teelack

I feel sad about two things. Firtly is the crap exchange rate that I am getting but the other is more serious. Why isnt it possible to sit down with my Thai girl friend and have a reasonable conversation about the exchange rate and its ramifacations as to my spending ability in Thailand? She is a financial genius in that she knows exactly how much she can push me in order to get the best return on capital or indeed "Sweat Labour" and yet basic economics appear outside her grasp. Well this is the mysterious Orient so I guess that like Mozarts music I will simply have to accept the genius displayed!

I am quite sad to read the reviews of the Chunky Monkey. I hit the place shortly after opening and the meals, service and prices were all good. The service ladies seemed to give personalized service and seemed happy to see you each time you were there. I did however start seeing some of my favorite meals going down hill even then and moved onto the curry and beer combo's which were very satisfying and reasonably priced. I realise that there is a tendency to believe that people eating at places like this are CC's but there are also people out there who who have been there and done that with gourmet food and found it pretentious, meagre and over priced. I fall squarely in this category and enjoy some of the great meals available in Pattaya that cost little but taste great however every restaurant has off days due to staff holidays and the comings and goings of the industry. Don't get me wrong. There is crap aplenty and disappointment could be on the next plate be it in a gourmet haven or a 50 baht street café. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

As far as I can tell there really is little difference between the lot of them. I flew Thai Air twice return in the last 6 months and had issues on both flights that caused me to lodge complaints. Air New Zealand has been dreadful and I got recompense from Cathay Pacific. I won't even try to understand Qantas and I can proudly say that I haven't flown through Australia for years, thankfully. I had good experience with Malaysian and China Southern. Malaysia changed flight schedules and I was unable to use them but recent changes has now made this one of my best options for 2019. Okay, my next trip in February will be with Thai but it may be my last for a while. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

As is usual thanks for giving my day a good start. I read about how healthy Pattaya was and would like to go there. I obviously have been going to Chon Buri which as we all know is a rat infested, air polluted, beach disaster of a place. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

I have had the same AIS number for years so I really cannot comment about other brands. Here is how I use it. I do stop at the arrivals hall now and get the whole thing fixed up for the month and paid for. The plans seem to be changing regularly so I tell the ladies what I want and they install and set up. OK, occasionally there are a few people there but bugger the cabbie waiting. He will stop for gas anyway! By the way, by going onto the AIS web site you can do a bit of pre planning as to the right sim for you before you get up to the counter. One response says to pay and top up on one trip and activate on the next. This does not always work as if you have too much credit it will automatically renew even if your not in Thailand. I want data when I arrive so that I can do a bit phoning in the cab. I need data as I use LINE almost exclusively in Thailand. In Pattaya I am sure to be in Central so I use the office there and put say 100 dollars in the machine and put in 5 x 20 baht top ups. Each top up gives me a month in advance. I am currently about 10 months ahead. I suspect that it does not matter where you go and what card you get. For me, I have made decision to keep the same number as long as I can and for that reason AIS has suited me with its 12 month life as long as I keep it topped up. I also believe that the reach is better with AIS but again, only what I believe. As a matter of interest, I spend for a month about 450 baht for around a 4 gig fast plan and I top up say about 100 for phone and text calls using AIS. This just about is fine for me as I also use the sim as a hot spot for my lap top so a bit of decent speed data suits me.

Strangely I was thinking about just this topic a few weeks ago Dont gete wrong because I wasnt thinking of trying to see if I could waste a shit load of my holiday time on a so called straight lady. Been there and dont want that but to answer the question. I was recently at Pier 21 and it came to me that with so many large shopping centres , restaurants, shops, food outlets and so forth as well as straight massage places that there must be a hell of a lot of straight or at the least, unbent ladies in Pattaya now. But as I said, been there and done that and was totally bored with the experience. Pay, enjoy and leave without a concience.

Well worth a read is "The hungry lovers" by. E. Tudor Titsoff. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Mine is smaller than yours! (Sorry, just wanted to see if the photo function works) Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Good review and interestingly ties up with my feelings. For me the issue is price and the times in relationship to connecting flights (I have the time and the patience) and this is variable. Not sure about the States but sometimes the prices are the lowest and sometime up there with the highest. I also had no problem with the planes,staff etc but also complained about the warm beer. I would fly again but they need some consistency in their pricing for me to bother.

Geez! I thought that I was the only one in the world who worries that his safe won't open! I always end up leaving it till the morning with the thought that my cash could be stolen and that it would have been a waste of time having the safe in the first place! Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Two places spring to mind. In the soi going North past what was the Big C on Second Road there are some places that the tour buses go to. As mentioned the Ninja is in Third Road on the right heading up the hill North. This is around the corner from Big C Extra. There are also places in Pattaya Tai near Big C as well so best of luck. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Yes indeed. This is a great resource for us people sitting at home. One of the things that we don't know is how the baht is going. I tend to compare my dollar against the $US etc and of recent days it has improved but obviously the baht itself continues to appreciate and the exchange rate has not improved on the street. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Why? He is getting so much free and up market pussy. Having said that perhaps he has an hour to spare some time! Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Yes but that is the problem in Pattaya. There are simply too many options and time available always seems at a premium. The other factor that I recall is that I was conscious that the lady probably had a mainly Indian clientelle and if I wanted that I would holiday in Bombay. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

I mentioned in an earlier trip report this year chatting up an Indian lady in Pattaya Tai. I thought that she was a business person and not on the game. She wore sari and was quite attractive. I was knocked out when she told me,in response to "Where do you work?" "Beach Road"! We had a smile and laugh and headed off in different directions. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

One of my problems with this post is that I am sure that Indian visitors to Pattaya act differently to how they act as home. Just a couple of weeks ago I walked around the Arab area. The drums were beating and behind the screens the bottles of Black Label and Chivas Regal were being slurped. I am sure that many Indian guys take advantage of the laid back Pattaya life in the same way that others do. Perhaps the OP might like to tell us if Indians go to Hell for having sex with girls who have been eating pork or beef? Remember that they won't even eat food prepared in pans used for cooking non compliant food. Having a blow job must be very close to blasphemy! Bottom line is many come to Pattaya to get rid of the religious and cultural yokes that they wear in their home country. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Funny thing. I walked past Buakhao market yesterday and it was all gone. All I could imagine was that it had moved to a new place or turn over was too low to sustain the place. Thanks for the heads up. Everyone that tried it seems to like it. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

I was of the belief that the visa had to stay with the passport. They used to be stapled but that seems to have stopped. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

We were still marvelling at the printing press!

While this scam does not affect me I recall the following. On leaving school I was an apprentice in a garage. Part of the job was to gas cars up at times. Some of the pumps simply did not return to zero on occasion. I recall the horror when this happened and the nightmare trying to make good. I am sure that this is a scam but it was a simple mechanical problem in my case. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

The best way to see the policy would be for you to download the document from Allianz. It is called Premium Card Travel Insurance. The age details are on page 8 entitled Schedule of Compensation. Let me know if there is a problem and could probably email it to you.

I will look on my PC tomorrow. I am reading from the booklet that the bank supplied. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Hi there Peter. Yes. You are correct with the spelling. The age limits are right at the top of the Schedule of compensation. It is broken into 2 groups. Up to 75 and 75 to 89. In essence you can get cover till you are 90 however you have to do an assessment every time that you travel and their computer spits out an instant answer. Yes or no. If you use this, sit down well ahead of time and list all your medical history from day one. They (theoretically) required the lot. Once you have it sorted the first time then you will have the written contract to read off every time that you renew. Note that you can not use your last assessment and need to restart each trip. It's a 15/20 assessment the first time but speeds up when you get sorted. Just as an aside. It occurred to me that this is a good thing to do. No matter who you are dealing with for travel insurance you really need to declare previous history but I am sure that most people skim over this aspect. If feel happy that I did the homework. Best of luck. PS. Not sure if you /l mentioned it but bank is ANZ and card is Gold or Platinum. Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Hi there and thanks for comments. The insurance company is Alliance. This is an Australian company. Back to my claim. What also made this special was that once submitted they also phoned me to update progress. Very efficient. As a further matter of interest before making my claim I phoned them. They offered me advice on how to get the best results from making the claim. Like others I was suspicious but it was fine. Also remember that I do most of my banking through the same bank and I believe that it gives me some leverage. Ok, I did not claim against the medical sections but then again this is one of the most controversial areas of insurance and my guess is that most companies will try to get out of paying if they can. Finally, because it is on my card I won't have even paid for it by the time I get back from Thailand! Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

Know his brother well. Mahatma Koat? Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk