exwannabe

The condo sellers that greet you with "Excuse me, do you speak English?". I reply "No hable Englis" and walk on. The Indian tailors trying to sell me a suit. I have not worn one for 10 years now. And why does the Areca have their internal Indian tailor there to annoy you as you walk by? The crowd that hangs around the street performances on WS at night that block the entire street. Anybody who selling stuff that pokes me in the back when I am sitting at a beer bar. Having to go back home.

To the OP: This is what a pre-paid debit card is useful for. For the slight service charge you might pay on it, you get peace of mind on these type transactions. Regardless of the transaction security though, I would only prepay at a hotel I "know". To the airline ticket subthread: I have been "carded" about 3 or 4 times on t-pac flights. They did not verify the card was still valid, just matched it against the booking info.,; so you can likely bring an expired/replaced card and skate on by. The one time I screwed up, it took about 15 minutes of phone tag between the EVA GAs and Amex to get the OK.

Much of this is way to complicated. Just give the maid a decent tip and she will figure out when you are in or not. My problem with the In/Out sign concept is that I often leave early and want my room cleaned early. A Do-Not_Disturb sign of any form does not accomplish this. Yes, I know that in small place I could go to the desk and get it planned, but I prefer my solution.

Of course you pay a fee. Look at the exchange rate you are given, and what the interbank rate. The difference is your fee. You can see this even easier at the places that have posted prices both for TC and cash. The cash will always get a poorer exchange rate. This is the bank's fee (whereas for TCs they charge the fee per check).

For TCs they change these at the "real" exchange rate plus a fee per check. So regardless of currency bring the highest denomination you can get. On cash, they charge a vig off the interbank rate to cover the cost. The Canadian dollar will not do well on this because they will need to send these back to Canada whereas the can sell the US $100 locally. Many confuse the exchange rate with the transaction cost.

Nov '10, the Page 10 (near 2nd) it was quiet. The construction was more down the road. Sea me Spring (about 2/3 of the way towards beach) was just being finished then, so I really do not know if it has a construction noise problem or not. The building just "east" of Sea me Spring was still in "light deconstruction" as best I could tell. Not clear where the other hotel was.

Back a few years ago I when USBKK F on Singapore Air for 140K SkYMiles. That was WAY cool. But $10,000+ is a tad much.

To be honest, I think the defenders of Mr T are doing him a disservice on this thread. No doubt the OP screwed up. For me though, I prefer to have a driver familiar enough with Pattaya that I don't go circling around the wrong way as I try to explain in poor Thai where he should be going. That is one of the reasons why an outfit like Mr T is good. I am glad he showed up here with what is the correct attitude. I will book him my next trip because of HIS view of this thread, not those just calling the OP a twit. Regardless of what the OP was doing, the Mr T service did slip. That happens, I understand it. OT though.If you get dropped off on WS, do you have enough will-power to go to your hotel, or do you stop off for ... :-) EDIT: Kind of OT again. but I thought Canterbury Tales was across Soy Bukhaw from LKMetro. Did it move or am I on drugs?

The seats are also wider (2-4-2 vs 3-3-3) and recline a lot more. Coming from the US (a lot longer trip from the east coast) it is a great value because you can sleep much better allowing you to hit the ground running. It really is better (or at least as good) as our domestic first class.

I was very happy with Page 10. Very quiet big room staff very good (maid always had my room done on my weird schedule) very good shower (pressure and hot water). no joiner fees charged internet semi-sucked. The rack rate is absurd (I was on the 50% off then some discount). We will have to see what they really price at once fully open.

I was drinking at a bar corner 7 and beach when some girls came up to me passing out "discount" coupons for the new Hllton at 7KB/day. The girls at the bar had a good laugh.

I would also suggest the compression socks/stockings that used post surgery in the elderly. They are fairly cheap, you can buy at any pharma.

The new bar sucks compared to the old one. The old Joy bar was high on my list for daytime hangouts. The new one does not cut it. I may take one walkby in a couple weeks when I am back in town, but I doubt it will by any better. The bars, they come and they go.

Thanks for the pics! I have uploaded these into my directory of pictures that I show to relatives when they ask me about my trips!

There is a real "selection" issue here, as the US lowlife are not trekking across the big pond. But back to important issues, where can I buy some of Joe's "Troll Spray"?

They are running a 50% off soft opening deal, else it would be way over the top on price. The rooms were certainly nice looking when I dropped in and got a look around. And agree with you on location. Will be there a bit on my next trip late Nov, but suspect this will be a one time stay if the rates go up to what they claim as rack rates. To sabaidee, I agree with you wrt flash on the front page. I fail to understand why people can not figure this one out. Anybody building a website should look at the final product on a 56k dial-up. If you are booking though they do have a good reservation engine behind it (outsourced), perhaps the best I have used for a Thia hotel.

... Sorry, I forgot.

How soon is soon? In town Aug 20 - Sep 23 and I kind of like brand new hotels because you get great deals (and I can handle the "issues").

Really? I always try and have change for the baht bus, but only once out of perhaps 50 times have I not received change back for a twenty. Strange that your experience would be so different from mine.

I'm not going to say it was that bad, but I did dive in under the sink (where the electric water heater is) opened it up and made some adjustments. At least when I was there somebody had set it to max heat, which is not always that good. I really like the big rooms that face Soy LK Metro.

Since I have stayed at all these, some comments. Tim's is a very good room, but the price varies. I will stay there at 2000, not 3000. LK Rennasance has a GREAT suite. If you want to spend 3600 or so, it is the place. But the other rooms are no better than Tim's, and cost more. Pattaya Bay Resort has quality rooms. though somewhat sterile. It is right behind Adventure Mall. It is quiet and the mechanicals work well. A sound choice.

There is no way in the world I can handle the 17hour flight across the Pacific in a coach seat. While Delux/Exec are doable. This might depend on somebodies size. Not fat, but at 6'2 I can use the room. Delux was better than EE though. Also, seams like the US prices on EVA are a lot better than for the EU crowd. Exec econ USBKK round trip is around $1400US all in. Biz class is under $2500 when booked fron BKK.

There are quite a few reviews on Agoda. It seams like a nice hotel with the caveat that the B wing backs up to Soy 8 and the bar noise. No way is there a joiner fee.

I have stayed at both multiple times and agree with the general view that it is really close, probably just a matter of personal preference. Both are quite fine. Question to others: Is the delux room in Tim's any better than the standard? [i could care less about the jacuizzi] TIA

True, but not fare class based. It's status. I am a gold with EVA and have had only aisle seats on my last 20 flights, even when getting last minute tickets/changes. And I always get the cheapest tick, so it's not price.