gk10002000

OK. I used the wrong terminology for the 30 day thing I get stamped in my passport when I arrive at BKK.

My buddy has gone to cambodia two or thee times. Once for a day visa run and once or twice for a week visit I think. He said it was really good. Cambodia is on my radar for sure.

On my last stay in April I stayed an extra 7 days past my 30 day visa on arrival deadline. I asked around and some Brits I knew from the Pig and Whistle on Soi 7 told me the visa office over in Jomtien does that quick and easy. I also went on the internet and saw there was a short form to print out and some standard fee applied. Lazy man that I was I stopped into a visa/travel office on Soi LK Metro just below Soi Bukao in the afternoon. They charged an extra 200 Baht I think it was, on top of the standard fee and did everything for me. I signed the one page application form, gave them my passport, and everything came back the next day. In my mind, that was a fair price for them running the errand. My friends said they did it in person at the Jomtien office and it only was an hour or two wait. No big deal. While I always hate giving my passport to anybody, there were no problems. I think if I had gotten to the travel office early in the morning, they would have gotten my visa extension and passport back later in the same day.

Speaking of passports, this is one of the reasons I go to Thailand and have not traveled to Vietnam or some other countries yet. Here in the USA, you have to mail your passport to the Vietnamese embassy, then after some amount of time they send you back a Visa but with an expiration date and a travel by date. The nature of my job is such that I can rarely plan far enough ahead to book reservations and travel during the valid Visa time. This is why countries like Thailand and others that issue visas on arrival get my business. They are convenient and easy to work with.

Gettin anxious to fly soon. Three months away from the LOS and I am having withdrawal symptoms!

GK

I have been to pattaya 8 times. I like to wander and walk a bit so bear with me.

Nong nuch garden is nice. and can be a very quiet and peaceful day. Do not take the 1/2 day tour you buy at all the travel agencies. they waste your time and you do not have enough time to relax and explore the full place. Take the full day tour or just take a baht bus to jomtien then "hire" a baht bus or motorcycle taxi from there. The place is not far from Jomtien. Do catch the outdoor elephant show there. The indoor Thai cultural show is OK. Not great, but OK for an hour.

1,000,000 years crocodile park is good too. Make sure you catch the croc show. Not great, but the crocs are big and real and the guy is in there handling them.

Last year went to the aquarium out on Sukhumvit was it? Not bad. A bit pricey and not very big but if you have never seen one it is ok.

Beach at Jomitien is nice. I typically walk a bit towards jomtien before I hop on a baht bus for the rest of the trip.

Take a baht bus to Naklua and then walk north on the beach below Dusit hotel. Nice rocks and and a very nice paved walkway there.

Soapie massage at one of the places up by Soi 2. Adult fun, but well, you will get the idea.

Visit some of the local Thai Temples. They are on one of those pattaya color maps.

Walk up the hill on Pratmarnak southside of town. Nice view and the outdoor 10 meter tall buddha is nice. The Chinese area down and to the left on the way back is nice.

Go Cart rides are pretty good. We went to the one on the southside of town before Jomtien. Sorry, can't be more specific. My friend did flip his go cart and tore up his knee a bit. The carts were loud and did move pretty fast. Lots of shaking and vibration. all in all a good deal.

Day trip to Ko Lahn off shore island. Rent the Popeye boat down across from Hard Rock hotel. make sure you can go to the beach of your choice. My first trip my thai friend knew the beach that is basically on the north side of the island. It was quiet, the place made a fine shrimp fried rice. The ferry was cheap but took us to the crowded beach. pass on that.

For cheap adult fun, walk up Soi 11, just inland from 2nd road. Many massage places. Best price for an oil massage on the cheap. A bit sleazy, but may be somebody's cup of tea.

Swimming pool on top of Mike's mall. Big pool with a great view of Pattaya. Chairs had no soft cushions though. Better pool is over on soi 2 or 3 or 4? Mike's orchid hotel. The nice looking place with a lot of purple outside. Pool has one of those vanishing edges. Very nice girls behind the checkin counter. Think we were charged 60 baht for the day each?

Food court top of garden mall just before walking street. Nice view and decent food choices. Pretty fair deal and a starbucks right next door for a desert coffee outside .

Used book store in Tops grocery second floor. Might find something that tickles your fancy.

Bowling lane up there was OK. Buddy and I took our GFs there.

Indoor shooting range right at Tiffany's cabaret on 2nd Road. A bit pricey but they had a lot of guns and ammo to choose from.

Sunday lamb special at the buther's arm pub on soi bukao. They have it every sunday and it is pretty good.

Full english breakfast at Pig and Whistle on Soi 7. Fish and chips is pretty good too.

1/2 chicken and rib combo at Tequila Reef on soi 7. Homemade salsa and warm chips are pretty good.

Fried rice with shrimp (kao phat kung) and watermelon shake at KISS on 2nd road. Man for 85 baht it is tough to beat.

confined eh? sorry. never done that. But I still vote for the food court type of place down on the ground floor to the left. Cheap and good. Cheaper than in the Carre 4 food cours and much better. Duck over noodles was fine when I was there in April. Cost something like 150 baht and that was with a bottle of water. Maybe you can find somebody to run an errand for you. Give em some baht and a general order of what you want and have it brought back up to you. In the old Thailand this used to work and you could trust a Thai to do that. Give them a decent tip or even invite them to eat with you.

Best Wishes

Never noticed a self-storage place. Ran across this ad on Craig's list. Maybe it will help.

http://bangkok.craigslist.co.th/prk/704385576.html

You know, this forum is great. It is fantastic that people help others out. I have been to Pattaya 8 times and will be back soon. I just thought I would write this here because I grew up with Briggs and Stratton mower and a snow blower also I think here in the USA so the topic subject caught my eye.

I always book my ticket online at expedia or orbitz or the airline itself. But being an international flight, I still have to go to a ticket counter at the airport and get an actual ticket and show my passport for ID. I can't use a self-service kiosk or things like that for International travel.

I find this credit card requirement such nonsense. As people have mentioned , there are all sorts of complications and unavailabilities. How about tickets purchased by companies for individuals? Surely all the thousands of daily business travelers don't carry and often don't even know the direct purchase arrangements their companies make with the airlines or travel agencies when they provide tickets for their employees, or people traveling for job interviews or things like that.

Just a small counter example from the USA. Go visit most State Recreational Parks in individual states. you will often be charged a different and higher price if you are from out of state. I always took exception to that because here I am, somebody that drove out of their way to go visit and I am charged more? On the other hand, many State Parks are partially funded by state revenues that are raised by taxing state residents so they pay smaller entry fees.

Thanks all for the replies so far. sounds like I may head to BKK for it. I posted the same question on the health forum and there seems to be more up in BKK as one might expect. Many thanks

Thanks all for the information so far. I really do appreciate that.

I have flown China Air Lines and EVA airlines from Los Angeles to Bangkok many times and have had no problems changin return flights. I usually end up staying longer than I planned. EVA was free. China air cost me $25 USD once. Had no problems except once around January and New Year's and Christmas I was not able to change my flight. BUt that was in 2004 right after the tsunami so no doubt that was a complicating factor.

When I change my ticket, I usuall check online to see if any flights seem to be available, then a quick stop in any of the decent english speaking Thai travel offices and let them make the call. have used Diana Inn twice on second road in pattaya. The young girl there is very nice. In fact last trip, I changed my ticket twice and it became a daily joke as I would walk by and stick my head in her office for another change!

I had one done for the mother-in-law a few months back at the International Hospital on soi 4. It cost about 16,000 all in, but she had to have loads of drinks and injections as it was a stomach/ intestinal condition.

I would imagine looking at your back would be much quicker, less involved, and therefore a bit cheaper (possibly).

I thought it was pretty cheap anyway considering the cost of these machines.

Thank you for the reply.

Have a flare up of an old old lower back L5 disk injury. Might just be inflammation of the nerve or some local swelling but leg sciatica type of pain is happening. Back in 1971 I had an old fashioned mylogram and they removed a protruding disk. Nowadays, an MRI exam would be done. Is it worth getting looked at in Pattaya? Any recommendations? Any price ranges known by anyone? Thanks

Have a flare up of an old old lower back L5 disk injury. Might just be inflammation of the nerve or some local swelling but leg sciatica type of pain is happening. Back in 1971 I had an old fashioned mylogram and they removed a protruding disk. Nowadays, an MRI exam would be done. Is it worth getting looked at in Pattaya? Any recommendations? Thanks

songkran in pattaya sucks. Too much meanness in the thais as they go out of their way to pummel the farangs. Over one week when one can't walk to the mall, do some daytime hiking. I will avoid it again forever.

Ruen Thai is pretty good. pleasant outside dining under nice roof. Constant thai music and dancers live. Can't say the food is the absolute best, but the dining experience is fine.

Intown holiday hotel on soi 11 has a small pool on roof that is ok for a cool dip. Hotel beds are the most comfortable for me as they are not on the hard side. 600 baht for a weekly rate in march. you can probably do better. staff is ok. nothing special there. the tv channels were good because they had bloomberg financial station, bbc and some asian news channels plus fox and one other us network. all in all a fair deal, not far from opey. I think it is much better than Opey having stayed in Opey for a few days last year.

Use the laundry girls across the street, 2nd laundry down towards the water. fantastic job, cheap and nice ladies. Worth taking a detour to go there and drop off your laundry.

Any 7-11 store. Huge phone area in Big- C mall on 2nd floor. All cash and carry.

So i ask again in plain english. has anyone got photo's of the demolition of the bars on soi 8?.

Sorry, did not take any photos but i was there all of march and 1/2 of april and can attest to it being there or not being there depending on your point of view.

Been there 8 times. Best ever is on soi 11, just across from the Intown Holiday Hotel, towards the sea. It is the second laundry down. Cheapest and best. Typically two ladies and one younger girl there. Clothes come back clean, folded and cheaply done. Very nice people too. Can't find my reciepts at the moment so I can't give the exact name.

Been to old airport 3 times, swampy 5 trips. Swampy just doesn't look Thai. Too modern and sterile. If one were transported there like in Star Trek, one would have to look very hard to determine one was in Thailand. No architecture or Thai styles are evident. Functionally, the long walks to terminals past rows and rows of redundant overpriced shops is too much.

The gate waiting areas might have the worst acoustics I have ever seen. Can't understand a darn thing.

Mass transport wise it is pretty good. Buses to/from pattaya throughout the day, and buses to/from many parts of bangkok and to spots near the skytrain stops (ekami) for instance are ok. Taxis are ok.

All in all I don't mind the place.

hey

im flying from surat thani to bkk , and i have a 6 hours waiting ..

could u please reccomand a nice place to stay at the airport ? or maybe a lounge room.

thanks so much

Check out the vip access link pinned at top of the forum.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll get it now. It'll play on my mind otherwise and I would be disappointed if I had to buy a more expensive ticket later on.

6/8 times i get just as low a price when i buy last minute, usually within 7 days of my trip. the airlines hold the prices up as high as they can for as long as they can, then sell of the remaining seats before the departure date. I usually have little advance planning time when my contracts end so I usually can only buy on short notice. Orbitz and sometimes even Expedia usually give a fine price that is close enough to long term advance purchases.

But is there any sun there in May-June or just clouds and showers? We'll be able to lay on beach?

Starting to get a bit anxious about our holiday...

I have been in thailand every month of the year. May 28 is my birthday so I often am there. I am usually in pattaya and the weather is fine. a bit hot, with an occasional afternnoon rain storm. nothing much or long. phuket is a bit different but I defer to other posters or weather sites.

I have been there many times, last time was in November 2007.

a very nice place, particularly if you are interested in cultural events. it's the heart of Jawanese culture. people are incredibly friendly and unlike in a certain country, their plentifuly smiles are genuine and not just a disguise....

at night its pretty quiet, nightlife as u are used to in Thailand is limited to a few hotel-bars/Discotheques and a few karaoke-places. its very much a Muslim place, but not in a negative way. people are opneminded and used to foreigners. Central Jawa has always been the most liberal place in Indonesia, apart from Monster Jakarta. it's as well a student town with plenty of young people, adding to the special vibe of the city....

decent accomadation available in every price-range, starting around 200 Baht in the cheapo-LOSMEN.

earthquake: the truth is, Jawa is prone to earthquakes and it can happen anywhere, anytime on the island....

but isnt it all destiny ?

you wont be able to notice any damage of the last earthquake (which surprisingly was NOT that strong - around 5,7 or something, compared to the 7,8 of the Sichuan China quake, but sadly still claimed thousands of lives) , the town hardest hit was BANTUL, a non-touristic-place, south of Yogya, and near the sea.

PM me in case u need further information on Yogya or the entire Jawa-island

WOw. thank you for all the posts. I too am hoping to visit there and see borobodor. funny thing is, a few years back I knew more bahasa malay/indo because of a friend of mine. Then I happened to visit Thailand first and have gone there 8 times since! It has proven a very big distraction for me. Time to head to Indonesia. Thanks again for the info. What hotels would you recommend? I have seen some stuff online about getting the place near borobodour so one can get there early in the morning.