DonqyJon

Good information gents, I have been staying at Dynasty Grande for the last 5-6 years (they have a decent pool you can swim lengths in) but got bored of it at last, time for a new location. Have booked Hotel Solo on Soi 2 for 2 nights start of trip (recommended by One True Saxon I think), and this hotel for 3 nights at end of trip. This forum is a wealth of information!

I used Budget last year from the airport, had a little Honda which did just fine for a week with me and two LBs driving around Isaan, all the way over to Khong Chiam on the Mekong and back. Very economical car, and the roads are easy and quick (using sat nav on phone), would well recommend driving if you're confident behind the wheel. Precautions I took: International drivers license - about £5 from UK Post Office if I can remember; damage excess - covered by my diving insurance, pretty handy but thankfully didn't need it; kept my eyes peeled at all times, checked mirrors frequently, assessed every potential upcoming hazard, and got past erratic lorry drivers as quick as possible! I chose a larger hire company due to the distance covered and backup offered if something should break down, and because of this I think one is required to produce the International Driving License. If you don't hold a Thai license, this may be an issue, so you'd best check first. Alternatively, on most of my Thai trips over the past decade or so - how time flies - I've hired jeeps/cars from local companies, and never had a problem. They often will want to hold your passport, but don't require all the other documents. However, I assume if things go tits up, it'll be you break you pay, so check you're insured and what the excess is, and document carefully existing damage when you receive the vehicle. I've Googled it before, and you have cheap hire companies everywhere, so you may wish to pick up a car outside of Bangkok to start/end your driving trip easily. Two years ago I got pulled by the Police for my hire jeep not displaying tax, this was a money gathering exercise which cost me about 1000Thb; the lady who rented me the vehicle had forgot to put it on the windscreen (it was in her drawer), she was very nice and reimbursed me, but it obviously cost her as I'd got the jeep rental down to 600Thb per day. The police didn't ask anything about driving license, so shouldn't be an issue, and nothing that couldn't be smoothed by a 500Thb note. Regards the Thai driving style, it could generously be described as erratic, and those scooters come at you in all directions when you least expect them, so you need to drive with confidence and assertion. Take comfort at least that this is not India - now there's a place I wouldn't recommend driving.

Good thread idea Katana. For my recent trip, I wore: Craghoppers Nosilife cargo trousers, ultra-lightweight, with lots of pockets, and in-built mosquito repellent UnderArmour underwear - lightweight and very cool for the gonads, expensive but good value

Hi guys, I've just installed South East Asia maps on CoPilot Live 8 for Android - running on HTC Desire phone - ready for my up-coming trip to LOS. The map includes Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan, but I'll only be using Thailand. The cost was £50. Initial reports, just tried to create a favourite, and it impressively had an obscure Wat under it's in-built POIs in "Places of Worship" category. Looks like names are in 'Roman' text, so you have to be adaptable with the spelling (as always with romanised Thai). When I added the Wat to my favourites list, it displayed a bunch of icons for the name, maybe unsuccessfully trying to display Thai font, but that's easy enough to rename. I'll get onto CoPilot support to try and figure that out. Will be hitting the Thai roads in just over a month, so will report back with a road test report some time in May, for any interested.

Thanks for the update & your efforts LULT - I owe you a beer!

I hope the admin can sort this random posting issue out soon, it really sucks and doesn't do much for our beloved forum. Good luck, go get the bastards!

Sorry if this is the wrong thread, but hey, whisky's talking now. Just went to a clinic in my home town of Bristol last week for a general screening, my first in 2 years. It was damned awkward explaining to the very attractive asian lady doctor about the number of sexual partners I had in Thailand, their sex, and the circumstances. It felt so bad when you say "yeah I had paid sex with x GGs and x males" (for some reason, I didn't expand to her about them being LBs). When in LOS, it just doesn't feel bad/seedy like when you say it to an attractive lady. Was referred to a counsellor while waiting for blood tests, and maybe the fact that he was gay (I think) and not a stunning lady, I felt quite happy discussing the LBs, condom choice for anal, blowjobs etc. Stupid and double standards on my part I know. I have in the past been willing to take a chance with the occasional GG when I haven't got on with the condom (I have no issue without it for some reason), and although the last 2 were not classic 'sex workers' - one was from a bar off Sukkhumvit but not working there, the other a massage girl - it's still one hell of a lottery to be playing. From now on, I'll be sure to have a Cialis/Kamagra backup to hand, rather than take the risk. Occasionally the urge to bareback with a LB has been sorely tempting, but I've managed to abstain so far. I guess after years of marriage it may feel more natural not to use condom, but just like giving up smoking, it's changing the mindset for the benefit of one's health.

Thanks for the reassurance LYLT, guess I had a bit of a paranoid moment there and went off on one! You're right, I was still logged into the forum, so that makes sense about the visibility thing. Cheers, and apologies for being a bit of an arse. Delete this thread if you wish. Must shut down PC and sleep!!

Thai Airways Can't handle the non-stop flight any more - last time was 2 years ago on Thai Air with a very old plane and each way was an unending nightmare. Qatar My preference has been Qatar with short stop at Doha, always a pleasure, clean & modern planes, with decent food. JET Last trip in August, my mate persuaded me to travel in a group (since divorce I have gone solo), and his wife the travel agent got some good deals with the Indian JET Airways via Mumbai. Well, the outbound leg was fairly uneventful, although the Mumbai airport smelt rank, but no probs. On the way back however, it was hellish: 1. My hot meal had a chipped porcelain dish, which I only discovered when chewing on the sharp shards of porcelain within the meal. I didn't make any fuss and was given a replacement meal. Was also given a feedback card which I did complete, as it wasn't particularly pleasant (and you never know - some recompense?). Result - nothing, nada, zilch. Maybe the card was recycled though, that'd be great. 2. We had about 2 hours stopover in Mumbai on the return. After disembarking from the plane, we were in a huge crowd, whom the authorities insisted on checking all hand-luggage and stamping a card. It wasn't even organised chaos, it was utter and absolute chaos, I've never seen the like of this bureaucratic shambles! And when finally getting to the scanner, my bag and (removed) laptop go in one direction, I go the other direction! Talk about stress. We weren't even staying, which I don't understand. In and amongst this melee were manoeuvred wheelchair users, and just for fun trolley loads full of rubbish. The longshot is it took 1 3/4 hours to get through, lots of swearing passengers vowing never to set foot in India again, and no time for a pee before rushing to board the connecting flight. 3. On the last leg home, we had 3 people sat behind who sneezed all the way back, without making a motion towards use of a tissue. Nice, got for the "Barry Normans" big time. A week later I came down with a sinus infection - related, who knows...? My next flights in April/May are booked with Emirates, and can't wait. I'd rather spend the extra £100 or so, and remove the stress and chaos. Give me an easy life.

Hi, Just sent an email to a colleague accidentally using an email based around my Bangkok Ladyboys username (it's the one I use for the Thai GGs and LBs!). Had a bit of a panic as he's very tech savvy, so I thought of Googling it, and lo and behold the first result is my Bangkok Ladyboys user details (when persevering with the search term - it first wants to direct to donjon, something French). I may be a little paranoid here, and that's a colleague I'd probably have least worries with, but all the same I am a bit perturbed at Forum usernames being searchable by Google. Can site admin rememdy this? Thanks. Paranoid android. (Tired, long hard day, 2 months until LOS etc etc)

Just noticed this thread, and thought I'd pitch in. Please take a look at FastStone Photo Resizer, or FSResizer, at http://www.faststone.org/FSResizerDetail.htm It is free, advert-free etc., and is really powerful. Can resize, rename, and do all sorts, to single or multiple files. The resize options are truly great - you can do by percentage, or specify the pixels for the largest side. Best of all is it's pretty simple and quick to pick up...

My vote goes to Dynasty Inn Grande - great staff, great location, fantastic pool and gym, altogether 'no worries' attitude. No joiner when just two people, but extra guests are 500B each (if I remember right). Maybe not that trendy, but hey... See other forum thread "LB Friendly Hotels" for more in-depth viewpoints on this hotel. Love it, and can't wait to return. Have stayed at Sheraton Orchid on the river near Silom - not far from Patpong, but a pain to get to Nana. Lovely hotel, helpful staff, good quality rooms, great food and drink as one would expect for the price. Decent gym and two nice pools. Guest friendly (no joiner) - didn't try with LB but surely fine. Has a river bus port next door (by the restaurant), but BTS is a bit far. Wifi available, but silly expensive - cheaper to get Thai netSIM for mobile phone. Nice place to stay, but prefer to be in the heart of Nana. Lastly, have stayed before a couple of times at the Salil hotel on Sukhumvit soi 8. Nice enough rooms, decent staff and guest friendly (no joiner). Bit of a trek from NEP, although at least a golf buggy ferries you up and down the soi (it's quite a way down). I have nothing against the place, but found it was just too small and intimate for comfortable mongering, too far from the action, and lacked gym/pool that larger establishments can house.

Stayed at Dynasty Inn Grande on my last three LOS trips (generally each side of beach destination), and really love it. Even preferred it to the Sheraton Orchid, which is guest friendly BTW. Must be the location, location, location.... Definitely a bit of a knocking shop, but any hotel that close to NEP is gonna be! Rooms fairly large (Grande Deluxe) and inexpensive, and as mentioned by other BM large walk-in shower/wet-room - always a good start when getting it on with chosen LB - and kept clean. I did notice the corridor was a bit smelly on last trip, but so what? What I think are especially good are:- the fairly large and well equipped gym (moved from ground floor to room on the 2nd (or 4th?) with a good view over the side/front entrance to hotel and the 7/11 next door, something to look at when on the cross-trainer/treadmill; and the decent sized 'roof top' swimming pool on 3rd floor. All this is free to use, well-maintained and tidy. Feels real good to get a bit of exercise in before going out on a bender! The staff have always been well nice, discrete and apparently non-judgemental, whether bringing back GG or LB. No joiner fee, although I think I had to pay 500B on last trip for third member of threesome, fair enough really. Free internet in rooms via network point - not wifi - and (very short) network cables available from reception. Food and drink is also pretty reasonable in quality and price. My last trip I booked a room direct with hotel about six months in advance (no deposit), every-so-slightly more expensive rate than when previously booking via Sukhumvit Psycho website. Before arriving I noticed on hotel website that they had a significant discount compared to the rate I had booked at, so on check-in I thought I'd try it on, mentioned the discount and asked politely if they would match it; they immediately reduced the rate with no haggling whatever - result, and very impressed. I guess this is probably due to slow business, but it also shows that sometimes it's worth going direct, as with Sukhumvit Psycho I would have already paid up-front. It's a gamble! All in all, maybe not the classiest joint out there, but great facilities and staff, amazing location, and I can't wait to return - with stunning LB on arm.