Butch

On a pc if you click on the pic, it zooms in a bit. On a phone it might be a different story though.

There's something for every budget, it's really down to whereabouts you want to stay and your preferred type of accommodation. Over the last few years I've been staying at the LK Royal Wing just off Soi Bukhao. 1600 baht a night for a superior room which are very spacious indeed (king size bed, in room safe, keycard entry, balcony, kitchenette, fridge ), rooftop pool and a 10 baht bus ride away from LK Metro / Honey / Chaiyapoon. You can also cut through Soi New Plaza to Sois 7 and 8 and Central Festival within a 5 or so min walk. Money changers nearby, very quiet, cheap places to eat and drink just down the road (New Plaza and places like Marquee bar along with the R Con bars etc.) Otherwise you can get a decent guest house room on Chaiyapoon for about 700 / 800 or so baht a night instead.

Another warm welcome to Pattayatalk. Any questions just ask away , even if you think they might be a bit daft or asked before, someone will link to the relevant thread or post a reply. Stuff like barfines and S/T L/T prices are not always static and change from venue to venue, so it might be best to ask specifically and then take a median figure if you have any questions on that subject, but there are always guys in town who will do their best to give you an answer. You seem to have a good handle on the glossary of terms, so anything you are not sure of, just ask. We're a friendly bunch, the Mods are great and the atmosphere relaxed. Hope you enjoy your stay. Cheers Butch

Thanks for the heads up, I wasn't sure when it was on in the UK so I'll series link and catch up.

Sorry Stephen, I stand corrected. If that's the case then it's a very good idea and deserves a mention. I apologise to you and the owners if I come across cynical or doubting, I think it's a result of a growing trend in Pattaya when customers see something and instantly look for the catch. Fair play to you though, you have clarified every point and question asked with just plain facts and have come across as a decent, stand up bloke. Respect mate. It seems like the Liquid group are bucking the trend of other operators in a difficult trading environment, I hope they are a success and I'll definitely spend time in their bars on my next trip.

yep, we've arrived at our original destination LOL. Hopefully EVA will get its act together this and next year. 2019 was a shower of shit for them and also BA, so really as Firth says, Thai seem to be the best option, even if they do charge. My only gripe being that with the Thais, they usually wait until you're in their country before taking cash from you - seems someone started early. You could always use Airbnb, so land in the evening ,stop off overnight for a few quid and then move on the next day, showered, refreshed and not too hung over. We managed to book the Travelodge on the Heston Services M4 for £42 3 persons one night on a late deal. The problem is it's taxi to / from the airport then another taxi to the bus station. Tough call to make to be honest.

$100 each way ,so $200 at current rates is £160 that's too much on top of an econ fare, as Jacko said that would tempt me to switch carriers. I'd be tempted to stump up another couple of hundred quid or so and go PE on another carrier if that was the case.

£20 and £50's are getting old now I think, so finding good condition ones is harder and harder (20's anyway) I've found TT fairly accepting with the odd pen mark, but as you say, rips, tears and other stuff they just hand them straight back.

I was persona non grata in Israel due to a multitude of stamps from numerous Countries (including Yemen) in my passport for a while, it's been a good few years since I visited anywhere in the ME so I reckon I'm safe and no longer a high priority target for MOSSAD. Oman is very relaxed, I think the problem arises if people transit through Dubai with some of the more powerful opiate based painkillers in their baggage, which, in all honesty if you're taking non prescription painkillers with you on the flight you should ask the airline first and if you have a prescription for what you're carrying you should be fine. Just don't let anyone plant any dope on you, that's all.

Unusual to see them offering a £50 option , even if it is the same. I was always under the impression that 50's were hard to change because of forgery issues.

I think that Jet 2 are "premium" budget carriers. I recently flew out to Europe on a Thompson Jet which had zero IFE but loads of legroom, easily equivalent to that of EVA Econ, the seats however only reclined 2 inches. One terrible flight I can recall was on an SAA 747 where they had crammed in the econ seats to the maximum, horrific flight with, even though I'm relatively short, my legs were cramped to hell. Never, ever, ever again.

I 100% agree with this. For guys like us who most probably travel light and don't weigh 140kg's then it would make flying cheaper, plus hopefully it would encourage people to lose weight as well, so win-win. Tristars had a selection of 6 (I think) at the rear, along with DC8's as well.Never had to queue for a dump.

For some reason my Mrs is very much against flying with Air France due to their recent mishap, plus it is a bit of faffing around going from UK to Paris, but saying that I have considered KLM in the past via Schipol, but to Thailand I need to fly direct. We flew KLM to Cape Town once and really liked it, so for our Manila trips they might be an option. Besides, I'm not really keen on the French, never have been. Smug wankers.

I do prefer T3 to T2. I remember flying out of T3 to Oman on Gulf air Tristars back in the 70's, when T3 was full of cigarette smoke (like the planes) and had horrible brown corduroy seating and a huge "flapper" board to announce flights. T2 is like an industrial warehouse with big windows, whereas I feel T3 has got a bit of character about it, albeit mostly from my memories. I know, I know, My brain is telling me to get with the program, especially as I'll be on my own so most probably travelling econ (unless they have a decent PE price, i.e less than a grand) but the timings seem to be better, plus when they're not actually on strike they are kind of reliable. After flying with EVA since the 90's, Thai a couple of times, I'm secretly considering the prospect of flying the flag. hopefully someone can beat some sense into me in the meantime.

Maybe they knew you were coming ? lol Happy Birthday Hammer, sorry I can't make it as I'm in the UK hard at work...

Kai Tek, the infamous right hand turn over the City, marked by a sodding great billboard / sign denoting that if they go any further then it'll be "goodnight sweetheart". Cathay have come a long way over the years. We've been using them on and off (as a family) since 2000, I've been using them since the early 90's for an occasional SEA trip back in the day. Without doubt they are in the top 3 World class carriers, but they do codeshare with BA which can be off putting. Nothing like stepping onto a BA777 for comparison to a Cathay one. Saying that though, our last flight from MNL-HKG-LHR was on a BA777 and it was actually very good indeed, I'd go as far to say the whole experience was way above average as we were late inbound from MNL and only made our flight to UK as they were closing the gate. the Ground crew were shit hot at getting us thru security quickly and delivered us to the plane. I'm still undecided about EVA. As much as I like them, and as much as I enjoy the PE, Thai and even BA009 out of LHR are looking tempting. The Mid day Thai flight especially so.

I agree about the CC being chatty. On the whole they are a lot more sociable than the miserable girls working for Cathay. You'd have thought for the amount of money Cathay CC are paid they would be happier. Miserable cunts. Best and most sociable CC award goes to the girls on Cebu Pacific when the plane is almost empty (MNL-BKK midweek) Despite the airline having the safety standards of a 1970's Skyvan operator in Sub Saharan Africa, they do like a yarn and given that a majority are single, possibly look at that route as a potential source for finding that all elusive western boyfriend.

It's not a bad price point, although with the 4 tier pricing on offer with EVA fares now, that's debatable, but their ground / Airport Customer service is shocking, and previously well earned and deserved reputation for reliability are really getting a hammering. I'm deciding whether to book EVA at the moment, although the prices are reasonable as they are currently having a bit of a sale, the other factors may effect my choice.

Great, I'll have a ticket and a bottle of Dom Perignon then. 800 baht, £22 quid? plus a free bottle of beer worth say, 100 baht. Not for me , cheers.

How much is the GC crawl per person, or is the transport free?. It seems to be a good idea, organising a crawl like that, but details of how much, how long in each club and when the bus returns to town would be helpful.

Don't quote me but isn't there a Gym on Bukhao opposite the fruit market?. 10 baht or a bit of a jog will get you there from LK. https://www.google.com/maps/@12.9325112,100.8869709,3a,75y,230.52h,89.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2HZLx_TQWF4ng7gVWLv2dg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Sometimes it is us who might be perceived as odd by others. I've been asked before "what the fuck are you doing in Pattaya then?" when my answer to his question was "I'm not here for the girls". Much of a muchness as my friendly barber who has been cutting my hair for 35 years might say. We've all met wannabe's, millionaires and retired Special Forces guys, but some people have an edge about them beyond the norm. I recall the girl with a skinhead who would walk around Soi Yamato shouting Thai obscenities at farangs back in the 90's. With long hair and some make up she could walk the catwalk. Her face was perfect but her eyes full of pain and suffering. Pale face lady, the Thai guy found dead in a Skip covered in facial tattoos sponsored by evil farangs who thought it was funny to give him money and get him drunk then to get his face tattooed (I knew him as "Bert"). The blonde farang walking around Soi 10 pickig up litter and putting the bricks all in line that had fallen foul of local construction. More recently, the farang walking LK in just a pair of shorts with a distended belly, dirty hair and face and a beard with shit all over his legs, drinking from the Buddha offerings. Sometimes , as a non monger, to sit back and watch this utter madness take place in the bars and the Sois, can make me feel the loneliest guy in town.

We often whinge about getting ripped off in bars, snotty attitudes and general poor attitude from Thais, but often there are instances when you question some generalisations that we assume or make. Be interesting to hear other examples that BM's may have encountered over the years, one of my memorable ones is when I was on the back of an MC Taxi , the guy stopped at a small kiosk on the side of the road and ordered a coke in a bag for himself, then ordered another one for me, just handed it over as a matter of fact, totally unexpected and a random small act of kindness that I wasn't expecting. We'd already pre agreed the price for the journey. Maybe it was just his way of getting Karma points. I know there are good and bad in all walks of life, and the Thais can't be blamed for getting pissy with us, given the way some guys behave in their Country. I guess in the long run the trick is to perform small acts of kindness as hopefully they add up, so when the karma points need to be cashed in there's enough in the bank to cover most eventualities lol.

Not wanting to get political on this, but as UK parliament is effectively closed for the next 5 weeks, what direction do we expect Sterling to head in, or will it remain static, unless it reacts to news from the EU concerning Brexit?.

I'll have even money most of us have seen something in Pattaya which ticks one or all three of the above boxes. How many remember The Glitter Man? - A well educated and articulate European Genteman who spent his afternoons riding around town like this (photo credit to Stickman): He did bring happiness into peoples lives and I spoke to him a few times, a very affable and chatty guy. I think that ticks the "Odd" box. For "bad", well we have so many examples to choose from, but for me, the tragic story of a baby girl being found dead on wasteland near Jomtien, with the umbilical cord still attached is the most heartbreaking and sad, simply because the poor girl never even had a chance given to her. To think she was crying and reaching out for help, food and love while I , and literally hundreds of others who would have stopped at nothing to have helped her were probably sat in a GoGo bar somewhere within 10 minutes drive is galling. The Weird. One particular day I'd decided I'd had enough "quiet" nights in (2 on the trot due to a bug), so I had 3 days worth of saved cash at 77 baht to the pound, which was give or take, was around 24k in baht. I decided to make myself feel better to get a haircut, a shave and a face spa, so headed out to the Salon where I left after an hour looking and feeling great. That evening I had my sights set on really kicking the arse out of it, full on fun. Barfining possibly 2 good looking girls for a song pooying, or pinging a stunner. Either way I wanted it to be a night to remember. I dressed up in some good clothes, new jeans, shirt, plenty of aftershave. Even the grumpy cow of a receptionist at the Residence Garden told me I looked great and smiled. I was set. But I wasn't. I was totally invisible. Girls simply ignored me. My first stop of Pattayaland 2 GGB's yielded nothing, even Mistys drew a blank. Girls were either Barfined, expecting to be barfined and in more than one case, didn't want to be barfined. My ego was beginning to take a bit of a hammering, and in the back of my mind an element of doubt began to creep in. I moved onto Walking Street, heading to the recently opened "What's Up" GGB, knowing an Ex Lipstick hottie was working there who preferred the colour of baht over everything. I knew that she would be up for a barfine and at this point was was beginning to field the outlandish idea that I'll pay 2k baht LT. I entered Whats up, she was on the stage so I immediately got the Waitress to get her a drink and for her to come down and sit, which she did after 2 dances, but not with me. Everywhere else was the same, I was running down blind alleys, Club EB , Dollhouse , Happy, peppermint, Catz, Boesche, Paris and even X Zone. The girls weren't ignoring me, but I was running into excuse after excuse not to be barfined, and the ones that were an option were not the ones I wanted, by any stretch of the imagination. By now I had almost given up, so I decided to have a drink in the last chance saloon, Marine Bar. Nothing but an Euro trash sausage fest. Insomnia at this time was located near the Arab Quarter, having just opened so I gave it a miss and ventured to Hollywood Pattaya. Loud music, plenty of girls but only one of me. After an hour and nursing a bruised ego as well as arguably the biggest anti climax since the Y2K bug, I decided to walk back to my Hotel. I didn't even look at the receptionist. I refused to meet her eyes as they would be able to read the true depths of my despair and sorrow, not to mention embarassment. Upon entering my bedroom I thought to myself I must be the only 30 year old guy in Pattaya with 20k baht in his pocket who couldn't even find a girl. It was a night to remember alright.