Trip 4 - Day 9

18th August

A goes out to get breakfast and returns with pork and rice (Kao Kamu?) as well as a selection of meat and vegetables that she's bought from the market. We then spend what remains of the morning rearranging the furniture in the room, but at the end of the exercise, there is very little difference in my opinion, but I'm told that it's much better. (???)

Then there's a trip down to the local 'Mom & Pop' shop (not 7/11 or Family Mart!) where we top up on bottled water, Coke and some eggs. (125 baht) as well as looking at the furniture shops for wardrobes as I still have a lot of stuff in my suitcase and A is not happy about this. (I guess it's a 'female' thing.)

Back to the room and now it's cleaning time. A starts on the laundry and gets quite angry when I laugh about still filling the machine with a hose! I say that I will get a longer hose so that the machine can be fixed to the tap in the bathroom, but she says that it is a waste of money and is "No ploblem; I can do." I do my 'bit' and she laughs telling me that "Man not do cleaning in Thailand".

After cleaning the room, it's time to clean the scooter and when I look out, there's a communal bike clean going on with three bikes being cleaned and whenever you get a few Thai girls together you can be assured that plates of food will soon arrive. Five minutes later I'm called to join the impromptu picnic that's taking place and it's home made fish balls with sweet dipping sauce. I'm not a great lover of fish normally, but I have resolved to try harder to fit in with A's diet rather than impose my own, so I partake and am pleasantly surprised to find that they are quite acceptable.

A then tells me that she's taking the lady from #2 off to the bus station as she is going home today in order to vote in the referendum tomorrow. She's cathing a VIP bus service (food, water & toilet on board) from the local bus station on Sukhumvit to Phitsanulok which is costing 428 baht for her and her baby. The journey will be around 9 hours and she'll be arriving at 01:00. She will then go to vote tomorrow and get a bus back to Pattaya arriving at around midnight. (Can anyone imagine this dedication to voting taking place in our own countries?).

Tonight is home cooking night rather than food being bought in from the food stalls. There's a fish that A has bought and she's insistent that I at least try to eat some of it, but I am mainly looking forward to the chicken panang that she is making. The curry paste is bought ready made at the market rather than being made at 'home', but is still made from fresh ingredients so is 'authentic'. (The main ingredients of the paste are chilli, galangal, shallot and garlic)

Heat coconut milk in a pot and just as it approaches the boil, add the curry paste and stir until the paste has integrated with the coconut milk to form a sauce. Add chicken, chopped eggplant (Makua), and kaffir leaves (Bai Makrut) and stir for 2 - 3 minutes.Add 300ml of water and a handful of sweet basil leaves (Bai Horopah) along with a tablespoon of sugar, a chicken stock cube and 3 tablespoon of fish sauce.Simmer for 20 minutes until chicken is fully cooked and serve with Thai Rice (Kao)

The food is really great and I enjoy it with a cold bottle of Chang and then we just settle down and watch some TV. (I find it surprising that most films can be worked out without any dialogue.)

Later in the evening, I send a text message to a few of the BM's that are meeting up in London tonight (Alleycat, Bryan, Deadman & Murgatroyd) and then get a call from Deadman saying that he hopes to back in Pattaya for New Year and then I'm talking with Alleycat who says that he's due in town next month and looks forward to meeting up. I also get texts from Bryan & Murgatroyd, so it's quite a strange feeling when I retire knowing that the night in London is just starting out. A asks who I've been talking to and as these are all people that she's met, there's no issue.

Spend for the day is

Supplies at shop : 125 baht
2 x Cornettos from ice cream bike : 50 baht

Trip 4 - Day 8

17th August

I awake and A I look across and see A fast asleep. She stirs and asks what the time is. I tell her that it's 10:15 and she tells me that she got home at 04:00 and has to be back at work for 12:00, so we have a little time to ourselves which is most welcome.

My stomach is feeling a little queasy this morning; I don't think it's the drink from last night, but I soon realise that I'm not going to be wandering about today as I need to be able to get to the loo quickly. I'm not overly concerned at this stage as I have had similar experiences in previous trips and I've usually been okay after a few hours.

I then realise that I've received a text message on my phone from Nok.
"What are you doing now"
So I replied :
"I am 'in room'. I will try to get to see you some time. Do you remember lady from Australia? She has a party at FLB on number 21."
Followed by an almost immediate response :
"Can you come to see me tonight?"

Rather than battling with texts, I called her and she asked if I'd gone to her bar last night. When I said that I had, she asked why as she had told me that she wouldn't be there. I said that many of us went and it was good fun and that the lady from Australia was there. She said that she remembered her and then asked me if I would take her to the party. I explained that I couldn't barfine or take her to the party as I was with someone, but that I would like to see her to say hello and see how she is.

Maybe I'm actually learning?

The rest of the day is spent doing nothing other than commuting between the sofa and the loo but at least things have settled down somewhat. I think it was a case of 'chilli overload', so maybe I'll back off on the overly spicy dips for now.

A returns home with the meal for tonight which is Pad Thai. This goes down well with a bottle of iced water.

Total expense for the day : 0 baht!!!

Trip 4 - Day 7

16th August

The early morning discussion today is to let me know that there should be a ship in today and so there may be the opportunity of late work for A tonight. She says that she won't take it as I'm here, but I tell her that she should do whatever she would have done if I weren't here. The extra money is useful for her and it's not a great problem as tonight is Thursday and it's the FLB Bar Crawl.

I'd decided before I arrived in Pattaya that this was to be my 'out alone' night each week, however I have made a slight revision to this 'plan' and have decided that for now I'll miss any Soi 6 / Ban Chang outings.

So it's left that A will call me later and if she is going to be working late, she'll phone and let me know. There's no cooked breakfast for me this morning, but to be honest I'd prefer not to have a big meal first thing. A mug of lemon tea is sufficient and then A is off to work.

I catch up on reading my e-mails and send a few back to England, but I need to reconfigure my outbound SMTP server and I cannot locate the setting for AIS. I find that I can use the Vodafone mail server to my surprise, however I'm getting a number of DNS timeouts and it takes an age to get the mails sent. Also it is impossible to use Messenger as it keeps disconnecting after just a few seconds.

Instead of battling against this problem, I set off on todays constitutional which is to Carrefour on Pattaya Klang for a spot of lunch.

The walk to Pattaya Klang is shorter than that to Pattaya Tai, so tonight I shall walk to the intersection of Klang & Sukhumvit and get a baht bus heading in the direction of the town centre. I have no idea what route they take from there, but as long as I use less than 5 buses to get to Walking Street, it'll be cheaper than using a scooter.

Once in Carrefour, first I buy a copy of Pattaya Today to look through the classifieds and see if there are any secondhand PC's or bicycles for sale. (There aren't!) Then I make my way to the food hall where I buy a 100 baht voucher and eventually choose to have grilled pork and rice along with a large Coke to wash it down. A grand total of 45 spent against my card and the food is good if basic.

After eating, I come out of Carrefour and realise that the humidity has risen and the sky is beginning to darken, so it's a quick march back to the room and I get back about 10 minutes before the wind picks up and the heaven's open.

I manage to get connected on the PC and send out the last of the mails before the connection simply 'dies' again which is somewhat frustrating but I have to accept that TiT.

My plan is to get some chicken from the stall at the end of the road and bring that back to the room to have with some rice 'washed down' with a bottle of Chang. I get to the end of the Soi, but the only chicken remaining is wings. She points me off in the direction of Noi's, so I set off to find another vendor. There's a place just before Noi's where I get chicken, rice and chilli sauce for 30 baht. On the walk back, I also stop to get some fruit. A pineapple and a hand of bananas sets me back another 40 baht.

At 19:20, I set out on my trek to FLB. As I start walking down Pattaya Klang, I keep an eye out for a bus, but there are none to be found until I reach the intersection with 2nd Road. A 10 baht bus ride later and I'm at the top of Walking Street. A short walk later, I'm in the FLB and signing my boardname on the whiteboard at just turned 20:00.

I order a draught beer and say hello to several of the BM's in attendance. Aussiechic, BadBoy, Bruiser, Scumbag, Casper UK & Hairloss. The voting takes place and it's a landslide victory for Soi 3,4,5 as I suspected.

There's a decision made to pay a visit to NLD1 first as it's the reopening night and there are free drinks on offer, but when we enter, the place is packed so that idea is forgotten about. We head off to Marine Plaza and get a couple of taxi buses to take us to our first stop which is the bar complex on the corner of Soi 5 & 2nd Road. Before setting off, I had sent a text to Nok (of Trip 1 'fame') asking if she still worked at Lucky Bar on Soi 3 and whilst en-route I get a text "Who are you tell me" and then a call where I'm asked what my name is and who I am. I explain and I'm not convinced that she remembers me, but it turns out that she does indeed still work at Lucky Bar, but she's not at work tonight.

We then arrive at our destination and we spread out through the various bars in the complex. Adam has the task of visiting each bar to get pictures taken. There are several good looking girls about and it's a pleasant way to start the crawl.

Next stop is a bar that I rate as one of the smartest in Pattaya. U Too ( http://www.u-too-bar.com/ ) is an open fronted beer bar which has been furnished to a high standard and the girls are extremely well presented. As myself and BM Scumbag make our way to the bar, we pass another bar where we see BM Dimples sitting having a drink and he tells us that he's off to the party at Heaven's Above tonight.

We enter U Too and head to the seating at the front of the bar and we are shown to seats by a service girl I remember from a crawl in February, however I still find it amusing seeing her name badge. "Oil Service"

I get chatting with a couple of BM's that shall not be named as their ftriends and families do not know that they are in Pattaya. The girls here are not pushy and it is necessary to make the first move if you wish to spend some time with one, but there is some very beautiful eye candy on display and with drinks prices similar to the local bar beers, this place really takes some beating.

It's soon time to move on again and this time it's another bar complex with five or six bars for the crawl members to spread out in. I end up with MM, Aussiechic & Badboy in the Sanuk Bar at the far end of the complex where I play the dice game with one of bar ladies. She wins twice during the time that we are playing and I've bought her a couple of LD's, so my checkbin here is 290 baht including the tip.

Time to move on yet again and this time it's to the bar complex situated at the 2nd Road end of Soi 3. We start in Atlantic Bar which I'm told used to be one of the busiest bars in Pattaya, but my last couple of visits suggest that its time may have passed and although there are a few pretty girls working, there is little 'atmosphere'.

After a short stay, we move to the other end of the complex and have a drink in The Cherry Bar (not the Soi 8 Cherry Bar). At this point the two 'anonymous BM's' come over and say their goodbyes as they have decided to return to U Too bar (and I can fully understand why :D). Hammer then announces that we are to visit one more bar complex and it's to be the one at the other end of Soi 3 containing Lucky Bar.

As we arrive, the owner recognises me and tells me that Nok is not working today and I tell her that I know as I have spoken to her on the phone She treats myself and Hammer to a tequila and the remaining members of the crawl have disbursed through the bar complex and from the looks of things, I strongly suspect that a few barfines were negotiated. There is all sorts going on and I am at a loss to understand the rules in operation during a pool game that I think involved BM hairloss at the bar next to Lucky Bar.

The crawl is now over and myself and Casper UK make our way to the end of the Soi to catch a bus back to town. As he has his motorbike parked just off Walking Street and he also lives on 'the Darkside', he kindly offers me a lift home and at just after 01:00 I am home. I call A to see how she is doing and she says that she will be home in a few hours. It's too long for me to wait and I just grab a quick shower and check the cost of the night before heading off for some much needed sleep.

Costs for the past two days have been :

Mains adapter from Big C : 99 baht
Can of Coke from Big C : 12 baht
Transcend USB stick : 250 baht
Newspaper : 25 baht
Carrefour Food Hall : 100 baht (only 45 baht used)
Evening meal : 70 baht
Baht Bus : 10 baht
Bar crawl costs : 790 baht

Trip 4 - Day 6

15th August

07:40 and A gets up. She showers and starts cooking, so I just assume that she eats before she leaves in the morning, but I am wrong and she's cooked for me. Fried chicken in a sweet oyster sauce with carrots and brocolli (At 08:00?!). At 08:30, she's off and I'm alone. I reflect on the discussion of last night and know that things really can't work if I am cheating on A, so that's one resolution that I shall have to remember when I am out 'alone'.

Another discussion from last night was about guys that had 'cocked up' when doing visa runs or getting new visas arranged; such as doing a visa run after the current visa has already expired or trying to obtain a 1 year visa renewal when there's less than 1 year remaining on the life of the current passport, so I decide to check that my papers are all in order and it's just as well I do, because immigration at the airport have made a mistake. My 'valid until' date is stamped as 8 September which is just 30 days and it should be for 90 days, yet in the 'Visa Class' entry the entry is correctly written as 'Non O'.

From what was said last night, I should be able to get this sorted out at the Immigration Office in Jomtein, however I was told that their English skills are not great, so I'll may need to go with A in attendance to get this matter resolved. If all else fails, it will simply mean having to do a 'visa run' at 30 days instead of 90 days.

The task for today is to obtain details for Kevin on prices and finance terms from the Toyota dealership on a new Vigo. Kevin has told me on Messenger that I need to turn left on Sukhumvit and it's somewhere around Tesco Lotus. It's a fairly long trek, but the exercise will do me good and I'm going to need to start walking a lot more rather than using scooter taxis as 110 baht return for a trip into town is going to start mounting up.

I decide that as I'm going past Big C and near to Tesco, I'll also investigate the prices of pushbikes in each store, as this may be more practical albeit more dangerous.

When I enter Big C, I meet BM Whitespider who's just heading into KFC for a spot of lunch. I decline the offer to join him, but agree to pop round and see him later in the week. As well as lunching, he's also been out hat buying in readiness for the Ska party at The Rockhouse http://www.rockhousepattaya.com tonight. He asks if I'll be going along and I let him know that it's one I'll be missing.

Both stores have a selection of 24" wheeled bikes for aroiund 2000 baht, but I'll need to check the length of the seatpost as I'll need it extended more than the average Thai I'd guess.

As for the Toyota dealer, I simply cannot find it even after continuing a further 200 yards or so past the Tesco store, so I reluctantly make the return journey and log on to Messenger to let Kevin know that I've not had any success. It turns out that the information I'd been provided was not correct and the dealer is actually located North of me (turn right on Sukhumvit) and it's a fair distance into the bargain. A few kilometres north of Naklua, so there is no way that I'm going to walk that.

In the evening, A returns from work and she's bought me a 1Gb USB Flash drive as I need a simple way to transfer files between machines. She's been given a good deal at work and has a 1Gb Transcend device which she has been charged 'staff rate' for of only 250 baht.

After eating, we simply settle down for a quiet night of watching TV and me reading for a couple of hours before turning in at a time that most Pattaya Addicts would be ashamed to admit to.

Trip 4 - Day 5

14th August

Off to the Tuesday market at Soi Buakaow to buy some new reading glasses and a couple of pairs of shorts for A No 'splashing out' with food at S&P this trip, we eat at one of the cafe places in the market and I have a fried pork dish with rice and a bottle of Coke. The cost for the two of us is 80 baht and then after wandering all round the market, A finds some shorts that she likes and two pairs cost 150 baht. I also get my new reading glasses and that's another 95 baht spent. We also fiill the scooter with fuel for 90 baht.

Later in the afternoon, BM CasperUK and his lady Wan come round and the girls disappear off to sit and chat with some of the neighbours, whilst I discuss the housing requirements for Kevin with him. It appears that he's also looking for new accomodation, so he's been looking for Kevin as well. He says that he found one really stunning place, but at 60k baht a month it was out of the price range for either him or Kevin. For those that might be interested it was at a development called C'est Palais ( http://www.thaithani.co.th/ ). We continue chatting and the time just flies by. It's now past 18:00, so we go and find the girls who are all sitting round eating and chatting.

CasperUK says that he'll go straight to Noi's for the curry night, however I'd decided not to go as A had said that she was going to cook tonight. It seems that this has slipped her mind though as she's eaten with the other girls and is now "Im". CasperUK says that it's no problem and the curry will be his treat, so we head off up the Soi .

The bar is already quite busy when we arrive, but we find seats and order up our first drinks. Several other BM's arrive for the curry including Mulphy, MM, Scumbag & Helicopter. After eating, we're sitting chatting when the girls suddenly arrive, so they grab a drink and then go inside to play pool.

Myself and CasperUK go to watch and it's actually quite entertaining as they are both lousy pool players. A few games pass and then we move to the lounge bar where the Nintendo Wii is hooked up to the projector big screen. The four of us play 10 pin bowling and I must admit that it's quite addictive and my competitive nature takes over, however I am gutted to lose to the girls in all three games that we played.

We finally settle up at around 01:00 and head back home. My checkbin is only 240 baht as CasperUK has paid for the curry (which included 1 free drink).

As we are getting ready for bed, A then says to me 'Why your friend think I no good for you?'. This has me somewhat confused and it takes some considerable effort to get at least part of the story out of her. It seems that when the girls have been talking, a few comments made by some of the Cherry Bar girls to CasperUK & Wan have been relayed to A. One story is that the gold bracelet (bought on Trip 3) that she is currently wearing is not the one I bought, but simply a trinket bought in the market as the original has been sold off.

Other stories are that she hasn't gone to work in a shop, but is simply working at another bar somewhere and that she has been seeing other 'customers', otherwise why would they be giving money as tip to her? (I'm pretty sure that it's not the case and I do know of a couple of the BM's that have given her money). I try my best to convince her that it's only jealousy on the part of the girls spreading the rumours, but she's not convinced that I believe her I think. She is also convinced that Adam (Hammer) also thinks she's like that as I know he's joked with her that the scooter and the gold would be sold as soon as I got on the plane.

It is quite scary how insecure the girls can be and also how bitchy they can be to one another behind the scenes. Other stories are told and I find it surprising the lies that they tell one another for what would appear to be no other reason than a simple 'my falang is better than your falang' scoring game.

We finally settle down and in the quiet dark night, I reflect on some of the things that we've talked about. A is back to work in the morning and I really need to snap out of 'holiday mode'. I've been out too much already and whilst I haven't been going mad on the spending, I haven't had a night in yet. This is party town and there's always something going on, but I need to be selective and decide which events I'm going to attend.

For me, the weekly Thursday night bar crawls have always been fun, so this will be my primary night out for the week, however I shall need to call time on the trips to Ban Chang & Soi 6 as I know that my resolve will weaken. I will also need to be honest with Avatar Girl and make it clear that I will only be able to see her to buy a few drinks and nothing more for now.

Trip 4 - Day 4

13th August

The morning is spent doing the laundry. The washing machine is an automatic, but because there is no tap within close distance, it is filled manually with a hosepipe. (WTF?) I say that I will get a longer hose, but am told that it's not necessary as "I can do. Is no ploblem". It really is bizarre the way that simple things are sometimes made deliberately difficult (TiT!).

Lunch is half a chicken which costs 49 baht (paid for by A), but the stall didn't have any cooked rice, so we prepare that at home. A then speaks with her boss and it seems that there is some paperwork that she needs to sign off, but if that is done, then she can have a days holiday tomorrow, so off she goes again.

Later I get a call from BM tlo asking if I fancy a beer, so of course I agree. It's arranged that I meet him at the bar that his GF works at (Pokemon Bar just off Soi 7) between 19:00 and 20:00, so I make the journey alone as A doesn't want to go out tonight. I walk down to Sukhumvit and catch a scooter taxi which costs 60 baht. The bar is deserted apart from the two of us and about 10 girls. I repay him the money that I borrowed from him in June and we chat and drink for a while. He has completed the probationary period for his job in Bangkok and now has a five year contract (and a pay rise), so everything is working out for him. He lives and works Monday to Friday in Bangkok and makes the trip down to Pattaya at weekends where he spends his time with his lady (Odet). He seems happy with his life and he looks very good on it.

Next stop on the agenda tonight is to go and say hello to BM Kolobos at his bar which is my 'local'; Noi's Bar on Soi Khao Noi. The reurn scooter taxi costs just 50 baht this time and I arrive to find the bar fairly busy. I'm invited to join the group sitting at the table outside which can be viewed on the online at http://noisbar.camstreams.com . The 'plan' was to just have a couple of beers and then make my way back home, but I'm bought a couple of beers and it's very comfortable just sitting outside, chatting and enjoying a few cold beers. I finally get home around 02:00 a little bit 'mau'.


Expenditure for the day

Sambuca for tlo, Odet & myself = 290
Beers at Noi's = 700
Scooter Taxi's = 110

Trip 4 - Day 3

12th August

We are awoken by A's phone ringing and it's Mama. She wants A to go and see her, but the invite is for family only it seems. A tells me that she isn't sure if she will go as I will be left on my own and she feels a little guilty about going off when she knows that I won't see much of her during the week as she will be working.

I tell her that it's Mothers Day and Mama will be upset and only Yak Yak her if she doesn't go. I also tell her that Phil will want to see his Mama as well, so not to worry about me and she must go.

Before leaving, she cooks up some rice and tells me that there is still food left from last night in the fridge, so I've got breakfast / lunch sorted out.
Once she has left I work on ensuring that I have the settings correct for my Internet connection. After reconfiguring the dial up properties, I make a connection and am pleased to find that it's more stable than yesterday.

At 12:30, I'm interrupted by Nam arriving home next door. She says that she has just finished work and has been working since 8 pm last night. (16.5 hours!)

Next I check whether I can now run Messenger and it is working, so I have a chat with Kevin online and I'm informed that there are a couple of potential rental places that he wants me to check out for him as he will be signing up for a new place when he comes over next month.

It's then time to start an investigation of the neighbourhood, so I set off on foot to see what's about. I head off deep into East Pattaya past Noi's bar and there's not much to see. A few 7/11 stores, a couple of restaurants and a variety of shops providing such things as curtain making, air con supply and a variety of light industrial metal fabrication outlets.

There are many housing estates as well. Rows and rows of identical houses which appear somewhat clinical, and advertised as being supplied with 'European Kitchen'. By the time I reach the Red Lion pub, I have determined that there is little of interest and I'm unlikely to use any of the outlets along here, so I return back to the room and continue on the dirt track that carries on past the entrance.

I eventually come out on a populated Soi which leads on to Sukhumvit 53. This is a main thoroughfare with market stalls and many business outlets and will warrant further investigation.

I then get a telephone call from BM LordFlash inviting us to his home for the evening. A barbecue; a few beers and watching the footie. BM Casper UK is there as well, so we watch Arsenal, Chelsea and Man U do their stuff and it's a pleasant way to spend the night.

Expenditure for the day

Weekly allowance for Mama = 1000 baht
Coke at 7/11 = 22 baht