Thanks

Isn't Hanrahans now Fitzgeralds???

I also like going to Bully's pub once in a while. Particularly after a walk in the heat it's a great place for a cold beer in an air conditioned room. Apart from the usual pub grub, they also serve some quite good local Thai dishes, such as Panang curry with beef for 165B. Khao suay (pretty white rice) +35B. Excellent WiFi signal and some old fashioned paper newspapers are available for free. Of course they have also several large tellies where you can watch soccer. http://www.bullys-bangkok.com/about_us.php

Have you looked at the Emerald hotel already? Should be +/- 50 USD. In walking distance from the HK MRT station. Don't know if they have rooms with balcony though...

I'm not sure what the reason for the price difference in my particular case was. I suspect however, that the hotel's revenue management system predicted 100% occupancy for my specific travel dates and automatically increased rates to optimize RevPAR. The hotel indeed seemed to be full when I arrived by the way... I also suspect that rates were either not automatically correspondingly increased on the zenhotels.com site or that they sell unused contingents or quota from travel agents and other consolidators that get lower than BAR (or even agency rates) than the two big online travel site groups Expedia on the one hand (with their brands hotels.com, Orbitz, Travelocity, trivago...) and the (former) Priceline group (with their Agoda, booking.com, kayak, momondo... brands). Also sometimes hotels simply want you to book through the big online travel sites (OTS). The more bookings an OTS is getting for a specific hotel, the more likely it is that the hotel will appear further up on their search results list. And the higher up on the list a hotel appears, the more people will book the hotel... It is located very close to the (former) Majestic Grande hotel, around the corner from where Annie's BJ bar used to be, near the cut-through to the Hillary bars on Soi 4. Getting from the Icon to the Marriott or the Ploenchit center on Sukhumvit will take about 5 minutes on foot. But the hotel also has a free on-request shuttle service to Sukhumvit. They stop by the Ploenchit center. Ploenchit BTS station is about 500 meters from the hotel. http://www.hoteliconbangkok.com/m/location.php Yes Taas. Also two bottles of water are free of charge every day. The Icon is also only 10 minutes away from Chaos 9 ladyboy lounge (their sign says Chaos 9 food & drink...):

I've recently stayed for two nights at the Icon on Sukhumvit Soi 2. As usual I first checked the hotel's own website for promotions and deals and then compared it to some hotel reservation sites such as Agoda and Expedia. To my surprise, the best deal I could find wasn't available on the hotel's own site but on zenhotels.com. Price for a "superior" (standard) room w/o breakfast was 2100B including taxes. Officially a **** hotel, it looked more like a very good *** hotel. Anyway... doesn't really matter... The hotel has opened I think in 2014 and still looks and feels rather new. There's some minor wear and tear here and there but overall it's okay. A little bit of mold in the shower cubicle but really nothing dramatic. Reception / check-in was friendly and quick. I didn't get the desired upper floor room but instead a quiet second floor room away from the street. One of the front desk ladies is a ladyboy! There are two elevators (lifts). No key cards necessary! There's a 24 h security guard so when bringing back a girl he'll ask you to register her. Definitely no joiner fee for the first girl. I think they said they charged for the second girl - but am not sure. BM Madchild mentioned 800B for the second guest in a previous post. The room was bright and looked very nice to me. The hotel's favorite colors seem to be pink and white. I liked the large window front and the natural light that came into the room. Didn't watch TV so don't know what and how many channels they have. My room had a queen size bed that was very comfortable. A bit hard perhaps but not too much so. 2 soft and 2 firm(er) pillows. Room was very clean. Housekeeping lady was very helpful but didn't speak much English. I needed an ironing board and it was quickly delivered. A 10% service charge is automatically included in all bills. The pool area on the 6th floor was too small for all the people there. A big big minus for me... At least the pool bar had some cold beer available... I didn't eat there so cannot comment on the restaurant on the ground floor. I just know that brekkie can be had from 6:30 - 10 am. WiFi very good. A/C excellent. Location was the big plus: it's just 5 or 6 minutes on foot to NEP!! When leaving the hotel, I asked for a metered taxi. The taxis that are waiting on Soi 2 however are all fixed priced taxis. So they took me and my suitcase on a golf buggy cart up to Sukhumvit. One of the hotel staff even successfully hauled me a metered taxi! That's service! For the price (2100B incl. taxes) the hotel was okay.

Is it just me who has experienced technical issues with this site since Saturday or has anyone else also been affected? I've seen SQL errors and unwanted double and triple postings. Also I apparently don't see anymore when a thread has been updated... ??? Thanks :-)

Has anyone of you guys tried the WorldSIM card? What's your take? www.worldsim.com

Thanks for pointing this out, @Boomerang ! TBH I don't know how much time b100 or even b300 will buy me. B300 unlimited for 8 days indeed sounds like an excellent deal. As I'll have 2 phones with me, I will then buy a new sim for one phone and keep the old one for the other phone, just in case... BTW: klook offers the same card for only b195: https://www.klook.com/activity/9494-thailand-sim-card-bangkok/ Thanks :-)

Yeah, certainly true. At least TG has now gotten permission to use Chinese airspace to get to LHR. Seems to be even a bit quicker than via Paki airspace...

@dav662: Well, some airlines managed to fly to Europe on a different route on short notice. Other airlines (TG) didn't...

Thanks flipflops! I've never uploaded any monies while in Thailand and only used the sim card during the free 8 days period. I suspect the account balance was zero. I was now able to refill the account! BTW: The specific dtac site I used was: https://www.dtac.co.th/en/serv/quickrefill/index.html Thanks :-)

Early February 2019 I bought a dtac happy tourist sim card with 8 days unlimited internet access. I was happy with the happy card and would like to use the same sim card again in a few weeks. Is it possible to reactivate the card outside of Thailand already and extend its validity and perhaps to top up / refill online - again outside of Thailand? I want to avoid long queues at the airport. Also liked the easy to remember number.

Me too...

@taaseesanuk I'm also not fixated on one specific hotel in Bangkok. Actually I like moving around a bit: 3 days staying in the Nana south area, 3 days in the Soi 20/22/24 area (QPP & naughty massages near Phrom Phong), 3 days staying somewhere else... Staying in different areas of Bangkok during one trip gives you a different perspective each time. If you're staying near Asok instead of Nana for example, you're more likely to take the MRT to Pong. Staying in Soi 11 or 13 gives you an excuse to venture around that area and perhaps visit the Arab quarter... It's like 3 or 4 holidays in one. And the taxi rides from hotel to hotel within Bangkok are quick and inexpensive by day as they use the meter... And in case your hotel is below expectations, you can still look forward to your next one... only thing that is a small annoyance is that you have to pack your suitcase more than once... but I often live just out of my suitcase anyway...so no big deal...

@mespicy@mardhi A nice spot but seems they don't serve women at The Mexican restaurant: Image: billboard seen in front of the Mexican restaurant located in the alley between the Majestic Grande hotel (soon to be the DoubleTree Ploenchit) and Nana Soi 4, an almost women free zone... Isn't it a tiny little bit discrimatory if they only serve men but not women? What would feminists say if they heard that they don't serve women in there? And if you actually brought your own woman there, would she have to get the food and beverage from the kitchen herself as they don't serve women or how does it work in there? ;-) What comes next: We don't serve the full enchilada here, you have to bring your own mole ! Sorry... just kidding of course... zzzzzzzzzz... Thanks ;-)

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Deleted (double post). Sorry.

Paradiso Hotel 2 weeks ago. The building next door is obviously now being completely refurbished (the one with the green building protection or whatever that is):

@SAGuy Thai food, pizza, pasta, seafood, prawns B450, karaoke, open 9:30 - 5 am. ROOM available! Billboard front of Cozy at Ten

@mangatanga Cool, thanks! B 2800 around Chinese New Year was not bad at all... Your executive suite looks good! Last year I'd stayed in a premier suite, a bit smaller (45 sq. m) than your exec room. I had issues with the shower and some noise from the street. Good for you if your room was better built and better situated than mine... Yes, the private browsing mode on your phone was probably the main reason for the rate difference... I've used "member" as promo code for the Citrus / Compass hotels too in the past but last year was also successful once with a corporate or special code (I think it was CPC or CLC or something like that - don't know if they still work or only during certain low season periods) and I got - I think - a >20% discount rate... :-)

"As far as reservations are concerned, I’d recommend using their mobile site. It was cheaper compared to using a desktop browser. Interesting to see that difference. I saved 5000 baht for my 7 day stay. I booked 5 days prior to my stay." This is interesting! Did you delete cookies, browser history & cache before your booking attempt(s)? May we know how much you paid on a daily basis, on average, including taxes? The Citrus Suites 6 seen from the Styles hotel across the street.

"Cozy at Ten" advertises itself now as an "Entertainment Complex" and promises massage and karaoke in Korean writing (Korea Town is nearby). Also says "room available." But I don't know if they still operate as a "normal" hotel or not.

Thanks again, oliver17 ! You were absolutely right: I took chances and it worked out well! Blue skies, not more smog than usual, temperatures in the okay range, no rain, some busy bars but not extreme though... Only drawback when traveling to Bangkok around Chinese New Year: higher than usual hotel prices... :-( Thanks :-)

That is true, Boomerang! No April fool's day joke! What's also true however is that the Chinese-Thai pharmacy next to Bully's will be closing shortly (the large one, not the smaller one next door afaik). Went there and they must have cleared now 90% of their stock already. Shelves look pretty empty. Shutters down, just a small door entrance. In front, a woman with a small stall selling balloons for children. The Viagra / kamagra stands around Soi 3 are mostly back but the ones openly selling sex toys not (yet). The recently refurbished side walk on this stretch of the Sukhumvit looks nice.

Passed by Soi 3 a few minutes ago and though the stalls with the sex toys and lingerie are indeed gone - or at least I didn't see any - there are small (smaller than before) street stalls selling kamagra and stuff. The guys selling them stand at quite a distance away however, apparently so that they can bugger off when the BIB reappear...