Free equipment in Thailand or delusion

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Well it's the end of the tax year again and we are all delighted to be tied up with red tape and beaten senseless with a stack of Kor por sor this Orr Bor Tor that and Kor Sor Head the other.   To lighten up the situation I tried to make some sense of my current Asset and Liabilities charts and wondered if some of my purchases had actually cost me anything in real terms.

Example one.: The free coffee pot.  Priced in Bon Cafe Phuket at about 12,000 baht, it does nothing other than heat and froth milk for cappuchinos and lattes.  BUT.... I bought it with money earmarked for drinking - a rugby tour with the Phuket Viagrabonds to the far flung reaches of Pattaya no less.   I had earmarked 15,000 baht for "recreational purposes" and was on the verge of booking a bus ticket up there.

We were aiming to see some of the Rugby action on the pitch as the previous year we spent 4 days there and didn't even find the Stadium.  Didn't try to hard either.

Sooooooo, this money is marked as dead and not expecting anything from it other than the odd hangover, bruise and a few days earache from the enemy.   Due to an outbreak of conscience and guilt though, i didn't go.  Instead I went to Bon Cafe, bought the machine and put the spare 3,000 to good use in the Jug and Crocodile.

My argument is that as I bought it with condemned money, I actually got it for free.  This on the basis that I arrived home with a coffee pot as opposed to nothing.  Below is a pic of the beautiful machine and for my tech. minded biker mates, it has counter rotating shafts!!!.... whatever they are!

Getting round bangkok - lost passport

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For the first 4 years I lived here, Bangkok was just a place you passed through.  A place to sleep off jet lag, or have one last cheap chang beer before boarding the plane to France.  All that changed when I was struck there in 2001 waiting for a new passport to be issued.  With 7 days to kill and low on beer tokens, I set about exploring on the cheap.

I stayed again at the Youth Hostel, more because I had learned some of the bus routes near it, enjoyed the river and had made friends with some of the staff in the restaruant on a previous visit.   It was a short walk to the nearest pier and as I have always loved boats of any kind I knew I was about to enjoy it. Only managed a few short hops that trip, the highlight being the pier itself at Tha Tewet which is full of fish that keep us entertained whilst waiting for the boat..

I had by now worked out that the best way (for me) from Khao San Road area to the central areas was to get on the river taxi and go to Saphan Thaksin.  Here the Sky train started and the rest was easy.  Great day out and saved a fortune over what others seemed to be paying for taxis and tuk tuks.

In later years I was living in Bangkok when they started dredging the canals in the area of my house.  Bit of asking around and we found the canal taxi ways.  It basically runs from the Golden Mount Temple/ Makahan Fort Junction, past the rear of Sukhumvit and out to Ban Kapi Mall.  Wikipedia have the stops listed here.

Fantastic day out and a great way to see Bangkok from the water. Don't breath in though!

I'll be on it again next week and will try to jot down the fares and timetables.  Only ever seen them in Thai!  

Get me out of here...part two

Not always perfect here in Land of Smiles, but it is as close as can be hoped for.  I spiced my life up a bit by leaveing yearly to work in France, travel cheaply round asia, or travel even cheaper in Thailand, staying with and visiting friends and former colleagues. I arrived in 2000 but the seeds were sown three years earlier.

This chapter of my life began in 1997 outside the Divorce courts.  Being a forward looking person I had planned for this the best I could.  Earlier in the morning, before I met the Lawyers, I placed pictures of my motorbike, my dog and a picture of me with Taggy  Wass, on Charles Bridge (Czech Republic) on the steering wheel of my car. My mindset had been all week that whatever happened  that day, my future life would involve much more travelling.  Basically a positive year zero.

I5 years into my travels, I would have to say that Prague in winter sticks in the mind the most.

It worked, and I never looked back on the outcome of that day, neither positively or negatively.  It happened (can't even remember any details of it now) and I moved on.   My mind had been focused on the photos and the proceedings passed me by with no trace of malice, hatred, victory or loss.... It just happend and I was on the road to adventure for the second time in my life.... The first time being the 15 years or so spent with my biking mates roaring around the highways and back lanes of Europe... always high on life and adrenaline.

So, day one and I instantly stopped smoking and sought out my friend Sue who was staying with me at the time to ensure I went through with it.  Right Sue!  I want to do this please.  "If I need a cigarette this week, I have to give you one pound for every cigarette I smoke and I will buy them from you at this price.  Next week, it is two pounds per cigarette, week three is four pounds, then eight and then sixteen".  I did buy one cigarette from her and paid sixteen pounds for it in that last week.  That was it, job done.

I calculated the money saved and bought a new mountain bike.  GT Talera from an old school friend of ours Mark Swindles who had a shop near the old fire station in England.  This served "Notice to Quit" on the two stone or so of flab I had acquired the previous two years.

Low season in "The Lak" Missing you already.

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Don't know who started calling Khao Lak "The Lak", but I first heard it from Trisha and was so impressed I use it all the time.  Not even sure if anyone other than us two coffee addicts call it that anyway.   Trish is away on travels but am sure will be back soon sitting with me outside the shop as we natter our way through 3 or 4 strong coffees of a morning.

Said good bye today to a few more friends who are leaving town.  Is it really the beginning of the end of High Season?  As most of the work here is seasonal, roughly November to April, we get used to hello's and good byes down the years.  Prior to the Tsunami in 2004 I had 3 seasons under my belt which entailed a lot of welcome parties, farewell parties..... Tooooooooo many in fact, and as I worked the off season in the South of France, the whole scene carried on and on.

I have always been excited by change and the end of the season, whether here or in France forced me into moving on.  Every time was, and still is,  just as exciting and I can just about feel the next bout of travel coming on. From my biking days right up to now, I loved nothing more than getting on the bike, bus, train plane, yacht and just heading off.  Planned Northern Thailand to catch up on Rugby playing mate and a trip over into Laos should just about be in the budget.

So it's au revoir to Pastor Al, Karin, Dan and Kim.  We wish them all luck and follow their adventures on facebook.  Who knows, we may have a Canadian Division in the coming years.  I am so jealous as I would love to be back on the road.

We are looking forward now to the peace, tranquility and rain that will surely follow this incredible heat.  Had a few torrential downpours and storms this past week and soon this is set to become the norm.  Time to get out of Dodge and put in a few months travelling, see old friends....  and RELAX.

My friend Al, reports his weight once a week to his Church and as he is a pastor, I suggested he put it on the board with the hymn numbers. That way his congregation can make bets on his progress..... or otherwise  I should really sponsor a Shires Pies Board for the occasion.  "Pastor Al's weigh this week, courtesy of Shires Pies is :......."    Be great to see the collection plate full of betting slips instead of buttons.  Good luck anyway, and hope we are all together again for early breakfasts watching the Bang Niang sun rise.

All the best for the rest of the season, but will I ever be glad when it's over.  Must be age!

So many Ideas, So little time, even on Thai Time

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Gonna lose me ranking at this rate.

So much travelling around this past week, not seen the desk or the 43 posts I have almost ready to publish.  Looking back on them, I thought I  had it in the bag for the next few months.  Not to be.

Have been to Bangkok twice, Pattaya, and back and only one stop at my favorite stop. Khunsarai!  The stop last night was abysmal and most of us stayed on the bus looking out the window and the dingy piles of boxed cakes, dried fruits, dirty fridges and un-smiling staff.  Prachuab Khir Khan was the city closest to it and I am praying it is shut down before my next trip.  Only smile raised was seeing Wicked Divings signs on the walls there.  Staff obviously used the time wisely, realising that most westerners would skip the food, wander round and eventually see their signs.

Ideas have never been a problem, time is the thing.  Time is whats needed to inject humour... hours sitting at the bar drinking chang, chatting and thinking.  Even on Thai time there arn't enough hours in the day, I try grabbing a Thai 5 minutes (between one and 2 hours) and thats not enough.

Most of the memoirs I noticed are totally out of order and I may just have to lump them into 4 groups and let them go.  Please, more pics from France, Biking days, Thai life and HBC and thanks for the support.

So Thai time.  Worked out a rough formula at the weekend when Peter said he would be along shortly!

5 mins on Thai Time is about 1 - 2 hours normally.  As in I will be there in 5 minutes.

10 mins, 2 - 4 hours

Shortly - if I have time much later on.

Later.  No way Jose

First night in Bangkok and the worlds gone mad.

Only my first ever night in Bangkok stuck in the memory.  It was election USA night 2000, but other than something of that magnitude taking place I would never even have remembered the month and maybe not the year.   I just remember the captain saying that by the time we arrived in Bangkok we would know who the next President would be!!!!

 France had been my home for the previous 7 months, but much as I loved it, the work was seasonal, and had dried up 3 weeks earlier. Most of my friends and workmates had headed back to the UK leaving me alone on a campsite in Biot near Antibes, it flooded badly and this drove me to the local travel agent in Antibes.

I entered the shop with the intention of asking for a ticket to Grenoble so I could look for work in the Ski Stations there in the winter.  As I waited my turn though, I noticed a 90 day return ticket to Thailand that was about 450 quid back then... cheap.  I then asked when the flight left and the woman told me in two days time and said she would hold it for me for an hour if I wanted to think about it.

I did think.  I walked outside into the rain, thought and made the decision that changed the direction of my life even more.  I was outside less than one minute, went back in, asked about visa on arrival etc, bought it and I was off.  Totally into the unknown.

And so it was, three days later I landed in the hot mid afternoon heat of Bangkok.  Lonely planet in hand I left the Arrivals lounge of Don Muang Airport and set off for my first battle with the taxis of Bangkok... all of which I have subsequently lost.  Got one for a few hundred baht.... a bargain I thought after 7 months in France.  The driver could not find the place I was staying at which was a fairly well hidden Youth Hostel, but  luckily I had the Royal Household and Rama 5 Statue on my small map, caught sight of it and got out.  The Hostel was on Phitsanulok about 1km walk away... much easier than directing a taxi driver in that madness.

My first steps in Bangkok were taken here.

I stayed at the Hostel as never fancied the scene on Khao San Road.  I went there a few times to meet a friend who had also made her way here, didn't like it and the only other time I went there was in later years when a mate wanted  a burger from the newly opened Burger King.  If ever there was an enclave of non-Thainess in Thailand, this had to be it.   But, each to their own and many seemed happy, adorning themselves with henna and real tatoos.  Must also be the hair extension capital of the Asia by the look of it... maybe I was old even back then.

My abiding memory of that first night though was my first shower.  It wasn't the introduction to thai plumbing, though that was also quite something when confronted for the first time with electrical installations being mounted next to running showers.  It was the speed of the sunset that surprised me.

I went in to the shower and it was broad daylight in the bedroom, came out and it was pitch black night.  It was like the sun had been switched off and I was even wondering if I had miss remembered what I had done in there.  Had I grouted a wall, re-washered all the leaking taps, cleaned up after the previous resident.  Nope, thats how quick it gets dark in these parts.

The rest of the first night was just normal stuff, 100's of mosquito bites, beer chang and sangsong hangovers and the food.  Great as it was I just fancied something Western that first night so ordered a beef salad!!!  It was impossible to taste if there was any salad in it... the chillies burned away at least half my taste buds.  Beef ... who knows, perhaps those pieces of leather were the beef, I never got past the first mouthful.  Wimping our of this I then had the all day breakfast of rubber egg, bouncy ball sausage, brittle bacon with sweet bread bun.  Tea was nice enough though and it soothed some of the burning sensation.

I have enjoyed exploring the food here down the years as much as I enjoyed the places and people... which is a lot.

Thai wife 100baht to the good. Khee Niao falang licks wounds.

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Despite having 43 part finished posts in the draft bank I have no time to edit and post a proper one under the terms of my bet back in england... So have lost out today to the missus who is now 100 baht to the good and hoping to double it at the card school.

8 years she has had me for and we still get along and are best of friends.  Pity we fight like cat and dog when we are working.  She learnt all her english from me and can put Gordon Ramsey to shame when she is bollocking me in the kitchen.  F*&king Idiot Falang is her term of endearment of the moment for me!  Lucky she stops at this really with all them knives about.

For all the complaining I hear about thai wifes and girlfriends being money mad, I have never seen this in Duang and when I met her I was sleeping rough on the floor of the diveshop as I was too tight to part with money for a room and living in the shop gave us chance to pick up more customers for the boats.

Yorkshire folk are "careful" with their money and she realises this and has always earnt her own.  Tony is now growing up in a good environment.... we keep the Gordon Ramseyism confined to his school times and it's all smiles and pies when he comes home in the afternoon.

Pitty I am busy today as I have just had tons of ideas for a post.  C'est La Vie the 100's gone and now so am I.

Happy days,.... still.