attn: jamesA
 

i guess we are going with the burali on your suggestion and that of some people who have stayed there....

can you tell me how long a drive we can expect from pattaya to the pier (near trat) to koh chang? do you know of a good driver for this trip and how much would it be approximately....?

as always, thanks

bob

by the way....we are going to stay at the jw marriott at phuket....by agreeing to visit the time share there we can have a 4 day, 3 nite package for $99+++, including daily breakfasts and transfers....
for this price i can sit through any sales presentation and have my guard up....
i have arranged this through the rep who has a desk in the lower lobby of the bangkok marriott resort and spa....if anyone is interested i will give you her e-mail....just write to me and ask: [email protected]

that's $99 for the 3 nites not for each nite

Sounds amazing deal at the JWM.
Just a few hours from Pattaya but allow 3, some go the back route others head to the main highway which is really wide and fast(!) plenty of local drivers around, if you want it in comfort then Image Cars are a great outfit at Jomtien/Pattaya, class act but not cheap, about 5,500(!) Local driver will do it for about 2,000!

Check rates for Burali on this site too, also has lots of pics:

http://www.koh-chang.com/Barali_Beach_Resort/index.htm

No remember, it is 'quiet', and the restaurant choice isn't that good, this is going to be much quieter than Samui or even Hua Hin, but anyway it will really take you 'away from it all'. So don't blame me or Travelduo (!!), it is quiet, but very different, you will then get the other side when you reach Phuket. Make sure you have your full 'Time Share' Protection mode operating(!)
Are you going to fly to Phuket from Pattaya (U-Tapao) ? There is a daily via Samui and the non stop is about 3 x per week, both prop ATR 42/72, if via Samui it's 2 hops of about 50 mins each, non stop is 1 hr 30.

So are you overnighting at the Marriott Pattaya?

The place looks lovely. Bob, I'm looking forward to your report. By the way, the website has some of the funniest translations! I especially liked the reference to the availability of "desk beds and mates."

He's gonna love the "Mountain bike straddle venture" and finding out if diving is his "cup of tea", but what sounds most enchanting is "sight seeing around waterside and firefly adhered on the Mangrove tree; Nighttime shiny and flashy sky like Christmas tree", some of such desciptions actually manage to describe things better than stanard English!


I am sure he will have "Tales to tell"

Trust me on this. Bob will not be undertaking any "Mountain Bike Straddle Venture". It may be that the warning on restaurants will be enough to have him change his plans.

James, I also found the "firefly adhered on Mangrove tree" to be fascinating!

By the way, James, have you seen the inside of the villas? I saw the photos, but in-person reviews are always better.

No I haven't, it was Travelduo who recently stayed there, but there isn't a 'huge' choice on Koh Chang, there are a couple of very up-market places but they are expensive, the Barali is around $90 a night which makes it within the price criteria. Bob has already done Hua Hin and Koh Samui so this time it's Koh Chang and Phuket, these places are all quite different, so it's a mix between a queit laid back island and then a busy island. Once you have done 4 or 5 places people tend to settle on their own favorites.

Kathie, the inside is even better than the pics! We we not too sure what it would be like when we got there becs no one on here had ever been there, but it was awesome! I remember reading about the firefly, and whe we got there they talked about them, and the english they used was exactly the same as you posted! We never did see them becs we were there during loy krathong and there was so many other things happening at night that we didnt have time to see them. I was curious if they were different than the kind we have here? James you are so right about it being quiet, i emailed bob and told him that when we got there it was almost weird quiet, its such a huge place, and the beach goes on forever, but sometimes you could be standing on the shore and not see another person! James you are so right about there being a few "lux" places on the island, and te Barali seems to fit right in there plus having a great price. Right next door to the resort is a temple, and while we were there they had a party almost each night, it was almost like a carnival without rides. I saw one of the weirdest things i have ever seen while we were there. There is a big circle wall with 100 holes cut into it at the bottom with numbers above the holes, you tell the guy in the middle of the circle wich number you want to bet on, after all the bets are made, the guy in the middle brings in this bucket with a lid on it, shakes it up, pops the top off, and this HUGE rat looking creature jumps out into the iddle of the circle and starts freaking out. Well if the rat runs into your hole that you bet on, you win! The prizes ranged from a live chicken to a toy machine gun! Anyway, both my wife and i LOVED it there! We have some pics of it on our website. www.ajinterpreters.photosite.com

thanks james....i will blame you if anything goes wrong...travelduo had ants, so we should have kangaroos....

are there any regular sit down restaurants in the area?? or just road side places?? we will not do road side i do not think (the nurse does not allow it)....travelduo had a neat experience when a lady cooked a custom meal for them, which sounds like fun....

we are mortoring to pattaya from bkk, either private car or bus (is this a bad experience waiting to happen??), staying two nites at the marriott (where i hope you will join us for a drink or meal???) and then motoring on to trat (KC)....we will fly back to bkk from trat....have an overnite in bkk to change clothes and pick-up ones from the laundry and then fly on to phuket the next day....i will however look at the pattaya-samui-phuket flight and see if that makes sense...

gpanda....i have procurred the bikes and diving gear so i can have my picture taken...i also am doing the round the island marathon the day after i get there...

kathie--of course i will report...no towers here however... and no sj international either... we have been laboring over the hotels quite a bit...james gave us two and we found a couple of others, but not sure so we will use james' choice as he has done so well by us and others....if i don't like it i will leave....

great pictures travelduo

Restaurants I have seen mentioned include: Tantawan, Baan Nua and Baan Thai, all at White Sand Beach.

The Panviman Resort is about $120 a night, but they have a restaurant there, Four Angels, so I guess that would be another restaurant choice, should be enough so you don't get hungry!

I checked the Aiyapura Resort on our usual site and although one review was ok others said it was a 3 star promoted as a 5 star, so doesn't look that good. So hopefully the Barali will be a good choice.

james the hua hin site for hotels is about the same price as kc site...i am having trouble getting the kc site to function to take reservations...i think it is my computer as i also have trouble with the air asia site..

I think there's a couple of bucks difference, personal I would stick with 'who you know' to be safe and reliable, if you've had a good service I wouldn't go off to a local kc site for a few dollars.

i agree and the hua hin site has come through for me many times, thanks to your original suggestion...

i have made note of those restaurants and while we will take most of our meals at the resort we will want some variety, but without wheels it makes it more difficult...and at nite i don't like to walk out into unfamiliar countryside...the adajacent resorts will also be a source of potential meals...plus you do do meals on wheels and deliver don't you??