flipflops

@cutefarang I just happened to like the looks of the Ascend P7. As long as English (US) is installable I'm probably good to go. Maps, email, chat apps and a browser and I'm happy. If I don't buy the Ascend P7 I'll likely look for a new Google 5 on eBay. Really good phones get stolen way too often. I don't want that headache.

Thanks for the pointer dav662. That phone is in the running. When I looked at it before it was invitation only. But now I see it is widely available. There are 3 drawbacks to that phone. 1) size. I want to stay at 5 or below. That will be hard as most manufacturers are going bigger. 2) I want an sd card expansion 3) it is cyanogenmod. The need for sd card expansion came out of problems with cyanogenmod on my galaxy nexus. I had lots of problems after I installed cyanogenmod and one of the biggest was battery problems. When I returned from Thailand with a phone full of pictures on the internal memory the batter went so low while I was on the phone that the phone died. Then I could not reboot the phone and it would not charge in the normal way. I thought all of my pictures were lost. I did get it fixed with a lot of effort. I doubt this would happen with cyanogenmod on the 1+1 as it is for prime time people. The lesson for me is always have a sd card to write pictures to. I refuse to sync with the clouds. My head might be in the clouds half the time.... but i don't need my personal info there.

The tour I took of River Kwai was 1 full day. Leave around 8:30 am and return around 7pm. The price now is 1050THB. This was a mini van tour so I can imagine it is sometimes packed. Mine was not packed and I met an late 20s Aussie couple and we had a ball. You were busy all day except for travel to and from.

Geez. $450+ USD..Flash Deals are $181 USD. And the Iconic room...only $777 USD ... I won't be staying there.

I stayed here 2 nights to see what "cheap" meant for accommodations. I have the same opinion as Fred71. The safes are located in the entryway on the left hand side as you walk in. They are housed in small locker looking cabinets. Coffee in the morning is 40B a cup......... geeeez. The bathroom shower leaked, the toilet had no lid so to flush I had to pull a string in the tank. There is only one electric outlet so don't plan on a makeshift office. Yes the staff is friendly. It is close to the action. So close in fact you'll step over hookers on Sunday morning at 8am when going to get coffee at Starbucks. But... if all you want is to get your knees pinned back against you chest (or hers) this place will do. The sign out front says rent by the hour as well.

It is the end of October and no lifts.... so I'd venture to say they have learned to live without them. As OTS said in the original post "stunning". Staff is friendly and maybe too friendly. When the girl took me to my room I really had to piss. Something was wrong with the key and we could not get in. She kept apologizing and I kept telling her to hurry. For me there were a few drawbacks: 1) At this price there should be coffee / tea in each room. I booked a level too low to have coffee in my room. (I paid the same price for this hotel as I did the Furama Silom.) 2) Being in construction for years, I just had to wonder why a bathroom wall vent goes directly to the main hallway. This could be a problem after 'too mutt som tum' 3) There should be some sort of handrails in the stairwell. When I was being dropped off by a tuktuk around 1130pm Wednesday night, several freelance LB were a block or two away around the Starbucks.

I got a 7 day sim @ the airport for 299THB. 1.5gb data AIS

It is a .5 mile walk to Patpong. I am going tonight to shop but not visit any bars. When I come back from CM I'll be in Sukhumvit area and I'll likely check out CIB and Darkside. Get my feet wet so to speak....

Another hotel off the beaten path, but fairly close to Patpong. 10 minute walk maybe. Two nights for 110USD. I booked through Agoda and this rate was not available on a single night booking. This hotel is a bit dated I suppose but still very nice. Glassed in bathrooms with shades. This bath had both a normal shower head and an over the head straight down spout. I had one LB visitor here 1.5 years ago. Max / Nikki from CL. (no one this trip) and I met her outside and walked in with her. No problems with staff. The floor plan allows you to go up the elevators without passing the front desk. Though sometimes the elevators require your room key to operate the elevator. Small rooftop bar and pool on the 20th floor. Excellent restaurant and a free breakfast buffet. WiFi is excellent this trip, last trip it was horrible.

I had an interesting experience booking my flights on Cathay Pacific that should be noted. After getting an email from Cathay about super low fares I booked flights. as mentioned above I took my laptop and used matrix.itasoftware.com and we worked together to complete the booking. When I had decided which flight I watched on her computer as she booked the flight and then we went on to seat assignment. I am a bit claustrophobic so I tend to carefully select seats. I had plenty to choose from and got some excellent seats. Or so I thought. Last night I was doing online check in and the system asked me what seats I would like. Hmmmm I thought this was already done. I tried a couple of times. I dug out my paper itinerary and looked and sure enough no mention of seat assignments. I called Cathay and they were closed and open only during regular business hours in my time zone. So I called the next morning. After giving my reservation code I was politely told that as per my fare code, the seat arrangement we made was a "request" for seating not a "confirmation" of seating. Of course the lady said, if I wanted better seats I could buy them. I talked to my travel agent today and she apologized as she had missed any mention of this. And as far as the travel agent could see after closing the window of seats they showed up on her Sabre text screen. So she was really none the wiser either. My seats suck............... live and learn

I booked Cathay Pacific from LAX to BKK for $885 on October 16th. The fare sale ended Sept 30. There was a Delta option for $790. Delta was the same plane with 2 hour stopover in Tokyo. I sat with my travel agent using matrix.itasoftware.com on my laptop, while she was on sabre. Quite fun actually. I chose Cathay as it is 5 star to Delta 3 star rating. Plus my brother is a mechanic for Delta and a few years ago they pretty much wiped out his retirement in a reorganization. After that move it is hard to see giving Delta another dollar.

I have heard Cathay Pacific is one of the best. In the cattle section the prices are around +200USD compared to EVA. Something tells me this is worth it though as I've heard so much about Cathay. (well except with the last screw-up that left people in a plane for like 37 hours. I am not sure I have enough xanax for that.) I flew Asiana to BKK. Cheapest fare at the time. Service was good. My only complaint was a 9 hour layover at Incheon on the return. Cathay seems to have good connections as far as layover times. 1-2 hours can be easily arranged. Thanks for the info. I am too poor to fly business class!

This trip I will be flying alone so I don't have to worry about any travel companion's opinions about airlines. My Thai friend refuses to fly Thai Air... go figure. However I do agree with her it is expensive out of LAX. Last trip was Asiana Air. It was dirt cheap but a long return layover. Now I'm digging around with matrix.itasoftware.com for flights in July. Any thumbs up/down for airlines flying out of west coast USA? Any thumbs up/down for any alliance programs? I'm not a business traveller so I don't rack up lots of miles.

A couple of months ago there was a shit storm thread on LadyboysPattaya site about HIV (and one of the more popular girls in Pattaya). Amongst the drivel there was a lot of good information from places like health departments and such. One statistic I remember was Bangkok ladyboy infection rate is much lower than Pattaya. Dig around I think it was in chit chat section.

Oh my. There goes the Thai ladyboy waistline!

This would give new meaning to ordering room service. "Ring Ring.... can you please send up some Bee honey and put the Som on my bill?"

A year ago March, when I was in Bang Lamung area (and sometimes BKK) I stayed with a Thai family. We ate in restaurants (some nice and some just roadside stops) where soda was served in big bottles and we added ice. I usually drank bottled water when I could. The family lived in a new housing development and I drank some tap water. I used tap water for coffee too. Brushing teeth etc. I did have a bit of loose bowels but not the screamin' shits so to speak. I could control it. I did not have any stomach problems. Never felt sick. "Surprisingly the trial found no adverse effects in those drinking it as to those consuming supply water . Study was over a prolonged period . Their conclusion was that those drinking tank water on a regular basis developed immunity to the nasties and didnt suffer any adverse effects from long term exposure ." Can I conclude from this statement that trying to adapt to supply water was futile?

does a foreigner ever build immunities to this over time? it would seem to me the body would adjust in a few months.

Those pesky South Koreans..Ruskies... and Vietnamese! http://bangkokpost.com/news/security/410342/border-insecurity-mounts-as-tourist-visa-abuse-is-targeted I'm wondering what sets these 3 groups apart for other illegal workers?

I did a tour of bridge over the river Kwai. I opted for the one day tour. Minivan picked me up at the hotel and dropped me off 12 or so hours later. There were other options to stay longer but I did not take them. I would on the next go around. The way it works is pretty interesting. You do need to pay attention and make sure you do not loose your *identifier*. ( Mine fell off while riding the train in 3rd class and a Thai person picked it up and handed it to me. I had no idea it had fallen off. I guess she knew I needed it) After hotel pickup there is a rendezvous near Khoa San Rd. Everybody gets assigned Minivans according to their level of service and destinations. Then you are off. You can see the one I took here: http://www.asia-discovery.com/river-kwai/rvk-01.htm After the in town stuff (Jeath Museum and the bridge) you will ride in the minivans to a remote train *station* in Ban Kao and take 3rd class train cars back. All during the trip things are changing so always keep your little color patch identifier visable. Two people got on the wrong bus and when they got back to Khoa San Rd the tour operators paid for a taxi to their hotel. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Sorry....I didn't notice the P21 in the subject line.

hahaha.. i just noticed the towels on the bed. The hotel surely didn't do that...........................

Looks nice and quite cheap for brand new. Maybe when the lits work they will raise the price!! What is the name? I wonder if Agoda has it listed yet.

Thanks for posting seat 61. I've looked at it off an on over the last few months. I assume one cannot book trains online yet, but there is a service that will do it for you if you think a particular route or date might be sold out: http://www.asia-discovery.com/train.htm Go to the bottom and the train services are explained. I would assume other travel agencies will do the same. (This is not an endorsement for Asia-Discovery)

In America we would call this a "cock blocker" lol