Trip 4 - Day 70

October 18th

I wake at 12:30 and after making some breakfast and having the obligatory mug of tea, it’s time to SSS ready for the Darkside Bar Crawl.

I’m making the trip on Kev’s scooter, so it’s Cokes only for me on this crawl, so I should remember everything that happens (for a change).

I’m meeting up with Hammer’s group at La Guinguette on Soi 27 Siam Country Club Road. The group is leaving from the car park at Mike’s Shopping Mall at 14:00, so they should be there around 14:15, but my plan is to get there a little earlier and grab myself a good seat.

I arrive just after 14:00 and there’s just one other customer there, so I head over to the ‘hut’ on the far side of the pool where I’m instantly joined by three girls. One of them announces that she’s a bit ‘Ting Tong’ but makes it clear to the others that she has decided that I’m to be her prey for the next hour or so. I get my Coke and I’m asked why I come ‘alone’. I say that my ‘friends’ will be arriving soon and when she hears that there will be 12 ‘friends’ she runs off to tell the others. I buy O a couple of beers and she is a very enthusiastic and accommodating lady. She tries hard to get me to go and shower with her in ‘loom’, but I decline her very kind offer (300 baht for room & “Up To You” for the lady). She’s a little on the heavy side compared to my usual ‘tastes’, but I feel sure based on the ‘messing around’ that the experience would be good.



Next stop is Butterfly Bar, so I head off and beat the rest of the guys to the place and as a reward, I ‘bag’ the attention of Pun before the rest of the guys arrive. There is a good selection of girls working at this bar and fair number are ‘lookers’ Rooms here are just 200 baht and it’s the same “Up To You” for the girl, however I once again manage to control the urges of the ‘little head’ and whilst I am sorely tempted, I decline the offer made (however this could well be a return visit on another day which I will NOT then tell A about).

We are on a roll now and the next stop is to be Black Pearl 2 which has only been open a couple of months, however if it’s as much fun as Black Pearl 1 was the last time I went there, then I shall be happy. We pull up and sit at the front of the bar and wonder what has happened. There are hardly any girls and there doesn’t seem to be much to do. Then a few girls arrive (seems they’ve been sent over from Black Pearl 1) and one of them stops dead in her tracks when she sees Hammer. We find out later that she knows him from the Bar Crawls to Ban Chang as she used to work in Papas Bar. We then head out to the back of the bar where there’s a decent sized pool and things started going ‘downhill’ rapidly.

‘Skinny dipping’ was most obviously the order of the day (for a few of us) and was a great amount of fun and then VicVegas announces that it’s one of the best crawls so far and each bar that we’ve visited has ‘upped the ante’ a little, so he’s looking forward to the next place. It’s another previously unvisited place called Oasis, but when we get there it’s a great disappointment. There’s hardly any girls working and there are family groups sitting in the bar. The decision is very quickly and easily made to have just one drink and then move on, so within 10 minutes we’re on our way to Dao bar.

Once again there are plenty of ladies and some real ‘hotties’ amongst them. Whilst I’ve been here before, this is certainly the best I’ve encountered in my three visits to date. Seems that many of the others agreed as there’s lots of messing about going on and a couple of BMs decide that the deed has to be done and disappear for some ‘Short Time’ fun (300 for the room here and I’m informed that it’s 500 for the girl).

Next stop for me is home where I park the bike before walking back to the Cock Inn which is being added as a quick additional stop because we are running a little early because of the problems with Oasis. I get here before the rest of the group and I telephone A who tells me that she won’t be coming home tonight as originally expected. Deep down, I had half expected this to happen and I can only wait to see what develops this weekend.

Hammer then arrives and tells me that he wants to get the pictures from VicVegas to post on the website, so I volunteer to take the memory card home and copy the pics to my memory stick (and grab a copy of the incriminating evidence for myself). Ten minutes later, I’m back and it’s time to make our way the short distance to Noi’s bar where the crawl will finish.

When one of the girls brings me my Chang, she tells me that Sa has now left the bar and has returned home, so that’s probably the best solution for me. Noi’s Bar is now definitely ‘off limits’ (as far as barfining goes) for me.

Instead of calling a halt and wandering back to an empty home, I decide I might as well grab a lift on one of the baht buses that is heading into town, It’s Lord Flash’s birthday and he’s having a few drinks at the Cherry Bar, and as he came along on my birthday, it would have been rude not to go along for his. So, even though I started drinking very late on in the day, I still ended up getting fairly wrecked by the end of it.

Judging from this pic, it seems that I might have 'upset' Nam somehow.



It had been a really fun day in Pattaya and many of the crawl participants rated it as one of the best ever.


Expenditure :

Petrol : 130 baht
Red Bull : 10 baht
Scooter Taxi : 80 baht
Telephone Top Up : 100 baht
Crawl & Cherry Bar : 1800 baht

Trip 4 - Day 69

October 17th
h
I wake up and feel very ‘queasy’. I know that I had a few beers last night, but this isn’t a hangover and as I’m at Cherry Bar tonight, I hope that I’m feeling better than this later on.

I hang around the house for a while, but do not improve much, however I don’t feel the need to be close to the loo, so I decide to get some air. I might as well investigate the Bar Crawl route for tomorrow as it’s quit easy to get very ‘lost’.

Out of my Soi and it’s left and left again down to Dao Café



For those of you that haven’t been before, the ‘club’ entrance is behind the main café and pool complex.



Then it’s over to Soi Siam Country Club where I find Butterfly and Black Pearl 1 easily enough, (however I think that the crawl is taking in Black Pearl 2 rather than Black Pearl 1 this week).









La Guinguette is a nightmare to find. There’s a sign on Soi Siam Country Club pointing to the left stating that it’s just 1km, however the road then goes to the left and I know that it isn’t right when I end up back on Soi Siam Country Club. I try once again, this time doubling back on myself at the only junction and lo and behold there’s another signpost further on. I finally locate the place.





When I leave, I try to get back on to the main road and realise that the main approach (Soi 27 of Soi Siam Country Club) is being dug up and I guess that the signs have simply been relocated without changing the distance indicators.

I send Hammer a text warning him about this, as I suspect that it could cause problems tomorrow and whilst “Road Closed” signs don’t usually bother baht bus drivers, I suspect even they would have difficulty manoeuvring their way around this.





I then head back home after a quick trip to Carrefour to stock up on Eggs, Bread, Pork Loin and a couple of bottles of beer on special offer (Red Horse - 25 baht for 64cl of 6.9% alcohol beer). I’m still not feeling quite right and when I get back, I have a good ‘clear out’ from both ends and then I manage a two hour nap. When I rouse I am feeling much better, but realise that I have missed my 15:00 appointment to see Kolobos, and when I log on later in the day, I respond to his PM and make my apologies.

Later I risk having something to eat and then it’s time to SSS in readiness for my night at Cherry Bar. Soi 8 is very quiet tonight and business is very slow, however from around 22:00, there’s a steady flow of BM’s coming along and I get to chat with a load of them and watch the Russia v England ‘footie’ game. Time just passes by until I realise that it’s gone 03:00. The bar is now very quiet and after checking with Nam, I decide to call it a day and head back home.


Expenditure :

Carrefour : 157.50 baht
Scooter Taxis : 130 baht

Trip 4 - Day 68

October 16th

Tonight is ‘Curry night’ at Noi’s bar and I’m due to meet up with Casper UK for a beer and to get my camera back after leaving it behind at one of the bars in Simon Complex whilst on the FLB Bar crawl last week. It’s also my first visit back to the bar since my 09:15 departure from the bed of Sa last Friday.

I arrive just after 20:00 and am shocked when I see Casper UK. One arm is in a sling and the other badly beaten and grazed. Seems that last Thursday after the crawl, he was involved in a scooter accident and as is usually the case, the road had won most comprehensively. (Last week was a complete disaster for him)

I then have a quick chat with Chef and he tells me that the curry night has once again been a great success. (Anyone fancying a change, consider making the trip to the Darkside on a Tuesday night for a few beers; a curry and a more ‘chilled out’ experience than the Central Pattaya bars)

I take a quick glance around the bar and I don’t see Sa, so there’s no issue of having to explain that I cannot repeat what happened last week and I just have a few beers ‘with the lads’ and I agree to ‘pop round’ to see Kolobos the next day to look into some issues that he’s been having with the webcam before making the short walk home.

It’s been a very pleasant evening and I’m not feeling ‘down’ tonight as I had been last night.


Expenditure :

Noi’s Bar : 300 baht

Trip 4 - Day 67

October 15th

After saying goodbye to A, I go back to sleep and don’t re-surface until lunchtime. I spend some time cleaning the house and I wash the bedding. For food, there is still plenty left over from the weekend, so I have a substantial afternoon meal before I head over to Kev’s place to get some more website maintenance done.

I don’t know where the time goes, but next time I check, it’s nearly 20:00. I set off for home, but then remember that there’s will nobody there tonight so there isn’t a real need to rush back. I decide to take a quick ‘detour’ into town to go and see an old ‘friend’. I make my way over to Soi 3, but when I call at the bar, I’m told that my ‘friend’ is not working today, (and maybe that’s for the best) so I about turn and this time I do go home.

As I open the door, my phone bleeps to let me know that I’ve received a text and it’s from my ‘friend’, so it would seem that someone has called her and described me as I didn’t leave my name. “Where are you now? What do you do now? Today I day off.” I send a quick reply “I cook and eat now. I will see you another time. Take Care”

After eating, I watch a couple of movies on Sophon; down a bottle of Chang and then go to bed feeling a little ‘lonely’.

Expenditure :

Allowance for Mama : 500 baht

Trip 4 - Day 66

October 14th

Our early night didn’t exactly lead to a good night’s sleep, however it seems that we are back ‘on track’ this morning and the atmosphere is not so frosty.

Today we are due to be visited by Mama and ‘seeter’ as they are bringing Phil’s bicycle over, however there’s a problem (Isn’t there always?) and I’m told that ‘seeter’ has to “go police” this morning as there’s been some incident with a Thai guy the night before threatening her. This means that A has to go and collect Mama and she also wants to get some food in as Mama will be cooking.

A makes the trip to Sri Racha and when she gets back, the heaven’s open and the Soi becomes a torrent of water. As I watch the water flowing, I realise that there are even bricks being washed along. It’s quite a strange experience standing there witnessing this power of the elements which has developed in less than 15 minutes.

Mama then cooks lunch (Panang) and I have to admit, she’s a great cook. After we’ve eaten, she then gets stuck into all the ironing that has stockpiled whilst A hasn’t been around. I’m ordered out of the way, so I just head outside, sit on the sofa with my book and while away a couple of hours of a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Once the rains stop, A asks if “We go shopping” as we need to restock on meat and we are nearly out of rice and a few other basics. I say that I’ll go to the shop and proceed to make a shopping list and I’m told to get 2 x 5kg of rice (1 for Mama) and 2 x Cooking Oil (1 for Mama) amongst other things.

As I get out onto Sukhumvit highway, I find that there are only two lanes of road and the other two are now a river. As I pass the ends of various Soi’s along the route, it looks like brown water rapids are joining the highway, however nobody seems to be the slightest bit fazed or even interested. I do my shopping, but when I get to the checkout, I’m not allowed to buy the beer in my trolley as it’s between 14:00 & 17:00 and illegal to buy.

Later on, A heads off to take Mama home, however she returns after only 20 minutes. It had started to rain, so Mama was going to simply get a bus from Naklua instead.

For our evening meal, we make our own Pork Wontons (Geeo Nam?) and very tasty they are too.

As A has to leave early in the morning for work, we have another early night, however I’m warned that if I “go with lady” again then A will “cut me for sure” and “feed to ducks”.

A is going to be away for three nights and she knows that I am out on Thursday, but I say that I’ll be home “Not too late” that night (It’s the Darkside afternoon / evening crawl that day).


Expenditure :

Petrol : 100 baht
Tesco : 665 baht
Food from market : 115 baht
Chang & Ice : 110 baht

Trip 4 - Day 65

October 13th

I’m awoken at 04:30 by A returning to bed and she just puts her finger on my lips indicating that I shouldn’t say anything. She cuddles up to me and whilst I know that I haven’t been forgiven, it seems that she doesn’t want to simply finish things at the present time.

When we finally awake, I ask her to telephone the landlady to get the air con sorted out. The bad news is that air con is not covered under the tenancy it seems. If we want it repaired, it’s “Up to us”, but we are given the number of a local service company and A gives them a call.

I'm running short of cash, and as it's a Saturday, the local bank isn't open, so I make a trip to Tukcom where the banks are open and cash £200 of Travellers Cheques.

The air con people arrive at 16:30 and it seems that the switching unit in the outside unit has packed up, so that’s 800 baht for the part and the clearing of the filters. Then they check the Freon levels and it seems that where it should be registering as 50 ‘somethings’, it’s only 15 ‘somethings’, so a gas recharge is required which costs an additional 900 baht. The end result is that the system works properly now and the bedroom is cooled within a matter of minutes.

We have decided that we shall eat a buffet ‘at home’ tonight, as A cannot really relax if we go out due to needing to keep an eye on Phil all the time, so A heads off to the market for all the ingredients. When she returns, we spend the next hour cutting up various bits of ‘green stuff’ that I cannot name and slicing ‘pig’ and chicken into thin slices that can be cooked with ease.

To get the charcoal burner started, A simply ‘cooks’ a few large chunks on the gas burner in the kitchen and then transfers them to the clay pot. At this point, the rain starts once again, but rather than postponing our meal, the charcoal burner is simply brought indoors and we have an indoor barbecue and I'm certainly 'Im' (full) at the end of it.

The rain continues and I decide that with a combination of this and the domestic ‘situation’, it’s probably best if I don’t go out to Valleyboy’s party at Cherry Bar tonight, so simply send a text to Hammer askinhg him to pass on my best wishes to the 'happy couple'. I also send a text to a few other guys that I know are having a get together in London tonight.

After we’ve eaten, we decide that we’ll have an early night ourselves and even though it's only 21:30, we retire to our cool bedroom which we then proceed to warm up.


Expenditure :

Air Con Repair : 1700 baht
Food for buffet : 195 baht
Coke & Ice : 60 baht

Trip 4 - Day 64

October 12th

‘NEVER carry on a telephone conversation with a Thai Girl when you can’t fully understand EXACTLY what she’s asking and you’re suffering from a hangover’

After leaving Noi’s bar, I stop off at 7/11 to get a phone top up and more essentially a bottle of Red Bull. As I’m up and dressed, I don’t stay at home, but simply grab the laptop and head off to Kev’s place. The plan is to get the TR posted, update the Blogger site with some more Trip 1 content, have a swim and then head back home at around 17:00 in time to meet A.

As with just about all Pattaya ‘plans’, this one is also doomed. A calls me at 13:00 and the line is poor and I can hardly hear her. I’m unsure what she’s saying but she then shouts down the phone “You lie” and hangs up. A combination of a guilty conscience and a hangover do little to alleviate my worries, so I call her back and she says “I know you not at home”.

I make the assumption (wrongly as it turns out) that she somehow knows that I didn’t get home last night, so tell her that I was ‘mau’ last night and I sleep in bar. More shouting and she hangs up again, so I call her back and she says that she knows I’m not at home as she is there now. Of course then she seizes on the ‘sleep at bar’ comment and won’t let it go.

(Whilst I’ll avoid telling the truth sometimes, I try not to actually lie and when A starts asking very direct questions, she gets to find out that I ‘go wid lady’ last night.)

I tell her that I’ll be home in 10 minutes and we can talk.

The talk was not the most pleasurable experience of this journey to Pattaya, however it did ensure that a number of issues that hadn’t been discussed openly in the past were brought in to the open. I’m not going to go through them all here, but suffice to say we get more resolved than we did from our ‘chat’ at the weekend. The end result is that I am left in no doubt that I am NOT free to butterfly as had been intimated, however A also understands a little more why I was not ‘happy’ and I guess we both need to decide what we want to do.

The rest of the day is spent quietly and I’m unsure as to where we go from here, so I’m not pushing anything and will simply see how things develop.

That night, we go to bed early and discover that the air conditioning unit has packed up. The night is hot and sticky, so does little to help tempers and eventually A says that she cannot sleep, so she goes and shares Phil’s room (he has the use of the fan).

Expenditure :

Phone top up : 100 baht
Red Bull : 10 baht
Stall food : 95 baht
Coke & Ice : 60 baht

Trip 4 - Day 63

October 11th

The day is spent at Kev’s place updating the Blogger site. First problem to resolve is why the Google ads aren’t displaying and after spending a while trying to determine the fault, I simply remove all traces and start again from scratch. It’s not a major problem, but it takes time and then I start adding some ‘back content’. It’s strange going back to Trip 1 – Day 1 and reading the early reports and remembering those first days in Pattaya.

As I don’t have the source pictures on my PC here, I have to download them from the report; upload them to Flickr and then post the new URL location. Again it’s a time consuming task, but it needs to be done, so I just get on with it. For a bit of fun, I also include a few of my Youtube montages on the site and it is finally beginning to take shape.

By 17:30, I finally decide to call it a day and return home to SSS in readiness for the bar crawl tonight. I am in a good mood today and I am really looking forward to a good night out. Once I’m ready, there’s still time to wait before leaving for the FLB, si I decide to have a couple of quick beers at Noi’s Bar first.

I sit with Kolobos & Chef and I’m introduced to a ‘banned’ member from one of the Pattaya forums. It seems that he was considered to be a ‘troll’ and got banned after just 1 post. His board name was SusanRichardson and I remember the discussion that took place about him / her at the time. I’m joined by Na, but I manage to resist the temptation to buy her a drink. (I do get a couple of pictures of her though, however I cannot post them at the moment as I have sort of ‘mislaid’ my camera.)

I get a scooter to the end of Soi 15 for 50 baht and make my way down Walking Street to the FLB. I am too late for the voting and we are to ‘do’ Walking Street this week. First stop is Peppermint and I realise that this is a GoGo that I’ve never been to before. I am very pleasantly surprised it has to be said with several very pretty girls dancing and being more enthusiastic than many of their ‘sisters’ in the other GoGo bars. I sit with Hairloss & Casper UK and find that I’m actually enjoying a GoGo and not just thinking ‘same same’.

Next stop is Champion GoGo which I visited just once before, but I find myself chatting with another BM rather than paying great attention to the girls. There’s no time to get too settled though as we are on a schedule and the next venue is Dollhouse and then Coyotee. The beers are having the desired affect now and things are starting to get pretty hazy, however I do remember moving on to the Simon complex at the bottom of Walking Street and I think this is where the crawl finished (well I was finished anyway).

For some bizarre reason, on the scooter home, I obviously decided that I was just going to ‘go for it’ tonight and instead of returning home, I end up back at Noi’s Bar once again. Quite what I got up to there, I am not sure, but I do remember somebody knocking on the door and demanding 300 baht to avail myself of a bed for the night (Oops), which I fortunate to share with a lovely Cambodian lady that has only been working at the bar for a few days. She speaks no English, but is extremely loving. (I remember seeing her for the first time on Tuesday night when she was sitting with Mulphy.)

I awake to find this lovely curled up around me and if I failed to ‘do the deed’ last night, I sure as hell made up for it this morning with a new Pattaya ‘first’ recorded for me. After the post session shower, it’s time to finally go home. It’s quite a strange experience having the bar shutter unlocked in order to let me out at 09:15 in the morning, but hey “This is Pattaya” and strange is normal here.

I check my phone and find that I’ve got a text from Casper UK which he sent at 00:25 last night “I’ve got your camera”. (I didn’t even realise that I hadn’t got it)

Expenditure :

Scooter : 130 baht
Room & Tip : 1500 baht
Crawl : 2100 baht (process of backward counting)

(An expensive night maybe, but a bloody good one!)

Trip 4 - Day 62

October 10th

I awake and when I look outside, the Soi is awash. The rain is relentless and I decide that there is no way I’m going anywhere whilst the weather is like this.

I spend the day sitting out the front listening to the rain pattering on the roof and as I have food in the fridge as well as Coke & Beer, I just settle down to spend the day reading and breaking off to cook up a chicken curry and for several cups of tea. Around 17:00, I speak to A who says that she misses me and I tell her that I am missing her as well, but she says that she needs to earn money.

She asks me to pass a message on to Tai at Cherry Bar, but I tell her that I won’t be going unless the rain eases up as Hammer is not taking a day off this week due to having taken 5 nights off last week and I’m not required to be on ‘duty’.

The rains persists through the early evening, so I just stick on a DVD and have a single bottle of Chang at home, followed by an early night.

Expenditure :

0 baht

Trip 4 - Day 61

October 9th

A gets an early morning call from Mama to inform her that it’s raining heavily in Sri Racha, so A loads up with clothes for her and Phil and they don coats before they head off. The sky in Pattaya is still clear, so I decide that I’ll get an early load of washing done.

I then prepare my ‘tea & toast’ breakfast and see that there’s not a lot in the fridge at the moment, so I decide that a trip to Carrefour to stock up is necessary. It’s still before 09:00 though, so I have to wait as the store will not be open yet. I send a text to Casper UK to see whether he’ll be at Noi’s tonight for the Curry Night. He confirms that he will, so it’s agreed that I’ll meet him for a drink and to find out about his recent Cambodia trip at around 20:00.

I get the washing done and hung out to dry and then make the short trip to Carrefour where I spend 406.50 baht, however this does include buying black sacks and insect killer as well as foodstuffs. As I make my way home, it starts to rain and I just manage to get the washing in before there’s a 5 minute deluge.

After my success with the chicken drumsticks the other day, I’d bought another packet of tempura batter, so my late afternoon meal is strips of chicken breast in batter and breadcrumbs accompanied by a salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion. (My attempt at Onion Rings was not a success).

I then spend a couple of hours reading before getting ready to go out to Noi’s Bar. When I get there, it’s a good turnout with Mulphy, MM, Helicopter, Bob (of Bob’s B-B-Q), Kolobos (and many others) there. No Casper UK though. Timekeeping in Thailand is nobody’s great strength though, so I just grab a seat and a Chang (my first alcohol since Friday night) and join in the chit chat around the table. Several guys comment that the curry tonight is one of Chef’s best and then there’s a discussion about which have worked ‘best’ and surprisingly the ‘mango’ curry seems to come out top.

I am now joined at the table by Na and this a very pleasant ‘diversion’. I end up spending quite a time chatting with her and I discover that it’s her birthday next Wednesday (17th) which is the day before the crawl will ‘hit’ the darkside. She tells me that she’ll be 19 which surprises me as she’d previously told me that she was older. When questioned, she says that she thinks I like ‘”older lady, so I tell you I older”, but because she now knows that I am living with a girlfriend she can “tell you truth” (You really can’t help but love these girls).

She says that she knows I cannot pay barfine for her (however I am sorely tempted) but says that maybe when she is older it will be okay. I ask her how much older and she says that Christmas will be fine.

On the way home, I stop at the corner store and buy 3 bottles of beer for the fridge (I’ve had sufficient for tonight).


Expenditure :

Mama Allowance : 500 baht
Carrefour : 406.50 baht
Bottles of Beer : 100 baht
Noi’s Bar : 600 baht

Trip 4 - Day 60

October 8th

Monday morning and it’s an early awakening as A is off to work, however I also get an early start as I need to get my TR written and uploaded along with a pictorial report on my week at Cherry Bar, so I head off to Kev’s place and when I get there, I realise that I’ve left the keys on the desk at home.

There’s no alternative but to return and whilst the distance isn’t far, it one of those things that just niggles at me and sets me in a bad mood.

On the return, I stop off to fill up with petrol as with my luck today, I’d run out in the back of beyond.

The day passes with some good progress made on the Blogger site and replying to a few comments and before I know it, it’s 17:00 and I need to head back to meet A when she gets in.

She gets Phil showered and sorted out then asks me what I want to eat. I say that I’d like something similar to the pork wontons that she’d made previously. She goes out and returns just 5 minutes later with exactly what I wanted and she has got red pork and rice for herself and Phil.

I realise that I’d forgotten to replenish the Coke supply, so a quick trip to the store on the corner rectifies this. We all then eat and settle down to watch TV, however after a while, the Thai TV bores me and I pick up my book. A then asks me if it’s okay for her to work a couple of late nights and stay in Sri Racha. It’s not really ‘up to me’ as far as I’m concerned, but as she’s suffering with the monthly ‘cramps’ and there’s the family death, she’s not the best of company at the moment and I simply agree.


Expenditure :

Petrol : 135 baht
Coke : 50 baht

Cherry Bar - October 1st / October 5th 2007

A collection of pics from the Cherry Bar

1st - 5th October 2007

The roof leaked and the first thing to be rescued? The Ladydrink & Barfine vouchers!

Hammer : "I've only got two ladyboys at Cherry Bar" (Are you sure?)

'Cherry Bar' - A suitable barfine for everyone!

One for DiscoCol

Pun does take a good photograph

The 'Cutie from next door' - Kwan

Trip 4 - Day 59

October 7th

We are awoken by the constant ringing of A’s phone. It seems that there is a family ‘crisis’ and she has to go to Sri Racha today. I ask what the problem is and she says that there has been an accident and she has to go to ‘opital’ but “if you no want me go, I stay here with you”. I say that if it’s important then off course she must go, but if she is going to be late back then she should call me. She agrees that if she’s going to back after 18:00, she will call to let me know and with that, she showers and her and Phil disappear off.

I spend a very lazy Sunday doing sweet F.A. until A arrives home just after 17:00. She’s definitely not looking too good and it seems that an ‘Aunty’ (I make little progress in determining the bloodline connection though) was returning from work at 03:00 in the morning on her scooter when she was hit by a car driven by a drunk Thai. Her 10 year old son was killed instantly and “They take Aunty to ‘opital’ for her to die there later”. It seems that she was only one Soi from home and the driver when apprehended didn’t know that he’d killed anyone. I’m told that she will be taken to Buddha on “Day 4 in the morning”, so I’m guessing that this means there will be a funeral on Thursday.

On top of this, A is now suffering a bit with her usual 4 weekly cycle and after having something to eat, she gets Phil to sleep and then heads off to bed herself.

Expenditure :

0 baht

Trip 4 - Day 58

October 6th

I’m awoken to the sound of tapping on the bedroom window. It’s A; she’s returned home and needs me to unlock the door to let her in. I look at the time and see that it’s only 08:30 and I really am not ready to wake up but it seems I have little choice as A has arrived with food “Eat now!”.

The morning passes with A doing several loads of washing, however by lunchtime we grab some time to sit and talk. The biggest concern that she has it seems is how she will manage if I’m not there as she is not working the all night shifts now with having Phil stay. (This months pay is 12,000 baht)

It seems that she’s also getting told that I don’t want to stay with her as “I not care for you good” and “I only want money you”, but when I ask who is saying this, she will not say. I try to reassure her that I want to be with her, however I want to see her laughing again and not sad. I ask what I’ve done wrong and she says that it isn’t my fault, it’s because she feels tired after working and travelling every day. She then says that she knows that I want to “be with lady more” and once again she goes through the “Is okay; I leave and you can have lady new” which I tell her I don’t want to happen.

Then she says, “I cannot do for you all the time, I understand if you go with other lady sometimes, but if I stay here, you not bring home”. Now whilst this isn’t exactly what I had in mind, it does have certain advantages.

We get no further talking as she has to sort out food for Phil and I go to the local shop to get more Coke. We do agree that tonight we’ll go to the Thai Buffet near Big C for a change.

Later in the afternoon, it becomes a race against time, to get the washing dry before the heaven’s open and there is torrential rain with the Soi looking more like a river than a road. It doesn’t last long though and once the rain ceases, the road dries up very quickly. A gets a call from Kye and tells her where we will be eating tonight, and it’s agreed that Kye & Robin will join us (assuming that the rain holds off).

By 20:00, we are all sitting down with the hot coals burning in the middle of the table and the ‘broth’ just starting to oil. There’s plenty to eat, however Phil is more interested in playing on the swings and slides and A is distracted keeping an eye out on him rather than being part of the group. It’s a ‘no alcohol’ day for me today as I feel that a total break is a good idea and so we only have a big bottle of Coke and a big bottle of Coke between us.

Expenditure :

Coke & Ice : 70 baht
Thai Buffet : 300 baht

Trip 4 - Day 57

October 5th

I wake at just after midday and after ahowering, I just go and sit outside with a cup of tea and a book. After a couple of hours I decide that I’m feeling peckish but I don’t know what I want. I decide to prepare some deep fried chicken at home, so I mix up a tempura batter and open a bag of breadcrumbs. Eight small chicken drumsticks are prepared and I eat three for lunch and I have the rest before going out in the evening.

Back to my reading and when the sun goes down, I move inside and iron a shirt in readiness for tonight.

I speak with A on the ’phone and she confirms that she’ll be coming back home in the morning but she doesn’t know what time she will be arriving. I have to admit that I’m missing her and whilst my stint at Cherry Bar has been fun, just one or two nights a week out is sufficient for me and I really don’t know how Hammer does it.

At 19:45, it’s time to get to the bar again and by now the local scooter taxi drivers are becoming used to me doing this trip and there’s no messing around. I jump on the back of the scooter and they take me to the corner of Klang and 2nd. I actually enjoy getting off here, as it means that I walk the length of Soi 8 and can see how busy the Soi is and whether there are any parties on at any of the other bars.

It’s a very quiet, but there’s one bar near 2nd all decked out in balloons, so there’s at least one party taking place.

I arrive at the bar and business is slow. A few groups turn up but they are bar hopping and only stay for one drink and a couple of BM’s drop in to say goodbye as they are leaving on either Saturday or Sunday. Tonight the main interest for the girls is playing dominoes to kill the time, however the downside of this is that they aren’t quick to respond to the customers when they do arrive. For the first time, I see the bar next door (Planet Bar) actually doing better business than Cherry Bar, but this is due in main to a group of half a dozen that have settled in for the night.

Andursch comes over to the Bar to say hello to everyone, but he has a girl at Best Bar that he is spending some time with, but he is extremely generous to the Cherry Girls and after buying a round of drinks for them all, he leaves some cash with Nam for a further round of drinks later.

I stay at the bar until around 04:00 and when I say that I’m going to go home, Pun once again makes arrangements and the same guy as last night arrives for me. When he drops me off tonight though, I insist that he takes 100 baht for his trouble.

Expenditure :

Scooter Taxi : 150 baht

Trip 4 - Day 56

October 4th

Another late start to the day, but as I’m not getting in until around 03:00 at the earliest, I guess it’s to be expected. I head over to Kev’s place and avail myself of his ADSL Internet connection and grab an hour in the pool.

I head back home around 17:00 and grab some deep fried chicken and sticky rice from a stall just up the road from Noi’s Bar. After eating, it’s time to SSS and head off to Cherry Bar for another night.

It’s not too busy tonight, but there is a steady trickle of customers, so the girls get bought a few drinks and a few barfines are paid. I find myself checking out the surrounding bars and whilst a couple of them are busier, it is definitely a quiet night on the Soi. When it’s slow, the girls start playing Jenga, The Dice Game & Connect 4 to pass the time.

By 03:00, there are no customers left at the bar, so one of the girls makes a call and gets her boyfriend to give me a lift home on his scooter. When we get home, as I take my wallet out of my pocket, he simply waves his hand and say “No is free” and he heads off back on to Soi Khao Noi.

I get in and have a bottle of water and send a text to A which I know she won’t read for another couple of hours and then simply crash out.


Expenditure :

Fried Chicken : 45 baht
Scooter Taxi : 50 baht

Trip 4 - Day 55

October 3rd

I awake at midday and still feel tired, but today is to be a long one as there’s the Bar Crawl to attend and then ‘duties’ at Cherry Bar in the evening.

I just have time for tea and toast to start the day and then it’s a case of getting out of the house and off to Shooter’s as this is the starting point this week for the daytime crawl to Jade & Jomtein.

At Shooter’s, around 10 BM’s turn up and we end up staying there a little longer than originally planned as BM JBoy has called through to say that Jade is extremely busy at the moment, so we wait to let the early rush dissipate.

Once we set off, we arrive at Jade to find several BM’s already there, so I join Kuranda Bagman and Brian sitting in one of the pagodas by the pool. As soon as I take my seat, I am joined by one of the Jade ‘lovelies’ who is complaining that it’s too hot and that to resolve the problem, I should take her to an air-con room with a shower. I say that it’s too early for me to do so, but she is VERY persistent and proceeds to undo my trousers and carry out an ‘intimate’ massage (to the mock disgust of a BM LordFlash who has now decided that he won’t bother with a barbecue hotdog). I still decline to take the lady up on her offers that have become ever more blatant and descriptive and she finally concedes defeat and moves to another BM to carry on her ‘chat up’ lines.

After Jade, it’s another baht bus trip into Jomtein where we make our way to Take Care bar on the corner of the main road towards the beach. There are several good looking girls here once again even though a couple are totally uninterested. I sit with a very quiet girl called Cat (Prrrrr!) who is pretty and very affectionate, but unfortunately speaks next to no English. It doesn’t really matter though and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

BM LordFlash has an 'invisible' BG sitting with him, but he claims that they were real and not silicon.

Kuranda Bagman has the 'real thing' though. The girls name is Nui but definately not 'same same' as Nui of Cherry Bar fame.

Some of the guys take the opportunity to play pool here

Next stop is to be Fantasy Bar, but it seems that the ‘plans’ made last week have come to naught as there are very few girls and the manageress has obviously ‘forgotten’ that we’d told her last week we’d be arriving (TiT) today. A quick reassessment is necessary and it’s decided that Las Vegas will be given another chance but after MM enters the door, he simply ‘about turns’ and says that it’s even worse than last week with only 3 girls working and two of them are already sitting with customers.

We just move into the Blue Room for a drink and the company of a few girls, but nothing very special before walking down the road to Country Road 3 which is a very big open style bar with good music and several ‘diamonds’ amongst the many staff. It’s ‘no hassle’ and the girls are both friendly and attentive which makes it such a popular venue.

Lek from Country Roads

And a table of 'crawlers'

The final stop on the crawl is straight across the road to the We Are Number 1 GoGo (previously called Champion I believe). Myself and Kuranda Bagman take up the same seats that we occupied last week and in no time I am ‘accosted’ from behind by the lovely ‘Kim from Surin’. (Business is obviously still quiet as she still cannot afford to buy any panties) I buy her a drink whilst having the first beer of the crawl for myself. She continues giving me the same attention that she had done last week and I get little opportunity to really see the other girls working, but there is a ‘tiny’ cutie who I’m told used to work in Club Boesche a year ago and a couple of other pretty girls providing some fine eye candy for the BM’s on the crawl.

At this point, my crawl effectively ended, as I need to head upstairs for a ‘shower’. Kim is very enthusiastic and provides a very pleasant finale to the afternoon for me.

When I return to the bar suitably refreshed, the crawl is just finishing with everyone paying checkbin. It’s gone 19:30, so I simply head straight to Cherry Bar for the night.

It’s a relatively quiet night there apart from a period when a group of guys decided to liven things up for a couple of hours.

I manage to keep my alcohol intake very low and as it's quiet, I take the opportunity to view what's going on at the other bars in the complex, Even Nui takes a wander next door for a dance with the 'cutie'

But returns back shortly afterwards

However the 'cutie' stays put.

I am feeling extremely tired, so at 02:45, I call it a day and head off home. I’m still feeling okay and after a quick shower and sending a text to A, I get a very good sleep.

Expenditure :

Crawl : Drinks, LD’s & Tips : 610 baht
Internet charge for month : 535 baht
Toilet : 10 baht
Short Time in GoGo : 1000 baht
Petrol : 100 baht
Barbecue Chicken : 30 baht
Telephone Top Up : 100 baht

Trip 4 - Day 54

October 2nd

A pounding head signifies the start of another day in Pattaya. I get up and simply go through the motions of sorting out tea and toast before heading over to Kev’s place for a swim to clear the head.

It works and I feel close to normal once more, however the day is disappearing quickly and it’s 15:30 already. I spend the late afternoon writing up the TR, and reflecting on what has ‘gone wrong’ between myself and A. We need to resolve some issues, but it is not going to be possible this week I fear, as we are operating on totally different timescales.

At 17:00, I head back and A returns home at 18:10. By the time that she’s showered Phil and we’ve eaten, it’s too late for a real ‘heart to heart’, however we do get a few minutes to talk and A is obviously not happy with the situation either.

She feels that I’ve been too distant and not been talking with her which has some validity. She says that she and Phil will spend a few nights with Auntie in Sri Racha and we will talk about ‘everything’ on Saturday. I tell her that I hope we can sort everything, as I want to see her happy again and not sad. She says if I want ‘lady new long time’ that it is okay and she will leave, but I tell her that isn’t what I want, however I don’t want her to be unhappy either.

It’s something we need to resolve, but there is no time to discuss anything else tonight. I have to SSS to get out to Cherry Bar as I have made a commitment to Hammer to be there five nights this week whilst he’s away in Cambodia.

When I arrive at the bar, Andursch is already there as he’d come to pay the balance on his checkbin which was a mighty total it has to be said. (It’s the largest single person checkbin that I’ve seen in all my time in Pattaya). He start the night by ringing the bell once again, but he doesn’t stay long as he says he needs to head off and eat.

Kuranda Bagman arrives and he’s now ‘alone’ as his girl of the past couple of weeks has gone to Bangkok to meet up with a ‘regular’. He’s unsure of what he’s going to do tonight, however he suspects it will involve Walking Street and GoGo bars. Andursch then arrives back at the bar and says that he couldn’t be bothered to eat much. He’s reminded by me and Kuranda Bagman about some of his ‘antics’ from the night before and I’m relieved to discover that I’m not the only person that suffers with ‘mental blank spots’.

Tonight is not a tequila fest, but instead the B52’s are flowing like water and once again the alcohol intake is much higher than it should be under ‘normal’ circumstances. The night passes quickly and there’s a lot of laughing at the bar and as it’s reasonably busy, the girls are happy. Pun tells me that she’s going to be working at the bar a bit late tonight, but I am welcome to a lift home when she finishes at 05:00. As it’s nearly 04:00 already, I accept the offer and finally leave the bar at 05:15.

Two nights completed and three more to do.

Expenditure :

Toilet : 5 baht

Trip 4 - Day 53

October 1st

I wake up there’s still a feeling of loneliness. It’s my birthday; I’m 47 years old, I’m 6000 miles from my birthplace and I am on my own. I check my e-mails and that cheers me up some as I’ve got several messages wishing me all the best. In addition, there a few text messages on my ‘phone and that helps to cheer me up.

I cannot go out this morning as I have to wait for Sophon cable to turn up and hook us up. They turn up at just gone 11:00 and it only takes them around 30 minutes to get everything completed (We now have 62 channels of crap TV to chose from).

I find that I have to pay 1350 for 3 months rental in advance, so I call A to check and she says that is correct. I tell her that we need to talk about finances, as I thought she’d already paid this the other day and now I don’t know what the1000 baht that I’d given her on Saturday was used for.

For lunch, I decide that I’m going to have a ‘fry up’ as a birthday treat, so I head out to Tesco (for a change) and get a few bits and pieces for ‘me’. I end up buying ham, eggs, chips and beans as well as a baguette and a few doughnuts. Whilst in the store I also top up on items such as cream soda & sala syrup; tiger balm (for the ‘mossie’ bites) and I also get a mouse mat as I find using an external mouse easier than trackpoint devices.

On the way home, I also stop off to get a haircut and by the time I get home I’m feeling considerably better. I eat my ‘farang’ meal and then wash the dishes before settling down to watch “The Bourne Ultimatum”. Just after the film finishes, A returns home and we have a kiss and cuddle (in the bedroom away from Phil), but she breaks off as she has to get food ready early as I am going to be going out tonight.

After eating, it’s time to SSS and get myself off to Soi 8. When I arrive, the whole Soi is quiet. The bars in the Prince Hotel Complex have a total of 4 customers between them and on that basis, the Cherry Bar is ‘busy’ as it has one of them. Kurunda Bagman and LordFlash arrive and they both buy me a ‘birthday drink’ and there’s a ‘surprise’ visitor to the bar much to the amusement of them both.

We discuss the forthcoming Jade & Jomtein bar crawl which LordFlash says he’ll try to make and then the ‘Darkside’ trip for the following week. We discuss the venues on the ‘Darkside’ and I tell them that Hammer is dropping ‘Paradise’ from the list as it hasn’t really been a success in the past and nobody has had a favourable review when they’ve attended ‘alone’ either. We struggle to come up with an alternative until it’s suggested that we simply get a dozen girls together and a couple of crates of beer and make Kev’s place the new venue. (I don’t think that he’ll be too keen on this idea though.)

After a couple of drinks LordFlash leaves and it looks like it’s going to be a quiet night until the ‘larger than life’ character of Andursch arrives at the bar and his first action is to ring the bell and demand that as it’s my birthday I am required to have a tequila ‘chaser’ with my beer. After getting over this, he promptly rang the bell for a second time and not surprisingly the bar (and the girls) sprang to life.

Kurunda Bagman became the main photographer for the evening and should have some good pictures of the attendees (and a cheeky panty shot of one of the girls from Best Bar) A few guys from the GoGo bar crawl last week also turn up as does Geewiz (The little ‘hottie’ from the next door bar that we’d been admiring last Wednesday is also around and looking good again in a purple dress this time).

A third bell ring (and more tequila) did the damage and whilst I know that it was a great laugh, the short term memory took a pounding and as I write up this report, I once again have no recollection of how I got home, but as I woke up in my bed, I must have managed somehow.

How Hammer does this six nights a week is totally beyond me. It would kill me in two weeks let alone the two years that he’s been in operation.

Expenditure :

Drink for Aoy (I don’t know how it happened either) : 100 baht
Scooter Taxi : 150 baht (best estimate)
Toilet : 10 baht
Tesco : 466 baht
Haircut : 50 baht
Mama Allowance : 500 baht

Trip 4 - Day 52

September 30th

Today is the birthday of A’s nephew ‘Fim’, so there’s a family ‘do’ and the invite is not extended to me. I’m told that A will be staying over, so it’s a bit of a disappointment as she’s not going to be around tomorrow for my birthday and then in the evening I’ve got the first of five nights at the Cherry Bar as Hammer has gone off to Cambodia for a visa run and a bit of a holiday.

Once A leaves, I have a bite to eat and then go over to Kev’s place to take advantage of his swimming pool and his ADSL connection. Whilst there, I’ve also been asked to check the fridge as on a previous return, Kev was welcomed to the condo by a seven week old decomposed fish.

I get a scooter over to his place and the key to the gate works fine, but there is an outside grille to the door for which I don’t have a key. Not a major problem though as I just go next door and the landlady comes round and unlocks it for me.

The task for today is to get the remainder of my TR posted to blogger.com and whilst the task isn’t difficult, it is time consuming just changing the BBCode tags to html and doing a bit of basic editing for each entry and it ends up taking me several hours to get everything done, (I do break off to watch a bit of ‘footie’ on the box), however with ‘DMX Classic Rock’ playing in the background it’s not too bad.

Before leaving later in the evening, I do remember to check the fridge and it is just as well as I don’t think six week old milk would be a pleasant ‘welcome home’ treat for Kev. When I get back home, I feel quite lonely for the first time since I arrived and consider going out somewhere, but decide that I’ll just have a beer sitting outside and reading for a bit.

It’s going to be a strange week as I’m only going to see A for a couple of hours in the evening each night and that is going to be when Phil is around, so it’s not going to be a particularly intimate period, but it’s something that I’m going to have to put up with as there’s no way round it. Being out for one or two nights a week as I am at present should be fine, but every night on a regular basis would simply not work out.

By 23:00, I’m starting to nod off, so I call it a day, lock up and turn in.

Expenditure :

Scooter Taxi : 50 baht