CheshireTom

I know what you mean. I often walk along and notice that a new hotel seemingly has simply appeared overnight. Tom

piero, The Sabai Snooker place was closed to make way for the Spa not the Sabai Room which is still going strong. Tom

C'mon Denny ........ it has only been re-opened since May of this year after being closed for a year.

I'm game ............. Sin City. Tom

Hammer, Can you set up paypal ....... it only takes about 10 mins and would make the accounting for the cash a lot easier for you as well as the subsequent payout of the prizemoney. Tom

There used to be a restaurant review link but it was pretty useless ....... If I remember rightly BurgerKing was rated higher than Bruno's.

"I enjoy reading all the posts about where to get the best food: i.e., steak, hamburgers, pizza, etc. ........................................ just pure gastronomical and imbibing delights)?" Any particular reason why you missed out hot dogs?

OK, I'm in (Sin City) and showing bottom of the league already! Let us know how/where to send the 1k. Tom

Non-direct is for the clever folk that know where the duty free bargains are to be had .............. one small clue; its not Heathrow T3. BTW ...... it's WestEast Travel.

Gus, I've changed the link so hopefully it will work. If not, I'll get the best pics and post them here. Tom

Gus, Here is a link to some pics of premium laurel class on the 777 ....... Tom EVA 777

echster, I'm suitably chastised! Funnily enough, I always found the folk at China Airlines to have good English skills ........ it was always just EVA that was behind the curve. Tom

Matty, In short, I haven't got a clue (I'm pretty thick when it comes to technology). This was the first time I had heard of OnAir (IP Video Systems) so I will have to do some digging around to find out if their system is upgradeable. The system the other airlines use for the wifi broadband is called Connexions which is a Boeing Company. You've got to remember that as a Taiwanese airline a fair number of their passengers will speak Chinese as their first language so there may be some issues with putting in a dual-language system. There again, it could just be a cost issue. I look forward to your TR and hope you have a good trip. Tom

Not quite the broadband internet offered by the likes of Singapore and Lufthansa but EVA's new 777 service LHR-BKK will offer passengers SMS and e-mail service direct from their seat-back TV thing. Good news if you want to keep your TG or taxi updated of your arrival times. "EVA Air will offer OnAir's two-way SMS beginning with its first 777-300ER that enters service this month. An English-language version will be followed by a Chinese version later in the year. The service will be available to passengers in all cabins and will cost $1.50 per message sent or received. It allows passengers to use the in-seat entertainment system to send messages to mobile phones and e-mail addresses and also to receive replies. The system will be installed on the entire EVA Air fleet over the next few years." Tom

I don't know if this will come to fruition but if it does it is another PR disaster for Thai (their upgrade programme is already 12 months behind schedule). From this morning's Nation: THAI told to postpone purchase of two aircraft Published on August 08, 2005 Thai Airways International Plc (THAI) has been ordered to postpone its acquisition of two new Airbus 340 aircraft scheduled for delivery in November this year in order to avoid creating further pressure on the country’s current account deficit. The Thaksin government informed THAI executives last week about its concern over the airline’s acquisition of the two aircraft at a time when the country has been running a huge trade deficit and current account deficit................... ...............THAI’s acquisition of the two aircraft would have added to the country’s import bills, but the postponement will force the national airline to revise its business strategies and adjust its flight network. The full article is at: Thai Postpones A340 Order What this means for the already announced new routes, aircraft upgrades etc is anyone's guess. Suffice to say that lots of folk are going to be a little bit pissed off. Tom

Just wait till you experience Kuwait Airlines "timekeeping"!

echster, I went with Wariner purely because Michael Johnson gave him a huge build up on the BBC at last year's Olympics and he ran away from the field at one of the European Grand Prix events a couple of weeks ago. The Felix girl I went with cos she's kinda cute and can run a bit! Kluft and Radcliffe are just too far ahead of the others in their particular events so I have assumed that they will go to form. That said, Radcliffe has a dismal record in the major championships compared to "what might've been". Pognon beat Catlin in Rome a couple of weeks ago and is a very fast French 60m runner who is only now reaping the benefit of a decent training regime (I think he is from Martinique). These Championships may be a year early for him but the price is decent enough even if he runs second to Catlin. Thanks for the women with the funny names ...... I'll have a look at them tomorrow. Regards, Tom

Hub, I only ever got free stays when I was a member of Thai's ROP Programme but I gave up on them a couple of years ago. Now I'm with Qatar the mileage accumulation and redemption is very good but they don't yet extend to Thai hotels. I keep watching Priceline to see if it appears but no such luck yet. It certainly looks the biz if you had the right girl along but for me it would have to be a cash job unfortunately. Tom

Just sorting out my bets for the athletics over the next week. At the moment I have pencilled in Wariner (400m), Felix (200m), Radcliffe (marathon) and Kluft (heptathlon) but I need one more at a decent price for my accumulator. At the moment I can get 11/1 for the french guy, Pognon, in the 100m with Catlin removed from the field. Any guys out there, especially the Yanks, who have a bit of an insight as to who else is hitting form or decent tips/fancies? What's happened to all the world's athletes anyway? It's really disconcerting looking at some of the fields and not recognising the majority of athletes listed. Thanks, Tom p.s. Don't mention the tart in the pole vault! You can't get a price on her over here.

barbara, Have a look at the special offers at the Shearton. It has only been open a couple of weeks but looks like the sort of place you might be after. If it's on hubby's CC, price shouldn't be an issue. To Sheraton Pattaya Offers

467 quid with Expedia for the same flights/dates ...................

Hub, I brought up Palmeiro for no other reason than he was the only guy in the UK news yesterday who had failed a drugs test after declaring that he had never used them. He probably wouldn't have made the news over here except for GWB coming out in support of him. If any Brit, Yank or Chinese athlete comes up short this weekend at the World Athletic Championships I will use them as an example. I have no worries about the stars and stripes flying over the Champs-Elysees ..... as I said earlier Greg Lemond was the top dog during my induction on Channel 4 to the Tour. Before that, like many, I just regarded it as a long bike race for Johnny Foreigner. If you read my first post I said that I couldn't get my head round the fact that LA was continually beating those guys who had admitted, or got caught, using drugs. If he was on something then it kinda just makes it a level playing field and he would probably beat the others if everybody in the sport was clean. Unfortunately, they are not .......... not by any stretch of the imagination and therefore it makes his achievements over the last seven years even more special. So, in response to your question about previous multiple winners (certainly since the 80s), I would be inclined to imagine they were having more than cornflakes for breakfast. Or is someone going to suggest that it's actually the guys at the back of the peleton who are performing with a little assistance. Tom

They are looking to purchase six long haul aircraft, either the A350 or the Boeing 787. Neither of these aircraft are due to enter service before 2010 and 2008 respectively. Pat of the deal to help them decide which aircraft to choose hinges on the ability of the aircraft manufacturers to provide them with one or two longer haul aircraft during the interim period (likely A330 or B767). Those aircraft are earmarked for route expansion into Japan (Hiroshima) and India. So, as things stand, we probably wouldn't see them in UK until 2008 at the earliest - around the same time as Thai is taking delivery of its double deckers. Having said all that, they'll probably now go and lease a 747 and start a London service next month! Tom Hopefully the link is still up ......... Bangkok Airways Route Expansion

I bet you said the same thing when the allegations of drug abuse against, amongst others, Rafael Palmeiro were published. Didn't he testify to your congress recently that he had never taken drugs; period? As for a 10 day ban ............ it's nice to see they are "clamping down" on steroid abuse! Tom 3,000 hits ......... so to speak!

Thai AirAsia, the mob that generally flies from/to BKK, is 51% owned by Shin Corp (Thaksin) and 49% by AirAsia which is listed on the KL stock exchange. I flew with them Bangkok-Phuket and they were pretty much the standard good value, low-cost-carrier experience. The only difference i noticed was that the concept of queues does not seem to apply to the Thais so boarding really is a free-for-all. Tom