digbeth

Does the Jomtien bus drops in to North Pattaya? or only on request? taking the Airport Rail Link from the city to the airport is just as easy as taking the Skytrain to Ekamai, I guess at the Airport the bus doesn't have to go through the traffic to leave the city... it could be quite convenient.

I'd hate to be the only one guy that makes the bus detour into Pattaya instead of straight to Jomtien though; Just as annoying in the regular bus upon entering Pattaya on the 36Hwy, turn left and head north to drop a few people off at Rong Po somewhere.

Even if it's possible to book ahead and make the bus come in to North Pattaya to pick you up/drop off, I wouldn't want to inconvenience other passengers since Jomtien isn't too far out of the way for me...

Is it okay to use the Airport bus for regular commute? On North Pattaya there's a good paid parking option for Motorcycle and Cars, anything near the Jomtien dropoff/pickup point Don't say sneak into ViewTalay 2

The strange thing is that if you drive direction Bangkok, then the first toll booth you will encounter is at Laem Chabang.

I'm sure the one at Chaipornwithi/Soi waterworks that exit to Nong Prue will extend to cover the whole two sides once it's in operation

Time for the government to allow large bikes on Toll roads and highways, I can understand for this rule being applied to small scooters etc, a limit set at 600cc wouldn't be far away - time for change, touring in Thailand could be made so much easier and could open up a whole new tourism sector making all roads available to certain classes of motorbikes

They fail at policing a set of traffic lights so how would they make that work ?

I think you'll find that big bikes are allowed to use it.

To the tune of 1,000.- baht per offence, at the moment, how's that for a toll?

All the 'big bikes' vendors need to get together and lobby the government

With the toll booths going in certain direction only, looks like they are only half completed, and they could detour traffic through the already constructed booths while constructing the remainder of the booths in the middle of the road.

If they do a closed-system where you take a ticket/card and pay by the distance at the exit, most of the exits would have to close.

Previously the 'Motorway' Highway 7 between Bangkok and Chonburi used to be open-system where you pay 30 baht once at the first toll, and another 30 at the last toll, entering and exiting any exits between the tolls is free, only recently did they move to a closed system and install toll booth at all the exits along the way.

Around Laem Chabang where there's a big PTT service stations on both sides and a Homepro any many other shops, if you can't exit there there'll be chaos. But I don't see toll booth before and after there if they're making it a closed-system

Is the 36 into Pattaya being blocked forcing people to use this new toll road ?

No , but the whole highway 7 is, so in order to get to the 36, you have to come down on the 7 and it looks like there will be a toll at Laem Chabang

So the only way to get to Pattaya without paying more tolls is through Highway 3 the Sukumvit road, pass god knows how many traffic lights and rush hours in Chonburi is pretty bad,

Or go down on 331 take a detour to Rayong, that works too

Too bad the Buraphawithi expressway( The one from Bang Na) extention is being blocked by NIMBYS in Chonburi/Sriracha, the eastern seaboard badly need an alternative route, especially with all these Just-In-Time manufacturing practice that results in having loads of trucks on the road between the various Industrial estates, any delays in the road networks just cost money.

As you may have seen the various construction for toll booths along the Highway 7 (Motorway) extension from Chonburi all the way to the recently completed bits that ended in Sukhumvit road in Pattaya between North and Central road.... The stretch of road is turning into toll road.

When the most recently finished stretch between the International school and Sukhumvit was built, there was a sign (and stil is ) saying that the road is for use toll free temporarily only, and change to toll system is coming later.... well later is this year.

Most of exits from SriRacha to Pattaya has been blocked off at one point in the past year but now reopened with signs saying that the exit was temporary and will be closed once the toll system is in operation in August 2016, so look out for sign with lots of writing in Thai on the exit, if you use those exit regularly, better plan for alternative route.

With the toll... that means another 20-30 baht to get to Pattaya... possible queues during busy times

and no more riding motorcycles on the highway! so from August on(If they can get the toll booths open in time), if you travel on Motorcycles, it's either by Sukhumvit (Highway 3) or 331 to get to Bangkok and beyond (The old Hwy7 Extention only let you ride motorcycles up to Chonburi where you have to take the Chonburi bypass and get on the Highway 3 anyway)

Depending on how good the service road on the side is, you might still be able to ride motorcycles all the way to Chonburi still, but parts of it look under construction still.

For Pattaya residents, I remember there was a furors that from Chaiyapornwithi (Soi Waterworks, Road no 3240) that it was exit from the highway only and residents in those area can't use the highway to get to Pattaya, after much lobbying by local politician, a turnpike was constructed by filling in the drainage canal and small slip road made to merge with the highway.... who knows what the status of the 'entrance' will be after the toll road is in operation, but it looks like it's just after the last toll booths, with the big office building for the highway already constructed there on the exit.

Does anyone else notice how this will affect you?

For me I like to travel to Sriracha once every couple of week to the Japanese mall J-Park and to BangPhra reservoir sometime, and the exit I use is definitely closing, so I would have to exit the Highway 7 somewhere around Laem Chabang probably where the toll booths are being constructed and take the service road alongside all the way to my usual exit.

It's gonna be chaos for sure, but hopefully if they manage to force out local traffic from the motorway, it'll be better for the paying customer.

Looks like many of the restaurants people want to move here seem to be along beach road...

For those of you that prefers Buraphawithi Elevated toll way or Hwy 3 but don't travel to Bangkok often....

At the moment there are roadworks on the Chonburi Bypass on the last bit before the new bridge/flyover that joins you to highway 7, they are constructing a toll gate in the middle of the road, forcing you to detour using the side road and joins the Highway 7 on the side road instead... during busy hours there are quite a queue on the bottleneck;

and as the trucks slow down as they climb the bridge, and sometime the truck overtake each occupying both lanes and you are stuck behind them for ages. (it mostly affect outbound, towards Pattaya traffic, so going to Bangkok is no problem)

In my experience, people driving on the Buraphawithi expressway generally behave themselves better than on the 'motorway' Highway 7, especially on big holidays or long weekends, but any accidents or broken down car could easily block all traffics on the expressway for hours

<and not for a slightly related comment/rant>

As a regular driver to Bangkok, without the easy-pass and the m-pass motorway, getting stuck behind queues to pay at the toll gate would be unpleasant, during the holidays, they would be unable to cope with the extra traffic, hence making the roads free during New Year and Songkran Holidays, or else the queue would be tens of kilometers long... and now they are constructing more toll gates on the stretch of highway 7 all the way to Pattaya!

Sailor Bar soi 8 for the food, good portion size...

Can't be bothered to find places to park and walk through all the beer bars to get there sometime

Being a bar too, they probably wouldn't work if they're on 3rd road or somewhere in Naklua, but I wish just their kitchen could make a nice restaurant somewhere a bit more sedated

Does it look obvious that is is being run as a hotel with walk in clients?

Do they register as a hotel or apartment?

Do they prance around naked around the pool and have big orgies?

If they are being discreet and not make a nuisance of themselves to other neighbors, there's nothing to stop people having 'guests' over and what consenting adults do in the privacy of their rooms is not illegal.

IF they don't register as a hotel, having foreigner over straight off the plane and not reporting is illegal, and if money changed hands and solicitation for sex can be proven, that is illegal too... do you want to see how chummy they are with the local police? try tipping the police and see what happens

Went there today. Zero designated parking, parked on soi 13 and walked down. You have to wait at the entrance to be seated, nobody there. When a girls shows up together with a manager the manger said they do not have staff enough to let anybody more in. The place was far from half full.

Interesting, but understandable. They are having problems finding women willing to work such hours and conditions for low wages, share(I assume) tips, etc.. Why would a lady work at Hooters when she can make a lot more money being someone's sugarbaby or even on a GoGo stage? Promises promises but show me the money! Even in Bangkok they are often seen on the street with brochures inviting passers by(female) to apply for positions. There is no middle ground for all this. Either you provide your man sexual favors and give up your pride and face, or you don't. Most Thai women don't. "All farang think Thai lady easy" is the saying.

I remember seeing the ads in the local papers around the middle of last year saying that the wages is around 30,000 baht, that's a lot more than the 12-15,000 normal places like KFCs or any other food service industry is paying.... is it enough for a decent hard working girls to suffer the indignity of wearing that uniform and being ogle at? who knows...

If they only manage to hire from the pools of bar girls for now... service ain't gonna be at the level of Starbucks or even McDonald's

Their reviews on Facebook is hillarious

Looks like there's still teething problems to sort out still

"My father, a friend and I decided to check out the new Hooters as it opened the night before and we were curious. We decided to offset a jug of beer to share at 320 baht. It took sound 20minutes to get the attention of a staff and after waiting another 15 minutes without a drink and noticing the tiny sizes of the jugs on a corresponding table, we decided to leave. What a waste of time!"

"I waited for 30 minutes for a coke and ask another waitress to get me coke she asked who did i order it with! They dont have name tags and not introducing their names! So i guess im supposed to ask for every damn name! Also i was the only table who she asked to pay before we finish our meals! Can they be anymore rude! You charges american price so im expecting american services! Not coming back again!"

The Central "Center" where big C is on 2nd road between north and central used to be called Central Festival and is indeed owned by the Central Group, even though they never had a Central department store in there.

When the Central 'proper' on Soi 9 opened, they transferred the name over, so old Pattaya hands might still cling to the old name

I saw they do conduct drills like landings on the beach, they probably wouldn't want to hassle of having to announce / have signs in language other than Thai if they are conducting live fire exercise and such

It's okay, even the thais confuses Sen Mee (the white thinnest one) and Bamee (the yellow egg ones) often in the noodle place, when ordering these two, the cook/shop people would have to confirm if you are indeed ordering the yellow one or the fine thin one

Guay Tiao is an umbrealla term like 'pasta' all the noodle sizes are Guay Tiao

Guay Tiao is Chinese in origin, Thai Chinese are predominantly Taechiw and from that part of China, the noodle soup are fish balls based,

But not Kanom Jin, Kanom Jin is fermented rice noodle local to south east asia, Despite having the word 'Jin' or China in the name, it has nothing to do with China but is of one of the ethnic languages around here. 'Khao Pun' is also the name used in NorthEastern Isan area of Thailand.

Enough about being pedantic though, back to the original poster's question? Where's the best Kanom Jin place in Pattaya?

And what about the sauce/curry? what's your favorite? Which shop is good for what? I am not adventurous enough to try the fish ones, I only go for the plain old green curry. What about all you can eat buffet style? Are there any in Pattaya? even with the a la carte place, when loaded up with vegetables and boiled eggs I find that it's quite filling already. Kanom Jin must have been devised as a vegetable delivery system.

Oh the difference between Kanom Jin and normal white noodle soup which also comes in vermicelli size (Sen Mi) is that Kanom Jin is fermented

I think 'sen mii' just means 'medium sized strand'.

I think ordinary noodles are called 'gway-tiiao' (choose your own transliteration). And usually there's a choice of 3 sizes of strand: yai (large), mii (medium) and lek (small).

I think vermicalli-size is 'lek'.

No, lek is fetuccini sized

Ruen Khao Pun on third road south of central road opposite Access Inn, 'Khao Pun' is north/norteastern thai for Kanom Jin, literally the name of the place is house of Kanom Jin

A little shop on south Pattaya opposite the market right next to the temple is also pretty good, it's just a little shophouse with a row of table with vegetables haning on top of it. This shop is a bit more 'rustic' than Ruen Khao Pun above

Oh the difference between Kanom Jin and normal white noodle soup which also comes in vermicelli size (Sen Mi) is that Kanom Jin is fermented

With regards to coming out of the tunnel and hittting a redlight, there is a South Pattaya tunnel in the pipeline, probably will start as soon as the Klang one is finished, so look forward of another decade of gridlock

What harbor (sic) are they referring to?

Looking over the construction site during heavy rain and looks like they could be referring to their basement

If your landlord / you're paying mortgage on the condo, if the developers 'throw in' the furnishings, it might be easier on the wallet than having to pay cash for furnishing and hanging around waiting for deliveries and the subcontractors to come in and build those cabinets and such..., and especially if they're buying to let out... why should they care about having or not having the same cabinets as the room opposite.

But if you're paying cash then it's up to you if you buy an empty shell and decorate it to your heart's content

They have Khao Soy in Ruen Khao Pun there? I only know that they are good for the various Kanom Chin and currys, used to go there a lot when they were back on Central road near CarreFour then. I didn't go there as much since they've moved.

If they have Khao Soy it'll be worth a walk down

I'm still devoted to the one opposite Access Inn on 3rd road.

Why is it so important to know if bars will be open on particular days? Do we have a population of falangs who can't do without their daily fix of alcohol? There is such a thing as a refrigerator.

My bad - forgot there are nationalities who like warm beer.

I think those that *need* to have some booze right but lack now will already have gone out to get some and found out for themselves if bars are open

While they do spend money outside of their 'packaged tours' and there are increasing amount of independent Chinese tourist.

The majority of the Chinese tourist on the Packaged tours and what used to be the '0 dollar tours' rarely spend money outside....

I've witness many scene in 7-11s and Supermarkets where these Chinese tourists ventured outside on their own and discovered that places outside their itinerary don't accept Renminbi.... they didn't even exchange any money when they come over so how could they spend any?

I'm not disputing the fact that they do bring in money into the Thailand's economy, and the ones that spends do exist, but the ones that come over in the big tour groups spends very little and the business that do receive their customs like airlines and hotels, very little seeps out into the local economy

the massage palour they visit in droves.... all pre-paid and they don't tip, same with hotels, the room might be full and the staff grateful they can keep their jobs but without the tips and room service the staff don't have money to spend compared to when the Europeans were here years ago

the restaurants and souvenir shops they visit.... many are Chinese run and use Chinese staff

I remembered during all the protests when all the hotels in Bangkok would have to let their staff only comes in 3 days a week or take a couple of weeks off...

if you take the numbers of all the Chinese, Indians, and other 'low quality' tourist like from Vietnam and such, out of all the hotels in Pattaya, (and I'm pulling the number out of my arse here, so no evidence whatsoever) the occupancy level might be at the level that some people in hotels might have to be let go , so everytime I see a big tourbus blocking the road, I try to be grateful that at least the city is able to keep going

I have their official 'Bentley Sauce' recipe and can do the whole Hooters wing thing at home or away.

The ambiance at Hooters is what keeps them busy back in the US since they have never admitted to serving the best of anything. Great for sports nights and extended Friday lunches. Hooters in Singapore may as well be on the moon with the lack of atmosphere; it just doesn't click in that uptight and pretentious city. I haven't been to the outlet in Bangkok which should be a bit more fun than Singapore but I would hope that they may have a better fit in Pattaya where one can make ones own ambiance.

Atmosphere and ambiance is euphemism for tits right?

I rode my bicycle down that stretch of Sukhumvit regularly and I had broke a few spokes off my wheels when the old surfaced was carved up into corrugated channels and left there,

for the last few months it was the northbound stretches around the public prosecutor's office

the past few weeks it was the southbound side...

when it was left carved up liked that the surface is slippery as hell and motorcycles are falling down regularly