Trip 4 - Day 30

8th September

It's Saturday and my morning is a write off due to the after effects of the Chang last night.

A arrives home at 14:15 and we spend some time just being close. Her nights away have made me realise that I do worry for her and I miss her very much when she's not about, but she earns well from the long hours and she has received a very impressive 22,000 baht this month which has been banked to add to her "I not want be like Mama when I get old" fund.

In the evening, I tell A that we've been invited round to Kevin's so that I can watch the football and/or rugby and she says that she doesn't want to go but it's okay for me to go alone. I decide not to bother, so A goes out to get some food for us as well as food and drink for 'Buddha'.

We spend the night curled up on the sofa watching Thai TV (with channel hopping) as I don't have any sports channels on the TV network in the room. Just another quiet night in which some have called an 'existence' or just 'survival', but it is a life with few of the stresses of living in the West and day to day life can be carried out very cheaply.

Expenditure :

Food : 120 baht

Trip 4 - Day 29

7th September

An uneventful day and there are no plans for this evening either as A has called to say that she'll be working again tonight. It looks like a night in with the DVD's, however Kev phones and says he just wants a quiet night with a few beers and he he'll be over at Noi's later and that I should join him there.

So I end up having an evening spent chatting and drinking with Kev whilst Joy disappears off with one of the girls from the bar to determine where to get the best food. I don't realise the time slipping by and the beers slipping down (too easily), but when it comes time to pay, Kev has taken all my slips and put them in his bin, so another cheap night for me. ("It's only the same cost as buying you a couple of pints of Guinness in the King's Arms")

Unsure exactly what time I left the bar, but the walk home was definitely a bit 'wobbly'.

Expenditure :

0 baht

Trip 4 - Day 28

6th September

I awake at just after noon and whilst I don't have a 'full blown' hangover, I have to admit to having felt better.

Everything seems to take longer to do and it's already 13:00 by the time I've managed to get up, showered, dressed and made tea & toast for 'breakfast'.

I call A and she says that she will be finishing work at 14:00, then she is going to see 'Auntie' and should be home between 16:00 & 17:00.

I am several days behind on the TR publishing, so I get started on the task of writing up from my notes and when I check my email, I have finally got my Google Adsense account approved, so I need to start 'knuckling down' to try and start generating some online income as well.

Tonight is the FLB Bar Crawl, but as I haven't seen A for a couple of days I think that I will probably 'pass'. I am unsure if the curry at #2 is still on as there was some confusion as to which day it was being arranged for. I get a call from Kevin and he has a bus picking him up at 19:00, so it's left that if I do decide to go, I should call him before then and he'll pick me up.

By 18:30, there is still no sign of A and she isn't answering her phone which has me a little worried, but she calls me ten minutes later and says that she is late because she fell asleep at "house Auntie". She is nearly home and will see me in five minutes, so I am not going out tonight.

She returns and we sit together quietly just holding each other for half an hour or so before she breaks away and says that she has to get food and then the ironing needs to be done. She comes back with food for us both and I have a meal of pork dumplings and noodles which I wash down with a glass of Chang & ice.

After eating, A gets started on the ironing whilst watching / listening to the TV (It seems that I should have put the washing from yesterday outside this morning as some of the items are not fully dried.) and I settle down to reading a book and finishing the bottle of Chang.
By 23:00, we turn in for the night and sleep comes very easily.

Expenditure :

Food : 100 baht

Trip 4 - Day 27

5th September

Awake at 10:00 and A is not feeling too great which is an indicator that I have been here for 4 weeks. She's off to the shop this morning and is unsure of what she'll be doing tonight, but if there is work available then she says she will do it as tonight it is already known that I will be out late at Cherry Bar.

We leave together on the scooter and I jump off at the junction with Pattaya Klang. I make my way down to the hardware store where I bought the components for the washing machine 'extension' lead as I've been asked if I could do the same for 'lady #2'

First stop though is the computer store, where I need to buy a wireless router for installation at Kevin's place as he only has an Ethernet router installed at present. I get a D-Link DSL-2640T for 2490 baht which is a good price and as I have some experience with installing D-Link hardware, I do not envisage any problems. (My main concern is whether the Username / Password for connection to the ADSL service are provided anywhere.)

Next purchase is the hose and connector for #2 which costs 150 baht and then it's onward to Carrefour to meet Kevin at 11:30.

At 11:25, I send him a text asking where he is and he calls me back to say that he's still at home and the taxi bus still hasn't arrived (running on Thai time). I say that I'll sit out the front of the store and simply wait for him.

When he arrives, I accompany him on his shopping expedition and it has to be said that Joy hasn't got to grips with the mundane shopping for a farang, so her trolley contains a few sweets, some cosmetic products, shampoo and little else whilst Kevin is laden down with steaks, chips, ice, salad, a few vegetables, washing powder, fabric conditioner, cheese, butter, yoghurt, milk a deep fat fryer, an electric kettle and three boxes of Frosties.

He pays for his purchases and we load up the taxi bus to get everything back to his new place. Joy heads off back to the condo to supervise the transfer of more stuff to the new place including her shoe collection (I hear that Imelda has a rival). We unpack and then sit down with a cup of rosie, (Rosie Lee - Tea) before getting the wireless connection hooked up.

I power up the existing router and connect it to my laptop via an Ethernet cable. There is a good connection, but the connection password is 'hidden' in the config and there is no paperwork anywhere to indicate what the logon name is. I determine that the connection is Maxnet supplied by TT&T and look to find a contact number in order to reset the password. Kev then asks if it's possible to just have both devices connected instead.

Yes it is. I can configure the Wireless router to have no WAN connectivity and disable the DHCP server. In addition, I'll need to reassign its static IP address as it has a default setting the same as the Zyxel Ethernet only device.

Within 20 minutes we have a network comprising a Zyxel router providing the Internet connection and DHCP / DNS services with the D-Link device connected via Ethernet and providing Wireless connectivity.

Kevin tests initially with his telephone that he can make a connection and everything works as it should. Next we check his and Joy’s laptops and apart from a problem with actually turning on the Wireless antenna on Joy's Acer laptop, we have success.

I wander around the house with my laptop running as a wireless client and there is a good signal throughout the property and all around the pool area, so my job is done. I then make the most of the available bandwidth and proceed to update virus definitions and download all the latest Microsoft updates as well as checking for updates on a couple of applications that I use.
When Joy returns, the bus is unloaded and Kevin tells me that the driver has been paid for the day and will drop me off back at my place, so I return and as I arrive, Robin from #2 is just opening his door. I say that I'll be with him in 15 minutes to sort out his washing machine as I have the parts in my bag.

I start a load of washing in my own room and then go downstairs and sort out their machine. They are currently doing the laundry and the hosepipe is connected to the tap, so I disconnect it and ten minutes later, their washing machine is now working as an 'automatic' for the first time. (No more shouting at the children to turn the tap on and turn the tap off at each water refill cycle.) This earns me a big hug from the lady of the house and Robin repays me the 150 baht that it has cost me in parts.

Back upstairs and I have a cup of tea before unloading my own washing, but as it has just been raining I decide that it is best if I don't hang the washing outside, so I just hang everything on the clothes rail. I then call A and she says that she will be working tonight so I should prepare food for myself tonight.

A bite to eat and then it's time to get ready to depart for Cherry Bar, but as I leave, Pun calls out from the landing "George; where you going?". I say that I am going to Cherry Bar and she says that she will be going on the scooter in 10 minutes and will give me a lift, so I wait a little longer and have been saved a walk and 10 baht.

At the bar, there are no customers yet, but at this early hour, the same can be said for many of the bars in the area.

After 15 minutes though a guy arrives at the bar and says "Hi George". He then introduces himself as BM Big Pete and I get the opportunity to thank him for the bottle of Tequila that he donated to the party in January by sending money to MM via Paypal. We sit and chat for some time and he tells me a couple of anecdotes from a recent trip to Burma. The funniest was when he was filling out his visa application and when it came to the question "Residence in Burma", he was advised to simply write "Hotel" and this was deemed to be a satisfactory answer.

We are then joined by BM Bazzap who stays for a few drinks and ends up paying BF for one of the ladies but doesn't leave with her. He says he'll return later to see her.

BM Kuranda Bagman is the next to introduce himself to me and we get on very well. We are chatting away and he tells me how even an 'innocent' comment to the girls can cause potential problems. It seems that he's made some comment to Pun about her neighbour and she didn't know how he would have such information, (so guys, be careful what you say when talking to a girl that you have knowledge of through the boards!)

Casper UK then arrives and things start getting a little messy. Both the guys are buying me drinks and in the good company they are going down rather easily. Kuranda Bagman then has a look around the girls to decide which of the ladies he intends to barfine for the evening and he decides it will probably be "K". She's just gone to get a fresh round of drinks so she hasn't heard this and when she returns, Kuranda Bagman has gone off to the toilet. I tell her that I think that he will pay barfine for her tonight, but she simply laughs and shakes her head in disagreement. I say "I bet you 20 baht he will barfine you tonight." This is clearly understood and we shake on the bet (Talk about insider dealing.)

My new neighbour Ryan and his lady then appear at the bar and I get them a drink and they settle down to play the dice game with a couple of the girls and end up staying for a few hours.

Then another BM that I recognisefrom a Bar Crawl arrives. He sits at the bar and proceeds to swear at the girls and makes his demands for a "full cup of fucking coffee" and that he wasn't going to "pay a dollar for a fucking third of a cup of fucking coffee". (This is the BM that had asked me on the GoGo crawl last week why he was having such poor luck with the girls. Well my friend, I can say from having seen you 'in action', that the girls will most definitely avoid you if what I saw is your 'standard' approach.).

Noy returns with a mug of coffee that is full to within a centimetre of the top of the mug and he sends it back saying that he wants "a fucking full cup of coffee". Noy takes it back and returns with the mug now filled to within a few millimetres of the brim and he accepts this. He then proceeds to pour the milk in and the coffee spills over the edge of the brim into the saucer. He then moves round the bar where he plays Connect 4 with one of the girls and I make a note to buy her a drink later.

Kuranda Bagman duly pays barfine for "K" and she comes over to me smiling so I hold my hand out. She laughs and Kuranda Bagman gives her 20 baht which she gives to me. (He makes a comment that it'll be interesting to see her reaction when he leaves a 'tip' of 980 baht in the morning.) (I do offer her the money back later and say that I already knew that he would be paying barfine, but she wouldn't take it).

At 00:30, I get a call from a mate (Glen) in Stansted. He says that he's in the pub; the place is empty and he's bored. Of course all he can hear from my end are the competing sounds of the various bar sound systems and he says that it sounds wild where I am. I tell him that it's just a quiet night tonight and I don't think he believes me. He does say that he is hoping to make it out in December for his 'virgin' visit to LoS which would be good as he deserves a bit of fun.

By now I have lost all track of time and the next face I recognise at the bar is "N". This is the third time that I've seen her during this trip, but it’s the first time she's been alone. She tells me that she still texts BM Manracer and keeps in touch which I knew as he had PM'd me about having seen her last week even though I hadn't mentioned it in the TR.

It seems that she has no credit in her phone though tonight, so she ends up using my phone to send him a text tonight which says "I dang to much". Manracer sends a reply within 5 minutes saying "don't get George too drunk" (A little late for that advice I suspect.)

Pun then tells me that she will not be going back tonight as she is staying at the Bar until morning, so I start getting my stuff together to go home 'alone', when there is another familiar face at the bar. BM Torrenova has arrived, so I sit and talk with him for a while, but do not hang around too long as he has been a 'bad influence' in the past.

I feel that it's been a good night; there have been a number of customers for myself and the girls to talk with; the girls have been bought a few drinks by the customers; a couple of the girls have been barfined and there's been a lot of laughter in the bar. Next Wednesday Hammer will be back in residence as it's a party night in Cherry Bar.

Expenditure :

Toilet : 5 baht
Scooter Taxi home : 100 baht

Trip 4 - Day 26

4th September

Wake up at just after 09:00 and A says that I need to "Go shower qiuckly" as it seems that the bus to Bangkok leaves on the Sukhumvit highway at 10:00. A is going to work 'in shop' today so she gets ready as well and she drops me off at the bus stop where the bus is ready to depart.

My fare is collected ( 100 baht to Ekkamai) and I settle down for what I suspect to be a long trip. No journey on the highway this time though as we have many stops to make en route. We finally arrive at Ekkamai at 13:05 and as I don't know my way around and am unsure of exactly where the Immigration office is, I simply get a taxi and I am told that Bangkok traffic is very busy, so the fare is 300 baht. I suspect that this is a scam, but I'm not prepared to argue and just want to get everything done and return to Pattaya.

Once at Immigration, I ask at the information desk where I need to go and the guy looks at my passport and says "Desk 519" and directs me around the corner. I find an area full of seats and glass windows with officials behind and it's reminiscent of a Post Office in England with bored officials sat at the counters. I see '519' which is the last window on the right and has a sign saying "Stamp Correction", so I am guessing that this is a fairly common issue.

I approach the counter and before I get the chance to explain, the guy just takes my passport, looks through the various stamps; pulls a piece of paper over (same list as in Jomtein) and looks up my entry date. He takes a red felt pen and crosses out 08 Sep 2007 and stamps underneath 07 Nov 2007. He closes the passport and returns it to me. That's it! I could have done the bloody job myself with a red felt pen and a date stamp borrowed from any bar.

My total time in the Immigration office has been 8 minutes! I decide I'll take a motorcycle taxi back to the bus station and whilst it's cheaper at just 100 baht, the journey makes the ones in Pattaya seem like child's play. I'm convinced that we're going to be involved in an accident at least four times on the journey. The heat and the traffic fumes are also oppressive and I just want to get away from here as quickly as I can.

At the bus station, there is 1st class bus service to Pattaya at 117 baht leaving in 5 minutes at 14:10 or a 2nd class bus service at 91 baht. I'm guessing that I'd been on 2nd (or even 3rd) class coming here, so I opt for the more expensive journey this time. My total time in Bangkok has been just 65 minutes and most of that has been spent in traffic jams.

The coach for this journey is much more comfortable and we head straight to the highway and make good time getting as far as the Sri Racha area. We then turn off towards Ao Udon and we pass within 200 metres of 'my home me'. We continue along to the main road and I recognise the hotel & bar "England Country" which is where myself and A stayed when I spent a weekend with her family back on Trip 2.

We continue on to Pattaya and arrive in the terminal on Pattaya Nua where I then have the trek back to the room with just a quick detour via Sukhumvit Soi 53 to get a bottle of water (10 baht) and a double portion of freshly fried chicken with sticky rice (55 baht).

I get back to the room and grab a quick nap before A arrives home and then I get a call from Kevin telling me to "get my arse" down to Noi's bar to join him for a beer and for him to tell me what he wants sorting out for his Internet connection at the new place.

I tell A that I'll only be gone a short while to which she simply gives me a look and says "You go see Kevin? You go long time for sure"

As it happens I am an extremely 'good boy' and only have three beers tonight (1 bought by Kevin) before returning home. Robin at #2 has been cooking and has made a delectable Thai / Indian mutton curry which is absolutely gorgeous to eat, with the meat simply 'melting' off the bone and washed down with a dilute 'Master Blend' (75 baht for 30cl) and soda water with plenty of ice.

Of the two curries on offer tonight, I'd have to cast my vote with Robin (sorry Chef!)

Expenditure :

Bus fares : 217 baht
Taxi fares : 400 baht
Water & Chicken with rice : 65 baht
Noi's Bar : 120 baht

Trip 4 - Day 25

3rd September

Any ideas of a morning lie in are disturbed by first the meter reader and secondly the ladies of #2 & #11, so it's time to 'go shower'.

This week I need to get my 'exit date' resolved as if I don't, I'll need to do a 'visa run' at the end of the week.

We journey out to the immigration office on Soi 5 in Jomtein and after making enquiries at the information desk, I'm directed to speak with a lady at a nearby desk. She looks at my passport and asks me how long I want to stay. I say that I am planning to leave in November and then return for a longer stay. She pulls over a poiece of paper with columns of dates written on it and she writes the date 07 Nov in pencil under my exit date stamp, but then says that it is not possible for the office here to change the date and it will be necessary to visit "Head Office" in Bangkok.

I see little benefit in arguing and simply tell A that tomorrow I will be going to Bangkok to get the matter resolved.

As I needed to be 'out' with my passport today, I've also brought some Traveller's Cheques to exchange so that I can repay the rest of my debt to Kevin (The funding of Trip 3), but after stopping at a couple of places and finding them closed, I realise that it's because they don't open until 10:00 and it's still only 09:20.

As we head back towards Pattaya, A takes a detour and we go to the 'Big Buddha' on the hill. I'm asked if I've been here before and when I say that I haven't, A is quite surprised. We say prayers in the covered area on the right hand side after going up the steps, then prayers at the Big Buddha itself, followed by prayers at the statue that represents the day of your birth. (In my case Saturday and in A's case Monday), then prayers and offering of flowers at the shrine next to the stage where a priest is 'in residence'. We sit in front of him and A offers up a 'monk' bucket with an envelope containing her 'offering'. She repeats his mantra and then as she collects a flask of water and small bowl, she says that I have to be touching her when she pours the water. Once this is done, the priest offers what I think is a blessing and sprinkles the two of us with water shaken from a bunch of twigs.

It's now past 10 o'clock, so we head down to the exchange bureaus next to Mountain Beach Hotel as it's near to Kev's condo and I can simply drop the money into him, but this place is closed, so we head into town and I change my money at a bank on Pattaya Tai.

As A isn't working again today, I am not going to be going out with him for the postponed lunchtime assignation from yesterday, but he needs to have the rest of the two months advance rent sorted out before he moves in the next day, so we head up to the offices of Alan Bolton, where I leave the money for him and send him a text saying what's been done.

Back to the room where we eat a late breakfast that A has bought from a stall in Soi Khao Noi and then she heads off to see #2 where it appears that another 'big cook' is underway and I'm summoned to eat at around 15:00.

There's prawns, squid, 'pig', chicken and 'unidentified' seafood (so small it looked initially as though it was pea gravel being cooked in the pan). Along with stir fried vegetables, it's a veritable feast. After eating I remind A that we have been invited to joing Kevin and Joy at the opening of a place on Soi 73 Sukhumvit that is owned by a guy that Kevin knows from just down the Soi from his current condo. She's not that keen to go, but agrees and I remind her that we are expected at 19:00.

At 18:45, she comes up to get ready. She has to wash her hair (as she has managed to get the ends dunked in the cauldron of green curry that was cooked earlier) and then as we are going out, there's the 'warpaint' application to be done as well.

We join a 'fleet' of scooters leaving at the same time as Tai is heading off to Cherry Bar and Ryan and his lady are heading off to town as well. We arrive 'fashionably late' at Jessie's Place at around 20:15 and find that it's a Thai style buffet sat at a long table in the Soi adjoining the place.

There's a bit of chat, but neither A nor myself are particularly hungry as we've already eaten, but I join in the chat with Kevin and a few of the other ex-pats in attendance. Kev and Joy are planning to leave at 21:00 and A and myself are wondering whether to stay on for another drink when there's a 'domestic' between the owner and his Thai wife and our decision is very quickly made.

We are leaving as well!

But where to go? A says that she doesn't want to go to Cherry Bar or FLB Bar, so I say that it is 'up to her', but she's not letting me get away with it that simply. "Is not up to me, is up to you where we go. Is money you" I then suggest Goanna Bar on Soi Dianna as this would be her first visit back there since my return. She agrees and Kev says that himself and Joy will also join us for a couple there, so we all make a hasty escape from the scene of domestic 'non-bliss'

At Goanna Bar, A is made welcome by the few girls there. In fact, the whole complex is pretty quiet and there are very few customers anywhere and the four of us at Goanna actually make it one of the busier places. We play the dice game and Connect 4 with myself and Kevin both getting beat and having to pay our respective girls a few 20 baht notes.

Kevin & Joy leave for Joy to go off to a disco and Kevin to accompany MM on a visit to a couple of GoGo's. He asks if I want to join him, but I decline as I have said that when A is about, I intend to spend time with her. I hadn't realised that it would be a commodity that would be rationed to such a degree, but at least it stops us getting bored with each other I guess.

A then plays dominoes with one of her friends and she's laughing and smiling which is great to see. She 'pushes the boat out' and even has a couple of Malibu's. The pile of 10 baht coins rises and falls as luck favours first A then her friend. By 00:15, A decides that she has had enough to drink and asks if I am ready to go. When I say that I am, we call for checkbin which is 600 baht including a tip.

Expenditure :

Rent for September : 2500 baht
Utils for August : 538 baht (4 water @ 20; 64 electric @ 7; TV (?) @ 10)
Goanna Bar : 600 baht

Trip 4 - Day 24

2nd September

Not too early a start, so the first thing is to 'phone A to see how she is and see if she knows when she'll be back. The good news is that she'll be finishing at 14:15, so that means the Soi 6 crawl is a non starter for me.

I send a text to Kev 'crying off' and he decides to postpone the event until Monday after he's sorted out everything with Steve at Alan Bolton's

A actually returns home early at just after 14:15 along with a couple of boxes that she's got from Mama. It's really great to see her and we eat the chicken that she's brought in with her; drink Coke & water and just chat whilst sitting on the sofa.

She tells me that she has regularly been doing these long hours and all night shifts. It appears that the chap she works for who owns the shop is also involved in some way with a freight operations company at Sri Racha port, so she tends to do either one job or the other, which is why there isn't a problem when she's not at the shop.

When I ask her why she hadn't told me about this, she simply says that she "I no want you yak yak me too mut". She then proceeds to unpack the boxes that she's brought home. As part of moving, Mama has decided that she doesn't have the time or the space for her 'Buddhas', so thay have been transferred into the custody of A. There is a whole raft of things that are 'necessary' for each figure so now the shopping list will include cigars, whisky, extra fruit, extra garlands and ........ "Red Fanta" In addition, at each prayer session, we now have a total of 27 incense sticks being burnt.

I get a text call from BM Hammer. ("Where is everybody?") It seems that Kevin had sent a text to Casper UK (and I assume Lord Flash), but as he didn't have a current contact number for Hammer, he assumed that one of the rest of us would let him know that the meet had been cancelled.

A says that she'd like to eat 'bufffet' tonight so I ask which one she wants to go to, but it seems that she wants to eat at home and we'll cook and eat with #2. There's no problem with this, so she goes off to the market to buy meat and vegetables.

Drink for the evening is a bottle of 100 Pipers (supplied by Robin) which is heavily diluted with water & ice and is surprisingly refreshing.

We then meet the latest resident of the block who had arrived earlier in the day. He's an Irishman (Northern) called Ryan Conner. It's his 7th visit this year and he's planning to marry in Burriram next Spring. He works in England on Motorway construction and basically works all the hours on offer and doesn't go to the pub or spend anything unccessarily in England. When he has enough money for a two or three week trip, he's away.

He brings a few bottles of Chang to the 'party' and we spend a pleasant couple of hours chatting about the various things that make us so addicted to LoS.

Unfortunately the extended drinking bout has pushed A just a little too far and instead of simply being 'tipsy', she's now 'mau' so I simply escort her upstairs and put her to bed.

Expenditure :

1 month 250 hour GPRS Internet package : 500 + 7% VAT = 535 baht
Food for buffet : 300 baht