ingo67

The last time I stayed there was in 2007 - std and delux rooms were verging on the "tired" side then, so after 4 more years a refurb is definitely overdue. Good, but default option, but price increases means other better hotels can be had for similar price.

I may be getting old, but the music in this place is just terrible, gang rap at its very worst. And loud, OMG. What type of customers do they expect to get in there, 20yo black drug dealers from downtown LA ?

As a couple of others have said - MAJOR design flaw is no AC from shop to shop - DOOMED from the start. Why would you walk around there in 35C heat when you could go to Royal Garden. Farang didn't like getting hot, and certainly Thais with money didn't either. When Central came along, another big nail in the coffin. Afternoon/night market - final nail. Some of those restaurants on the upper floors held on admirably for a good 18mths to 2 years - I bet some of them never saw more than a dozen customers, ever. It will probably decline for a few more years and then be knocked down and another condo built. Good review from the OP.

Nice rooms but why do these type of apartments charge 8bht per unit for electricity when it only costs @3.8bht.

http://pattayautd.com/english/index.html Have a look on this website. Pattaya Utd play on the Darkside, at the very far end of Nern Plab Wan, next to the temple. Costs almost nothing to get in (cannot remember exactly either 40 or 60bht).

Difficult question to answer, as its like saying how much is a car ? without saying if you are looking for a Proton or a BMW. At your relatively young age you would not have an age restrictions, and premiums would be at the lower end, starting at around US$300 for a very basic policy. This would either have a lower maximum payout (like the Expats policy) or a larger Excess (deductable). I would budget US$1000 for decent cover with a resonable excess.

I think the only option was delivered to home address.

Just tried Nationwide today (3/8/2010), and have ordered £2500 Travellers Cheques, commission free, £3.50 delivery. Not advertising it on the website and the old 0800 number directs you to a new tel number - 0845 3010417. Only limits are max £2500 per order and only once in 90 days.

Only taking out 10,000bht per transaction is not the most efficient way to get your money out of an ATM - at £1=50bht you could get 14,000bht, more if the exchange rate continues to improve. However, it looks like good old travellers cheques are going to be the cheapest way to get your baht. From Nationwide, Sterling TCs are free, except for £3.50 postage/delivery, max amount £2500.

Bert's a good bloke who runs a decent place. Soi6/1 is relatively quiet at 2nd Road end. He is usually fully booked in all but the lowest of the low season. 650bht inc breakfast is low season rate, goes up a bit in high season,but still very good value.

Antons - Naklua Rd. German and some Thai, plus desserts. Lots of pork, chicken, fish. About 250bht. A good old feed.

Electricity direct from the Electric company is about 3.5bht per unit, so they are charging more than double. They are not the only one's - most rented condos / serviced apartments charge far more than 3.5bht, most 6-10bh per unit.

Thai workmanship isn't great. Tarmac has already been repair once - still loads of potholes, there would be more if it had not been so dry. Come the wet season it will be worse than ever down there.

No, but would comment that it is located at the wrong end of Soi Chaiyapoon, ie, the 3rd Road end where it goes alot darker at night and has too many dodgy male karaoke bars close by.

I don't think its a matter of patients(sic), if the Thai assistant could not find the food he requested he would have left the shop empty handed. Perhaps I didn't make it clear enough - she (the Thai assistant) had looked in 2 freezers and could not find the bacon, she was NOT going to look any further. BTW my mates' been in Thailand 7 yrs so is used to dealing with locals in most situations. My original post was more to the owner - don't spoil a good concept by leaving under trained staff in charge. There is a desperate need for an outlet providing good value "western" foods and I hope Cheap Charlie's is a success.

I told a friend about Cheap Charlie's and he went today. Good selection of stuff and good prices but the Thai assistant had trouble locating the items in the freezers he was asking for. He wanted some bacon but she looked in 2 freezers and could not find any and was going to give up, then my friend noticed the freezers were labelled something like fruit, pies and meat, and suggested she look in the one labelled "meat". Bingo !!! But for his persistance and a bit of Thai, a sale could have been lost, and he would probably never to return. He wasn't blaming the girl, but an ability to read English and possibly more TRAINING by the owner might be in order.

The D-Tracker is a great bike for Northern Thailand - great on the twisties, light, not too powerful to get into trouble, just a little frustrating on some of the flat/straight roads (not many of those) as they top out at 120kph. All are less than 2 yrs old (it was a new model in late 2008), so reliable and cheap to repair if you have a minor spill - new handle bars and foot brake less than 800bht fitted at Kawasaki dealer in Chiang Mai. I am 5ft10" so no problem for me, my two short arse mates are 5ft7/8", and they just about OK. Probably difficult if you are less than 5ft6". I'll get a trip report done sometime soon.

My mate has done the trip Bangkok to Chiang Mai on the sleeper train several times. His bike is a Kawasaki D-Tracker 250cc which is supposed to weigh around 140kgs. I think the weight limit may be around 150kgs because he initally had to produce the owners manual for the booking clerk, which states the dry weight, but she wasn't to know! Bikes have to be loaded into the guards carriage, amongst all sorts of boxes and other crap, so the likelyhood of your pride & joy getting scratched is fairly high. Loading takes the help of 4 porters (looking for tips, don't give more than 20bht each) because the height difference from platform to train is about 4ft. This is obviously the reason for the weight limit, so I doubt you can take 600s, 1000s or big choppers on the train. Last tip, you have to get there about 2 hrs before departure to book your bike in, it costs approx 1100-1500bht for oneway BKK to Chiang Mai, cannot remember the exact amount. You cannot book your bike on the train in advance. I've also done the trip a couple of times; I rent the same bike (D-Tracker) for approx 750bht per day inc insurance, discounted for 2 weeks rental, usual quotes 800-1000bht ex insurance. "POP" is probably the biggest and most reputable rental company.Yes this is more expense than renting from one of those Beach Rd scumbags. The roads in northern Thailand are brilliant, no traffic, endless twisties and great scenary. GT-rider.com website has lots of info and I would recommend the very detailed maps because you will get lost in the more remote parts.

Its OK if you come back to your room at 4AM steaming drunk every night, then you might get some sleep, otherwise give it a miss.

Thats what I heard as well.

Strange the police have not raided Galaxy in many years, I am sure their girls don't have work permits either ! The police must be on a good earner from them.

A collegue of mine was approached by 2 forex experts saying they could make good returns on forex trading. He went to see them - they had all the equipment, 6 laptops, links to trading information - 2 intelligent people. My collegue decided that he would test it out and see what they could do with just $5000 of his own money. After 4 months of trading that $5000 has turned into $4800, mostly a result of fees from the internet forex platform. This is not a magical way to make money; you could get lucky on a few trades but ultimately you will never outperform the market.

If you have never run a bar before then Pattaya is not the place to start off. If you have run a bar before the SAME applies. Seriously, many people have come to Pattaya with dreams of opening a bar and most have had those dreams shattered. Some have been successful, the majority have probably lost more money than they could afford to. Hassles from officials, police, staff problems, low season, competition, world economy, etc - who needs it. Good locations are few and far between and will be expensive, most bars "for sale" are because they are in poor locations.

I have not seen a great deal of change in the line up. In there last Friday - good atmosphere, busy just like old times. Your loss Codhead !!

I heard the import duty on motor vehicles is something like 80/90% of the original purchase price. Sell your car back home and buy a Toyota or a Honda in Thailand.