, I will be taking three cards!

Tom Two or three suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Bazle

Yes, we know that!! 1200 is their high season rate. The point is that the high season rate this year is 200 more than the high season rate last year!

That's quite a coincidence because I was just looking at that same site with a view to bookingin November and noticed the same thing. Not only is it an increase in Baht but with the Pound falling it is even more expensive. So is it a try on? Is it worth waiting until nearer the time to see if their rates fall? I guess that will depend on what the take up is at that rate - and who can predict that!

The head of GWB

Thanks very much for that. As a result of seeing it, I too have booked. However, although I think the deal is good, it's not as good as it first appears. Firstly, following your link does not allow (strangely) a ticket for just one person to be booked. I 'phoned them, and the girl I spoke to said it was probably a link to "companion" special offers. However, using another part of the site to which she directed me, I was able to book a ticket for one person. The opening pages suggested that the price was £476, when it got to the check-out bit, it had gone up to £534. The girl on the 'phone had warned me of this. It seems that Eva have increased their fuel surcharge but not all of the pages on the website reflect this. So, all being well, I leave late on 28 October and return on 13 November. Anyone else thinking of booking would be advised to do so soon. Available dates seem to be getting eaten up fast.

You should feel ashamed of yourself for posting pictures like that. Do you realise how much you have increased the sense of depression for those of us who are forced to live outside of playtown.

There is another bad thing which, in my opinion, is worse - noise from the water pump. I recently stayed for 3 nights in a top floor room but moved on. Everytime anyone uses water (including flushing the bog in the middle of the night) some incredibly noisey water pump sets to work. It's a bit like being beside an amplified washing machine!! I was also not too keen on getting in after the Soi 6 bars have closed. Some dangerous looking katoeys patrol Soi 6 and some of them stray into Soi 6/1 (which you have to use to get to your room after midnight). Good sized rooms but, taking into account the negatives, I think the price is reasonable not brilliant.

Thanks for the review. However, after those comments, I'm surprised you think it's a good place to stay! I guess we all attach different levels of importance to different things.

In June when I was there, yes. It was around the right perimeter of a building site near Areca Lodge hotel. Using that, it was only about 3 minutes walk to Soi Diana. Whether you would want to walk home alone at night using that route is another matter.

Be careful!! It depends on what you mean by "quiet"! I've stayed at the PBR and on the whole liked it. However, I don't think I will stay there again as it suffers from internal noise. The walls are notoriously thin and the corridors resound - and I am a light sleeper!. Do a search on this and other boards and you will see that others share this view. There is also a lot of construction going on around there. Ask whether any of it is giving rise to noise in the period you will be staying.

I stayed there in May and thought it was a great value hotel with great staff. However, like you, I am a very light sleeper and I think that I will not stay there again. The walls are really thin and noise seems to echo around the corridors. If you are unlucky enough to have a noisey neighbour, your stay could be pretty miserable.

In order not to complicate an answer with a plethora of ifs and buts. Given Ronnie's further information, I think there is a fair chance that he will become non-UK resident. When he leaves the UK, he needs to complete a form P85, which can be downloaded from HMRC's website, and submit it to HMRC. This is very much a personal investment decision. Ronnie could equally put his money in an account outside of the UK in, say, the Channel Is. It also involves deciding in what currency to hold the investment. If Ronnie believes that Sterling is at a high right now, he might like to invest part of the money in Euros or some other currency. That information was provided AFTER I had posted. Probably the existing account isn't paying the best interest rate available. Ronnie should also consider not keeping everything in cash and putting at least some into the stock market. I know it's a bad time to make such a remark but it should be kept in mind and if in a few months the markets settle down perhaps some investment advice taken. Owen has posted a lot about this - just search his threads. There will not be UK tax exemption on the pension, even if Ronnie is non-UK resident. However, he will be able to set off his personal allowance (c£5K) against it. The best that should be achieved is keeping the investment income out of UK tax. Yes, agreed. The HMRC website is essential reading. Ronnie mentions "Reading the rules for opening an offshore account requires documentation to prove that you are exempt from UK tax". I think he is confusing making a declaration that he is non-UK resident so that interest can be paid gross as opposed to opening an offshore account. Have to go to work now. Maybe elaborate at another time. Bazle

Ronnie I don't think the advice given here is possibly the best for you, simply because you haven't given all the necessary facts to work with. For instance, * what is your UK tax status going to be - i.e. are you going to be resident in the UK or not? This is far from straightforward and you might wish to take professional advice. * how much notice can you give when accessing the money? * where do you need the money - UK or LOS? * what do you mean when you mention "the criteria for opening an International Offshore account when I return to the UK"? Whose criterion? What is the aim? Cheers. Bazle

A few days ago, I couldn't get into the Forum here or at S...ets. I am in the UK using dial-up. However, no problem yesterday or today.

I think this is an infommercial.