donna

you could also try contacting our members, 'chantal' or 'stevenl' who will be more than happy to give you more info regarding diving.....

i will thank you ALL for please bringing this back on topic...which, from memory was related to the food at La Boucherie.

to the OP, if your meal was so bad, then why not tell the restaurant? there is no way that they can right their wrong if they dont know. in all fairness to them, they should be given the opportunity to rectify the problem, and this can only be done if they know about it.

just my two bobs worth.

Im surprised none of the ladies have been asking quesitons.

im still in shock at your daily activity post. waaaaay too much information neverdie!

sounds like you need more than oven mits. Sheryl. i think you need an asbestos suit!

I've been hit by two storms from  the east, so that doesn't tell me the monsoon is i.  Rainly season comes from the west, but with the past two nights heavy rains, the monsoon could be changing early from north east to south west shotly.

A few showers at this time of year is normal.

There are actually three seasons here; rainy season, cool and dry season and hot and dry season.

It is now changing from cool and dry to hot and dry season.

During the change, the land is heating up faster than the air. The hot air rises and is chilled to form storm clouds and rain.

As the air heats up further, the difference in temperature between the land and the air won't be so great, so the chances of rain will decrease until the SW monsoonal wind takes over in May.

you are a fountain of knowledge, Sir Burr!

i remember one time in bkk i was really feeling sorry for myself. i had just been discharged from hospital with a second bout of malaria in 3 months. i felt like crap, and i am sure i looked like it too.

a friend asked me what was wrong and i told them that i had malaria.

'oh you are so lucky' he said.

'what makes me so dam_n lucky, ive been sick as a dog with malaria and i feel like crap still' i replied.

'you are lucky, donna. you didnt die' was his reply.

good reply, and i remember that always.

phuket has some good restaurants but many more just average ones. finding good staff in thailand, phuket in particular, is very difficult for a few reasons.

1. there is such a bad public transport system that staff have to use their own motorbikes to get to work

2. smaller establishments cant afford a car to bring staff to work

3. staff want service charge on top of their basic salary, and many want a guaranteed service charge

4. restaurant hours are erratic and many staff dont want to do shifts

5. english isnt a big thing in the thai school curriculum. there are a few thais that speak english well but often these people are too qualified to work in a restaurant

6. lack of training. restaurant owners do not train their staff well enough, and when it comes to wine knowledge, forget it

im sure that there are many more things but thats what i came up with off the top of my head. please bear in mind that if a place has had good reviews and suddenly gets bad reviews, there is usually a reason for it. change of management? change of chef? a bad day perhaps? who knows. constructive criticism is always welcome but remember that praise given where due is also welcome.

Donna can you enlighten me as I'm obviously missing something but then that's nothing new :jerk:

1 Whats riding to work on your own bike got to do with good service ?

2 Same as above, why should they be driven to their place of work and what difference would it make ?

3 I don't see that as a staff requisite but rather something the management like to add to the bill ?

4 Hours are erratic? They open at a time and they close at a time. Unlike bars which will tend to stay open later if they are busy ???

5 Granted on that one girl

6 Same as 5 Donna have to agree

Cheers

OH and Huggy, N.A.S.A = Never A Straight Answer.

I for one do not believe they ever landed on the moon! Just my opinion!

1 Whats riding to work on your own bike got to do with good service ?

many hospitality staff on Phuket feel that their boss should transport them to and from work. the better staff often go to the place that gives them a higher salary and more benefits, such as transport, housing allowance, and fixed service charge payment.

2 Same as above, why should they be driven to their place of work and what difference would it make ?

i guess i repeated myself in the initial post - it was a long time ago!

3 I don't see that as a staff requisite but rather something the management like to add to the bill ?

the service charge (speaking from a hotel perspective anyway) is definitely part of the bargaining process when hiring staff in Phuket. many a time i interviewed potential staff who were very reluctant to come to work in a hotel under construction because they wanted a guaranteed service charge. the Mercure hotel in Patong was offering staff a guaranteed service charge of 10k per month, on top of their base salary. that was throughout the whole year, not just in high season.

management do add that to the bill, as sometimes they skim a little off the top. but if staff in Phuket know that the boss is doing that, they will threaten to walk out unless it is rectified.

4 Hours are erratic? They open at a time and they close at a time. Unlike bars which will tend to stay open later if they are busy ???

sorry. i guess i meant to say that the hours are from early until late. maybe not erratic, but shift work isnt popular with everyone.

5 Granted on that one girl

6 Same as 5 Donna have to agree

hope that answers some of your questions.

the food is edible,

yummy.

well, its certainly not what i would call fine dining, but they do have a bit of everything.

i saw Rod Stewart about 20 yrs ago in Melbourne, and he was great. i wouldnt expect any less of him to be honest. pity he isnt coming to Bali! haha.

i agree with Submaniac here. Baiyoke is somewhere that i am sure she will love. as mentioned, its not intimidating, the food is edible, and the views can be lovely.

Ill'be in Bali from 24th of march for one month. Maybe we can organize a small thaivisa meeting there...

sure we can. may just be the two of us though! haha

What's it like in July/August/September?

Lombok? Gilli Islands?

Just looked on Air Asia and the fares are really cheap

RAZZ

July/Aug/Sep are high season, so you should be booking accommodation now if you are thinking of coming over. basically, the seasons in Bali are the direct opposite of that in Phuket.

i just booked return to bkk from bali for around USD250 on air asia.

Lombok and the Gili's are also good.

it depends on what you are after. bali has some fabulous hotels and villas, but you get what you pay for. if you are after the top end of the market in the bet hotel on the island (well, up there anyway) you should look at St Regis. stunning.

if you are after a budget hotel in Sanur, look at Bumi Ayu. clean, reasonable price and in a good location.

on Lombok i recommend Santosa Villas and Spa. it used to be called Intan Laguna, but has just been re-furbed. very nice. you could also look at the Oberoi or Novotel, but they are both in more remote locations.

on Gili Trawangan, try Villa Ombak for a nice place to stay.

i remember the restaurant in THC was always great veggie food. just up near Thapae Gate.

for over 5 of the 8 years i lived in thailand, i worked as a tour leader. ALL of my guests were backpackers, but this definition was only because the bag we asked them to carry was a backpack. this enabled us to travel easier as a group, and it meant that they had to carry their own bags.

my guests ranged from doctors and lawyers to students and coalminers. no two were the same, but they ALL spent a good amount of money.

it is well known that a 'backpacker' will spend longer in a country and possibly spend more money overall than a short term tourist.

in 1999 when i first moved to Thailand, i used to frequent Khao San Rd a lot, as my office was just one street away. back then, yes, it was barefoot 'hippies' with dreadlocks and tye die. that changed over the years, though, and whilst they do still exist (as they do in every country) i can say that Khao San Road has gone 'up market' somewhat. there are rooms there that sell at 2500thb per night, and these are usually full. there are some nicer restaurants there (of course not 5* but they are OK) and of course the street food.

when the airport was closed a lot of companies hosting these 'backpackers' suffered, and they continue to do so, but i do believe that they will return. i havent been to Khao San Road for some time, but will be there next week. i dont expect to see a deserted road at all.

this demographic does keep a lot of people employed. from the cheapie 'hostels' to street food vendors, to the cheap beauty parlours, to massage therapists. these people DO tend to return later and spend a lot of money.

i dont see it fair to judge somebody just because of the bag they choose to carry!

i recently bought Revlon Lash Fantasy. it has two ends - the first is an 'undercoat' and the second is the black mascara. i LOVE this product. makes my already long lashes sky high! it is waterproof which is great.

when taking off waterproof mascara, i find the best product to be Loreal GENTLE lip and eye makeup remover. fabulous stuff. its the two tone liquid in the 125ml bottle.

sorry folks! i forgot to pop back in to this thread for some time.

the rainy season has been quite OK in bali. we have had some HUGE downpours, but the days are quite OK. we have had a few days where it rained non stop but overall its not been a bad wet season.

with the wet season, also comes the rubbish on the west side. the beaches (kuta/legian/seminyak etc) are strewn with plastic and organic waste that has been washed up. it should be gone in march i believe.

for swimming beaches, sanur is nice but only at high tide.

to be honest, thailand has nicer beaches than bali, but i believe that bali has nicer scenery. one is not necessarily better than the other but they are both suited to different markets.

i like Candi Dasa too, flightcrew1, but i suspect that the OP may want some nice beach time too. if thats the case, then Candi Dasa may not be the place for him unfortunately. but for a few days, its a lovely place. the drive up there is pretty, and the locals are very friendly.

of course, Ubud is another nice place, but it CAN be a little cliquey. if its beautiful scenery and a more rural side of things you are after, then Ubud may be the right place.

Nusa Dua IS very 'posh' but still not too far from the 'less posh' places.

what a disgraceful story. i hope he takes them to court for this mis treatment.

nusa lembongan is a small island off of bali. ive not stayed there, but its not really pumping full of bars. there are a few surfers there and thats about it really. nice for a few nights but that may be all.

sanur is a nicer place which is on the east coast only 20 min from kuta. nice little bars and restaurants along the main street, and if you want a sports bar for a night, head to Arena near mcdonalds.

Legian and Seminyak are just north of Kuta and much nicer.

there are so many hotels to choose from, so you need to give some idea of budget before making recommendations.

well with all the doom and gloom in the world, i say that your photo is a little ray of sunshine Kan Win.

dont care about the technicalities of it all, but its pretty and it made me feel good.

of course thats true, girlx. it isnt something that you can believe 100%, but it IS a nice way to live your life, hey?

i will give you an example. my gorgeous niece had a baby. he was born at just 28 weeks gestation and weighed 940g at birth. he spent the first 10 months of his life in hospital and finally came home. during that time, my niece stayed positive, and was in that hospital, 25km away, every single day, as was her partner.

to cut a long story short, Kody passed away last year on October 29 at just 14 mths old.

now, my niece is still in mourning, of course, but she remains positive and has managed to move on with her life. Kody will be with her forever, and will always be her first born child, but she has to look towards the future and see the glass as half full rather than half empty. as someone said to me once 'your niece had Kody for a short time, but he had her for his whole life'. i will never forget that.

when i think of all the crap thats happened to me in my life, i look at my niece and see how she is dealing with the worst thing that can ever happen to a mother, and i just know that i have it easy compared to her. she gives me strength every day.

of course my niece didnt deserve that to happen to her, and she certainly didn't bring it on with her attitude, but with her strength and positive attitude, she will make it, and live a happy life knowing that Kody is looking over her every day.

the simple fact is that, unfortunately, if all these conveniences were not there, the island may not get the same number of tourists. its simply a sign of progress. to many its a negative one, but its progress all the same.

i am probably waaaay off topic here (pretty much as has everyone else after page 1) but i think that we attract what is forefront in our minds. i bought the DVD 'the secret' and whilst some may disagree and say its a load of crap,i actually believe it to be true in many cases.

instead of concentrating on what we DON'T want, we should concentrate on what we DO want.

for example, don't go walking around saying 'i don't want a man who is a womanizer'. the term 'man who is a womanizer' is the thing at the forefront, and usually this is what will materialize.

if we say 'i want a good man who is monogamous', then that is what will materialize.

ever noticed how, when you are in love, you get offers from other men? this is because you glow and look gorgeous and in love. if you wake up every day and say to yourself 'im in love' and really believe it, then it begins to show, and you attract love.

miserable people attract other miserable people.

happy people attract other happy people.

successful people attract other successful people.

i feel a bit like Oprah here, but i truly believe this to be what happens.

haha! i LOVE it.