SAGuy

Hahaha@hkaus Wrong choice of word - I should have written fluorescent, not effervescent. At the Naga Bar they have pots of this stuff lying around and the revellers come in and paint their faces and bodies. The group of Chinese seemed to really enjoy to. The 3 LBs not so much LOL. I asked about this later and they claimed it would take too long to remove at night. (You live and learn!). Mosquito mats are the small blue rectangles that you place in a plug-in receptacle that heats them up and they then dispense the Deet, which then confuses the mosquitoes and prevents you from getting bitten alive at night. I take them everywhere in the tropics and they work pretty well. The obvious draw back is that you need a power supply for them to work! Coils are more appropriate for outdoors due to the smoke. A couple of other tips I just remembered: The beach restaurants on Ao Wongduean close pretty early, so best to get there before 20.00 at the latest. All of the beach restaurants sell the fish and shellfish by uncooked weight, so you choose what you want, they weigh it and then cook it. Avoid the biggest place, where the fire show is. Its the busiest and has a double frontage, but is significantly more expensive than the others and thats also where the mainland Chinese tour parties go, so not conducive to a quiet dinner! I didnt see any LB action on the island, but the receptionist at the Samed Cabana Resort was one, so we manage to blag extra towels each day LOL. Cheers and have a Merry Christmas. SAG

Hi there Mods. I just noticed that the content counter appears to be stuck, is anyone else experiencing the same problem? I've been stuck on 988, despite making additional posts, so it doesn't appear to be incrementing for some reason. Regards SAG

AirBnB? SAG

Ah ha Mike Then what you plan makes more sense then. I don't think that there will be a problem checking your friend into an Ibis, but just to be on the safe side, I always book a room for 2 guests, which normally doesn't cost any extra. The rooms are pretty small, but if its only for a short stay of a few days, then that shouldn't matter. Cheers SAG

Hi there Mike I've never stayed at that particular Ibis, so cant comment. I have stayed at other Ibis hotels. They're part of the Accor group and so you tend to know what you will get, just like McDonalds etc. The rooms at Ibis tend to be small and from memory, they only offer standard rooms, so there's little/no chance of blagging a free upgrade! I don't think you will go wrong selecting that place, but it does seem to be quite a trek to the fleshpots? I count 6 BTS stations to get to Nana? If it were me, and doing a last minute booking on Agoda etc. I'd choose a hotel closer to the action, somewhere between soi 4 and 20, as that will be less travel and what you save on hotel costs, may be lost on late night taxi fares etc. Just my 2 cents worth. Cheers SAG

So after my 4 nights at Citrus Suites Soi 11 and a 2-nighter at the Adelphi in PAT I returned to BKK and decided to try Citrus Suites on soi 13. Even though the 2 hotels are in the same chain and are within stumbling distance of each other via the cut out between soi 11 and soi 13, they are like chalk and cheese. Citrus 13, is newer and smaller and had far less of the customer types that the soi 11 seemed to solely focus on. The staff were more pleasant and engaged as befits a smaller hotel and did me many favours over the 3 different stays I had there in Sep-19. There is no tuk tuk service but the walk to Sukhumvit is shorter than the walk from Citrus soi 11. LB friends? No problem! Multiple LB friends? No problem! Breakfast was targeted more for farangs and there were no unofficial 'male only' breakfast areas which existed at soi 11. Breakfast at both joints is 0600-10.30, which when you think about it is good for mongers. You can either roll in from xyz at 0600, or maybe get a few hours sleep and join at 10.15. I did have an embarrassing moment when I bumped into BGSC at about 06.15. He had just woken up after an early night and I had just rolled back in after a night out on the tiles. Soi 13 is a quiet soi so taxis are infrequent. So I'd recommend using Grab Taxi. There are plenty of convenience stores, massage joints and a few bars. There is a resident taxi that charges THB 500 to Don Mueang which I used one early morning, rather than risk missing the flight to Chiang Mai. The rooms varied over the 3 stays. The 22m2 room was quite claustrophobic, but the other 2 were fine. The suite was very good and I got it for 'free' as an upgrade for booking direct. Would I repeat again? Most definitely. For a sub-THB 1,500 hotel its great value and a decent location. The staff are very helpful (I left my cases there 2 times) and its modern and clean. Its a LOT better value than the soi 11 location, more convenient and less irritating. There's a great laundry directly across the street in the basement of Sukhumvit Suites Hotel - charging THB 69 per Kg and they never lost a single sock! You should also consider booking directly, as they claim to offer better rates than Agoda and extra privileges e.g. room upgrades, early/late check-in etc. Cheers SAG

Hakuna Matata Bwana I would assume that as they are all part of the same chain, then the rooms will be similar, just the pricing and guest types may vary. I have compared Citrus 11 and 13, but have never stayed at the soi 6 location. Citrus 13 definitely comes out on top, as its in a better condition, nicer customers, more convenient and cheaper. Maybe run some tests on Agoda between Citrus 13 and 6 and see what the differences are? Cheers SAG

Hi there Danum Its well worth shopping around, but I would caution you around the impact of seasonality on BKK hotel prices. February will be high season and so the hotels typically increase their prices, which makes sense. (Make hay while the sun shines and all that). The hotels in BKK typically have 3 seasons - low, shoulder and high season. I was at Citrus in Sep-19, which is considered shoulder season, i.e. between Low and High, so I would expect that the prices will be higher from about November onwards. Cheers SAG

Looks like we missed each other by a week Mike - I left last Sunday. Enjoy the stay in BKK and if you ever need anything, just ask Oui who is at the door during the day, he is very helpful. I think the breakfast crew there has been de-sensitised to LBs appearing early on most mornings, so never worry about that. LOL. Cheers SAG

Hey there Danum I made the 3rd booking directly with them and it was around THB 1,500 for the suite, including breakfast, which is buffet style and OK, as they cook eggs to order etc. There is no kitchen and I used the laundry across the street, which at THB 69 per Kg was a great deal. Lower Sukhumvit is typically THB 100-150 per Kg. Other advantages of booking directly with them is early and late check in/out and they guarantee to beat the Agoda rate. (Agoda charges 10-15% of the room rate). If you want a kitchenette type set up, there's the Citadines, which is a bit further down soi 8 from the Adelphi and they charged around THB 1800-2,000 per night if you book directly with them. That was my usual go to place, but the rooms were being refurbished in Sep-19, so there were no vacancies. I do actually prefer that side of Sukhumvit and Citadines has a free 24/7 tuk tuk service to Sukhumvit. I do agree, with the weakening USD and GBP etc. against the THB, we are all seeing the need for better value, so I'd certainly shop around a bit. Cheers SAG

Thanks for the clarification OTS. Its certainly in much better nick than Citrus soi 11, so that's probably down to the volume of guests then, plus less milling around the corridors and lobby... I have been working out of the Trendy Building on soi 13, on and off since 2010, but for some reason never considered Citrus until this trip. (My usual go to Citadines soi 8 is getting a refurb). One other tip is that there is a cut out to soi 15 via the newish building about 150 metres on the left of the hotel. That cut out also leads to a sub soi , just before the Dream Hotel on soi 15, which can take you to soi 17. There is also a cut out via the Ambassador Hotel which takes you onto soi 11, via air-conditioned passage ways. I used this quite a lot so as to get to au bon pain for a coffee. Cheers SAG

So on my last trip to LOS I had 22 nights and 8 different hotel stays. I stayed here for 3 nights. Backstory - one of the 5 LBs in the Wolf Pack lives out in Isaan and is a 'civilian'. She had implants in BKK a few months ago and so I fly her back to BKK once a month for a few days to have the check ups, do shopping etc. (There are no H&M or Zara stores in southern Isaan). She chose this hotel, as its very close to the MRT station and 5 minutes walk to the clinic. She also wanted to save me money. As I said, a civilian! I decided to join her there for 3 nights, so as to avoid any potential problems with the other Wolf Pack members... How can I describe the CMYK? A Chinese version of Fawlty Towers maybe? If you were in the right frame of mind, you could laugh it all off and it certainly is cheap. But not my cup of tea. The guests and staff all stared at me every day as I was the only farang there over 3 nights. They probably wondered if I was lost? The original room was spartan and had NO windows! It felt like a gaol cell. I managed to get an upgrade for the next 2 nights, and that room was much better, but the shower flooded every time it was used. Breakfast was 99% oriented to the Chinese guests, which is fair enough, as they are 99.997% occupied by Chinese mainland guests. Positives - it was very cheap and clean and walking distance to the MRT. It is also an experience I can look back at and laugh. If you walk down soi 4 to the main road and turn right by 7-11 there is a great dim sum place across the street. If you walk out the hotel and turn right there is a great laundry which did same day service - THB 100 for about 3 Kgs. There was also a very good chicken noodle soup shop near to the laundry - THB 40! These prices just highlight the differences as to what farangs pay around Sukhumvit, just 4 MRT stops away. A really good benefit was the massage joint downstairs inside the hotel. On the first night I went in with the LB and had a great massage from a GG who had great tits. The next night the LB wanted to kip, so I feigned a pulled muscle and headed on back downstairs. Great happy ending massage from the GG. I never got her Line address, damn! By the back entrance to the hotel is Mr Tip, who runs a tour guide service etc. He was really good and I got a ride from him back to Citrus soi 13 for THB 200 in the pouring rain. Good driver and great English. He is an ex-civil servant. Would I stay there again? No chance! I have booked the LB Wolf Pack member into the place across the street which is more expensive, but looks a lot nicer. Would I go back to the massage place to find that GG again, oh yes! I would also repeat the chicken place and the dim sum joint. Cheers SAG

I cant find a dedicated folder for Chiang Mai so have added this hotel report here. So somewhere along the line on my Sep-19 trip to BKK, a plan was hatched to go and visit Chiang Mai (CNX). Poes and Nam from WN Bar plus 5 LBs and myself flew up there for 2 nights and Mrs Poes booked us into the Sripanna. Great choice Nam! A really nice hotel and as its on the outskirts of the city, it feels like a real resort, but is only about 10 minutes into the CBD. It was about THB 2,000 per night inclusive for 2 per room and the rooms were 5 star and very large. In fact the bathrooms alone were larger than a typical BKK hotel room! What was great was that the rooms had adjoining doors to the next room, which was EXCELLENT, but that's another story... I missed both breakfasts, but we did have dinner there one night when Poes was feeling under the weather with the Aztec Two-step. The food for lunch and dinner is buffet style and not bad at all. I often find with LBs, a buffet is the best approach, rather than a la carte! I had calls to take/make on both days so had to miss some of the daytime activities, but the girls enjoyed the spa very much. I think its THB 2,200 for 2 hours. I jokingly told them to book 1 session and take turns of 20 minutes each, but I guess they saw through that one. They have a free shuttle service into town, which is a van, but it ends at 20.00. I don't remember much of either return journey, except that it involved tuk tuks and crowding! The service is as to be expected from a 5 star establishment, so THB 2,000 is a very good deal booked via Agoda. Its a busy conference venue so lunch times were busy with conference attendees, but the restaurant is big and has enough capacity to handle all attendees and guests. There were a few small Chinese tour buses, but they didn't cause any problems at all. Would I stay at the Sripanna again? Most definitely, especially just for the 'sleep walking' activities... SAG

Nana Hotel is on the list Taas, even if its just to tick the box! I love history and that place is wall to wall stories. Cheers SAG

On my last trip to BKK in Sep-19 I was on tour with BGSC who had booked this hotel for about 4 nights. Rather than complicate matters, I did the same. There's pros and cons to Citrus Soi 11 The location is a bit too far if its raining or particularly hot. Its not actually on soi 11 as we know it, its down at the very end, turn left and then right and then left again. Its about 150 metres down the sub soi that runs between soi 11 and soi 3. Traffic at that intersection can be a real bottleneck. They do have a tuk tuk, but its not on call and so only runs on the hour. Saying that, BGSC and I did turn it into a pick up tuk tuk one day when it was raining quite hard. The rooms are what to be expected for a sub THB 2,000 hotel. Breakfast was OK, but I only made it 50% of the time. Their target market is Indian sub-continentals and Arabs. So be ready for lots of milling and hanging around lifts and the reception area. Why do people go to BKK and then spend half their time hanging around hotels is beyond me? Maybe its an alternative to spending money? About 50% of the breakfast buffet was targeted at their market, which makes sense, but is a limitation for farangs who don't fancy a curry for breakfast after a long night out on the ale. The breakfast area is interesting. There is an enclosed space and then a terraced area and another area by the coffee bar. A number of them had made the enclosed area into a Saudi-style males only area and so families sat elsewhere. Obviously I took great delight in sitting in the unofficial males-only area with my LB guest, which was great fun. So in summary. Great value, clean and functional. Would I repeat? No. So after the 4-5 nights and a 2-nighter in PAT I then returned to BKK and checked into Citrus Soi 13. One other tip - I booked via Agoda, but if you book directly with them they offer better rates and also free upgrades etc. So that's worth a test if you want to stay at a Citrus establishment. Cheers SAG

LOL@Taas. Yes! In the old days when my tastes ran more to GG, the PB Hotel was my go to after a pick up from the Bier Garten on soi 7. It's just a 5 minute stroll around the corner to soi 3 Plus you get the fun of watching our middle Eastern chums late night activities on soi 3. I used to stay on soi 11 and so it was an easy walk back to the hotel from the PB also. Saying that, there's lots of ST places around soi 7, but I'm a creature of habit! Cheers SAG

Just to add to Olivers suggestion.... The PB Hotel is down soi 3 on the right hand side and is next to the sub soi that runs all of the way up to soi 11. (Thanks - this is another example of a cut-out soi that can be used to avoid the more crowded Sukhumvit. The upside is that it is very straight. The downside is that there is no pavement, so can be 'dicey' at night if there are cars). Anyway, back to the PB. It is actually 2 businesses. On the left is the low rise 'love motel' with the curtains to hide the car registrations and on the right is the main hotel. I'd recommend the main hotel, as its THB 100-200 more expensive, but in better condition. From memory you get 2 towels and soap and its for 2 hours. They call you when the time is up. It was a clean and efficient place, so not a bad option, if ST places, rather than your own hotel, are your thing. Cheers SAG P.S. The PB alludes to Play Boy!

Look on the bright side xcom, most of us have been in this situation. By the end of your stay you will have converted the 'walk of shame' into the 'stride of pride'! Either that or you will have resorted to ST rooms... Cheers SAG

This reminds me of a recent trip to Pune. The Indian government has implemented an online visa application system which they are unjustifiably proud of. In reality, it looks like some bureaucrat's son's/daughter's/nephew's/niece's 'skule siense projekt'. It took about 5 attempts to register and it asks in a myriad of ways what connections you may have with Pakistan. (Are your parents from Pakistan, are your grandparents from Pakistan, have you ever visited Pakistan, have you ever thought of visiting Pakistan, have you ever eaten in a Pakistani restaurant...). But once you have navigated the low-tech online visa system, then the fun really begins. Once you land, you have to go to one specific queue in immigration, as they only have one bar code reader. Needless to say the queue was for farangs only and the domestic arrivals and those with old school visas all got through the other 7 lanes within 10-15 minutes. (The under-employed 7 immigration officers then proceeded to make tea, sleep, pick their noses etc.). After 3.5 hours standing in the 'high-tech' single queue I was finally processed. (it took about 5 minutes once I was actually at the one machine). Oh yes, I was visiting Pune for an IT project... Cheers SAG

The problem is, for the average Chinese tourist, a line is an alien concept... SAG

I can attest to this, as I have been to LOS sometimes 6 times a year, all on visa waivers and always via an airport. I've never had a problem, but I am always careful of overstaying beyond the 30 days, which are counted from the day you arrive. Also be aware that if you fly into LOS, but then travel somewhere outside of the LOS and re-enter via a land border, then the counter is reduced to just 15 days from the re-entry date. This bit me once after a side trip to Cambodia. Cheers SAG

...thats the story of my life Taas! SAG

I've stopped off at the Artbox a couple of times on the 'Great Trek North' to soi 10 and 20... Its got the same vibe as the night market behind the Esplanade shopping centre by the Thailand Cultural Centre MRT station, but without the teaming crowds of Thais at the weekend. The food there is pretty good and there's a decent selection. I didn't look around any of the non-food stalls, as I was a man on a mission on the 2-3 occasions that I stopped off there, and time was of the essence! SAG

Hi Mikel Its something that my grandfather used to say, so probably pre-dates you! www.khaotic.co.uk gives Fred Karnos story - he is credited as being the one who discovered Charlie Chaplin! You live and learn! SAG

Hey Taas. That's very interesting, so I consulted the urban dictionary: "dog's breakfast," which has been British slang for "a complete mess" since at least the 1930s. While no one took the time to write down the exact origin of the phrase, the allusion involved seems to be to a failed culinary effort, perhaps a burned or botched omelet, fit only for consumption by the mouth of last resort, Fido. As a vivid figure of speech meaning something so fouled up as to be utterly useless, "dog's breakfast" can cover anything from a play plagued by collapsing scenery to a space mission ruined by a mathematical error. "Dog's dinner," which seems to have appeared around the same time, means exactly the same sort of disaster, but has the advantage of being attractively alliterative. Both phrases are heard occasionally in the U.S., but are more common in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries. Dogs Dinner: British expression: 1) a mess; a clusterfuck; synonymous with dog's breakfast 2) dressed up, usually excessively; gussied up. Usually derogatory. 1) The wedding, despite months of preparations, disintegrated into a dog's dinner. 2) The cook asked the skullery maid, "Where are you going, dressed up like a dog'sdinner?" Interestingly my own usage of dogs dinner is around the "dressed up like a dog's dinner" usage. Whereas I would only ever use a dog's breakfast to describe a botch job or a mess. I guess the usage may be different between the motherland and the colonies? Case in point - Brits will say: "its like Fred Carno's Circus", whereas we say "its like Boswell Wilkie's Circus" - the same meaning but different circus names! Cheers SAG