hazelandhoward

Have posted this in food topic but no answers so thought i would try again in this forum....Does anyone know where we can buy Bannana blossom in Pattaya preferably in a jar or tin as dont think we would be able to take fresh back into the UK, we have eaten it in Pattaya in a restaurant and it was delicious, it was deep fried in batter, dont go to that particular restaurant anymore so cant ask them where to buy some, and other restaurants that we ask in dont seem to know what we are on about.

H &H

Same as above. "Malibar" also good with decent decor ( ish ).

Is Malibar open again? it was shut and abandoned the last time i passed a couple of weeks ago?

Hazelandhoward are you looking for a place that looks posh or a place that has good seafood, Preecha in Ban Amphur has the best seafood around but it is nothing more than a large shed on the seafront!

No not bothered what it looks like just want decent food, do like to have nice suroundings but would sit on the roadside like the thais ( which we have done ) if the food ok.

Can anyone tell me of a good high class sea food restaurant in or around Pattaya ? we have been coming to Pattaya for about 10 years now and have still not found a decent one, cant stand places like the Lobster pot ( sorry if this offends anyone but they are not very good at all ) we like to eat at places like the Royal Cliff restaurants, Manhattons, Bruno's etc if that helps to show the sort of standard we expect but saying that we also go to the other end of the market restaurants and so long as they are good quality food for what you pay we enjoy them also.

Can anybody tell me if the road works on the thrappraya road have finished.

Does anyone know if Qatar business class passengers get fast tracked through imigration at bangkok airport.

Can anyone tell me where to buy Bannana blossom in Pattaya preferbly in a tin or jar as dont think you would be allowed to bring plant into uk, had it in a restaurant once and it was delicious, it was done in batter, dont think it can be very common as always ask in restaurants for it and most dont know what im on about.

"........BJ Bar with the legend himself, toothpick in mouth, towel over the shoulder showing the best musical video clips on a huge TV set."

WOW I certainly remember BJ and his 'dish cloth' over his shoulder in the early-mid nineties but didn't realise he was around in the late 70's ....

Correct me if im wrong ( which im sure somebody will ) BJs was one of the first if not the first bar to open in pattaya.

Manhattons

Brunos

Any of the restaurants at the Royal Cliff especially if you want 1st class service.

H&H

would never have a massage here if you got any problems as i dont think any of them have a clue what they are doing....my husband had one about 2 years ago and she put his back out and he was in agony for the last week of our holiday.

Just watch out for the three legged rats with a husky voice - Pook bar is there nest

I wish you would all stop with your so called funny and sarcastic comments and stick to the point or subject, you never know some one that matters may take an interest in some of the topics posted on this site one day and try and do something about them.

Well i wish someone would hurry up and start educatining them, i get so frustrated with the people there as they just dont realise what they have got, they are trying to clean the place up but although i dont condone the girlie bars and sex industry i wouldent say it doesent bother me but you learn to ignore that side after a while they need to start fining people for dropping litter and dumping rubbish etc like we have had to accept in other countries like us in the uk for example, and when you go to places like pattaya you appreciate these laws, also they are spending a lot of money on pavements etc but they are either not done right or simply they get so far and they dont finish them, i wish i could talk to the people that run the council or whatever they call it out there it wouldent take rocket science to sort some of these proplems out. My husband and i come every year sometimes twice and we really love it there but you do wonder why sometimes.

Im amazed pattaya isent over run with rats with all the rubbish lying around, what amazies me is there will be a bin standing there empty and a load of rubbish just chucked next to it and put there mostly by the locals and they will sit there and have there sort of picnic and just leave there left overs and emty cartons etc just where they sat, its a shame they dont take a bit more pride in there country.

We havent paid any the last couple of times we have flew out althogh the last time was last December and it was only 500 bhts the last time we did and that was from the new airport as Cuban says it is now included in your flight tickets.

Have just posted this in Pattya forum but think this better one to post in, as my husband and i are coming to pattaya at the end of this month ( oct ) can anyone reccomend any good clubs or bars that play motown and soul type music ( not jazz ) as there is a lot of you expat us people there ( we're from the uk ) and the era that you come from we would expect it to be quite popular there.

As we are coming to pattaya at the end of this month (oct ) can anyone recomend any good bars or clubs that play a lot of motown and soul music (not jazz ) as there is a lot of you expats from the us there ( we're from the uk ) and the era that alot of you are from we would like to think that there would be some good places to go to that play alot of this music.

I am from uk and some friends of ours that go to thailand twice a year always book some of there flights when they are there in pattaya as they are a lot cheaper, i dont know what they pay but it is with China airlines

"...surley there is a cheaper way of doing this..."

Give your money to a friend in England.

simple, just open another account , have 2 ATM (international usage cards) cards issued , send one to your friend in Thailand,,with instructions to use only at ATM

problem solved.

The reason we do not give the money to a friend in England is quite simple, £100 it would mean nothing to them, this money was to help our friend pay for her mother to go to hospital as she is very ill with a heart proplem and as i am sure you know Thailand does not have a NHS system like we do here in England and this £100 is more than one months wage for our friend even though she has quite a good job as a waitress in a 5* hotel but still could not afford to pay herself and as my husband says the £35 it cost us to send it isent much to us but he would sooner give it to her, sadley my mother died a few years ago but if she was still here how terrible it must be to know she could die because i couldent afford the treatment for her.

I find it quite normal. As one poster already mentioned, September and October use to be the worst months of the rainy season.

It's ok as long as I stay home. From the weather forecast it seems like next week will be drier though. 4 weeks to go and the waether will turn much better.

Cheers

Good as my husband and i come out there in a month as we have done for the last 7 years and the weather has never let us down yet.

But warn your friend that it's likely that it will take 150 Baht from her each time she makes a withdrawal so not to do take lot of small amounts.

Will do thanks

I really wanted to try the nationwide so went to open the necersary account there but because i am self employed but dont actually take a wage from my business ( my husband keeps me in the life i am accustomed to bless him ) and you had to give details of your income which i cant so havent bothered with that one but am trying something else it called a travel money card which you get from the post office, it is called a visa electron, you load it in the uk by taking cash to the post office or i can do it by phone or internet and i can use it where ever you see a visa electron sign or in atms with the visa sign, it costs 1.5% or a min of £3 to load it and a small transaction fee for withdrawels etc so for us to get £100 to our friend it will cost about £4 so not too bad, we will take the card with us in november when we go to thailand and and leave it with her so whenever she needs money we just put a bit more in the account and you can only spend whats in there so quite safe,

Fingers crossed it works ok

Hazel

Does any one know if the shop on the ground floor called u-ma thevi is still open it sells among other things a lot of art work, as we are coming to pattaya in a few weeks and have been promising ourselves a painting from there and are all geared up to get one this time ie. transport it home i shall be gutted if its not there as we found it the best shop for the type of painting we want in pattaya.

Hi can anyone tell me the cheapest way to transfer money to thailand, i only want to send small amounts up to £100 british pounds at a time to help a friend out, i bank with the HSBC and i recently sent her £100 and they charged me £15 to do this then a few weeks later i get a letter telling me i have been charged another £20 exchange rate, so £35 to send £100 seems a lot of money to me surley there is a cheaper way of doing this, i was going to send her a moneygram but that way i cant send it to her bank account she would have to go to another bank and take some id with her which sounds simple enough but to try and explain this to her as she knows very little english and i know no thai i dont want to risk it,

Open to any suggestions

Hazel

western union they get money with in 5 mins of you sending

please read the post properly,,the op doesnt want to pay huge amount of money to send £100,,,western union charge 28 in 100 i believe.

Thanks glad some one understands what im on about, also apart from feeling a bit ripped off with these charges like my husband said he would sooner give the extra to our friend as the £35 that it cost us to this money to her is more than a weeks wages for her.

Logged onto my HSBC online account today and found that I can now transfer money from my UK account to Thailand totaly online. No need to fill in forms or go to the branch.

It is conveniant if I need a lot of money quickly but cost wise it is only slightly cheaper than using my ATM card here (Not counting the .25% hit on the exchange rate that HSBC do on a foreign ATM withdrawals)

To transfer online up to £2,000 is £17.

The max I can withdraw on my card is £300 so to get the same £2,000 would take 7 days and 7 withdrawals! Assuming a hit by Thai banks of 150 baht per transaction that means it's about £2.50 cheaper to do it all at once using online banking.

But as I said could work out much better because you will not get the exchange rate hit by HSBC.

If anyone wants to do the sums would be interested to see the results but to me it seems only worthwhile using the online method if sending £1,000 or more.

Chris

I have just recently transfered £100 to a friend in thailand this way and was charged £17 but then a few weeks later recieved a letter from the bank charging me £20 for exchange rate so it cost me £37 to transfer £100 as you can imagine i was not happy.

When we were in pattaya we used the meter ones quite regulary from the avenue back to our hotel the royal cliff they dident use the meter but charged us 100 bhts which is what the baht buses charged us anyway, not knocking the baht buses but at least the meter ones are a bit more comfy and you are not sitting in all the exaust fumes when in the queing traffic.

I did ring the bangkok bank in London to ask if we could open an account with them but they still say we have to be resident of thailnd so not possible, it would make life much easier if we could as it would be cheaper to send money and we could access our money when we visit thailnd rather than carring large amounts when we travel.