henrik2000

Hello, in no specific order, here are the locations that have been mentioned. It's just a copy-paste job, perhaps pocketable. I will certainly use it as a reference. - Tom n Tom coffee at Sukhumvit 219 next to soi 15. The upstairs is usually pretty quiet with a few people working on laptops, good power points but a little dark lighting. I always buy 2-3 coffees plus food there - Landhaus near Ari. Nice garden plus cats plus fan plus best bakery:). - Best shop at “Natural Garden” coffee shop outside Bkk little bit but worth a visit. - Au Bon Pain at the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 31 - true coffee in emquarter 3rd floor, maybe that's too much like a starbucks. Pastries always in stock as they bake em there, other places they run out. Limited space during renovation. they are renovating a portion right now. but i go in there alot, they also have an outdoor patio. Inside they have a couple long tables that are all folks on their laptops for what appear to be considerable time periods. i'm there for an hour and they are still there. - Au bon Pain in the office building lobby Emquarter. Outlets blocked though - o'sheas bar/pub on soi 33/1 is extremely quiet in the morning. i go there for breakfast alot. also an outside patio if you want some people watching. it is a bit dark inside. but no music at that time. at most 3-4 customers in the place at 10am. but sunday mornings are not good. they have UFC/MMA type fights on that morning

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Yes, but as said, more complicated if we decide for a taxi. There are reasons why participants might prefer motoring there.

The proof is in pudding (or pizza). I will report back after the event.

Thanks for the red "X" from Mr Crossy, of all names! Well i will follow your advice, even if i also know people as you describe them (don't need to look far for that). Again i can't believe that they put the South in the upper half of the map; but if we meet in the middle of the walkway (as your "X" rightly suggests) (on the equator, so to speak), the swapped "hemispheres" are not a problem. If you never hear again from me on this forum, the squash-court proved to confusing.

Hi all, thanks for your input. That sounds like the best solution. Only how to describe it unmistakably, I'm not sure. Let's hope it's marked as Interchange tower, as you say.

Hello, several people coming from various directions want to meet at SkyTrain BTS Asok and then walk or taxi a little further east to soi 31. We are not sure at which BTS Asok exit we should meet. We want to meet at an exit just one floor above street level, go down and decide whether we should walk or taxi. None of us is there now. For the life of me, I can't research online if we should use exit number 3 or exit number 6. Maybe exit number 3 goes straight into Terminal 21 shopping center? So exit number 6 is the correct one to arrive straight at street level and have taxis on our hands? Or inside BTS Asok, above street level, can you cross soi Asok walking East by "skywalk" and go down to street level only east of soi Asok (where you are very close to soi Cowboy; not near soi 16 on the southern side of Sukhumvit)? If yes, how could that exit (after the "skywalk" across Asok) be clearly described to partipants? Even though I studied various area guides and stuff - including the official BTS one (below) that has South on top and North in the bottom area ???? - I am unsure and would love your local intel. The time would be about 7 pm. Would taxis be available? Traffic no complete mess? (We also have Grab, Bolt, won't use motorcycle taxis.) Thanks! PS. Aware that we could meet at Phrom Pong station and walk back West a little bit; but if we decided on a taxi, Phrom Pong would be more complicated because of traffic directions. Aware that some people might object to taking a taxi on a short trip like that all together.

Thanks. The lack of natural ventilation in hot country housings is a pet peeve of mine. I'm glad to hear that you do the sensible thing here and that it is possible at least somewhere.

That's great. Did they remove the condo door for some time?

Hello all, thanks for interesting input. Honestly I didn't even think about the noise aspect when I talked about putting a grille into the door. I am just a holiday renter in View Talay 7, and I have no plan of course to change anything, especially not the door construction I was just interested why nobody has it. It's most useful and most of the time I see my neighbor's door forced open with a chair and I can see him lounging inside. Considering the energy crisis that we have in Europe at least - but maybe Thai people don't have it, from eyesight I think they are unfazed -, cross-ventilation via a variable mosquito door would be the thing to have, instead of running the aircon all the time. The draft might give some people a cold, not sure

Hello, I think at Terminal 21 I exactly managed to get the wrong, unrecommended station for my tom ka ghai. It was extremely watery and tasted mainly like salt. As I am no lab technician, I don't know if there was any ghai in it. But there was oodles of woodsy no-eat debris. Staff was friendly and helped me to pay, which I didn't find out how to do. I might go there again to try other foods around the food court, but certainly not to that stall again. I guess it was the wrong one, but I didn't see the ladies that I should look out for. Later I had a tom ka ghai at Mays restaurant in Jomtien, it's on Google Maps. Now that cost five times as much and it tasted five times better than in T21, even though some of the tom ka ghais that I got in Thailand South were certainly more intense and creamy. A whole flock of chicken had lost their lives for that tom ka ghai, see pictures below. For people-watching, Terminal 21 is more fun, esp at lunchtime.

Enough for me, lest I start sinking too deep (into the sands) (and into the lifestyle).

Scuba and NewNative, thanks for input!

Well to install a proper grille, I guess you would have to take out the door and maybe take it to a workshop? That would be most inconvenient and revealing, even if the workshop provides a temporary replacement door. Would be so good if the regular door already had a grille, also I appreciate a homogeneous look. Don't know if all that cross-ventilation would create a tornado in the corridor.

Hello, what do you think about the Jomtien condo building View Talay 7? How does it compare (value for money) to other buildings in Pattaya, Thailand, Philippines or Costa Rica etc - building-quality wise - clientele wise - management wise - fees-wise? I just stayed in View Talay 7 a few days as a tourist, and except for short stays in Bangkok and Manila, I have no experience with condo buildings anywhere (but can see that VT7 was designed to sell at lower prices). So I wonder what the seasoned expat thinks about View Talay 7 (I'm not in the market for a pad). There were a few minor things that astonished me in View Talay 7, but from a tourist point of view: 1 - the condo door does not lock itself automatically; you always have to lock the door manually by key from outside or with a turning knob from inside 2 - you can't reach the inner light switch while standing outside. It's not next to the inner door wall, but you have to walk a few steps into the corridor before you can turn on even the corridor light 3 - the balcony window has a very nice and intact sliding mosquito screen, so you can create a breeze inside; even some beach bungalows in Thailand (not to mention the condos I know) had no screens, so you had to keep everything sealed at all times and fight the heat with ac 4 - My neighbor forced his condo door open to create cross-ventilation for long hours (no smell). When I did this once in a Manila condo, security politely but firmly told me this was not allowed by house rules. Asked for the reason, he said again, "house rules, sir" 5 - Meeting inmates in lifts and corridors, some greet, are chatty even and offer shopping advice or life stories (long ones); but the majority works hard to look away 6 - View Talay 7 has direct beach access, but there is no foot bath or shower to clean yourself when returning to the condo. You pass by the swimming pool area, but it's very inconvenient to just clean your feet there when you come from the beach 7 - View Talay 7 has a floor 13. In several other Thai condos and hotels I had seen floor 12, and then 12a or 14 and 14a, but no 13. I saw the avoidance of floor number 13 even in a very posh Thai-oriented condo building in Nonthaburi Thanks for all your insights! PS. About about the cross-ventilation with an open door, I find that slightly inconvenient and dangerous. If I stayed there long time, I would like to build a variable grille into the condo door that allows me to create the desired amount of cross-ventilation without encouraging unwanted visitors. Would that be allowed by house rules?

Now sentence 1 is really intriguing (even if no militant cats-lover). Not sure how to understand sentence 2.

Hi all, thanks for a great selection of places! If i need some procrastination, i will just shlep my laptop from one place to the other and compare coffee + pastries (as mentioned above, some are near each other).

Thanks, i have great balcony too. But i need some people-watching and people around me to enjoy my solitude. Also in daytime, the balcony feels too hot (excepting rainy days).

Thkz h thkz h

Hello, on this holiday trip to Jomtien I have to do more paid laptop work than anticipated. As I don't want to sadly hack away in my accomodation, I'd like to find coffee shops etc. where I could type on my laptop for 1-3 hours max – mainly in morning hours - and have interesting-people-watching plus coffee and juices on the side (my work is semi-dull). I won't do any calls, YouTubing or other noisy things; am decently dressed. My screen is always family-friendly and anybody can see my screen. My preferences: location: Jomtien much preferred over Pattaya proper power-plug very welcome (laptop has weak battery) NO Starbucks, no mainstream tourist hang-out, no dark beer pub Thai-frequented and atmospheric place preferred, student café great if Laptop-friendly Coffee-house noise levels no problem, but can't stand louder music or TV Laptop-sitters welcome and not seen as unwelcome table-blockers co-working space perhaps ok, if one-off visits by tourists are ok wifi very welcome, slow fast no problem wouldn't like to sit at a wall-mounted counter where behind the screen I only see a wall After typing, i wish to dispose of the laptop in my accommodation before exploring or beach-walking. So it shouldn't be too far from "central" Jomtien. I can't carry the laptop while exploring. I could use Grab/Bolt and, if need be, a motorcycle taxi. So where'd you plant yourself? Thanks!

Hello, on this holiday trip to Bkk I have to do more paid laptop work than anticipated. As I don't want to sadly hack away in my accomodation, I'd like to find coffee shops etc. where I could type on my laptop for 1-3 hours max – mainly in morning hours - and have interesting-people-watching plus coffee and juices on the side (my work is semi-dull). I won't do any calls, YouTubing or other noisy things; am decently dressed. My screen is always family-friendly and contains no secrets. My preferences: location: not far from junction Sukhumvit/Asoke (few stops on BTS ok) power-plug very welcome (laptop has weak battery) NO Starbucks, no mainstream tourist hang-out, no dark beer pub Thai-frequented and atmospheric place preferred, student café great if Laptop-friendly Coffee-house noise levels no problem, but can't stand louder music or TV Laptop-sitters welcome and not seen as unwelcome table-blockers co-working space perhaps ok, if one-off visits by tourists are ok wifi very welcome, don't need very fast wifi wouldn't like to sit at wall-mounted counter where behind the screen I only see a wall After typing, i wish to dispose of the laptop in my accommodation before exploring the city. So it shouldn't be far from Sukhumvit/Asoke. I can't carry the laptop while exploring. Besides BTS, i could use taxis, Grab/Bolt and if need be, a motorcycle taxi. So where'd you plant yourself? Thanks!

Yes, sorry, nonnative here.

Thanks, just what i'd liked to hear... (and i need to avoid the very next post). Anyway the airport rates can on the ground easily be compared with downtown rates using the website mentioned above, if one has internet and the website is correct.

I'm not in that league... at least not regarding money-filled bags... Thanks for more info and links!

Thanks!