Thailand – Septemeber 2009

Sawas dee khab!

Riffs & Rays short tour of Thailand, September 2009. Any attempt to fit the whole trip into a blog like this would be futile. Also many of the really good parts are unpublishable or forgotten and the really really good parts are probably both.

I have now calculated with the aid of 2 full passports plus my 3rd existing passport that this was my 28th trip to the land of smiles. Even so there is always something new to discover and re-discover. One day I may even manage to get back to the Rose Garden and the Floating Market.

So here’s a brief summary (with pictures taken from iPhone when possible) of some of the highlights.

I have deliberately ignored any working-days. Who wants to hear about work?

We got bumped up to business class on the Dubai – Bangkok leg. Bonus! Except we figured the reason for this was because a bag was left in Dubai. Luckily it was only our friend Bill’s keyboard which was retrieved later the same day.

Business Class

Checked into hotel and immediately donned the sunglasses. 14:00. – travelling for 24 hours – The anticipation was too much. Had to go to bed…

Shades on at night

Met up with TT Scott and Gavin Hunter. What an awesome surprise. Here’s TT on the left, myself in the centre and Dave Dennison from Riffs & Rays on the right.

Where was this picture taken and why Dave and I are making strange hand signals… Nobody knows.

TT, PP & DD

Ahhh the obligatory tuk tuk race from Nana to Cowboy. Now any seasoned veterans will yawn at the prospect of racing your friend’s tuk tuk – been there, bought the silk T-shirt etc.

I did manage to add a new angle to this, however for the first time ever:

Terry and Gavin’s tuk tuk was far superior to ours and Dave & I knew we were fighting a losing battle that no amount of spoken or shouted encouragement to our driver would overcome.
Dave had already given me the 100B required to pay our driver at the end of the journey and I had it held in my hand ready.
Then a sudden idea… I asked our driver to pull up along side Terry & Gavin’s driver and stealthily handed THEIR DRIVER the money and asked him to slow down…
It worked…
For a while…
Until he pulled back next to us and asked for more…
I gave another 100B… This time a quick-eyed TT spotted me and gave him another 500B!

Needless to say we were pipped at the post. Terry and Gavin’s driver was about 800B better off too.

Haven’t laughed so much for a long, long time.

(Not actual picture unfortunately)

Tuk tuks

Many an afternoon spent outside the Landmark on Sukhumvit in Bangkok, great food and no hassle, watching the world go by. The blue mark on my hand is not a bruise, it’s a stamp from the club we played the night before.

Phil at the Landmark

Other Bangkok highlights included:

• Dave taking me for a guided tour of somewhere neither he or I have ever been before.
• Best ribs in the world at Tony Romas.
• Meeting up with Ambassador Nick Adams (old friend from Dubai). The man who first drew me a map of where to go and not to go in 1994.
• Surreptitiously setting up Papasan-Bill at Jungle Jim’s.

After a few more nights we moved on to Pattaya.

Met up with Graham Heath (also old friend from Dubai) and the inimitable Marco Van de Burn, who is a partner at Insomnia; The premier night club in Pattaya.

Here’s Dave, Marco and Graham (with brolly) outside the brand new club.

New Insomnia

Here’s a shot from the VIP area. the new club is amazing!

Insomnia from VIP area

Visited Bill and Madame Janmanee at their condo on Jomtien beach. Lovely place to stay. As you can see, our Bill is happy as can be.

Papasan Bill

Back to Insomnia again. This time the views are from the work area (i.e. the DJ/Lighting booth) which is raised above the crowd.

Marco doing his stuff.

Marco Van de Burn

Lights, Action, Sound!

Insomnia from DJ booth

A small portion of the crowd.

Insomnia from DJ booth

Other Pattaya highlights included:

• Marco’s Pad – TARDIS springs to mind.
• The “gun” show at Soy Diamond.
• The full English Breakfast at Secrets.
• Calamaris at Secrets.
• EVERYTHING at Secrets.
• THREE Shwarmas (2 chicken – 1 lamb).
• Subway!
• Listening to some guys getting their Thai words all wrong and seeing the staff girls laugh – but not correct them.
• Being rather disappointed with Angelwitch (at last). Feels like the devil has given me my soul back. Hahaha.

Here’s Marco on our last day, on a Bhat bus.

Marco Van de Burn

And finally me on the bus with my “manbag.” Totally useful accessory to be honest. Try carrying – Ciggies, Lighter, Wallet, Phone, Reading glasses and loose change whilst wearing a pair of swimming shorts and T-Shirt with no pockets. :-)

Phil on a Bhat bus

Low points:

• The flights. Too long and even with business class – long haul air travel sucks these days. Especially coming home.
• Upset stomach (obviously).
• Construction work outside my hotel room window at 7:00 A.m. almost every morning.
• People expecting instant replies to emails and tech support.
• Typhoons at Carol’s family home in Philippines.
• Mosquito bites (although managed to avoid any really bad ones this time, totalled only about 7 or 8 for the entire trip).
• The uncooked Bratwurst!
• The fact that mobile phones still work in all the bars. Shame.
• Not living here.

I often wish I was more vigilant with the camera. The thing is, I have accumulated thousands of pictures over the years (before the digital age) and I really do prefer to take the moments in with my eyes rather than worrying about framing up a picture.

Of course it then becomes a shame when blogging like this because some pictures can capture many, many words. And words that I am not eloquent enough to write in the first place.

I promise to be more photo-active in future.

Thanks for reading.

Chok dee khab!