Fatboyfat

All hearsay and "alledgedly", but I do have a couple of sources with a bit more insight; and the feeling is that the Glazers (owners) are averse to any change of manager, before Van Gaal completes his contract, and have vetoed moves to bring in Mourinho early. Reading between the lines; they have no desire to cough up any more large wads of cash for new players next season, which any new manager is going to insist upon. Van Gaal is "expected" to get his expensive signings and long-term injury returnees firing for next season. Thoughts are that LVG is going to have to "walk" before any change comes around, and the biggest "signing" is going to be keeping De Gea in the fold; Madrid have been very subdued about that of late, so here's hoping! He is largely responsible for many of the 1-0 wins that have given rise to the surprisingly high league position this season. None of that (apart from De Gea) fills me, or most supporters, with any hope or joy, as Van Gaal's "poxy" philosophy is half of the problem. However, it does typify the Glazers IMHO.

Stardust

I too have never heard of this way of cooking steak, and rarely fail to dissappoint with my own efforts, to carry out what should be a simple operation! I think I should maybe invest in one of those probe/thermometer/alarm clock thingummies too. I have a couple of top quality 1.5 inch T-bones (or US Porter Steaks actually) in the freezer which I will give the reverse treatment to, at the next opportunity. I really like the idea of not having to "rest" it after the final sear, and therefore having a really hot steak to eat.

Many hours! McVicar

Gulf Air have probably not changed their aircraft since you both last used them. Very, very dated now; I used them a couple of years back for a flight and the only difference was that the 1st class seats were now designated as Biz class, giving rise to different standards of seat for the same price, depending on when you booked. (I believe they have now taken the old 1st seats out and replaced with more Biz seats). Well behind the big 3 Middle East carriers though, and certainly not competetive price wise.

There was a big campaign to deter Thais from eating raw beef (it was a greatly favoured dish in the North) back in the mid-90s, around the time of the "mad cow" disease era. Maybe that aversion to raw beef (my missus is the same) harks back to the formative school indoctrination back then.

Sir John Gielgud

They serve a yorkshire and sage&onion stuffing with all of their roast dinners (beef, lamb, pork, and even chicken). The roast chicken main is a "disturbingly" enormous plate of food.

Also never heard of it, including military background, and although the synonyms are shown; no explanation as to what the hell a rope and a goat have anything to do with it's descriptive use. Must be some "Hillybilly" thing !

Oscar Levant

I think you missed the ironic humour!

Thank you for that RT. (Kawp kun "chow"). I lived in Chiang Rai some 20 years ago, for 3 years, with one of my "paper marriage" wives. It is good to see the changes. Back then many of the dwellings outside of the relatively small city were similar to those you show of the hilltribes. Half of my adopted family did quite literally still live in the trees! I was always very wary of visiting their homesteads, being of quite tall, and although normal for my height, a weight not conducive to my perception of a "safe working load" for the buildings! I became "very native" up there at that time, as there was very little English spoken, and almost no outlets for farang food, other than a very limited selection in the 3 or 4 large hotels that were there at the time. The few "bars" as we know themwere sort of "hippy" orientated, and p4p was very "undercover" and only really dealt with Thais, but not exclusively : and not intentionally either. IMHO, and untypically stereotyping, the best looking of all the Thai girls come from this region. The missus does not agree!!! I have always found the difference between Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai immense, probably the fact that the name has only 1 translit letter difference, leads one to compare the two places.

Why are you here on this forum? All you seem to do is "rag on" and gloat over BMs reporting poor circumstances.The OP was purely commenting on a poor airline, not trying to justify anything. You sound like one of those sermonising twats on Tripadvisor and the likes.

Olivia Neutron-Bomb (Newton-John)

I often wonder about these airlines. A return trip to or from the country of the airline normally meets with poor value, but throw in a "foreign" destination (I'm assuming the BKK stop will be classed as "a stopover" and the bargains appear. I suffer the same with Emirates when flying to or from Dubai. Case in point, my current return from Glasgow to BKK with them is ￡1 more than the last Glasgow to Dubai return I did with them. (Same flights are used) The subsequent single from GLA to Dubai is nearly the same amount as the return!!

Now beans on top of toasted cheese (cheddar of course)....... luxury !!! A "Cheese Beano" for those who speak "mariner"!

I heard it first hand earlier this week when visiting my mate. It was pretty bad, with some awful caterwauling female vocalist totally murdering Coldplay and that Tommy song (All about Eve????) amongst other tracks. He was on 6th floor; I would not much like the level of racket being pumped out if I were staying there, but it alledgedly is only bad between 1900 & 0130 with the live bands.

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

Apologies (in part) for that. We went there with intentions of the "a la carte" fare, but then saw the Cod special; right up my street . Delicious it was too!

My thoughts too. You could say that Gabor is quite literally "talking shit" there !

TThe Deer Hunter

Good one ! On a similar theme, but Brit style, a maybe not quite so "pc" sketch from the 80s.

Lev Shrieber (sp?)

......and many, many people would disagree with you. My experiences are of about 3 years ago, these are far more current, and possibly even worse! http://www.airlinequality.com/airport-reviews/abu-dhabi-airport/ Etihad are a good airline, although the extra seat in economy (3-4-3) in common with Emirates on the 777 BKK-AUH leg is not so good; but they are sadly let down by their "hub" airport, even with it's renovations. Of course though, this thread is really all about the ￡360

Wow, that lifts the Bruschetta out of the "finger food" category! Looks delicious though: Is the menu just Italian (with obligatory Thai dishes of course) or is it International? I always find that a/c or excessive fan action cools my food down far too quickly, and a lot of places are not great at getting "piping hot" dishes out to you in Thailand in the first place anyway. So my preference is "al fresco" here in Pattaya, but not exclusively so.