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flipflops

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Posts posted by flipflops

  1. Posted

    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.

  2. Posted

    I recently returned home to the states for the holidays, took a taxi from my home in Bangkhutien to the Airport. For those who don't know Bangkhutien is the second to last stop on the Silom BTS line. That is a trip of roughly 60km, it was made late in the day around 330/4 and it cost me 280 baht plus tolls. Airport to BTS Nana is around 30 km by comparison.

     

    To the OP those prices are absurd especially for the tours. With tours don't book them in your hotel, look online or go to one of the 70000 tour operators in the Sukhumvit area. For 4000 baht (and cheaper) you can usually get a private tour to River Kwai/Tiger Temple which includes a tour guide, transportation, and meals.

     

    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.

  3. Posted

    I will be buying a new phone in the near future. Does anyone have any experience with Huawei phones? Specifically the Ascend P7? I can buy one unlocked so I would imagine most if not all GSM carriers world work. I can buy through an American distributor.

     

    I have used Google phones mostly so I am very familiar with Android. But the new Google phone is just too big. I don't have any interest in iPhones. (or any Apple product really) As for connectivity, I use Linux on my desktop and laptop.

     

    One big requirement is an option for a microSD card. I took a lot of pictures on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus in Chiang Mai and BKK, and when I got home I had some problems turning the phone on. I thought I'd lost them. after an hour or so research I found a sequence to get it up and running again. I prefer not to use cloud services to backup.

     

    Any thoughts appreciated.

  4. Posted · Edited by flipflops

     

    It's called Hotel Icon as I passed it a fair few times this month

     

    Geez. $450+ USD..Flash Deals are $181 USD. And the Iconic room...only $777 USD ...

     

    I won't be staying there.

  5. Posted

    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.

  6. Posted

    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.

    OneTrueSaxon reacted to this

  8. Posted

    Great report flip. The room looks good. A couch and see through bathroom are plusses for me. Breakfast set up reminds me of LeFenix. The omelette bars makes it worth getting up for.. Price isn't to bad, and wouldn't be a bad change of pace. Have you taken any trips down to Patpong?

     

    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....

  9. Posted

    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.

     

     

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    Siam Man, Botafogo and OneTrueSaxon reacted to this

  10. Posted

    Not a bad place for the cost. The idea is each room has a different color on the CMYK color model. But the room is basically gray and white. There is a little write up about each room color. Mine was spring green.. a soothing color.

     

    I had 2 rooms there. One had problems with shower drainage. The water would run over to the toilet and sink area. The drain was not clogged. The floor sloped away from the drain. Second room the key was almost impossible to wiggle out of the door lock.

     

    A box of condoms on top of the safe in each room.

     

    A LB from CL came over with no problem. No need to check in at the desk.

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    OneTrueSaxon reacted to this

  11. Posted

    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

  12. Posted

    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.

  13. Posted

    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!

  14. Posted

    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.

  15. Posted

    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.

  16. Posted

    The Game Sports Bar & Grill is conveniently located next to the BTS Nana Skytrain Station on the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 9. The Game has been established for 2 years now and although they portray an international theme it is American owned and ran by Americans. The Game is managed by Andrew Garrity who is an award-winning chef. The Game provides an excellent variety of pub grub, which you can see in the photos below...

     

    Oh my. There goes the Thai ladyboy waistline!

  17. Posted

    This is the newly refurbished hotel that sits on top of the new Check-in Bar. It is a no bells and whistles joint for sure. It is though, a) Cheap b) Central c) Clean.

     

    There are 24 rooms spread over 2 floors. All the fittings are new such as beds, linen, pillows, aircon, shower heaters etc. The floor is painted with the stuff you see in car dealerships - it actually works surprisingly enough.

     

    The prices seem to vary from 800b to 1100b. I have stayed twice now and paid 900b first time, then 800b second time. No idea why that was. The hotel is currently NOT BUSY - you could just walk up and get a room.

     

    There are no other facilities and I do not remember seeing an in room safe. I will ask him about that when I next go to the bar, as for many it will be important. You do get noise from Country Road which is below some rooms (that is the live music bar next to Check in). If important, ask for a room over Check in bar. Last time I stayed, the room was over Country road and I had no problem - but then I was not trying to get some sleep at midnight.

     

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    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?"

  18. Posted

    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?

  19. Posted

    it is not much the pollution that should worry us, but we farangs have a body not prepared to the bacteria load in the water and that locals have built anti corps to it.

    So, in simple words, we are weaker, nothing else.

    Same will or might happen to Thais with our western water or food at our home.

     

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

  21. Posted

    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.

  25. Posted

    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)

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