fennielyn

Sidestepping the in-house bitchin' that is inevitable in such threads owing to the different factions that are onboard and bearing in mind that we're all but one big happy family , I will say that my adoration for the country is like that of one for a oftentimes flawed and incalcitrant child. A mother's unconditional love if you may. Recognizing the imperfections, grumbling about the suffocating heat, the arbitrary rules, a chaotic and disorganzed system and at the end of the day, with a sigh of resignation, loving it all.

It's not so much about seeing things through a rose-tinted haze but seeing things as they truly are and still be unable to suppress that grin and affection for the people (however annoying the few might be), the food, the culture and the environment. A gazillion and one complaints be dam.ned.

In the recent past I have stayed at a place called Thuang Thong House located at 21 Sukhumvit Soi 11. Its located up a small alley almost across the street from Grand President Apartments. You get 2 room apartment (bedroom & sitting room/kitchen) with aircon for 800-900 a day depending on length of stay. Owner was always willing to talk about rate based on length of stay, you or she pay the electric and if you want laundry included. Price may be higher to newbies but not sure. She always gave good rate to repeat customers. Most important the place is always clean and its a great place to stay with decent location.

Thanks for the tip! Will definitely check it out. I'm arriving like really late, almost 11pm by the time I clear customs and get lugguage. =( And since I'm prone to doing things very last minute, will not being booking anything in advance.

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!

There is a small hotel down Suk 4. As you walk past Nana plaza coming from suk rd on the same side of the st as the plaza, keep walking untill you see the 7-11 on the opposite side of the st.

there is a small soi turn left into it walk about 50 meters at the end you will see the "White Orchid Hotel". 550baht single room up to 800baht for a double room. I think its much nicer than Nana hotel and a bonus it its cheaper, the people are nicer and is a lot cleaner. I use to stay at Nana hotel all the time on my trip to BKK but since I found this place I have never gone back to Nana hotel since.

Yea, I've walked past the White Orchid and actually all the other lil inns down Soi 4 when I was desperate the last time...lol. I'll have to look into it again, so...no roaches right?

On the positive side if you have other guests in your room (roaches) perhaps you could catch them and sell them to the bug cart lady, thus lessen the cost of the room.

Uh...then you do not understand the true extent of my fear. I am known to use up an entire can of insecticide in a week and never dared to even pick up the bloody creatures when they're dead on their back. ;p Are ye offering to help?

http://www.suk11.com/01_about_us_ourplace/about_us.html

Oh wow, I walk past this soi almost everyday for 2 months and have NEVER heard of it nor knew it existed! How blind was I?!

So........roach-free I hope?

I hear ya! Darn those cockroaches!!!!!! Like I don't have to deal with them enough on the streets...they've got to toy with me and my rabid fear of them even while I'm at rest. =( So there's no reprieve from them in low-budget hotels then I guess. Waaaaaaaaaaah

Will be staying for a lil over 2 weeks and don't want to spend on lodging.......and I don't even want amenities like pool and internet or cable tv. Just a roach-less room is all. One would think I'm asking for the moon now.

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.

Hi surface,

I'd love to know more about what you've managed to find out about this place. Sounds just about right price-wise.

Thanks all for the recs, sawadee.com and asiarooms.com have always been reliable for me when it comes to honest reviews. I've always stayed at the skankiest of places, let's just say it's somewhere on Soi nana, no it's not nana hotel. =p But it's infested with roaches (these critters are HUGE and come out to play every night without fail) and I'm just not in the mood to do battle with them this time around.

ARTHUR BACH (Dudley Moore): "I'm going to take a bath."

HOBSON (John Gielgud): "I'll alert the media."

ARTHUR

MELVIN UDALL (Jack Nicholson): "You make me want to be a better man." (now if only a guy would say that to me, a girl can dream right?)

AS GOOD AS IT GETS

ARTHUR BACH (Dudley Moore) "Isn't fun the best thing to have?"

ARTHUR

Does anyone have any recs for a really cheap yet decent hotel/motel on Sukhumvit between Soi 3 - Soi 10? Somewhere between the 500-800baht a night range. Not really asking for much, just a clean room with A/C and private bathroom will suffice. Tried doing a search but most of the recs were from ages ago and thought that maybe someone might have come across a little gem in the past couple of months, hey you never know.

Thanks in advance all!

fenn

Two shots is the correct English way to play the game.

And just about everywhere else in Asia too.

Vegemite rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot agree more and I'm not even Australian. However, Bovril is yummy when drunk as soup. =) For hot toast slathered with butter, nothing beats Vegemite. Yes, really.

You find yourself amused by a sentence that contains a dangling participle.

Your friends no longer dare say "I wait you downstairs" or "I care you" or "where you go" for fear of the scorching death-rays ear-burning nagging sent their way.

When you're reading the papers or any written article for that matter, your mind automatically comes up with ways *it* thinks certain sentences could have been re-worked to sound/fit prettier.

You find it grating when someone's first language is English yet is incapable of proper grammar; you then get pissed at yourself for being such a tightass.

Has anyone in the past 6 months bought a notebook in Bkk? Not looking for anything fancy or top-of-line. Something barebones and functional should suffice. I'll basically be using it only for the internet and downloading. What's the current estimate price for a notebook like that? Oh and is Pantip everyone's choice for all things computer-related? Thanks!

I could be in real trouble if they find out.

What sort of trouble, pray tell?

Kudos to ball-in-hand on these points.

I've always enjoyed going to the Ball in Hand at Nana; noise pollution is kept to a bare mininum and it isn't terribly smokey too. The staff are attentive and generally friendly and most do play a mean game of pool as well. Or maybe I just suck.

Metro at Rajah Mansion is also a place I would recommend although it's not a pool hall but run by the same people of BIH, the tables are of good quality. There's a friendly pool tourney every Wednesday that might be fun to check out. If you abhor country music, make sure that Keith (co-ownder) isn't *too* intoxicated when you're there, or it's Johnny Cash and George Strait all night long (don't worry, doesn't happen too often ;p)

Not sure if Xenical is available in Thailand.

Xenical can be easily gotten in various pharmacies around BKK but is more expensive than it actually costs elsewhere. The FDA recently approved an OTC version of Xenical called Alli (trade name for the drug Olistat which is what Xenical is) which is almost half the price of Xenical. The fact that it can be bought over the counter unlike Xenical is an extra boon to many.

Another new drug making the news is Rimonabant which according to it's blurb "works by selectively blocking CB1 receptors found in the brain and in peripheral organs important in glucose and lipid (or fat) metabolism and also helps to decrease one dependency on nicotine." This goes by the trade name of Accomplia in Europe but there are already several generic versions of it flooding the pharmaceutical market. I haven't tried it but it's on it's way.

Apparently it stops the munchies in a HUGE way and that is exactly what I'm looking for right now. I snack like the world is coming to an end and can consume my weight in chocolate, this I kid you not. True story: 3 weeks ago, I received 18 bars of various types of chocolate sweetly sent to me by a chum in Switzerland. In less than a week, said chocolate was no more. I am ashamed, deeply ashamed, not because every last one of the 18 bars disappeared in a week but because not one delicious morsel was shared with anyone, not even my lil sis, whom I love to death. Yes, my self-control is non-existent in the face of this brown stuff. It truly owns me.

Which is when I realised I needed help. =p

Xenical is good stuff but only produced results when I'm on a high-fat diet. YMMV and all.

Between diet aids and insomnia meds, I'm really quite surprised I'm not yet permanently comatose.

p.s I do not advocate a lifestyle of prescribed drugs/medication unless you're under the supervision of a doctor or feel that you've exhausted every other possible avenue and this is your last resort.

Hoi! I've been noticing a recent and strange phenomenon on the profiles of TV users. Yes, the mystery of the Disappearing Avatars. On most profiles, alot of the folks' pictures cannot be displayed and only a white box with a small red X that usually indicates something....ominous can be seen. Yet those very same avatars appear on our posts!

This inquisitve mind needs the low-down.

Thanks!

Really, does nobody like tetris here at all? Anyone? :x

Not in my fridge they don't!!!

I hear ya. I didn't dare let on what a true cookie monster I am. But now that I know there are others out there....

Tim Tams Double Coat is awesome stuff as well. Tis a pity I can't seem to find Violet crumble anywhere at all. =(

Give me a call, I'll fund your crack anytime.

Beat me to it!

Iwas up the crack of Dawn this morning. The missus wasn't too happy about it though. :D

Pfft. Boys.

That said, I balked at paying near Bt300 for a small pack of After Eights in Carrefour the other week. I am still not sure why ?

Surely you jest? You can get 3 packets of Tim Tam mint slices for that price and they can last you 3 days at least. =p

Apparently I'm one of them who fills out almost every given bloody space there is, which probably makes me a potential target for stalkers-wannabes and the 3439594 people that I owe money to (to fund my crack).

Well, being fearless and skilled in the art of guise and stealth, I will only say, bring it.

Thank God they left my beloved, Reese peanut butter cups the heck alone or I'll scream blue bloody murder.

Did anyone notice that there are 2 versions of Tim Tams as well? There's a smaller-packaged and cheaper-priced one from Indonesia and then you have the regular Originals that'sgoing for 99b. The former has the most ghastly taste ever.