15th September
I wake at 07:30 fully clothed and on the sofa, so I undress and finally make it to bed, however I'm woken at 11:30 by the 'phone ringing. It's a Thai number and one that isn't in my directory, so I answer with a simple "Hello" and hear a 'northern' voice say "Hi George, I'm at the old airport now and I'm on my way to Udon Thani to see my lady. The 'plan' is that I'll be in Pattaya in about 10 days time so I should see you then." I haven't got the first clue as to who this is and in my half asleep / half awake state I decide that I'll just engage in conversation and hope it becomes clear.
After 5 minutes, I've sussed it! It's BM Manracer, so we chat for a few more minutes and he confirms that he'll be staying in Metro Apartments on Soi LK Metro when he arrives which I already knew as I'd been told this by BM Karunda Bagman last night.
We agree to meet when he gets into town and he asks if there is anything going on from the 25th that I am aware of. I tell him that the only event I can think of from the top of my head is the GoGo Bar Crawl on the last Thursday of the month which is the 27th September.
30 seconds after hanging up, the 'phone starts ringing again. This time it's A and she says that she's on her way home, so that cheers me up somewhat.
Kev sends me a text at 11:47 saying that he's having trouble with his 'net connection with some apps working and others just hanging and timing out, so I look to hook up with him on Messenger (An app he says is working) to try and troubleshoot where he's getting the problem. I try to use the Internet, but my connection is a bit hit and miss as well. It seems that connection to the upstream DNS servers is being lost, so I can access sites using an IP address but nothing that requires any name resolution. Every five minutes or so, connectivity is restored for a couple of minutes, but after 15 minutes, even this limited service fails and all further attempts to make a dial up connection fail.
At this point A arrives home and I am pleased to see her, however I'm not so pleased to see who's with her. It's 'baby me' Phil, so any ideas I'd had of a little 'afternoon delight' are shelved.
A proceeds to cook deep fried chicken in breadcrumbs and we all tuck in to the freshly frieed chicken. It's still only 13:15 and I'm now being invited to join Robin and his visitors downstairs for a drink. I tell A that it's too early for me to start drinking, but once I realise that Phil is staying the night and there will be no 'nookie' tonight, I end up agreeing and head downstairs where we talk, drink and eat whilst the kids are playing outside.
The visitor is the aunt of Kye (lady #2) and she's here to sort out a problem left by another member of the family that I'd met earlier in the trip. (Seems she borrowed money that she couldn't repay and a 'senior' member of the family has been sent in to pay the debts and avoid the family embarrassment.)
The Chang beer and 100 Pipers Whisky is in full flow and as A was one of the people 'let down', it seems that the food and drink is a form of apology (as well as having been repaid the 2000 baht that was due to her.)
By 20:30, everything winds down and the Auntie and her son are driven by A & Kye to their hotel. Tomorrow they are travelling to Bangkok and then onward to their home in South Thailand somewhere near Phuket.
We head back to the room and Phil is settling down on a bed made up on the floor. A asks if it is possible for Phil to live with us during the week and I explain that it is not possible with us only having a single room place.
She makes a few phone calls to Mama, Phil, 'Brudder' and 'Auntie'. The only one that can really manage is 'Seeter', but she has been unreliable of late and has failed to get Phil to school or provide money for his food (even though she's paid by A weekly). In addition, Phil has told A several times that 'Seeter' hits him. (I can sort of understand this happening.)
I explain that we would need at least two rooms and that I didn't have the money to pay for extra rent at the moment and additionally I would not want the responsibility of looking after a child without A being around.
Another round of telephone calls and A then says that if I can pay 5000 baht a month for rent, she can pay utilities and instead of paying Mama 1000 baht a week, I'd only have to pay 500 baht a week. This is a budget 'neutral' move and will provide us with more space, but there will be the addition of Phil. I'm unsure but will accept it as I'd expected something like this happening at some point.
A will investigate the availability of places and the logistics of getting Phil to / from school over the next week, but for now nothing is fully determined.
Expenditure :
0 baht
Saturday 15 September 2007
Friday 14 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 36
14th September
A heads off to work and I suspect that she'll be away tonight as she knows that I'll be out at Cherry Bar. It's a fairly lazy day and as I'm not that hungry, I just fry up some thin slices of pork loin and a couple of eggs which I have with a chunk of the french bread and that's sufficient for me.
I speak with A at 16:00 amd she confirms that she'll be away tonight and then around 18:30 I get a knock on the door and open it to find Nam, Pun & Tai all there. They are just checking that I'm going to be at Cherry Bar tonight. Of course I am (!); they decide that they will be leaving at 20:15, so I should be ready for then.
Before I leave, I get a text message from Adam "Hope you get drunk tonight", so I have a cold bottle of Chang before heading off. I travel to the Bar with Tai and Nam travels with Pun. When we get to Soi 8, it's once again pretty deserted, but I am getting used to this early in the night now.
I'm hoping that a few BM's make it along to the bar tonight as it's been publicised that there is a free glass of Singha draft for those that make themsleves known. I forget to write the names of all the BM's that turn up, but they include Tomski808, Whitespider (and his wife), Dimples (and a guy he did his teaching course with), Progrocker, Pattaya Man (?), Karunda Bagman, Skate (?), Hutch, Big Pete and Cool Kangaroo as well as a few other guys who were not members of any board including Harald, Steve and Eric (apologies to those whose names I have probably missed).
I get around and manage to at least say hello to everyone and have a bit of a chat with a few of the guys. It was good to see that several of them had already met up the previous day on the outing to Ban Chang, so they were getting to know each other a little better tonight.
By around 23:00, most of them have left though, so there was little point in opening the bottle of tequila that Hammer had left to be drunk. One of the BM's has spent the night sitting. chatting and generally looking very happy with Jeeb and I'm convinced that he's going to pay barfine again as he'd paid barfine the previous night and tonight was to be his last night in town this trip. But it appears that he's decided to spend it alone, so he pays checkbin and disappears into the night. He'll be back in June next year and is planning a three month trip then, so good luck to you in that my friend.
As the customer count dwindles, I settle down for a chat with Karunda Bagman and we chit chat about the 'old days' in the computer industry and he generously buys me a few beers once again. He isn't staying too late tonight as he's heading back to Metro apartments to watch the rugby. (It's also shown on the TV's in the Cherry Bar, but to be honest as an Englishman, I wish that it hadn't been)
Down to 4 customers now, so I get them all a drink and when they've finished, two more leave, however it's around 03:45 now, so it's time to head on back to home. The girls arrange my transport and I'm going with a guy that isa friend Pun and Nam says that she'll see mne back at the room.
I'm tired , but not drunk so I sit on the sofa and send a text to Adam "Totally failed to get even merry, let alone drunk. The tequila is intact." and then proceed to fall asleep on the sofa.
Expenditure :
0 baht
A heads off to work and I suspect that she'll be away tonight as she knows that I'll be out at Cherry Bar. It's a fairly lazy day and as I'm not that hungry, I just fry up some thin slices of pork loin and a couple of eggs which I have with a chunk of the french bread and that's sufficient for me.
I speak with A at 16:00 amd she confirms that she'll be away tonight and then around 18:30 I get a knock on the door and open it to find Nam, Pun & Tai all there. They are just checking that I'm going to be at Cherry Bar tonight. Of course I am (!); they decide that they will be leaving at 20:15, so I should be ready for then.
Before I leave, I get a text message from Adam "Hope you get drunk tonight", so I have a cold bottle of Chang before heading off. I travel to the Bar with Tai and Nam travels with Pun. When we get to Soi 8, it's once again pretty deserted, but I am getting used to this early in the night now.
I'm hoping that a few BM's make it along to the bar tonight as it's been publicised that there is a free glass of Singha draft for those that make themsleves known. I forget to write the names of all the BM's that turn up, but they include Tomski808, Whitespider (and his wife), Dimples (and a guy he did his teaching course with), Progrocker, Pattaya Man (?), Karunda Bagman, Skate (?), Hutch, Big Pete and Cool Kangaroo as well as a few other guys who were not members of any board including Harald, Steve and Eric (apologies to those whose names I have probably missed).
I get around and manage to at least say hello to everyone and have a bit of a chat with a few of the guys. It was good to see that several of them had already met up the previous day on the outing to Ban Chang, so they were getting to know each other a little better tonight.
By around 23:00, most of them have left though, so there was little point in opening the bottle of tequila that Hammer had left to be drunk. One of the BM's has spent the night sitting. chatting and generally looking very happy with Jeeb and I'm convinced that he's going to pay barfine again as he'd paid barfine the previous night and tonight was to be his last night in town this trip. But it appears that he's decided to spend it alone, so he pays checkbin and disappears into the night. He'll be back in June next year and is planning a three month trip then, so good luck to you in that my friend.
As the customer count dwindles, I settle down for a chat with Karunda Bagman and we chit chat about the 'old days' in the computer industry and he generously buys me a few beers once again. He isn't staying too late tonight as he's heading back to Metro apartments to watch the rugby. (It's also shown on the TV's in the Cherry Bar, but to be honest as an Englishman, I wish that it hadn't been)
Down to 4 customers now, so I get them all a drink and when they've finished, two more leave, however it's around 03:45 now, so it's time to head on back to home. The girls arrange my transport and I'm going with a guy that isa friend Pun and Nam says that she'll see mne back at the room.
I'm tired , but not drunk so I sit on the sofa and send a text to Adam "Totally failed to get even merry, let alone drunk. The tequila is intact." and then proceed to fall asleep on the sofa.
Expenditure :
0 baht
Thursday 13 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 35
13th September
As I'm about to leave the shop, I'm called back and given a 'sample' of two sausages and a pack of 3 or 4 Back Bacon rashers. The 'plan' is that I'll share these with Kevin when I see him next and provide a review, however I may just do a review on my own 'experience' (A 'proper' BLT is calling out to me).
A phones to say that she will be working tonight (as I suspected), so I make myself a green curry which I overdo on the chillis a bit and it's quite 'spicy', but bloody good if I say so myself.
I settle down to a bottle of Chang and a couple of DVD's, then speak to A briefly before switching out the light and drawing a close to yet another day in LoS.
Expenditure :
Baht Bus : 10 baht
Carrefour : 314.50 baht
Telehone Cable : 200 baht
Telephone Top Up : 100 baht
The day started with me being given a lift to the end of Pattaya Klang by A where I then jumped on a baht bus for the short trip to Carrefour. I was on a mission to find picture hooks for Kevin and after a fruitless search around HW, I actually located some in the Carrefour store.
As we have meat at home, I decide that I'd better stock up on a few vegetables and I decide to buy here where there are labels rather than make a trip to the market. I get all the vegetable ingredients to prepare a green curry using the packet paste bought earlier in the week (basil, kaffir leaves, eggplant & chilli) and I cannot resist buying a french stick (a farang food that I do still enjoy). So lunch is to be a baguette with cold meat, Thai lettuce & Chinese tomatoes (The closest I could get to a BLT).
I also buy pork loin and chicken breast to replenish the stocks that are running down in the fridge as well as a few general household items.
I then notice that my 'phone battery is running low and I know that I have left my USB charging lead at Kev's place, so I call in at one of the 'phone outlets in the store to check the price of a replacement USB cable for my Sony Ericsson. It's 200 baht, so I buy this and a 100 baht phone top up at the same time.
I then make the walk home declining numerous offers from the scooter taxi riders along the way. Just before crossing the railway line, I decide to stop at the D2M English Food Service shop to check out their bacon & sausage produce as this is something that Kevin has been trying hard with little success to source in Pattaya.
I ask the staff in the shop for a card so that Kevin (or Joy) can call them. The staff are extremely helpful and show me the various items and I'm given a pricelist.
- Pork sausage (Big) Approx 12 links - 175 baht / kg
Pork sausage (Small) Approx 16 links - 175 baht / kg
Irish sausage (Big) Approx 12 links - 175 baht / kg
Irish sausage (Small) Approx 16 links - 175 baht / kg
Lean Short Back Bacon - 175 baht / kg
Middle Cut Bacon - 175 baht /kg
Horseshoe Gammon - 175 baht / kg
Back Gammon Steak - 175 baht / kg
Beefburger (125g or 150g) - 175 baht /kg
Pork Chop (300g- 350g) - 150 baht / kg
T-Bone Steak (250g - 400g) - 270 baht / kg
Pure Ground Beef - 100 baht / kg
Rump Steak (250g) - 250 baht / kg
As I'm about to leave the shop, I'm called back and given a 'sample' of two sausages and a pack of 3 or 4 Back Bacon rashers. The 'plan' is that I'll share these with Kevin when I see him next and provide a review, however I may just do a review on my own 'experience' (A 'proper' BLT is calling out to me).
A phones to say that she will be working tonight (as I suspected), so I make myself a green curry which I overdo on the chillis a bit and it's quite 'spicy', but bloody good if I say so myself.
I settle down to a bottle of Chang and a couple of DVD's, then speak to A briefly before switching out the light and drawing a close to yet another day in LoS.
Expenditure :
Baht Bus : 10 baht
Carrefour : 314.50 baht
Telehone Cable : 200 baht
Telephone Top Up : 100 baht
Wednesday 12 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 34
12th September
I get a lift from A to Kevin's place and I spend the morning monitoring his Internet connection and checking the router logfiles. The router and the access point seem to be 'behaving' and the problems are with the ADSL line itself with several entries reporting line state changes from Up to Down.
Also, as I'd installed Office 2007 on the laptop PC the other day, there are now many Mb's of Microsoft patches and updates to be applied and even with the benefit of ADSL, this still takes several hours to download and install. Whilst the download is taking place, I take advantage to use the pool and as I'm laying out on the airbed, I realise that this is the first time I've actually been in a swimming pool in all my time in LoS.
Joy has been away all morning clearing stuff out of the condo and she arrives back in the taxi bus, but she is not alone. She has co-opted a friend to help in the removal of stuff and I can confirm that this woman is a bloody expert when it comes to stripping a condo clear. (It's Ann of Trip 1 / Trip 2 'fame'). I am civil, but just don't talk to her as there is nothing I want to say, however I do choose to stay out by the pool rather than sit inside with her being there.
Later in the afternoon, Joy takes Ann home on the scooter and myself and Kev have a barbecue lunch / tea of steak, hotdogs, sweetcorn & chips which is nice, but I find that I haven't really 'missed' farang food.
I call A to see if she can pick me up from Kevin's, but it seems that she's not going to be back again tonight. She knows that there's a party at the Cherry Bar which I will be going to as I've told her that I'll be meeting BM Alleycat (who she has met before) as he is only in town until Friday morning and this is the only opportunity I'll have to meet him.
(A is often reluctant to go out to the Cherry Bar which is unfortunate as it's a place that I use, but then I don't have an obvious problem with any of the girls being 'bitchy' toward me.)
Joy finally returns at just after 18:00 and she then offers to take me home, so I jump on the back of the scooter and we head off on the new road which I notice has acquired a fresh tarmac surface during the day. We cross the first junction and as we approach Soi Sukhumvit 53, Joy tells me that she remembers where I live and turns left (instead of going straight across). I tell her that it's the next Soi along, but not to worry and to take the next right. We head down the Soi and when it becomes a dirt track, Joy is somewhat sceptical and asks how I know this way. I explain that I walk around everywhere, but I sense that she doesn't believe me until we arrive at the building I live in. She then knows where she is and how to return, so I thank her for the lift and she revs up and off down the Soi.
I get indoors and after the mandatory SSS, I get dressed ready to head back out. A then calls me and asks where I am and tells me that she is on her way back to Pattaya. I say that I'll wait for her and we can both go to the Cherry Bar together. When she arrives she says that she knows that I wanted her to be with me to see my friend and it's okay, because she says "I know you understand; it not matter if lady bar not understand".
We arrive at Cherry Bar and for a midweek party, there's a good turnout with many BM's popping in at some stage during the night; many I know and I suspect a few that I missed. Kev0184, Hillbilly, Mike100, Tomski808, Alleycat, Dimples, Spanky4star, Karunda Bagman, Ned Kelly & Bazzap.
I get a lift from A to Kevin's place and I spend the morning monitoring his Internet connection and checking the router logfiles. The router and the access point seem to be 'behaving' and the problems are with the ADSL line itself with several entries reporting line state changes from Up to Down.
Also, as I'd installed Office 2007 on the laptop PC the other day, there are now many Mb's of Microsoft patches and updates to be applied and even with the benefit of ADSL, this still takes several hours to download and install. Whilst the download is taking place, I take advantage to use the pool and as I'm laying out on the airbed, I realise that this is the first time I've actually been in a swimming pool in all my time in LoS.
Joy has been away all morning clearing stuff out of the condo and she arrives back in the taxi bus, but she is not alone. She has co-opted a friend to help in the removal of stuff and I can confirm that this woman is a bloody expert when it comes to stripping a condo clear. (It's Ann of Trip 1 / Trip 2 'fame'). I am civil, but just don't talk to her as there is nothing I want to say, however I do choose to stay out by the pool rather than sit inside with her being there.
Later in the afternoon, Joy takes Ann home on the scooter and myself and Kev have a barbecue lunch / tea of steak, hotdogs, sweetcorn & chips which is nice, but I find that I haven't really 'missed' farang food.
I call A to see if she can pick me up from Kevin's, but it seems that she's not going to be back again tonight. She knows that there's a party at the Cherry Bar which I will be going to as I've told her that I'll be meeting BM Alleycat (who she has met before) as he is only in town until Friday morning and this is the only opportunity I'll have to meet him.
(A is often reluctant to go out to the Cherry Bar which is unfortunate as it's a place that I use, but then I don't have an obvious problem with any of the girls being 'bitchy' toward me.)
Joy finally returns at just after 18:00 and she then offers to take me home, so I jump on the back of the scooter and we head off on the new road which I notice has acquired a fresh tarmac surface during the day. We cross the first junction and as we approach Soi Sukhumvit 53, Joy tells me that she remembers where I live and turns left (instead of going straight across). I tell her that it's the next Soi along, but not to worry and to take the next right. We head down the Soi and when it becomes a dirt track, Joy is somewhat sceptical and asks how I know this way. I explain that I walk around everywhere, but I sense that she doesn't believe me until we arrive at the building I live in. She then knows where she is and how to return, so I thank her for the lift and she revs up and off down the Soi.
I get indoors and after the mandatory SSS, I get dressed ready to head back out. A then calls me and asks where I am and tells me that she is on her way back to Pattaya. I say that I'll wait for her and we can both go to the Cherry Bar together. When she arrives she says that she knows that I wanted her to be with me to see my friend and it's okay, because she says "I know you understand; it not matter if lady bar not understand".
We arrive at Cherry Bar and for a midweek party, there's a good turnout with many BM's popping in at some stage during the night; many I know and I suspect a few that I missed. Kev0184, Hillbilly, Mike100, Tomski808, Alleycat, Dimples, Spanky4star, Karunda Bagman, Ned Kelly & Bazzap.
I really hope that the cake is going to be edible this week.
A potential caption competition.
And sometimes a girl will even join in.
And one of the next door neighbour as she seems to have quite a fan club
The lovely Alleycat wouldn't let me buy a drink whilst he was there and simply kept taking the slips out of my checkbin and adding them to his. (Many thanks kind Sir, you are a true gent!)
At around 00:30, we called time ourselves as A has to work in the morning and after paying my extremely modest checkbin, we set off back along Klang to Sukhumvit and home.
Expenditure :
Birthday money : 100 baht
Cherry Bar : 250 baht
Tuesday 11 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 33
11th September
I awake at 08:00 and the day is already hot and there's a clear sky, so it's laundry day. I strip the bed and then decide that I will also wash the bedspread as the label says that it's machine washable. I end up with five loads of washing in total, so that keeps me pretty occupied during the day as I need to regularly turn the quilt to ensure that it is dry before the evening.
Kevin sends a text asking if I'm going to the curry night at Noi's bar and I call to say that I will probably go along for a few beers later on, but I wouldn't be eating. He says that he'll be there about 20:00, and I say that I plan on getting there between 20:30 & 21:00.
When A arrives home, I ask her if she wants to join me for a drink, but it seems that she doesn't want to go out. I say that it's okay and I'll stay in with her, but she says that I must go as I have told Kevin that I am going.
Before I go though, she's determined to cook me some 'farang' food. It's a good attempt, but cold vegetables and a 'gravy' made from Tomato ketchup, vinegar and a vegetable stock cube whilst being tangy and tasty isn't really 'authentic'. The patience employed with the mashed potato was almost too much to watch. The potato was sieved through a rice masher and was actually a potato puree rather than a mash, but again very tasty. This was the meal cooked to 'christen' the hotplate bought a couple of weeks ago.
I arrive at Noi's bar at 20:30 and Kevin is nowhere to be seen.
I awake at 08:00 and the day is already hot and there's a clear sky, so it's laundry day. I strip the bed and then decide that I will also wash the bedspread as the label says that it's machine washable. I end up with five loads of washing in total, so that keeps me pretty occupied during the day as I need to regularly turn the quilt to ensure that it is dry before the evening.
Kevin sends a text asking if I'm going to the curry night at Noi's bar and I call to say that I will probably go along for a few beers later on, but I wouldn't be eating. He says that he'll be there about 20:00, and I say that I plan on getting there between 20:30 & 21:00.
When A arrives home, I ask her if she wants to join me for a drink, but it seems that she doesn't want to go out. I say that it's okay and I'll stay in with her, but she says that I must go as I have told Kevin that I am going.
Before I go though, she's determined to cook me some 'farang' food. It's a good attempt, but cold vegetables and a 'gravy' made from Tomato ketchup, vinegar and a vegetable stock cube whilst being tangy and tasty isn't really 'authentic'. The patience employed with the mashed potato was almost too much to watch. The potato was sieved through a rice masher and was actually a potato puree rather than a mash, but again very tasty. This was the meal cooked to 'christen' the hotplate bought a couple of weeks ago.
I arrive at Noi's bar at 20:30 and Kevin is nowhere to be seen.
There's a bunch of regulars that have been for the curry, so the place is busy and I end up sitting at one of the barstools overlooking the road. I find myself in conversation with a BM called Ozguy I think it was. Seems that he became fed up with the UK just over 30 years ago and simply upped sticks to Australia where he has lived ever since and with his holidays in Thailand, he is quite happy with his life.
Whilst talking, I find that one of the ladies from the bar has sat behind me and has started giving me a relaxing neck and shoulder massage. (It's a wonderful experience to be sitting in an open bar watching the world go by; having a cold beer and a chat with another guy and be attended to by a pretty girl.) I buy her a drink when I order my next drink (as it would be rude not to) and there's a lovely smile which I think I will never tire of seeing.
The bar slowly starts emptying as the curry eaters depart and Ozguy grabs a lift with BM Mulphy as he's staying in Metro Apartments which is just round the corner in Soi LK Metro from Mulphy's Rockhouse bar. I now turn my attention to the girl that has been looking after me and we sit looking out on the street and getting all the usual Q&A's out of the way. Her name is Na and she's 25; she's the best looker in the bar tonight in my opinion and she speaks pretty good English.
I buy another drink for the two of us and we sit looking out at the passing traffic on the darkened Soi and listen to the music emanating from the bar behind us. My resolve is weakening I fear, but I am still strong enough to hold out tonight. I then realise that I have a text from Kevin. It simply says "Answer Phone".
I check and find that I've had a number of 'missed calls', so I call him. He asks me how my neck feels and I say that it's okay. He says that he knows that, as he's been watching 'on and off' on the webcam for the past couple of hours. He says that Joy has also been watching (so it's just as well that I have been good and kept my hands to myself).
I'm just about to go when the heavens open and the rain comes down, so just one more drink for the two of us before I leave and I'm home at 23:35.
Expenditure :
Noi's Bar : 505 baht (including 3 LD's & tip)
Monday 10 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 32
10th September
A goes off to work and it's a day that I really do very little other than sit on the PC. I've grown somewhat accustomed to the speed now, but trying to create a website on Microsoft Live is proving to be too much and I decide that this will have to be written offline and then uploaded when I am at Kevin's place and have the benefit of ADSL access.
In the afternoon, I decide to have a sandwich and I realise that I'd forgotten to buy any butter the previous day. A trip out is required, so I also plan to buy a half chicken from the stall just past Noi's bar and I can pop into the 7/11 there to get the butter.
As I pass Noi's, Casper UK is sitting out front, so I have a chat with him and it seems that he's off to Bangkok for a few days, so he won't be at the curry night on Tuesday or the Ban Chang visit on Thursday (Ban Chang is a self imposed 'off limits' destination for me this time).
Unfortunately, the chicken stall is not open, so I just get my butter and head back where I buy the 'good ol' fallback' of barbecued chicken and sticky rice from the stall at the end of our Soi for the princely sum of 25 baht.
The night is spent watching a couple of DVD's and I realise that I'm 'nodding off' during the second one that I'm watching, so it's TV off, light out and an early night.
Expenditure :
Butter : 38 baht
Barbecue chicken & rice : 25 baht
Mama allowance : 1000 baht
A goes off to work and it's a day that I really do very little other than sit on the PC. I've grown somewhat accustomed to the speed now, but trying to create a website on Microsoft Live is proving to be too much and I decide that this will have to be written offline and then uploaded when I am at Kevin's place and have the benefit of ADSL access.
In the afternoon, I decide to have a sandwich and I realise that I'd forgotten to buy any butter the previous day. A trip out is required, so I also plan to buy a half chicken from the stall just past Noi's bar and I can pop into the 7/11 there to get the butter.
As I pass Noi's, Casper UK is sitting out front, so I have a chat with him and it seems that he's off to Bangkok for a few days, so he won't be at the curry night on Tuesday or the Ban Chang visit on Thursday (Ban Chang is a self imposed 'off limits' destination for me this time).
Unfortunately, the chicken stall is not open, so I just get my butter and head back where I buy the 'good ol' fallback' of barbecued chicken and sticky rice from the stall at the end of our Soi for the princely sum of 25 baht.
The night is spent watching a couple of DVD's and I realise that I'm 'nodding off' during the second one that I'm watching, so it's TV off, light out and an early night.
Expenditure :
Butter : 38 baht
Barbecue chicken & rice : 25 baht
Mama allowance : 1000 baht
Sunday 9 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 31
9th September
We have to go shopping this morning as there's little in the fridge, so it's off to Big C for breakfast which comes to 85 baht for the two of us and then a trip round the store where we buy some meat and some packets of pre packed Curry pastes (10 baht each), so that I can at least cook for myself when A is not about, whilst also getting such essentials as Strawberry Jam (for my toast in the mornings).
We return home and put everything away and then head off to Kev's place where I need to check his Internet configuration as it seems it has been unstable the past couple of days. A drops me off and says that she's going off to see a friend and will see me later. I ask her where and she says that she is going to Sri Racha to see one of the ladies that she works with.
I get to work on diagnosing the Internet connectivity problem and it seems that somehow the wireless access point has reset and has reverted to its default IP address which is clashing with the existing router. I therefore change the IP address of the router and ensure that only one device is acting as a DHCP server and things seem much more stable. There are still a few 'glitches' when access to the Thai DNS servers seems to be lost, but the service recovers from these fairly quickly usually.
I use the opportunity to apply a few patches to the PC, but in the main, I am just monitoring the service and running checks to ensure that it can recover correctly from a power cut and from the ADSL line dropping.
Everything seems to be okay and Kevin then fires up the gas barbecue that is his latest acquisition and I call A to let her know that Kevin is cooking for us. She arrives before we eat and it seems that she'd made arrangements with 'lady #2' to eat with her tonight, but she sits with us and has a few mouthfuls of food. (I eat most of what she doesn't eat).
I pack up my gear and we return home whereupon A says that she's going to get food ready. I join her downstairs and there's a cauldron of water on the boil and A is making pork wontons. I end up eating even more food and just having a single bottle of beer whilst chatting with Robin and it's an environment that A is clearly more comfortable with.
Expenditure :
Big C provisions : 645 baht
Food for evening cooking : 100 baht
We have to go shopping this morning as there's little in the fridge, so it's off to Big C for breakfast which comes to 85 baht for the two of us and then a trip round the store where we buy some meat and some packets of pre packed Curry pastes (10 baht each), so that I can at least cook for myself when A is not about, whilst also getting such essentials as Strawberry Jam (for my toast in the mornings).
We return home and put everything away and then head off to Kev's place where I need to check his Internet configuration as it seems it has been unstable the past couple of days. A drops me off and says that she's going off to see a friend and will see me later. I ask her where and she says that she is going to Sri Racha to see one of the ladies that she works with.
I get to work on diagnosing the Internet connectivity problem and it seems that somehow the wireless access point has reset and has reverted to its default IP address which is clashing with the existing router. I therefore change the IP address of the router and ensure that only one device is acting as a DHCP server and things seem much more stable. There are still a few 'glitches' when access to the Thai DNS servers seems to be lost, but the service recovers from these fairly quickly usually.
I use the opportunity to apply a few patches to the PC, but in the main, I am just monitoring the service and running checks to ensure that it can recover correctly from a power cut and from the ADSL line dropping.
Everything seems to be okay and Kevin then fires up the gas barbecue that is his latest acquisition and I call A to let her know that Kevin is cooking for us. She arrives before we eat and it seems that she'd made arrangements with 'lady #2' to eat with her tonight, but she sits with us and has a few mouthfuls of food. (I eat most of what she doesn't eat).
I pack up my gear and we return home whereupon A says that she's going to get food ready. I join her downstairs and there's a cauldron of water on the boil and A is making pork wontons. I end up eating even more food and just having a single bottle of beer whilst chatting with Robin and it's an environment that A is clearly more comfortable with.
Expenditure :
Big C provisions : 645 baht
Food for evening cooking : 100 baht
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