Pearlgirl

wales01, on 2012-04-20 00:27:25, said:

My husband and I and two friends went there two days ago.  I've read through some of the responses to Dolly's comments, etc. and want to make a few remarks myself.  The Thai food that is presented at the River Market's food is not made for tourists, although the tourist trade would be good for them - its made for people with sophisticated and discerning tastes - its more of a Thai fusion type of food, including the Japanese sushi and raw dishes.  They are using the freshest ingredients and are making some excellent food.  There is also some western-type food, but don't expect Duke's food, unless you insist on ordering from there which you can.  The restaaurant is not only pleasant, but really quite beautiful - open, airy, nice to look at.  They have done a tremendous job of creating a somewhat "upscale" restaurant in a nice setting with tons of parking, good staff.  Yes, you'll have to pay more than some of the Thai restaurants in town, but not so much that you can't afford it, even if you're a "cheap charlie" (whoever they are?).  I highly recommend this restaurant and am so glad its not on Nimmam.  and looking foward to our next visit there.  BTW, we eat out a lot and like to experiment with new and older restaurants, so from our experience, I would say that the River Market is "up there" in quality, quantity, ambiance and even price.

mallmagician, on 2012-04-24 14:32:18, said:

We used Siam Pool for our pool build and were very very happy with them.
We also upgraded to their magnesium pool water - it is fairly low maintenance but a little more costly initially - but well worth it.  And good for the dog too - really notice a difference between the magnesium versus salt or chol.  Siam were and are very helpful and professional - they have another branch in Hua Hin as well.  Really happy with their work and after service.  I can't remember exactly how much the pool cost because we had so much going on at the same time - we extended the sandwash cement around thepool, built a sala at one corner, planted gardens, etc. etc.  We also use them to maintain the pool weekly - which is a fairly easy thing to do I gather but we are away so often that its nice toknow that we won't come home to a green pool or if anything goes wrong while we're away, they can fix it immediately.  Anyway, without further rambling - good choice.

I guess it depends on the area you stay in - we stayed in a high density tourist area.  BTW, the taxi scammers I'm talking about had genuine decals and what looked like genuine meters.  As it turns out, after some advice from a couple of restaurant owners, there are certain groups of taxis to look for and ones to avoid.   I'm assuming that PattayaParent goes to Vietnam for other reasons than we did so therefore doesn't encounter the tourist traps that we would have.  Of course, that's just an assumption because I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone could go there and not be scammed at least once.

theoldgit, on 2012-01-31 09:02:36, said:

A magnet for hustlers - not really.  We are fairly seasoned travellers and did our research before we left, but when you get scammed by legit taxis with legit meters because they take you the long route, or y ou take a tour with a legit tour company and their "new" guide turns out to be a little scammer too - its pretty hard to avoid.  As for the shoe shine guys - they are totally a nuisance and are on you all the time, even if you're wearing cheap plastic flip flops.  Living in Chiang Mai we seem to be immune to all these scams - you can at least bargain with the taxis and I've never seen shoe shine guys downtown and if you buy something here, you can at least bargain for it without a huge hassel.  And as for the smiles - they only smile at you when they want to sell you something, otherwise they are not very friendly at all.  But, as I said, travelling to Vietnam is defintely worth the experience, just be prepared for a lot of noise and lots of scams - otherwise its a great place to visit