After being away from the land of smiles for a number of years- we are headed back in January 2008. We leave Houston on Jan 16 and will return on Jan.29. We are flying United as I used miles to purchase one ticket. We arrive late- 11 pm so we are staying at the new Novotel hotel connected to the new airport. Then its off to Pattaya the next morning. ( we choose Pattaya as we are not beach people, its a short drive from BKK,and they have some interesting things to see and do there) We are planning on staying at the Royal Cliff Grand Hotel and Spa. We will choose the Grand Club Sea View Room. We will be in Pattaya for 4 days. We plan to relax,do some shopping and see the shows- Tiffinay's, Alcazar, Alangkarn. I have been on the websites for these shows but have been unable to communicate with them. I would appreciate some help here. It seems their emails are not working or their on line reservations. After Pattaya we are headed to BKK and will stay at the Penn (where else!). Its a bit early to get any deals so we will be watching for those. Will do shopping, eating, relaxing, massage, etc. Will ask for some other ideas on things to do as we did all the must see sites on our first trip.

So here's my question -- if you're not beach people why are you going to pattaya? There are so many better places for shopping and relaxing. Pattaya was pretty tacky 10 years ago and I can't believe it has improved except possibly in terms of accomodations.

Sounds like a nice trip. I'll be going there around that time as well. What airlines are you gonna fly, and when do you think the best time to get tickets are?

I have to agree with glorialf. Pattaya which is a beach place is a bit of a dump. If you don't want to stay in Bangkok, why not Chiang Mai which also has the benefit of being cooler?

Note. Pattaya is about 80 miles from Bangkok.

Alangkarn and the others can be very full on Saturdays but otherwise you should be ok booking when you are there. There have very large tour groups from Taiwan, Korea etc but for a couple of sseats you should have no problems as they are all very large, in particular Alangkarn is massive. Grand Club Sea View should be fine, you can get up to the Sheraton too to look around, Bob can tell you about that. If the rate for the Royal Cliff is reasonable you could always head straight there by limo instead of overnight at the Novotel. Nong Nuk /Nook Park is also worth the trip and lots of tours along the coast south. Underwaterworld is good if you are into that sort of attraction.

Bill-you should try out both Ladyboy shows. You liked the Asia Hotel one so much, you should check out the other one. Have a great time.

BTW, I also do not understand the Pattaya portion of your trip.

I've not been to Pattaya, so cannot comment on that particular location. But I can understand the attraction of going to a beach area, even though not a beach person. I don't swim (sink like a rock, always have, even after tons of lessons) but I enjoy being in a beach area. I love Phuket and Samui. The atmosphere is different from BKK and CM. I can sort of relate to what you are doing, Bill. Go to Pattayay and enjoy it!

Carol

Pattaya only has small beaches. There are much better beach areas in Thailand.

Yes I understand the negative aspects of Pattaya- here is my reasoning. I wanted a beach resort location to relax- again its the view and not lying on the beach or swimming in the sea. Also we will likely just relax at the resort and take in a few shows and do some shopping. I did not want to have to fly to another location- Pattaya is a few hours drive so that made it easy to choose. After seeing the resort on its website and viewing the room and floor plan- the wife said she could live there! Case closed- its Pattaya- when I get the hotel right all else is secondary! Needless to say it was a no brainer on the Penn. The wife also likes the boat ride across the river to the skytrain- its relaxing. I thought long and hard about where to go on this next trip- there were places like China, Vietnam, a return to the Philippines, etc. In the end we both thought returning to Thailand was best.
I wanted to inject something different this time around and Pattaya was an easy option. Hotels, shopping, food- thats the formula that works for us.

Bill-- I remember your talking about what you and your wife like and I just don't think you'll find it in Pattaya. You might do better at hua Hua. But you're not the typical tourist to pattaya and I don't think you're who they cater to.

Bill-- check out trip advisor for the most recent review of the hotel from someone who stayed there after staying at the Pen in bangkok.

Gloria- yes I have read that review as well as numerous others and on balance I think it gets more good reviews than bad. This person undoubtedly had a bad experience- but so many others- including frequent guests gave it a good review- so I'm inclined to think it will be ok. Now its not going to be the Penn- so our expectations are not on that level. A number of the complaints thatI have read about the resort seem to center on the other lower end hotel of this resort. Also the other beach resorts of Thailand really are too sleepy for our interests-its just not our cup of tea.
Kevin- we are flying United- as to your question there is no magic bullet when it comes to airfares. A lot depends if you go high or low season and then its a matter of perseverence. Scan the half dozen or so airfare sites including the airline sites every week. Airfare sales crop up at unpredictable times. My airfare was not cheap for the ticket that I bought but that is because 1) I was also lining up a frequent flyer free ticket so that complicated things, and 2) we are going at high season for Thailand.
If you can go low season, depart and return mid week, and be flexible you will probably do ok.

Now as to why we are booking into the Novotel upon arrival- here are the reasons for that:
1) It will be after midnight before we land, clear customs, get bags etc- we are likely to be very tired from the long trip- we did not want another journey - we wanted to get to a shower and bed as soon as possible,
2) The Novotel will be cheaper than the Cliff so we save some $$$ there after all its very late either way and we would just be going to sleep anyway,
3) Should there be a problem with the room at the Royal Grand- and yes Gloria there could be some issues- we have a much better shot at getting another room if we are there at 2 pm then if we encountered thoses issues at 2 am as well as finding appropriate management to resolve issues.

any reports of brown tap water??

Now Bob lets give that one a rest.
Bob did you know that there is a website:
www.bangkokbob.net
He has some interesting info on it.