A Shopping Trip & The weirdest conversation
I come into the lounge having showered and Kevin simply says to me "Get your card out of the safe, all 4 of us are going for a holiday!"
Apparently Joy is not that fussed about going for a visit to her village, so Kevin has simply changed the venue to Koh Samet. Joy has told Nok that she is going on this trip with Kevin and apparently Nok also wants to go. I am in a bit of a daze over all this, as I was just planning a couple of days of quiet time to try and work out all the stuff in my head, but instead it's time to strap up tight 'cos here we go on the rollercoaster again.
Kevin and me go off to town on the baht bus to the junction of 2nd Road and South Pattaya Road and there is a Travel Agent called Joy (it would be, wouldn't it?) and we enquire about a three day (2 night) excursion to Koh Samet. We are shown a brochure of hotels and Kevin decides that Ao Prao Resort must be the best as it's marketed as a 5 star place. (Subsequently I found this note on http://www.thaihotels.com/ko_samet/ : Star ratings for hotels in Thailand have to be taken with a grain of salt, as there is not established rating system yet in Thailand. This system is currently being developed under leadership of the Thai Hotels Association and other industry bodies. Today hotels basically rate themselves)
The agent phones through to check availability and we are informed that the hotel is full; however there are still some deluxe rooms available. The price difference is only 600 baht per room per night (a little extra a lot of times is adding to the costs of this trip. I will need to be more aware of these extra costs on my next trip) so a decision is made there and then; the booking is confirmed and the trip is paid for (around 12,000 baht a couple for two nights B&B and return travel to the island).
The agent says that the bus will pick us up from our hotel at 07:30 on Thursday. We just start laughing and say that there is no way that we will get the girls up and ready for that time, so the agent changes our departure time to 11:00 (Much better).
So that's the holiday sorted out.
Kevin asks if I am going to book my return flight home whilst we are here. I say that there is no rush and I'll do it later. He just bursts out laughing and this draws some strange looks from the staff in the agency.
Next it's off to Soi Buakhao to buy some clothes as I forgot to put my laundry in yesterday and am running desperately short of tops and trousers. (The market is held on Tuesdays and Fridays. It’s a great place to get some cheap holiday clothes) I check out the shirts on one of the stalls and see a couple that I really like. There is a label in the bag with 425 printed on it and I think that £6 for a Polo branded shirt is not too bad a price. I pay with a 1000 baht note and get 805 baht change. Now as all seasoned BMs know, the Thai people do not make mistakes with money (unless it's to swindle some extra out of you), so I check the label again. It is a style number, not a price, so it was actually 195 baht (under £3). Now I know the going price, as we wander around the market I buy a couple of pairs of cargo pants (300 baht & 350 baht), 4 more shirts (199 baht - 225 baht each) and a couple of pairs of shoes (350 baht each). I have spent about 2400 baht in total and I am happy with my purchases. (I also realise at this point that the amounts of money being provided to the girls for shopping trips has been OTT. Just a simple outfit and a hairdo can be easily purchased for 1000 baht and a special one off outfit including a dress for a party can be had for 2000 baht., so no more 3000 baht shopping budgets from me. I know that many of you do not agree with paying for these shopping trips, but it gives me some pleasure seeing the looks on the girls faces when they get new pretty clothes. It's a universal happiness I suspect.
Moving on, we go to the IT centre to find out the price of an English / Thai (and other languages) electronic translation device. Am had one of these and it seemed to work fairly accurately and could save some embarrassment or confusion in the future. The problem is, we don't know how to describe the unit sufficiently well, so after a search on all 5 floors, we give up and decide to make our way back to the hotel.
When we arrive, Nok tells us that the Travel Agent has been on the phone to the hotel saying that there is a problem. Nok had tried to phone me to tell me, but I'd left my mobile in the hotel room. We phone the agent and Nok tries to determine what the problem is. She is simply told that there is a problem with the papers and I have to go to the office urgently. What can the problem be I wonder? I do not fancy trying to resolve this without assistance so I collect my passport from the room safe in case it's an ID issue and get Nok to travel to the agency with me. We get a bus immediately (no surprise there!) and we are in the travel agency 5 minutes later. They ask to see my ticket and simply swap one bus ticket for another (They have written the wrong cost on the receipt). That's all, goodbye. We are out of the shop within 30 seconds and back at the hotel less than 15 minutes after leaving. (TiT)
That evening, Nok decides to stay in the room and meet us later, so I travel in to town with Kevin & Joy. We plan to take in a few GoGo Bars tonight as we failed to complete this task a few nights earlier. It's too early for the GoGo's, so it's into FLB (we are such creatures of habit!)
The plan is to stay until around 10 and then visit a couple of GoGo clubs, however I encounter my first (and only) 'upset stomach' and I don't relish the idea of being too far away from relief. I pop out to the pharmacy and get some Immodium, then return to the FLB. We start playing the now familiar dice game with a few girls (Ann joins our group again! I still hadn't noticed her, yet I was busy taking a photo of her nearly every night!) [Patience boys]
We stay at FLB until we realise that we are the only customers in the place. It's probably a good time to leave. "Checkbin"
That night in bed, the weirdest conversation yet takes place.
"You really coming in January?"
"Yes"
"Martin really hab money for party on my birthday?"
"Yes"
"How long you stay in January"
"I don't know at the moment, I need to decide. Anyhow what will you do while I am gone? Maybe you go with other farang or maybe you become green badge hostess or maybe you go and dance in GoGo bar?"
"No want"
"Okay"
"What you do if I pregnant? You want DNA test? Is okay, I joking. Why you worry about age?"
"Never mind, it's my problem. Fan dee na"
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