Mescalito

I wish I had enough free time on my hands to join in. Taking advantage of those who take advantage of others sounds like fun!

Aw, shucks. And there I was thinking I was getting special treatment! Once again, fantasy and delusion are wrecked to bits on the rocky shore of reality!

On my last trip to LOS in November '04 I was on Korean Air, and with a fully-loaded garment bag, a carry-on, and my golf clubs I was probably 5kg or more over the allowance. They didn't charge me extra, even though I was flying on a FF ticket from Delta.

I think that staying at the Nana is something you have to do at least once as a rite of passage. It's definitely showing it's age, but if they continue the remodeling throughout the entire property it should turn out pretty well. I've stayed there twice: the first time I swore I never would again, but I gave it a second chance last November and it was acceptable. I've never seen any cockroaches or other vermin (not counting the skinny and very weird looking khatoey with the huge boobs who seems to hang out in the lobby all the time). FWIW, I have a confirmed reservation at the Majestic Su

I've had a few e-mail exchanges with Ib in the past on this very question. In the in-room guest literature it does talk about limiting the number of people. However, Ib explained that for a while there were guys who would bring in a ton of other guys and girls to their suites and hold huge parties all night long, greatly disturbing the other guests. He told me that I was free to bring back as many girls as I could handle -- no problem.

I'd love to join in the merriment, but the 15th is Loy Krathong and I already have plans to attend with my favorite BG.

Ditto the above comments. One of the more popular scam approaches these days is to mask destructive e-mails as legitimate e-mails that bounced back. I.e.- if you were to send an e-mail to an address that either doesn't work any longer, has a full mailbox, etc., it will trigger what's called a mailer daemon. That means the receiving mail server kicks your mail back to you with a message to that effect. Spammers, scammers, phishers, virus writers, etc. are all now using this to disguise stuff that they send out. You get an e-mail made to look like one you could have sent that was kicked back, bu

The e-mail address posted above is the same one I've been using successfully, including recently booking my November stay. Since you didn't get (I'm assuming, since you didn't mention one) a mailer daemon the address and the mail server are both working. Ib may be on vacation or out of town without access to his e-mail, although knowing him, it's hard to imagine him not maintaining contact with all of his business enterprises: hotels, condo development, yacht brokerage, etc. The man is becoming the Donald Trump of Pattaya, but without the ego and the bad hair. What the hell -- check th

For what you get, it's dirt cheap by US standards. For the equivalent of about $30 US you'll get your green fees, caddy fee and pay the tip for your caddy. Suggestion: go to the office of the Patataya Sports Club and get a membership; I think it's about 600B for a year. It may help you get some discounts at some courses in the area. Almost all of the courses in the area can be found on the web, with a complete breakdown on the costs for each. In most cases, the caddy fee is 200B, maybe 300B on some courses. It is also expected that you tip the caddy the same amount. When I played Muang Ak

There's also the Majestic Suites, crawling distance from NEP. Haven't stayed there myself, although I am for 3 nights on my next trip in November. I've read very good things about it. Small but very nice rooms, good breakfast (for 2) included in the room rate, and very GF.

In just wonder how far down on the list we'd find Aeroflot?

Worrying about the Walk of Shame is, to take Shakespeare out of context, "much ado about nothing". Nobody cares that you're taking a BG up to to room, and anyone who does care will have the good manners not to mention it. Unless you're making an incredible spectacle fo yourself or going to a hotel where it might clearly be unwelcome, taking someone back to your room garners about as much interest from the hotel staff as would a documentary on the history of the rutabaga. Most of us have breakie with our BG the next morning in the hotel restaurant, and the staff at the RG are quite familiar wit

Thanks for the suggestions! I've already pinged the folks at FLB and proposed the 9th as a target date. The more I think about it the more I'm looking forward to it. I just hope the 4 months between now and then go by pretty quickly because the anticipation is killing me!

Maybe I'm the odd one out, but I actually like the midnight arrivals in BKK. Getting through immigration is pretty quick, and I can grab a taxi and be at the hotel by 1:00am. I drop the bags, freshen up a bit, and head straight to NEP or Nana Disco! Perfect timing!

I flew China Airlines last year R/T LAX-Taipei-BKK. It was OK, but not great. Microwaved Chinese food isn't quite as tasty as the real stuff in a restaurant, but there was enough of it to fill you up. The cabin staff were quite good and very attentive, although I slept a goodly portion of the LA-Taipei legs (13+ hours). OTOH, I flew Korean Air twice last year to BKK, once business class and once coach, and I think they're one of the best airlines I've ever flown. Coach was plenty comfortable and the food was excellent, but business class felt like heaven! I'm going back in November for 16

Alright, if I understand this (always a point of contention in my case ), the calendar is relatively open between November 8th and 12th? I'm asking because I am giving serious thought to throwing a "Countdown to 50" party at FLB one of those nights and want to make sure there are enough merry-makers around to join in the festivities. I turn 49 in January, but since I won't be in LOS then I want to start the countdown in spectacular fashion, and this looks like the only chance I'll have to do so.

Hmmmm. Thanks for the feedback on Rosetta Stone. They did offer me a 100% money-back guarantee, i.e.- if I'm not fluent in Thai in 6 months I can get all my money back. I'm not sure how the define "fluent", though.

I just ordered the CD program from Rosetta Stone; it was the highest rated of those I could find reviewed. It should arrive in a week or so, and I'll let you know what I think of it after I've used it for a while. There are a couple of good Thai restaurants in town that I frequent, and that's where I'll try to get in some practice. RS guarantees that you'll be pretty fluent in 6 months, which means I should be OK by the time I get back in November for Loy Krathong. Now maybe I'll know what the BGs are saying to each other about me while they're sitting there!

With all due respect, the worst thing you could do for yourself is make your first attempt at golf a round on a real course. Notwithstanding that you won't have any idea how to swing a club, you also won't know anything about course etiquette, and in most golfer's books a playing partner's etiquette is more important than his skill level. Not knowing how to play, you'll find it an exhausting and frustrating day. So, I'm afraid, will the people you're with. My suggestion? Since you have almost 6 months before this tournament, go buy yourself a starter set of clubs and take lessons; maybe ta

Lots of good advice for a 1st-timer here already. Maybe the most important is what you'll hear over and over again: don't get too drunk and don't behave like a complete ass. There are already enough assholes in the world; no need to add to the population.

OK, gentlemen, I must not have been paying attention because I apparently missed the announcement that explains why r/t airfares will be about 20-25% above what I'm used to. I just looked at LAX-BKK flights leaving mid-June and returning the first weekend in July, and couldn't find anything under US$1,000. My trips last year (January, September and November) were all in the 750-800 range. I didn't think that June would be high season, or am I once again woefully ignorant of the ways of the world?

I think Lefty is going to come pretty close to back-to-back wins, but I think I'll favor either Vijay Singh or Retief Goosen.

leemo, I may be a day late and 39.8537 baht short, but you may also might want to check and make sure you also have the most recent XP service packs installed. Assuming, of course, that Microsoft's download site will let you access them.

Consider me good-to-go. With Loy Krathong coming earlier this year I can probably swing it to be there for both. Sounds like one hell of a good time in the works.

Incheon Airport is just outside of Seoul and is a very modern and well-designed facility -- beats the hell out of a lot of other airports I've been to, that's for sure! Depending on how long your layover is, you might want to book yourself a room in the transit hotel that's inside the international terminal. Picture a room at a Hilton or Hyatt, but a lot smaller (since you're only in it for a few hours.) Very comfortable bed, excellent bathroom and shower facilities, flat screen TV, great restaurant immediately adjoining the reception desk, and quiet! Depending on the exchange rate, it's abou