It certainly paints a very depressing picture of life in some of the outbacks towns which have been ravaged by years of drought.

I am going there for ANZAC DAY ceremony on April 25th. I will probably visit the orangutan sanctuary and the Sun Bear center whilst there.

Just been dealing with Airasia. They sent an email telling me my flight out of Sandakan to KUL had been rescheduled to a later time which meant I would miss my flight to BKK. The flight hadn't been canceled they just moved it. So as I am in Pattaya I thought great, now I have to deal with the call center in Thailand. Luckily the lady spoke good English and I am back to my original flight, just the flight number had changed.She was very helpful, unlike the airline who could have just told everyone, same flight, different flight number. Dickheads.

Only been to Reno once but loved it. What a fun little town. No car show though. Just hired a car and toured Northern California and Oregon with a few days in Reno before and after. Stayed at the Sands, what an interesting crowd they get their.

Yes, one of my many favorite songs.

Yes, something like that, I stayed a bit further north off Phan Van Dong. Myself I prefer to be closer to the beach, but that road Nguyen Van Thoai had plenty of restaurants, karaoke bars and the like. And yes, it is cheap. So yes, three days first, and then have a look around.

I stayed in two different hotels there. I would not recommend the first one, the second was the Bay Sydney Hotel, no pool but otherwise in a good area. The problem as I saw it is that there is an awful lot of construction going on as they try to cater for the tourist boom. So you might book an hotel next to a contruction site, maybe two. It might be an idea to book a room for three nights and look around while you are there if you feel a need to move. I have booked 5 nights at the Dylan Hotel for my trip in May. It is in a good area and close to the beach,also has a pool, but until I stay there I won't know how good it is. Also comes with breakfast but I found that I could get a mango smoothie and two rolls for 70000 dong after my morning walk so breakfast in the hotel is not a selling point for me.

I would recommend a trip to Danang. You can get direct flights from Bangkok with Vietjetair.com out of Swampy or Airasia.com.au out of Don Monkey. It has miles of beaches and is cheap if you wish. Hue is two hours to the north and Hoi An half an hour to the south. No real nightlife but a good break from Thailand. I went for two weeks last year and will be going again in May for two weeks.

Multitasking, reading this thread, listening to music from the 'what are you listening to now' thread, and watching, for the umpteenth time, the big battle of Gondor scene from the 'Lord of the Rings'. The charge of the Rohan never gets old, even if it is computer generated, it still brings a story I have always liked to life.

Luckily for me I am arriving that night. By the time I arrive in Pattaya, check into a room, have a shower, it will be midnight and the bars will be selling beer again.

I was there last November. Whilst it might be an alternative destination for a visa run I wasn't impressed. The beaches I saw, which wasn't all of them, were not particularly clean. They are developing the place far to quickly for the infrastructure to handle, like Phuket years ago. It looks like they are chasing the Chinese tourism money. Still, it was cheap.

Hi everyone, I have been visiting Thailand for 34 years now. Although I have visited many places in Thailand over the years, now that I am older and lazier I tend to spend my time in Pattaya now, with more frequent visits to Vietnam as well.