i heard of people putting mobo's in washing machine to clean it.
no joke... i've heard people do it (here in AT also)
but i was never that bold or daring.
it just didn't feel right for me to put electrical products in water.
i use rubbing alcohol.
it takes much effort to clean off them thermal pads...
but i use that and qtip to wipe as best as i can.
and once i'm done with that...
i use the finest sand paper to give a nice touch up on HS... before applying AS.
as for pink goo around the die...
i usually try to take off as much as possible... but don't worry too much about them.