Bruce Mangosteen

My pleasure MM.

A couple of months ago Mr. and Mrs. Axeslinger planned a trip to Ayutthaya. Knowing Lady Mangosteen is from there, they asked if we'd like to go with them. We gratefully accepted. It was also agreed that we should book into a hotel for a night in Bangkok and visit Stargazer in his new gaff, Home Run Bar and Grill. http://homerunbangkok.com HR is a sports themed bar and grill with the decor accent on baseball. The basic plan of the bar is an open downstairs bar area with a separate upstairs dining room. The full menu is available in both areas of the bar. You enter to a row of tall-table seating and a big screen TV. A specials board just inside the entrance lets you know the daily specials and other news. To your right is a pool table, and at the back of the pool table area is the bar. Due to the long drive we were very thirsty. We wasted no time bellying up. The boss held court when he could break away some time. You'll notice that they've taken pains to make sure they have the correct glassware for each different style of beer and drink. To me, it's details like this that show the care the owners have taken to make the experience of being in their establishment as pleasurable as possible. This very close attention to detail is evident time and again during your stay in HR. We ordered up some food. Axe ordered a burger. When I asked him for a review, he simply said, "The best burger I've had in Thailand. Period." I happened to notice that the specials board proclaimed the day of our visit "Wagyu Wednesday", which meant two Wagyu steaks for the price of one. Fantastic deal. I ordered a rib eye, medium rare, prepared Cajun blackened for myself and a sirloin, medium, grilled for Lady M. I figured she'd be good for about half of hers. Boy was I wrong! While we waited for our steaks, Lady M. took some pics of the bar area and upstairs dining room. First, the bar area from above: Apparel is on offer. The shirts are of a very high quality and quite comfortable. The upstairs dining area. Note the memorabilia on the walls. BTW, the place was still "soft open" at that time accounting for the few customers. The boss of the kitchen popped out and posed for a photo. The steaks arrived. They smelled fantastic. Lemme tell ya what: Those steaks were fantastic! First, and this is important, they were cooked CORRECTLY. What Americans call a "medium rare" steak is a steak that is cooked so that the interior is warm but still red. That was what I wanted and it was EXACTLY what I got. The outside was grilled perfectly and the Cajun seasoning had the perfect amount of "bite". That was one hell of a great steak. I got barely a taste of Lady M.s steak she liked it so much. It was beautifully grilled and again cooked exactly correctly. Both steaks were quite tender with a strong buttery flavor. If you want to know what steak SHOULD taste like, you owe it to yourself to make a beeline to HR! BTW, Lady Axe had the ribs and said they were delicious too. Clearly the food is worth a trip all on its own. OK, dinner over, time to socialize! We went outside for a breath of air. A guy (whose name I've forgotten) was sitting out there and he recognized some of us from our pics on the boards (believe he said he was a member of Secrets), so we invited him and his girl to join us. As it got later, the gaffer graced us with his company. The pool table got some use. The friendly staff is always standing by to check the tightness of your girlfriend's rack. Finally, closing time. Axeslinger was very pleased with his bill, and after some CPR was able to pay it. I'll be very honest: I don't remember the exact amount of my bill. It's certainly due to the passage of time since then, and has nothing to do with the barrel or so I drank of high-octane dark beers from around the world. My impression is that it was around 3500 baht. Before you join Axeslinger on the way to the ICU, consider that we're talking Bangkok here, that was for two people drinking all night, I ordered TWO top-quality imported steaks and was drinking what would be expensive beer anywhere in Thailand. I thought this price represented excellent VFM. The staff closed the security gate and locked the door. For some strange reason, we were on the INSIDE of the door at the time. So we decided to make the best of it. Things got rather ugly after that. I'm sure we don't need to see a bunch of pictures of guys who were still stone sober after 32,098 more beers and Jagerbombs, so we'll skip to the conclusion. Home Run Bar and Grill hits it entirely out of the park. Comfortable airy layout, beautiful decor, great pool table, well-stocked bar, attentive service, spectacular steaks and food, fussy attention to detail, well stocked bar, ...what the hell ELSE do you want?! Home Run Bar and Grill. 253/2 Sukhumvit Soi 31 Bangkok. http://homerunbangkok.com (See site for map.) What can I say? It's fecking great. Well done Mr. Stargazer!

Bump! See you tomorrow!

Will do mate. BWAHAHAHAHA!!! Good luck.

Sorry you can't make it mate. Understand about the work night. Wednesday night is the night before I'm leaving for the US, and I plan a quiet one with the GF. Have a great Christmas and New Years. BTW, having dinner with Andy tonight.

Sorry to have missed you. Maybe next time. Same to you. They do already.

Nope, although I'd imagine that easy things probably do seem hard to you from time to time. You can't judge any business in Pattaya solely by reading the boards. Easy peasy. Just as well. I'm sure Alex and I have enough problems and don't need your fleas to add to the list.

Weeeeeeeeeheheheheheheeeeeelll, I'm sure that after reading this thread you're all just as excited as hell to come bid me a fond farewell! I'm sure we'll get a staggering turnout at the Rockhouse from Pattaya Talk, like we always do! BTW, nice to see Damon and LadyDrinkKing in the RH last night. Maybe you boys could share the secret to visiting me there without incident? There are clearly some folks who wouldn't know what time to use the restroom in Pattaya if it wasn't posted on the boards, so maybe they could use the help.

Erm, Thanks!

Well, that's fine, but in that case I'd suggest that you stay far away from Pattaya. Those sorts of things go on here in many bars you probably frequent, whereas actual incidents of those same things in the Rockhouse are vanishingly rare. I'd suggest that your method for determining what particular Pattaya bars are like is badly flawed. Clearly you are attempting to infer reality on the ground here in Thailand at least partially by reading the boards, which would be somewhat akin to inferring the theory of relativity by reading tea leaves. Until you have settled on a better way to select bars, to avoid inadvertently stumbling into a bar that is ACTUALLY doing these things, you should probably stick to holidaying somewhere safe for people who are, let's say, under-endowed in the common sense department.

I'd suggest that these questions are best answered by Alex. It isn't my opinion of you as a customer or anything else that's in play here. You and I have a good relationship IRL, but that's not the issue here mate.

Yep, and enough people who (unlike you) have functioning brains have already told you where to stick it! Thanks, your refusal to enter the RH surely makes it a better place for those who do.

Cheers mate, and you have a Merry XMas if I don't see you before I leave.

As potty-floor-poopers go, I'd have to say you're by far the best!

LOL! Disgruntled former admirers are the toughest audience, eh mulph?

Maybe if Alex was to approve your choice of minders?

Seems the one to watch is the OP, considering the answers were actually given by BRITISH students. http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/20-h...rs/blog-321079/ http://www.edugeek.net/forums/jokes-interw...328-exam-q.html http://www.funenclave.com/fun-stuff/hilari...wers-43314.html http://boardreader.com/thread/20_Hilarious...3geodX3mww.html ...etc.

Thanks to both of you. See you there Tarl.

Yes, that's right bhoys and bargirls. Last time I was at the Rockhouse I happened to mention that I was going to be in the US for a month or so over the holidays. Alex and the staff were so overjoyed to hear I was finally feckin' leaving them the hell alone they scraped together their spare baht and decided to throw a party. Unfortunately for them, I found out about it and will be there too. Feckers! Here's what they didn't want me to know: - Party starts at 8:00, and runs until the last person pukes on the karaoke screen. - Full buffet featuring Thai and farang food. - Live music and karoke - Girls willing to get their tits out for a fee (mostly the staff but hey, ya never know! ) - The other usual drunken crap that goes on at Rockhouse parties. Please come help me crash this party. Wear your checked shirts, one button only please. If you have any promotional clothing from THAT plaza, () wear that too. NOTE: Because you'll be helping me slap at the Rockhouse for this insult, I promise to be polite to you, not slaughter you in debate, and not even laugh at you. And, because you'll ALSO be rid of me for a month or three, I'm sure you can't wait to experience the lovely feeling of saying "fuck off" *ahem* "goodbye" to me for a while. That's Tuesday the 21st, 8:00PM. Be there or I'll kill this helpless little kitty cat!

Oh, but Obama never shows for photo-ops, right? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! So you're admitting that there are no pictures of Obama welcoming home the troops? BTW, although you were kind enough to give me one-stop shopping for liberal lie debunking in a post before, I am frankly sick and tired of doing it. You believe what you want, just keep the propeller on your beanie nice and oiled up.

Only a liberal could be silly enough to believe a joke. Checked your "710 cap" lately? Here are some NON-Photoshopped pictures for you, taken August 11 at the DFW airport: Got any pictures of Obama greeting homecoming troops? I can't seem to find any. Or, maybe that's just the kind of man Bush is. And Obama isn't.

Sounds like a great night for you and your girl. Cudos to the folks that offered you seats at their table, and to you for reciprocating.

I use Norton on two machines and have no such issues. Here is the description of the warning from Symantec: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/...-082500-0801-99 I would say that the infection is not in the Photobucket site itself, but was present in one or more GIF files you clicked on at some point. Just curious: You obviously opened this thread. Did you load the images? If so, did you get the warning? LOL! Cheers mate!

No, actually it isn't beside the point at all. The point is that, from the point of view of humans, cruelty to animals can be mitigated by the benefit the overall action has to us. That is to say that you can draw a distinction between, say, hunting for sport, where the hunter kills an animal for the entertainment value alone, and hunting for food, where the hunter kills to provide food for his family. I think we can easily recognize that if the hunter eats his kill then whatever pain and suffering the animal goes through is mitigated by the fact that the hunter and his family benefit from the animal's meat and other parts (e.g. pelt for warmth, fat for the making of soap or lamp oil, etc.). Actually, as compared to a cow that is destined to become hamburgers, fighting bulls generally have a much better life. They are fed special feed and vitamins, get prompt veterinary attention, and are provided with ample space to live in. Food livestock lives in cramped conditions with little activity and the minimum of veterinary attention. In the case of bullfighting, animal lovers don't feel that the bull's suffering is mitigated by the eating of the meat, and CERTAINLY not by the entertainment value. That is because they see the bullfight as excessively cruel. TBH, in my mind these are not enough either, and I would not be in favor of, say, legalizing bullfighting in the US. However, I agree with those who see this as an issue of that society having the right to have this activity as part of their culture and history. That to me, along with the facts that the animal has a good life and that they do consume the meat, is sufficient mitigation for the 10 minutes it takes for a bullfight. There is no moral equivalence between animals and humans, so comparing bullfighting to gladiatorial combat or public executions is off the mark. About boxing and cage fighting, not only does the previous statement apply, but both combatants are in the ring of their own free will, so that comparison is even more inappropriate.