Month: February 2016

Its been a while since I was in Hua Hin. Must be around 5 months now?

Miss Tim seems to have turned into Crazy Cat Lady – and has taken in a new stray cat.  The last one ended up as dog food and with all the stray dogs walking around Thailand – I expect the same of this one.

Weather is pretty nice right now. Didn’t see any rain.

Went for a little walk around the town. Every restaurant is busy.  EVERYONE we walked past.  The bars were empty, but the restaurants full.

Fortunately we always manage to get a table at our favorite restaurant. Nice little Italian on the corner.  We’ve never failed to have an enjoyable meal there..

After dinner we headed to Coco Beach bar to meet up with Lomeo & Juliet.   I have mixed feelings about that bar. It’s right opposite the Hilton where our Tuk-Tuk drops us off, so the main appeal is that it’s convenient.

I’ve never seen it busy – and I do chuckle at the ‘reception desk and seating area’.. which was thought up when fitting out the place.  The guy must have thought he would be so busy that he needs a Front of House person and waiting area for customers.  Ha.  The fool.

I’ve turned into a bit of a Vodka snob these past few years and tend to only drink Grey Goose or Belvedere. Anything else is just nasty shit that gives me a hangover.

We ordered our drinks and I asked the waiter if they have Gray Goose to which he responded that he is sure the bartender can make it.  – just has  to pop over to France….

– they did have it so we were happy.

Several drinks in there – we decided to hit another bar.   There is a new(ish) Irish Bar opposite the cop shop, can’t remember the name right now.   Not a bad place.  Lots of big dark stain wooden tables… all looks good.   We sat up stairs and watched the world go by as we waited for a friend to show.

Normally we’d hit ElMurphys but they seemed to have dropped the ball recently.  The music is played really quietly, the staff don’t know what they’re doing and the aircon is not on in the daytime.  The whole place needs a freshen up.  We go there to see Jonathan – the chief.  That’s the only reason.

Anyone remember little Nid the cashier from the Original Mango Bar?  Lovely little girl, although she is knocking on a bit now.  She arrived at the bar for a catch up.  She works in Real Estate now so is helping to source us a house to live in when I return full time to Thailand later this year.

Several more drinks later, Lomeo and Juliet had to bugger off as they were leaving HH the next day.  They’re done with HH and on to pastures old…

Next up was Tina Bar. Seems to be an old fave – again, just for it’s location.

Was good to catch up with L&J and Nid…….   back home a little drunk.

Sun was beaming out in the morning. Nice.   Headed out for breakfast as recommended by Lomeo.   There are a couple of new(ish) cafes opened up near where we live. A 20 min walk which is good.

The first one we came across stated that you need to remove your shoes to enter.?!?!   Now,  sorry, but I find this extremely unhygienic.  I don’t want to be walking bare foot on tiles which loads of other people have been walking on.  Think of all those bunions, verrucas, warts…etc… yuk.     I turned… I left…..  they can poke it.

The next cafe (name escapes me) was much better.  Run by an American.  Very clean and pleasant.  Good food and good price.  Will go back for sure.

I do like the lazy days in Hua Hin. After walking off our food, we hit the pool and laid out in the sun.  Very peaceful.

As it was only a quick visit – I was soon heading  to the airport to get back to Dubai for the following morning.

People think it’s a bit much – heading to Thailand for a weekend.  It’s not. The 6 hour flight is fine – especially as they’re night flights – when you’re normally sleeping.

If I didn’t have so much going on in Dubai each weekend, I’d be heading home more often.

I’ve sent the orders to Miss Tim to head back to Dubai in a few weeks so she can help pack up all my shit and start taking it back to Thailand.  It’s amazing how much crap you accumulate in a year.

In fact,  I think I’ll go pick her up.  Which means a weekend in Bangkok coming up….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the weekend of my birthday.. so what better way to spend it? The place I’ve had all my best birthday celebrations of course…. Thailand!

I’ve been away for a while, so was getting a little forgetful of all the things I love about the place.

And so it began on Wednesday evening when I boarded the A380 to Bangkok from Dubai.

I wasn’t going to let the little things spoil my weekend I had decided. That lasted all of 10 mins when some wanker Turk started singing whilst listening to his music. I shot him a look that said ‘shut the fuck up’ more than once until he realised he was being a dick.

Uneventful flight and I slept most of the way. When I arrived in Thailand at 7am I was fully refreshed and ready to go!
Airport.

Wow. It was busy. Very busy. I was in Bangkok early so was in no rush. I had no luggage other than my laptop bag so didn’t feel the need to barge people who were dragging their heels. I took my time.

Speaking of people dragging their heels (read – fucking lazy) – have you seen the movie Walle? There are many scenes which portray the human race in the future (in a space ship) all moving around on hover chairs… all fat and lazy. I can only assume the creators at PIXEL got the idea from watching lazy people at airports standing on travelators and not walking. I don’t get it? Why would you stop? Stairs I can understand – sort of, but why stop on a flat surface? Bloody laziness.

Walking past crowds to the fast track – I was met with a bloody great queue. Nothing fast about the fast track that day. What made things worse was half the idiots hadn’t completed their landing forms – so stood there filling them in. Which took an age as they had to consult their phones/iPads to get their information. What happened to sending them to the back of the queue like they did in the old days? At the normal immigration section, there is a girl who checks you have filled it in before you join the line. TIP… GET SOMEONE TO DO THAT AT THE PREMIUM LANE!!!!

Soi 4

I got to the taxi rank around 08:30. Straight away the taxi driver said ‘ no meter’ – to which I said… ‘no.. METER’. He then asked for big tip! This is BEFORE I had even gotten into the poxy car. What has happened to the land of smiles? Of course, I promised him a real big tip and off we went.

Rush hour Bangkok.. it was never going to be a quick journey and it was 09:30 by the time I reached Morning Night where Jonas was waiting for me. (awake!)

I paid the driver the price on the meter and he asked for a tip. I told him the tip I give him is to never ask for a tip from a Farang – as they are more likely to give him one if he didn’t.
– He wasn’t happy. Screw him.

After a beer and catch up with all things in the world of Jonas – we headed to Hooters!

I’ve heard/read a few things about Hooters- mainly from people who have not been there. Let me just say right now that I think it’s fantastic!

The first thing we noticed was all the staff doing a coriagraphed dance. Still learning the moves by the looks of things but certainly entertaining.

The menu was colourful and lots on there and the staff were friendly. I had heard they were not Thai – but that was incorrect information. They’re all Thai apart from a Filipina behind the counter.

The fit out looks good – the place is very clean and they are making an effort to entertain the punters.
Prices?

Can’t really remember too much about the prices. The Margarita type drinks were all around 400bht. We ordered a 1ltr bottle of Grey Goose which cost 3000. Bargain! As I pay 12000 in Dubai for a .75ltr!

Good thing with Hooters is that they let you take the bottle with you if you don’t finish it.

One last thing about Hooters – if you spend more than 9k, they give you HOOTERS VIP card which entitles you to a 20% discount on future purchases. Not bad at all.

All in all, food was good, prices were good, service staff were very nice and friendly.

I’ll be going back for sure.

We left HOOTERS and got in our waiting car and headed straight to Patts.

Jonas, Kiwi Mike, Gamblin Man and myself. All with a buzz on ready to hit the bars.

Patts

Where to 1st? Soi 6 of course.

Now, I thought the old I (we) get, the more handsome we become. I have many memories of listening to girls shout ‘welcome handsome man’ at old duffers as they walked past. What happened to that? In fact, what has happened to the whole attitude in general?

If I were a bar owner, I’d be telling the tarts to get off their lazy arses, stop stuffing their faces and welcome, greet, smile at any farang that walked past.

We ended up walking the whole of the street without being accosted into a bar.

That’s not to say we didn’t go in.. we just had to go of our own free-will as we were gasping for a drink.

After a few hours – we headed to LK Metro. Can’t remember why or how we got there?

 

Hit a few bars but nothing really stood out or got hour heart rates pumping.

Walking Street was next. Now, we’re not really fans of Walking Street as it seems a bit too touristy –but the little side streets are where the action is.

I’ve been away from Thailand for too long. Thailand has some absolutely stunning women. I totally forgot.

In and out of a few bars…. Didn’t really interact with anyone or get asked to buy any drinks. If anything, the girls were too busy looking at themselves dancing in the mirror.

 

Shark Bar used to be a favourite of ours. I remember it to be so much bigger. Not many customers in. Chatting with the girls – my b’day was mentioned and out of nowhere a small cake was produced and I was given a free drink. Nice. I was happy to drop some cash in there.

Around 2am…. Time was taking it’s toll. Miraculously, Jonas has stayed awake the whole day (except a short nap during dinner) and it was Kiwi Mike who was sleeping in the bar.
Gamblim Man spent most of the night talking with young girls about how he’d like to sponsor their education and give them somewhere to live.

Not really too sure of the exact events… but heading down Walking Street towards our car, we noticed Kiwi Mike was not with us and his phone just went through to voicemail?!

We don’t really like to leave a man behind, but there was little else we could do. Knowing that Kiwi Mike used to be in the Girl Guides and is a big fan of Bear Grylls, we knew he’d be safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

t was around 02:30 when we set off. We were pretty smashed. The idea was to stop off at the halfway point for some junk food. You all know the place. Full of KFC’s and McDonalds. – thinking of that, what sights must the staff see there? That service stop has to be an entertaining place at night when people stop off on the way back to Bangkok. Maybe the girls should start hanging out there in order to bag a drunken Farang?

We never did stop for food. We all passed out and woke up as the driver headed down all sorts of roads to drop the chaps off at their doorsteps.
– In hindsight, I should have hoofed them out of the car anywhere in Bangkok and told them to get another cab.

After dumping them off, we then headed to Hua Hin.

I arrived back home at 07:00 24 hours since I had arrived in Thailand. Not bad really.

The cab… From Bangkok to Patts (hang around for 10 hours) then back to Bangkok, dump the rats off then head to Hua Hin…. 5000bht!! How good is that?! Too good. I have him a few thousand tip as I felt guilty for all the drunken behaviour and snoring.

The next few days was all about relaxing in Hua Hin….