Bangkok my new home?

Bangkok Chao Phraya River

              

BTS skytrain - Thong Lo

Most of us  frequent visitors to Thailand end up thinking of home in Thailand as the hotel or guest house they are staying in. Hanging out solo or if lucky with your latest soul mate in Bangkok or maybe up north in Chiang Mai, over in Isan or down in Pattaya or Phuket. Anyway, like me they end up spending enough time wherever they are  to start feeling as comfortable in Thailand as at home. I started thinking about this and started to wondering if I really lived in Thailand would it feel the same as in my visits.  On my normal visits it had me bouncing around Thailand for a month or so or until my visa was about used up and then zooming back to the states to get ready to do it over again.

So to get a better idea about all this I spent 3 months, mostly in Bangkok, (I like Bangkok) at the same hotel. Did a visa run and started thinking of myself as locale. However, my hotel had me staying in the lower Sukhumvit area, eating in mostly farang orientated restaurants and street food. Along with that I was living like a tourist, drinking and spending a lot of money at the glut of bars populated with mostly farang customers. So I came to realize my stay, even though it was longer than my normal visits probably wasn’t the way life would be if I really lived in Bangkok. So made the decision that on my next trip I would get out of the touristy area, rent an apartment and try to get by shopping at the market for my daily needs, preparing the food I purchased and doing my laundry, get a haircut, recharge my phone minutes and so on. My goal here is trying to replicate my day to day living in the states to get an idea of what I would be up against if I moved to Bangkok for good.

On my next trip I found a serviced apartment via the internet, pricey, partly because I could only stay for two months as most apartments rent out for a minimum of 4 months, so I was paying a premium for my short stay. Also the place, Viva Garden was newer and very, very nice, on par with a 5 star hotel. I wanted a serviced apartment opposed to just an apartment, as I need a place that was furnished and thinking it would be nice to have someone with cleaning supplies to clean the room, and kind of look after things, including me,  much like a hotel. Things like soap and cooking supplies were the sort of things I could handle.


Lesson one: To have a good selection of serviced apartments at a good rate you need to make a year lease. A security deposit will be required, equal to two months’ rent, along with a payment of one month’s rent in advance and possibly an advance payment on monthly utilities. Thailand is cash based so you’re going to need a good stash of the stuff. Just for reference – studio or one bedroom is in the range of 20 – 30,000 baht a month.                
                                                                                                                 

my helper

Viva Garden had a laundry service which did a lovely job but was far too expensive for long stay. So I set out to use their coin operated washer and dryer. Stopped cold in my laundry quest when I found out it was up to me to supply the laundry soap. So I stuffed my dirty clothes back in the bag and heading down to the 7/11 for soap. Only to find everything labeled in Thai and clerks unable to do English. Now I’m scouring the store for package labels with laundry related graphics, zoomed in on likely looking grouping while activating my innate scientific judgment and picked the nicest looking package. You have probably heard enough about Doug’s Laundry but one last thing – the machines are intimidating due to their jumbo size, flashing lights, multiple buttons buzzers and directions in Thai.


Lesson two: This ain’t Iowa, so that English I struggled through in college ain’t gonna be of much use in Thailand. Can I learn to speak and read Thai? Alternatively, finding a cute long haired dictionary might be an option but with my track record with women it’s probably not a long term solution. Anyway, this language thing is a very real problem and if I’m going to live here I’ve got to figure out a way to deal with it.

On Nut night market beer garden

Tesco Lotus super market - On Nut

After a week or so in the apartment I came to the conclusion it was probably cheaper to buy prepared food on the street or in the market than make it myself. Of course figuring out what I was buying, even with prepared food was an ongoing problem. So I started favoring Tesco Lotus which is sort of like Costco in the USA and 7/11, yup same as the US. Except unlike the state’s 7/11 they seemed to have the best prices and are located everywhere. Both had prepared food but Tesco being a larger store had a better selection but with meats and vegetables it was Tesco or back to the wet market (open market that sells meats). Even at Tesco it was hard for me to figure out what meat I was buying as a lot of it is self serve in bulk. However, the meats that were packaged, along with many other products and signage in the store were in both English and Thai and everything perishable was refrigerated. Overall food cost me more than I thought but this was just after the flood so maybe food prices were inflated. As an example of pricing at Tesco – hamburger 129 baht a kilo, bacon 130 baht a kilo, Bacardi 598 baht and Havana Club 595 baht (OK, so I’m not a health nut).

On Nut night market

Lesson three: It’s hard and confusing work living alone in Bangkok and it costs more than you might think to get by.


My apartment was conveniently located on the BTS line, adjacent to Bangchak station at about soi 62. A much different area than lower Sukhumvit, though still not all that far from the heart of the farang action but far enough so that you know you are in Thailand. For close by entertainment it’s a Thai open air beer garden at the On Nut Market with draft beers, food vendors and live, mostly Thai music and very little English spoken.


Oh ya, got a haircut, like everything else it cost more than I thought but it was good enough cut. Bought some clothes at Tesco Lotus, shirt was cheap but good, pants were cheap. Recharged the minutes on my phone, easily enough but tried to ask a question and didn’t do so good. Spent a half a day and visited two bank offices to reestablish an account I had set up years ago and never used.


Conclusion: Maybe my choice of Bangkok as my new home base was ill conceived as it’s a major international city and the simple and inexpensive life I seek is hard to find there.Though it's a really cool place with loads of stuff to offer an expat.  Then I wonder about how to handle the visa issue, how to handle medical emergencies, what house hold goods do I move with me and how about duty and how about my credit cards and my mail,  so many things.


As I put the finishing touches on this I’m winding down my 11 or 12 th annual Asia trip in Ho Chi Minh City and was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia last week still without coming to terms regarding a new home over here. However, I kind of liked Phnom Penh, I have people in Saigon and I still get excited over Thailand,  so stay tuned.

little ants driving me crazy in Saigon

Damn, these little ants. Lay my glasses down on the desk, pull am back on and their they are, little ants racing around in front of my eyes.
Hide in between the hairs on my arm and other places. I see them running around on my laptops monitor then dash across the key board, driving me crazy these little ants.

Man are they fast, these little ants, just driving me crazy!

Recommend in Bangkok -



sun rise over Bang Chak BTS station - taken from my bed

                                                   

A serviced apartment, that is what you get at ...  As in a good hotel, Viva Garden has a friendly and welcoming staff looking after you but with the added benefits of the comforts of a homes. 

In this case I've taken a studio and which has a compact little kitchen area, including a 2 burner stove, full size frig, a very sophisticated microwave that does much more than I'll ever require of it and all the cooking utensils you need for cooking or eating. My unit has a nice sized flat screen TV with cable, connected to a high quality system that will play Cd's or DVDs.  A good bed, small couch with coffee table, a desk to sit your lap top on with WIFI. On the other side of the glass wall is a usable 

sized balcony with a couple nice chairs and a table. Oh ya and unlike my home Viva Garden offers daily maid service. There is a jumbo sized outdoor pool and in the same area is a gym, a play area for the kids, along with a do it your self laundry or they will do it for you.Also available are single and multi bedroom units.

yup, Doug feet

 The location is a ways out Sukhumvit but it's right by the BTS route and just minutes from the Bang Chak station so all the major city center stuff is available.  One station up at On Nut is a Teco Lotus grocery/ discount  department store along with a slue of western fast food outlets connected to it to cure that craving for a bit of Americana when it hits ya.

However, considering you went to all the trouble to get here you also might want to forgo western fast food and check out the Thai open, wet market directly across Sukhumvit from Viva Garden..  Where a good precooked meal can be pieced  together for less than a couple bucks..

Speaking of food - going to take some of my own advise and get me some of that cheap but oh so tasty Thai food in the market across the street.







Saigon, cornucopia of craziness!

Saigon - noisy, hot and steamy, untidy and more crowded than ever, streets overflowing on to the sidewalks with motorbikes but like a giant jigsaw puzzle it all fits together in a cornucopia of craziness, embraced by most Saigonese and myself.


However, change is afoot, many of the old school family run shops have closed and the buildings torn down. The party line (no pun intended) is that Saigon property is so much in demand that the rents forced the occupants out. Which I’m sure is true to a point but … Anyway, for myself I can’t figure out who will come to visit the multitude of new designer shops and chic western style restaurants and wonder if uniqueness of old Saigon will be lost and many will never know about it.

So I’ve taken it on myself to share some of my favorite, unique, still standing, old school spots but hurry who knows how long they will be available.

The following are a few of those -

Rooms for Rent - 3621 -36/23 Le Thi Rieng, Ben Thanh Ward, dist 1 thanhthao775@yahoo.com

Thao rents rooms in two houses down an alley – many expats take rooms here along with a smattering of Vietnamese and tourists. No frills kind of place but clean, safe and Thao will quickly become your new best friend. Rooms start at about $15.00 a night and I’m thinking long stay rates can be negotiated.  I rent a room here and have done so for about 5 years now.

Pho 32 32 Le Thi Rieng, Ben Thanh Ward, dist 1 (around the corner to the left from Thao’s) 

Traditional Vietnamese breakfast – beef noodle soup – pho they serve pho and will get you a coffee (from the upholstery shop next door) just walk in a point to a bowl as not much English here. Make sure you get here before 9:30 am because as soon as the tub of Pho is finished their finished. About 27,000 dong for a bowl of pho and a café sua da (iced coffee with milk).  When in Saigon I make a point to eat here every morning no matter what.

Bristo 48 48 Le Thi Rieng, Ben Thanh Ward, dist 1 (around the corner to the right from Thao)

Vietnamese French fusion – interesting place, menu in English with photos, casual dress but with table cloths, silverware and great food, speedy service and all at a reasonable price..  When in Saigon I eat here at least once a week.

Quoc Bao 1 Le Thi Rieng, Ben Thanh Ward, dist 1 (at the roundabout, about a block from Pho 32) Not much English spoken here but the menu listing drinks is in English and the staff are pretty laid back and very friendly. 

Downstairs is an open air coffee shop, loud music served with coffee, fruit drinks, beer or ruhm. You can find me sitting at the bar a few nights a week, drinking Saigon beer or ruhm and messing around with the owner and wait staff.

Upstairs is a beauty salon, great guy haircuts, be sure to get the shampoo, face wash and head message. Costing around 100,000 dong for the whole deal.


LUONG SON QUAN-BÒ TÙNG XẺO
31 Lý Tự Trọng, Dist.1

Table top bar-b-que - a small charcoal grill is set in the center of your table along with plates of meats (you ordered)  for your bar-b-que pleasure.  Loud, open air and still smoky but inexpensive, tasty and fun..


Moc Lan Restaurant 20 Bui Thi Xuan street, Ben Thanh Ward, dist 1 phone: 0982-135-270

Vietnamese BBQ and hot pot – fun and interesting!

Mogambo 50 Pasteur Street, dist 1

Best hamburgers in Vietnam or maybe anywhere, Australian beef steaks and a mix of other food stuffs, along with a bar serving ice cold beers cute and friendly bar staff and a good selection of wine. American and Vietnamese owners along with the cute bar staff will be you new best friends. Its draws an International mix of expats living in Saigon so the bar is a great place to eves drop on the latest business goings on in Asia. Kind of like Ricks in “Casablanca” but this is the real deal and for the price of a drink you can be part of it.

Number 5 bar 44 Pasteur Street, Ben Thanh Ward dist 1

Next door stuffed with beautiful and friendly bar staff clad in miniskirts and tank tops working a large horse shoe shaped bar. Cold beer, hot Vietnamese ladies, oh ya and super hot ladies. Food maybe, music I don’t remember but the bar staff, ok, you got my point..

17 Saloon 193 A Pham Ngu Lao dist 1 (on the edge of the backpackers area across from 9/23 park)

The building was created to look like an old time American West Saloon and inside the staff dresses in cowboy and cowgirl outfits. It’s not American country western being played inside but loud American rock performed by a very solid Pilipino band. Drinks are a little pricey but considering the music, the nightly show of the juggling of flaming booze bottles and the gorgeous wait staff and bat tenders it’s money well spent.

Xuan Hong (Western Medicines) 154 Bui Vien Street Pham Ngu Lao Ward, dist1

While not really off the tourist trail, it’s in the Pham Ngu Lao backpacker’s area, but a good place to seek medical advice or get a foreign prescription refilled. A formal doctor signed prescription signed by a doctor is not need in Vietnam, so tell them what you need and they can probably fix you up. No idea what meds you need or if you need any, tell either one of the ladies about your condition and she will fix you up.

Giay Thanh Dung 150 Ly Chinh Thang (YEN DO CU) Phone: 08438586

Handmade shoes or sandals, he is the guy but located along way of the tourist tract and speaks little English. I’ve used him for custom sandals, inexpensive and good quality if your patient. Because of the language issues you really need the help of a Vietnamese who understands English and what you want to help you here.

Lovely lady - serving soft drinks, beer and coconut juice on the street from a display cabinet, with a folding table and a few plastic chairs and stools for her customers.   Great place to kick back, take a break while watching the  going on of the market and chat about life.

 Located across the street from Ben Thanh market, on the side towards downtown.   You may have to look around a little to find her, though if you get close she may find you .



That's all I got for now but always thinking of you...      Doug    

An alley is an hem in Saigon - for Julie

As a kid growing up in Flint, Michigan my grandparent’s lived  only about a few blocks away us. Though, even living as close as they did I often thought of my visits to their place as an adventure. You see, beyond their backyard they had an alley, mom said – “dangerous people lurk in alleys and strange things happen there so if I knew what was good for me, I was to stay clear”. So as any boy might, at the warnings of his mother, I became obsessed with the alley and the part of my grandparent’s back yard bordering it.


Now my grandpa, though unspoken on this, never the less seemed to understand and would often let me peek through the bushes separating his back yard from the alley, look away as I peered around the corner, or for a most excellent adventure, slide into the alley for a moment. As a quiet and very serious man my grandpas had little time for his own adventures but think he wanted more for me, as he would sit me on his lap and share and explain his latest National Geographic magazine. Though, I think it was those forbidden forays into the alley he allowed, that had the biggest influence in my adult adventures.

So now let’s take a gigantic leap from 1950’s flint to March 2011, in Saigon, Vietnam and it’s the alley thing all over again, no mom it’s now ok to go out in it and as a matter of fact I have to in order to get to my rented room. Though, still the danger, but not the unknown type as when I was a kid in Flint but now it’s the very real danger of motorbikes and bicycles wizing by trying to beat the light on the intersection it skirts around. My alley is as most; the center of life and living for the people around it and for me as well as my room entrance is off it and my balcony over looks it. It’s also a place where, along its edges and against its buildings, food is sold, motorbikes are repaired, garbage is sorted and folks just hang out. Vietnamese take all this for granted but I think these urban alleys are amazing in how are they bring everyone in and around the alley together.

Now, mind you, this alley is not a large area, otherwise it would be a street. We are talking about a place maybe 300 ft long by 12 - 15 ft wide, but within this relative small space there is a lot of stuff happening.

The food sellers – one end for the morning set, tables line the side with tarps strung over the top, open air kitchen, dishes done in tubs – the other end in the evening it’s the same thing. All this is put up and torn down when the serving is over and the area is cleaned so you would never know they had been there. Across from my room is the motorbike repair guy which my landlord says he has been at it in his little alley spot for 20 years – no shop but a box and a large metal bowl on the curb with all his tools and there again he sets up in the morning and in the evening picks up everything and stuffs his box and bowl in someone’s place, like under one of my landlords chairs down stairs and goes home. Down a ways, at about 6:00 PM, a big pile of stuff shows up along the far side of the alley and then a lady appears, sorts through it, guessing she is separating plastic from paper and then they are gone, both her and the pile.

A side from the businesses that set along the sides of the alley, do their thing, fold up shop and go home only to repeat it again tomorrow, there are people walking and chatting from 4:30 in the morning till around 9:00 at night, kids playing, mom’s walking their babies, retires sitting around little tables playing board games, motorbikes parked, some with people lounging a top chatting or texting into their cell phones and through the middle of all this is a steady stream of motorbikes bustling by in both directions.

It’s what in the states city planners might refer to as a mixed use area, the alley edges are like canyon walls as the homes and businesses fit tightly together forming a solid 3 or 4 stories high cliff face, each opening directly into the canyon like floor. For example we have an LP gas distribution center with motorbikes used for delivery, office machine business, lawyer, Vietnamese traditional medical clinic, cell phone store, several other food related shops, rooming houses like where I stay, private residences and a hand full of others that I have no idea what they do.

However, I’m comfortable in my canyon in urban Saigon, it’s noisy, especially when the motorbike guy is fixing a horn, a bit warn around the edges and I’ve had a couple real close encounters of the speeding motorbike kind. Funny, now that I think about it, I have the same kind of comfortable feeling here that I had hanging out with my Grandpa, in his garage, by his alley, in Flint a zillion years ago.

What goes around comes around, maybe it’s Karma.

Violence continues against Thai Civilians in the south of Thailand

Mar 7, 2011

pattani.reuters

Buddhist monks comfort each other as family of another monk grieve over his body in a hospital in the troubled southern province of Pattani March 5, 2011. Gunmen killed a Buddhist monk and wounded two others as they were collecting alms in Pattani. --    PHOTO: REUTERS

THAILAND - VIOLENCE flared up in the deep South on Sunday, leaving a retired policeman and a monk dead and many people wounded. In Pattani's Yarang district, masked men on three motorcycles opened fire at people shopping for food or working out on a local road in the morning.

Police Sgt Sanan Sangkasunya, 64, succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital while the other four victims, including Muhammad Isris Pathan, 18, were seriously hurt.

Mr Muhammad's father Yula said the insurgents should not have attacked the general public.

In Pattani's Panare district, two men shot a man and his mother while they were travelling on their motorcycle.

Nattakorn Jantip, 23, was killed instantly but his mother was not hit. She just sustained minor injuries from falling off the bike.

In Pattani's Khok Pho district, a 32-year-old soldier was shot and seriously wound while on patrol. Almost at the same time, unknown men launched an M79 grenade at a checkpoint on 418 Pattani-Yala Road then opened fire. After three minutes of fierce exchange, the attackers withdrew. No one was wounded. -- THE NATION/ANN

In Vietnam and don't have access to facebook

Saigon wired - infrastructure - oh ya!

Unless you live under a log or maybe here in Vietnam where the news is not news until the guy in charge decides it to be, you would know the world has some more immediate problems than global warming.

Just spent a few months in Thailand - border dispute with Cambodia that over the past few months has destroyed property and cost up to 8 or 9 lives, in the south of Thailand Muslin terrorists have killed over 2000 people since 2004 which 90% were civilian, than you have the red shirts and the yellow shirt protesters causing disruptions in Bangkok. Not to forget loss of life and property due to natural causes, like flooding and sever cold weather in the north of Thailand.  However, in Thailand's case it's possible to visit and be total unaware of these happenings.  Though, Tourists are fickle lot and so just the negative news has had an effect on potential visitors which is another blow to the countries economy.

Then there are the major conflicts in other parts of the world over government leadership that I witnessed from Thai TV that are taking place in parts of the Mideast and once again protesters on the streets of Greece.  Of course then we have the ongoing economic pressures on the USA and other parts of Europe that are impossible to ignore. However, it's better than it was, it's still a long way from what you can refer to as a stable economy in these areas.  Then there is the catastrophic loss in live in Mexico due to the on going strife with the drug Mafia types. Australia with the loss of property and lives due to flooding and New Zealand with it's recent earthquake.  Anyway, I'm sure I missed a lot of other bad stuff but suffice to say the world is a mess and even more messed up than me and so I might be better than we all thought, or maybe not.

Lets get back to where I am and as we know that's Saigon, Vietnam and they have there problems too. Though here in Saigon as I'm looking at all the new construction you would never know it, things are looking up.   However, even as Vietnam manufacturing and production has increased at a rapid rate, the worlds financial difficulties even have moved in on this new growth and has also taken its toll. For example inflation has caused the government to devalue the dong several times, at present leaving it around 20,000 dong to a dollar , the normal rate is around 15,000.  There have been price increases in the government controlled commodities of gas and electricity which surly won't help with inflation but...........  

Then being the negative guy I can't help but look at all the new mega high rises and wonder how the infrastructure of the country can support them, guess it falls under the - you build them and it will all work out, theory. Along the same line more high class designer shopping areas with hotels and restaurants are being built on the ground where my favorite little mom and pop shops were, and I wonder about who the customers are now they have lost me.  So sad to know I that un important.

In finishing this I want to tell you that I'm feeling like that guy under the log but not because I crawled under it, but because someone dropped it on me and all I really wanted was facebook and a medical information web site.

Lets talk Thai Visa - edited

Visa, yup, you gotta have one to visit Thailand.  Though it's a simple deal for us Americans and many other citizens of other western countries staying less than 30 days. Really all that is required is showing up at the immigrations window with proof that you'll be out of Thailand with in 30 days and a completed immigrations form.  Normally the airlines supplies the forms on your flight but if not you can pick one up at the immigrations counter.  This visa is refer to as an "on demand visa" and it's free.

The official tourist visa is one you have to apply for through the Los Angeles Thai consulate or another consulate outside of Thailand. Roughly what is entailed is you need to send them your passport, along with two passport sized photos, a completed visa application, the visa fee of what ever it is at the time and include a self addressed/postage affixed return envelope. The fee change can change at any time but at the time of writing this it has been waved through March 2011. This type of visa gets you 60 days in country and for 1900 baht you can extend it 30 days through a Thai immigrations office in Thailand.

Note, on the original visa application it will ask how many entries you want, think all you can get is two but write in something of at least two entries. 

While allowing your original visa with in 7 days of its expiration to be rolled over into another 60 days plus as before it can be extended for 30 another days after another visit to Thai immigrations and the payment of 1900 baht..  Though in order to get this second edition you must leave and reenter the country.

I'll relate my recent experiences with obtaining a visa extension and the second visa:

Recently I visited Chaengwattana road immigrations and paid the 1900 baht to extend my 60 day tourist visa  the extra 30 days.   Though as the clock ran down on my extension I could see it wasn't going to do it so decided to make a trip back to Thai immigrations and see if I could get a little more time as I really didn't want to go to the trouble of leaving the country. 

So got out the maps getting ready for a little adventure (time before I had a Thai helper), decided on using the BTS to get as close as I could, which was Mo Chit.  Once out of the BTS terminal at Mo Chit I flashed the note saying where I wanted to go, that a Thai friend wrote for me in Thai. One of the waiting van drivers  pulled me into his van and was on my way again, only to be drooped off, with a lot of pointing and waving, in the middle of nowhere. After wondered around a bit, a taxi guy found me and promptly took me to the wrong immigrations office. Then on my own I visited a couple more wrong offices and while at last wrong office a nice lady directed me to pay 20 baht for a motorbike or take my chances on a bus that doesn't always show up to get me where I needed to be. Went with the motorbike guy and before I knew it I was zoomed directly to where I needed to be.

The Chaengwattana road Thai government building is big, but it's easy to locate the immigrations/visa office inside and start your process by jumping right into the que for the form lady, where I tried my darnedest to explain that I just wanted a few weeks extension on my visa but ended up with a form for reentry and told it would cost 1000 baht. OK, so I fill out the form and que up for the form checker/number dispenser lady - missed the whole back side of the form but guess she felt sorry for the stupid, old farang guy me, as she gave me a number anyway and passed me on to wait for my interview with the immigrations officer. As I a waited  I filled out the rest of the form the best I could even though the questions didn't fit what I wanted. Now I'm up  and it's getting late so the immigration lady is trying to step up the pace by handling a half dozen people at a time and then I show up.  She half listens to my request and gives me that look and sits me aside in her office. Then after she clears all the people out of her office she turns to me and patiently explains on how I have to leave the country, walk across the border and return  through Thai immigrations for a second  60 day visa, no money or forms required. Oh, should add the immigration officer who helped me in the end was really nice, giving me this warm and fuzzy feeling that she (Thailand) truly wanted me to stay in her country as long as possible, so why is it is hard?

I had already had plans in the works to go up to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai so I Incorporated a day trip up to Mail Sai and across the Burma border to Tachilek for a new visa. What an easy deal, no lines no waiting. Pass out of Thailand and into the Burma immigrations, they fill out the forms and take your photo, smile and joke with you as you pay then 500 baht. They ask if you want to go right back to Thailand or shop in the border area in Tachilek. I chose shop, they held my passport and gave me a paper receipt with my photo on it. When I was finished walking around, passed back through the border immigrations and traded the paper for my passport, then it all a matter of jumping in line for Thai customs and my second entry visa entry was in effect..

Note - used a bus from the bus station in Chiang Rai to Mai Sai and then a sawngthaew to the boarder - bus at the bus station was marked and once in Mai Sai a guy with a sign was standing by his pickup (green color not blue as in my photo) saying "to the boarder and immigrations". Total trip to the border took less than 2 hours.

Welcome, handsome, young man






   

 soi Nana bar complex

  A pack of lovelies lean out of the bar signing the siren song of "welcome, handsome, young man". While your handsome, young man days may have long ago slipped by, the girls now have you thinking, those 5 sit ups last week really did help trim my belly, ah ha the 3 days of stubble - very manly, yup, my shinny bald head, just as I suspected, really is sexy. However, the clincher is looking much younger than your age, yup I'm glad someone other than me can finely see it. OK, so welcome to Amazing Thailand, land of smiles, beautiful women and ten bazillion bars to sweep you away from the realities of life..



 You hesitate in front of the bar and one of the young lovelies takes your arm and guides you to a seat. Then, here is the drill, the beer you just ordered cost around 100 baht (30 baht 1 $) but your new love is thirsty too, girl drinks are around 110 baht for Thai whiskey or 150 baht for beer. If she likes you or is just a drunk she will offer to drink Thai whiskey. Keep in mind she is the entertainment committee and part of her pay comes from her commission off the drinks your buying her. Also keep in mind that even though you are buying her drinks she has a choice in deciding if she wants to be with you or not, so be nice or be alone.

So now you may be wondering about her pay thing, not sure of totals but it breaks down to something like this: commissions + monthly salary, based on the number of shifts worked + bar fine up charges + what ever she hustles up on her own (like room cleaning,(sex). Whatever she gets for room cleaning (sex) after you bar fine her out of the bar is between you, costing somewhere between 4 - 10,000 baht.  Also, if you find a girl you like and just want some company and a guide you might be able to bar fine her out of the bar to go clubing with you.

soi Cowboy, Bangkok

For some girls the ultimate goal is finding a falang boyfriend or several, its status with the other girls and generate a steady income for her and then, just maybe, one will marry her.  

Many of the girls working in bars come from the poorer areas of Thailand and this may account for the not so very sophisticated thinking of some. However, they are very clever and make up for short comings by being fast learners and absorb knowledge from there international clientele very quickly. While life for them in some ways is much the same it was back home in the country side, as it's still basicly a day to day existence, as they send much of there earning back home to support their families, which may also include a kid or two of their own and any extra left over being frittering away on stuff or gifts for others so they never get ahead.

However, what I find really interesting about their spending habits is that even thought they earn their money by what seems at times like heartless hustling, they might buy food, loan money or even buy drinks for bar customers they really like.

So when you hear the siren song of the Thai lady, don't pre judge her, be nice and be careful.. While keeping in mind you and her both have somewhat similar but conflicting goals, hers is to entertain you while  maximizing the money her and the bar make from you and yours is to be entertained while paying as little as possible, without looking cheap. Remember face is important here, so always be cool you "handsome, young man".

Thai political tension - who me worry!




  After being in Bangkok for a couple days I stumbled on to the start of a red shirt protest - the 6 month anniversary of the forced end to the political violence between the red shirts and government forces.  Costing the red shirts 91 lives.

OK, so red shirts or the (UDD)United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship and the (DAAD), support Thaksin Shinawatra who is in self imposed political exile after the coup that removed him from office in 2006.   The groups are mostly comprised of folk from the north and northeast of Thailand who believe the present government was illegally created after the coup and the ultimate forced disbandment of Thaskin's political party.

The whole political thing in Thailand is very confusing but non threatening to foreigners and easy to ignore.  Equally the start up of the protest I stumbled into was populated by very non threatening folks and it seemed that what ever the political ramifications,  the McDonald's in the photo was doing a booming business.

Seems to be more settled (12/21/2010) now as the government mandated Center for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation  (CRS) is proposing the lifting of the governments emergency decree.   However, many of the red shirts issues have yet to be resolved, so we will see.

                                          

Bangkok on one leg -

Hong Kong International Airport

Had a great and fun ride with Rachel and my son Ian to the San Francisco International Airport on Sunday. Only to be brought down by the airport security goons forcing me to pull off my money belt and run it, along with my life savings inside, through the ex-ray tunnel. Where in, my money belt and contents were misplaced and in my panic I pissed off the head goon because of my complaining. While instead of addressing my complaint,  he tried intimidating me by tossing trays very hard and as close to me as he could.  Which resulted in a very intense staring match between us, my money belt materializing, only then to have my shoes disappear. This experience confirms my thought - that the terrorists have won and many government employees have joined their ranks

So with money belt and shoes in place I'm aboard an aging 747-400 for 13 hours and 47 minutes of being pinned in a high flying aluminum tube, with my new Bosie - noise canceling headphones glued to my head (they really work, but be sure to bring a backup AAA battery), a bit of wine, Dramamine and a little white pill in my stomach I'm heading to Hong Kong. On arrival I've a few morning hours to roam the airport in search of a AAA battery, success at a little after 7:00 AM as the stores started to open, $3.00 for two batteries and interesting enough, they were made in the USA.

Then at 9:10 AM its back into a another aluminum tube, this time a packed 737-300 but the people next to me on this leg were small and polite folks traveling home to India. Though this is where I experienced a second problem with the new head phones, the jack opening was too large to except the headphones plug. So while searching out a new battery was an interesting mission but really didn't make any difference because I couldn't use them, anyway it's only a two and a half hour trip from Hong Kong to Bangkok. However,I've been telling everyone it's a five and a half hour slog, sorry everyone!

OK, so you’re thinking what's with the "Bangkok on one leg" - a few weeks ago I injured my right leg and with all the walking I've had to do it's become very awkward and painful to get around. I gave in this morning, after a few hours of wondering around, retreating to my room with a fresh from the grill piece of chicken, a bag of fresh cut fruit and a very cold beer Chang. All for about the cost of the Sunday paper in Sacramento and I'm a better man for it.

Just an after thought. had some bangkok street photos to post also but couldn't get it to work.   Anyway, more to come...

The bus to Pattaya and gateui (lady boy)

Its 6:00 in the morning as I sat in Bangkok’s Northern (Mo Chit) bus station awaiting the 7:15 bus to Pattaya. I am not a morning kind of guy so six o’clock in the morning feels like the middle of the night and the coffee I’m sipping just doesn’t have enough punch to get me through the lingering cobwebs of a night of doing the bars of soi Cowboy.

Then for a moment my foggy mind clears enough to capture a vision of Thai loveliness walking through the half light of the bus terminal, dressed to the nines, short skirt showing shapely legs, with blond streaked, ink black hair cascaded down her back. From my seat in the terminal I only got a brief look before the vision passed from my sight and passed on to the stations coffee shop. Not much going on, so with just time to kill I toss my backpack over my shoulder, headed over to the coffee shop for a second cup of coffee and try to get a clearer look at what I had just watched walk past and was rewarded with a coffee and best yet a nod and a smile from my latest love.

As I tried to shush Mr. Ego’s shouting, they all want you Doug, Mr. Reality chims in, evening clothes this early in the morning, something is little strange here. Then on closer observation, yikes - did I see a faint shadow of a beard? As I craned to get a better look, my vision spoke a greeting to me in Thai spoken with a feminine, lilted male voice, embarrassed, I nodded, trying to hide my surprise and disappointment as I scurried out of the coffee shop and back to my seat. Where I then attempted to disappear into the book I held in front of me as my mind milled over the morning’s craziness and damn it’s still only a quarter after six. Anyway, I’m thinking that I’ll be on the bus soon, leaving all this behind.

Oh ya, here we go, board the bus, grab the first row seat across from the driver, allowing me an unobstructed view out the window and I’m so happy with my good luck I forgot about everything else. Making myself busy getting my cameras ready and took little notice as my seat mate slid in next to me. As I’m puttering away with my camera, out of the corner of my eye I notice the disapproving looks of some of the older Thai women boarding the bus. I then glance over at my seat mate who is now leaning on my shoulder, ca damn it’s the gateui (lady boy) from the bus station. From the look on her/his face I could tell she was enjoying the attention and my discomfort and as I moved closer to the window so did she, a smile for everyone boarding, as to say, this is my guy.

The two hour ride to Pattaya seemed to drag on for ever and once the bus pulled to a stop at Pattaya, I couldn’t get away fast enough, that is after I got around my seat mate. Just a thought to keep in mind while traveling in Thailand – it’s possible that your new, best Thai girl might also be your new, best bro.