tallguy

Cheers. Good luck with booking your trip.

It's still operating. The new owner has actually made some alterations to the bar and made it more comfortable. Don't know about the rooms. You might even recognise a few of the staff from you're last visit

I think you're in the wrong thread MR Atlas. Have you seen the pantomime joke thread? 555

I quite like it. Maybe requires a bit of thought and some basic chemistry / science. Not as cringingly obvious as most cracker jokes.

Yep.Neeroys is now a massage shop, but I suspect you will find plenty of other dining options to satisfy your hunger, some new and some that were open during your last trip.

Mykl. If you use travellers cheques you will be asked to show your passport. In the past you were not asked to show a passport when exchanging cash but I think the situation may be changing, I have seen some booths with notices asking for ID.

MM, I agree it looks more like late afternoon, early evening.

MM, what gave you the impression that this was taken around 6am? It looks a bit too light for that time,there is too much traffic and too many normal looking people around, no-one looks as though they are on the way back from a night out. That said he's still lucky to come out of this unscathed, apart from a probable hangover. CheerTG

Cheers another excellent read. However, I think it's worth pointing out that The Cave on Soi LK is not a go go. It's a single unit shophouse beer bar. It does have a live band but doesn't seem to have a lot of seating. When I have walked past it looks full with about 10 people in it.

Shenanigans (now only in Jomtien)and Dicey O'Reillys used to have Turkey on their carveries but haven't been to either for a while.

I'm not a big fan of Turkey so refuse to pay the inflated prices for what is basically a Sunday lunch. However I do notice the prices of various offerings around town. Most of the British style pubs will offer a Christmas dinner menu. Prices usually start at about 500 baht at places like Robins Nest,with most places offering menus at about 700 baht and above. If you really want Christmas dinner have a look around a find one that floats your boat,alternatively use the cash to have a good steak or other some other treat.

She normally opens about 9 pm. So if you were on LK early in the evening it would have been closed.

Metro Apartments on Soi LK for sure. Roscoes Sports bar at the bottom of Soi Honey is an Aussie bar and will probably show the rugby over EPL. Not sure about bars like I-Rovers, Robins Nest and Witherspoons which also show sports on multiple screens, it will probably depend on what EPL games are scheduled. Good luck, I plan to watch them in Metro Apartments. If the place you are staying in has Sophon cable you should find the rugby on Astrosport 3. Hope this helps. Cheers TG.

On the fiction front the British author Bernard Cornwell is famous for his historical novels, He is best known for the Sharpe novels which follow the adventures of the eponymous hero through the Napoleonic wars. He did, however, write a series of novels, starting with Copperhead, which are set in the American Civil War and may appeal more to your stated interests. He has also written series of novels set during the 100 years war and the time of Alfred the Great. On the non fiction side the British historian Richard Evans has written a number of books following the Nazis rise to power during the Weimar republic to their eventual demise in 1945. In particular the first two books give an interesting insight into the views of ordinary Germans on Hitler and the Nazis during the period. Cheers TG

The Loaf bakery on Soi Lengkee has been open for some time, (i'm thinking years rather than months).

Jacko. The Happy Hour at Paradise seems to have been lost in the refurbishment. The hello staff are now brandishing a card which advertises beers from 120 baht and 150 baht ladydrinks. I haven't been in much recently but when I have been in there have been far fewer customers than before. However, I do see a few good looking girls from there walking around the soi. Cheers TG

Firth your post is based on a hypothetical scenario, my post is based on the real life experience of using The Avenue cinema an average of 2-3 times a month. There is no pressure to deposit more cash on the card than is needed to purchase your current ticket(s). As trvlr indicated the main purpose of this move appears to be to reduce staff costs, they have introduced self service ticket machines where you purchase your tickets after topping up the card. However, at The Avenue they have relatively few customers and normally the staff member who has topped up your card will normally come around to the other side of the counter to assist the customer with the 'self service' machine. If Major Cinemas who operate the cinema at The Avenue intended this as a way of 'scamming' the occasional tourist whose deposit may expire then they need to let their staff in on scheme as they don't seem to be aware that they should be encouraging customers to deposit additional funds. In addition they have installed four ticket machines at the Avenue which look to be substantial pieces of kit and probably cost several hundred thousand baht. They would need a large number of tourists to leave a couple of hundred baht on their cards to justify the costs of their 'scam'. With regard to Atlas's post. There is currently no charge for making small deposits on the card at The Avenue so there is no need to make a larger deposit on the card which could lead to the scenarios highlighted in your post. TG

You only need to top up the card with the cost of the tickets you buy on each occasion. Just tell the girl what type of seat you want an and how many tickets. The only additional cost is the initial 20 baht charge for the card. Not much of a scam is it?

MM has alluded to the cost of laundry which you appear to have not considered. This may seem a trivial thing but it can multiply into a fairly significant amount on a monthly basis if you start changing sheets and towels two or three times per week. In addition cleaning costs can also mount up. Most small apartments are easy to keep fairly clean but if you want to get a cleaner in reckon on it costing around 300baht a time for a studio. Not a large amount but a cost that can mount up if you decide to get your room cleaned several times a week. Hope this helps. TG

Cherry Be a small place next to Nicky's on Soi Buakhao serves a good cup of coffee. I also like Cafe Pitini on Soi Buakhao which is near Jolly's the former Robin's Nest 2. Cheers TG

TT exchange on soi Buakhao was showing 54.00 about 1 hour ago i expect the bank booths are about 0.5 baht lower. I would never change sterling for baht in the UK, you will always get a better rate in Thailand because of the smaller spread between the buying and selling rates. Have a good trip. TG

Amethyst is now open, there is a connection with members of ex-Angelwitch management. I went in on Sunday and it bears a lot of resemblence to Angelwitch even down to the style of uniforms the girls wear. I was in there early so didn't see any shows but I understand from someone else that these come on later in the evening. Cheers TG

When I went to Vietnam a couple of years ago I changed what remaining Dong I had at HCMC airport. Can't remember how much I changed but it wasn't a lot. I was under the impression that you couldn't exchange Dong outside Vietnam and even if you can would not expect to get a decent rate outside of Vietnam. Hope this helps. TG

Emirates have been coming up more expensive than Etihad and Qatar for a while now (over a month at least) ex-Manchester. Etihad been consistently cheapest during that period. Seems strange Emirates cancelling the morning flight after announcing that they will be putting the 777 on that flight in the autumn. Maybe these cancellations will only last for a very quiet period in May. TG

I think Teelack might have underestimated the Bell bus / taxi option. Its about four years since I got a taxi from central bangkok to suvarnabhumi but always paid between 400-500 baht (could never get the buggers to turn the meter on) so given that DM is further and price increases can't imagine you would get much cheaper than 600-700 baht from Suvarnabhumi to DM. Add on 200 baht for Bell bus and it might be worth checking what someone like Mr T would charge direct from Pattaya to DM (Pattaya -Suvarnabhumi is 900 baht). Good luck TG