KLW

According to Boss Suites Website and rooms do have Personal electronic safes so you are OK on that point. Foreign ATM cards are charged 150 THB / transaction at all ATM's with the exception of the Aeon Bank and Bank of Ayudhya, unfortunatley these banks don't tend to have branches in "Tourist" areas. Forget Travellers Cheques, too much hassle to cash as you need to carry your passport to do so. Pesonaly I would arrive with a fist full of S100 bills, change $200 at the airport ensuring you have 500 THB in 100 Baht notes since Taxi drivers are notorious for not having change and then putting the US$ + $100 in THB into hotel safe along with passport etc. Just ensure that you take a $100 bill out with you and change to THB as and when required. The Baht in the safe is so that you still have money for your guests "Taxi Fare" in the morning even if you blow everything the previous night. Anyone contemplating multiple visits to Thailand may want to look into opening a local bank account, the rules do state that you cannot open an account on a Torist Visa or 30 Day transit visa but many banks turn a blind eye to this. All that is required is your passport and deposit and within 10 minutesa you will have bank passbook and ATM card. That way for future visits you can transfer funds from home account when the exchange rate is favourable, plus you will get the slightly higher exchange rate.

Rule of thumb, If the hotel is guest friendly it is ladyboy friendly, no discrimination between GG's and LB's

Siam Man, As I have previously stated a forum is only as good as the posters and what they have to offer. I am more than happy about sharing information that can make fellow BM's experiences "smoother" I was rather fortunate that on my first trip to Thailand back in 1988, I was chaporoned by a guy I was working with at the time, we were in Korea and he dragged me to BKK on RnR, he was (and still is) Married to a Thai and living in BKK. I still go and see him 3-4 times a year even though he is in his 80's now but he is still as daft as a brush. I am sure 3G is available on Pre-Paid, I will check out later this arfo, I do know that AIS (Shin Corp) numbers get free 3G in Singapore for 48 hours, I will try thart out in 2 weeks time.

Just checked on Google Earth and my closest Hot Spot to home is 1.8 KM from Sathorn Road from Lumpini Park – Narathiwas Road, I live South of Sathorn close to expressway. At Big Dogs you should be able to connect to the Sukhumvit Road from Sukhumvit 1 to Prompong Intersection no problems, I was in Queens Plaza on Suk Soi 22 and later on washington Square yesterday evening and had a good connection.

It was launched on 9th December 2009, inital areas covered include Siam Paragon Emporium Central World Ma Boonkrong Siam Center Siam Discovery Kesorn Plaza Central Silom Big C Rajdamri Fortune Tower (CP2) True Tower Ratchadapisek CP Tower Silom Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani and surrounding areas Challenger Hall Muang Thong Thani and surrounding areas Thunder Dome Muang Thong Thani and surrounding areas Erawan Hotel Pathumwan Princess Hotel Police General Hospital The Royal Bangkok Sports Club Chulalongkorn University and surrounding areas Srinakarinwirot University and surrounding areas Thai Chamber of Commerce University and surrounding areas Assumption University Bangna and surrounding areas Assumption University Hua Mak and surrounding areas Mahidol University Salaya and surrounding areas Rajamangala University (Sathorn) Siam Square areas Lumpini Park Suan Lum Night Bazaar Rama I Road from Supachalasai Stadium – Rajprasong Intersection – Ploenjit Road Wireless Road Rajdamri Road from The Royal Bangkok Sports Club –Rajprasong Intersection – Pratunam Intersection Phyatai Road from Chulalongkorn University – Ma Boonkrong Intersection – Hua Chang Bridge – Petchburi Road Rama IV Road from Lumpini Park – Sam Yan Intersection Sathorn Road from Lumpini Park – Narathiwas Road Silom Road from Saladaeng Intersection – Narathiwas Road Surawong Road from Saladaeng Inersection – Narathiwas Road Petchburi Road from Bantadthong Road Intersection – Wireless Road Yaowaraj Road and surrounding areas (soon) Sukhumvit Road from Sukhumvit 1 to Prompong Intersection Asoke Road from Sukhumvit Intersection to Rama IX Road and right to Cultural Center Intersection Suvarnbhumi International Airport, Samutprakarn Phuket International Airport Patong Beach, Phuket Cha-Am – Hua Hin route from Cha-Am District, Long Beach Hotel Cha-Am until Hua Hin Blue Wave Beach Resort

having seen numerous posts questioning which Hotels are Guest Friendly and ready negative feedback about certain places I remembered This Website listing some of the Guest Friendly Hotels in BKK. Whilst not a comprehensive list at least its a starting point, a couple of things to remember when Mongering in BKK Always book a Double or Twin Room Joiners Fees (if applicable) are a once of payment, not due every time you bring a guest back happy Mongering Guys

Best Pizza for Home Dleivery has to be Scoozi best Pizza in Patpong is Madrid Bar, which also rents out rooms Short Time. Best Pizza Restaurant chain Pan Pan Pizzas

Since early December True have been running the 3G trials in downtown BKK and also in Hua Hin and it works very well. In a designated area in downtown getting download speeds in excess of 4 Mbps and I can even get over 700 Kbps from home, approx 3 LM as the crow flies from a designated 3G hotspot. I was down in Hua Hin this week and was getting >4 Mbps all over town and on the beach. The beauty of having a Post Paid account with True is that the 3G and Wifi is part of the package, I pay 749 THB / Month for 200 Minutes talk time, 200 SMS and unlimited 3G / EDGW / GPRS / Wifi.

There are actualy 2 western places on the left, the first one is Chequers and the second (better one IMHO) is Jools. Jools has been one of my regualrs for years since it opened in 1995. The guy who opened it used to be catering manager for Saudi Airlines based in Jeddah and I met him there in 1994 when we were both slung in the same cell together for breaching Suadi booze violations, he then sold it to "Big Dave" Hoyte and moved onto Pattaya where he ran Tahitian Queens II, Delaneys and for the past five years Jamesons not far from Soi 6. Big Dave and Jools get mentions in Stephen Leather's "Private Dancer", the bar is referred to as "Fatsos" in fact when Stephan wrote the book he was one of the requlars in Jools and the Characters in his novel and their exploits are an amalgamation of things that realy happened amongst the regulars in Jools at that time (I am even in it but I wont mention where). One of the Classic lines in the book is Fatso )Big Dave) talking about "World Aids Day" Go down the Plaza Grab a Katoey and ride it bareback, thats my contribution. I was actualy there the time he came out with that line

I for one will not be using it and I travel in and out of Thailand 5 times a year at the moment. From my home its 36 KM to Suvarnabhumi and since we live close to an expressway entrance even in rush hour the journey takes less than 30 minutes. To get to City Air Terminal at Makkasan which is only 8 KM from home could take even longer than that. The there is the fact that express trains that take 15 minutes only travel once / hour, inbetween them are the commuter trains that take 27 minutes its a no brainer, stick to getting dropped off by car.

Time to start another Thread rather than Hijack this one me thinks!

I am a sad geek always have my lightweigh netbook with me, dont even notice it in the small backpack I carry. Since I am currently living 8 weeks at a time on a construction camp in the middle of the desert I like to be out and about when I am back in BKK and tend to be out of the house by 10 AM each morning and just go out and about and see what happens. One of the perks of this job is the 5 x 19 paid Days home in Thailand every year with Biz Class flights paid but the downside is that, due to my position at work, I am expected to spend an hour or so / day checking and replying to work emails and also answer important work related calls, the joys of project managment. I find it more relaxing to be out and about doing my own thing and if I do get a work related call (more often than not I get SMS advising of email) I will sit in a bar with a beer fire up the netty and log onto works server to find the answer to the problem. Conversley if out with mates on an afternoon session I can still be with them having the Craik and just fire it up at the same time, no need to rush home. (Net Cafes dont have software I require to log on remotely) When away from site I only get paid base salary, no overseas upift or overtime pay but its still worth my while. I bet many Board Members would jump at the deal of having a lightweight netbook and a mobi phone with them to basicaly do less than 5 hours work / week for being in Thailand having been flown there at company cost and getting paid 10,000 THB / day for the priviledge. Did I mention that I land in Survanibhumi in 32 hours time for 24 days home on the prowl. If you see someone in BKK working on a netty in the middle of patpong (Madrid Bar, Cosmos) or in Washington Square it just might be me.

SM, Glad to share. The point of any forum is to exchange information not only about the subject which is the primary focus of our shared interest, but also the other factors that can make a visitors trip easier / more comfortable. I will never start a topic voicing my opinion but about x y or z but I am more than willing to add my 2 cents worth to someone elses thread that I feel I can add to. For instance I would never comment on Hotel threads because I dont use them, except for short time hotels I utilise for 3-4 hours at a time, but if someone was to ask where to get best English Breakfast in BKK I have my own personal favourites.

SM, There have been plenty of unsecured WiFi Hotspots around Lowewr Suk Rama I and Silom for years, then there are plenty of bars that advertise free WiFi where one has to buy a drink in order to get a password to gain access and there are others that have total unlimitied. It was only 4 years ago when O2 (HTC) WiFI enabled cell phones became realisticly priced in the handset market that I began to sniff out WiFi whilst on walkabouts but since EDGE has become more widespread / cheaper and 3G is being established in certain areas I am getting less interested in WiFi. I can go anywhere in Thailand now tether my 3G iPhone to my lightweight Asus Eeepc Netbook and be online 24/7 for lesss than 1200 THB / Month. But as I said not an option to most visitors so FREE Hotspots where one can get online from ones own Netty / Lappy is a good second option. Personaly I reccomend Molly Mallones on Soi Convent (Silom Area) one of the few bars that not only allows smoking of Ciggies but also Cigars upstairs, great place to while away an afternoon with a beer and western food whilst online if that is ones wish ... I set up and encrypted their network for them, the managers both ex and current are good friends of mine.

When any BM's are in BKK you may want to check out http://www.bkkpages.com/neighbourhood put in your location and you will get a listing of local free wifi hotspots.