PokerUpFront

When your time is up it's up. If you are normally cautious, stay normally cautious. If the situation requires hightened security, take measures to be more secure. If it seems foolish to do, don't be overly cavaliering. IMFO, when the State Department issues a serious warning I will go if I already have the tickets and postpone if I don't have tickets yet. If I had tickets and everyone is wearing masks and people are falling dead all over, then I would cancel. If I recall, you are set to go soon so go, I know I am going very soon. Look at the state department website before you go and read their travel warnings on Thailand, then make a final decision. ... and remember... no matter what you do, you aren't going to live forever...so live while you are alive

I have not heard of such a thing as I would definately use them. That price sounds more like the regular bus which requires you to ride from the airport to a bus station hub and then transfer to a bus going to Pattaya. I have never taken the bus for several reasons. First, because I believe that I arrive at BKK after the bus service has ended for the day. Second, because I want to get to Pattaya quickly, I opt for a direct ride with a cheap limo. Third, I don't want to have to transfer my bags, to the first bus, then to a second bus and finally to a baht bus for the final leg to my hotel. Travelers that use the regular buses usually have several trips under their belts and they travel light.

I think between natural muscle atrophy and associated spasms, pressure is put on the spine. A good Thai massage, like chiropratic manipulations manipulate the muscles to relieve the spasms and counteract some of the atrophy. A bad Thai massage can cause more pain if too much pressure is applied to the damaged spine area. That is my experience. I have had several bouts with chronic back pain, but right now my back is fine and i regularly run and do martial arts. My secret is stretching and keeping the abdomen in good shape. I will still be getting daily massages during my upcoming trip

have you read your pm's recently?

IMO, negotiating is part of the Thai experience. I negotiate with the guys that have just dropped someone off. Walk outside, turn right, walk past all the taxis in the line and there will be some guys further down in Camry "Limos". About 1100thb plus 150thb in tolls and 2 hours later you are in Pattaya. My favorite ride to Pattaya was in the Magic Bus I hired via The Classroom. Two go-go girls and a van with a driver were in arrival hall waiting for me after I got my bags. Driver carried my bags, iced down drinks in the van, and a BG on each side of me for the ride. I will do this again, especially if i have someone to share the expense with.

i am an American and i like the world cup. if a world cup game was on, i would go to the bar showing it rather than a bar not showing it.

I once asked the same question and received several similar replies. The story I heard was that she was married to a German guy and the German guy had money. She got fucked up during a robbery and the reason she has money is because the German guy still supports her. Mr Bill, she probably hits you cause she doesn't need the money

yeah that's what I mean, what's a "good soup woman". Is that some kind of metaphor like saying, "she is built like a brick shithouse"? Maybe the translator missed the verb to write because of the apostrophy and the word I used for badly because "mauvais" isn't supposed to have the "ment" tag on it which is like us adding the "ly" which changes an adjective into an adverb.

It must lose something in the translation because it makes no sense to me.

je suis americain, mais je parle englais, des francais, des espanol et une petit pois de Thai. J'ecrit mauvaisment en francais et grammaire de moi est mauvais aussi. S'il vous plait, excusez-moi.

j'adore les petits juene fils avec des jambes longes et fines, ohhhh la-la.

in the upper left of your screen is a menu bar, click on "Hotels". If you are a newbie and decide to stay there, be sure to take a business card from the front desk because it has directions back to the hotel written on it in Thai.

Some sale, with the connections required to get to the required departing airport, or to finish the trip, the prices wind up being better on expedia.com. Now if DFW is your starting destination you are golden. My prob is that the sale price for Memphis to Narita is great, but to complete the flight to BKK leaves me at a higher price than what I can get on expedia.

I like the current format, but agree that it could be more encompassing. How about a walk down 2nd and Beach Rd and Soi 6,7 and 8 while making an observation or two about new happenings in these areas. Inquiring minds want to know. Maybe add one or two pics of some stunners and new venues you see during the nitemarch. There are lots of BMs living in Pattaya, may three or four or you could do the crawl together and each of you write about a part of town. Give Soi 7 the Soi beat, Pete the Walking Street beat, Daveinthailand the live music venue beat, etc...

When you pay cash they ask for a deposit even in the USA. I have stayed at Easiny, Flipper and Residence Garden during the past year and all asked for a deposit. I check-in, tell them I will be paying cash and staying 6 nights. I then pay the first night in advance and whatever deposit they ask for. Same thing in the US and it is often a $100 deposit. Anybody that wants to get pissy over a $10-20 deposit is getting pissy at their own expense. If you want to go around pissy during your vacation, "up to you". Oh and think of what the staff thinks about you now, are they likely to greet you enthusistically and look for an opportunity to help you or are they going to "be busy" when ever you show up?

First trip, 7 days is enough. If you burn all your time off now, you will go crazy waiting another year before you can get back.

Yes there will be hundreds of drivers available. If it is your first time you will be a bit overwhelmed and intimidated as you enter the arrival area and you will do well to have a driver waiting for you. It only costs $5-10 more for this service and you are more likely to get a driver that speaks decent english. The drivers will be in a great mass on the right before the Airport exit and they will have signs with names on them. "Touts" will attempt to intercept you along the way so tell them "my ow!" (not want) as you look for your driver. Be sure to get some baht on the left side before looking for your driver. Follow BigDUSA's advice to get a reliable driver. In time you will learn where to negotiate with a freelance driver, or to take the bus if you arrive during day hours. If you are arriving with friends, you might want to share the cost of the magic bus service operated by the Classroom Go-go. This way you will have a driver with a mini van and two BGs and a cooler of drinks waiting on you.

oh oh oh, just signed off when I thought of this one Maybe you could stay at the far end of Walking St or on the road to Jomtien Beach. They have several hotels displaying signs with the "Roy G Biv" flag and they are used to guys coming in with katoeys Editted to add: oh, my bad, didn't notice that you mentioned that you don't do ladyboys in your original post.

If you are worried about that, maybe you should PM Matador and ask him where you can find a guy to sell you some aids prefuck test kits

Sounds like a great price on the internet access. You are staying at SN apartments also?

Franko, Thanks for the constructive info. This place will definately go in my Pattaya file. Love to see the room pics soon. BTW, what were your monthly expenses for elec, ph, internet access and water? Also, how much time are you on the internet a day? Is the internet charge based on usage or a daily flat rate? Obviously everyone is not ignorant and your initial post was for the non-ignorant. Your post is for those that have significant experience in the Pattaya scene and are considering long-term stays. That type of person has enough time so they don't have to be in the middle of the action and has the know how on how to get around and isn't on a daily budget that they have spent months saving for. In the US for my household and living expenses, I budget under $100 a day. In Pattaya for a one week holiday, just my pussy budget is $100 a day. Of course if I lived in a 3900thb/mo. condo maybe I would be pissy all the time too.

Is it retirement if you have to EARN a living? I work with a few guys that said they retired before but now they are back working for a living. Maybe they did have enough money stashed away and working for them so that they didn't have to work again, but I think they thought they could gamble/trade investments for a living and wound up losing their bankroll. There are lots of guys that do nothing but trade stocks for a living and that is a job whether you do it with your money or someone else's. Now if you are sitting at home getting a check or checks once or twice a month even if you lay in bed all day, that is retired. I would even go so far as to say that if you only have to call your "broker" once or twice a week than you are retired. BUT, if you have to read the finacials and make trades or at least check on your current portfolio on a daily basis, you have not retired because every day you HAVE to do it. Retirement is NOT HAVING to do anything other than eating, shitting and paying some taxes Best of luck if you decide to go for it. My "dream" is to make enough playing internet poker. I am meeting my current hourly minimums now, but doing it on a daily basis with the stress of HAVING TO WIN is different than bringing in several hundred a month after the bills are already paid. I know because I "retired" like that once too while playing what would be considered pretty low-limit poker. While I was able to scratch out a living, when the COBRA ran out, the increase in insurance expenses put a wrench in my budget. This time though, the truck and credit cards are paid off and my bankroll is big enough to support higher limits, so if I can get my ex to let me reimburse her for putting our son on the group insurance her company offers I will have significantly less financial responsibilities and greater income opportunities.

Didn't try at the flipper.

It's the cat's job to be a pussy...