New boots! I picked up a new pair of Merrells today. That makes somewhere around a half dozen pairs now. I probably wrote about this before, but I really like the brand. Different makes are sized a little different, especially in terms of width. Merrell shoes fit me really well. A few of them have been across the world and back again and there and back yet again! They’ve been used, abused, and yet still wear great. If they are a good fit for your foot shape, I highly recommend them.

Pork Lau Lau
Thai Pork Shanks
Bacon Wrapped Shrimp with Pasta
Korean Dinner
Bacon Explosion (Superbowl food)

They were uncomfortable, they felt too hard, and I couldn’t imagine why they kept cutting into my feet. Eventually, I used them less and less. Then after returning from my last SCUBA trip in Thailand, I was going through and cleaning my gear and I noticed something… I reached around inside the flipper and had an “Well, I’ll be darned!” moment. I pulled, and out popped a piece of plastic. Yep, the plastic they use to keep the flippers in shape so they look nice when you buy them.

What the heck? All those years and somehow I never thought to check for that. Boy, I’m an idiot!

I have been trying to be observant and learn as much as I can from the experienced guys on the pier. Going out at around 4AM when the pier opens I have a chance to talk to many crabbers before the pier is busy. One thing I noticed was that many people had carts in some form or another to keep organized. I was thinking that I would want to put something together like that when I ran across a heavy duty cart at Costco. It was marked down, from what an employee said from $40, to $30, and finally to $20.  Great deal!

It started looking like this:

Scrounging around the house, I found a cooler, my Maxpedition drop pouch, my trusty camp chair and some other things to pimp out cart. Then I picked up some 2″ and 1.5″ black ABS pipe and other fittings and put together the cart. Each item carefully considered for optimum useability. Last week, I had a chance to try out the car just dropping a few items in there and certain things I knew were good fits. The camp chair is as close a fit as you can get. Everything else I put just sat in the open bucket. Having had a trial run, I had a very good idea of where things needed to be. Now, this is an exercise in fishing geekdom, but I love gadgets, systems, and thinking or planning things through to make tasks efficient and more “fun”.

Here’s what I came up with: The Crabinator!

I’ll list what’s on the cart and then explain in further detail.

1) Utility Knife – Mora of Sweden (about 12 bucks, incredible value. The Swedish steel and grind are phenomenal)
2) Coleman camp chair. This one is quite old, about 20 years old I think. It’s got real canvas and it’s strong and comfortable. I recently picked up a replacement from Costco that has a side table (nice!) but it doesn’t quite fit. I’m deciding whether or not to return it.
3) Roddy Hunter 11 foot pole (from Gus’ Discount Tackle in San Francisco)
4) Crab snares
5) Maxpedition drop pouch There’s an insulated tea mug in it. Just behind it is a fishing filet knife zip tied to the inside of the cart. That’s a cheap fishing knife that’s probably about 50 years old now and still sharp enough to shave with.
6) 1.5″ PVC holder with reducer cap. It’s a perfect fit for the Duracell Daylite 2 C cell 160-Lumens, LED Flashlight. Good flashlight. Without the reducer, you can grab the flashlight by the head and pull it out easily. With the reducer in place the flashlight drops down until the face of it is flush with the top of the reducer requiring a little finger push from the bottom to get it out. I thought it might be more secure from casual pilfering this way, as you can’t just walk by and pull it. I didn’t glue on the reducer yet, just in case I decide I like it more open.
7) Insulated cooler bag. I like this one because it has two zippered pockets. In one, I keep some basic first aid supplies (adhesive bandages etc…). In the other are zip ties, latex gloves, and a couple trail mix bars. In the cooler section is a very small cutting board, a bottle of water and room for bait (although, I am probably going to use a simple bag style cooler for the bait and keep the smell seperate).
2″ ABS and 1.5″ ABS pipe (left to right) with glued on end caps, drilled to allow for drainage
9) Penn SS Metal Series Spinfisher 750SSm. The first reel I’ve ever bought and I’m loving it. I picked it up at Gus’ but I added the link in case you’re not near San Francisco.
10) Simple blue plastic tray to hold miscellaneous items as well as provide bottom support so a reusable shopping bag I have clipped in. Good place to drop gloves, layers, etc..
11) Green bucket with a tackle box bucket topper

Everything fits well and there’s room to throw a large cooler up top. The chair is comfortable and the tea is at the right height for an easy reach.  If I want a foot rest I can pull out the bucket and kick the feet up. So far with crabbing I’m in and out of the chair constantly so I haven’t done that yet.

This Christmas is turning out pretty awesome already. I put together the cart mostly with things I already had sitting around so it cost very, very little, and one of my really good friends treated me to a cage and a net too!

So even though I haven’t brought home a keeper yet, I’m expecting to bring something back starting this coming week. Here in the SF Bay Area, we have Dungeoness crabs (don’t take them from the Bay!) and rock crab as well.

It’s a fun sport, great for my health and really is much better than sitting on the computer all day!

What would it take for us to break the “I’ve got to work” way of thinking and drop everything to help our fellow countrymen?

If you felt a “hey dummy, I’ve got bills to pay” come to mind, then that’s exactly the button I was pushing. To be honest, I’m not sure what it would take for me to drop everything, but it’s a good question to wrestle with.

From the moment you arrive you can see what it was, is, and was meant to be. It’s huge. Much like the the design of the Embassy Suites near San Francisco International Airport (for my local SF Bay Area Readers), it has a large central atrium surrounded by the rooms as the design flows skyward to the covered translucent roof. It’s impressive. There are six eating areas in the hotel.

We only tried one, the San Kam Phaeng, as it was the restaurant for our included breakfast buffet. The buffet was what you would expect for a 3-4 star hotel, meaning decent variety, hot food and plenty of seating. Indeed, there was more than plenty of seating, as I believe the San Kam Phaeng can hold roughly three hundred and fifty people.

Floor 1 also connects to the one of the largest shopping malls in Chiang Mai. The feeling in the Mall was in a way similar to the hotel. It’s more like MBK and less like Terminal 21 or Central World, if you can relate to it. Older, many small stores, some bigger chains, a theater.

As we entered the room, we were treated to a very beautiful view of the mountains and on it we could see Wat Doi Suthep, near the top. I’ll have an article about it soon.

I love the way that they utilized wood to set the sitting area apart. While checking out the sitting area, I noticed the connecting doors to the units on both sides. This is great if you have a large family as during family time you could have three or more rooms all opened up to each other. Later, I heard someone open the door on their side and close it again. That made me wish for a deadbolt on those side doors

I like the sitting area. You can see it in the slideshow below. Its really nice, and practical. The table is a useful size. You can still see the TV from the sofa (maybe you’ll need to move it a bit if you seat two on the sofa, but I could see it. That sitting area, and the excellent view, helped make the room nice, and memorable.

The bed area was nicely laid out. It was old, but working, with the bedside light, tv, and aircon controls built into the panel. This put a bit of a date on the room, I think, but it was working so no complaints here. The bed was medium in terms of hardness, but I slept pretty well in it. The only bite I picked up in the room was a mosquito bite on my thumb. There weren’t a lot of mosquitoes flying around, maybe only one or two that slipped in the room so that was a plus.

The bathroom was not fairing as well, though. The grout had mold and mildew stains on it and the towels had a slight mildew odor to them. It was unfortunate and, I suspect, not hard to fix.

I was going to criticize the green pool, however there was a sign that the pool was going to be shut down as of (later?) today for new tile work, so perhaps that would explain it. I will show the photos, and withhold any criticism at this point.

There were some children playing in the water but no one else was swimming at the time I looked.

The hotel also features a work out room, which appeared spartan, but clean, so for people who want to get a workout in, that’s a good thing.

All in all, it’s a good hotel, but shows it’s age and in a few areas, could improve.

Pluses:

Location. Attached to the shopping mall in more than one place. Exellent.
Location. If you are at a conference here. Definitely stay.
View. Beautiful view of the mountains and if you have been to Wat Doi Suthep, you can recognize it on the mountain each day.
Service. Excellent staff and university trainees.
Breakfast. Their buffet breakfast was more diverse than we’ve been getting on this trip. About average when compared to 4 star hotels. Solid value, though.
Room size. Large. Sitting Room. Plenty of tables.
Value for money. Location, room size, extras like the pool and work out room are huge pluses.
Airport transport. Excellent value. Very slightly more (less than a dollar difference) to take the hotel van to the airport instead of a taxi. Very nice and quite unexpected. I was half expecting to pay a ‘hotel surcharge’. Driver got a nice tip.

Minuses:

Location. Outside of the core of the tourist area means a tuktuk or taxi ride if you want to hang out at Thapae gate or whatever. That distance also means that you’re potentially spending a few dollars more on transportation each day. If you have transportation or don’t mind taking tuktuk to many places, it’s not an issue.
Internet. Outrageous, $20 a day for internet. Really? This is not the 1990′s. Internet should be free. Just my humble opinion.
Condition. The hotel is aging. Some things like mold & mildew in our bathroom. There’s no excuse, really.
Room Safe. None. Why not?

Would I stay there again?

Conditionally, yes. It was perfect for what we wanted to do. After trying out a few hotels this trip, we were ready to have one day close to the conveniences of the mall. For us it was worth it. What would have made an internet junkie like me happy and offset the malodorous towels, and the neglected grout in the shower would be free, unfettered internet. Again this is just my thing, so if you’re not in a position where you need to have the internet as much as I do, then great!

If you have found my review helpful and want more information, check out prices and room availability HERE and HERE.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I had dropped a few memory cards under the table. As I reached around, i found memory cards and something bumpy. I thought it might be a blister pack for some pain reliever or something so I picked it up in the dimly lit corner.

I felt around it with the fingers of both hands. I felt the smooth, hard surface, the bumps, and there was a bump on the end. The end broke off in my fingers. “what?” I wondered. With one hand I fumbled around for the light switch.

Turning the light on I could now see clearly what I had been fondling with my fingers. An inch and a half long, and a bit over half an inch wide. Smooth, black, bumpy….and I held it’s head between my fingers.

Yes. Dead cockroach. I tossed it in the garbage thinking I’d just handle it calmly, no drama. It wasn’t until the smell hit me that I had to resist the slight urge to gag. Cockroaches smell pretty terrible. I had to wash my hands three times. If I had gasoline I would have washed with that first hah hah. Later, I found his friend too.

But don’t let that gross you out too much to read about this interesting hotel. In spite of my minor incident, I stayed at the Sabai Resort a total of nine days and found many positives to report.

Although the Sabai Resort is not in the center of the Beach Road or near the Walking Street area, it is in a very convenient location on Second Road in Pattaya. The location next door to Big C shopping mall, a mall with  few restaurants, a department store, and a small cineplex.

It is also across the road from a few beer bars and small eateries. The hotel is also close to Alcazar, if you haven’t seen one of the world’s most famous ladyboy cabarets  yet, it’s a very short walk to the theater. It’s also right across the street from Pattaya International Hospital.

For the best prices for the Sabai Resort, Please take a look HERE  or HERE.

The Hotel

The hotel itself boasts three swimming pools, a restaurant, and The Nest, a coffee shop on the edge of the property on Second Road. There is a parking area, covered walkways, three swimming pools, even golf cart shuttle service if you want.

The property itself is huge. It has 239 rooms and lies on 16 acres and is divided into three zones. Some of the villas require nearly a one block walk inside the property to the room. My first room was one of these villas.

While I was there it was raining, and I had just completed some tattoo (sakyant) work on my back, but pools look nice and well maintained. They seemed very popular and there were guests, mostly the family types at the front pool all day and into the evening.

The center pool didn’t seem to get as much use (reserved for only Ruen Thai room guests, and the pool all the way in the back seemed a bit more private with just an occasional couple. Guests were mostly westerners, some families, some Thai families here. Western men with Thai girlfriends were less populous, but it did not seem that anyone was discouraged from staying at the hotel. (note: each of the three pool photos are of different swimming pools. The three pools of Sabai Resort.)

My First Room (630 series Villa)

My first impression was that the room was good sized. It has a combined living and sleeping area. It’s also equipped with television, minibar, and wi-fi. The wi-fi was only so-so. Its ability to reach the internet was on and off. I’d be on one moment, then I would lose connectivity. After a while it would come back. The major problem was that the villa was the on edge of the property (back right as you look into the property from Second Road) and as a result was very close to a disco or something.

The THUMP THUMP THUMP kept me up all night and I’m not talking about ending at 2am or 3am. It seemed to keep going well until 5am or more. I seem to recall, though my sleep deprived memory, that it went a bit later during the weekend. The first picture is the wall behind the villa. You can see Hollywood disco’s sign peeking over the wall. The second picture shows the villa’s bathroom, which was fine. Good water pressure, and plenty of hot water.

For the best prices for the Sabai Resort, Please take a look HERE  or HERE.

Then, of course the cockroach. I don’t really blame them for the cockroach(es) so much, as when it rains, all manner of beasties come out to play. In fact, that they were dead was a good indicator the hotel was doing it’s job with regard to pest control. The only negative I’d say about that is that it doesn’t seem like they vacuum (at least not to the corners) and the room is carpeted.

My Second Room (436 Villa)

I complained to the desk staff about the noise issue after the third night of no sleep, and although they were limited in rooms, offered me an upgrade to a central room, which – while not set apart like the first villa – was larger than the villa and the sitting room was separate from the bedroom.

Unfortunately the second room had an internet issue. For those who understand networking, the problem was not the signal, the router wasn’t far and I had full bars on the signal strength. The problem was that from that particular router the DNS information was not being forwarded (they have a radius server or something like it to control access to the internet and you need to log in to use it). Therefore, wi-fi, but with no internet connectivity. I complained about this almost daily for the week I was there. Despite two or three attempts by their local engineer to solve the problem, it was never resolved, requiring me to sit in the lobby for hours to use the internet. Yes. I use the internet a lot. One of the problems with the lobby is that it’s an open air lobby, so I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. If internet is not important to you, then this fault won’t matter. If you have to work, if you blog, or otherwise need to spend more than thirty minutes a day on the internet you may find it intolerable.

In both rooms, the furniture appears a bit older, but still in good shape. The room, being in the middle of the property is remarkably peaceful and quiet and I had no problems resting or sleeping.

Breakfast/Restaurant

The breakfast buffet was average. The cost per day was 200 baht per person. Typical menu items included spaghetti, rice, cashew chicken, potato, egg, ham, sausage, bacon, juice, coffee etc… the taste of the food was nothing to write home about. It was just ok. On the last day they substituted some Thai food in the buffet and it was better than all the other days I ate there.

I also tried The Nest one day. An interesting coffee shop, as there is almost never customers in there. It’s in soft launch, but they may need to find their niche to make it worth keeping. When I was there, the items from the menu were the same as the restaurant and it appears that they utilize the same kitchen. The exception being that they have an espresso machine inside the cafe. The lady working there was excellent as I had my computer with me (trying to escape the mosquitoes for the price of a meal) and although there were no tables with outlets, she found an extension cord and ran power to me at the first table away from the cashier. Nice that she was willing to problem solve and it means a lot to me. As for the meal, the coffee was good. The food just ok… I’d rank it 6/10.

Staff

The staff was friendly and as accommodating as they could be. The engineer did come and reset the router a couple times and if that’s the limit of the level of service he could provide then I can’t say he didn’t try. The security in front was friendly. Overall, staff was excellent.

Final Thoughts

At that point in the trip, I was blogging, spending my waking hour skyping with my wife, as well as talking to her just before bed. Not having internet  access as I was expecting was disappointing. From what I learned, some hotels use an offsite validation server, so they’d need to call their internet company, however internet authorization/validation/DNS worked fine in the lobby so really I don’t know.

Cleaning staff was nice enough. I think they could use a review of their cleaning protocol as guests finding cockroaches is never a nice thing.

I wish the buffet was a bit more tasty. I found myself skipping breakfast and going to eat street food or at the mall. The exception would be if I was going to the dining room to use the wi-fi after I finished eating breakfast.

Would I stay here again? Yes. I found that the positives outweighed the negatives and the price point is nice for something spacious and easy to get back and forth to. Further, in the right part of the property, it’s very peaceful and quiet. The mall is very close and street food and decent restaurants are just a couple hundred feet away.

The caveats being, you will need to be on the right part of the property if noise bothers you. You need to be lucky with the internet (unless of course it’s not important to you). If you like to hang out at the pool, huge plus here, as they have one of the best selection and quality pools in the price bracket in Pattaya.

For the best prices for the Sabai Resort, Please take a look HERE  or HERE.

Thank you.

All photos and text © abettertrip.com 2011. If you would like to use any information or photos from my site, contact me first. Thank you.