SunSeeker

The Dynasty Grande Hotel on Soi 6 has some rooms with a balcony. They list them as "pool view" rooms if you want to book them. Quite nice rooms. Good location too.

A taxi from Phuket airport to Patong cost 800 bht when I was there earlier this year. Taxis in Phuket are quite a bit more expensive than Bangkok.

Nanatai Mansions is reasonable for the price. An older hotel. Rooms are a good size but rather dated. Quite a long walk down to Sukhumvit Rd but they have a tuk tuk service you can use. There are balconies but they have large air conditioning units on them.

I stayed at the Grand Swiss recently. Great position near Sukhumvit Rd and the Nana BTS. Rather odd designed with a steep flight of nine steps up to the lift from the foyer. Awkward for people having to drag their luggage up and down them. There was a couple with a baby in a stroller. Bad choice of hotel for them. The room was okay although the lighting arrangement could have been better. The buffet breakfast was good but I will try somewhere else if I am in Bangkok again.

Bangkok may not be one of the most dangerous cities in the world but their is certainly a level of street crime. I have Thai friends who told me that they would never go walking down deserted streets or alleys at night. Pickpockets are certainly around. Be careful in crowded places, along streets with street vendors stalls and so forth. Don't carry more than you can afford to loose. Never carry a bulging wallet. Place something over your wallet to make it harder to reach. A good idea to carry a few currency notes separately to your wallet just in case. Just carry a photocopy of your passport. Shorts and pants with jean type front pockets are safest. I haven't lost a wallet in Bangkok but I was walking down one of the gogo bar strips, when I felt a woman's hand closed over my wallet. She didn't get it and she took off when I reacted. I was lucky because if she had been an experienced pickpocket I probably would not have felt anything. Trusting a taxi or tuk tuk driver to take you to some unknown special place at night would by just idiotic. Enjoy yourself but take care.

There is a good day trip to Ayutthaya which includes the Summer Palace. It costs a bit more but you get to travel on a full sized coach rather than a wretched mini van. The buffet lunch on the boat returning to Bangkok is quite good.

Can anybody recommend any worthwhile places for buffet lunches and dinners with both western and Thai food? I'll be staying in the Sukhumvit Road area but would not mind going further afield if it is worth making the trip.

I've heard that some of the rooms in the Nana Hotel have no windows at all. That would be a bit grim. Worth making sure that you are not in one of the them when you make a booking.

There is a big difference getting a massage from someone who is trained and experienced. It is really worth trying. The places offering extras can be fun but the massage part usually falls well short of a proper Thai massage. The best are often open shop front places with older ladies. Massage places in shopping malls are usually okay but a little more expensive. There are plenty of good massage places in tourist areas and the girls are accustomed to working on farangs.

The Dynasty Grande on Soi 6 has some balcony rooms which they classify as 'pool view'. Quite a good place to stay. Very near the main action on Soi 4.

Is the Thonglor Marriott located in the Sukhumvit Road area?

Thank you for the tip Serpent1. Ordering a grilled steak in a Bangkok restaurant can be risky as it can be as tough as the sole of an old boot. Can you get them to cook for you or is it just cook it yourself?

Hi Simagu, Good to know that the Swiss Chalet in Ao Nang is GF. What did you think of it from an accommodation point of view?

I stayed at Raming Lodge earlier this year. The room was okay but there was a problem with the air conditioning. It was over cooling and not responding to adjustment of the control unit. Just had to keep turning it on and off. There was also some sort of mechanical noise coming in from outside the unit. The location of the hotel is quite good.

Thank you for your suggestion regarding the Thai Dreaming Forum. I had a look and will join up. I intend to revisit Phuket sometime in the new year. I miss the old Phuket Info forum too.