the habberjams

We took off for the beach after we had been in Bangkok for 11days. Went to Koh Samet, we have been there a few times in the past.

Patricia with background showing how the beach is set up for dinning at sunset

• Took a taxi to Ban Phe,  takes about 2 hours, where we got a ferry boat across to the island. Samet is a National Park but honestly you think it by all the building now going on. It is a bit sad as it has some of the most beautiful beaches in Thailand, certainly in the gulf. The beaches are soft and white and you can wade out to sea for quite a way before it gets above your head.
  

  We thought "Sunrise Bar" an interesting concept!

  

  Valentines Day on Samet roses are even availble here!

  We stayed at Saekaew beach, which is very busy with all kinds of tourist, we didn’t like that. Also the Thais were not very nice, I guess they are fed up with a lot of rude tourists who have no idea how to behave in Thailand and shout and complain about everything. This is a laid back beach area and a lot of the tourists expect “American polish” service instead of appreciating and enjoying Thai ways and having a laugh and some fun when mistakes are made instead of getting mad which archives nothing in Thailand. Anyway we had some fun,  tried to ignore the loud mouthed Russians and very fat old men in tight “speedos”, found a coffee shop with free wifi and met a lovely Finish couple with whom we spent a couple of fun evenings. Their English was excellent!!

Dave at restaurant with bunch of guys in background about to go for a ride on an inflatable "worm"

The day before we left we saw some jelly fish in the sea, only tiny ones and not too many, but the next day their were loads of them and we neither of us liked to get into the water. They stung but only a little and it didn’t hurt, it was just the thought of swimming with all that jelly that put us off!

Youg boy "Fire Dancers" on Samet.

 The one thing that disturbed me a little was the fire dancers, mostly young boys/men they performed every night, whilethey were very good, the smell  of petrol fumes was intense and I am concerned for their health breathing those fumes every night, not to mention the fact that they must occasionally get burnt! They are like street performers so go amongst the audience to collect money after they dance.

A lot has happened since I last wrote here.

We went to visit ‘Tip, she was staying at her sister’s house from Wed. to Sunday so that she could rest and relax before starting back at work on Monday. Tip came to us last Thursday to do some ironing, which she does much better than I, as well as some cooking. ’Tip made us a Thai meal of  Pork Omelet, with stir fried morning glory. It was delicious.

‘Tip cooking for us.

  We went to another lecture series at the museum. This time the first lecture was called “Wat Hopping” about some of the differnet temples,  around Bangkok, and their mural  paintings. We decided to go to one of them and it was interesting to study the wall murals rather than just look at the temple. You can just make out the mural behind the Buddha image showing the world according to Buddhist cosmology.

The Ubosot of the Golden Mount Temple

 The other lecture was about Spirit houses which are everywhere on Bangkok streets. I have heard this lecture before, years ago, and it is just as  fascinating and informative 

Spirit houses on Samet

 Went out for dinner with two couples to The Fish Market opposite our hotel. It is a huge place, a cross between a supermarket, aquarium and restaurant. One goes “shopping” with a trolley and picks up the fish/seafood it is judged will be needed for the group (always better to go with a group) as well as any vegetables one feels the need of. Then it is off to the liquor store to buy the wine and thus sit down and wait for the  dishes to be prepared. We had a very jolly and delicious evening chatting about all sorts of things, most of which seems to have escaped my head at the moment.

In amongst all this I managed to get to MBK, a cheapish indoor shopping experience, where I was able to buy a few items. Happily too, the Thai Craft Sale was taking place on one of the Saturday mornings and I went shopping to it. Unfortunately the night market, Lumpini Park, has now been closed down. it was a wonderful noisy place full of stalls selling all kinds of interesting items as well as a live stage where all types of amateur singing and dancing acts performed. Also every kind of street  food you could imagine all sold in a clean environment together with beer and wine. A very civilised place. Now the whole area is just left to return to the jungle despite threats of it being built on sometime soon.

Another sad event, we discovered, was the closing of a great pub in Bangkok, one of the best British pubs outside the British Isles. Apparently the owner of the building decided this pub was becoming very popular and thus increased the rent by a huge amount which the owner of the business said couldn’t be done and so didn’t pay it. The case went to court but the owner of the building won (probably by the use of “Tea Money”). The owner then gave the business 11 days to vacate the premises and a big farewell party was planned but in the end they were kicked out after only 4 days. The pub was called the Bulls Head, off Sukhumvit, and was very well run by Billy. To cut a long story short Billy now finds himself  half owner of another pub, The Barbican, off  Silom Rd. Now we have found it we shall go there as often as is feasible while we are in Bangkok. I guess shit happens but it really was most unfair. The Bulls head is still a pub, with a new name, terrible food and absolutely no atmosphere. We shall not return there.

Melbourne Cup dressers

  Today was the Melbourne Cup Retrospective. As all you Race Meet aficionados know the Melbourne Cup takes place in Melbourne Australia every November and from what I gather is somewhat like Ascot with a bit of The Grand National thrown in. Anyway those Aussies manage to celebrate the event almost where ever they happen to congregate in the world and one of the biggest of those celebrations takes place in Bangkok every November: I was privileged to attend 3 of them while I was living here. Unfortunately (or fortunately for me) last November’s event was postponed due to the flooding in and around Bangkok and it was decided to hold a party of similar magnitude in February. As they couldn’t screen live footage of the actual race they did a digital rerun of all the winners from the last hundred years of the race thus we were able to have the sweepstakes. I had a winner with a 100bht bet on the horse who came first I got 500bht back (it helped towards the 2,000bht I spent on bets). All the money raised by this extravagant get together goes towards various charities and this year it is going to help flood victims. The event attracts mostly women who get all dolled up in fancy gear to try and win prizes for their outfits. All kinds appear some outrageous and some elegant with everything in between always including a hat of course. I made a fascinator from scratch which I was very proud of. Anyway the party starts at 9:30am with champagne and canapes, then proceeds to lunch and more wine, eventually finishing around 3pm at the venue but continuing at another bar/restaurant until the last one is standing!!!! I was not able to make it after 7pm, my jet lag was catching up with me and I was in bed by 8:30pm. A great day none the less.

Tricia at the Melbourne Cup