ozboy

Further question to those that may know, I arrived in Thailand on Sept 18 and left oct 6 so is this classed as a "free" visit seeing it started before Oct 1 or does the 6 days i spent there in Oct count against the 90 days I am allowed in a 6 month period?and if it does count does my 6 month period start from Oct 1 or Sept 18? ozboy

On my recent trip to los,sept/oct I bought a 12call sim card with the idea of keeping the same number for future trips,I paid about 300 baht for the sim and got about 50 baht credit with it I think,and also bought extra credit at the same time,the reason I bought 12 call was that i was told it had a 1 year validity on the sim card,no mention of whether you had to have a minimum credit balance on it or not.The only problem I had was that on many occasions i had great difficulty both sending and receiving sms messages to australia,no problems to thai numbers,and talking to a few people living th

I used sawasdee.com to book the areca when the hotel told me they were fully booked,and it was 100 baht per night cheaper.The only difference between standard and deluxe as far as i am aware is that deluxe has tea/coffee facilities and it has an in-room safe whereas standard you have to use safety box in special room behind reception. ozboy

must admit i cant understand why the cost of a taxi to"bangkok" would rise significantly as both airports seem to be pretty much the same distance to nana etc.Other than the fact that the cost of an arranged driver may go up "because they can and will lift the price" but if using a metered tazi dont see much of a difference. ozboy

If you use a padlocks to lock your suitcase while travelling just use one of those,they are fine that's what I did in may. ozboy

Samsonite,not saying you are wrong about that patent ruling but the way i understand things,and of course I could be wrong, there is a ruling of some sort to do with patents,certainly to do with lots of drugs, that after a certain time frame other companies are allowed to manufacture the same drug but they must have a different name to the original I.E. viagra----kamagra etc.This certainly seems to be the case here in Australia where you can get a prescription from the doctor and when getting it filled at the chemist you can ask to be given the generic version if there is one available,and thi

Florida Guy, I know you said counterfeit viagra and my point is that a lot of what is sold ie kamagra etc is not counterfeit, ie forged/false, they are a generic version that is allowed to be manufactured by other companies as the world wide patent only allowing the original "inventor" of them will have ceased and therefore any reputable manufacturing drug company can produce their own version. This applies to all drugs once a certain time has elapsed from first release of the drug,possibly around 7 years. ozboy

who says these tablets are counterfeit?? the description is generic, which basically means that the original patent, owned by phizer or whoever has expired and then any company is free to make the same drug but with a different name and because they havn't spent billions on r&d they can do so for a lot cheaper. ozboy

I also think that possibly mr T could be a different service to mr Toom. There is a notice in reception,i think,at the areca lodge saying that mr T,or something close to that, is not even allowed to enter the areca driveway and there is a car service of the same name opposite the areca. ozboy

Hi, I think the double fare is meaning if you get on the baht bus further north in pattaya from where you are talking about.If you get the baht bus from the cnr of sth pattaya and 2nd rd the fare should be only 10 baht as far as they go into jomtien. ozboy

Personally I would check that you are getting a deluxe room,ie pool view with in room safe, because if you are, 990 baht is an exceptional price and no doubt several people including me would like to know who you are booking through. My wife and I were there late may/june and walk-in price for standard room was 1090 baht, we booked through sawasdee.com and got standard room for 990 baht,and deluxe room both at hotel or sawasdee was 200 baht more than standard. ozboy

yes that was my only complaint also,i resorted to getting water out of the bath tap via a glass.I cant understand the thinking behind only having cold water to the sink. ozboy

Sorry blacknight but i think you are wrong, both blocks have rooms facing a pool and also rooms facing away from the pools,to my knowledge all rooms in both blocks are deluxe and the others are standard with the exception as you say of one executive room per floor which on floor 3 of the front block is in the centre of the block and facing the pool. ozboy

Dont think there is deluxe seaview at areca, but the difference between standard and deluxe,which is pool view, is that deluxe has an in-room safe instead of safety boxes at reception and they have tea/coffee making facilities. ozboy

sorry i guess fan is probably not the right description,it is probably best described as a roof extractor or ventilator and it is inside a cowl so the rain cant get in.also would be a lot cheaper than solar as they should be very inexpensive. ozboy

Jacko try installing a couple of roof fans,im sure ive seen them over there even if only on some factory/industrial units, they will fit roughly in the space of a roof tile and as hot air rises in the roof space it will escape through the fan space causing the vanes to spin which in turn will pull more hot air out and therefore cooling the roof space which will have an effect inside the house.The air that is pulled out of the roof space will be replaced through gaps under the roof tiles. oxboy

options from Perth are pathetic to say the least,qantas doesnt fly to bangkok from perth so if you try and get a f/f seat you get routed via brisbane,sydney or melbourne, at the princely sum of 44000 points each way plus god only knows how much taxes,prob around $500 as flights in todays paper direct to singapore have taxes shown at $340.Thai of course flies but you are looking in the region of $1000, bloody ridiculous. ozboy

We flew air asia to phuket and return plus chiang mai and return in may and found them very good,yes we had a couple of delays/change of flight times,but no more than 90 mins but we were told of them by sms at least one day in advance and where given a drinks voucher at the airport also so personaly i would say yes go for it and book with them. ozboy

Not true at all,we moved out of the Areca on june 8 and they are renovating the front pool,from june 4 till june 30 according to the notices, but I doubt it will take that long as when we left they had already completlystripped all the old tiles off and were busy releveling the wall surface ready to start retiling.We were in the front block,not pool view, and didnt even notice any noise when they were chipping all the tiles off. ozboy

oops lol obvious mistake should have said between 2 hrs and 2.5 hours on the bus . ozboy

The signage for breakfast says 10 am finish but reception upon check-in told us 10.30 and we did see people come in for breakfast after 10 without a problem,apart from that there are numerous place within 200 mts of the hotel for breakfast inc kiss food on the corner of soi dianna inn and second road. ozboy

Getting the bus from and to ekkamai is very easy and hassle free,just get a skytrain to ekkamai station and when you get down from the platform the bus station is 100 metres max away.The buses,a/c leave every 30 mins so there should be no long waits.The trip takes about 30 mins and you can get a baht bus from pattaya bus station to the top or bottom of the street your hotel is in for 20 baht or do a private hire of one right to your hotel door for 100 baht. ozboy

and every hotel has a closet in every room lol 36 hours to wheels up. ozboy

just had an email reply stating you can make an email booking and there is a waiting room at terminal 1 ATTA waiting room. ozboy