allexx

Hello all. Im traveling from England over to Pattaya at the end of July. This will be my first time out of Europe so its a bit daunting going all the way to Thailand so I was just looking for abit of advice if anyone would be kind enough to help me out.

What Im really looking to know is the following.

How much money will I need in GBsterling to have a half decent time?

What the weather will be like from mid July to start of August?

The best way to get to and from Bangkok airport and Pattaya(perhaps a few days in Bangkok before we leave)?

How much is food(decent meals) and drink (alcohol - pints/spirits)?

Do's and Donts (behaviour wise/ not offendeing/ what to avoid)?

Reccomendations of things to do other than go to the bars, beach and pool?

The best way to approch Thai women without offending?

Also looking for somewhere to stay, perhaps with a pool, somewhere nice but not too dear?

And basically any other little things that might help out, again sorry for all the questions but its nice to get over there and have some idea whats what.

Many thanks in advance for any help

Don't use your video cam in Walking Street....

I am American but I can't help but noticing that the dominant language here is British English.That is why I now use the word whinge instead of whine, and will now switch to colour over color. Why not just make this the official language of the board: British English.

(I surrender, redcoats!)

Does it matter?, as long as we understand each other.

Mr. Miller... please.

The Tourist Police "headquarters" is set up in a dominant position in an open public area free for all to see. What exactly is Mr. Miller afraid of?

I would like to ask Mr. Miller the following:

1. On what authority was I being questioned by you and your assistant?

2. Is there a law in Thailand against taking video in Walking Street?

3. Is there a law against taking video of a group of foreigners in uniform?

4. If there is why didn't you ask one of your Thai police superiors to speak to me?

5. Mr. Harrison was out of uniform and presumably off-duty so in what capacity was he assisting you in your interrogation?

HARRASSED BY FTPA IN WALKING STREET

To the Editor, Pattaya Daily news.

I wish to inform you of an encounter I had with 2 members of the Foreign Police Assistants on the evening of 3rd March 2009 in Walking Street, Pattaya.

I’d observed a lot of police activity that night, some of which I had filmed, so curiosity got the better of me and I decided to have a drink at a bar near the Tourist Police “station” to try and see what was going on. I recognised one of the foreign guys in uniform as Howard Miller so I thought I’d get some footage of him and his comrades in their working environment, as were many of the tourists passing by.

The next thing I know, completely out of the blue, I’m pounced on by Howard Miller and another guy who wasn’t wearing a uniform. (I later managed to identify him as Paul Harrison, recently featured in a story on your web-site) …read more…

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/forum/show...icID=0000001743

Shoes? What kind of shoes tho Tots?

My little island was pretty darn rural when I first came (dirt roads, no banks, no phones, no hospital, electricity on 6 pm to 6 am) , it was a tough adjustment but given that it is my husband's home and we have these kinds of views outside our front door, I prefer it over Bangkok any day

That's outside your front door?Looks like the perfect dream,beautiful.

C’mon, its just another sunset, happens every day.

I suppose it was only a matter of time.

Anyone know if he is in Howard's or Niels' gang?

I think its Howards SWAT gang.....and Herr Flick is a hang-around...

LADY BOYS ACCUSE PATTAYA FOREIGN POLICE VOLUNTEER OF ASSAULT

On 25th February 2009 two lady boys claim they were injured in an unprovoked attack by a Foreign Police Volunteer (FPV) while they were negotiating with potential clients on Pattaya Beach.

At 02.30 am, the two lady boys, Mr. Boonchuay Srkeaw [20] from Nakorn Ratchasrima and Mr. Warawut Boongusol [20] from Bangkok, reported the incident to Pattaya police investigator, Pol. Lt. Col. Samreung Rattananahm.

They told police that they were hanging around on Beach Road, opposite Soi 13, with their many other lady boy friends when a tourist approached them and asked for a sexual service. While they were talking to the man a female Thai sex worker, who was standing nearby, walked up to the man and told him that the lady boys were not real women…..

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000008514

//Edit: changed topic title to be in line with quoted news article -- Maestro

There are many good British restaurants in Pattaya serving a Sunday brunch featuring "British" style "roast beef".

What I am looking for is the American style "Prime Rib" -- the kind of meat that is served on a cart and cut to your preference -- 2 or 3 inches in width for a rare or medium rare cut or an end cut............

Tried to get this in Bangkok at both the well known steak houses -- I was very disappointed and paid a lot of money for the dinner!!!!

So we have Manhattans Steak House , Bruno's, Casa Pascal, Mantra, El Toro, Cafe New Orleans, Amors, Royal Cliff, Dusit, etc., etc, ---

Is there any place here that serves a "San Francisco" or "Las Vegas" Prime Rib?

Thanks for your suggestions...........

I use the words sawadee khrap all the time here, in England. Ok most people reply with a puzzling look, but, I feel if I use to enough times, they may add them to the Concise Oxford Dictionary.

Why??...

Lots of interesting ideas put forward but when I think of what constitutes a word in one language being used in "everyday use" in another language i think of words like "rendezvous" from French. Thai has lots of proper nouns used internationally (Siam, Muay Thai, items on a thai food menu etc...) , but I cant really think of any common nouns or verbs...that bong example was a good one though.

The best I have, and this is just trivia, not a word in use in the English language, is the great race horse Phar Lap ( ฟ้าแลบ ) , it is thai for lightning. I'm sure you could use that word in some cockney rhyming slang somehow

Kaputt...germany

Does anyone know of any Thai words that are in general use in the English Language???

Taxi

I will be coming to Pattaya again next week and was wondering what the going rate is for tipping the massage girls ?

depends on if you get a happy ending.

...nothing..why should u??...tip already priced in.

crackdown on webpages never work, Abhisit isn't an idiot, he knows that. So why they do that nonsense?

The answer is obvious.... because he is an idiot.

Moron, dumb, pick your choice.

The economy is falling a part, but our "cool" Prime Minister goes to Davos and launches a crackdown on on line prostitution...

I mean... do you see the level ?

It's scary.

Cmon cc, slow down...he has only been a PM for 1,5 months.

Ditto - Nokia or the original!!!

...or Sony Ericsson K770i Cyber-shot

Chalerm is quite a nice guy.

This qualifies for the most ridiculous and ignorant comment I have ever seen on Thai Visa.

Seconded.

Thirded.

Time has come to wean yourself off the yaa baa... or is it too late?

Strongly disagree it is one of the funniest comment on Thai Visa and should be moved in the Joke section.

f he is not a nice guy, why would people vote for him to represent them. Also, he ran for Bangkok Governor a few years back, he was fourth, just behind Chuwit (3rd).

Oh, I think words fail me, are you that naive?

If Chalerm becomes PM, I'll join the PAD.

If Chalerm becomes PM I'll check out Thailand ASAP.

She has no legal claims as you were not legally married. As others have said, common law marriages are not recognised in LOS. I'm not an expert, but in my experience a vast majority of marriages in rural Thailand are not legal, which is why so many Thai men walk away from their families with impunity. Your girl friend would be well aware of this, and she is only putting pressure on you because you are a farang.

As GH said, we don't have any background on the breakdown of your relationship, but regardless of who is the 'guilty ' party, you should proceed with extreme caution.

Forget about trying to get the sin sod back, but you may want to consider using it as a negotiating ploy.

The ownership of the land doesn't sound too good and it really depends on how 'street wise' she is and whether she will go to the lengths of hiring a lawyer. If she does, you may well have problems.

It is not uncommon for Thai ladies to go to the BIB and and claim that they have been assaulted by their farang boy friends. They will give the BIB a small bung and you could have a lot of problems.

It is also relatively cheap to arrange for you to suffer more permanent damage.

Moving on quickly may be the best and safest plan.

...so bottomline is ....Find It...<deleted> It...Forget It....nah?

Was the price that unreasonable?

Yes, he was overcharged. In case that happens, you should pay the bill and vote with your feet. I ALWAYS check the first tab that is put in my cup. I'll always pay for the first rip off but there won't be a second tab.

I always ask the price BEFORE I order...too pricy and I walk away.

Welcome to the Norwegian prison.

I wish Thailand could keep him for lifetime in prison .

With good behaviour in a Norwegian prison he'll be out within 6 years.

Norwegian prison...

3 stars hotel, single cell, own television and so on... his lucky guy

every kid can watch bloody movies where every 10 seconds someone get killed. But genitals or sex....everyone is shocked and sure that will damage the young one.....

It's getting more difficult to see the blood on UBC though. They even blur out a person's mouth when they are smoking a cigarette...isn't that something. I can see more blood on the local Pattaya News than on movies now.

They even blur the ads for cig when the showed F1 racing few yrs ago ....ridicules…don’t know if they still doing it.

What's all the fuss about..??

September has historically been the month with far more rainfall than any other month.

No big deal...except like Harley due (moo9), I also sometimes suffer, when riding my motorcycle in a heavy downpour....

...but a few km/miles later the rain stops and I'm dried by the tropical sun [uh, sometimes... ]

Actually October is usually the biggest in terms of rain. Still never mind I still do not think it will cause a Tsunami now will it. Although I do remember the big rain of 2006 when the second road flooded for hours. Beach road was scary then. I went past soi 6/1 and there was a gusher coming out of the drain system. now that was rain my friends.

I agree that October is the biggest in terms of rain. We who stayed in Pattaya Oct.1983 never forget the BIG rain, we had 450mm of rain in one month, Beach Road collapsed and I have some pic and post them when I find them.

A few photos from the big rain in October 1983.

What's all the fuss about..??

September has historically been the month with far more rainfall than any other month.

No big deal...except like Harley due (moo9), I also sometimes suffer, when riding my motorcycle in a heavy downpour....

...but a few km/miles later the rain stops and I'm dried by the tropical sun [uh, sometimes... ]

Actually October is usually the biggest in terms of rain. Still never mind I still do not think it will cause a Tsunami now will it. Although I do remember the big rain of 2006 when the second road flooded for hours. Beach road was scary then. I went past soi 6/1 and there was a gusher coming out of the drain system. now that was rain my friends.

I agree that October is the biggest in terms of rain. We who stayed in Pattaya Oct.1983 never forget the BIG rain, we had 450mm of rain in one month, Beach Road collapsed and I have some pic and post them when I find them.

I use Maxnet Indy, and other than the follwoing problem it is generally working well

However I have been suffering from hanging pages that eventually reset (ie timeout) in the very last authorisation step of transactions with my Nationwide home banking. lso Netbanx Verified by Visa step for internet credit card transactions fail similarly

When I noticed that I was also blocked from logging into Paypal, I got suspicious of Maxnet and tried a dial up connection from True. Everything was perfect.

Does anybody know whether there is anything special used by highly secure bank transactions that moves into an area blocked by Maxnet? Eg does https have deep secure protocols or ports that are blocked. (Most https works fine)

Has anybody else noticed similar?

Upgrade your Maxnet to Premier 2 MB,it’s only 1090 Baht + VAT/month. I’ve never had any probs and dl is steady 1800-1900 kbps.

There has been a lot of rumors about a so called "Storm surge", but this is the first I have heard about a Tsunami...

Tsunamis are not caused be rain, even excessive amounts of rain... they are usually caused by seismic disturbances, such as underwater earthquakes, or possibly a big volcanic eruption... a big meteorite strike would also cause a tsunami...

But not rain.

Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes, not rain.

Tsunamis can also be caused by landslides. In fact, landslides are capable of producing much larger tsunamis than earthquakes. In turn, landslides can be caused by excessive rain.

That said, for Pattaya to be hit by a tsunami, there would need to be a landslide on the opposite (Western) side of the gulf or somewhere underwater within the gulf. Since underwater landslides are unlikely to be caused by too much rain, is there anything in the news of there being a potential landslide near Hua Hin?

A tsunami is a series of waves created when a body of water, such as an ocean, is rapidly displaced. Earthquakes, mass movements above or below water, some volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions, landslides, underwater earthquakes, large asteroid impacts and testing with nuclear weapons at sea all have the potential to generate a tsunami. The effects of a tsunami can be devastating due to the immense volumes of water and energy involved. Since meteorites are small, they will not generate a tsunami.

A week ago I bought a new computer and at the same time I bought a genuine Windows XP Home SP2. My "plomplem" is that I can download the up dates but can't install some of them, how come? I tried Windows troubleshooter but that's a joke.

Some of that updates you need to install separately, one by one. For others I believe you didn't has the original installed like Office 2003 and the online check didn't allow to update the pirated version.

So, you need to try to install each update separate.

Cheers.

Another 2 installed….and 4 to go.

Thanks Reimar and have a nice weekend.