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It's different in that they are not at the same time. I think Laos' is in October.

I enjoyed a place called Fan Club on my trip last year. It is on a small sub-soi off of Convent Rd near the Silom end. It's on the same little street as the Indigo restaurant. Nice, more upscale place. Good shower in the room. Big bed. Very clean. My masseur did a rather short massage before the "extras" began. He was a nice, sweet guy. But if you want more real massage first you probably want to ask. Adonis always has a big selection. They are at the Sathorn end of Convent. I had a decent massage there from a skinny little guy once I got him to stop using so much hard pressure on my legs. I was in agony briefly. Unfortunately dirty, moldy shower was off-putting.

I am staying at the Settha Palace Hotel in Vientiane. It looks pretty nice and has mostly good reviews at http://www.tripadvisor.com. It's an old French colonial building. It is fairly small by the number of rooms. I will know more in a couple of weeks after I have been there. I read recently that there are lots of new buildings and hotels going up there.

Lao Airlines also flies from BKK to Luang Prabang and Vientiane. But I don't know if they are any cheaper. I think they are basically charging the same as Bangkok Airways.

I am a little bummed that I will miss it this year. I will be in Laos at the time and oddly their Loy Krathong isn't the same as Thailand's for some reason.

I will be in LP in a couple of weeks for the first time. I will be staying at the 3 Nagas. tripadvisor.com is a good source for hotel reviews.

I think my mother and perhaps some of my co-workers would say that I am since I will be returning there for the 3rd time in 3 years next month. Of course I don't tell them about ALL of the things I do there! I'm not sure addicted is the word I would use. I definitely enjoy myself there for the most part and I enjoy going there. And I start planning the next trip as soon as the current one is over. But I don't only go to Thailand. Last year I added Cambodia, this year I will be adding Laos and also going back to Cambodia. So maybe I am addicted to SE Asia. I think I would rather say that I have a great fondness for SE Asia, the people, and the culture. I suspect that with the world economy going the direction it is that it will become very difficult to travel internationally before very long. I will be sad if I can't go back to Asia, but it's not like it will kill me. My trips tend to be pretty short so there isn't really time for me to "fall in love" with any particular boy or boys. And I am just cynical and wary enough so I think that will probably never happen, especially with anyone I might meet in a gogo bar. I also hated and was disgusted by Pattaya on my first visit. But I did go back last year to give it another try and found myself liking it better...at least well-enough that I will be returning again this year for a few days. I don't believe I would ever be able to spend more than a few days there at a time. I am more of a big city type of person.

They ended up having a hard time selling the A345's so I guess instead of having the planes sit idle they must have decided to just go ahead and start flying them again.

my trip for this year was pretty much all paid for months and months ago. I will just have to pay for food and "incidentals" on the ground. Personally I have a very good job and plenty of money in the bank. I figure it makes more sense to enjoy myself now while I am still young and vital. :-) And since no one may be able to go anywhere before long I plan to pack in the fun now. Once the world goes bankrupt traveling most likely won't be as much fun. I am thinking of Bhutan next year maybe. And spend a little time in BKK before and after since Druk Air flies from there to Bhutan and it is the only option. But we'll see...

A problem for the dollar is that all of this bailout money has to come from somewhere. And that "somewhere" is largely thin air. So, putting that much more money in circulation drives down the value of all the rest of it. This latest scheme to have the taxpayers buy all of this worthless debt is probably just prolonging the inevitable. I think the long-term prospects for the dollar are not so good. But then again the whole world economy is going to be slowing down so maybe it is all just relative. I plan to enjoy this year's vacation to SE Asia as much as I can because it could very well be the last one for a while.

yeah, my investment account is really getting killed. Hopefully by time I am ready to retire everything will have rebounded. But as noted above the whole thing is one big house of cards. The worst is yet to come.

the dog in the basket is a fantastic photo! great depth of field. And that fluffy little doggy is just too adorable.

my guess would be that the rate isn't going to change by all that much so trying to time it is probably pointless. The rate has been hovering between 34 and 35 for a while now. Even if it went to something like 36 that is only a very small percentage.

I believe the Reuters report noted that the food in question was coconut soup with salmon. You're right though that it is an incredible story. Could it be a bizarre way for everyone to sort of save face? I don't understand why the whole cabinet would be forced to resign. They weren't cooking with him...

I would imagine the original is likely a better film. I don't get why studios remake these Asian films with white guys in the lead.

I agree that this sounds very dangerous. If it were legit you would be able to get a straight answer to questions about exactly where she would be working. The Bt30000 for the plane ticket cost will likely then also turn into tens of thousands of a baht a month for housing and other expenses. So she will end up in indentured servitude if not outright slavery. You read all the time about people from poor countries who end up in human trafficking situations.

what do they hope to gain by marching on the Brits??? these people are idiots. The wheels of justice turn slowly, it's only been a week. I am sure the British government isn't going to be pushed around but a bunch of people marching in the street of BKK.

I see that the latest speculation is that they are headed to England and that their children have already gone there. I read that there was a teary goodbye at the airport before they left for china with many large suitcases. It will be interesting to see if the Thais request their extradition if they are convicted in the new case that goes to trial tomorrow. Apparently the court will proceed to try them in absentia since their testimony is not a requirement. I would guess that fleeing doesn't look too good to the court either. What happens to his Man City ownership if that is the case? Will the EPL throw him out?

who would give them exile status though? aren't they really fugitives from justice? Does China have an extradition treaty with Thailand? Pojman has already been convicted of one of her crimes. I can't believe they let her leave the country in the first place. Altho perhaps the opposition would prefer that Thaksin live in exile outside the country so he can't stir things up inside. Maybe some sort of deal was struck behind the scenes.

in the end will they really "clean" anything up? Or will they just push the issues to another neighborhood/area? If they really are sending all of these addicts to treatment that would be great. But even the best treatment methods/facilities aren't always especially effective. I can't imagine that there is funding for real intensive treatment. So these kids will just end up doing the same thing somewhere else. Same thing with the underage issue. It might go a bit more underground but it won't go away forever. Too much money to be made.

"Deckchair operators said that they have increasingly observed these saucy goings on and have also found large numbers of used condoms scattered around the area." Now if this was gay sex would they call it "saucy goings on" or would they call it immoral sinning?

not sure exactly how this checkpoint would be implemented. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it that case that the bars are not the only thing there. Aren't there also residential buildings all around there where families live? Would you issue some sort of special "pass" to the people who live there?

I visited this museum in November shortly after it opened. It is pretty dreadful as museums go. Very little interpretation of artifacts. Quite expensive for what it is. And for such a huge building the collection is fairly tiny. Siem Reap could use a good museum with a good collection that explains Khmer civilization. I was lucky enough to have my own guide and to have done some research in advance, but not everyone has that. Unfortunately the National Museum in PP is not so great either. Lots of Buddha images but again very little explanation or interpretation. And lots of women trying to sell you incense and other items for all of the Buddhas.

Are you sure he passed thru immigration? if he was flying in and out of the same terminal there would be no need for him to do so on his own. Typically the immigration jails are in the no man's land area. The people they lock up there have not legally entered the country. I suspect they put him in a cell at the airport immigration jail, then a few days later bundled him onto US gov't airplane to fly to Jordan. So he would not have entered the country.

This thread was started with the story of his lawsuit being dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. He was sent by the US to Jordan because the CIA intended for him to end up in Syria to be tortured on the behalf of the US gov't. Any other day of course we would be all up in arms about how the Syrians are state sponsors of terrorism. But I suppose when they are supporting the terrorism of the USA it is OK to do it. The technicality in this case I suppose is that altho he was in the airport he was always "airside" and never officially entered the country through our immigration department. I think some one made a movie about this sort of situation recently. Airports are a sort of limbo legally with respect to these sorts of issues. I'm not sure why the Canadian government paid him damages rather than the criminals who run this country. The USA used the be a beacon of freedom. Now we are a global disgrace.