Mescalito

It's nice to see you posting here, Mr. Toom. I'm arriving again in early November, and will e-mail you the week before with my flight information. I look forward to using your excellent service again.

This was sent to me by a friend. Those of you in the US will certainly see the connections, those of you in other countries can no doubt come up with some demographics for your own papers. . . . . . . 1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country. 2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country. 3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles. 4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts. 5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country -- if they could find the time -- and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it. 6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a far superior job of it, thank you very much. 7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train. 8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated. 9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores. 10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country . . or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans. 11. The Minneapolis Star Tribune (aka Star & Sickle) is read by those who lament the breakup of the Soviet Union. 12. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store. 13. The Oregonian is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something in which to wrap it.

On those courses where you either can or must take a cart, your caddy rides along with you. She does all the same things as she would if she had your bag on a pull cart (yardage, reading putts, etc.); the only difference is that the two of you are riding, not walking. If your question is actually can you dispense with both, while you may want to pass on taking a cart, absolutely take a caddy; not using one is in Thailand practically unheard of. It's not just very inexpensive by western standards, it's also a part of the experience, and trust me: some of these girls can read the greens with their eyes closed and there will be times when you'll need it. My index hovers around a 7 and I still count on my caddy to help me read the greens. In fact, I don't even try to read them any more; I just look over at my caddy and do what she tells me. I learned that lesson pretty early on.

There are quite a few good courses within 30-60 minutes of Pattaya. Phoenix has already been mentioned, but I can also recommend Burapha, Bangpra, and Eastern Star, just to name a few. You can also contact BM Doghaus, as he runs a golf tourism company in Pattaya and has outings to various courses a couple of times a week. The groups usually include a lot of the ex-pats living there, all of whom are great guys to play golf with.

I have to go with Tengotodo on this one. I don't know what country and city you're in, but trust me: there is nothing like driving in Thailand in general, and in Bangkok in particular. Unless you're in one of the countries where people drive on the left, you'll feel completely disoriented and have to fight years of practice and habits -- and probably unsuccessfully. If you already drive on that side of the road, you'll still have to adjust to the general chaos in Bangkok and the Formula 1-like driving on the highways (although it seems more like NASCAR a lot of the time). Unless there's a genuine and unavoidable reason to rent and drive your own car, hire a driver/taxi/baht bus on an as-needed basis and save yourself a lot of aggravation. A lot!

I stopped in Sweethearts a couple of times during my last trip in May. I found it a very enjoyable place. Fun, friendly, no pressure, good music and nice girls. I had a nice chat with Chalkie and he strikes me as a good guy. All-in-all a nice place to hang out.

The rate does not include breakfast. The breakfast menu that's available has several options: a la carte, a continental breakfast, and an "American Style" breakfast. As regards reservations, I've never been asked for a credit card # or deposit whenever I've booked there, and I've stayed there 7 times.

Some of the rooms in the southern wing, the wing to the far right of the lobby and upper car park, have combination tubs/showers instead of the walk-in showers in the main wing. The faucet arrangements in those are a bit easier to get the water temperature currect than those in the main wing, for some reason. And yes, as others have said, the beds are queen-size; plenty of room for 2, and I've fund them to have even enough room for 3 on occasion! However, I'm also a bit on the slim side, which does work to my advantage in such matters.

Of all the times for me to be back home!

Here's one my ex-wife told me back when we were married. An apocryphal joke, if you will . . . . . . Q: What do Eggs Benedict and a blow job have in common? A: You can't get either one at home.

First, your Delta flight is probably a codeshare on either Korean or China Airlines. I've flown both, but since your question is about Korean Air I'll just cover that one. Korean Air is, from my experience, outstanding. Admittedly I've been in biz class each time with them so the amenities are better than coach, but from what I saw of the coach cabin (and the FA's!

Today I once again teamed up with Jeremy, Solar Golf's professional-in-residence, this time in a match against Doghaus and his better half at Laem Chabang. My index is a 7 and Jeremy is, well, a professional golfer. Doggie and Mrs. Doggie play off, it is claimed , a 24 and a 27. We gave them a stroke a hole except on the par 3's. We were 5-down at the turn and 3 holes later it was all over. We should have seen it coming when Wi opened the match with a natural birdie (net eagle) on the first hole. Not only did we lose 7-and-6, we did not win a single whole. We halved a few, but did not win a single hole the entire round. Even a couple of natural birdies from The Pro and shooting 2-under for the back nine were not enough to garner us even a token win along the way. We hang our heads in shame.

Maybe I'm the exception here. I've stayed at the Majestic Suites 3 times; I booked in advance via their web site and always received a reply.

Michael, We first met back in November and I'm beginning to think you've stayed -- I see pictures of you here on a pretty regular basis! Have you been back to the UK at all since November?

The first rule of self-defense is this: Don't be an idiot. Don't get too drunk. Don't behave like an ass. Don't go where you don't belong or where you're not wanted. There's a corollary to Murphy's Law that says "No matter how much of a bad-ass you are, or think you are, there's always going to be someone who's badder".

Which means, I take it, that you can't get to Siem Reap directly from U-Tapao.

I managed to last slightly more than 20 minutes in the one visit I made to Galaxy. However, that's because it took 10 minutes for anyone to notice that I might possibly want to order a drink (250, maybe 300 baht for a Heineken) and another 5 minutes to get my change after it arrived. I never got hassled for tips from any of the dancers but I think it's because on that particular night the ones working clearly couldn't be bothered with even looking at any of us, much less spending any time with anyone. Those girls acted like they farted rose petals. I can't think of a single reason for ever going back there.

Interesting results, and as others have mentioned the lack of US carriers is no surprise at all. I've only flown 3 of the top 10 listed: Thai, China, and BA. I'm surprised that Korean Air didn't make it to the list as my flights on them have been exceptional. I'd fly them to LOS instead of China Airlines but their fares, and in biz class in particular, have become so much higher than CI that I just can't justify it. I've always had excellent service, food, etc on China Airlines, and I've noticed even some improvements the last couple of years. My Thai Airways experience was limited to a r/t between Pattaya/Utapao and Phuket, but the flight on that turbo-prop provided more comfort, better food and better service than any domestic flight I've taken lately in the US. I took BA r/t from LAX to London a couple of years ago as well as between London & Glasgow and found it perfectly acceptable.

I found the need to resurrect this nearly-year-old thread. I was looking at airfares for November and saw a huge difference in business class fares (SFO-BKK) between EVA and the others. EVA fares were running about $1,350 USD r/t, while every other airline I saw was double that or more. Any ideas on why the big difference?

And to think that my ex-wife used to complain about my driving. She didn't just tailgate people, she drafted off them!

I stayed there between Christmas and New Year's and liked it. Nice rooms, good service staff, good value. The only negative I experienced is that there's no elevator (that I could find, anyway) and lugging my golf clubs up and down the narrow winding staircase could be an adventure at times. That, however, strikes me as a relatively minor issue.

I thought about that, but even if I was staying in Bangkok I'd have to get up about 5 or 5:30am to make my 8:30am flight. I don't want to add travel time from Pattaya to that and I don't do well on zero sleep, so staying up all night and leaving from Pattaya is out.

I need a hotel near Suvarnabhumi Airport. It's just for one night, my last night before my 8:30am return flight to the US on my trip in May. The Novotel looks good, but the prices I've seen there are pretty outrageous. I've searched here, on TravelAdvisor.com and others but can't some up with much in the way of solid recommendations. One that's guest-friendly would be nice, too, but that's not a requirement.

I'll vouch for the PIC Kitchen. I had dinner there on my first trip and thought it was outstanding. Beautiful Ayuttaya-style decor, excellent service and very, very good food. Yes, it's expensive by LOS standards, but I've spent as much on an appetizer in Los Angeles as the entire meal cost me at PIC. I'd go back there in an instant. (It's also where I learned of the curative qualities of fresh cucumber as a way to kill the heat from the spicy food.) As far as other places I like, I'm partial to Marine Seafood adjacent to Marine Plaza -- it's popular with the BG'and that's almost always where we have dinner when I ask them to pick. I've also enjoyed Vientiane (sp?) and have had some really good meals there. My usual rule-of-them is to let the girls pick where to eat and ask them to order.

I've been on China Airlines several times and have had good experiences with them. I do prefer Korean Air, but their ticket prices seemed to have jumped a lot since last year. Some may not care much for China Airlines, but even on their worst day they beat the hell out of domestic US carriers on their best. I also get miles on Delta with them, so that's a bit of an incentive for me.