MC_Ldop

That's a pretty big range there. 90 minutes is fine. "10 minutes after check-in had closed" is moronic.

I thin Mr. T wins if you're including employees. He has more menacing folks working for him. It wouldn't be much of a fight.

I've stayed here and was very happy with the hotel. I never used the Skytrain from here, so I can't vouch for how close/far it is.

If being by the beach was a prime concern then you're better off staying in Naklua or Jomtien. The little strip of beach on Beach Road is cramped and dirty. Give me Soi Buakhao over Beach Road/Second Road any time.

Pfft. The number of times you fly to Thailand has nothing to do with getting to the airport in a timely fashion, like any sensible person would.

Are you able to call to confirm seat assignments? I can't imagine a proper airline with an established FF program would not let its customers select their seats for an international flight. The only exception I can think of is for an extremely discounted flight. Seatexpert.com claims to be adding Gulf Air soon. Hopefully that site works out for you.

I'm shocked that two people in this thread said that they usually select their seats at the airport. Do most of you do that? I always select online and check periodically for a better seat. Seatguru.com is your friend.

Happy to help -- just wanted to point out that there's a huge different in seat types and service. Service on Singapore Airlines makes any American airline look like a joke. The seat size, seat pitch, and entertainment options also factor into the price. As Joe said, scheduling is also part of the deal. I don't know what your history is with Joe, but in this case I think he was making a harmless comment. He said: I did not see this as him addressing you personally, but rather saying the same as, "If one only chose flights by price...." Oh well, I'll let you two have at it. :)

Out of the hotels I've enjoyed, Pattaya Bay Resort, LK Royal Suites, LK Metropole, and Bella Villa Prima have covered parking.

This isn't true at all. The planes can be configured differently, allowing for different seat widths/pitches, amounts leg room, amount of passengers, combination of coach/business/first passengers, etc. Look at these two seat charts of different 747s for example. http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Thai_Airw...47-400_7442.php http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Eva_Airwa...747-400_380.php You're also paying for different levels of service. Thai Airways, especially in premium classes, is one of the best airlines I've ever experience -- just a notch below Singapore Airlines. Joe also made a few valid points. You missed some perfectly fine information there by being too sensitive.

I recommend this area too. The food is better and cheaper than the seafood restaurants on Walking.

A lot of this is incredibly easy to avoid if you block pop-ups, block ads, and are smart about your surfing. If need be, use a free anti-virus/anti-spyware program.

Best of luck to both the three of you. I'll try to use your fine service for my next trip!

I like the pizza at Slices when it's cooked properly. I've had experiences like Big D's, where it was left in the over too long. The bottom should be crisp, but not overly so. When it's cooked right, it's one of the better pizzas in town. I particularly like the bolognese with an ample helping of red pepper.

That's what blogs are for.

I checked out the exterior of Hotel Ibis before it opened. A friend asked me to scout the location. It's pretty far north -- a bit past Big C on Second Road. If you're primarily hanging out on Walking Street, the baht bus ride is a bit long. It's a more convenient choice if you like the Second Road beer bars from Soi 4 to Soi 1 and/or you frequent Soi 6.

A lot of boardies I know like it quite a bit. It's not a recent phenomenon either. People have been happy with the place for years.

Pfft. No.

A cut of what? He doesn't make any money from the site. I'm just helping him out because I like him.

You are toast.

Sam is awesome...though his new van scares me -- was it really necessary to put his face on it?!? The scary van aside, I wish he does well and I hope a lot of boardies support him. Try a bucket of the Long Island ice tea!

Kevin Meacher, owner of Jasmine Mansion on Soi Buakhao, has a few updates on his Riff-Raffles blog. In the last update, Kevin revealed that his marriage was over. This time around he writes about dealing with his wife while running a business with her and trying to raise kids, as well as his latest misadventures in book publishing. Check it out! Looking for a Distraction and Legal Advice in Bangkok I needed some space and a chance to stand back from the Pattaya-divorce war-zone I had been pitched into. The space was already planned, although it had been planned for entirely different reasons several weeks before. The Bangkok International Book Fair was due to be held between 24th to 29th March. Mark and I had arranged to go to the Fair to learn find out more information that would hopefully assist us in setting up our proposed publishing company. Several of the major retailers were exhibiting, there were printing companies and technology businesses listed as well, so we would hopefully get answers to most of our remaining questions. The taxi arrived at Jasmine Mansion early morning and we headed over to Mark’s apartment building to collect him and then set off to Bangkok. The plan was to stop at our chosen hotel, a sister hotel of my base in Hua Hin two months earlier, have the taxi wait for us whilst we checked in and then take us the couple of kilometers to the Queen Sirikit convention centre where the book fair was being hosted. We would tour the fair throughout the remainder of the day, retire to our hotel for an early night and spend the next day looking at various office furniture and supply show rooms. So, you see, a simple plan and as such, one that gave little room for Mr. Cock-Up to put in an appearance. There I go again…getting carried away on a wave of positivism that is just an excuse for Thailand to slap me in the face and prove that this country cannot be defined through the use of Western logic! We arrived at our hotel and, to my relief, they had two rooms available. I had telephoned them a few days earlier to make a reservation, however, I was told that this would not be necessary, of course they would have rooms available! We then offloaded our belongings and returned to the taxi and a within 10 minutes, we arrived at the convention centre. The general area was quieter than I had imagined although I really had no idea of what to expect. Oh well, it was the first day of the fair and still only late morning, so I presumed we were merely early arrivals. I did, of course, not presume we were as early as it turned out! Full Story Back to the Book Fair and Off to Summer School! Before I continue with the ongoing tale of my separation and divorce from Mrs. Boss I will tell you a little of the second visit Mark and I made to the International Book Fair in Bangkok. This time around we were just going for the day and therefore arranged for our taxi driver to take us from Pattaya, wait in the car park and return us home. The same early-morning departure as one week earlier took place and light traffic saw us arrive only just after the doors had opened. We were at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre and it was awash with people. Inside the building much the same as outside with it almost impossible to move at a rate faster than a crawl such was the throng. There were numerous school parties, but most of the visitors were Thais stocking up on books as though television was just about to be banned for life. I doubt I have ever seen so many Thai people actually reading books. Full Story And Now, a Songkran Flashback Ah Songkran. My favourite time of the year…where to go beyond the confines of the hotel is a guarantee of a soaking with ice cold water, usually sprayed or thrown by drunken farangs. Of course it would be totally wrong to blame just the farangs for the mayhem this particular week brings to Pattaya. The Thais, bar girls in particular, are equally guilty of some appalling behaviour and a complete and utter inability to follow the basic and simple rules of this particular period. Songkran used to be Thai New Year. A few years back New Year was changed by the government to 1-January inline with most of the outside world, although 13-April remains in the hearts of Thais. The festival was originally an opportunity for the younger members of a village to pay respect to their elders. They would cleanse and bathe them and then provide them with new clothes. Houses would be fully cleaned and all of the possessions no longer used or required would be thrown out. Today, however, the festival has become an excuse for drunkenness. Road accidents have increased dramatically, as does the number of people who are seriously injured or perish as a result. A one-day festival now extends to two or three days unless, of course, you happen to live in Pattaya where one endures an entire week of this mayhem. The only relationship to the original rural-village Songkran-festival is the use of water, although I seriously doubt that 100 years ago high-pressure water-guns were used for the purposes of cleaning the elders. It also strikes me that a few villages back in the UK will be missing their idiot for the duration of this festival. Full Story The Night Shift, The Nutter, and The Crazy Runner I have enjoyed the pleasure of working the graveyard shift over the last five days. I start work around 6:00PM and am still on duty until Mrs. Boss arrives at Jasmine Mansion at 10:00AM. Unfortunately my body does not cope to well with nighttime working and, after a couple of nights, it starts to fall apart at the seams. At least these particular tribulations are almost at an end, as a new night receptionist has been employed and promises to start work tomorrow…but we all know what Pattaya promises are worth, so fingers crossed until then! We have also added to our staffing levels by allowing Dan to return to work with us. He telephoned to explain his abrupt departure a couple of months ago was due to him disliking, intensely, Jed whom we had appointed hotel manager. He had heard Jed had gone and would like to return. I suggested he speak to Mrs. Boss and that she would call him later to discuss his proposal. Despite our current sourness, I had absolutely no doubt that she would tear Dan to shreds and thus use off some of her venom that may otherwise be spat in my direction. I could not believe it when she told me she had re-employed this insane being! So here Dan is again, now prancing around like a fairy on heat and telling me how hard he will work, how his tales earlier in the year were because he was close to having a breakdown and how much he loved working here at Jasmine Mansion. I respond to his utterances with a dismissive air, the way I behave towards my children when they are just overdoing the silliness routine that children all seem to feel the need to go through from time to time. However, Mrs. Boss enjoyed Dan’s attention which he lavished upon her as if the well of attention could never run dry. He would sit, with legs crossed over and one palm on top of the other hand with them both resting on the uppermost knee, and practically salivate at every word she spoke. If she were to say “all gay people should be shot”, I am certain Dan would be agreeing wholeheartedly with her and offering to get the guns! Full Story

I believe FH is currently getting his mail forwarded on a biweekly basis. I'll ask him to shoot you a reply.

Hmmmm, maybe Bob's BBQ could put this together? Bob's does a pretty good chicken-fried steak, so they have the gravy part down.

Are you talking about Robin's Nest on Soi Diana?