Mescalito

I'm afraid I'll be there in spirit only, as I don't arrive in Pattaya until May 20th.

"What's Love Got to Do With It?" by Tina Turner could very well be Pattaya's (un)official anthem. I can't help but think of Pattaya every time I hear it.

OK, I don't want to sound any dumber than I normally do anyway, and I certainly don't want to appear insensitive because I'm not, but I want to make sure I have this right. You say she can't talk. "Can't talk" as in she's a mute?

I think it just depends on what hotel you've booked; some are very good at replying and some aren't. In Pattaya I've stayed at the RG every trip but once, and I've always received a prompt reply; only once did it take more than 24 hours to hear back, and that one exception with the RG was still within 48. In Bangkok I've stayed at the Majestic Suites, the Grottino Residence and the Royal President, and always heard back within 24 hours.

I haven't flown Lufthansa since I was a kid, and it sure wasn't in business class, and I've never flown KLM, but I did take Air France business class on a transatlantic business trip a few years ago. It thought it was very good.

The day after his wife disappeared in an off-shore kayaking accident, an Anchorage man answered his door to find two grim-faced Alaska State Troopers. "We're sorry Mr. Wilkens, but we have some information about your wife," said one trooper. "Tell me! Did you find her?" Wilkens shouted. The troopers looked at each other. One said, "We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?" Fearing the worst, an ashen Mr. Wilkens said, "Give me the bad news first." The trooper said, "I'm sorry to tell you, sir, but this morning we fo

If the question was who is tougher, I'd have to vote for the rugby players hands-down. But if it's who would win in a fight I have to go with American pro football players. They are so big, so strong and so fast that it's hard to imagine them losing a fight with anyone but a pro boxer or exceptional martial artist. I've stood next to some of these guys and even in their street clothes they're mountains. Even today's running backs are as big the linemen were 20 years ago. And the linebackers today? Forget it. Six-foot five, 260+ pounds, run the 40 in 4.4 and bench press as much as 500 pounds.

An Irishman , a Mexican and a Blonde Guy were doing construction work on scaffolding on the 20th floor of a building. They were eating lunch and the Irishman said, "Corned beef and cabbage! If I get corned beef and cabbage one more time for lunch, I'm going to jump off this building." The Mexican opened his lunch box and exclaimed, "Burritos again! If I get burritos one more time I'm going to jump off, too." The blonde opened his lunch and said, " Bologna again! If I get a bologna sandwich one more time, I'm jumping too." The next day, the Irishman opened his lunch box, saw corned beef and

Wow, Adam! Great pictures. You really know how to throw a party. I only wish I was there and not here freezing my ass off in San Francisco!

Not sure how much help this will be, given that I'm in the US and prices are sometimes hard to compare with the different tariffs, taxes, etc. I picked up a dozen new Pro-V1's in Pattaya last November that cost me about 50% more than they would have at home. Having brilliantly left my golf shoes at Khow Kheow (sp?) while I was there and not wanting to make the 2-hour round-trip to retrieve them, I bought a new pair that were damned-near double the price of what they were back home.

I've played in 2 of the RideHer Cups so far and have already committed to the 2007 matches. If you can make it out for this then by all means do. Win, lose or draw you'll have a great time.

Send a PM to Doghaus, one of the BM's here, and ask him if he can arrange something for you with Jeremy. Jeremy's a teaching pro and is also one of Doggie's business associates in Solar Golf. I had an on-course playing lesson with Jeremy at Mission Hills in Phuket in November that was a very, very worthwhile experience. On a range, the pro can only see how you swing the club; on the course, he can see how you play.

Yes, it's a sad day indeed when I think 1800 for coach is a good deal. Until yesterday morning though, I was having a hard time finding coach for less than 2200 without too many connections or an absurdly long layover somewhere. And forget biz class -- I couldn't find a ticket for less than 3 grand. But yes, I'll let you buy me that drink!

I'm in the same boat. Now that I've found an airfare that won't break the bank, I'm having to hunt for a hotel room for Dec 27th thru Jan 1st. So far the RG and the Sandy Springs have told me they're sold out.

Halleluyiah!!! I'm saved!!! I'm coming back after all! Between checking kayak.com daily and Sailfast's idea, I was able to find a fare I could live with this morning. SFO to HK, HK to BKK and return for $1,846 all in. I get in to BKK the night of the 27th and fly out the morning of the 2nd, just as I'd hoped to do. Ahhhhhhhh, life is good.

Trust me, I'm not strapped for cash, not even after my 3 weeks over over-indulgence in LOS in November. I'm just appalled by how much tickets are for that week, even in coach. The idea of paying more for coach than I paid for business class just a month ago bugs the hell out of me.

Unfortunately, I am seriously constrained by family and work obligations. I'll be with my brother and his family Christmas day, so I could leave on the 26th, but I can't be back at work any later than the 3rd of January. I have enough miles for a free ticket, but I just got off the phone with Delta, who checked every one of their partner airlines and there isn't an award ticket seat available for those dates on any of them. Time to go buy a Lotto ticket, I guess.

I really, really, really want to come back for that week from Christmas through New Year's but every air fare I've been looking at for even an economy class ticket from either SFO or LAX is more, some times lot more, than I paid for business class in November. The cheapest I've found so far was about US$ 2,200 on JAL, but that required a 24-hour lay-over in Tokyo; their flight to BKK departs Narita at the same time my flight from SFO would be landing there. Any suggestions, or am I just SOL until April?

I upgraded, if you can call it that, to IE7 a few weeks ago and quickly became very disappointed. I then installed Firefox -- much, much better! -- and now use it as my default browser. I've noticed, however, that when I scroll my mouse pointer over a BM's reputation icon nothing appears; the bit of text that is supposed to appear to describe that member's rep doesn't show up. So far that's the only thing I've noticed, so I don't know if this is something I'll have to live with if I'm using Firefox, or if there is some setting in the browser I need to change. Any ideas?

I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I should have stayed another week! It looks like a great party once again and I'm very sorry I had to miss it. And BTW, who owns those amazing legs!

I'm a big fan of the Sunset Cafe on 2nd Road just past Greg's Kitchen (Greg used to own this place). It's a bit more expensive that what's been quoted here for other places, but the food is good, the portions are quite sufficient and Dao (?), the proprietor, is an absolute sweetheart. I ate there several times during my trip in April, and when I was back this November she remembered me. That goes a long way in my book.

You're right about the Misson Hills; it's a beautiful layout, the facilities are impeccable and the service is absolutely first rate, but the course itself was in pretty poor condition. The fairways were patchy and thin, and the greens were so chewed up the ball bounced more then it rolled when you putted it. I saw a large group of groundskeepers spreading what my caddie told me was salt, which struck me as counterproductive; what's going to grow there when you've salted the land? Jeremy told me they'd been having a lot of problems due to the very wet year they'd had and had not been able t

Forget Tunney vs. Schmelling. Forget Dewey vs. Truman. Forget The Raiders. vs the Steelers and The Immaculate Reception. The greatest upset of all time was last week at Mission Hills in Phuket. The teams were Yours Truly (handicap = 7) and Jeremy (club and teaching professional) vs. Lobin (28) and Taxi (18). I shoot one under my index for a gross 78 and 36 points. My partner is a pro. And yet . . . .. . We lose 5-and-4.

PIC Kitchen Marine Seafood Vientianne Restaurant

My congratulations go out to the Europeans for a day well-fought and for the fun that ensued during and after the tournament. One bit of consolation for us Americans (and those designated as Americans for the purpose of yesterday's event) is that in losing by only 2 points we certainly fared much better than our professional counterparts who show up every 2 years to get their heads handed to them on a platter!