We had a beautiful Christmas at the Alliston residence of Lynda and Scott. The whole family, traditional gifts before dinner, junior game on the tube (Canada with a convincing win over the Rooskies), a wonderful turkey dinner put on by hosts Lynda and Scott, a Tortierre brought down from NB by Rick and Louise. It was an awesome time.
Figure this out. Two people from Thailand, one from Michigan, one from Halifax, two from New Brunswick, others from all over Southern Ontario. Home for the holidays! What it is all about.
Lena is off snowboarding this morning. Deeds and I have a will signing to witness and then a little boxing week shopping just for fun. Off to another friend for a coffee this afternoon and then Lena and I have a Daddy/Daughter Day planned for this evening. (The fading Habs have a date with the Great Eight and the Washington Capitals cesoir)
I will also start taking the tree down today. Yeah that is a first for any household I have ever been in. Usually stays up until the Epiphany (Jan 6 for the heathens in the crowd, sometimes referred to as Ukrainian Christmas), but with Diane gone on Sunday and Lena on Tuesday it is left up to me and I would rather have the help then sit looking at a tree that I need to deal with later next week.
It has been an uneventful time, no real high jinks or funny little anecdotes to tell you about. The visit to LA Music was a whimpering bust. Yeah they whimpered. I talked at one of the staff for about 10 minutes. He never looked me in the eye once. Stared at the table top in front of him the whole time. Tried going down the "Oh yeahhahah. James, well he doesn't work here anymore." While I tried to keep telling him that whoever I talked with was irrelevant. I was talking to LA Music. First names are of no consequence when you are looking for customer service. A phrase that totally escapes these dweebs. Keep the faith folks, boycott la music. They are losers.
A few more visits to friends over the next days to look forward to. More relaxing and takin it easy.
I did get a load of golf balls on Boxing week sales, so I am also very prepared to head back and play more golf. Hope it all turns our!!
Have a very happy new year celebration. Be safe.
Ok, talk to you in a bit. Hope this finds you well.
Sawdee Krup
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Home for the Holidays
Hi y'all. Kuhn Jerry writing you a little Christmas note from Mississauga.
We are home, intact and loving it. Deeds and I arrived on Saturday nite, a little later than scheduled but safe and sound. A great flight with lots of sleep for both of us.
Lynda and Scott met us at the airport and Deeds and I headed home for a cup of tea in our own house!!
Not much time to sit as Lena arrived at Island airport at 10:30. We picked her up and were home sitting on the couch chatting until after midnight. How great is that.
A few sleeping pills and it seems like Deeds and I are starting to adjust. Not kidding ourselves though. Jet lag is still there in the background. Ohh you can mask it with holiday beverages and copious amounts of very good red wine (thanks Tammy and George) but we are still a little wobbly kneed at times. Sleep will come when it wants and leave just as quickly. I think Deeds and I are in for a fun four weeks from a sleep perspective.
We have all the appropriate dinner and visit plans laid out on a daytimer. Bookings and shifting meetings around as best we can.
We now realize that we should have set up a few in advance as now it seems impossible to wedge a get together into ours or other peoples schedules at this late stage in the game.
We apologize to the many who we wanted to see but now realize we will not be able to get around to see you. We pray that our best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season is heart felt and finds you well and in the spirit of the season. Now we know we must make the meetings in advance so we can get together, talk and laugh about all that has transpired in your lives.
As is always the case with Deeds and I, we cherish the time we spend together kinda doing nothing. (See I have had an impact on her. Yes you know that it is my job in life to spread the gospel of nothing. How very enjoyable it is to do, especially if you do it well!). We have some of that built into our schedule as well. Along with simple family time, like Christmas day, sitting around in your pajamas til mid day. And of course for me starting on Boxing Day, watching the World Junior tournament to the end.
So until at least after Christmas I will say adieu. Have a Very Merry Christmas, with that spirit in your heart. To all a very Happy, Prosperous and Healthy New Year. Keep your stick on the ice!
Sawadee Krup
We are home, intact and loving it. Deeds and I arrived on Saturday nite, a little later than scheduled but safe and sound. A great flight with lots of sleep for both of us.
Lynda and Scott met us at the airport and Deeds and I headed home for a cup of tea in our own house!!
Not much time to sit as Lena arrived at Island airport at 10:30. We picked her up and were home sitting on the couch chatting until after midnight. How great is that.
A few sleeping pills and it seems like Deeds and I are starting to adjust. Not kidding ourselves though. Jet lag is still there in the background. Ohh you can mask it with holiday beverages and copious amounts of very good red wine (thanks Tammy and George) but we are still a little wobbly kneed at times. Sleep will come when it wants and leave just as quickly. I think Deeds and I are in for a fun four weeks from a sleep perspective.
We have all the appropriate dinner and visit plans laid out on a daytimer. Bookings and shifting meetings around as best we can.
We now realize that we should have set up a few in advance as now it seems impossible to wedge a get together into ours or other peoples schedules at this late stage in the game.
We apologize to the many who we wanted to see but now realize we will not be able to get around to see you. We pray that our best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season is heart felt and finds you well and in the spirit of the season. Now we know we must make the meetings in advance so we can get together, talk and laugh about all that has transpired in your lives.
As is always the case with Deeds and I, we cherish the time we spend together kinda doing nothing. (See I have had an impact on her. Yes you know that it is my job in life to spread the gospel of nothing. How very enjoyable it is to do, especially if you do it well!). We have some of that built into our schedule as well. Along with simple family time, like Christmas day, sitting around in your pajamas til mid day. And of course for me starting on Boxing Day, watching the World Junior tournament to the end.
So until at least after Christmas I will say adieu. Have a Very Merry Christmas, with that spirit in your heart. To all a very Happy, Prosperous and Healthy New Year. Keep your stick on the ice!
Sawadee Krup
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Last from Bangkok
Hi folks. Well two more sleeps and we are on a plane to TO. Time just flys, hehehe, no really. Just a few short months ago I was wondering if I was up to blogging, now you can't shut me up. Well there might be a little hiatus. I will give you some updates from TO, but since most of you will be part of TO it may seem redundant, but maybe for posterity I will make entries while at home. I know somehow at the end of all of this Deeds will find a way to get these blogs into a photo album or some such!!
So the last entry from BKK is about our last day trip up to Ayutthaya.
There are two sets of pictures to be viewed at this link: please click on this link and then click again on the address offered go to link ; Ayutthaya PICS
Hope you enjoy those.
We started out that day with an early morning start. We had a five minute walk down the street to meet the tour mini bus. Our pick up time was 6:30. Yeah, on a weekend as well. Sad part was that we ended up driving around picking up other people and then congegating in a parking lot until all were ther and loaded onto a big tour bus. Wasted a lot of time. It was then a leisurely hour plus ride up to Bang Pa-in. The history of this summer palace of the royal family goes back to when Ayutthaya was the captial of Thailand in the 17th century. The first residence was constructed in 1632. Various other additions and deletions have taken place over the years. Temples added, etc. It was a gorgeous day and the palace did not disappoint. The ground were outstanding as you will see in our pics. The disappointment is that it is still a summer retreat and therefore only the royal family is actually allowed into the palace. No walk arounds for the tourista. Oh well, a joy to see.
From the palace grounds we are back on the tour bus and off to the historic city of Ayutthaya.
These ruins sit in the middle of developed urban and populated areas. It is not like they are out in the boonies. Well they are to an extent, however they are a large part of the tourist process in thailand, supporting a large number of people, who live in and around the ruins. Not unlike the coliseum in Rome as an example. To actually find it on a map you would need to look up Pra Nakon Si Ayutthaya.
We spent another hour or so at the site walking around. The tour guide gave us a little intro into the site but after that left us to ourselves. He did mention to not miss the free elephant show before we boarded the bus again to head off to the last leg of our tour down the Chao Praya River.
The site was filled with many ruins as the pics detail. The history of Ayutthaya goes back to 1600. It is estimated that Ayutthaya had a population of about 300,000, with the population perhaps reaching 1,000,000 by 1700. This would make it one of the largest cities in the world at that time.
In 1767 the city was destroyed by the Burmese, resulting in the collapse of the kingdom. The ruins of the old city now form the Ayutthaya National Historic Park which is recognized internationally as a Unesco World Heritage Site. The present day city was refounded a few kilometers to the east.
We toured the Wat that is on the site and then made our way over to the elephant show. Man I wish we had been to this earlier.
First we had our pictures taken with some of the stars of the show. Great fellas these elephants were, well except for the one who kept trying to undo my shoelaces! Cheeky bugger, he kept tuggin away. We had totally misunderstood the tour guide about this free show. We thought we were going to bus to a location. So when we finished our little sojourn into the Wat we sat down at a shaddy table for a rest and then sauntered over to the tour bus with about 5 minutes to go before departure. We then noticed all of the elephant action caught wind of the show and went over and sat down. We were mesmerized by the tricks they performed. So mucy so that the tour guide came over and hustled us away. We were holding up the bus! You know that couple that is alwasy last on, you sit in the bus saying, "Why aren't we leaving Hayzoos? Is something wrong" As the tour guides walk up and down the aisle counting heads. Then the bozos arrive chattering away, "How could she not take 15 cents for the bedspread, pillow cases and two sheets. It was totally a good offer! I was negotiating. Just like they tell you in the travel books!"
It was a show I hope I get to go back and see.
Back on the bus we were 45 minutes to a location closer to BKK to continue with the river cruise portion of the tour. We had a great lunch on board and quickly made it up to the observation deck. It was sunny and hot and we took the opportunity to catch some rays. See the river and all of the neighbourhoods along the way. Too much to remember. Some great sites and a look at life on the Chao Praya. The lifeblood of BKK.
Off now to watch the rest of the Habs / Flyers game.
Hope this finds you well.
Sawadee Krup
So the last entry from BKK is about our last day trip up to Ayutthaya.
There are two sets of pictures to be viewed at this link: please click on this link and then click again on the address offered go to link ; Ayutthaya PICS
Hope you enjoy those.
We started out that day with an early morning start. We had a five minute walk down the street to meet the tour mini bus. Our pick up time was 6:30. Yeah, on a weekend as well. Sad part was that we ended up driving around picking up other people and then congegating in a parking lot until all were ther and loaded onto a big tour bus. Wasted a lot of time. It was then a leisurely hour plus ride up to Bang Pa-in. The history of this summer palace of the royal family goes back to when Ayutthaya was the captial of Thailand in the 17th century. The first residence was constructed in 1632. Various other additions and deletions have taken place over the years. Temples added, etc. It was a gorgeous day and the palace did not disappoint. The ground were outstanding as you will see in our pics. The disappointment is that it is still a summer retreat and therefore only the royal family is actually allowed into the palace. No walk arounds for the tourista. Oh well, a joy to see.
From the palace grounds we are back on the tour bus and off to the historic city of Ayutthaya.
These ruins sit in the middle of developed urban and populated areas. It is not like they are out in the boonies. Well they are to an extent, however they are a large part of the tourist process in thailand, supporting a large number of people, who live in and around the ruins. Not unlike the coliseum in Rome as an example. To actually find it on a map you would need to look up Pra Nakon Si Ayutthaya.
We spent another hour or so at the site walking around. The tour guide gave us a little intro into the site but after that left us to ourselves. He did mention to not miss the free elephant show before we boarded the bus again to head off to the last leg of our tour down the Chao Praya River.
The site was filled with many ruins as the pics detail. The history of Ayutthaya goes back to 1600. It is estimated that Ayutthaya had a population of about 300,000, with the population perhaps reaching 1,000,000 by 1700. This would make it one of the largest cities in the world at that time.
In 1767 the city was destroyed by the Burmese, resulting in the collapse of the kingdom. The ruins of the old city now form the Ayutthaya National Historic Park which is recognized internationally as a Unesco World Heritage Site. The present day city was refounded a few kilometers to the east.
We toured the Wat that is on the site and then made our way over to the elephant show. Man I wish we had been to this earlier.
First we had our pictures taken with some of the stars of the show. Great fellas these elephants were, well except for the one who kept trying to undo my shoelaces! Cheeky bugger, he kept tuggin away. We had totally misunderstood the tour guide about this free show. We thought we were going to bus to a location. So when we finished our little sojourn into the Wat we sat down at a shaddy table for a rest and then sauntered over to the tour bus with about 5 minutes to go before departure. We then noticed all of the elephant action caught wind of the show and went over and sat down. We were mesmerized by the tricks they performed. So mucy so that the tour guide came over and hustled us away. We were holding up the bus! You know that couple that is alwasy last on, you sit in the bus saying, "Why aren't we leaving Hayzoos? Is something wrong" As the tour guides walk up and down the aisle counting heads. Then the bozos arrive chattering away, "How could she not take 15 cents for the bedspread, pillow cases and two sheets. It was totally a good offer! I was negotiating. Just like they tell you in the travel books!"
It was a show I hope I get to go back and see.
Back on the bus we were 45 minutes to a location closer to BKK to continue with the river cruise portion of the tour. We had a great lunch on board and quickly made it up to the observation deck. It was sunny and hot and we took the opportunity to catch some rays. See the river and all of the neighbourhoods along the way. Too much to remember. Some great sites and a look at life on the Chao Praya. The lifeblood of BKK.
Off now to watch the rest of the Habs / Flyers game.
Hope this finds you well.
Sawadee Krup
Monday, December 13, 2010
Five more sleeps and home!
Ya think we are starting to get anxious about coming home? Totally! Wow. And we originally thought that we would pass by Christmas, have Lena come to BKK because she gets two weeks off now and only one for reading week. Can you imagine. Man am I ever glad we decided to come home at this time. It just feels so right to be sharing this with all of you and being able to come home to talk and see you all. Thanks Leenz for sticking to your guns. All Deeds and I ever wanted to do was to spend Christmas with Lena and now it has turned out to be a home coming of sorts.
As I sit and pen this latest effort it is raining very nicely in BKK. Might clear up later in the day which will make it steam bath city, but a good day to tell you about our last long weekend in BKK. The weekend before we head home took a few twists right at the end. We had decided that we should get out to play a game at BGC and since Friday was a holiday what better time to do that. Ooops. Waited to long to get a tee time. Best I could do was 2:45, which meant only 9 holes, so we kinda bailed. Tried to set up a game for Sunday but that put us into another reorg of plans so no golf was played on the weekend. I am hoping to get out tomorrow, Tuesday for a game. Will have to check it out. I cut my hand washing dishes on Sunday. Darn wine glasses are some flimsy is came apart in my hand. Nice little gash, lots of blood and some decent sympathy from Deeds.
But I digress. The weekend played out like this. Friday, since we had no golf meant a classic BKK stand by replacement activity > Shopping!!!!
I have made one simple request for a Christmas present, a new putter. I love my white hot, but it has been six years and every golfer knows that new equipment means lower scores! So I have been scouting Canadian websites for prices to see if I can save the tax and buy one here. So going down to Thaniya Plaza to check out the golf stores was on our list to do on Friday.
Deeds had volunteered a trip to the famous thai silk company Jim Thompson. She even had a coupon for the factory Christmas sale. Unfortunatly the factory was a 30 minute bus ride after the last stop on the BTS Skytrain. Not a ride that either of us was looking forward to. So we changed it up. We hit the pool and tried to brown up, then out to the street for some great Phad See Ewe (Siew). The folks across the street are awesome and have become a weekend favourite for us.
From a good lunch we jumped on the MRT. The plaza that we were looking for is located at the corner of Lumphini Park and Rama IV Road. No trouble getting there. Got off the train walked up to the street. Then we commence to put our left foot in, take our left foot out, somehow we turned ourselves all about with the resulting hokey pokey costing us about 45 minutes. Man it was unbelievable. We had our phones out, with GPS signals flying all over the place we still managed to walk in the wrong direction. Holy mother or pearl. We got to one corner and there is this other farang asking a tuk tuk driver what street he is on. The tuk tuk drivers here always start or answer with "Where you going misser" Where you want to go misser" Well what we heard the driver tell the guy was, more or less, if you want to know where you are get in, if you no get in then you someplace else misser. So of course we put our right foot in and took our right foot out, and turned around and starting walking the other way thinking that he was telling him that the street we were on was not the street we were looking for......... Now I am getting lost all over again. Suffice to say we were not happy puppies that we couldn't find this major BKK shopping plaza.
Bright side, as we walked along finally on track and low and behold there is a Jim Thompson retail outlet. Beautiful silk everything. Expensive yes. But sooo beautiful. Would have made great Christmas gifts, ;-) but we were headed for the golf shop, remember.
Thaniya Plaza . So with only one more little stroll to far down the street, and some help from the locals we finally found the plaza. Actually, if we had looked across the street when we got off the MRT, we would have seen it. Totally unbelievable experience. Not alot of fun.
Bright side, I found the putter I was looking for and it will be in the bag after Christmas. Thanks Deeds!!
We were now pooped and homeward bound. (Side bar: There is a great outdoor market at Thaniya called Patpong Night market. A return is inevitable.) On the train home we decided to take a walk down Sukhumvit one station away from ours and see what the street vendors had to offer. (I was actually looking for some Titleist golf shirts I had seen earlier in the week. Like Deeds said. "Oh yeah, you need another golf shirt Jer!!"). We got off at Nana and walked back. Found all kinds of stuff that will make its way back to Canada. Bags and packages in each hand we stopped off at Scuda, our favourite basic thai restaurant in the area. And then an unbeknownst tradition developed at this eatery. You will do this when you are here. It goes like this. If you are unsure or do not announce what you want before you get to Scuda the menu falls into the hands of milady. Deeds has done this on at least three occasions now at this particular establishment and she must do it every time. What great choices she makes. Especially the beer at the beginning, no seriously, great food groupings and different dishes. Not always same same. No pressure Deeds, keep up the good work.
The major attraction for our weekend was on Saturday. We had booked a full day tour to Ayutthaya. I will have many pictures on the Picasa web site soon, and another blog all about that wonderful trip. This is one that you will also go on. Hope this finds you all very well.
Sawadee Krup
As I sit and pen this latest effort it is raining very nicely in BKK. Might clear up later in the day which will make it steam bath city, but a good day to tell you about our last long weekend in BKK. The weekend before we head home took a few twists right at the end. We had decided that we should get out to play a game at BGC and since Friday was a holiday what better time to do that. Ooops. Waited to long to get a tee time. Best I could do was 2:45, which meant only 9 holes, so we kinda bailed. Tried to set up a game for Sunday but that put us into another reorg of plans so no golf was played on the weekend. I am hoping to get out tomorrow, Tuesday for a game. Will have to check it out. I cut my hand washing dishes on Sunday. Darn wine glasses are some flimsy is came apart in my hand. Nice little gash, lots of blood and some decent sympathy from Deeds.
But I digress. The weekend played out like this. Friday, since we had no golf meant a classic BKK stand by replacement activity > Shopping!!!!
I have made one simple request for a Christmas present, a new putter. I love my white hot, but it has been six years and every golfer knows that new equipment means lower scores! So I have been scouting Canadian websites for prices to see if I can save the tax and buy one here. So going down to Thaniya Plaza to check out the golf stores was on our list to do on Friday.
Deeds had volunteered a trip to the famous thai silk company Jim Thompson. She even had a coupon for the factory Christmas sale. Unfortunatly the factory was a 30 minute bus ride after the last stop on the BTS Skytrain. Not a ride that either of us was looking forward to. So we changed it up. We hit the pool and tried to brown up, then out to the street for some great Phad See Ewe (Siew). The folks across the street are awesome and have become a weekend favourite for us.
From a good lunch we jumped on the MRT. The plaza that we were looking for is located at the corner of Lumphini Park and Rama IV Road. No trouble getting there. Got off the train walked up to the street. Then we commence to put our left foot in, take our left foot out, somehow we turned ourselves all about with the resulting hokey pokey costing us about 45 minutes. Man it was unbelievable. We had our phones out, with GPS signals flying all over the place we still managed to walk in the wrong direction. Holy mother or pearl. We got to one corner and there is this other farang asking a tuk tuk driver what street he is on. The tuk tuk drivers here always start or answer with "Where you going misser" Where you want to go misser" Well what we heard the driver tell the guy was, more or less, if you want to know where you are get in, if you no get in then you someplace else misser. So of course we put our right foot in and took our right foot out, and turned around and starting walking the other way thinking that he was telling him that the street we were on was not the street we were looking for......... Now I am getting lost all over again. Suffice to say we were not happy puppies that we couldn't find this major BKK shopping plaza.
Thaniya Plaza . So with only one more little stroll to far down the street, and some help from the locals we finally found the plaza. Actually, if we had looked across the street when we got off the MRT, we would have seen it. Totally unbelievable experience. Not alot of fun.
Bright side, I found the putter I was looking for and it will be in the bag after Christmas. Thanks Deeds!!
The major attraction for our weekend was on Saturday. We had booked a full day tour to Ayutthaya. I will have many pictures on the Picasa web site soon, and another blog all about that wonderful trip. This is one that you will also go on. Hope this finds you all very well.
Sawadee Krup
Give a guy some cred will ya!!
Hey how do ya like that Don Cherry. Goes and steals my photo and uses it on HNIC - Coaches Corner and doesn't give me a byline. WTF!
Man o man. There is going to be some talkin with this guy when I get back to TO.
Remember, you saw it here first!!
Man o man. There is going to be some talkin with this guy when I get back to TO.
Remember, you saw it here first!!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Weekends in BKK-2
So the next big weekend was part of the long weekend holdiay for the Kings Birthday. I showed you a few of those pics in the last blog.
It was originally planned that we spend the weekend with my T Bay friend on his boat and just hanging out. This got cancelled at the last minute due to an illness with his friend in Phuket. He ended up flying there on the weekend. So it was alternate planning mode for us!
This is no big deal for Deeds and I to plan. We can very easily slip into a stay at home relaxer weekend. In fact it is the kind of weekend we enjoy. We do this alot even back in the Big Smoke. We don't mind if it rains sometimes cause it allows us to just sit and read the paper, drink some tea, chat some. In the fall especially. Deeds can get to putting together her famous beef stew, or just a big ole pot of veggie soup. Is a good life when you can enjoy like that and it is what Deeds and I can do! Hard for some, easy for us. Simple things.
But before we got there I had checked out some of the hotels in Pattaya to see if we should chase down there to the beach. No was the final answer so we started the weekend out with relaxin on our minds. We just stayed home. I have a few recipes with me that we have come to enjoy as staples. I have scouted out the stores to see if I can access something close to authentic ingredients and that was to be part of the weekend. A feast on "Blokes fussili" right out of Jamie Oliver's cookbook that Lena gave me for Christmas last. Maybe throw in a game of golf, the first for Deeds and we have a weekend!
Saturday we were down to our own pool early (sun window is 9:30 to 12) and read our books and tanned and dipped in the pool. I missed the Habs game. For some funny reason it was on two hours ahead of normal. Not to fear Habs won and I watched the Leafs take down the hated Bs in a shoot out. Well done lads.
Deeds got in a phone call to her mom, I did the same with mine. We chased notes with Lena, she is in the middle of end of semester stuff so we spent less time with her than we wanted. As Shelly has said Lena may have moved her bed to the library. She is there alot! But we understand, this is what Lena wanted to do the most, go to University. Live away from home. We respect and admire her for it.
For lunch we decided to try some street food. There was some good activity to the north of us on our Soi so we wandered down to take a look. Fantastic we thought as we approached. All kinds of Thai folks from the neighbourhood. Security guards from nearby apartments, taxi drivers pulling over to have something or take away. All the right signals. When we started asking questions we got all kinds of offers. He had fresh chicken breast, some pork, a handful of fresh prawns, anything you wanted he would make. I decided on a plate of Pad Sewei. Broad noodles, veggies mixed in with pieces of fresh chicken just cooked especially for me. Deeds went with the daily special which was laid out in a pan there on the cart. Roasted pork with veggies over rice. All this came with a fantastic bowl of chicken soup with a clear coloured squash chopped up, kinda like potatoe but not. It was an awesome lunch. Total for the two or us = 60 baht. Yep two bucks!! I have no idea how they do it.
Saturday evening was movie time and we curled up to watch The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Sunday was to be a golf day for us at my club. I had booked a tee time for early afternoon and expected to play with Deeds and then have dinner at the club. We had lined up our driver for the day. And then at mid morning I got a call from my golf buddy Kuhn John. This is the Thai gentleman who helped me secure my membership at Bangkok Golf Club (BGC). He asked if we wanted to play with him at Chuan Chuen a club not far from BGC, he said it would be a fivesome as he had invited his friends Kuhn Ni and Kuhn Don. We figured it would be a hoot so we agreed.
This turned out to be the highlight of the weekend for us. Ni and Don are fascinating people. She is a former Thai airlines hostess who now works in administration for the airline. Kuhn Don is everything. He has his own plastics business, is the Managing Director of the Thailand Industries Association, which is an appointed position and is therefore well connected. So well connected that he told Diane to say hi to Chaiwat the CEO of Siam City Investment Bank (the one that was purchased by BNS and the reason we are here). You remember Chaiwat, went to Louisville University, the Cardinals!! Yeah, exactly. Even when you are in Thailand it is a small world after all. How the heck could we have met someone who knows someone we met and knows him very very well. Don knows Chaiwat so well he said "Tell him pe Don said hi". Pe meaning older brother. Which is how they refer to each other as they both went to school together at Chulalongkorn University. WOW!
After golf was the best. We had loads of fun on the course which is a Nick Faldo design, lots of water as always in Bangkok, but when we finished we ended up in the grill / snack bar area of the clubhouse. It was dark, 6 pm when we all met. The King's birthday celebration was on the TV and they were explaining things to us about the ceremonies. Extremely interesting. But it was the conversation, the food and the wine in that order and combination that made the evening. We were asked questions from, "So what do you think of the Thai economy?" to "When can you get out to play golf in the morning Diane?"
These were the nicest people. They shared with us, made us feel absolutely fantastic and carried on like we were old friends.
The thai dishes kept coming out of the kitchen even though the whole place, except for us, was empty. They had even turned out lights in the other area of the restaurant! We had fish, thai beef (a little tough but great dipping sauce), a german dish they called pork knuckle, what we call a ham hock (with real mustard!!) and we finished off with a huge plate of pad thai. Marvelous.
To drink, Kuhn John had wandered out to his car and brought in two bottles of a chilean cab that was perfect for the occasion. John apparently buys it 60 cases at a time from a buddy of his who is a supplier in Thailand.
He also apparently keeps a case in his car! I played golf with him on one other occasion and he produced another bottle for the table. Of course I put in an order for 2 cases the next time he is buying. Wine here is taxed to the nines. Very hard to get a good wine under $18 cdn. This was a good wine and the price should be about 13 per bottle when bought by the case!
Can't honestly remember what time we got home, sure was glad that it wasn't a school night, cause there is no way we were getting up before 7 on Monday morning. Nice relaxin day on Monday. The weather even cooperated, not rain but it was cloudy and cool (28) all day. I went out for a walk in the afternoon to do some specific shopping for our special dinner. Deeds was getting into finalizing the iDB books for 09/10. We had a glass of wine while making dinner and a glass with. (our house brand right is Three Penguins, very nice cab that goes with anything). We settled in and watched Eat, Pray, Love. That's the weekend.
And now you are pretty much up to date.
I did play golf on Tuesday. It was in a tournament to raise money for the National Defense College here in Bangkok. This was a fund raising tournament. 18 M Baht was raised. The tournament is so big it is held over two days. A 6:30 tee time for the morning tournament on a 36 hole course, kinda like Lion Head golf course, two groups per tee box = 288 golfers. Then there is an afternoon tee time at 12:30, same same. You are fightning the morning crowd showering as you come into the locker room to change. Then they do it all over again the next day. That's how you raise $600,000 in two days! There was dinner and prizes for each tournament! John brought in his own bottle of wine!! Nice day.
Hope this finds you well. Nine more sleeps!
Sawadee Krup
It was originally planned that we spend the weekend with my T Bay friend on his boat and just hanging out. This got cancelled at the last minute due to an illness with his friend in Phuket. He ended up flying there on the weekend. So it was alternate planning mode for us!
This is no big deal for Deeds and I to plan. We can very easily slip into a stay at home relaxer weekend. In fact it is the kind of weekend we enjoy. We do this alot even back in the Big Smoke. We don't mind if it rains sometimes cause it allows us to just sit and read the paper, drink some tea, chat some. In the fall especially. Deeds can get to putting together her famous beef stew, or just a big ole pot of veggie soup. Is a good life when you can enjoy like that and it is what Deeds and I can do! Hard for some, easy for us. Simple things.
But before we got there I had checked out some of the hotels in Pattaya to see if we should chase down there to the beach. No was the final answer so we started the weekend out with relaxin on our minds. We just stayed home. I have a few recipes with me that we have come to enjoy as staples. I have scouted out the stores to see if I can access something close to authentic ingredients and that was to be part of the weekend. A feast on "Blokes fussili" right out of Jamie Oliver's cookbook that Lena gave me for Christmas last. Maybe throw in a game of golf, the first for Deeds and we have a weekend!
Saturday we were down to our own pool early (sun window is 9:30 to 12) and read our books and tanned and dipped in the pool. I missed the Habs game. For some funny reason it was on two hours ahead of normal. Not to fear Habs won and I watched the Leafs take down the hated Bs in a shoot out. Well done lads.
Deeds got in a phone call to her mom, I did the same with mine. We chased notes with Lena, she is in the middle of end of semester stuff so we spent less time with her than we wanted. As Shelly has said Lena may have moved her bed to the library. She is there alot! But we understand, this is what Lena wanted to do the most, go to University. Live away from home. We respect and admire her for it.
For lunch we decided to try some street food. There was some good activity to the north of us on our Soi so we wandered down to take a look. Fantastic we thought as we approached. All kinds of Thai folks from the neighbourhood. Security guards from nearby apartments, taxi drivers pulling over to have something or take away. All the right signals. When we started asking questions we got all kinds of offers. He had fresh chicken breast, some pork, a handful of fresh prawns, anything you wanted he would make. I decided on a plate of Pad Sewei. Broad noodles, veggies mixed in with pieces of fresh chicken just cooked especially for me. Deeds went with the daily special which was laid out in a pan there on the cart. Roasted pork with veggies over rice. All this came with a fantastic bowl of chicken soup with a clear coloured squash chopped up, kinda like potatoe but not. It was an awesome lunch. Total for the two or us = 60 baht. Yep two bucks!! I have no idea how they do it.
Saturday evening was movie time and we curled up to watch The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Sunday was to be a golf day for us at my club. I had booked a tee time for early afternoon and expected to play with Deeds and then have dinner at the club. We had lined up our driver for the day. And then at mid morning I got a call from my golf buddy Kuhn John. This is the Thai gentleman who helped me secure my membership at Bangkok Golf Club (BGC). He asked if we wanted to play with him at Chuan Chuen a club not far from BGC, he said it would be a fivesome as he had invited his friends Kuhn Ni and Kuhn Don. We figured it would be a hoot so we agreed.
This turned out to be the highlight of the weekend for us. Ni and Don are fascinating people. She is a former Thai airlines hostess who now works in administration for the airline. Kuhn Don is everything. He has his own plastics business, is the Managing Director of the Thailand Industries Association, which is an appointed position and is therefore well connected. So well connected that he told Diane to say hi to Chaiwat the CEO of Siam City Investment Bank (the one that was purchased by BNS and the reason we are here). You remember Chaiwat, went to Louisville University, the Cardinals!! Yeah, exactly. Even when you are in Thailand it is a small world after all. How the heck could we have met someone who knows someone we met and knows him very very well. Don knows Chaiwat so well he said "Tell him pe Don said hi". Pe meaning older brother. Which is how they refer to each other as they both went to school together at Chulalongkorn University. WOW!
After golf was the best. We had loads of fun on the course which is a Nick Faldo design, lots of water as always in Bangkok, but when we finished we ended up in the grill / snack bar area of the clubhouse. It was dark, 6 pm when we all met. The King's birthday celebration was on the TV and they were explaining things to us about the ceremonies. Extremely interesting. But it was the conversation, the food and the wine in that order and combination that made the evening. We were asked questions from, "So what do you think of the Thai economy?" to "When can you get out to play golf in the morning Diane?"
These were the nicest people. They shared with us, made us feel absolutely fantastic and carried on like we were old friends.
The thai dishes kept coming out of the kitchen even though the whole place, except for us, was empty. They had even turned out lights in the other area of the restaurant! We had fish, thai beef (a little tough but great dipping sauce), a german dish they called pork knuckle, what we call a ham hock (with real mustard!!) and we finished off with a huge plate of pad thai. Marvelous.
To drink, Kuhn John had wandered out to his car and brought in two bottles of a chilean cab that was perfect for the occasion. John apparently buys it 60 cases at a time from a buddy of his who is a supplier in Thailand.
He also apparently keeps a case in his car! I played golf with him on one other occasion and he produced another bottle for the table. Of course I put in an order for 2 cases the next time he is buying. Wine here is taxed to the nines. Very hard to get a good wine under $18 cdn. This was a good wine and the price should be about 13 per bottle when bought by the case!
Can't honestly remember what time we got home, sure was glad that it wasn't a school night, cause there is no way we were getting up before 7 on Monday morning. Nice relaxin day on Monday. The weather even cooperated, not rain but it was cloudy and cool (28) all day. I went out for a walk in the afternoon to do some specific shopping for our special dinner. Deeds was getting into finalizing the iDB books for 09/10. We had a glass of wine while making dinner and a glass with. (our house brand right is Three Penguins, very nice cab that goes with anything). We settled in and watched Eat, Pray, Love. That's the weekend.
And now you are pretty much up to date.
Hope this finds you well. Nine more sleeps!
Sawadee Krup
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Weekends in BKK
Deeds and I have just had another fantastic weekend and I still haven't told you about the last one!
Our first great weekend that I will tell you about was as a result of workload. No, no not me, you people just jump to conclusions. It was for Deedles.
I am actually coping very well with my workload, especially now that we have a maid coming in three times a week! But seriously we had talked about our wanting to get to see some places in and around Thailand. Most trips, especially if they take a bit of travel we will wait until Lena gets here so we can experience these together. Is only fair. But there are some things that you want to do more than once. And Pattaya is one of these things. It was Pattaya this time, may well turn out to be Hua Hin in the future and then these will be the places that we recommend to you as short get aways from BKK hustle and bustle. Enjoy the sun, surf, food and just do some good R&R. Lay around at the pool kinda thing. This is what Deeds and I did two weekends ago.
We woke early and Phatsin (our driver) had us on the road by 9. The two hour trip took 75 minutes. Phatsin is good! We also stayed in the north of Pattaya so that may have shave 20 minutes or so. Deeds took to looking for an upgrade the moment she stepped up to the registration counter. To kill a little time before check in we had a tour of the good rooms available and then selected one that was already made up and said "So if the room is ready and that is the one we want can we drop our bags in there right now?
"Oh certainly Madam"
We were at the beach by 11.
Now these are standard resort pools. You know, people come down at 6:45 in the morning and put their towels on the chaise lounge and then don't show up until 1:30, stay for 20 minutes and then go sit at the bar all day!! So at 11 in the morning most chairs are still empty but they are "taken". So we had to do some cruising and keep a watchful eye out, all the time starting to gear down and relax.
We managed to get poolside by about 1 o'clock. Good thing as well. There are these nasty little ants or flies, not sure what, out on the sand at the beach and they prey on white meat. Which is Deeds, not me. And of course Deeds loves the ocean and swimming so she actually wants to be on the beach, me not so much. I am a lot better than I used to be what with the problems I had with water when I was younger and all, but that is a story for another blog! Besides, the locals think I am one of them (until they see my eyes), I am a darker shade than most! So these bugs do not even come close to me.
The pool was marvelous. Dinner that evening at the hotel (Pullman Asiawan Pattaya for the interweb freaks) was seafood buffet, eat all you can as they say down here. Bump the price by 400 baht to 999 per person and they threw in a bottle of decent cab. We ate, drank and had a great time.
Next morning Jer was up at 6:30 down to the pool and reserved two lounge chairs in prime sun spots and went back up to bed. We sunned and swam until 4 when Phatsin came to pick us up. Back at the apartment by 6:30. Out of this world. We love it. So much so that Diane is laying out a 20 night offer to the hotel over a one year period. We'll but 20 nights up front if we can get a really good rate from them.We will / we must go to some place like that once a month. It is so relaxing. Felt to us like a weekend up at Pineaires!! Just draws all the city and stress out of you and you relax. Soooooo nice. You will try it for sure.
Next blog I will let you know about our holiday weekend, how we passed the time.
It was the King's birthday on Sunday so this past Monday was a holiday, no work for Deeds.
As I have said before the Thai people love their king. They also are very deep in traditions. To show how much love they broke a tradition on this birthday. The normal celebration is a lot of marching at the royal palace as the king looks on. He is very ill and in hospital every day rather than at the palace. So the decision was made to have 500 boats float past the hospital he is in to honour him rather than have him be in the sun. The king still came out and made an appearance and said a few words. Happy 83rd!!
And this coming Friday is Constitution Day. So in Thailand this is a three day work week. Sweet. We were thinking of maybe sneaking away this coming weekend for some sun and fun but have decided it is too close to our departure and we have stuff that needs to get done. So we will go to our own pool for a few hours every morning.
Hope this finds you well.
Sawadee Krup
Our first great weekend that I will tell you about was as a result of workload. No, no not me, you people just jump to conclusions. It was for Deedles.
I am actually coping very well with my workload, especially now that we have a maid coming in three times a week! But seriously we had talked about our wanting to get to see some places in and around Thailand. Most trips, especially if they take a bit of travel we will wait until Lena gets here so we can experience these together. Is only fair. But there are some things that you want to do more than once. And Pattaya is one of these things. It was Pattaya this time, may well turn out to be Hua Hin in the future and then these will be the places that we recommend to you as short get aways from BKK hustle and bustle. Enjoy the sun, surf, food and just do some good R&R. Lay around at the pool kinda thing. This is what Deeds and I did two weekends ago.
We woke early and Phatsin (our driver) had us on the road by 9. The two hour trip took 75 minutes. Phatsin is good! We also stayed in the north of Pattaya so that may have shave 20 minutes or so. Deeds took to looking for an upgrade the moment she stepped up to the registration counter. To kill a little time before check in we had a tour of the good rooms available and then selected one that was already made up and said "So if the room is ready and that is the one we want can we drop our bags in there right now?
"Oh certainly Madam"
We were at the beach by 11.
Now these are standard resort pools. You know, people come down at 6:45 in the morning and put their towels on the chaise lounge and then don't show up until 1:30, stay for 20 minutes and then go sit at the bar all day!! So at 11 in the morning most chairs are still empty but they are "taken". So we had to do some cruising and keep a watchful eye out, all the time starting to gear down and relax.
We managed to get poolside by about 1 o'clock. Good thing as well. There are these nasty little ants or flies, not sure what, out on the sand at the beach and they prey on white meat. Which is Deeds, not me. And of course Deeds loves the ocean and swimming so she actually wants to be on the beach, me not so much. I am a lot better than I used to be what with the problems I had with water when I was younger and all, but that is a story for another blog! Besides, the locals think I am one of them (until they see my eyes), I am a darker shade than most! So these bugs do not even come close to me.
The pool was marvelous. Dinner that evening at the hotel (Pullman Asiawan Pattaya for the interweb freaks) was seafood buffet, eat all you can as they say down here. Bump the price by 400 baht to 999 per person and they threw in a bottle of decent cab. We ate, drank and had a great time.
Next morning Jer was up at 6:30 down to the pool and reserved two lounge chairs in prime sun spots and went back up to bed. We sunned and swam until 4 when Phatsin came to pick us up. Back at the apartment by 6:30. Out of this world. We love it. So much so that Diane is laying out a 20 night offer to the hotel over a one year period. We'll but 20 nights up front if we can get a really good rate from them.We will / we must go to some place like that once a month. It is so relaxing. Felt to us like a weekend up at Pineaires!! Just draws all the city and stress out of you and you relax. Soooooo nice. You will try it for sure.
Next blog I will let you know about our holiday weekend, how we passed the time.
It was the King's birthday on Sunday so this past Monday was a holiday, no work for Deeds.
And this coming Friday is Constitution Day. So in Thailand this is a three day work week. Sweet. We were thinking of maybe sneaking away this coming weekend for some sun and fun but have decided it is too close to our departure and we have stuff that needs to get done. So we will go to our own pool for a few hours every morning.
Hope this finds you well.
Sawadee Krup
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Heading down the stretch
We are only a few weeks away from travelling back home to see family and friends. Kinda exciting. Really looking forward to that cold blast of winter that will surely wake us up. Back to reality. Rather than this constant heat and humidity.
No complaints at this point though. The weather has really mellowed out. More wind coming out of the north will cool things down even more in the weeks ahead I am told. Deeds and I might miss a good portion of that cool down as we head back to Mississauga.
My gosh. I hope my car starts?
Snow, is there a hint of snow yet? Any salt trucks out. Ohhhhh I can't wait to see the salt trucks coming down Johnathan Drive. What a site that is for sore eyes. I'll tell ya....................
No not really, just pulling your leg.
I golfed on Monday and Tuesday this week. Thinking of playing again tomorrow.
Deeds and I had people over for dinner last night.
We sat out on our deck for about 75 minutes drinking cold beerz and chatting away. Was very enjoyable. Wandee cooked us up some green curry with chicken, threw on a pot of rice, made a little papaya salad to start with and closed the deal with some coconut sticky rice with cut yellow mango on top. Mmm. mmmm. mmmm.
This weekend is a long weekend. Kings birthday is on Saturday so Deeds gets Monday off. We were originally supposed to go sailing in Pattaya but that deal has fallen thru. So we are going to hang around BKK. Drink more beerz, wine and stuff, kinda gettin ready for going back home, hahaha. Maybe we will play golf on Monday, do some sun tanning cause we wanna look the part when we get back to Canada. I know you all would be disappointed if we didn't have a little colour!
Nothing much more to report at this time. Just cruzin and thinking about Christmas. Lots of people in BKK have their balconies decked out with lights and little green trees. Stores and restaurants also all decorated up. All anticipating the onrush of christian travellers (Europeans) who come here starting this week for about the next 12 weeks. High season as it is referred to. Christmas and New Years are the top weeks. You all remember the tsunami when it hit on Boxing Day, 2004. Lots of vacationers in this part of the world at that timeof the year.
Hope this finds you well. See you sooner than you think
Sawadee Krup
No complaints at this point though. The weather has really mellowed out. More wind coming out of the north will cool things down even more in the weeks ahead I am told. Deeds and I might miss a good portion of that cool down as we head back to Mississauga.
My gosh. I hope my car starts?
Snow, is there a hint of snow yet? Any salt trucks out. Ohhhhh I can't wait to see the salt trucks coming down Johnathan Drive. What a site that is for sore eyes. I'll tell ya....................
No not really, just pulling your leg.
I golfed on Monday and Tuesday this week. Thinking of playing again tomorrow.
Deeds and I had people over for dinner last night.
We sat out on our deck for about 75 minutes drinking cold beerz and chatting away. Was very enjoyable. Wandee cooked us up some green curry with chicken, threw on a pot of rice, made a little papaya salad to start with and closed the deal with some coconut sticky rice with cut yellow mango on top. Mmm. mmmm. mmmm.
This weekend is a long weekend. Kings birthday is on Saturday so Deeds gets Monday off. We were originally supposed to go sailing in Pattaya but that deal has fallen thru. So we are going to hang around BKK. Drink more beerz, wine and stuff, kinda gettin ready for going back home, hahaha. Maybe we will play golf on Monday, do some sun tanning cause we wanna look the part when we get back to Canada. I know you all would be disappointed if we didn't have a little colour!
Nothing much more to report at this time. Just cruzin and thinking about Christmas. Lots of people in BKK have their balconies decked out with lights and little green trees. Stores and restaurants also all decorated up. All anticipating the onrush of christian travellers (Europeans) who come here starting this week for about the next 12 weeks. High season as it is referred to. Christmas and New Years are the top weeks. You all remember the tsunami when it hit on Boxing Day, 2004. Lots of vacationers in this part of the world at that timeof the year.
Hope this finds you well. See you sooner than you think
Sawadee Krup
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