tomcat76

I've taken to traveling regularly with Cathay Pacific rather than searching out the very lowest price (KAL probably cheaper at least some of the time; China Airlines & China Southern always the cheapest if you don't mind the stopover in Guanzhou). I agree with this article WRT CP's level of service & comfort and like connecting through Hong Kong rather than some other less direct point so total travel time from LAX is kept to a minimum (can't do much better since Thai eliminated that direct LAX-BKK flight, which was more expensive anyway). If I'm ever to miss a connection, I'd rather be delayed in Hong Kong than other places. Lastly, am planning regular trips going forward and so get the miles on my card as well as miles accumulating with Asia Miles. Oh, and last July returning home, they handled the typhoon situation impeccably. I could hardly have asked for more responsive and intelligent handling of the needed flight changes (well, there WAS one little thing involving an extra step at the airport prior to check-in, but much as I feared it wouldn't, it actually worked itself out). They kept abreast of flights being cancelled & delayed, automatically re-ticketed me on each iteration, recognized when connection times became unrealistic, kept me notified at my hotel & via email, called when they said they'd call, were always extremely receptive & polite, and had no problem eventually putting me on another airline (Thai) for the trip home. I'll bet people flying other airlines spent many more days and experienced far more frustration waiting to get home than I did (I actually wouldn't have minded a couple of extra days in BKK...). And I was just a plain vanilla economy passenger. Matter-of-fact, I expect to be airborne on a CP flight head that direction in a little over 9 hours!

Another prize-winner!

Wonderful stuff! 'Makes me anxious to visit for myself. (And I'm not ashamed to say, I'll be one of those guys wiping away the tears.) (But didn't Macarthur do the "I have returned" thing stepping ashore at Leyte?) Just nitpicking - this is a valuable contribution. Can't wait to see your other reports.

They had the overhead rug and crew guy carefully watching the lady boarding to make sure she didn't hit her head. 'Looks very safety - or at least comfort - conscious to me! 'Must've been fun.

Not really. It's a national discount chain, and they're quite good at delivering things at the lowest cost. Simples. Thus they tend to find themselves at the center of the Black Friday feeding frenzy. I really don't think there's anything in their advertising or store management that's inciteful or irresponsible. If Black Friday deals & bargains represent negligence, then one would have to sue "Black Friday", and "sales" altogether, rather than single out Walmart simply because they're successful. I've seen Best Buy and the Apple Store with people spending the night outside waiting for the store to open, too. I'm only in Walmart on an occasional basis, and I don't do Black Friday period, but I'm not going to start blaming the store or company for the behavior of unruly, selfish, pushy, greedy shoppers. If a store employee pushes a shopper down, bites him, hits him, or otherwise injures him, then by all means, put the store on trial. If it's another shopper or shoppers, then put THEM on trial. We've GOT to get back to putting responsibility where it belongs instead of pretending to be able to get inside the heads of people who do bad things in order to blame somebody ELSE.

MI III.

'Strange that unions would deliberately antagonize the shopping public today. And Walmart's is a demographic I wouldn't think unions would really WANT much to antagonize. They have what they believe is an overriding objective, I realize, but even so. 'Seems like a high price to pay. I wonder how much impact on Walmart's bottom line for the day the protests & picketing will end up having. I suspect it won't be much, but I'll be as interested to see as anyone, for or against.

Not there yet, but think all that's over around the government areas. Why, what are you hearing?

Gee, I think I'll stay up in Bangkok for a few extra days after I get there...

Reminds me of "green stamps" here way back in the day. You pasted them in books, and when the books were full you could redeem them for stuff.

Here here! 'Would be wonderful to think we'd somehow lived through the tats era and were now entering the silicone zone.

Good advice, and I think a lot of members here already get it, but there's an additional caveat: it's more easily said than done. Unfortunately, value is often harder to determine than price. Sometimes that's because "value" as described even by someone you know & trust, may be as much a matter of taste or wallet size. Other times, you have to deal with imperfect information provided by someone you don't know (who may even be a shill or who just has an agenda...). Bad reports can as easily a matter of agenda as good ones. Lastly, value can be a moving target. Places deteriorate, change management, decide to cut costs; construction starts up next door, views disappear. And Pattaya is a changing place. Value is what you want to know, but sometimes price is all you have to go on, at least until you get there.

It really is.

On this thread, or on this forum? On the forum page, where you see the list of threads or topics, and where you see the 'Reply to this topic' button on this page, there should be a 'Start a new topic' button on that page instead.

Here in socal rates are tiered and start at about 14.3c/kwH, and top out at just under 30c/kwh. And the rate schedule changes about every 3 mos. (This last is only as of September.)

The world changes. Thailand is no exception, and I think Thais are becoming more worldly, more globally conscious & aware, less culturally inhibited & sheltered. They've learned how big the pie is, and they want more than they've gotten in the past. Perversely, the global economic downturn has kind of played a trick on them, and the pie is not so big as it might've been and they assume it still is. Still, IMO this whole thing is overstated, or perhaps mischaracterized. SO often you click with a girl and she goes with you for much less than the going rate, or even sometimes says she wants nothing at all. Scratch the surface, and sometimes that same old wonderful TG is still there; there's just a less pleasant veneer to some of it now. Maybe I just see it through rose-tinted glasses since I don't live there, am not confronted with the day-in and day-out realities that expats are, and sort of immerse myself in the illusion when I AM there, to the extent that's what it is. One thing I know for sure, when I'm there, I don't second guess the motivation & mindset of everyone I meet or perform mental comparisons of the present with the past, or at least try not to (the older you get the harder it seems to be not to). I don't see how a guy could have much fun if doing that. I save all that for after I get home, and even then just treat it as something one has to pretty much just accept.

It does sound like a mini-epidemic going on there, doesn't it? Yikes!

'Same as in editing a post itself? ('Seems to no longer be an option after a day or so.)

Oops sorry, rain. The way your post read (lots of "here"s) it sounded like you were there in Pattaya. I'll be there in about a week - if the question's still unanswered by then I'd be glad to go & check it out for you. PM me.

Maybe they've consolidated the vaccinations now, but weren't the shots for H1N1 and the regular annual flu different? I've been getting the annual flu shot for years now, but does that now cover H1N1, too? ('Seem to remember getting two different shots back when that outbreak was going on.)

Why not just ask them if you can perhaps see a room?

The flood would've been more merciful...

Have stayed at Tim & liked it. 'THINK I remember a sign on the reception desk about joiners (i.e., more than one girl), but not sure. First girl no problem, but no guests under 20. I kind of like the bar, too, but they've got one or two older ones in there that will try & latch on...

Geez, might repel the dogs, but attract neighbor complaints?

'Just out of curiosity, why the -1 on VP178's post? As a US retiree, the OP will be having to deal with a dollar-denominated income stream against a possibly appreciating Thai baht. 'Sounds like something relevant to be factored into his financial planning.