Stlakid

My boss is married to a Thai and owns quite a bit of property in Thailand. He will retire there and she has quite a large family there. (Yes he paid the family's farm off for them!) Anyway, he is always correcting me that this is the correct way to pronounce it.

Listen to Martin!! When my friend and I were in 'Queen' last year and asked for the bar-fine amount I actually broke out in laughter! The girl wanted something like 3600 short time too! I did my part I laughed, (which did not faze her, so I was not the first!) check bin, and left! This is not to say that both of the girls were not absolute stunners, THEY WERE, one was Playboy material! Still the price is out of line IMHO and I do my talking with my feet.

I have flown Asiana, Eva, China Airlines and Thai Airways. Asiana is very nice. Eva very good also. China Airlines to me felt like flying Greyhound Airlines.(Southwest if you will) Small seats less room than the others. All the flights range in the $950 to $1100 range. I got a really good deal on Thai Airways last year from an online site that got me their Non Stop for the price of the others. $1050 RT. Normal price is generally around $1500. It was nice going straight in but you arrive very early in the morning, 5:30 AM! This year for some reason all the flights I check had horrible lay over times. Most were 10 to 14 hours or more. A couple even wanted you to change airports!! Thai Airways was $1650 for their flight until I waited to near 20-30 days before my flight and flew out on SATURDAY, SUNDAY or MONDAY! Supposed to be the most expensive days for flying! I do not understand their logic but I delayed my flight for 24 hours and fly out on Saturday night instead of trying to get a red-eye on Friday early AM. I saved near $500.00! Flight all in $1129.00 all in and a Non stop with better comfort, food, Flight attendants than China Airlines. So my advise is check flight times you would not normally use to get best price. BTW, Asiana had the best overall experience IMHO when the layover was only 45 minutes to 1 hour first trip. For coach passengers the food was excellent! I would have paid for the steak they served in a restaurant. Obviously smaller airline portion but delicious. Attendants Best looking and seats better than most considering I flew coach.

Thank you for posting as I am of the same opinion! What's your issue with Mr. T and we know you are lying about his service as we have 'First hand Experience' with it!

I think you have the music nailed Pete! Many times I have sat there and heard songs that make me say to myself "Yes this is a great tune"! I must admit those are the times I wish the volume was a bit louder! Not very loud but loud enough that you can hear it better without thinking "I wish I could hear this song better" If you played the first suggestions of alternate tunes requested I know I would not be staying as long....couldn't stand it! Go with your gut Pete it has been right on so far with the music and your whole venue!

You love the melodramatic don't you! The reason it is so dangerous and stressful to ride/walk/drive in Pattaya is because there is no control of the number of Bhat Busses on the road at any one time! They drive as if they are the only ones on the road and constantly weaving/driving to slowly or racing just get the next fare! I highly doubt that Farangs amount to much of the DUI problem in Thailand as well! I whole heatedly agree that you can walk to most anyplace in downtown Pattaya where we wish to hang out no problem. Did it myself my first two trips. That being said I hope you are the first person on the blacklist! I hate this alarmist bullshit people spew nowadays. Everything has to be elavaded to stupid levels to make their point seem relevant! Bottom line is use your head and as another wrote 'Know your limits'! I will add the obvious watch out for the other guy and don't expect him to do what makes sense!

This is pretty much me as well! I stayed in a couple of condos near Jomtien and I got tired of the Bhat busses ripping me off and trying to get me to pay stupid fares to get home. I don't get drunk (for the most part) anyway. Drink a lot of fruit juice and colas mixed up with the few beers I may have. I actually find riding a scooter (gutless piles that they are) is less stressful than riding my motorcycle in California. The reason is simple they are accustomed to seeing scooters between traffic lanes and generally anyplace they fit. They are aware they are there and accommodate them. They 'expect' you to split lanes or generally ride anyplace you fit. In America you are lucky if they see you when you are directly in front of them! They simply do not look for motorcycles here! I also got my lesson in crashing a scooter in Pattaya! It was a beautiful day (thankfully I was alone!) and I took a sweeping decreasing radius turn (which I took every trip to and from condo) to fast and found out quickly these things drag side stands and undercarriage parts very quickly and are "NOT MOTORCYCLES" in the handling department either! Surprisingly only a few scrapes and a torn shoe but I learned to ride a scooter 'Like a scooter'!