Downandup

23 minutes ago, Flashus said:

how come BA is still up,

A lookup shows that the two sites are hosted on different ip addresses, so there's no connection between the two.

Something started going wrong about 12 hours ago, I did a search and it was sitting there and not responding.

I'll be arriving December 19th and heading to Pattaya on the 26th.  I'm hoping a lot of the places will be open even if the gogo's are not.  As long as I can go to a massage or restaurant, I'll be happy as I'm not one for clubs and discos.  Pattaya will be dead but I'll have plenty of contacts from Thai Friendly.

If you have kept an eye on the covid news in Thailand over the past two years then you will have a feeling of deja vu.  We have heard this before where ministers, the tourist authority and scientists have made announcements and then little or nothing happens.  This time it's the prime minister making the statements so that is very promising but even then it's best to wait out until it is settled.  Nothing is final until it appears in the Royal Gazette.  That may only be a few days before November 1 and then December 1 at which time the change might not be all that you hoped for.

1 hour ago, Natty Bummpo said:

Oh well, water under the bridge and all that, but let us know the name of the hotel.

It was the On8, near to Nana BTS.  And something else to consider that some may not like is that the rooms have no windows.

On 10/11/2020 at 2:50 PM, Natty Bummpo said:

I am not aware of any 100% non-smoking hotels in BKK

You're wrong there, to my regret I booked a hotel where I thought smoking was allowed only to find out on arrival that it was not.  If I had not paid in advance and was only staying a few days then I would have left.  I sent a message before booking that I wanted a smoking room and they said to ask on check in only to discover then that it was fully non-smoking.

It will have to be July for me now, I started a new contract last month and won't be able to take much time off before then but when it happens then I will have a long trip of about 4 weeks.  Of course that depends on what happens with covid and how countries react.  By then there should be a vaccine although it's still not guaranteed.

There have been a few outages in the past few weeks.

Not so, it turns out that the flights are restricted to Thai's, diplomats and certain key workers.  They will have to go into quarantine after arriving and will be obliged to have medical insurance of $100,000.  Tourists are still not allowed.

So far, reports by the newspapers and even cabinet members have not been entirely correct, it is important to read the final government decrees to be certain what is allowed and banned.

It's been said that the emergency will end July 1st but that signifies the end of the lockdowns as the government can still impose other restrictions without that such as blocking tourists from different countries.  What's more all the current cases of Covid19 are imported which will make the government all the more reluctant to open their borders especially to countries with high numbers of cases and deaths.

It's been reported that the lockdown will end July 1 but it's not guaranteed: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1925768/complete-end-to-lockdown-on-july-1

Best to wait longer before booking, after all there's not telling what restrictions (health insurance, visa) may still be in place.  I for one don't want to go into quarantine when I return.  Finding available flights will also be a problem, expensive and limited.

No, the only people allowed to fly in are repatriated Thai's and a few small exceptions.  From what they say, there won't be any international tourism until the fourth quarter although I expect that to be changed.

Last trip I stayed at the ON8, ok but fucked me over on the smoking as I booked with Agoda they told me to ask at on arrival when they could have told me that the hotel was non-smoking.  Prices are about the same as Majestic or Dynasty so I won't go back.

It might be luck of the draw.

One thing to avoid is the duty free scam.  When you pay for the items that you bought, the cashier throws in a little extra that you think is a freebie.  Then you are stopped by a cop for shoplifting and taken to a facility, there you meet a guy who can make it "go away" if you pay the fines.

5 hours ago, Tom Tit said:

Bet it’s expensive though?

Somewhat but it is a craft beer bar.

I finally got to Craft in November, it had a really good selection including Stouts and Porters which you rarely see in Thailand and happen to be my favourite.  I lingered there for 4 pints before going over to Soi Cowboy.

there is a SuperRich booth at Nana BTS - the orange one (https://www.superrich1965.com/home.php) and not the green (https://www.superrichthailand.com/#!/en).  The site confirms the Nana location.  You might have been using the green one.  Although right now I may just use the airport and if I need more then Vasu later.

Maps shows me a Super-rich at Nana Station, I may use that or at the airport as my plan is to exchange only £500 at a time rather than change the lot in one go so it won't make a big difference.

Thanks all, I did not know that there were other exchanges in Bangkok that were open on Sundays.

It's as well that I checked a week early, I've found out that the currency exchanges in Bangkok are closed on Sundays. 

Fortunately I'll have about 5,000 Baht from my last trip a few years back but I still may exchange some money at the airport (downstairs near the airport link).

On 9/13/2019 at 7:50 AM, Wilson5206 said:

Posting the Line QR code for November, so far already got 8 people in it.  Please join and make a note of your travel dates if you would like.  It’s shared with people heading to Pattaya and back!

This is the Pattaya Addicts line group, I signed up some time back but did not know it was for Bangkok too.  I don't think I've seen anything related to Bangkok there.

Thanks again everyone  :) I've got every location bookmarked.  Now if only those airfares were not so high....

Thanks.

I did Pattaya last year at the end of March so this time around I thought I'd mostly do Bangkok along Sukumvit Rd and finish with a few days in Pattaya to ensure that I miss out on very little.

And as long as there are girls around I'll be fine.

I've not booked anything yet but my current plans are to arrive in Bangkok April 14^th and get a hotel near to Nana which should be a fun Songkran if there are water fights between different bars.

  Now as this is the Thai new Year should I expect that there will be fewer girls around?  

That's good news, thanks for your help.

I'm not expecting much as I've found very little good beer in Pattaya but does anyone know of bars near Nana or Cowboy where they sell good conditioned cask ale?