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I've been back there a few times and have some updates to my original review.

The Thai food is as good as what you can get from BIH (BIH orders from Hillary Bar), and is actually a bit cheaper. I guess the prices at BIH never sunk in after all the beer and other distractions.

More importantly, the price of beer has come down to 100 baht, which is more in line with BIH. The owners appear to be trying hard to make the place work, and I think they'll be around for a while.

I'll be around there today, but I've really never seen many customers in that location. It's probably closed. I thought their pizza was just okay anyway, and I can't eat pizza much anymore without destroying my stomach, so can't say that I will really miss them. The last two I had from Absolute bar on 7/1 were pretty good, I'd say the best I've had in Thailand so far, but I don't really go looking for pizza.

Amazing that they failed to catch him for so long. I think the FBI would have nabbed him after the second attack. This just seems like there was a complete lack of competence on the part of the police investigating these cases. That's assuming they even had anyone investigating.

Spoke to the receptionist at Ratchada Resort on soi 3, wasn't able to get a discount for > week stay, but will go back and ask to speak with manager. Prices are cheap enough, but the 600 baht rooms are the lovers rooms aparently which you can see on their website. Regular rooms are 800 baht for standard and 900 baht for deluxe. Depending on when you are coming, you may want to call and book soon since the receptionist mentioned the prices going up too 1,100 baht in December, for the high season I guess.

http://www.ratchadaresortandspahotel.com/

So they're willing to give a discount for a stay that's longer than a week? How much are we talking about here? Merci beaucoup!

Spoke to the receptionist at Ratchada Resort on soi 3, wasn't able to get a discount for > week stay, but will go back and ask to speak with manager. Prices are cheap enough, but the 600 baht rooms are the lovers rooms aparently which you can see on their website. Regular rooms are 800 baht for standard and 900 baht for deluxe. Depending on when you are coming, you may want to call and book soon since the receptionist mentioned the prices going up too 1,100 baht in December, for the high season I guess.

http://www.ratchadaresortandspahotel.com/

I liked it quite a bit the first few seasons, but then it started getting too predicatable. When they began ending each season with the same cliff hanger regarding the FBI I knew the show ran out of steam. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet. If you can't download it, Pantip, Fortune Town, and most of the street vendors have the seasons on DVD, probably 3 dics per season.

One of the worst and most expensive in Bangkok is at the top of the Sky Tower/Hotel. Besides looking and tasting not so fresh, it had me using the bum squirter for the first time.

visa section?

Is that where the cheerleader works at the US Embassy?

The Miami Hotel (thaimiami.com) on Sukhumvit soi 13 has recently quoted 800 Tb/day. Also, the Business Inn, across from the Grand Business Inn, on Sukhumvit soi 11 (or maybe soi 11/1) has me reserved for next week at 600 Tb/.

I stayed at the Business Inn for a few nights, and went by the Miami to take a look at the rooms. Neither are places I would consider staying in (again). If you must be in the area and are choosing from those two, the Miami has nicer rooms from what I saw (bring a can of Raid with you to the Business Inn), but the pool there was not usable.

If you are staying for more than a few days you can do much better than either of those two places if you don't mind getting out of the immediate area, or if you must be around there look at your budget again and see if you can squeeze in some more money for you room. Personally, clean beds and sheets, no foul smells, elevators that don't like they haven't been worked on this century, and no roaches are worth a few extra baht or a short taxi/BTS ride to me.

Not in that area, but Ratchada Inn on Ratchada Soi 3 is ~600bt/night (or 300bt for 3 hours ). Only 45bht taxi from lower Suk, or 1 stop on BTS to Asok, then 2 stops on MRT to Rama 9. They have a large banner outside with pictures of the rooms, which look pretty swank, but who knows. I'm going to be investigating it a bit further this week since I have a friend coming to town. If you're interested, let me know and I'll post an update with my impressions of the place.

"Thais will buy a BMW and sleep on the floor in a B2000 a month room"

Oh really?

Again, another self projection post.

Scenario 1: and they were able to pay 3-12 million (not sure what the 7 series are going for nowadays, I drive a Honda) cash. Yeah sure, and they'd be renting a 2,000 Baht a month room.

Scenario 2: they finance 80-90%. Yeah sure, folks living in 2,000 Baht a month rooms would be able to afford the 80,000-100,000 a month payments.

p.s. we actually have a few strips of 1,000 - 2,500 Baht a month rooms for rent in the extended family. The typical transportation is motorcycle, saleng (converted bicycle/cart type setup), or foot. On the rare occasion that someone has a car, it's either a 20 year old pickup or one of the first Mazda's that ca/ef/n b,me off the boat here.

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the above comment was added by my 1 year old daughter.

my contribution should have read like this:

hengs post may be true, but that doesn't explain why the apartments i first lived in in bangkok 10+ years ago had a parking lot with about 10 beemers or benzes in it.

the top floor was all 2 bedroom suites for 12,000 and the rest was hong dios or one beds for 7-9k.

the top floor was all farang, so it would lead me to belive that the people with the expensive cars were living in single rooms.

we used to laugh about it at the time.

That's because many (perhaps even all) of them have nice houses they go to on the weekends and just stay in Bangkok to be near the office, or have parents who are putting them up while in school, but have to buy them a nice car to save face for the family.

http://www.bangkok.com/sport-horse-racing/index.html

http://www.asiatravel.com/thailand/destination/TurfClub.html

Do you think I should take her to the hospital and get her checked out?

No, I'm sure it'll pass.

Police confiscated evidence, including the drugs, three bracelets, weighing 97.5 grams, eleven bank books totaling about ten million baht, ATM cards and three mobile phones. In addition, police took a brown Honda CRV, license 4236, Chonburi, a bronze Harley Davidson 1903, license 999, Bangkok, a yellow and white Yamaha Fino motorbike, license 176, Chonburi and 204,500 baht in cash. Altogether, the evidence was valued at about 1,000 million baht.

Unless the bracelets were worth the best part of a billion baht the rest doesnt even come close to that amount.

He must be an extremely clever man to make these drugs and fairly big time, you wonder why he wasnt bright enough to get someone else to do the donkey work for him.

Seriously. Stepping on the local mafias toes by trying to dump such a sizeable load of drugs on their market can only have one of a couple of outcomes... death by mafia, or arrest (possible death) by govt.

Easy one this. Try the Chidlom Central Plazza's Food Hall on the ground floor. They have a WIDE range of foreign beers (German, Belgian, British, Aussie etc).

What sort of range of Belgian beers do they have? And what kind of prices?

Any Trappist ales?

I tried this new place last night and thought it was very good.

My only gripe if you are the owner/manager would be to crank up the a/c a little.

cheers

HH

Pros:

The atmosphere & decor are nice.

Lots of space so your not tripping over the other people playing and it doesn't feel crowded even with many customers.

Tables are perfect as would be expected for new Brunswicks.

Cues are average (BIH has better house cues IMO).

VIP rooms are spacious and well decorated with nice amenities.

Proximity to Asok BTS/MRT (though BIH and Players are not more than a minute or 2 away)

Staff are friendly.

Cons:

Beer's are 120bt. Too much, especially for a new place considering most/all of their competition is cheaper. With 2 or 3 people, that can add up to quite a bit over a few hours of play. It's even worse when you consider that BIH times square has that deal (sometimes?) where for every 6 beers you get 1 hour free table time.

Their food menu is from the seafood place downstairs, and while it's fairly good, it's not cheap.

Staff are not at the level of play/knowledge as the staff at BIH, but that will come with time.

It's a nice place to play but will cost you a bit more in the long run if you endulge in drinks/food, which I almost always do.

Cherry Salon on Soi 26. It's across from the gas station, about 20 or so meters up from Suk your right hand side.

Went once. Ordered either kettle 1 or grey goose with pineapple and cranberry, couldn't taste any vodka (this was my first drink of the night). Told them as much, watched them pour more in straight from the bottle, it just tasted more watered down. Sent it back and asked for some whiskey instead, paid, and left. Not going back again, and the ice bar is quite lame.

Gull on the other hand, I've never had a prob with the bill there as it's all computerized, but mistakes can happen. Seems odd though since if the order was in the computer, a busboy/girl would have brought it out from the kitchen as the computer sends the orders back there. But as you say, always read over the check bin.

I agree with everything as well. I did get their calls after joining, and added them to my phones memory so I could ignore them. The calls went as follows:

Me: Hello

CW: Do you speak Thai?

Me: No

CW: CLICK

After 3 or 4 of these calls I added them to my "blocked" list so the calls never come through.

Other than that, I go a 2 year membership at Asok, for about 850 baht/month. Seems good to me as the facilities are nicer than New York Sports Club, and NYSC was around 3,000 baht/month.

I lived with my wife for a year and a half before we were married. We spent that time getting to know each other very well. She already had a house up country and she was anxious for me to consider living there. I told her that I was planning to marry her and NOT her family. I also made it VERY clear that there would be just the two of us living in the house. I told her that it was her house so it was up to her who lives there, BUT, if a family member moves in I was heading back to Jomtien with or without her. I place a high value on my privacy and that's the way it is. She is free to visit her family anytime she wants. Some guys enjoy the family all living together and very close to one another. I DON'T.

If my wife has money left over from her household budget, it's up to her what to do with it. She was 37 years old, childless but had previously been married, so she saw no need for a dowry. I have my privacy, she visits her family regularly and things are great.

Thanks Gary, I guess I'll just start letting her know that while I think it's great having family close by, I do value my privacy. If she (or her family) thinks it's rude we can always compromise since I'm pretty laid back anyway.

On another note, I can't beleive Thai's deal with westerners at all, with all of the rotten attitudes displayed in this thread. I sure hope that's not the norm over there. Perhaps your attitudes, or the attitudes of the people you associate with, are the cause of these problems you've all mentioned. A real pitty.

Cheers

I'm moving to Thailand next month (will be getting married shortly thereafter), and I'm curious about a few things related to building some houses and marital expectations from my fiancés family. We are building two houses near Khon Kaen, one for us and one for her parents and a few other family members. I'm going to stay with her at her place in Bangkok until our house is ready to move in to in June. Her uncle is actually having it all done for us since he has a friend who is a contractor and is able to get things done pretty fast as this is all happening so quickly.

My first question is in regards to her family living so close to us, and what can I expect as far privacy. I love her and her family a lot (I've seen pictures of the whole family and have chatted with some of them quite a bit), and I like the fact they are all so close to one another, but will we be expected to be over their house, or have them over to our house, every day for meals, etc.? I have friends here in the states who moved in next door or across the street from their in-laws, and most of them said it was a nightmare, but since Thai's are much more laid back, as am I, I figured that this really wasn't comparing apples to apples (Italian/Jewish mother-in-laws living next door? What were they thinking?).

Besides that, I don't know what's expected of me with regards to an engagement ring, or any other engagement gifts/traditions. I already purchased one, a bit over 1.5ct, but I don't know how this tradition works over there, and I haven't discussed it with her as I want it to be as much of a surprise as possible. I just don't want her family to see it and think I'm cheap, or don't think she is worth more than a $12k engagement ring. I am spending $75k on their house, and almost twice that on our house, so I don't know if they will pull out a loupe and inspect the ring as families here in the states have been known to do, or if they will not care one way or the other since I've already spent a good deal on the land, houses, etc. A few months after we started chatting, around Oct or Nov, and before marriage came up, she did mention some custom regarding a sort of reverse dowry that is usually paid to the family, though since we decided to get married that hasn't really come up at all. Is that because the house I'm building for them could be considered the dowry, or will this not come up until I meet her parents in person for the formal marriage approval? I didn't want to bring it up myself since I didn't know if it would be disrespectful, but I also don't want to seem clueless or disrespectful to her parents if it does come up.

Needless to say I'm really excited about all of this. I'm turning 30 in August, and am glad to say I'll be married by then (was getting a bit depressed & worried about never having a family not so long ago). It's a huge change for sure, but I can't begin to say how much I'm looking forward to starting a new life with the person I love.

Thanks for any help, and I can't wait to join you all over there.

Cheers!