November 10th
I awake and send a text to A asking when she’ll be returning. She says that she’ll be arriving later in the afternoon, but Phil has a high temperature, so she’ll see if he gets better before making a final decision. I guess I’m resigned at this point to anticipating another night alone, but don’t say anything.
I make a trip to the local 7/11 to buy eggs, bread, coke, water and a much needed bottle of Lipo and when I return I cook have bacon, eggs & toast with a mug of tea for breakfast and I feel suitably refreshed.
By 17:30, I decide that the afternoon is now over, so I telephone A and unsurprisingly find that she’s going to work again tonight. She goes through the routine of asking me if it’s okay and there’s little that I can do about it except say that I really want her to return in the morning as it has been too long since I’ve seen her.
By 19:00, I wander out to get something to eat and investigate the carts immediately opposite Noi’s Bar. I get myself roast pork and pork wontons with bright yellow noodles and a bag of ‘broth’ for 40 baht and manage to resist the temptation to stop off for a beer as I’ve still got a few bottles in the fridge at home.
I eat my food and have two bottles of beer whilst watching a couple of films on the TV and by 23:00, I’m tired enough to go to bed.
Expenditure :
7/11 – 145 baht
Stall Food - 40 baht
Stall Food (Friday – not mentioned) – 35 baht
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Friday, 9 November 2007
Trip 4 - Day 92
November 9th
I awake with a bit of a hangover at 10:00 and after breakfast, I start a load of washing. The events from the previous day are clear up until I left Cherry Bar. I know that I went to Noi’s Bar after that and by the fact that I have three bottles of Chang in the fridge, I obviously stopped off at the corner store and thankfully hadn’t consumed them.
I remember very clearly that I had already paid ‘tip’ to the lovely Ja of the Winchester Gun Club for ‘services to be rendered’ but I did have a problem in that I couldn’t remember the exact location of the Bar. (I had been given a business card yesterday, but don’t know what happened to it).
I have enough dirty washing to make up a machine load. So I get this going straightaway and then make myself some breakfast. (The bacon sarnies are going down well as a quick and easy meal)
I log on to the Internet and using Google the full history of the Bar is discovered. It was originally The Winchester Gun Club then became The Blind Beggar (hence the pictures in the bar of the London gangsters and their accomplices). It then underwent another change of management and reverted to its original name. More importantly, I determined that it was located on Soi Wat Boon and confirmed that its opening time was 12:00.
After hanging out the washing, it was time to get shaved and generally ‘tarted up’. By 12:15, I was out the door and was pleased to find that the scooter taxi rider knew the Soi that I was talking about. A long trek down Sukhumvit past Tesco and then the Wat is on the right hand side and you just keep going until you see the orange building with the massive sign.
As I enter the bar, there’s a little squeal and Ja steps forward through the crowd of girls at the door and takes my hand to lead me into the bar.
She’s as cute as I remember her which is a great relief (Beer goggles can be deceiving) and we settle down for a drink cuddle and chat. The first thing I’m told is “Your friend from yesterday. He come today. Is upstairs now.” I see him as he leaves 20 minutes or so later, but I don’t think he sees me.
I’m feeling very comfortable sitting with Ja and her English is excellent as she went to English lessons paid for by a Dutchman who had told her that he would return to stay with her (but didn’t).
Ten minutes later, I’m settling checkbin and paying the room charge (250 baht) and we make our way upstairs to a well appointed clean and tidy room with en suite and air con where I admit to making yet another ‘transgression’.
On the way out, I’m asked to give ‘small tip’ to the maid for keeping the room clean and tidy and 20 baht is deemed sufficient for this.
As we head down the stairs I’m asked what I’m going to do for the rest of the day and I say that I’ll stay for a few drinks and continue to chat with Ja.
We settle down and over the next two hours, I find out a lot of information about this lady. She’s 28 years old, has two kids, weighs 45kg and is 153cm tall. She works in her tattoo shop which she runs with her elder and younger brothers between 08:00 & 11:00, then 8 – 9 hours at the Winchester where she has two days off a month (but cannot be Friday, Saturday or Sunday) and is paid 5000 baht a month. If she fails to get 20 ST’s in a month, she’s ‘cut’ 1000 baht. If she fails to get 60 LD’s a month she is ‘cut’ 1000 baht. If she fails to turn up to work, she’s ‘cut’ 1000 for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday or 500 for other days. Staff ‘uniform’ has to be worn on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays otherwise there is a ‘cut’. In the evening, she works an hour at the tattoo shop between 22:00 & 23:00 where she cleans and locks up. She gets home and into bed by midnight and has to get up at least once a night to feed her two year old baby. I’m told that the father of the baby is no longer around and it’s not a problem as she doesn’t like him anymore.
It’s now 15:00 and I’m in a great mood, however Ja tells me that she needs to go and eat (The girls get 20 minutes lunch break a day), so she heads off whilst I just have another beer.
When she returns after less than 15 minutes, I’m pleased to see her and it just had to be done. So it’s time to pay checkbin again including another room charge and this gets a hoot of laughs from a number of the other girls and a few high fives. I really don’t care though and this time the session is quite different to the earlier one.
When we return to the bar this time, I decide that it really is time to return home, so Ja escorts me outside and waits with me until a scooter taxi arrives.
I’ve had a couple of ‘over budget’ days, but have had a very enjoyable time and consider the expenditure ‘well spent’.
Expenditure :
Scooter Taxis - 200 baht
Winchester – 2100 baht
I awake with a bit of a hangover at 10:00 and after breakfast, I start a load of washing. The events from the previous day are clear up until I left Cherry Bar. I know that I went to Noi’s Bar after that and by the fact that I have three bottles of Chang in the fridge, I obviously stopped off at the corner store and thankfully hadn’t consumed them.
I remember very clearly that I had already paid ‘tip’ to the lovely Ja of the Winchester Gun Club for ‘services to be rendered’ but I did have a problem in that I couldn’t remember the exact location of the Bar. (I had been given a business card yesterday, but don’t know what happened to it).
I have enough dirty washing to make up a machine load. So I get this going straightaway and then make myself some breakfast. (The bacon sarnies are going down well as a quick and easy meal)
I log on to the Internet and using Google the full history of the Bar is discovered. It was originally The Winchester Gun Club then became The Blind Beggar (hence the pictures in the bar of the London gangsters and their accomplices). It then underwent another change of management and reverted to its original name. More importantly, I determined that it was located on Soi Wat Boon and confirmed that its opening time was 12:00.
After hanging out the washing, it was time to get shaved and generally ‘tarted up’. By 12:15, I was out the door and was pleased to find that the scooter taxi rider knew the Soi that I was talking about. A long trek down Sukhumvit past Tesco and then the Wat is on the right hand side and you just keep going until you see the orange building with the massive sign.
As I enter the bar, there’s a little squeal and Ja steps forward through the crowd of girls at the door and takes my hand to lead me into the bar.
She’s as cute as I remember her which is a great relief (Beer goggles can be deceiving) and we settle down for a drink cuddle and chat. The first thing I’m told is “Your friend from yesterday. He come today. Is upstairs now.” I see him as he leaves 20 minutes or so later, but I don’t think he sees me.
I’m feeling very comfortable sitting with Ja and her English is excellent as she went to English lessons paid for by a Dutchman who had told her that he would return to stay with her (but didn’t).
Ten minutes later, I’m settling checkbin and paying the room charge (250 baht) and we make our way upstairs to a well appointed clean and tidy room with en suite and air con where I admit to making yet another ‘transgression’.
On the way out, I’m asked to give ‘small tip’ to the maid for keeping the room clean and tidy and 20 baht is deemed sufficient for this.
As we head down the stairs I’m asked what I’m going to do for the rest of the day and I say that I’ll stay for a few drinks and continue to chat with Ja.
We settle down and over the next two hours, I find out a lot of information about this lady. She’s 28 years old, has two kids, weighs 45kg and is 153cm tall. She works in her tattoo shop which she runs with her elder and younger brothers between 08:00 & 11:00, then 8 – 9 hours at the Winchester where she has two days off a month (but cannot be Friday, Saturday or Sunday) and is paid 5000 baht a month. If she fails to get 20 ST’s in a month, she’s ‘cut’ 1000 baht. If she fails to get 60 LD’s a month she is ‘cut’ 1000 baht. If she fails to turn up to work, she’s ‘cut’ 1000 for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday or 500 for other days. Staff ‘uniform’ has to be worn on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays otherwise there is a ‘cut’. In the evening, she works an hour at the tattoo shop between 22:00 & 23:00 where she cleans and locks up. She gets home and into bed by midnight and has to get up at least once a night to feed her two year old baby. I’m told that the father of the baby is no longer around and it’s not a problem as she doesn’t like him anymore.
It’s now 15:00 and I’m in a great mood, however Ja tells me that she needs to go and eat (The girls get 20 minutes lunch break a day), so she heads off whilst I just have another beer.
When she returns after less than 15 minutes, I’m pleased to see her and it just had to be done. So it’s time to pay checkbin again including another room charge and this gets a hoot of laughs from a number of the other girls and a few high fives. I really don’t care though and this time the session is quite different to the earlier one.
When we return to the bar this time, I decide that it really is time to return home, so Ja escorts me outside and waits with me until a scooter taxi arrives.
I’ve had a couple of ‘over budget’ days, but have had a very enjoyable time and consider the expenditure ‘well spent’.
Expenditure :
Scooter Taxis - 200 baht
Winchester – 2100 baht
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Trip 4 - Day 91
November 8th
I wake up at 12:00 and after a quick breakfast and SSS, it’s time to leave for the Bar Crawl. I haven’t got a place booked but it’s a fairly common occurrence for someone to pay for these early start crawls and fail to make it in time. (Cheers Bazzap!)
We all mustered at Mike's and to say that Hammer was looking a little the worse for wear would be a gross understatement, however he was convinced that after a couple of Tigers he's be fine.
At the appointed hour, we made our way to the hired baht bus and set off for our first port of call. Up 2nd Road, left into Soi 2, left onto Beach Road and then left again into Soi 3 and we pull up just past Lucky Bar (Too early for me to get in any trouble there though) and into [url=http://www.welkominnthailand.com/e_index.htm] Welkom Inn[/url]
There weren't many girls working and of those that were, I didn't see any real lookers, but then it surely meant that things would only get better.
After 1 hour we all paid up and got back on the bus. Back round the block Soi 3; 2nd Road; Soi 2 and on to Beach Road again. We turn off on one of the Soi 13's and park up just down from Soi Post Office.
This is a free rein visit and we were all instructed to return in 1 hour for the next stop. I headed right down the Soi with Kuranda Bagman as he'd had a report that Club Nevada had been pretty good just the day before. We entered the bar and there were a few customers sitting on the couches and a decent lineup of naked lovelies dancing.
Not being backward in coming forward, we parked ourselves right in front of the stage and were pleasantly entertained by a couple of the girls. When the first of them reached the end of the dance rotation, she got dressed and was immediately jumping into my lap which was perfectly okay with me and things were definately 'on the up'. (Of course it cost me a couple of ladydrinks, but for the fun and general playing about it was a bloody good 'investment'. )
4 o'clock came around all too soon and it was time to move on once again. We all boarded the bus and headed off to a part of town that I'd never been to before. Eden Pub (previously called Harleys) was our destination, however as a short time venue, the place didn't really work. It seemed to be more of a conventional bar / restaurant with a sizable hotel attached. (Considering that the bar is not in a central area, it was surprising to find the drinks pricing quite high with a bottle of Chang costing 70 baht.) A quick decision was made to just have 1 drink and move on, so the next stop was the Lion Pub just down the road. The company here was more receptive to the needs of our group, but once again the atmosphere was more of a pub than a short time venue.
The next stop was to be the 'banker' location where we 'knew' we'd get the full attention we were craving. Jade was the venue and whilst we were aware that there would be fewer girls working than on the Wednesday barbecue days, we were not prepared for the paucity that we actually encountered. I found myself with my arm aroud the waist of a little stunner and was immediately asked for a ladydrink which I agreed to. Things were looking up, but the girl wasn't really interested and wouldn't even allow Hammer to take a 'safe' pic. This was a great disappointment and I was now looking for the last venue to finish the day on a high.
We headed down to Jomtien beach and made our way to the Winchester Gun Club (formerly known as The Blind Beggar) where the girls seem to take the customers on a rotation basis. I found myself allocated with a chubby girl which wasn't really my type, but "What the hell?". She had to get up to dance and then she was noticed by Casper UK who has more of a penchant for girls with the 'fuller' figure. I looked at who he was sitting with and when he offered a 'swap', I leapt at the chance. I found Ja sitting on my lap and she was a real darling with a great smile and we all had a laugh at the tattoo being sported by Hammer, however Ja was not so happy about seeing this as I was told that Hammer had told her a couple of days earlier that he'd go to her shop to have the tattoo done
I seriously considered paying for a room, but knew that I'd had too many beers to really enjoy the experience, so told Ja that I'd return the next day. This was a line that she's obivously heard many times in the past and I don't think it was really believed. To prove that I was serious, I paid 'tip' in advance and told her that if I didn't come back then she would have made some easy money.
The crawl was now over and we jumped on the bus for the return to Pattaya. Hammer was off to Soi 6 and myself and Casper UK went to Cherry Bar. The other BMs dispersed into the Pattaya night.
Not what I had been expecting from the crawl, but I did have a couple of high points.
Expenditure :
Scooter Taxi – 160 baht
Beer – 105 baht
Crawl – 1900 baht
I wake up at 12:00 and after a quick breakfast and SSS, it’s time to leave for the Bar Crawl. I haven’t got a place booked but it’s a fairly common occurrence for someone to pay for these early start crawls and fail to make it in time. (Cheers Bazzap!)
We all mustered at Mike's and to say that Hammer was looking a little the worse for wear would be a gross understatement, however he was convinced that after a couple of Tigers he's be fine.
At the appointed hour, we made our way to the hired baht bus and set off for our first port of call. Up 2nd Road, left into Soi 2, left onto Beach Road and then left again into Soi 3 and we pull up just past Lucky Bar (Too early for me to get in any trouble there though) and into [url=http://www.welkominnthailand.com/e_index.htm] Welkom Inn[/url]
There weren't many girls working and of those that were, I didn't see any real lookers, but then it surely meant that things would only get better.
After 1 hour we all paid up and got back on the bus. Back round the block Soi 3; 2nd Road; Soi 2 and on to Beach Road again. We turn off on one of the Soi 13's and park up just down from Soi Post Office.
This is a free rein visit and we were all instructed to return in 1 hour for the next stop. I headed right down the Soi with Kuranda Bagman as he'd had a report that Club Nevada had been pretty good just the day before. We entered the bar and there were a few customers sitting on the couches and a decent lineup of naked lovelies dancing.
Not being backward in coming forward, we parked ourselves right in front of the stage and were pleasantly entertained by a couple of the girls. When the first of them reached the end of the dance rotation, she got dressed and was immediately jumping into my lap which was perfectly okay with me and things were definately 'on the up'. (Of course it cost me a couple of ladydrinks, but for the fun and general playing about it was a bloody good 'investment'. )
4 o'clock came around all too soon and it was time to move on once again. We all boarded the bus and headed off to a part of town that I'd never been to before. Eden Pub (previously called Harleys) was our destination, however as a short time venue, the place didn't really work. It seemed to be more of a conventional bar / restaurant with a sizable hotel attached. (Considering that the bar is not in a central area, it was surprising to find the drinks pricing quite high with a bottle of Chang costing 70 baht.) A quick decision was made to just have 1 drink and move on, so the next stop was the Lion Pub just down the road. The company here was more receptive to the needs of our group, but once again the atmosphere was more of a pub than a short time venue.
The next stop was to be the 'banker' location where we 'knew' we'd get the full attention we were craving. Jade was the venue and whilst we were aware that there would be fewer girls working than on the Wednesday barbecue days, we were not prepared for the paucity that we actually encountered. I found myself with my arm aroud the waist of a little stunner and was immediately asked for a ladydrink which I agreed to. Things were looking up, but the girl wasn't really interested and wouldn't even allow Hammer to take a 'safe' pic. This was a great disappointment and I was now looking for the last venue to finish the day on a high.
We headed down to Jomtien beach and made our way to the Winchester Gun Club (formerly known as The Blind Beggar) where the girls seem to take the customers on a rotation basis. I found myself allocated with a chubby girl which wasn't really my type, but "What the hell?". She had to get up to dance and then she was noticed by Casper UK who has more of a penchant for girls with the 'fuller' figure. I looked at who he was sitting with and when he offered a 'swap', I leapt at the chance. I found Ja sitting on my lap and she was a real darling with a great smile and we all had a laugh at the tattoo being sported by Hammer, however Ja was not so happy about seeing this as I was told that Hammer had told her a couple of days earlier that he'd go to her shop to have the tattoo done
I seriously considered paying for a room, but knew that I'd had too many beers to really enjoy the experience, so told Ja that I'd return the next day. This was a line that she's obivously heard many times in the past and I don't think it was really believed. To prove that I was serious, I paid 'tip' in advance and told her that if I didn't come back then she would have made some easy money.
The crawl was now over and we jumped on the bus for the return to Pattaya. Hammer was off to Soi 6 and myself and Casper UK went to Cherry Bar. The other BMs dispersed into the Pattaya night.
Not what I had been expecting from the crawl, but I did have a couple of high points.
Expenditure :
Scooter Taxi – 160 baht
Beer – 105 baht
Crawl – 1900 baht
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Trip 4 - Day 90
November 7th
Up at 05:15 and after a quick SSS, I head out to get a scooter taxi to Witherspoons. I arrive at 06:05 and after sitting down I am offered a full English breakfast of bacon, egg, sausage, tomato, beans, fried slice, toast and a mug of tea which is included within the fee.
Within 15 minutes, the other 5 guys doing the trip have arrived and by 06:45 we are boarding our minibus with our complimentary bottle of water. The minibus is well appointed with comfortable leather seats, plenty of legroom and a decent video screen mounted in the ceiling. Each passenger is supplied with wireless headphones, so that if you choose not to watch the movies, you aren’t disturbed by any noise.
After 90 minutes or so we stop for a comfort break and it’s obviously a popular stopping place as there are other buses with passengers all doing the same journeys. A quick look in a couple of the other buses shows that the 9 seater configurations look considerably more cramped.
Next stop is the Thai border where we leave the country and our completed landing cards are handed over.
Having ‘left’ Thailand, there’s now an opportunity to purchase items from the Duty Free shop. Several flavours of Kamagra Gel are available as well as Viagra, Penegra, Apcalis and other ‘generics’. For reference, Kamagra gel is 2300 baht for a carton of 50 sachets.
We’re given our passports back and we’ve ‘miraculously’ been to Cambodia and returned.
For the guys that are getting a 30 day entry, they are required to go and buy a bus ticket showing their ‘onward’ travel and they are charged 200 baht for this ticket. It’s the only bus company I know of that sells tickets that passengers never actually use. (I wonder if they do really have a bus even)
We then all re-enter Thailand with all the paperwork completed for us and jump aboard our minibus for the return to Pattaya.
Another comfort stop on the return and we are back at Witherspoons just after 14:00. We then have lunch which is included as well (I had Roast Pork, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding and vegetables) and am very fortunate in that a fellow passenger lives just up the road from me, so I get a free lift home.
Once home, I try to grab a couple of hours sleep, but do not manage and all too soon it’s time to make my way to Cherry Bar for the evening. The place is ‘steady’ for most of the night with a good number of BM’s attending at some stage including Seanie; Dr Dod; Sparkydave; Kuranda Bagman; Bazzap and Dudebrah.
One of the girls tried to take a pic of one of the BM’s and discovered that it’s not only the girls that are shy of being recognised.
The combination of several Singha’s and having been up for over 20 hours has me a little ‘light headed’ and I end up buying a drink for Mint after she’d spent some time hand feeding me.
I finally get home at 04:30 and collapse into bed totally exhausted.
Expenditure :
Scooter Taxi – 210 baht
Coke (with lunch) – 50 baht
Ladydrink for Mint – 100 baht
Up at 05:15 and after a quick SSS, I head out to get a scooter taxi to Witherspoons. I arrive at 06:05 and after sitting down I am offered a full English breakfast of bacon, egg, sausage, tomato, beans, fried slice, toast and a mug of tea which is included within the fee.
Within 15 minutes, the other 5 guys doing the trip have arrived and by 06:45 we are boarding our minibus with our complimentary bottle of water. The minibus is well appointed with comfortable leather seats, plenty of legroom and a decent video screen mounted in the ceiling. Each passenger is supplied with wireless headphones, so that if you choose not to watch the movies, you aren’t disturbed by any noise.
After 90 minutes or so we stop for a comfort break and it’s obviously a popular stopping place as there are other buses with passengers all doing the same journeys. A quick look in a couple of the other buses shows that the 9 seater configurations look considerably more cramped.
Next stop is the Thai border where we leave the country and our completed landing cards are handed over.
Having ‘left’ Thailand, there’s now an opportunity to purchase items from the Duty Free shop. Several flavours of Kamagra Gel are available as well as Viagra, Penegra, Apcalis and other ‘generics’. For reference, Kamagra gel is 2300 baht for a carton of 50 sachets.
We’re given our passports back and we’ve ‘miraculously’ been to Cambodia and returned.
For the guys that are getting a 30 day entry, they are required to go and buy a bus ticket showing their ‘onward’ travel and they are charged 200 baht for this ticket. It’s the only bus company I know of that sells tickets that passengers never actually use. (I wonder if they do really have a bus even)
We then all re-enter Thailand with all the paperwork completed for us and jump aboard our minibus for the return to Pattaya.
Another comfort stop on the return and we are back at Witherspoons just after 14:00. We then have lunch which is included as well (I had Roast Pork, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Pudding and vegetables) and am very fortunate in that a fellow passenger lives just up the road from me, so I get a free lift home.
Once home, I try to grab a couple of hours sleep, but do not manage and all too soon it’s time to make my way to Cherry Bar for the evening. The place is ‘steady’ for most of the night with a good number of BM’s attending at some stage including Seanie; Dr Dod; Sparkydave; Kuranda Bagman; Bazzap and Dudebrah.
One of the girls tried to take a pic of one of the BM’s and discovered that it’s not only the girls that are shy of being recognised.
The combination of several Singha’s and having been up for over 20 hours has me a little ‘light headed’ and I end up buying a drink for Mint after she’d spent some time hand feeding me.
I finally get home at 04:30 and collapse into bed totally exhausted.
Expenditure :
Scooter Taxi – 210 baht
Coke (with lunch) – 50 baht
Ladydrink for Mint – 100 baht
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Trip 4 - Day 89
November 6th
As she doesn’t have to drop Phil off first, A sets off a little later today, however we are both suffering a little from the night before. It had been a good night and A had enjoyed seeing a couple of her ‘friends’. I am ‘reminded’ that I hadn’t paid money for Mama yesterday and so I hand over a 500 baht note to A.
We get a call from Kye just before A drives away saying that the electric company would be round sometime before 18:00 to reconnect us. The first thing I need to do is get round to pay my fee for the visa run tomorrow, so I grab a scooter taxi and get there for 10:00. Unfortunately the girl hasn’t arrived yet, so I take a 20 minute walk around the block and it’s quite entertaining seeing a number of girls leaving the local hotels and jumping on to scooters to return to ‘loom’. I’m actually propositioned twice, but it’s far too early to even consider the idea and if they are just leaving the hotels, the thought isn’t particularly appealing.
I return to Witherspoons and sign the various forms for the Thailand landing card and the Cambodian visa as well as paying the 2400 baht all inclusive fee.
I decide to walk home from here and walk up Buakhouw and then left into Klang, where I pop into Carrefour to get a few basics such a Coke, baguette, lettuce & chillies. I also need to get my Internet connection renewed for the month, so I stop off at 7/11 to buy my top ups.
As I walk up Soi Khao Noi, I pop into the D2M English Food Shop to see if they have a pack of the Bacon ‘pieces’. They have, so I get a 1kg pack for a princely 50 baht and I have to say this is a great way of getting bacon suitable for sandwiches at a very reasonable price.
Once home, I make a very tasty BLT baguette which I wash down with a couple of bottles of water and then have nothing to do but wait for the electric company to arrive.
17:30 we are reconnected and at 18:00 A arrives home. The first thing she does is get a load of washing on the go. We eat fairly late and as I have a very early start in the morning, I decide not to bother with the usual Tuesday night beers at Noi’s Bar.
Expenditure :
Mama allowance – 500 baht
Scooter Taxi – 60 baht
Visa Run Fee – 2400 baht
Carrefour – 71 baht
Internet – 535 baht
Telephone Top Up – 100 baht
Evening Food – 150 baht
As she doesn’t have to drop Phil off first, A sets off a little later today, however we are both suffering a little from the night before. It had been a good night and A had enjoyed seeing a couple of her ‘friends’. I am ‘reminded’ that I hadn’t paid money for Mama yesterday and so I hand over a 500 baht note to A.
We get a call from Kye just before A drives away saying that the electric company would be round sometime before 18:00 to reconnect us. The first thing I need to do is get round to pay my fee for the visa run tomorrow, so I grab a scooter taxi and get there for 10:00. Unfortunately the girl hasn’t arrived yet, so I take a 20 minute walk around the block and it’s quite entertaining seeing a number of girls leaving the local hotels and jumping on to scooters to return to ‘loom’. I’m actually propositioned twice, but it’s far too early to even consider the idea and if they are just leaving the hotels, the thought isn’t particularly appealing.
I return to Witherspoons and sign the various forms for the Thailand landing card and the Cambodian visa as well as paying the 2400 baht all inclusive fee.
I decide to walk home from here and walk up Buakhouw and then left into Klang, where I pop into Carrefour to get a few basics such a Coke, baguette, lettuce & chillies. I also need to get my Internet connection renewed for the month, so I stop off at 7/11 to buy my top ups.
As I walk up Soi Khao Noi, I pop into the D2M English Food Shop to see if they have a pack of the Bacon ‘pieces’. They have, so I get a 1kg pack for a princely 50 baht and I have to say this is a great way of getting bacon suitable for sandwiches at a very reasonable price.
Once home, I make a very tasty BLT baguette which I wash down with a couple of bottles of water and then have nothing to do but wait for the electric company to arrive.
17:30 we are reconnected and at 18:00 A arrives home. The first thing she does is get a load of washing on the go. We eat fairly late and as I have a very early start in the morning, I decide not to bother with the usual Tuesday night beers at Noi’s Bar.
Expenditure :
Mama allowance – 500 baht
Scooter Taxi – 60 baht
Visa Run Fee – 2400 baht
Carrefour – 71 baht
Internet – 535 baht
Telephone Top Up – 100 baht
Evening Food – 150 baht
Monday, 5 November 2007
Trip 4 - Day 88
November 5th
Tonight is Sparkydave & Porn’s joint birthday bash at Cherry Bar, so A is leaving Phil with ‘Auntie’ at Sri Racha. She goes off early as usual to get Phil to school and to head off to work, but she also wants to get her hair treated and trimmed. This is something that she hasn’t had done for about a year and says that the reason for not having it done is that it costs too much.
The last time she had it done, her hair wasn’t as long and it cost her 700 baht, so she doesn’t know what it will cost this time. I give her 1000 baht to get it done as I also want her to look good tonight.
In the middle of the afternoon, we get a power cut which is not something strange, but after 1 hour, I realise that the neighbours have music playing. I telephone A to find out what to do. She doesn’t know, so she telephones Kye who comes round about ten minutes later.
A telephone call to the electric company determines that we’ve been disconnected due to non payment. A has previously paid the landlord for utilities rather than direct and we hadn’t realised that the bill had been delivered into our mailbox 10 days earlier.
Kye volunteers to ride round to the electric company to pay the bill, but when she gets there it’s too late to make payment and she contacts A to say that she’ll return first thing in the morning.
I have shower ‘cool’ at 17:00 whilst there’s still some daylight and A arrives home at 17:30. She gets washed and changed, but there is not enough light for her to apply makeup.
We leave at just before 19:00 and we go to eat at the Thai Buffet next to Big C on Pattaya Tai before going on to the party. A veritable feast of pork, chicken and prawns with plenty of vegetables and just Coke & water to drink make this a healthy eating option and quite cheap as well at just 300 baht for the two of us.
After eating, I get A to drop me off at Witherspoons on Soi Buakhouw, as I need to do a visa run within the next two days. I make a booking to do the run on Wednesday as the Tuesday trip is full, however I am required to call in tomorrow with my passport and a couple of passport photos so that they can prepare the paperwork in advance.
Ten minutes later and we now make our way to the Cherry Bar. The place is busy as usual on a party night and apart from Dave, there’s a few ‘regular’ faces arrive during the course of the night.
Both A and myself are drinking Singha tonight, but as she’s not been drinking any alcohol for several weeks, it only takes a few for her to start becoming a little ‘mau’. I’d been worried that there might be some ‘stories’ passed to A tonight which could be ‘awkward’ to explain away, but I am lucky and nothing is said thankfully.
A spends a lot of the night chatting and dancing with Joy & Pun2 and makes the comment that Joy is now wearing more revealing clothes than she had done when A was working at the bar. (Of course I claimed that I’d never noticed this detail).
We get back home quite late, but there is no contact as it’s far too hot even for a cuddle with no fan or air-con in the room.
Expenditure :
Hair treatment – 1000 baht
Electric Bill – 700 baht
Thai Buffet – 300 baht
Cherry Bar – 850 baht
Tonight is Sparkydave & Porn’s joint birthday bash at Cherry Bar, so A is leaving Phil with ‘Auntie’ at Sri Racha. She goes off early as usual to get Phil to school and to head off to work, but she also wants to get her hair treated and trimmed. This is something that she hasn’t had done for about a year and says that the reason for not having it done is that it costs too much.
The last time she had it done, her hair wasn’t as long and it cost her 700 baht, so she doesn’t know what it will cost this time. I give her 1000 baht to get it done as I also want her to look good tonight.
In the middle of the afternoon, we get a power cut which is not something strange, but after 1 hour, I realise that the neighbours have music playing. I telephone A to find out what to do. She doesn’t know, so she telephones Kye who comes round about ten minutes later.
A telephone call to the electric company determines that we’ve been disconnected due to non payment. A has previously paid the landlord for utilities rather than direct and we hadn’t realised that the bill had been delivered into our mailbox 10 days earlier.
Kye volunteers to ride round to the electric company to pay the bill, but when she gets there it’s too late to make payment and she contacts A to say that she’ll return first thing in the morning.
I have shower ‘cool’ at 17:00 whilst there’s still some daylight and A arrives home at 17:30. She gets washed and changed, but there is not enough light for her to apply makeup.
We leave at just before 19:00 and we go to eat at the Thai Buffet next to Big C on Pattaya Tai before going on to the party. A veritable feast of pork, chicken and prawns with plenty of vegetables and just Coke & water to drink make this a healthy eating option and quite cheap as well at just 300 baht for the two of us.
After eating, I get A to drop me off at Witherspoons on Soi Buakhouw, as I need to do a visa run within the next two days. I make a booking to do the run on Wednesday as the Tuesday trip is full, however I am required to call in tomorrow with my passport and a couple of passport photos so that they can prepare the paperwork in advance.
Ten minutes later and we now make our way to the Cherry Bar. The place is busy as usual on a party night and apart from Dave, there’s a few ‘regular’ faces arrive during the course of the night.
Both A and myself are drinking Singha tonight, but as she’s not been drinking any alcohol for several weeks, it only takes a few for her to start becoming a little ‘mau’. I’d been worried that there might be some ‘stories’ passed to A tonight which could be ‘awkward’ to explain away, but I am lucky and nothing is said thankfully.
A spends a lot of the night chatting and dancing with Joy & Pun2 and makes the comment that Joy is now wearing more revealing clothes than she had done when A was working at the bar. (Of course I claimed that I’d never noticed this detail).
We get back home quite late, but there is no contact as it’s far too hot even for a cuddle with no fan or air-con in the room.
Expenditure :
Hair treatment – 1000 baht
Electric Bill – 700 baht
Thai Buffet – 300 baht
Cherry Bar – 850 baht
Sunday, 4 November 2007
Trip 4 - Day 87
November 4th
A arrives back with Phil just before midday and we decide that we’ll go to the beach for the afternoon. A ‘phones Kye to see if she wants to tag along and in the end there’s six of us on two scooters heading off down Sukhumvit highway en route to Jomtien.
The water is very warm and whilst I decline the idea of a swim, just a paddle in the warm water is very enjoyable and the kids have a great time playing around in the sand and in the water.
We get home and have a snack to eat which keeps us going until we eat ‘cart food’ in the evening. It’s been a ‘lazy’ day and a relaxing day with A looking more relaxed than she has for a while, however we are once again we are starting into the next ‘28 day cycle’.
Expenditure :
Cart Food – 60 baht
Beer / Water / Coke / Ice – 132 baht
A arrives back with Phil just before midday and we decide that we’ll go to the beach for the afternoon. A ‘phones Kye to see if she wants to tag along and in the end there’s six of us on two scooters heading off down Sukhumvit highway en route to Jomtien.
The water is very warm and whilst I decline the idea of a swim, just a paddle in the warm water is very enjoyable and the kids have a great time playing around in the sand and in the water.
We get home and have a snack to eat which keeps us going until we eat ‘cart food’ in the evening. It’s been a ‘lazy’ day and a relaxing day with A looking more relaxed than she has for a while, however we are once again we are starting into the next ‘28 day cycle’.
Expenditure :
Cart Food – 60 baht
Beer / Water / Coke / Ice – 132 baht
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