gaprau25

Adam, congrats on yet another stellar party (which I enjoyed from the comfort of my armchair in Japan. Dammit!)

I used to stay there for weeks at a time. I love the rooms there. But with the noise and the loss of the view, unless they drop their prices to the range of the rest of the hotels with decent rooms and no view (and there are shitloads that fit that description in Pattaya) I reckon they're going to see more and more regulars staying elsewhere. But I sure did love staying there before!

Whoops! My bad! Sorry about that. Yes, it's off South Pattaya road between 3rd Rd and Sukhumvit, on a soi that heads in the Jomtien direction. I just corrected my original post. Sorry!

I liked the Honey Inn. No joiner fee. The air con isn't that quiet, but the rooms are nice. Just be sure to ask for a room pointing out toward Soi 10. If you're on the soi 11 side, bring ear plugs! I wrote this review about the Honey Inn

See "CONS" in my first post.

Unfortunately, no. Just a safe-deposit box system at the front desk.

I had parked just in front of that Russian BBQ restaurant between Pattaya Glang and Soi 7 on Beach Road. There were bikes there, so I just did the park and dash to the beach. But when I got back, it was empty, and I could see the white cross lines and no parking sign. My bad. From that point, I either went to a side soi, where I don't think anybody ever gets towed, or I looked for the mini parking space lines, like the ones in front of the new shopping complex on Second Road, or in front of Royal Garden --- assuming the fucking motorcycle taxi guys don't tell you that only they're allowed to park there, as they often do, using up 1/4 of the available spaces. Pricks. :

Yes, I definitely over paid that guy. But the main reason was that my US buddy had told me it was waaaaaay on the North Side. He said it took well over half an hour to get there. And given that the motorcycle taxis in town -- particularly on beach road -- won't budge for less that 60 baht, and since I was at an obvious disadvantage not knowing the exact destination, I knew it was going to be on the expensive side. Anyway, the reason for this post is to tell others that the impound is NOT so far away. Confirm it with the cops, and get a map if you have to. Then you should be able to keep the taxi fare to a minimum. Happy bartering! Oh, and Vidman, sorry, but I can't say exactly where it is, as I was too lazy to draw a map down before I forgot. But it's not so far off South Pattaya Road.

Shiiiiit! How stupid am I, eh! I was there two weeks and never once thought of just asking to change to the rooms facing the empty soi!! Doh!

Buyer beware! On my last trip, I got my scooter towed for illegal parking. Luckily, the police station on Soi 9/Beach Road have two Western volunteer staff who were totally helpful and explained the ropes. The fine was 500B, and they told me to take a motorcycle taxi to the place they wrote for me on the back of the ticket. I went to the cycle-taxi stand on the corner of soi 9 where they told me it would cost 700B to go there. I was under the impression (from a buddy) that it was way the hell out past Naklua, so I was prepared to pay up to 400, but 700?? Not a fuckin' chance. They came down to 600, but wouldn't budge past that. In fact, they started really getting aggressive and in my face about how much money we foreigners have and how little they have, yadda yadda yadda. (No, I was not being aggressive. I was bartering the whole time with a smile and joking around -- usually works fine). Anyway, I guess they have enough stupid newbies who will pay that price, so they can sit on their ass all afternoon and only work 2 times a day to make enough to get by on. OK, so it's a seller's market there. So be it. Their loss. So I just said thank you and walked up to Second Road (thinking it would be on the way to N. Pattaya anyway). There was a meter taxi parked at the top of the soi. "Can you take me here?" I asked, showing him the address. "Sorry, but I can't take you." WTF? He explained he was a Bangkok taxi driver. "The Pattaya motorcycle mafia is very strong," he tells me. "Go talk to them," he says, pointing to the usual group of half-wit motorcycle taxi drivers lounging around their bikes. With these guys, I stupidly started at 400B (still stunned from the last 2 encounters, I guess). The guy says 500, and I jump on. Interestingly, the helmet he gave me was broken. "No problem," he says. "No need helmet." I guess the irony of going to pick up a bike towed for illegal parking, driving illegally with no helmet escaped him. I showed him that the problem was that the strap was broken. "No problem, no need strap." I didn't even try to mime the old TV commercial about how your head explodes like a pumpkin smashing against a tree when you go ballistic in an accident...I just grabbed a helmet off his buddy's bike. Now here's the rub: The impound center is not in Naklua. It's just off South Pattaya Road, between 3rd Road and Sukhumvit (Corrected from previous edit -- sorry). From S.Pattaya Road it takes about 3 minutes by scooter. So for anybody getting towed, first confirm with the cops the location of the impound center, then walk up beach road till you find a taxi to take you for 100B.

I just got back from 2 weeks in Pattaya. This time around, I stayed at the Honey Inn, located on Soi 11 off Soi Buakhao (or off 2nd Road), about half way up the soi. I booked via an agency (I didn't have their number before), but later got their hotel info and requested their airport pickup service at 1,500B. The driver was on time, a safe driver, and spoke English. Ditto with the drop off (1,000B). Pros: It's been renovated, so the rooms are clean. The bed was huge and the room was spacious. The bathroom had a walk in shower with good water pressure. The staff were friendly, efficient, spoke English and didn't screw up once, not even my laundry or the final checkout bill. The price was great for this, at about 800B a night (high season rate), breakfast included. And no hassle at all about joiners. The late night guy was cool about everything, and leaving an ID card was up to you. Cons: It's a noisy soi, with bars across the street, bikes at all hours, and construction noise starts early. So bring earplugs. The restaurant has no non-smoking section, so if you can't tolerate nicotine with your breakfast, best eat someplace else. And if you do eat in the restaurant, make sure you are clear about what you want. The woman in there is a bit slow on the uptake, and she constantly made mistakes with peoples' breakfast orders. A final con: No safe, and the safe-deposit box at the front desk is not available after 10PM, which sucks if you have an early-morning checkout and forget to get your shit. Note that soi 11 has loads of massage parlors which can be a pro if you like convenience and don't mind walking by the girls you've already done every day with a new one on your arm. Also, I spoke with the GM there over breakfast one day, and he seems to be very improvement minded, so I think the hotel will get better as time goes on. He said they are planning to build 160 new units in the lot behind the hotel on Soi 10 (off 2nd road). Definitely a good place to stay. Mail: honeyinn@gmail.com Tel: 038-421-543 (or 544)

Actually, that's what I thought the post was about in the first place. I was going to go on about the merits of cialis vs. viagra.

I belong to 2 "loyalty programs" (frequent flyer programs). One is Northwest (and KLM). The other is Star Alliance (through ANA airways in Japan, in my case). In both cases, the VAST majority of miles I collect is not from flying, but by using my credit card. And you should be doing this too! With Northwest, I have a credit card from Citibank. Every time I use 100yen (about a dollar US, give or take), I get one mile. Given that everything here is so bloody expensive, I rack up miles pretty fast. And from Japan, I can fly round trip for 20,000miles economy, or 30,000 on business! In fact, I paid for my masters degree on that card, so when I finished, I also had a free trip abroad waiting for me! My Star Alliance points come from a credit card I got directly from All Nippon Airways (ANA). Same deal -- 100 yen = 1 mile. With ANA (or any airline in Star Alliance), the cost to fly within Asia is at least double, between 40,000miles and 45,000 miles, depending on which carrier you use (with Star Alliance, you can fly with any airline you want that belongs to the alliance). So with NW, it takes fewer miles to fly, but you have only 1 flight a day to book on, and the flight times are shite. With Star Alliance, you get reamed with the high cost of miles, but you can choose from over a dozen flights a day. Very convenient, indeed. And since Thai Airlines is a Star Alliance member, I can fly with them and oogle the stewardesses. (Although Singapore Airline is much better in that regard!!). So get thee a frequent flyer associated credit card at once and stop paying for travel!

**scratches Bay Breeze Hotel from list of places to stay** Although I think theft can happen anywhere in LOS, it's that "couldn't care less" attitude from the management that drives me insane. I had my room robbed in View Talay and the office staff there wouldn't even let me use the phone (mine had been stolen) and got angry at me when I asked them at least to call Fairview Properties for me. I won't be renting there again any time soon either. Thanks for the heads up about Bay Breeze.

Nice pics! 16 hours to Wheels up. A week in BKK then I'll be showing my ugly mug at the Cherry Bar. Looking forward to seeing all this shit in real life again!!!