29th September
We wake up mid morning and it's a day for getting in a few supplies for the coming week, so off to Big C and the total bill is 678.50 baht.
As said before, we have no TV service at the moment . Instead of Banglamung cable which we received before, we are now to get Sophon. A doesn't know how much it is going to cost, but I accept that TV is almost a necessity for A & Phil. I have no small bills, so I give her 1000 baht and she disappears off to get things sorted.
When she returns she tells me that it's 1350 baht for three months. (I've only just realised whilst writing this, that I haven't asked her if she's paid the extra amount yet.) The engineer will be arriving on Monday and when he gets there, I need to call A so that she can speak with him.
The afternoon makes way for early evening and I just sit out front and read my book again tonight. At 20:00, I eat with A and Phill and shortly afterwards, she settles him down for the night. I look forward to a little bit of 'cuddle time', but it seems that A is tired (well she does work all week, so I can understand that) and she's getting an early night as well "For go to sleep!". That puts paid to any ideas I might have had, so I have one small bottle of beer and read another couple of chapters before turning in for myself.
Expenditure :
BigC food supplies : 678.50 baht
Payment for cable TV : 1000 baht
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Friday, 28 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 50
28th September
I wake up to see A and Phil off in the morning and then simply return to sleep for a few more hours as 06:00 in Pattaya is an 'obscene' time to be waking up especially if you only got to bed sometime after 02:00.
At 14:00, I finally surface and as it's Friday, I need to get into town to hand Kev's condo keys to the estate agent, so I get a scooter taxi to Soi 6/1 and see Steve at Alan Bolton's again. We have a chat and he says that business has just started to pick up, and he's also covering for Alan who is currently back in the UK.
After leaving the office, I decide to pop into TukCom as I need to buy an AV lead as I didn't bring it from the UK with me, so that means getting a baht bus from Beach Road. Being so close, It would be rude not to at least make the walk down Soi 6 to get the bus, so the walk was done and the big grin came so naturally. At least my resolve held out and the temptations were not sufficient to deflect me from my simple task of just walking down a road.
Into TukCom and I find a place selling what I think to be the right lead. I'm simply told that if it doesn't work, to bring it back with the portable DVD player and the right one would be found. At 120 baht, it's not a major expense, but it is good to know that it's not a waste if it's wrong.
As I come out of TukCom, it dawns on me that it's market day, so the deep fried chicken stall will be there. It just has to be done I'm afraid, so I head up Soi Bouakhow and the stall is where it always is at the entrance to the market. A big piece of chicken with sweet sauce and sticky rice comes to 45 baht and I decide to get a scooter back home so that I can eat it hot. I stop the taxi at the end of my Soi and buy a bottle of Coke and a bag of ice in the shop on the corner and a couple of minutes later I'm tucking in.
A arrives home at 17:30 and tells me that tonight we are going to have 'buffet' at home, so she disappears off to get the ingredients. 20 minutes later she returns with Phil and there is also Kye and her two kids as well. The two women start preparing the food and the kids are all playing together. I'm told that I should just go and sit outside and that I can read my book, which seems a damn good idea and is a pleasant way to spend the early evening. The women are being productive; the kids are playing quite nicely and there's a range of music emanating from the houses along the Soi.
Later, Kye goes to collect Robin from work and the four of us eat buffet and drink whisky and soda whilst sitting out in the front of the bungalow. In the darkness the glow of the barbecue coals is quite comforting and peaceful and as night draws on the Soi becomes quieter and quieter. Just before midnight, our guests depart and Phil is already asleep. He's put to bed and we retire for the night.
Expenditure :
Scooter Taxi & Baht Bus : 120 baht
AV Cable : 120 baht
Chicken at Market : 45 baht
Coke & Ice : 35 baht
I wake up to see A and Phil off in the morning and then simply return to sleep for a few more hours as 06:00 in Pattaya is an 'obscene' time to be waking up especially if you only got to bed sometime after 02:00.
At 14:00, I finally surface and as it's Friday, I need to get into town to hand Kev's condo keys to the estate agent, so I get a scooter taxi to Soi 6/1 and see Steve at Alan Bolton's again. We have a chat and he says that business has just started to pick up, and he's also covering for Alan who is currently back in the UK.
After leaving the office, I decide to pop into TukCom as I need to buy an AV lead as I didn't bring it from the UK with me, so that means getting a baht bus from Beach Road. Being so close, It would be rude not to at least make the walk down Soi 6 to get the bus, so the walk was done and the big grin came so naturally. At least my resolve held out and the temptations were not sufficient to deflect me from my simple task of just walking down a road.
Into TukCom and I find a place selling what I think to be the right lead. I'm simply told that if it doesn't work, to bring it back with the portable DVD player and the right one would be found. At 120 baht, it's not a major expense, but it is good to know that it's not a waste if it's wrong.
As I come out of TukCom, it dawns on me that it's market day, so the deep fried chicken stall will be there. It just has to be done I'm afraid, so I head up Soi Bouakhow and the stall is where it always is at the entrance to the market. A big piece of chicken with sweet sauce and sticky rice comes to 45 baht and I decide to get a scooter back home so that I can eat it hot. I stop the taxi at the end of my Soi and buy a bottle of Coke and a bag of ice in the shop on the corner and a couple of minutes later I'm tucking in.
A arrives home at 17:30 and tells me that tonight we are going to have 'buffet' at home, so she disappears off to get the ingredients. 20 minutes later she returns with Phil and there is also Kye and her two kids as well. The two women start preparing the food and the kids are all playing together. I'm told that I should just go and sit outside and that I can read my book, which seems a damn good idea and is a pleasant way to spend the early evening. The women are being productive; the kids are playing quite nicely and there's a range of music emanating from the houses along the Soi.
Later, Kye goes to collect Robin from work and the four of us eat buffet and drink whisky and soda whilst sitting out in the front of the bungalow. In the darkness the glow of the barbecue coals is quite comforting and peaceful and as night draws on the Soi becomes quieter and quieter. Just before midnight, our guests depart and Phil is already asleep. He's put to bed and we retire for the night.
Expenditure :
Scooter Taxi & Baht Bus : 120 baht
AV Cable : 120 baht
Chicken at Market : 45 baht
Coke & Ice : 35 baht
Thursday, 27 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 49
27th September
A heads off to work early and I rise at lunchtime. The thought of journeying into town to hand the keys in today doesn't really appeal, so I end up just doing some laundry and cooking a simple meal of sliced 'pig' (instead of bacon) and fried eggs on toast.
A returns home with Phil a little earlier than usual at 17:15 and I'm when A realises that it's Thursday and I'm going out again, she decides to get food from the stalls rather than cook.
We all sit down to eat and Phil watches a few VCDs (we still have no cable TV hooked up yet). At 19:00 I SSS and by 19:40, I'm heading off for the FLB for the monthly GoGo crawl.
I arrive at the bar and the place is heaving. Tonight is the largest turnout in nearly a year and I think that MM is hopeful that this is a sign that the high season is starting. 37 of us are in attendance and that is a lot of guys to suddenly descend on any bar, but at least the GoGo bars should be better prepared than the Bar Beers.
First stop is Catz where I'm recognised by one of the service staff who I haven't seen since February. She remembers what I was drinking then (I've changed now), but I just order a beer instead. It's happy hour so my drinks is only 65 baht, but as service girl has remembered me and complimented me on being slimmer than I was before ( vanity wins out every time), I offer her a drink as well when I order my second beer, so that's a checkbin of 240 baht and a tip of 20 baht in the first stop.
From Catz, it's just a step next door to Club Bousche where it's 110 baht for two beers and I'm afraid that most of the dancers here do look very bored and disinterested, however I suppose it's still early for a GoGo club. Out the door and straight across into Taboo where there are some really lovely girls and a lot more interaction with the members of the group and I think a few barfines were paid in advance here.
The next stop was to have been Sweethearts, but it seems that the leading group arrived to find the place already quite busy (maybe it's true that high season is 'kicking in'?) and there was no way that a larger group could be accomodated, so a quick rethink and the group decapmped to Dollhouse a little earlier than planned.
As BM Rightsaid was on the crawl, a quick chat and it was agreed that 2 for 1 could be done at TQ2, so that became the next stop but once again Avatar girl wasn't there (maybe it's for the best) and another couple of beers were consumed. Out of TQ2 and we turn left then right down a little alley to to come out on Marine Plaza next to Coyotee's which was to be our next stop. The alcohol is kicking in and there's a lot of laughs and chat between the girls and the crawl members (well there was in my case) and I somehow find myself in an 'interesting' situation with eight Coyotee girls all around me posing for photographs. (It's a tough job, but someone has to do it).
The crawl is now officially 'over', but as this is a GoGo crawl and I haven't yet been to the newest GoGo in Walking Street, I head over with a couple of other to Sisterz to see Ricky. To be fair, I was now too drunk to really pass any valid review here, but the place seemed pretty comfortable and there were plenty of girls working, so worth a visit in my opinion.
A scooter taxi home and I collapse into bed as quietly as I can next to A and it's instant sleep.
Expenditure :
Bar Crawl : 1200 baht
Scooter Taxis : 160 baht
A heads off to work early and I rise at lunchtime. The thought of journeying into town to hand the keys in today doesn't really appeal, so I end up just doing some laundry and cooking a simple meal of sliced 'pig' (instead of bacon) and fried eggs on toast.
A returns home with Phil a little earlier than usual at 17:15 and I'm when A realises that it's Thursday and I'm going out again, she decides to get food from the stalls rather than cook.
We all sit down to eat and Phil watches a few VCDs (we still have no cable TV hooked up yet). At 19:00 I SSS and by 19:40, I'm heading off for the FLB for the monthly GoGo crawl.
I arrive at the bar and the place is heaving. Tonight is the largest turnout in nearly a year and I think that MM is hopeful that this is a sign that the high season is starting. 37 of us are in attendance and that is a lot of guys to suddenly descend on any bar, but at least the GoGo bars should be better prepared than the Bar Beers.
First stop is Catz where I'm recognised by one of the service staff who I haven't seen since February. She remembers what I was drinking then (I've changed now), but I just order a beer instead. It's happy hour so my drinks is only 65 baht, but as service girl has remembered me and complimented me on being slimmer than I was before ( vanity wins out every time), I offer her a drink as well when I order my second beer, so that's a checkbin of 240 baht and a tip of 20 baht in the first stop.
From Catz, it's just a step next door to Club Bousche where it's 110 baht for two beers and I'm afraid that most of the dancers here do look very bored and disinterested, however I suppose it's still early for a GoGo club. Out the door and straight across into Taboo where there are some really lovely girls and a lot more interaction with the members of the group and I think a few barfines were paid in advance here.
The next stop was to have been Sweethearts, but it seems that the leading group arrived to find the place already quite busy (maybe it's true that high season is 'kicking in'?) and there was no way that a larger group could be accomodated, so a quick rethink and the group decapmped to Dollhouse a little earlier than planned.
As BM Rightsaid was on the crawl, a quick chat and it was agreed that 2 for 1 could be done at TQ2, so that became the next stop but once again Avatar girl wasn't there (maybe it's for the best) and another couple of beers were consumed. Out of TQ2 and we turn left then right down a little alley to to come out on Marine Plaza next to Coyotee's which was to be our next stop. The alcohol is kicking in and there's a lot of laughs and chat between the girls and the crawl members (well there was in my case) and I somehow find myself in an 'interesting' situation with eight Coyotee girls all around me posing for photographs. (It's a tough job, but someone has to do it).
The crawl is now officially 'over', but as this is a GoGo crawl and I haven't yet been to the newest GoGo in Walking Street, I head over with a couple of other to Sisterz to see Ricky. To be fair, I was now too drunk to really pass any valid review here, but the place seemed pretty comfortable and there were plenty of girls working, so worth a visit in my opinion.
A scooter taxi home and I collapse into bed as quietly as I can next to A and it's instant sleep.
Expenditure :
Bar Crawl : 1200 baht
Scooter Taxis : 160 baht
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 48
26th September
A goes off as usual in the morning and I remind her that I shall be out tonight at Cherry Bar, but I won't be in when she returns from work either as I am going out with Kevin and Hammer for Kevin's last day in Pattaya this trip.
I head off to meet Kevin at around 13:00 and we drink tea, sort out a few bits and pieces and await the return of Joy who has gone out to get some keys cut for the house. ( For all you cynics out there, the 'maids room' at Kevins place could yet be a 'bolthole' if everything goes to ratshit ).
Joy arrives back at just after 14:00, we check that the keys work and I'm also given the keys to the condo that need to be delivered to Steve at Alan Bolton. Joy then calls for the taxi to collect us and we eventually arrive at Jade at around 15:15 to meet up with MM, Manracer, Kuranda Bagman, Casper UK & Dacah. The food is excellent; the company is good and a few of the girls are looking particularly hot. As it's going to be a very long day, I decide to start with soft drinks only as does Kev, but we both had a good plateful of food.
Hammer then turns up and gets some serious ribbing. It seems that last night he was completely 'out of it' and held discussions with a number of people that he simply has no recollection of. He remembers arriving at the bar around 22:00 and having had a 'few' around Soi 13/1; 13/2; 13/3 and 13/4 (Knowing Hammer, it could well have been a drink at every bar in those Sois) he doesn't remember too much. After a Soda water, he starts to come around, all ready for a new challenge and after about an hour, we settle checkbins and grab a baht bus to Jomtein.
First stop is Las Vegas for the naked pool, but it has to be said that the pickings here were not great and with only a handful of girls working, it really wouldn't be a suitable venue for the crawl to visit next week. Some 'research' was done and a suitable 'replacement' venue was found where the general consensus was a 'thumbs up'.
A little diversion to another bar where the policy was very obviously 'hassle free', but there were some preetty girls in attendance and after a discussion with the management, arrangements were made for its inclusion next Wednesday.
Ever onward, our scouting party moved on to a larger 'open' bar where there are always plenty of girls working and it's a pleasant place to simply sit and let the world just pass by.
No rest though as there are a couple more venues that need to be checked out. The next stop is my favourite venue of the day and arrangements are made to see 'Kim from Surin' next week where I fear that I could well be a 'naughty boy' for the first time this trip.
Our final stop is at a more laid back venue where we wind down and 'compare notes'. I think that it's going to be a good crawl and of the 'recce' trip, there will only be three of us actually attending as three of our 'gang' will be in Cambodia, one in England and one in Iraq.
I then get a bus into town with Kev and we decide on a couple of drinks at TQ2 before he heads back to his place for his last night and I head to Cherry Bar. In TQ2, I am informed that Avatar Girl has now quit from Sisterz and is back working there, but despite waiting until 19:45 (for a supposed 19:30 start), I fail to see her.
I change my top then jump on another baht bus for the journey up to Soi 8.
Tonight is a quiet one at Cherry Bar, however a few BM's do come over to have a chat. Kurunda Bagman & Manracer drop by after the afternoon 'sojourn' and before heading off for the night and ThaiLearner is also at the bar. I have to admit that the afternoon has got the hormones flowing a little and there is a real 'cutie' at the bar next door that I've seen for the past couple of weeks who is looking particularly 'scrumptious' tonight.
I'm joined in my evaluation of the 'girls next door' by BM Geewiz and we try to work out what it is that makes certain girls 'appeal', whereas others just don't seem to hit the spot. I don't think we came up with any concrete theories, but it was a very pleasurable way to kill some time.
By just before 03:00, Nam says that I might as well go home as it is very quiet (not just the bar, but the whole Soi), so I get a scooter taxi home and collapse into bed aside an already sleeping A.
Expenditure :
Drinks, Tips & 1 LD : 400 baht
Telephone Topup : 100 baht
Jade BBQ : 200 baht
Transport (bus & scooter) : 100baht
A goes off as usual in the morning and I remind her that I shall be out tonight at Cherry Bar, but I won't be in when she returns from work either as I am going out with Kevin and Hammer for Kevin's last day in Pattaya this trip.
I head off to meet Kevin at around 13:00 and we drink tea, sort out a few bits and pieces and await the return of Joy who has gone out to get some keys cut for the house. ( For all you cynics out there, the 'maids room' at Kevins place could yet be a 'bolthole' if everything goes to ratshit ).
Joy arrives back at just after 14:00, we check that the keys work and I'm also given the keys to the condo that need to be delivered to Steve at Alan Bolton. Joy then calls for the taxi to collect us and we eventually arrive at Jade at around 15:15 to meet up with MM, Manracer, Kuranda Bagman, Casper UK & Dacah. The food is excellent; the company is good and a few of the girls are looking particularly hot. As it's going to be a very long day, I decide to start with soft drinks only as does Kev, but we both had a good plateful of food.
Hammer then turns up and gets some serious ribbing. It seems that last night he was completely 'out of it' and held discussions with a number of people that he simply has no recollection of. He remembers arriving at the bar around 22:00 and having had a 'few' around Soi 13/1; 13/2; 13/3 and 13/4 (Knowing Hammer, it could well have been a drink at every bar in those Sois) he doesn't remember too much. After a Soda water, he starts to come around, all ready for a new challenge and after about an hour, we settle checkbins and grab a baht bus to Jomtein.
First stop is Las Vegas for the naked pool, but it has to be said that the pickings here were not great and with only a handful of girls working, it really wouldn't be a suitable venue for the crawl to visit next week. Some 'research' was done and a suitable 'replacement' venue was found where the general consensus was a 'thumbs up'.
A little diversion to another bar where the policy was very obviously 'hassle free', but there were some preetty girls in attendance and after a discussion with the management, arrangements were made for its inclusion next Wednesday.
Ever onward, our scouting party moved on to a larger 'open' bar where there are always plenty of girls working and it's a pleasant place to simply sit and let the world just pass by.
No rest though as there are a couple more venues that need to be checked out. The next stop is my favourite venue of the day and arrangements are made to see 'Kim from Surin' next week where I fear that I could well be a 'naughty boy' for the first time this trip.
Our final stop is at a more laid back venue where we wind down and 'compare notes'. I think that it's going to be a good crawl and of the 'recce' trip, there will only be three of us actually attending as three of our 'gang' will be in Cambodia, one in England and one in Iraq.
I then get a bus into town with Kev and we decide on a couple of drinks at TQ2 before he heads back to his place for his last night and I head to Cherry Bar. In TQ2, I am informed that Avatar Girl has now quit from Sisterz and is back working there, but despite waiting until 19:45 (for a supposed 19:30 start), I fail to see her.
I change my top then jump on another baht bus for the journey up to Soi 8.
Tonight is a quiet one at Cherry Bar, however a few BM's do come over to have a chat. Kurunda Bagman & Manracer drop by after the afternoon 'sojourn' and before heading off for the night and ThaiLearner is also at the bar. I have to admit that the afternoon has got the hormones flowing a little and there is a real 'cutie' at the bar next door that I've seen for the past couple of weeks who is looking particularly 'scrumptious' tonight.
I'm joined in my evaluation of the 'girls next door' by BM Geewiz and we try to work out what it is that makes certain girls 'appeal', whereas others just don't seem to hit the spot. I don't think we came up with any concrete theories, but it was a very pleasurable way to kill some time.
By just before 03:00, Nam says that I might as well go home as it is very quiet (not just the bar, but the whole Soi), so I get a scooter taxi home and collapse into bed aside an already sleeping A.
Expenditure :
Drinks, Tips & 1 LD : 400 baht
Telephone Topup : 100 baht
Jade BBQ : 200 baht
Transport (bus & scooter) : 100baht
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 47
25th September
A heads off to work at just after 07:00 and I get some laundry done, but unfortunately there is nowhere to connect the machine to the water supply in the back bathroom (Need to get A to sort that out with the landlord). I then walk to Big C to get some cleaning materials and air fresheners and the little 'rag' mats to place around the place. As well as a bottle of water, a small tub of ice cream, a dozen eggs and a small loaf of bread, my expenditure is 232.50 baht ( however I did forget to get the binbags )
I get a baht bus back along Sukhumvit to save another walk and as I cross the railway line walking back along Soi Khao Noi, I hear my name being called out. It's Kye on her scooter, so she pulls up alongside and I jump onboard for the short journey back to the house.
I spend a while then getting this Blog written as I'm a few days behind and my notes will make little sense if I leave it too long. At 14:08, I get a text from Kev "Off to Noi's later". Before I get a chance to respond, he telephones and says that his 'plan' for his last couple of nights is to go to Noi's and Cherry Bar tonight and then to go to Rockhouse and FLB tomorrow night before heading off on Thursday morning. ( Another Pattaya 'plan' that has absolutely zero chance of success). I agree that I'll see him at Noi's around 20:30, however it's unlikely that I'll see him on Wednesday as I'll be going to Cherry Bar.
At 17:45, A returns home with 'Pheel' and he spends an hour investigating his new surroundings and I think he finds it difficult to understand that he has his own room and that there is a wardrobe with only his clothes in it.
For 'tea', I finish off the curry from the previous night which is apt in many ways, as it's Tuesday and 'Curry Night' at Noi's.
At 19:02, I then get a text from Hammer "You are heartily invited to the pre FLB Bar Crawl scouting trip to Jade + Jomtein tomorrow 3 pm. Can you make it?"
I reply "Not sure, as I am at Cherry Bar tomorrow night"
"Why not afternoon as well? Me, Casper UK, Dacah, Kurunda Bagman, and MM (real names swapped with board names) are going, Up To You as they say. Not worry about drink money.
I have to admit that it's a tempting proposition, however I'm still not sure that I'll go. I tell A that I've been invited out tomorrow and she simply says "Is okay. Up To You, but not get too 'mau'", so I guess that my mind is made up now.
As I approach Noi's it's busy and it seems thet Chef's mango curry has gone down a storm and been one of his best curries yet. I sit at the table with Dacah and Tony who both confirm that they are going tomorrow as does MM, so I tell Kev about it and he says that if I go over to his place at lunchtime tomorrow, we'll get a taxi to Jade and take it from there. So that's another recruit for the crawl and I suspect that as I know Kuranda Bagman will be seeing Manracer tonight, that he'll also be there, so this will be more of a 'dress rehearsal' rather than a scouting trip.
Kev, Casper UK, Dacah & MM all get a taxi to Walking Street as the 'plan' has now changed. It's to be a goodbye to the folks at FLB tonight and a goodbye to Hammer tomorrow now. I stay at Noi's for another couple of beers and chat with Mulphy and Kolobos for a short time before paying checkbin and making the short trip home.
Expenditure :
Noi's Bar : 160 baht
A heads off to work at just after 07:00 and I get some laundry done, but unfortunately there is nowhere to connect the machine to the water supply in the back bathroom (Need to get A to sort that out with the landlord). I then walk to Big C to get some cleaning materials and air fresheners and the little 'rag' mats to place around the place. As well as a bottle of water, a small tub of ice cream, a dozen eggs and a small loaf of bread, my expenditure is 232.50 baht ( however I did forget to get the binbags )
I get a baht bus back along Sukhumvit to save another walk and as I cross the railway line walking back along Soi Khao Noi, I hear my name being called out. It's Kye on her scooter, so she pulls up alongside and I jump onboard for the short journey back to the house.
I spend a while then getting this Blog written as I'm a few days behind and my notes will make little sense if I leave it too long. At 14:08, I get a text from Kev "Off to Noi's later". Before I get a chance to respond, he telephones and says that his 'plan' for his last couple of nights is to go to Noi's and Cherry Bar tonight and then to go to Rockhouse and FLB tomorrow night before heading off on Thursday morning. ( Another Pattaya 'plan' that has absolutely zero chance of success). I agree that I'll see him at Noi's around 20:30, however it's unlikely that I'll see him on Wednesday as I'll be going to Cherry Bar.
At 17:45, A returns home with 'Pheel' and he spends an hour investigating his new surroundings and I think he finds it difficult to understand that he has his own room and that there is a wardrobe with only his clothes in it.
For 'tea', I finish off the curry from the previous night which is apt in many ways, as it's Tuesday and 'Curry Night' at Noi's.
At 19:02, I then get a text from Hammer "You are heartily invited to the pre FLB Bar Crawl scouting trip to Jade + Jomtein tomorrow 3 pm. Can you make it?"
I reply "Not sure, as I am at Cherry Bar tomorrow night"
"Why not afternoon as well? Me, Casper UK, Dacah, Kurunda Bagman, and MM (real names swapped with board names) are going, Up To You as they say. Not worry about drink money.
I have to admit that it's a tempting proposition, however I'm still not sure that I'll go. I tell A that I've been invited out tomorrow and she simply says "Is okay. Up To You, but not get too 'mau'", so I guess that my mind is made up now.
As I approach Noi's it's busy and it seems thet Chef's mango curry has gone down a storm and been one of his best curries yet. I sit at the table with Dacah and Tony who both confirm that they are going tomorrow as does MM, so I tell Kev about it and he says that if I go over to his place at lunchtime tomorrow, we'll get a taxi to Jade and take it from there. So that's another recruit for the crawl and I suspect that as I know Kuranda Bagman will be seeing Manracer tonight, that he'll also be there, so this will be more of a 'dress rehearsal' rather than a scouting trip.
Kev, Casper UK, Dacah & MM all get a taxi to Walking Street as the 'plan' has now changed. It's to be a goodbye to the folks at FLB tonight and a goodbye to Hammer tomorrow now. I stay at Noi's for another couple of beers and chat with Mulphy and Kolobos for a short time before paying checkbin and making the short trip home.
Expenditure :
Noi's Bar : 160 baht
Monday, 24 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 46
24th September
The day of the move and we are awake at 06:30. The lorry is due sometime in the morning and looking around, I realise that there's a surprising amount of stuff to be moved.
It's all got to be carried along the balcony, down the stairs and then loaded up.
The lorry arrives at 07:15 and we start the task. The lorry driver is not a removal man it seems and he simply arranges the goods in the lorry, so myself A & Kye make many trips up and down to move 1 Double Bed, 2 Wardrobes, 1 Computer Desk, 1 TV, 1 TV Stand, 1 Washing Machine, 1 Tall Fridge / Freezer, 1 Coffee Table, 1 Shoe Cabinet, 1 Shoe stand, 1 Sofa, 1 Operators Chair, 1 Clothes Drying Rail and sundry bags of bedding items and towels.
After loading up, we head off for the 2 minute drive to the new place where everything is unloaded. It's still only 08:45 and I'm completely knackered I pay the lorry driver the 600 baht charge and before we even have time to make a cup of tea, Mama & 'seeter' arrive with bags of clothes, shoes & toys for 'Pheel'.
One 'casualty' of the move has been a side to the plinth of the double bed which has been snapped in two somehow. It seems that this is no big problem though and Mama disappears off with 'seeter' (and a 1000 baht note) and they return within 15 minutes with a replacement piece, so it would seem that a lot of the bedframes must be made to a standard specification which surprises me somewhat. Mama returns me 600 baht, so the damages for the move have been quite reasonable really.
The bed is assembled and the furniture is put in place. Things are all put away and then it's time to set out the 'Buddha shrine'. I'm sent off to get the 'red Fanta' and a half bottle of Sang Som, whilst A goes for the fruit and cigars.
In the evening, I'm too exhausted to do anything much, so I just sit out the front of the bungalow and listen to the sounds of the Soi whilst reading one of the books that Kev has passed on to me ( Atlantis by David Gibbens ) and have a 'supper' of Green Curry and rice 'al fresco'.
To finish the day off, I have a shower and thoroughly enjoy the experience of feeling hot water for the first time since I left England over a month ago. Even though I am completely exhausted, I find it difficult to sleep, so I just stay up reading for a while before finally going to bed at around midnight.
Expenditure :
Lorry driver : 600 baht
Bed Side Panel : 400 baht
'Buddha stuff' : 170 baht
Mama allowance : 1000 baht
Padlocks for gates & doors : 195 baht
Rubbish Bin : 175 baht
The day of the move and we are awake at 06:30. The lorry is due sometime in the morning and looking around, I realise that there's a surprising amount of stuff to be moved.
It's all got to be carried along the balcony, down the stairs and then loaded up.
The lorry arrives at 07:15 and we start the task. The lorry driver is not a removal man it seems and he simply arranges the goods in the lorry, so myself A & Kye make many trips up and down to move 1 Double Bed, 2 Wardrobes, 1 Computer Desk, 1 TV, 1 TV Stand, 1 Washing Machine, 1 Tall Fridge / Freezer, 1 Coffee Table, 1 Shoe Cabinet, 1 Shoe stand, 1 Sofa, 1 Operators Chair, 1 Clothes Drying Rail and sundry bags of bedding items and towels.
After loading up, we head off for the 2 minute drive to the new place where everything is unloaded. It's still only 08:45 and I'm completely knackered I pay the lorry driver the 600 baht charge and before we even have time to make a cup of tea, Mama & 'seeter' arrive with bags of clothes, shoes & toys for 'Pheel'.
One 'casualty' of the move has been a side to the plinth of the double bed which has been snapped in two somehow. It seems that this is no big problem though and Mama disappears off with 'seeter' (and a 1000 baht note) and they return within 15 minutes with a replacement piece, so it would seem that a lot of the bedframes must be made to a standard specification which surprises me somewhat. Mama returns me 600 baht, so the damages for the move have been quite reasonable really.
The bed is assembled and the furniture is put in place. Things are all put away and then it's time to set out the 'Buddha shrine'. I'm sent off to get the 'red Fanta' and a half bottle of Sang Som, whilst A goes for the fruit and cigars.
In the evening, I'm too exhausted to do anything much, so I just sit out the front of the bungalow and listen to the sounds of the Soi whilst reading one of the books that Kev has passed on to me ( Atlantis by David Gibbens ) and have a 'supper' of Green Curry and rice 'al fresco'.
To finish the day off, I have a shower and thoroughly enjoy the experience of feeling hot water for the first time since I left England over a month ago. Even though I am completely exhausted, I find it difficult to sleep, so I just stay up reading for a while before finally going to bed at around midnight.
Expenditure :
Lorry driver : 600 baht
Bed Side Panel : 400 baht
'Buddha stuff' : 170 baht
Mama allowance : 1000 baht
Padlocks for gates & doors : 195 baht
Rubbish Bin : 175 baht
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 45
23rd September
It's the day of Kev's barbecue and I tell A that it starts at 14:00. She nods, but she's still got a sore throat and has the 'snuffles' and her mind is focussed on the impending move rather than a farang food barbecue. When Mama and 'seeter' turn up at the door, I get the idea that A has decided that she's 'on the move' rather than being 'in the pool' today.
A trip to go 'clean house' is made and some peace returns to the room, but of course the 14:00 deadline is simply ignored (TiT) until at 14:15, A returns to take me to Kev's. As anticipated, she says that she cannot stay as she still has to get stuff moved and simply heads back off down the road.
The afternoon is very pleasant just sat around the pool chatting, laughing, drinking and eating with a 'full house'. There's LordFlash and a mate of his; Casper UK, Dacah, Kolobos, Mulphy, Kuranda Bagman, Hammer, Hillbilly and 'Chris' (a regular from Noi's bar) as well as a few girlfriends that have been brought along.
By the end of the 'footie' (Newcastle 3 - West Ham 1), I give A a call and she agrees to come and collect me. We return to the room and it's looking bare with just the main pieces of furniture remaining, but most other items gone. We watch a little TV and then grab an early night as it seems the removal truck is arriving early in the morning.
Expenditure :
0 baht
It's the day of Kev's barbecue and I tell A that it starts at 14:00. She nods, but she's still got a sore throat and has the 'snuffles' and her mind is focussed on the impending move rather than a farang food barbecue. When Mama and 'seeter' turn up at the door, I get the idea that A has decided that she's 'on the move' rather than being 'in the pool' today.
A trip to go 'clean house' is made and some peace returns to the room, but of course the 14:00 deadline is simply ignored (TiT) until at 14:15, A returns to take me to Kev's. As anticipated, she says that she cannot stay as she still has to get stuff moved and simply heads back off down the road.
The afternoon is very pleasant just sat around the pool chatting, laughing, drinking and eating with a 'full house'. There's LordFlash and a mate of his; Casper UK, Dacah, Kolobos, Mulphy, Kuranda Bagman, Hammer, Hillbilly and 'Chris' (a regular from Noi's bar) as well as a few girlfriends that have been brought along.
By the end of the 'footie' (Newcastle 3 - West Ham 1), I give A a call and she agrees to come and collect me. We return to the room and it's looking bare with just the main pieces of furniture remaining, but most other items gone. We watch a little TV and then grab an early night as it seems the removal truck is arriving early in the morning.
Expenditure :
0 baht
Saturday, 22 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 44
22nd September
A is feeling a bit groggy, so she's arranged for 'brudder' to drive from Sri Racha to pick her up and take her to work this morning. She leaves a scooter key with Kye though as it seems that she's going to start taking bits and pieces over to the new place. Pots & pans disappear as do plates and then the racks for the plates go as well. It's unreal seeing quite what can be loaded onto just a single scooter and when all the teddy bears make the journey, I'm annoyed that I cannot locate my camera to capture the event.
In the evening, A calls me to say that she will not be back tonight as 'brudder' is working and cannot bring her to Pattaya. Just after being informed of this, Kev calls to say that he'll be at Noi's Bar tonight if I 'fancy a few'.
At Noi's in the evening everything is very civilised with Kev, Joy & myself playing dominos (English Double 6, none of this weird Thai rules Double 9 stuff) until we're joined by BM Dacah. The conversation is good and Dacah has the Irish gift of being able to tell great stories. Lots of laughing (and a fair bit of drinking) takes place and I settle my meagre checkbin of 280 baht, (however I'm told the next day that I'd forgotten that I'd paid and proceeded to search through the napkin holder for my checkbin). On the walk home, I decide to buy some fruit and buy oranges and bananas from one of those stalls that I've yet to see closed.
Expenditure :
Nois Bar : 280 baht
Fruit : 100 baht
A is feeling a bit groggy, so she's arranged for 'brudder' to drive from Sri Racha to pick her up and take her to work this morning. She leaves a scooter key with Kye though as it seems that she's going to start taking bits and pieces over to the new place. Pots & pans disappear as do plates and then the racks for the plates go as well. It's unreal seeing quite what can be loaded onto just a single scooter and when all the teddy bears make the journey, I'm annoyed that I cannot locate my camera to capture the event.
In the evening, A calls me to say that she will not be back tonight as 'brudder' is working and cannot bring her to Pattaya. Just after being informed of this, Kev calls to say that he'll be at Noi's Bar tonight if I 'fancy a few'.
At Noi's in the evening everything is very civilised with Kev, Joy & myself playing dominos (English Double 6, none of this weird Thai rules Double 9 stuff) until we're joined by BM Dacah. The conversation is good and Dacah has the Irish gift of being able to tell great stories. Lots of laughing (and a fair bit of drinking) takes place and I settle my meagre checkbin of 280 baht, (however I'm told the next day that I'd forgotten that I'd paid and proceeded to search through the napkin holder for my checkbin). On the walk home, I decide to buy some fruit and buy oranges and bananas from one of those stalls that I've yet to see closed.
Expenditure :
Nois Bar : 280 baht
Fruit : 100 baht
Friday, 21 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 43
21st September
Another morniing waking up and feeling like death when I'm woken by A. We're off to go and buy 'stuff' today. We need a tabletop cooker it seems and this needs to be connected to a gas bottle using a different regulator than we have on the bottle top burner that we have at present. We also need to top up on basics such as rice and then there is the cleaning 'stuff' as well, but she wants to eat at Big C first, but not the foodhall today. She wants to eat in MK for a change so we do that.
Before heading over to Kev's, I get A to stop at the 'English Bacon & Sausage' shop as Kev wants a couple of kilos of sausages for the barbecue he has planned for the weekend and half a kilo of bacon. A takes me over and it has to be said that neither myself or Kev is really 'with it' today. It seems that we both fell asleep in the taxi home last night, but Joy remembered where I lived, so I'd been dropped of at about 01:45.
A telephones in the late afternoon and asks if I'd eaten. I confirm that I haven't eaten (It really wasn't high on the list of things to do today) and I'm told that we've been invited to eat with Robin & Kye at #2 tonight. Joy gives me a lift back and when I arrive, A and Kye are busy getting barbecue sticks of 'pig' and prawns ready to cook.
We go round to the 'new' place where the paperwork is all signed and the unexpected expense of a deposit is paid (15,000 baht) then back for the barbecue.
A is really in 'the wars' though; thankfully she seems to have fully recovered from the pain in her side, but now she has the 'snuffles'. She's sneezing, coughing and has a headache, so we cry off early from the barbecue (I really didn't need a night on the whisky & soda tonight anyway)
In bed by 23:00
Expenditure :
MK Restaurant : 305 baht
Big C supplies : 2700 Baht
Gas bottle, piping and safety regulator : 1700 baht
Deposit on house : 15,000 baht
Another morniing waking up and feeling like death when I'm woken by A. We're off to go and buy 'stuff' today. We need a tabletop cooker it seems and this needs to be connected to a gas bottle using a different regulator than we have on the bottle top burner that we have at present. We also need to top up on basics such as rice and then there is the cleaning 'stuff' as well, but she wants to eat at Big C first, but not the foodhall today. She wants to eat in MK for a change so we do that.
Before heading over to Kev's, I get A to stop at the 'English Bacon & Sausage' shop as Kev wants a couple of kilos of sausages for the barbecue he has planned for the weekend and half a kilo of bacon. A takes me over and it has to be said that neither myself or Kev is really 'with it' today. It seems that we both fell asleep in the taxi home last night, but Joy remembered where I lived, so I'd been dropped of at about 01:45.
A telephones in the late afternoon and asks if I'd eaten. I confirm that I haven't eaten (It really wasn't high on the list of things to do today) and I'm told that we've been invited to eat with Robin & Kye at #2 tonight. Joy gives me a lift back and when I arrive, A and Kye are busy getting barbecue sticks of 'pig' and prawns ready to cook.
We go round to the 'new' place where the paperwork is all signed and the unexpected expense of a deposit is paid (15,000 baht) then back for the barbecue.
A is really in 'the wars' though; thankfully she seems to have fully recovered from the pain in her side, but now she has the 'snuffles'. She's sneezing, coughing and has a headache, so we cry off early from the barbecue (I really didn't need a night on the whisky & soda tonight anyway)
In bed by 23:00
Expenditure :
MK Restaurant : 305 baht
Big C supplies : 2700 Baht
Gas bottle, piping and safety regulator : 1700 baht
Deposit on house : 15,000 baht
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 42
20th September
Nam sees me in the afternoon and asks me how much I spent on the scooter taxi to get home last night. I say that I'm not sure (I haven't checked my wallet). She says that she told me I should only pay 50 baht, but I think I must have paid 100 baht (either that or I went to the toilet an awful lot last night).
I'm still feeling pretty 'iffy', but it's the FLB Bar Crawl tonight and we're all fairly certain that the winning location will be Soi 8 / 9 in 'celebration' of Adam's birthday yesterday. It's no surprise to hear that it wins by a landslide.
The first stop (after the FLB of course) is the beer bar complex at the end of Soi 9 where I soon realise that Kev is in the mood for a drink tonight as he downs 3 Vodka / Coke Light (Diet Coke to the rest of us) in around 30 minutes before we're summoned to pay checkbins and move on to the GoGo at the 2nd Road end of Soi 8.
I've walked past the place many times without actually stepping inside and I am very pleasantly surprised. A few pretty girls dancing (and a few pretty service girls as well) and at 100 baht for a Singha, it's not too bad for a GoGo. Have a couple of drinks there, then it's time to move on once more.
We all troop out and across the Soi to Party Bar. We're met by the host and I suspect a phone call is made, as the scooters suddenly start arriving and the bar is filling up with girls. I'm bought a beer by a BM (whose name I sadly forgot to note down) and we are also given a shot of what looks like a B52 but actually turns out to be an Irish Coffee (and very tasty indeed) by the bar management. For the short time that we were there, they certainly did everything possible to look after us.
Onwards to a bar beer complex in the cut through between Soi 7 & Soi 8 then on to the Prince Hotel complex to what should have been Sam's Bar, however a few of us somehow ended up settling in at Cherry Bar instead.
We were not allowed to stay there though and we went into the new Rolling Stone 3 bar next door which was very 'pleasant' with some good company. Then came the Oasis Coyote GoGo where things started to get 'messy'. For all their talk of not having ANY gay tendencies, Kev & Hillbilly were very close to having their tongues touching. (I'll leave it for one of them to 'explain')
Then it was on to Cherry Bar to finish or was that to 'be finished'. Whatever, I am grateful to Kev's Joy for picking us up in the taxi and getting us to our respective homes. At least we managed to avoid getting a soaking which was the fate suffered by at least one other 'crawler'.
A bloody good bar crawl and thanks to MM / Hammer for organising it and the other BM's for making it so much fun.
Expenditure :
Bar Crawl : 600 baht
Nam sees me in the afternoon and asks me how much I spent on the scooter taxi to get home last night. I say that I'm not sure (I haven't checked my wallet). She says that she told me I should only pay 50 baht, but I think I must have paid 100 baht (either that or I went to the toilet an awful lot last night).
I'm still feeling pretty 'iffy', but it's the FLB Bar Crawl tonight and we're all fairly certain that the winning location will be Soi 8 / 9 in 'celebration' of Adam's birthday yesterday. It's no surprise to hear that it wins by a landslide.
The first stop (after the FLB of course) is the beer bar complex at the end of Soi 9 where I soon realise that Kev is in the mood for a drink tonight as he downs 3 Vodka / Coke Light (Diet Coke to the rest of us) in around 30 minutes before we're summoned to pay checkbins and move on to the GoGo at the 2nd Road end of Soi 8.
I've walked past the place many times without actually stepping inside and I am very pleasantly surprised. A few pretty girls dancing (and a few pretty service girls as well) and at 100 baht for a Singha, it's not too bad for a GoGo. Have a couple of drinks there, then it's time to move on once more.
We all troop out and across the Soi to Party Bar. We're met by the host and I suspect a phone call is made, as the scooters suddenly start arriving and the bar is filling up with girls. I'm bought a beer by a BM (whose name I sadly forgot to note down) and we are also given a shot of what looks like a B52 but actually turns out to be an Irish Coffee (and very tasty indeed) by the bar management. For the short time that we were there, they certainly did everything possible to look after us.
Onwards to a bar beer complex in the cut through between Soi 7 & Soi 8 then on to the Prince Hotel complex to what should have been Sam's Bar, however a few of us somehow ended up settling in at Cherry Bar instead.
We were not allowed to stay there though and we went into the new Rolling Stone 3 bar next door which was very 'pleasant' with some good company. Then came the Oasis Coyote GoGo where things started to get 'messy'. For all their talk of not having ANY gay tendencies, Kev & Hillbilly were very close to having their tongues touching. (I'll leave it for one of them to 'explain')
Then it was on to Cherry Bar to finish or was that to 'be finished'. Whatever, I am grateful to Kev's Joy for picking us up in the taxi and getting us to our respective homes. At least we managed to avoid getting a soaking which was the fate suffered by at least one other 'crawler'.
A bloody good bar crawl and thanks to MM / Hammer for organising it and the other BM's for making it so much fun.
Expenditure :
Bar Crawl : 600 baht
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 41
19th September
A heads off to work and says that even if she doesn't work tonight, she'll stay in Sri Racha as she is still hurting and she knows that I will be out tonight.
As I start my cooking my afternoon meal, I realise that the coconut milk is taking a long time to reach the boil. Well, that would be because the gas bottle has run out. Kye from #2 takes the bottle from me and asks for 100 baht for the refill. 5 minutes later, she returns and lunchtime food prep continues.
In the early evening, I'm a bit peckish, so when the barbecue stall comes round at 17:30 I indulge in a furter 30 bahts worth of food.
That night as I'm setting off to the Cherry Bar, Kye in #2 says that she's going to pick up Robin, so she can give a lift into town. She drops me at the corner of Pattaya Klang & 2nd Road, so it's only a short walk to Soi 8 for me tonight.
The night in the Cherry Bar was a good one. Nui started on the spin the bottle again and the first bottle of Sang Som was seen off in less than 30 minutes. Casper UK then decided that it would be good fun to buy another bottle (and another..... and another... ). Needless to say the evening became complete carnage, but for a midweek evening in Low Season, it had been fairly busy. The 5 (large) shots of Sang Som had certainly taken their toll on me though.
Expenditure :
Gas Bottle refill - 100 baht
Barbecue cart : 30 baht
Coke & Ice - 80 baht
Scooter Taxi - 100 baht? (calculated from a process of counting back)
A heads off to work and says that even if she doesn't work tonight, she'll stay in Sri Racha as she is still hurting and she knows that I will be out tonight.
As I start my cooking my afternoon meal, I realise that the coconut milk is taking a long time to reach the boil. Well, that would be because the gas bottle has run out. Kye from #2 takes the bottle from me and asks for 100 baht for the refill. 5 minutes later, she returns and lunchtime food prep continues.
In the early evening, I'm a bit peckish, so when the barbecue stall comes round at 17:30 I indulge in a furter 30 bahts worth of food.
That night as I'm setting off to the Cherry Bar, Kye in #2 says that she's going to pick up Robin, so she can give a lift into town. She drops me at the corner of Pattaya Klang & 2nd Road, so it's only a short walk to Soi 8 for me tonight.
The night in the Cherry Bar was a good one. Nui started on the spin the bottle again and the first bottle of Sang Som was seen off in less than 30 minutes. Casper UK then decided that it would be good fun to buy another bottle (and another..... and another... ). Needless to say the evening became complete carnage, but for a midweek evening in Low Season, it had been fairly busy. The 5 (large) shots of Sang Som had certainly taken their toll on me though.
Expenditure :
Gas Bottle refill - 100 baht
Barbecue cart : 30 baht
Coke & Ice - 80 baht
Scooter Taxi - 100 baht? (calculated from a process of counting back)
Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 40
18th September
I go round to Kev's at lunchtime and the scooter taxi driver doesn't have enough change, so the fare is 52 baht.
I ask Kev whether he's had his appendix removed and he confirms that he has, and from the symptoms and location of the pain A is suffering, I am very concerned. It's not something that I'd ever paid any attention to in the past, as I've never had such a problem. I call A and she confirms that she'll be going to see a doctor later in the day. When I get back (laden with books and DVD's - Thanks Kev!), A is already home.
She's been to see the doctor and it has cost 3500 baht for a consultation and various items of medication, however as the tablets are supplied loose in bags, there is no way of me identifying what it is she's been prescribed.
The doctor has said that if the pain persists for more than 2 days or it gets any worse, then she should go straight to the hospital for an operation. Naturally A is rather worried about this and I feel totally inadequate as there is absolutely nothing that I'm able to do for her with her suffering. I pay her 1000 baht towards her doctors fee which she has partly paid for by pawning her gold bracelet.
We then talk about Phil and she's fairly insistent that he is going to live with her for at least a few months. It seems that this is not open for negotiation and I'm told that he can simply sleep on the floor. I'm also told that there will be no 'nookie' whilst he's sleeping in the room, so we are back to discussing a house move.
In addition, A really wants somewhere to live where she's not eating and sleeping in the same room and if Phil is going to be staying over, then we need to look at 2 bedrooms. I make it very clear that I will not be acting as a baby-sitter for him and I'm told that it will not happen. (Hmmh!)
We then get a call from Kye and it seems that we're off to see a house a house tonight!. Quite why the neighbours get involved, I don't understand, but TiT. The house is a serious upgrade on the current accomodation comprising a lounge area; two bedrooms; 2 bathrooms and a kitchen as well as a space out front to sit and to park the scooter.
In addition to the space, there is also aircon in the master bedroom and lounge and one of the bathrooms has a hot water heater. I'm told the rent is 5000 baht a month and as said before if we move here, then the allowance for Mama will be cut to 500 baht a week so I just 'go with the flow'.
We return to the room via the food stalls and a Mom & Pop store where I buy a few beers.
Expenditure :
Chang - 100 baht
Food - 100 baht
I go round to Kev's at lunchtime and the scooter taxi driver doesn't have enough change, so the fare is 52 baht.
I ask Kev whether he's had his appendix removed and he confirms that he has, and from the symptoms and location of the pain A is suffering, I am very concerned. It's not something that I'd ever paid any attention to in the past, as I've never had such a problem. I call A and she confirms that she'll be going to see a doctor later in the day. When I get back (laden with books and DVD's - Thanks Kev!), A is already home.
She's been to see the doctor and it has cost 3500 baht for a consultation and various items of medication, however as the tablets are supplied loose in bags, there is no way of me identifying what it is she's been prescribed.
The doctor has said that if the pain persists for more than 2 days or it gets any worse, then she should go straight to the hospital for an operation. Naturally A is rather worried about this and I feel totally inadequate as there is absolutely nothing that I'm able to do for her with her suffering. I pay her 1000 baht towards her doctors fee which she has partly paid for by pawning her gold bracelet.
We then talk about Phil and she's fairly insistent that he is going to live with her for at least a few months. It seems that this is not open for negotiation and I'm told that he can simply sleep on the floor. I'm also told that there will be no 'nookie' whilst he's sleeping in the room, so we are back to discussing a house move.
In addition, A really wants somewhere to live where she's not eating and sleeping in the same room and if Phil is going to be staying over, then we need to look at 2 bedrooms. I make it very clear that I will not be acting as a baby-sitter for him and I'm told that it will not happen. (Hmmh!)
We then get a call from Kye and it seems that we're off to see a house a house tonight!. Quite why the neighbours get involved, I don't understand, but TiT. The house is a serious upgrade on the current accomodation comprising a lounge area; two bedrooms; 2 bathrooms and a kitchen as well as a space out front to sit and to park the scooter.
In addition to the space, there is also aircon in the master bedroom and lounge and one of the bathrooms has a hot water heater. I'm told the rent is 5000 baht a month and as said before if we move here, then the allowance for Mama will be cut to 500 baht a week so I just 'go with the flow'.
We return to the room via the food stalls and a Mom & Pop store where I buy a few beers.
Expenditure :
Chang - 100 baht
Food - 100 baht
Monday, 17 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 39
17th September
A quick chat with Nam on the balcony and she asks if I will be at Cherry Bar on Wednesday. I tell her that I shall and laugh that Adam will probably be out getting drunk as it's his birthday that day, She says "I not know why Adam not have party on Birthday. I think everyone come and be good for business Him fucking ting-tong." There's not much that can be said in response to that, so I just laugh and return to the room and the PC.
A returns home from work early and she is obviously in some considerable discomfort. She has a pain low down on her right hand side and she doesn't want to do anything and just curls up on the sofa.
I try to get an Internet connection to research the symptoms for appendicitis as I'm concerned that this may be what the problem is, but I simply cannot get a connection tonight as the name servers are not pingable when I dial up.
I try for a couple of hours and then give up. I ask if she wants to go the pharmacy, but she says that she's now feeling a little better, so she is going to go back to work and if it gets.any worse then she will stop and go to the doctor the next day.
I try to get some sleep, but frankly I'm just too worried and telephone her at 04:30. She's finished work and is at Mama's and promises that she will go to see a doctor tomorrow.
I realise that I'm not going to be able to follow through with a tentative plan that I have for a meeting the next day (sorry, same day), so I send a message explaining that due to an unexpected personal matter, I wouldn''t be making it.
Expenditure :
Mama allowance : 1000 baht
A quick chat with Nam on the balcony and she asks if I will be at Cherry Bar on Wednesday. I tell her that I shall and laugh that Adam will probably be out getting drunk as it's his birthday that day, She says "I not know why Adam not have party on Birthday. I think everyone come and be good for business Him fucking ting-tong." There's not much that can be said in response to that, so I just laugh and return to the room and the PC.
A returns home from work early and she is obviously in some considerable discomfort. She has a pain low down on her right hand side and she doesn't want to do anything and just curls up on the sofa.
I try to get an Internet connection to research the symptoms for appendicitis as I'm concerned that this may be what the problem is, but I simply cannot get a connection tonight as the name servers are not pingable when I dial up.
I try for a couple of hours and then give up. I ask if she wants to go the pharmacy, but she says that she's now feeling a little better, so she is going to go back to work and if it gets.any worse then she will stop and go to the doctor the next day.
I try to get some sleep, but frankly I'm just too worried and telephone her at 04:30. She's finished work and is at Mama's and promises that she will go to see a doctor tomorrow.
I realise that I'm not going to be able to follow through with a tentative plan that I have for a meeting the next day (sorry, same day), so I send a message explaining that due to an unexpected personal matter, I wouldn''t be making it.
Expenditure :
Mama allowance : 1000 baht
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 38
16th September
We all awake and have a late breakfast before A takes Phil back to sister.
I take the opportunity to update my TR and read my all my messages. My connection today is better than it has been of late, so I'm actually reasonably productive, however I think that the online Microsoft Live Basics website is going to be totally impractical over a dialup connection and will have to wait and be maintained only over a broadband connection.
I shall look at registerng a couple more domains and simply host some sites within my existing space at Demon. I have also been offered some additional hosting space which I will use later if necessary.
At 14:30, A returns and she appears in the doorway looking like the proverbial drowned rat. Her clothing is soaked through and she is not a 'happy bunny'.
She showers (no hot water here though!) and gets dressed in dry clothes but doesn't take kindly to my laughing about her 'misfortune' and I get 'boxed' about a bit. Our planned trip to Big C is postponed because of the rain, so we grab some barbeque from the cart that comes every afternoon and then simply get some meat out of the freezer to 'improvise' an evening meal.
I end up with 'open' toasted sandwiches (toast; sandwich spread; lettuce; tomato topped with thin slices of fried 'pig') and A has a simple rice 'soup' with boiled eggs.
Later in the evening, I do venture out just to the end of the Soi to get Coke & water, however I add 3 bottles of Chang and a bag of ice to the shopping list and return to the room.
A is complaining about a pain in her side (not me!) which is really troubling her, so all discussion regarding Phil is put on hold and she just heads off to bed at around 20:00. I listen to some music; drink my beer and check out the boards and hope that it's nothing too serious.
Four bottles of Chang later (oops!) and I'm certainly ready to crash out as well, so it's lights out and the end of a fairly quiet Sunday. Nothing resolved, but no decisions made either.
Expenditure :
Money for Phil for ice cream & sweets next week : 100 baht
Barbeque : 50 baht
Chang : 100 baht
Coke, Water & Ice : 76
We all awake and have a late breakfast before A takes Phil back to sister.
I take the opportunity to update my TR and read my all my messages. My connection today is better than it has been of late, so I'm actually reasonably productive, however I think that the online Microsoft Live Basics website is going to be totally impractical over a dialup connection and will have to wait and be maintained only over a broadband connection.
I shall look at registerng a couple more domains and simply host some sites within my existing space at Demon. I have also been offered some additional hosting space which I will use later if necessary.
At 14:30, A returns and she appears in the doorway looking like the proverbial drowned rat. Her clothing is soaked through and she is not a 'happy bunny'.
She showers (no hot water here though!) and gets dressed in dry clothes but doesn't take kindly to my laughing about her 'misfortune' and I get 'boxed' about a bit. Our planned trip to Big C is postponed because of the rain, so we grab some barbeque from the cart that comes every afternoon and then simply get some meat out of the freezer to 'improvise' an evening meal.
I end up with 'open' toasted sandwiches (toast; sandwich spread; lettuce; tomato topped with thin slices of fried 'pig') and A has a simple rice 'soup' with boiled eggs.
Later in the evening, I do venture out just to the end of the Soi to get Coke & water, however I add 3 bottles of Chang and a bag of ice to the shopping list and return to the room.
A is complaining about a pain in her side (not me!) which is really troubling her, so all discussion regarding Phil is put on hold and she just heads off to bed at around 20:00. I listen to some music; drink my beer and check out the boards and hope that it's nothing too serious.
Four bottles of Chang later (oops!) and I'm certainly ready to crash out as well, so it's lights out and the end of a fairly quiet Sunday. Nothing resolved, but no decisions made either.
Expenditure :
Money for Phil for ice cream & sweets next week : 100 baht
Barbeque : 50 baht
Chang : 100 baht
Coke, Water & Ice : 76
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 37
15th September
I wake at 07:30 fully clothed and on the sofa, so I undress and finally make it to bed, however I'm woken at 11:30 by the 'phone ringing. It's a Thai number and one that isn't in my directory, so I answer with a simple "Hello" and hear a 'northern' voice say "Hi George, I'm at the old airport now and I'm on my way to Udon Thani to see my lady. The 'plan' is that I'll be in Pattaya in about 10 days time so I should see you then." I haven't got the first clue as to who this is and in my half asleep / half awake state I decide that I'll just engage in conversation and hope it becomes clear.
After 5 minutes, I've sussed it! It's BM Manracer, so we chat for a few more minutes and he confirms that he'll be staying in Metro Apartments on Soi LK Metro when he arrives which I already knew as I'd been told this by BM Karunda Bagman last night.
We agree to meet when he gets into town and he asks if there is anything going on from the 25th that I am aware of. I tell him that the only event I can think of from the top of my head is the GoGo Bar Crawl on the last Thursday of the month which is the 27th September.
30 seconds after hanging up, the 'phone starts ringing again. This time it's A and she says that she's on her way home, so that cheers me up somewhat.
Kev sends me a text at 11:47 saying that he's having trouble with his 'net connection with some apps working and others just hanging and timing out, so I look to hook up with him on Messenger (An app he says is working) to try and troubleshoot where he's getting the problem. I try to use the Internet, but my connection is a bit hit and miss as well. It seems that connection to the upstream DNS servers is being lost, so I can access sites using an IP address but nothing that requires any name resolution. Every five minutes or so, connectivity is restored for a couple of minutes, but after 15 minutes, even this limited service fails and all further attempts to make a dial up connection fail.
At this point A arrives home and I am pleased to see her, however I'm not so pleased to see who's with her. It's 'baby me' Phil, so any ideas I'd had of a little 'afternoon delight' are shelved.
A proceeds to cook deep fried chicken in breadcrumbs and we all tuck in to the freshly frieed chicken. It's still only 13:15 and I'm now being invited to join Robin and his visitors downstairs for a drink. I tell A that it's too early for me to start drinking, but once I realise that Phil is staying the night and there will be no 'nookie' tonight, I end up agreeing and head downstairs where we talk, drink and eat whilst the kids are playing outside.
The visitor is the aunt of Kye (lady #2) and she's here to sort out a problem left by another member of the family that I'd met earlier in the trip. (Seems she borrowed money that she couldn't repay and a 'senior' member of the family has been sent in to pay the debts and avoid the family embarrassment.)
The Chang beer and 100 Pipers Whisky is in full flow and as A was one of the people 'let down', it seems that the food and drink is a form of apology (as well as having been repaid the 2000 baht that was due to her.)
By 20:30, everything winds down and the Auntie and her son are driven by A & Kye to their hotel. Tomorrow they are travelling to Bangkok and then onward to their home in South Thailand somewhere near Phuket.
We head back to the room and Phil is settling down on a bed made up on the floor. A asks if it is possible for Phil to live with us during the week and I explain that it is not possible with us only having a single room place.
She makes a few phone calls to Mama, Phil, 'Brudder' and 'Auntie'. The only one that can really manage is 'Seeter', but she has been unreliable of late and has failed to get Phil to school or provide money for his food (even though she's paid by A weekly). In addition, Phil has told A several times that 'Seeter' hits him. (I can sort of understand this happening.)
I explain that we would need at least two rooms and that I didn't have the money to pay for extra rent at the moment and additionally I would not want the responsibility of looking after a child without A being around.
Another round of telephone calls and A then says that if I can pay 5000 baht a month for rent, she can pay utilities and instead of paying Mama 1000 baht a week, I'd only have to pay 500 baht a week. This is a budget 'neutral' move and will provide us with more space, but there will be the addition of Phil. I'm unsure but will accept it as I'd expected something like this happening at some point.
A will investigate the availability of places and the logistics of getting Phil to / from school over the next week, but for now nothing is fully determined.
Expenditure :
0 baht
I wake at 07:30 fully clothed and on the sofa, so I undress and finally make it to bed, however I'm woken at 11:30 by the 'phone ringing. It's a Thai number and one that isn't in my directory, so I answer with a simple "Hello" and hear a 'northern' voice say "Hi George, I'm at the old airport now and I'm on my way to Udon Thani to see my lady. The 'plan' is that I'll be in Pattaya in about 10 days time so I should see you then." I haven't got the first clue as to who this is and in my half asleep / half awake state I decide that I'll just engage in conversation and hope it becomes clear.
After 5 minutes, I've sussed it! It's BM Manracer, so we chat for a few more minutes and he confirms that he'll be staying in Metro Apartments on Soi LK Metro when he arrives which I already knew as I'd been told this by BM Karunda Bagman last night.
We agree to meet when he gets into town and he asks if there is anything going on from the 25th that I am aware of. I tell him that the only event I can think of from the top of my head is the GoGo Bar Crawl on the last Thursday of the month which is the 27th September.
30 seconds after hanging up, the 'phone starts ringing again. This time it's A and she says that she's on her way home, so that cheers me up somewhat.
Kev sends me a text at 11:47 saying that he's having trouble with his 'net connection with some apps working and others just hanging and timing out, so I look to hook up with him on Messenger (An app he says is working) to try and troubleshoot where he's getting the problem. I try to use the Internet, but my connection is a bit hit and miss as well. It seems that connection to the upstream DNS servers is being lost, so I can access sites using an IP address but nothing that requires any name resolution. Every five minutes or so, connectivity is restored for a couple of minutes, but after 15 minutes, even this limited service fails and all further attempts to make a dial up connection fail.
At this point A arrives home and I am pleased to see her, however I'm not so pleased to see who's with her. It's 'baby me' Phil, so any ideas I'd had of a little 'afternoon delight' are shelved.
A proceeds to cook deep fried chicken in breadcrumbs and we all tuck in to the freshly frieed chicken. It's still only 13:15 and I'm now being invited to join Robin and his visitors downstairs for a drink. I tell A that it's too early for me to start drinking, but once I realise that Phil is staying the night and there will be no 'nookie' tonight, I end up agreeing and head downstairs where we talk, drink and eat whilst the kids are playing outside.
The visitor is the aunt of Kye (lady #2) and she's here to sort out a problem left by another member of the family that I'd met earlier in the trip. (Seems she borrowed money that she couldn't repay and a 'senior' member of the family has been sent in to pay the debts and avoid the family embarrassment.)
The Chang beer and 100 Pipers Whisky is in full flow and as A was one of the people 'let down', it seems that the food and drink is a form of apology (as well as having been repaid the 2000 baht that was due to her.)
By 20:30, everything winds down and the Auntie and her son are driven by A & Kye to their hotel. Tomorrow they are travelling to Bangkok and then onward to their home in South Thailand somewhere near Phuket.
We head back to the room and Phil is settling down on a bed made up on the floor. A asks if it is possible for Phil to live with us during the week and I explain that it is not possible with us only having a single room place.
She makes a few phone calls to Mama, Phil, 'Brudder' and 'Auntie'. The only one that can really manage is 'Seeter', but she has been unreliable of late and has failed to get Phil to school or provide money for his food (even though she's paid by A weekly). In addition, Phil has told A several times that 'Seeter' hits him. (I can sort of understand this happening.)
I explain that we would need at least two rooms and that I didn't have the money to pay for extra rent at the moment and additionally I would not want the responsibility of looking after a child without A being around.
Another round of telephone calls and A then says that if I can pay 5000 baht a month for rent, she can pay utilities and instead of paying Mama 1000 baht a week, I'd only have to pay 500 baht a week. This is a budget 'neutral' move and will provide us with more space, but there will be the addition of Phil. I'm unsure but will accept it as I'd expected something like this happening at some point.
A will investigate the availability of places and the logistics of getting Phil to / from school over the next week, but for now nothing is fully determined.
Expenditure :
0 baht
Friday, 14 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 36
14th September
A heads off to work and I suspect that she'll be away tonight as she knows that I'll be out at Cherry Bar. It's a fairly lazy day and as I'm not that hungry, I just fry up some thin slices of pork loin and a couple of eggs which I have with a chunk of the french bread and that's sufficient for me.
I speak with A at 16:00 amd she confirms that she'll be away tonight and then around 18:30 I get a knock on the door and open it to find Nam, Pun & Tai all there. They are just checking that I'm going to be at Cherry Bar tonight. Of course I am (!); they decide that they will be leaving at 20:15, so I should be ready for then.
Before I leave, I get a text message from Adam "Hope you get drunk tonight", so I have a cold bottle of Chang before heading off. I travel to the Bar with Tai and Nam travels with Pun. When we get to Soi 8, it's once again pretty deserted, but I am getting used to this early in the night now.
I'm hoping that a few BM's make it along to the bar tonight as it's been publicised that there is a free glass of Singha draft for those that make themsleves known. I forget to write the names of all the BM's that turn up, but they include Tomski808, Whitespider (and his wife), Dimples (and a guy he did his teaching course with), Progrocker, Pattaya Man (?), Karunda Bagman, Skate (?), Hutch, Big Pete and Cool Kangaroo as well as a few other guys who were not members of any board including Harald, Steve and Eric (apologies to those whose names I have probably missed).
I get around and manage to at least say hello to everyone and have a bit of a chat with a few of the guys. It was good to see that several of them had already met up the previous day on the outing to Ban Chang, so they were getting to know each other a little better tonight.
By around 23:00, most of them have left though, so there was little point in opening the bottle of tequila that Hammer had left to be drunk. One of the BM's has spent the night sitting. chatting and generally looking very happy with Jeeb and I'm convinced that he's going to pay barfine again as he'd paid barfine the previous night and tonight was to be his last night in town this trip. But it appears that he's decided to spend it alone, so he pays checkbin and disappears into the night. He'll be back in June next year and is planning a three month trip then, so good luck to you in that my friend.
As the customer count dwindles, I settle down for a chat with Karunda Bagman and we chit chat about the 'old days' in the computer industry and he generously buys me a few beers once again. He isn't staying too late tonight as he's heading back to Metro apartments to watch the rugby. (It's also shown on the TV's in the Cherry Bar, but to be honest as an Englishman, I wish that it hadn't been)
Down to 4 customers now, so I get them all a drink and when they've finished, two more leave, however it's around 03:45 now, so it's time to head on back to home. The girls arrange my transport and I'm going with a guy that isa friend Pun and Nam says that she'll see mne back at the room.
I'm tired , but not drunk so I sit on the sofa and send a text to Adam "Totally failed to get even merry, let alone drunk. The tequila is intact." and then proceed to fall asleep on the sofa.
Expenditure :
0 baht
A heads off to work and I suspect that she'll be away tonight as she knows that I'll be out at Cherry Bar. It's a fairly lazy day and as I'm not that hungry, I just fry up some thin slices of pork loin and a couple of eggs which I have with a chunk of the french bread and that's sufficient for me.
I speak with A at 16:00 amd she confirms that she'll be away tonight and then around 18:30 I get a knock on the door and open it to find Nam, Pun & Tai all there. They are just checking that I'm going to be at Cherry Bar tonight. Of course I am (!); they decide that they will be leaving at 20:15, so I should be ready for then.
Before I leave, I get a text message from Adam "Hope you get drunk tonight", so I have a cold bottle of Chang before heading off. I travel to the Bar with Tai and Nam travels with Pun. When we get to Soi 8, it's once again pretty deserted, but I am getting used to this early in the night now.
I'm hoping that a few BM's make it along to the bar tonight as it's been publicised that there is a free glass of Singha draft for those that make themsleves known. I forget to write the names of all the BM's that turn up, but they include Tomski808, Whitespider (and his wife), Dimples (and a guy he did his teaching course with), Progrocker, Pattaya Man (?), Karunda Bagman, Skate (?), Hutch, Big Pete and Cool Kangaroo as well as a few other guys who were not members of any board including Harald, Steve and Eric (apologies to those whose names I have probably missed).
I get around and manage to at least say hello to everyone and have a bit of a chat with a few of the guys. It was good to see that several of them had already met up the previous day on the outing to Ban Chang, so they were getting to know each other a little better tonight.
By around 23:00, most of them have left though, so there was little point in opening the bottle of tequila that Hammer had left to be drunk. One of the BM's has spent the night sitting. chatting and generally looking very happy with Jeeb and I'm convinced that he's going to pay barfine again as he'd paid barfine the previous night and tonight was to be his last night in town this trip. But it appears that he's decided to spend it alone, so he pays checkbin and disappears into the night. He'll be back in June next year and is planning a three month trip then, so good luck to you in that my friend.
As the customer count dwindles, I settle down for a chat with Karunda Bagman and we chit chat about the 'old days' in the computer industry and he generously buys me a few beers once again. He isn't staying too late tonight as he's heading back to Metro apartments to watch the rugby. (It's also shown on the TV's in the Cherry Bar, but to be honest as an Englishman, I wish that it hadn't been)
Down to 4 customers now, so I get them all a drink and when they've finished, two more leave, however it's around 03:45 now, so it's time to head on back to home. The girls arrange my transport and I'm going with a guy that isa friend Pun and Nam says that she'll see mne back at the room.
I'm tired , but not drunk so I sit on the sofa and send a text to Adam "Totally failed to get even merry, let alone drunk. The tequila is intact." and then proceed to fall asleep on the sofa.
Expenditure :
0 baht
Thursday, 13 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 35
13th September
As I'm about to leave the shop, I'm called back and given a 'sample' of two sausages and a pack of 3 or 4 Back Bacon rashers. The 'plan' is that I'll share these with Kevin when I see him next and provide a review, however I may just do a review on my own 'experience' (A 'proper' BLT is calling out to me).
A phones to say that she will be working tonight (as I suspected), so I make myself a green curry which I overdo on the chillis a bit and it's quite 'spicy', but bloody good if I say so myself.
I settle down to a bottle of Chang and a couple of DVD's, then speak to A briefly before switching out the light and drawing a close to yet another day in LoS.
Expenditure :
Baht Bus : 10 baht
Carrefour : 314.50 baht
Telehone Cable : 200 baht
Telephone Top Up : 100 baht
The day started with me being given a lift to the end of Pattaya Klang by A where I then jumped on a baht bus for the short trip to Carrefour. I was on a mission to find picture hooks for Kevin and after a fruitless search around HW, I actually located some in the Carrefour store.
As we have meat at home, I decide that I'd better stock up on a few vegetables and I decide to buy here where there are labels rather than make a trip to the market. I get all the vegetable ingredients to prepare a green curry using the packet paste bought earlier in the week (basil, kaffir leaves, eggplant & chilli) and I cannot resist buying a french stick (a farang food that I do still enjoy). So lunch is to be a baguette with cold meat, Thai lettuce & Chinese tomatoes (The closest I could get to a BLT).
I also buy pork loin and chicken breast to replenish the stocks that are running down in the fridge as well as a few general household items.
I then notice that my 'phone battery is running low and I know that I have left my USB charging lead at Kev's place, so I call in at one of the 'phone outlets in the store to check the price of a replacement USB cable for my Sony Ericsson. It's 200 baht, so I buy this and a 100 baht phone top up at the same time.
I then make the walk home declining numerous offers from the scooter taxi riders along the way. Just before crossing the railway line, I decide to stop at the D2M English Food Service shop to check out their bacon & sausage produce as this is something that Kevin has been trying hard with little success to source in Pattaya.
I ask the staff in the shop for a card so that Kevin (or Joy) can call them. The staff are extremely helpful and show me the various items and I'm given a pricelist.
- Pork sausage (Big) Approx 12 links - 175 baht / kg
Pork sausage (Small) Approx 16 links - 175 baht / kg
Irish sausage (Big) Approx 12 links - 175 baht / kg
Irish sausage (Small) Approx 16 links - 175 baht / kg
Lean Short Back Bacon - 175 baht / kg
Middle Cut Bacon - 175 baht /kg
Horseshoe Gammon - 175 baht / kg
Back Gammon Steak - 175 baht / kg
Beefburger (125g or 150g) - 175 baht /kg
Pork Chop (300g- 350g) - 150 baht / kg
T-Bone Steak (250g - 400g) - 270 baht / kg
Pure Ground Beef - 100 baht / kg
Rump Steak (250g) - 250 baht / kg
As I'm about to leave the shop, I'm called back and given a 'sample' of two sausages and a pack of 3 or 4 Back Bacon rashers. The 'plan' is that I'll share these with Kevin when I see him next and provide a review, however I may just do a review on my own 'experience' (A 'proper' BLT is calling out to me).
A phones to say that she will be working tonight (as I suspected), so I make myself a green curry which I overdo on the chillis a bit and it's quite 'spicy', but bloody good if I say so myself.
I settle down to a bottle of Chang and a couple of DVD's, then speak to A briefly before switching out the light and drawing a close to yet another day in LoS.
Expenditure :
Baht Bus : 10 baht
Carrefour : 314.50 baht
Telehone Cable : 200 baht
Telephone Top Up : 100 baht
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 34
12th September
I get a lift from A to Kevin's place and I spend the morning monitoring his Internet connection and checking the router logfiles. The router and the access point seem to be 'behaving' and the problems are with the ADSL line itself with several entries reporting line state changes from Up to Down.
Also, as I'd installed Office 2007 on the laptop PC the other day, there are now many Mb's of Microsoft patches and updates to be applied and even with the benefit of ADSL, this still takes several hours to download and install. Whilst the download is taking place, I take advantage to use the pool and as I'm laying out on the airbed, I realise that this is the first time I've actually been in a swimming pool in all my time in LoS.
Joy has been away all morning clearing stuff out of the condo and she arrives back in the taxi bus, but she is not alone. She has co-opted a friend to help in the removal of stuff and I can confirm that this woman is a bloody expert when it comes to stripping a condo clear. (It's Ann of Trip 1 / Trip 2 'fame'). I am civil, but just don't talk to her as there is nothing I want to say, however I do choose to stay out by the pool rather than sit inside with her being there.
Later in the afternoon, Joy takes Ann home on the scooter and myself and Kev have a barbecue lunch / tea of steak, hotdogs, sweetcorn & chips which is nice, but I find that I haven't really 'missed' farang food.
I call A to see if she can pick me up from Kevin's, but it seems that she's not going to be back again tonight. She knows that there's a party at the Cherry Bar which I will be going to as I've told her that I'll be meeting BM Alleycat (who she has met before) as he is only in town until Friday morning and this is the only opportunity I'll have to meet him.
(A is often reluctant to go out to the Cherry Bar which is unfortunate as it's a place that I use, but then I don't have an obvious problem with any of the girls being 'bitchy' toward me.)
Joy finally returns at just after 18:00 and she then offers to take me home, so I jump on the back of the scooter and we head off on the new road which I notice has acquired a fresh tarmac surface during the day. We cross the first junction and as we approach Soi Sukhumvit 53, Joy tells me that she remembers where I live and turns left (instead of going straight across). I tell her that it's the next Soi along, but not to worry and to take the next right. We head down the Soi and when it becomes a dirt track, Joy is somewhat sceptical and asks how I know this way. I explain that I walk around everywhere, but I sense that she doesn't believe me until we arrive at the building I live in. She then knows where she is and how to return, so I thank her for the lift and she revs up and off down the Soi.
I get indoors and after the mandatory SSS, I get dressed ready to head back out. A then calls me and asks where I am and tells me that she is on her way back to Pattaya. I say that I'll wait for her and we can both go to the Cherry Bar together. When she arrives she says that she knows that I wanted her to be with me to see my friend and it's okay, because she says "I know you understand; it not matter if lady bar not understand".
We arrive at Cherry Bar and for a midweek party, there's a good turnout with many BM's popping in at some stage during the night; many I know and I suspect a few that I missed. Kev0184, Hillbilly, Mike100, Tomski808, Alleycat, Dimples, Spanky4star, Karunda Bagman, Ned Kelly & Bazzap.
I get a lift from A to Kevin's place and I spend the morning monitoring his Internet connection and checking the router logfiles. The router and the access point seem to be 'behaving' and the problems are with the ADSL line itself with several entries reporting line state changes from Up to Down.
Also, as I'd installed Office 2007 on the laptop PC the other day, there are now many Mb's of Microsoft patches and updates to be applied and even with the benefit of ADSL, this still takes several hours to download and install. Whilst the download is taking place, I take advantage to use the pool and as I'm laying out on the airbed, I realise that this is the first time I've actually been in a swimming pool in all my time in LoS.
Joy has been away all morning clearing stuff out of the condo and she arrives back in the taxi bus, but she is not alone. She has co-opted a friend to help in the removal of stuff and I can confirm that this woman is a bloody expert when it comes to stripping a condo clear. (It's Ann of Trip 1 / Trip 2 'fame'). I am civil, but just don't talk to her as there is nothing I want to say, however I do choose to stay out by the pool rather than sit inside with her being there.
Later in the afternoon, Joy takes Ann home on the scooter and myself and Kev have a barbecue lunch / tea of steak, hotdogs, sweetcorn & chips which is nice, but I find that I haven't really 'missed' farang food.
I call A to see if she can pick me up from Kevin's, but it seems that she's not going to be back again tonight. She knows that there's a party at the Cherry Bar which I will be going to as I've told her that I'll be meeting BM Alleycat (who she has met before) as he is only in town until Friday morning and this is the only opportunity I'll have to meet him.
(A is often reluctant to go out to the Cherry Bar which is unfortunate as it's a place that I use, but then I don't have an obvious problem with any of the girls being 'bitchy' toward me.)
Joy finally returns at just after 18:00 and she then offers to take me home, so I jump on the back of the scooter and we head off on the new road which I notice has acquired a fresh tarmac surface during the day. We cross the first junction and as we approach Soi Sukhumvit 53, Joy tells me that she remembers where I live and turns left (instead of going straight across). I tell her that it's the next Soi along, but not to worry and to take the next right. We head down the Soi and when it becomes a dirt track, Joy is somewhat sceptical and asks how I know this way. I explain that I walk around everywhere, but I sense that she doesn't believe me until we arrive at the building I live in. She then knows where she is and how to return, so I thank her for the lift and she revs up and off down the Soi.
I get indoors and after the mandatory SSS, I get dressed ready to head back out. A then calls me and asks where I am and tells me that she is on her way back to Pattaya. I say that I'll wait for her and we can both go to the Cherry Bar together. When she arrives she says that she knows that I wanted her to be with me to see my friend and it's okay, because she says "I know you understand; it not matter if lady bar not understand".
We arrive at Cherry Bar and for a midweek party, there's a good turnout with many BM's popping in at some stage during the night; many I know and I suspect a few that I missed. Kev0184, Hillbilly, Mike100, Tomski808, Alleycat, Dimples, Spanky4star, Karunda Bagman, Ned Kelly & Bazzap.
I really hope that the cake is going to be edible this week.
A potential caption competition.
And sometimes a girl will even join in.
And one of the next door neighbour as she seems to have quite a fan club
The lovely Alleycat wouldn't let me buy a drink whilst he was there and simply kept taking the slips out of my checkbin and adding them to his. (Many thanks kind Sir, you are a true gent!)
At around 00:30, we called time ourselves as A has to work in the morning and after paying my extremely modest checkbin, we set off back along Klang to Sukhumvit and home.
Expenditure :
Birthday money : 100 baht
Cherry Bar : 250 baht
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 33
11th September
I awake at 08:00 and the day is already hot and there's a clear sky, so it's laundry day. I strip the bed and then decide that I will also wash the bedspread as the label says that it's machine washable. I end up with five loads of washing in total, so that keeps me pretty occupied during the day as I need to regularly turn the quilt to ensure that it is dry before the evening.
Kevin sends a text asking if I'm going to the curry night at Noi's bar and I call to say that I will probably go along for a few beers later on, but I wouldn't be eating. He says that he'll be there about 20:00, and I say that I plan on getting there between 20:30 & 21:00.
When A arrives home, I ask her if she wants to join me for a drink, but it seems that she doesn't want to go out. I say that it's okay and I'll stay in with her, but she says that I must go as I have told Kevin that I am going.
Before I go though, she's determined to cook me some 'farang' food. It's a good attempt, but cold vegetables and a 'gravy' made from Tomato ketchup, vinegar and a vegetable stock cube whilst being tangy and tasty isn't really 'authentic'. The patience employed with the mashed potato was almost too much to watch. The potato was sieved through a rice masher and was actually a potato puree rather than a mash, but again very tasty. This was the meal cooked to 'christen' the hotplate bought a couple of weeks ago.
I arrive at Noi's bar at 20:30 and Kevin is nowhere to be seen.
I awake at 08:00 and the day is already hot and there's a clear sky, so it's laundry day. I strip the bed and then decide that I will also wash the bedspread as the label says that it's machine washable. I end up with five loads of washing in total, so that keeps me pretty occupied during the day as I need to regularly turn the quilt to ensure that it is dry before the evening.
Kevin sends a text asking if I'm going to the curry night at Noi's bar and I call to say that I will probably go along for a few beers later on, but I wouldn't be eating. He says that he'll be there about 20:00, and I say that I plan on getting there between 20:30 & 21:00.
When A arrives home, I ask her if she wants to join me for a drink, but it seems that she doesn't want to go out. I say that it's okay and I'll stay in with her, but she says that I must go as I have told Kevin that I am going.
Before I go though, she's determined to cook me some 'farang' food. It's a good attempt, but cold vegetables and a 'gravy' made from Tomato ketchup, vinegar and a vegetable stock cube whilst being tangy and tasty isn't really 'authentic'. The patience employed with the mashed potato was almost too much to watch. The potato was sieved through a rice masher and was actually a potato puree rather than a mash, but again very tasty. This was the meal cooked to 'christen' the hotplate bought a couple of weeks ago.
I arrive at Noi's bar at 20:30 and Kevin is nowhere to be seen.
There's a bunch of regulars that have been for the curry, so the place is busy and I end up sitting at one of the barstools overlooking the road. I find myself in conversation with a BM called Ozguy I think it was. Seems that he became fed up with the UK just over 30 years ago and simply upped sticks to Australia where he has lived ever since and with his holidays in Thailand, he is quite happy with his life.
Whilst talking, I find that one of the ladies from the bar has sat behind me and has started giving me a relaxing neck and shoulder massage. (It's a wonderful experience to be sitting in an open bar watching the world go by; having a cold beer and a chat with another guy and be attended to by a pretty girl.) I buy her a drink when I order my next drink (as it would be rude not to) and there's a lovely smile which I think I will never tire of seeing.
The bar slowly starts emptying as the curry eaters depart and Ozguy grabs a lift with BM Mulphy as he's staying in Metro Apartments which is just round the corner in Soi LK Metro from Mulphy's Rockhouse bar. I now turn my attention to the girl that has been looking after me and we sit looking out on the street and getting all the usual Q&A's out of the way. Her name is Na and she's 25; she's the best looker in the bar tonight in my opinion and she speaks pretty good English.
I buy another drink for the two of us and we sit looking out at the passing traffic on the darkened Soi and listen to the music emanating from the bar behind us. My resolve is weakening I fear, but I am still strong enough to hold out tonight. I then realise that I have a text from Kevin. It simply says "Answer Phone".
I check and find that I've had a number of 'missed calls', so I call him. He asks me how my neck feels and I say that it's okay. He says that he knows that, as he's been watching 'on and off' on the webcam for the past couple of hours. He says that Joy has also been watching (so it's just as well that I have been good and kept my hands to myself).
I'm just about to go when the heavens open and the rain comes down, so just one more drink for the two of us before I leave and I'm home at 23:35.
Expenditure :
Noi's Bar : 505 baht (including 3 LD's & tip)
Monday, 10 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 32
10th September
A goes off to work and it's a day that I really do very little other than sit on the PC. I've grown somewhat accustomed to the speed now, but trying to create a website on Microsoft Live is proving to be too much and I decide that this will have to be written offline and then uploaded when I am at Kevin's place and have the benefit of ADSL access.
In the afternoon, I decide to have a sandwich and I realise that I'd forgotten to buy any butter the previous day. A trip out is required, so I also plan to buy a half chicken from the stall just past Noi's bar and I can pop into the 7/11 there to get the butter.
As I pass Noi's, Casper UK is sitting out front, so I have a chat with him and it seems that he's off to Bangkok for a few days, so he won't be at the curry night on Tuesday or the Ban Chang visit on Thursday (Ban Chang is a self imposed 'off limits' destination for me this time).
Unfortunately, the chicken stall is not open, so I just get my butter and head back where I buy the 'good ol' fallback' of barbecued chicken and sticky rice from the stall at the end of our Soi for the princely sum of 25 baht.
The night is spent watching a couple of DVD's and I realise that I'm 'nodding off' during the second one that I'm watching, so it's TV off, light out and an early night.
Expenditure :
Butter : 38 baht
Barbecue chicken & rice : 25 baht
Mama allowance : 1000 baht
A goes off to work and it's a day that I really do very little other than sit on the PC. I've grown somewhat accustomed to the speed now, but trying to create a website on Microsoft Live is proving to be too much and I decide that this will have to be written offline and then uploaded when I am at Kevin's place and have the benefit of ADSL access.
In the afternoon, I decide to have a sandwich and I realise that I'd forgotten to buy any butter the previous day. A trip out is required, so I also plan to buy a half chicken from the stall just past Noi's bar and I can pop into the 7/11 there to get the butter.
As I pass Noi's, Casper UK is sitting out front, so I have a chat with him and it seems that he's off to Bangkok for a few days, so he won't be at the curry night on Tuesday or the Ban Chang visit on Thursday (Ban Chang is a self imposed 'off limits' destination for me this time).
Unfortunately, the chicken stall is not open, so I just get my butter and head back where I buy the 'good ol' fallback' of barbecued chicken and sticky rice from the stall at the end of our Soi for the princely sum of 25 baht.
The night is spent watching a couple of DVD's and I realise that I'm 'nodding off' during the second one that I'm watching, so it's TV off, light out and an early night.
Expenditure :
Butter : 38 baht
Barbecue chicken & rice : 25 baht
Mama allowance : 1000 baht
Sunday, 9 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 31
9th September
We have to go shopping this morning as there's little in the fridge, so it's off to Big C for breakfast which comes to 85 baht for the two of us and then a trip round the store where we buy some meat and some packets of pre packed Curry pastes (10 baht each), so that I can at least cook for myself when A is not about, whilst also getting such essentials as Strawberry Jam (for my toast in the mornings).
We return home and put everything away and then head off to Kev's place where I need to check his Internet configuration as it seems it has been unstable the past couple of days. A drops me off and says that she's going off to see a friend and will see me later. I ask her where and she says that she is going to Sri Racha to see one of the ladies that she works with.
I get to work on diagnosing the Internet connectivity problem and it seems that somehow the wireless access point has reset and has reverted to its default IP address which is clashing with the existing router. I therefore change the IP address of the router and ensure that only one device is acting as a DHCP server and things seem much more stable. There are still a few 'glitches' when access to the Thai DNS servers seems to be lost, but the service recovers from these fairly quickly usually.
I use the opportunity to apply a few patches to the PC, but in the main, I am just monitoring the service and running checks to ensure that it can recover correctly from a power cut and from the ADSL line dropping.
Everything seems to be okay and Kevin then fires up the gas barbecue that is his latest acquisition and I call A to let her know that Kevin is cooking for us. She arrives before we eat and it seems that she'd made arrangements with 'lady #2' to eat with her tonight, but she sits with us and has a few mouthfuls of food. (I eat most of what she doesn't eat).
I pack up my gear and we return home whereupon A says that she's going to get food ready. I join her downstairs and there's a cauldron of water on the boil and A is making pork wontons. I end up eating even more food and just having a single bottle of beer whilst chatting with Robin and it's an environment that A is clearly more comfortable with.
Expenditure :
Big C provisions : 645 baht
Food for evening cooking : 100 baht
We have to go shopping this morning as there's little in the fridge, so it's off to Big C for breakfast which comes to 85 baht for the two of us and then a trip round the store where we buy some meat and some packets of pre packed Curry pastes (10 baht each), so that I can at least cook for myself when A is not about, whilst also getting such essentials as Strawberry Jam (for my toast in the mornings).
We return home and put everything away and then head off to Kev's place where I need to check his Internet configuration as it seems it has been unstable the past couple of days. A drops me off and says that she's going off to see a friend and will see me later. I ask her where and she says that she is going to Sri Racha to see one of the ladies that she works with.
I get to work on diagnosing the Internet connectivity problem and it seems that somehow the wireless access point has reset and has reverted to its default IP address which is clashing with the existing router. I therefore change the IP address of the router and ensure that only one device is acting as a DHCP server and things seem much more stable. There are still a few 'glitches' when access to the Thai DNS servers seems to be lost, but the service recovers from these fairly quickly usually.
I use the opportunity to apply a few patches to the PC, but in the main, I am just monitoring the service and running checks to ensure that it can recover correctly from a power cut and from the ADSL line dropping.
Everything seems to be okay and Kevin then fires up the gas barbecue that is his latest acquisition and I call A to let her know that Kevin is cooking for us. She arrives before we eat and it seems that she'd made arrangements with 'lady #2' to eat with her tonight, but she sits with us and has a few mouthfuls of food. (I eat most of what she doesn't eat).
I pack up my gear and we return home whereupon A says that she's going to get food ready. I join her downstairs and there's a cauldron of water on the boil and A is making pork wontons. I end up eating even more food and just having a single bottle of beer whilst chatting with Robin and it's an environment that A is clearly more comfortable with.
Expenditure :
Big C provisions : 645 baht
Food for evening cooking : 100 baht
Saturday, 8 September 2007
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'.
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
Friday, 7 September 2007
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
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
Thursday, 6 September 2007
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
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
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
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
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
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
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
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
Monday, 3 September 2007
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
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
Sunday, 2 September 2007
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
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
Saturday, 1 September 2007
Trip 4 - Day 23
1st September
I awake at just after 09:00 after having a fairly disturbed nights sleep. I still have a headache, my back aches and I've got a sore throat, so I'm going to pop out to the pharmacy to get some paracetamol and something for the sore throat.
First off though, I do the laundry as the basket is getting full and it won't get done itself. I know that this is something that the female neighbours regard as being a womans job and not that of a man, but as A isn't here and it's not exactly an arduous task, I just get it done.
I then speak with Kevin. He's been told by MM that it's possible to get beefburgers, English sausages and 'proper' bacon from a food place somewhere near me. We determine that he's talking about Foodland, so I agree to give the place a 'recce' on my way to Carrefour.
I'm sorry to report that the only burgers I found on offer were frozen chicken burgers; the sausages are mainly German smoked meat varieties and the bacon isn't 'proper' bacon, but more like an anemic thinly sliced pork rasher. For reference, I made a note of some of the prices of products in Foodland and compared them to the prices in Carrefour and they were without exception more expensive, however the selection of 'farang' imported food is greater (but at a price).
Into Carrefour and the first stop is the pharmacy counter where I get 100 x 500mg paracetamol for 27 baht (No 'nanny state' rationing in force here) and I then explain that I have a sore throat which is making it uncomfortable to swallow and instantly 10 x 500mg Amoxicillin appear on the counter (No checking whether you are allergic to penicillin). Total bill for meds is 67 baht.
Then it's the mundane stuff such as washing powder and fabric conditioner that comprise the bulk of the shopping bill. Some meat and some fruit bring the total up to 580 baht.
I return home and am grateful that I'm not spotted by 'the coven' as I would no doubt be chastised for not asking one of them for a lift or borrowing a scooter.
I then get a call from BM Volsfan enquiring as to whether I can meet up to sort out the PC. Of course I can, so we arrange to meet at KFC in Carrefour, so off I set once again. We meet up and drive to his condo which is nearby. The laptop is great. Considerably more 'oomph' than my own machine and it will have no problem running more 'heavyweight' apps. He says that I can simply borrow the machine on a long term basis for which I am extremely grateful.
He then drives me back home and it dawns on me that there are no power points near to the location of the desk. Some creative work with extension leads is called for, but as this is Thailand and a morass of electricity cables is the norm, this shouldn't pose any major problems.
I talk with Kevin on the phone and he says that he's planning a Sunday roast dinner outing on Soi 'half a dozen' and the meal and any subsequent 'dessert' are to be his treat. I remember my last couple of trips down that Soi and there is 'unfinished business' in TG Bar with a fun girl who was called 'Kangaroo'! I was in her company when there with Kev & Talen back in May (the night we 'bailed out' of the Beach Road FLB Bar Crawl) and again when on a crawl with Don Dadda (the afternoon he went with the big mamasan), Talen & Dirty Sanchez.
I send her a text and we exchange a couple more before she ends up calling me. She verifies that I do know her by asking me what her name was at TG Bar and we then chat for nearly 10 minutes. In summary, she says that she no longer 'works bar', has returned home and is now looking for 'job with company'.
I then prepare myself my evening meal (a pre-cooked bag of green curry that I'd bought in Carrefour earlier for 19 baht) along with some freshly cooked rice and afterwards I get the washing in; iron a T-shirt; SSS and it's time to go to Cherry Bar.
Yet another crossing of the Sukhumvit highway (which doesn't get any easier with experience) is as hair raising as ever, but I survive and head to Pattaya Klang. Jump on board the waiting baht bus and 5 minutes later we're off. As we approach 2nd Road, it's a lottery as to whether we'll turn right to head up to Big C or carry straight on to Beach Road. We turn right, so it's a speedy bell ring and just a short walk back down 2nd Road to Soi 8. I get 'accosted' by a couple of girls as I head down to Cherry Bar which is all good fun and just part of the everyday Pattaya 'experience'
The party is a fairly 'low key' affair, but it has to be said that everywhere is looking fairly quiet tonight. At just 40 baht a time, the Singha draft is fine and it's a pleasant way to spend the evening and I get to meet a couple of new BM's. Dode was one and I'm afraid that I didn't really catch the name of the other guy.
At the end of the night (03:45) I pay checkbin which is all of 400 baht and that includes a couple of drinks for Aoy (well I had to buy her a drink after she'd bought me one.) and at 04:10 I'm on a scooter with Tai & Pun as they take me back home.
Expenditure :
Carrefour shopping : 580 baht
Pharmacy : 67 baht
Baht bus : 20 baht
Cherry Bar : 420 baht (inc. tip)
I awake at just after 09:00 after having a fairly disturbed nights sleep. I still have a headache, my back aches and I've got a sore throat, so I'm going to pop out to the pharmacy to get some paracetamol and something for the sore throat.
First off though, I do the laundry as the basket is getting full and it won't get done itself. I know that this is something that the female neighbours regard as being a womans job and not that of a man, but as A isn't here and it's not exactly an arduous task, I just get it done.
I then speak with Kevin. He's been told by MM that it's possible to get beefburgers, English sausages and 'proper' bacon from a food place somewhere near me. We determine that he's talking about Foodland, so I agree to give the place a 'recce' on my way to Carrefour.
I'm sorry to report that the only burgers I found on offer were frozen chicken burgers; the sausages are mainly German smoked meat varieties and the bacon isn't 'proper' bacon, but more like an anemic thinly sliced pork rasher. For reference, I made a note of some of the prices of products in Foodland and compared them to the prices in Carrefour and they were without exception more expensive, however the selection of 'farang' imported food is greater (but at a price).
Into Carrefour and the first stop is the pharmacy counter where I get 100 x 500mg paracetamol for 27 baht (No 'nanny state' rationing in force here) and I then explain that I have a sore throat which is making it uncomfortable to swallow and instantly 10 x 500mg Amoxicillin appear on the counter (No checking whether you are allergic to penicillin). Total bill for meds is 67 baht.
Then it's the mundane stuff such as washing powder and fabric conditioner that comprise the bulk of the shopping bill. Some meat and some fruit bring the total up to 580 baht.
I return home and am grateful that I'm not spotted by 'the coven' as I would no doubt be chastised for not asking one of them for a lift or borrowing a scooter.
I then get a call from BM Volsfan enquiring as to whether I can meet up to sort out the PC. Of course I can, so we arrange to meet at KFC in Carrefour, so off I set once again. We meet up and drive to his condo which is nearby. The laptop is great. Considerably more 'oomph' than my own machine and it will have no problem running more 'heavyweight' apps. He says that I can simply borrow the machine on a long term basis for which I am extremely grateful.
He then drives me back home and it dawns on me that there are no power points near to the location of the desk. Some creative work with extension leads is called for, but as this is Thailand and a morass of electricity cables is the norm, this shouldn't pose any major problems.
I talk with Kevin on the phone and he says that he's planning a Sunday roast dinner outing on Soi 'half a dozen' and the meal and any subsequent 'dessert' are to be his treat. I remember my last couple of trips down that Soi and there is 'unfinished business' in TG Bar with a fun girl who was called 'Kangaroo'! I was in her company when there with Kev & Talen back in May (the night we 'bailed out' of the Beach Road FLB Bar Crawl) and again when on a crawl with Don Dadda (the afternoon he went with the big mamasan), Talen & Dirty Sanchez.
I send her a text and we exchange a couple more before she ends up calling me. She verifies that I do know her by asking me what her name was at TG Bar and we then chat for nearly 10 minutes. In summary, she says that she no longer 'works bar', has returned home and is now looking for 'job with company'.
I then prepare myself my evening meal (a pre-cooked bag of green curry that I'd bought in Carrefour earlier for 19 baht) along with some freshly cooked rice and afterwards I get the washing in; iron a T-shirt; SSS and it's time to go to Cherry Bar.
Yet another crossing of the Sukhumvit highway (which doesn't get any easier with experience) is as hair raising as ever, but I survive and head to Pattaya Klang. Jump on board the waiting baht bus and 5 minutes later we're off. As we approach 2nd Road, it's a lottery as to whether we'll turn right to head up to Big C or carry straight on to Beach Road. We turn right, so it's a speedy bell ring and just a short walk back down 2nd Road to Soi 8. I get 'accosted' by a couple of girls as I head down to Cherry Bar which is all good fun and just part of the everyday Pattaya 'experience'
The party is a fairly 'low key' affair, but it has to be said that everywhere is looking fairly quiet tonight. At just 40 baht a time, the Singha draft is fine and it's a pleasant way to spend the evening and I get to meet a couple of new BM's. Dode was one and I'm afraid that I didn't really catch the name of the other guy.
At the end of the night (03:45) I pay checkbin which is all of 400 baht and that includes a couple of drinks for Aoy (well I had to buy her a drink after she'd bought me one.) and at 04:10 I'm on a scooter with Tai & Pun as they take me back home.
Expenditure :
Carrefour shopping : 580 baht
Pharmacy : 67 baht
Baht bus : 20 baht
Cherry Bar : 420 baht (inc. tip)
Friday, 31 August 2007
Trip 4 - Day 22
31st August
Oh my Buddha! I have a thumper of a hangover and just moving is hard work. A returns home at 09:30 and orders me to get up and "go shower. NOW!"
She says that she'll only be home for a few hours as she is working again tonight and possibly tomorrow night as well. It's definately not what I had anticipated when I came out here, but as I have said many times before, it is for me to adapt to her life rather than the other way round.
She prepares a meal which I force myself to eat and tells me that there is enough for me to eat tonight, then she's off out the door again.
My hangover is actually more than that I fear, as I have a streaming nose and even by mid afternoon, the headache hasn't gone away.
In the middle of the afternoon, I get a call from A who asks me if I believe that she is working. (WTF?) I say that I do believe her and ask why I shouldn't. It seems that she's had a phone call from one of the neighbours telling her that she should be at home and not out working all the time and that she is not 'good'. She asks me if I want her to finish work and come home and I tell her that it's okay. I understand that she is working to earn money and as I will be here for a long time, it isn't that important that I see her all the time. (I'd 'prefer' it if she were at home of course)
I finish the curry from this morning and cannot even be bothered to have a bottle of beer. At 20:00, I just give in and go to bed.
Expenditure :
Food money for A : 200 baht
Oh my Buddha! I have a thumper of a hangover and just moving is hard work. A returns home at 09:30 and orders me to get up and "go shower. NOW!"
She says that she'll only be home for a few hours as she is working again tonight and possibly tomorrow night as well. It's definately not what I had anticipated when I came out here, but as I have said many times before, it is for me to adapt to her life rather than the other way round.
She prepares a meal which I force myself to eat and tells me that there is enough for me to eat tonight, then she's off out the door again.
My hangover is actually more than that I fear, as I have a streaming nose and even by mid afternoon, the headache hasn't gone away.
In the middle of the afternoon, I get a call from A who asks me if I believe that she is working. (WTF?) I say that I do believe her and ask why I shouldn't. It seems that she's had a phone call from one of the neighbours telling her that she should be at home and not out working all the time and that she is not 'good'. She asks me if I want her to finish work and come home and I tell her that it's okay. I understand that she is working to earn money and as I will be here for a long time, it isn't that important that I see her all the time. (I'd 'prefer' it if she were at home of course)
I finish the curry from this morning and cannot even be bothered to have a bottle of beer. At 20:00, I just give in and go to bed.
Expenditure :
Food money for A : 200 baht
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