Thailand 2011 and beyond.

Hi and welcome to my report from Thailand starting October 1st 2011.

   I arrived in Bangkok (Swampy airport) and Kate had surprised me by making a trip from her home to meet me at the airport. This was a fairly daunting task as it takes many long and boring hours by bus to get to Bangkok and the airport. We where then whisked to Pattaya by our Limo driver (I had booked one on the net for 1200 baht (40 bucks) to drive the 140 klms to Pattaya he was in  a hurry as he reached speeds of 140+ Kph and made it in 1hour and 25 minutes. We arrived in Pattaya at 11pm on the evening of the 30th September and Howie our landlord had the place opened and ready for us. Check out the pictures from the previous Thailand report as it is the same room.

I of course watched the AFL and NRL grand finals and the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals at the billabong bar.

On Tuesday we hired a pickup and drove the 400 kilometres to Don Ban Kwen (The village) to see Mama and Papa and the rest of the family and to pick up our motorcycle and my stuff that Kate had dutifully watched over in the village. Everything seemed the same except for the fact that Yoyo and Jon had closed their business while Yoyo is having a baby. The family home had not changed at all but Kate had built a day bed in the front of the house which is a credit to her. The friendliness of the many cousins in the village was heart warming to say the least.

The saddest part of the visit was to see my beautiful niece Omsin in the final stages of her battle with a brain tumour (cancer). She is now a shadow of her former self and is unable to eat very much and I fear she has not long to live. I have put a picture here to remind me of how happy and wonderful she was when we first met.

With regret I wish to inform my family and friends that my lovely niece Omsin has passed away on Thursday the 27th October and was cremated on Saturday the 29th. The family are coping as well as can be expected and will always have a place in their hearts for such a wonderful little girl who will never be forgotten.

The 2 pictures above will be enlarged and framed for the family as a gift from me. I hope they will like them.

During the next week we just chilled out and I visited a few of my bar haunts for a few games of pool and the customary Scotch and Coke. I of course visited Secrets and had a good conversation with Larry (the pretty Bitch) and Ben. I also visited on Sunday the 2nd and 9th to see who was in for the free food at 2pm. I enjoyed my visits there and Larry is giving me 200 Gigabytes of Movies to watch (what a lovely fellow). He of course has access to my 140 odd movies as well.

Today the 13th of October I went fishing with my Pommie friend Mick. He knows all the fishing parks in the area and I was looking to expand my knowledge regarding locations of these parks. We spent 4 hours there and caught 7 fish between us with 5 more getting off before we could land them. All in a good first day.

The first fish is a Carpe (called a chubby). The second fish is a sandpatt and the third fish is a Mekong catfish.

On Wednesday the 26th of October I had to do a border run to get a 60 day visa to stay in the Kingdom of Thailand. This involved a minibus trip to Vientienne Laos, a distance of about 550klms North of Pattaya (10 hours in the bus). We stayed at the Dao Kham Hotel which was quite a surprise with its all modern conveniences and features including free Wifi. All up it cost me 6,900 Baht about $230, which included 1 nights accommodation, 4 meals, Travel and visa. I met 4 great guys from the UK who made the trip a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

While Kate was in the village they had the yearly Volleyball tournament between the surrounding villages. Ban Don Kwen played Nong Kae in the semi finals but unfortunately lost in the 3rd set. The guys made it to the final but were also beaten in the 3rd set. All in all a great effort by both teams to make the finals and a few pics of Kate performing are displayed below. Also on the same day Ban Don Kwen won the inter-village sack race and finished 3rd in the Water Balloon Superman race.

Tomorrow ( the 3rd of November) I will go fishing again with Pommie Mick and I have a meeting with Rob my prospective employer re my position here in Pattaya.

Well Fishing and Loy Krathong have come and gone and we have paid a visit to Underwater World, I have included a few pics for your entertainment.

Kate & Moray Eels

Close to 20 Kgs

Pattaya on the night of Loy Krathong

Loy Krathongs and Fireworks

Have recently joined the Streamline Bar Soi 7's Pool team and we have played 2 games on Monday and last night (11/11/2011). We have some good players and we have won both games with scores of 10-9 and 10-6, I have held my own winning 2 of 4 and 2 of 3. We are running second and if we win on Monday we should end up in first or second place for the playoffs.

Went fishing at the Pattaya Fishing Park on Sukumvit Road Najomtien, about 2 Kilometres past the Floating Markets. I was amazed at the size of some of the fish that had been pulled out and was hoping to land one for myself. On the appointed day I spent 3 hours fishing and only landed 1 of about 23Kgs after hooking 4, what a monster.

I have joined a new Wednesday pool league that plays a combination of 8 ball and 9 ball. The winner is determined as the best of 15, a good combination and a lot of fun. I have included a pic of the 9 foot pool table at the home bar, it is great to play on.

I was invited by my Thai neighbour Got to go fishing on a boat near Koh Chang. We set off on Saturday 3rd December by car with all our gear and drove 3 hours to Trat (South east of Pattaya). We arrived at 3pm for our trip on the boat which left at 4 pm. We cruised to the squid grounds and started to catch squid, which we used for bait. We spent the next 2 days and nights fishing, sleeping and eating and ended up with 5 GT's over 80 Barracuda and many smaller fish. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the 5 Thai guys and the captain and his crew.

Me

Tuk & Got

Boi, Ben and Tun

Overall the trip cost me 3800 Baht about $120 for transport food and the boat hire.

I set out for the FCI Thailand World Championship one loft race on the 8th December.

I stayed at the Montien Riverside Hotel on Rama III where all the functions were held.

The loft is a short minibus ride away.

My friend Neil Carstens arrived on the 9th and with his friend Gerhardt was to scrutinise the arrival of the birds through the traps. I also renewed my acquaintance with the boys from England who as always provided a lot of fun and enjoyable company. Thanks Tommy Cuddy and all the rest of the boys for welcoming me into their fold and making my trip even more special.

The English Crew

Gerhardt, Siriporn and Neils

Patrick, ? , Karel Denduyver & Geerdt Pollin.

Thai officials with the English crew

Pormsak Simsanboon and Karel Denduyver with the 4th placed bird which sold for 90,000 Baht

For full results visit FCITHAILAND

Back in Pattaya today need some rest. All this time Kate has been visiting her family in the Village and is due back today.

Well you wouldn't believe it after settling in from my trip to Bangkok and Kate coming back from the village I was struck bown by a virus which affected my balance. It lasted till Christmas eve and luckily cleared enough for me to enjoy Christmas and New Year. We spent New Year with friends at the Pattaya Beer Garden then the markets and finally the fireworks. A pleasant way to welcome the New Year in.

Well I went fishing on 6th January and caught a few and had a great day with my mates Del & Stuart.

Kate with a fish from Jomtien Fishing Park. Overall a good time was had by all and plenty of fish were caught.

Also went fishing back at the pond on Third Rd on Tuesday and Mark my mate from England caught 12 while I could only manage 2, a real white wash.

As I mentioned earlier I had joined a few Pool Comps and to my surprise one of them has won the Competition and the presentation was Wednesday 18th January, I was presented with

Which will hang proudly in our room.

It has been a relaxing time since my last report chiiling out talking with my kids on Skype and seeing how much my Grandson Jarrod has grown, as of 16th February he is 6ft 3 in tall, going to be a big unit when he stops growing and he is only 14 yrs and 5 mths old. Reid is certainly growing as well and he still remembers me when I say "Poppy Poppy Poppy" over skype. Alex is a wonderful grandson as well and he always says hello to his Poppy and "I Love you poppy" when we speak on Skype. Now my darling Grand-daughter Eleanor, she is a real peach, a lovely child with a sweet face and a work in progress. I look forward to spending a lot more time chatting with all my children on Skype (what a great system).

As my 60th birthday approached on the 13th February I booked a party at the Buffalo Bar on Third Road in Pattaya for Saturday 11th. I invited all my friends and family and looked forward to a great night. It was certainly a great night. see pics below.

The Cake is a watermelon carved by Fah from Buffalo Bar

  My good friend John and his wife Tik

Mike from Boom Boom Bar where I play pool and

John from Asian dragon where I work

My lovely wife Ket and her friend Tik.

On Sunday I attended the afternoon meeting at Secrets to say hi to old friends and maybe meet a few new ones. Well to my surprise I was presented with a birthday cake by Larry and the management & staff. Many thanks Larry as it was unexpected.

Myself, Clive and Doug with Humphrey and a few of the service staff.

More later.