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billyhouston

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    Bangkok Hotel close to all the action

    in Gay Thailand

    Posted

    6 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

    It's a very old hotel, has been there for over 40 years maybe. I once toyed the possibility but was told that no joiners allowed.

    Speaking of which, I'd like to ask others who have stayed in some other hotels. Which of these forbid or tax joiners? 

    Le Siam,

    Some of the staff at Le Siam have been there for many years and I always consider this to be a good sign. I'm a regular there and the sad thing is that it has not yet fully recovered from the covid era, in so far as the restaurant is not really open and serves only a set breakfast for a few customers. Talking to staff, they were unhappy that during covid it was used as a short time hotel and the rooms mistreated. I am aware of probably a dozen porn movies that were filmed there during 2020-21 since the rooms are very recognisable. I don't think they ban joiners but after booking a room for two people, that would be very unlikely. The location is unbeatable being close to Dala Daeng BTS and so forth.

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    Trip report October and November

    in Gay Thailand

    Posted

    21 hours ago, gerefan said:

     

    It’s a shame Eva Air are consistently late on their London - Bangkok service. Rarely on time.
    See here for their performance. Only 10% on time!! 
     

     

     

     

    Putting my views into context, ten years ago, after a bad experience with cabin crew in Royal Laurel (mileage upgrade), I stopped flying with EVA having flown with them 23 times LHR-BKK-LHR. With both Air France and Cathay Pacific wanting ridiculous fares for this August I swallowed my pride and flew with them again.

    Looking at the stats for the last 90 days or so, it does seem that this is a somewhat simplistic analysis by flightstats.com Many of the flights, if not most, were delayed at that awful place Heathrow. To what extent that was the fault of EVA we don't know but I suspect that Heathrow had a lot to do with it. The other interesting feature is a comparison between the scheduled time and the actual average flight time. It's very easy to pad the scheduled time and many airlines do so in a dishonest fashion. British Airways, on internal flights, comes to mind. All EVA had to do  was to add 30 minutes to the scheduled time and the problem goes away. They are being more honest than many airlines.

     

    New "yellow bank" ripoff?? Beware!

    in Gay Thailand

    Posted

    Since I have debit and credit cards with several Thai banks this situation does not arise but, in the dim distant past, when 'dynamic conversion' was applied to a foreign card, without my consent, I made the shop reverse the transaction. They had to nullify the original and put through a new transaction without the 'dynamic conversion'. Caveat Emptor.

    The end of Jomtien Complex?

    in Gay Thailand

    Posted

    The Premium Economy fares that I have paid MAN-BKK-MAN over the past few years (excluding 2020 due to covid) are:

    2017        £1217   Cathay Pacific      via Hong Kong  (actually to CNX)

    2018        £1158   Cathay Pacific     via Hong Kong  (actually to CNX)

    2019        £970     Air France           via Paris

    2021        £990     Air France          via Paris

    2022       £1390   Air France           via Paris

    for the same dates this year, the current prices are:

                   £3883   Air France

                   £5200   Cathay Pacific

    as a result, I'm using EVA at £1960. Even this is double the pre-covid fare, but I don't think that Economy fares have increased as much. I stay for more than 7 months and only make the trip once a year, so it's an annoyance but not a deal breaker.

    AirFrance.jpg

    Driving in Thailand

    in Gay Thailand

    Posted

    Having been driving in Thailand for 20 years or so, and I'm no spring chicken, it's always a relief to pull in to the Moo Baan with both the car and its driver in one piece. Driving here in Chiang Mai is more of a nightmare than in Bangkok, where there are fewer bikes and probably a higher proportion of drivers with licences. If we fly down to one of the islands it means picking up a car at the airport, but this is more difficult since Covid as my preferred, and only, rental company has greatly reduced its fleet and its locations. Having my own car I seldom need to rent these days but in the past in CM, Phuket, Krabi and Surat Thani (I refuse to pay the Bangkok Airways premium for the privilege of flying to Samui) I have had exemplary service from 'ThaiRent acar' and no problems.

    TM30 Regulations

    in Gay Thailand

    Posted

    Late last year I attended a meeting in Bangkok which required me to fly down and spend a night in my usual hotel there. Inevitably the hotel submitted a TM30, which caused problems when I tried to do my 90-day reporting online. Subsequently I had a discussion wth the local immigration people, who took a more relaxed (and more reasonable) view of how these regulations should be enforced. They pretty much laughed at the 24-hour requirement. I was given practical advice as to how to stay clear of problems in future which was greatly appreciated,

    A few days ago, in Bangkok for a minor celebration, I stayed again at my usual hotel and noticed that the registration form had significant changes. My personal details were preprinted, as usual, but there was a new section which required me to state from where I was arriving and to where I was going upon leaving. Obviously, in my case, this was my home address. I wonder if this change in requirements has been noticed by others and whether it's a further 'tightening' of the TM30 requirements?

    Cheap(er) Europe flights/ routes to LOS?

    in Gay Thailand

    Posted

    14 hours ago, Milk78 said:

    I have seen some well priced business class flights from Paris to BKK flying with Air France. Has anyone done this route? Is business in Air France any good? 

     

    I fly this route and the problem is the aircraft they use, some of which have a very poor business class product. My return flight has just been changed from an A350 to a 777-200ER and now to a 777-300ER with the 'Caribbean' layout (as far as I can work out). On that aircraft business is 2 - 3 - 2. Check  seatguru.com

    My Swampy experience

    in Gay Thailand

    Posted

    16 hours ago, gayinpattaya said:

    I remember UBER in BKK being the best one. 

    ... and when Uber withdrew from Thailand, Grab bought them out. What followed was always going to happen.......  Bolt is now generally cheaper, I understand.

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