Last day

Saturday was the last day of the holiday with the pickup for the airport scheduled for 4am Sunday. Most of us spent a fair bit of the day in or around the pool, reading and trying to tan those bits that are covered by the golf socks and glove.

I collected most peoples photos on my thumb drive so I can burn a CD for everyone once we get back. After lunch TVL and I went for one last shopping trip to the Big C shopping centre, North of the hotel on the second road. This is another modern airconditioned mall with a big Kmart/Coles type store attached. TVL has been trying to buy some speakers for his PSP for a few days, being thwarted at Lotus with the last one left missing a cable. He found one he thought was OK in Big C only to find it was free with an MP3 player but not for sale. He did eventually find one. I only bought a Thai keyboard for my PC at $12. I have set my PC up to allow Thai script but have to reference a print out to work out which key is which.

While we were there it poured for about half an hour. After that it cleared up but was extremely humid.

I managed to fit everything in my bag ready for departure tomorrow, picked up my laundry and paid my bill. We are at that stage where we are trying to assimilate the realisation that the familiar streets of the last week may never be seen again after today.

Phoenix

It was the last round of golf today, and I started in the leawith a 7 stroke lead to protect. We played at the Phoenix course today, again very scenic, but the greens were no where near the level of Laem Chabang on Wednesday. That was definitely the best of the 3 courses. There are some great views of the coats and also of a large Buddha image (80m) carved into a cliff face.

The day started with a small drama when it seemed I'd left my cap behind. I went back and checked the bus without finding it. Hence I was the last to arrive at the pre-game meeting to sort out caddies and carts. It turned out that Jim had kindly bought it after I'd left it on the bus but I didn't know. I was in the first group this morning and there were cheers as I hooked my first drive out of bounds. I wiped that hole and the 3rd when my ball was lost, (when I thought it should have been easily found in the light rough between the fairways.) After that things got better with a run of 4 pars on the first nine and several more pars and a birdie on the back 9, to finish just 1 over my handicap. That was more than enough to keep the lead and win the trophy - another thing to fit in my bag going home.

After getting back to the hotel and stowing our golf gear, four of us went to the Outlet mall again. We were all surprised to have passed on the main road on the way to golf that morning, essentially after taking 2 turns on reasonably main roads to get there. The taxis of the previous day must have been having a laugh, taking us on a convoluted path through the back streets. This time I bought myself somew new golf shoes.

We wandered the shops near the hotel (again) after we got back from the mall since I was looking for DVDs for the boys, without success. I picked up the caps for the hockey team on the way back and am quite impressed with the job they have done. Thank goodness my bag was not full coming over.

A different group of 5 went to dinner nearby and I wandered a bit more, still without success, looking for DVDs. I joined the others at the bar and before the night was over had bought a dozen or so from people stopping there with bags full of them. I could have saved my time and energy earlier.

Shopping Day

My camera had stopped working partway through the golf round on Wednesday. Very annoying with the timing of the failure, but not completely unexpected. It's been making a funny noise ever since it was repaired under warranty last November. As they took 8 weeks I was reluctant to send it back straight away, especially with a trip planned over the holidays and by the time I did put it in, they then refused to fix the new problem under warranty. It still seemed to work perfectly until this. I have been able to get pics from some of the others in our group.

I'd look up a Panasonic service centre on the net and this was the first port of call on the shopping expedition with Marie and TVL. It was a short stop as they said they sent their repairs the Bangkok. The next stop was the Gems Gallery again. Marie bought some diamond/white gold earrings and I bought a silver/sapphire pair. The real surprise was Trevor who bought 4 pairs for various female relatives and a gold chain for himself.

From there we headed to the Lotus centre where the others bought a few things but my own buys were limited to nibblies for the get together that evening. We then got a taxi to check out the golfshops we'd seen on the way to the games earlier in the week. We obviously hadn't noticed them all because the first wasn't that far away and could have easily been walked. I bought some cheap second hand balls so if I lost them it was 50c in the water and not $3.We then walked the rest of the way seeing 3 others (much further away) but not buying anything much.

We met up with the others back at the hotel and a number of them had been to the outlet mall next to the other Lotus centre. They had bought golf shoes, shirts etc, which they said were quite cheap.

At 6 we gathered in the captain's room for drinks and snacks and he announced the draw for the next day, and the running score after the first rounds. With 1 round to go he was taking bets on the first and last places. I was 7 strokes ahead of the next best and was an unbackable favourite at 12 to 1 on.

We then had dinner across the road and Marie and I decided to visit the Outlet mall. However, we didn't realise it closed at 10 when most other shops stayed open till 11, and only had 15 minutes shopping. I did manage to get a golf ball retriever on the offchance that (1) I might hit a ball into a lake on Friday and (2) I'd be able to see it in the dirty water. As it turned out 1 occured but 2 didn't so it is still unchristened. We seemed to come back a different way they we went, travelling down a little lane with lots of speed humps. I suspect it was the driver's revenge for beating him down on price.

The night shots of the beach and the hills from the Star buck's balcony in the airconditioned shipping mall, and shots from the hotel of the roofs were taking by TVL. The street and beach scenes were from Jim.

Laem Chabang

Four of the group played an extra game on Tuesday, reporting the course better than Monday but the club house and facilities not as good. However, they were also told the Course we were to play on Wednesday was the best of them all.

This turned out to be a good prediction. Again the layout was very picturesque but the greens were much better than Monday. However there was a lot of water about. Onm the first ball I drove into the creek that croosed the fairway. New ball - 1 hit. I took the penalty drop and still managed a par. The next hole I lost another ball and the 3rd I lost 2. I was starting to worry that I didn't have enough balls to finish the round.

On the 5th hole I tried a new strategy. I used the same ball as I did on the 4th. I did lose one other ball out of bounds on the 10th. Despite this I had 33 points, only 3 over my handicap, and I am still leading the comp on combined scores.

A relatively quite time back at the hotel with some short trips for money, laundary and groceries after a cooling swim. We met for drinks at the bar a cross the road and later wander to the main road and found a Thai restuarant not far along the road. This was a "where the locals eat" place. I had some crab and one of the more adventurous ordered the frog. He offered it to anotehr guy, without telling him what it was. To be fair, he did spit it out BEFORE he knew what it was.

After wards Marie and I had some drinks in her room and played Crib, which she had never played before.

A day off

Last night we went to a bar to help Dave celibrate his birthday. However, some of us decided not to stay and went off to eat separately. We tried the smorgasbord opposite the restuarant from the first night. For only 175 baht we could have some BBQ shaslicks, a selection of Thai and western dishes, a salad bar, fruit and dessert. Excellent value.

his morning Jim and I went back to the embroidery shop and organised for a "tour souvineer" cap to be made up for everyone. They were done by then end of the day and everybody thought they were pretty good. We also took a taxi to the Lotus centre some 5 km North of where we are staying. Too far to walk in this heat. It's a bit like a K mart or Target and the prices are fixed but still mostly cheaper than the bartered price in the tourist area. for examply Marie paid 1100 for a tennis outfit trhat was 650 there, so I bought 2 of the skorts. I also bought a thumbdrive for 900 that was 1500 last night. We then checked out the 2 big Jewellry places. World Gems and the Gems gallery. I've bought several pieces from the latter in Phuket and Bangkok previously. I was hoping to find some earrings but the only pair I liked were well over $2000, so that's not going to happen. I also had no success finding some bathers later on.

We went across the road for some pre-dinner drinks and later wandered down the road for a meal. This time 4 of us shared some Thai dishes and again they were fantastic and still cheap. I had a couple of cocktails at each place.

Let the games begin

Sunday afternnon, I went back to the embroidery place. I have been trying to get a Wilson cap to match my Golf clubs (and co-incidently my surname) without success both in Perth and here. So I made my own, except I added "Kymberley" above the "Wilson" and had both a cap and a Tshirt done adn later had it put on my club shirt as well. I also found a laundary palce on the way tot he embroidery shop.

We just ate across the road from the hotel. Jim and I went for a walk after dinner and found a place where he could buy a mobile phone for use here. I guess my Thai lessons didn't cover this situation becuase although we were able to get a price for the phone and the Sim card I could get an answer for him on how much credit was included. I caught up with Marie and Trevor who had been shopping and had picked up a variety of eats from the road side stalls.

I had a relatively early night, but like most of us, was woken about 4am by a shouted argument somewhere in the hotel.

We were collected at 7-30 and had about an hours drive to the Khao Kheow Golf club for our first game. Carts are pretty much compulsary, but desirable anyway in the humid weather. We each had our own caddy who marked the baal, handed us our clubs and gave us yardage (subtract GST to convert to metres) and putting lines.

It is really very picturesque with no real rough"rough" but quite a few lakes. We all had carts and caddies adn it was quite a different experience from pulling your own bag around.

I played quite well and finished 1 under my handicap, winning the day. I seemed to be taking it easy on my swing and managed to stay out of trouble most of the time. Dane actually had a hole-in-one this day and he won a 20,000 baht china setting for doing it.

I don't believe it

Those who followed my India blog may recall I was trying to organise T-shirts or caps for my hockey team - with no luck whatever.

Well, today on my walk to the beach,I found a shop in Pattaya that does just that, only I didn't bring my PC so I don't have the jpg of the image I need.

Earlier today I had my first massage, then joined the guys at the Aussie bar where we had the trucker's special hamburger. My massage meant I was too late to see the Dockers game but as they lost I didn't mind.

On the way back I bought the next book in the Thai language series and found the embroidery shop.

It's been hot and humid today, so its time for a swim.

Long Time No sleep

Friday morning I was up early to take the cat to the cattery. Ithink this is the signal for me that the holiday is about to start. I had a fair bit of work to finish off but had most of that done by mid afternoon.

I was part way through packing and realised I hadn't got any money organised. Fortunately the bank was still open.

My adult children came over for dinner but left reasonably early. It was still just after midnight by the time I fgot to bed and 12.45 before I finished my book.

I couldn't get to sleep after that because my teeth were hurting. I'd squeezed the oranges from my tree and had quite a few glasses of juice to finish it off and I guess all the acid sensitised them. Despite taking some mild pain killers, in the end I didn't sleep at all that night.

Marie arrived more or less on time to take me to the airport and we met up with most of the guys in the check in area. There were computer problems so there was a bit of a wait before we were all processed. However we were missing one of our group and his phone was switched off and we were worried he'd miss the plane. Turns out he'd got there before anybody else and had already checked in and pssed through customs.

The flight wasn't too bad, and I did try to get some sleep but only had a few catnaps. By the time we got to Phuket I had a headache as well. This and the toothache had eased off by the time we reached Bangkok.

Our baggage, including our clubs, was already on the carousel by the time we'd organised ourselves, got trolleys and located it. Much quicker than last October, so they have sorted out those teething problems.

After changing some money and passing though customs, we all met up with the girl from the travel organisation, paid our money for golf and transport and were ready to go to Pattaya. It was teeming with rain but as one guy said, the rain was warm. We travelled in 2 minibuses which were quite comfortable and had a fairly easy trip. Check in went smoothly and we
headed out for some food. My room is right by the pool.

I'd got the name of a restuarant from and English guest in the lobby and we headed down there. After a bit of walking someone said let's just go to the one we passed back there. We reversed our direction but it turned out all the places in that area were just bars so we headed for our original destination, a 100 m or so from where we turned round.

Most of the guys just ordered an individual meal but Marie and I shared the snapper and a chicken dish. The fish was the most expensive item on the menu but was worth it. With a cocktail and a coke, it was still just 350B each.

From there we walked ( and walked and walked) to the Walking road where a lot of the bars are (although there are bars everywhere). The photo was taking during the day and is not so "glamorous". The Roo bar is owned by the father of one of our members and we have luch organised for Sunday, so we had to find out where it was. By then it was pretty late and most of us left and caught a tuk-tuk back to the hotel. After a quick trip to the 7-11 and a 5 minute visit to the captain's room, I was in bed and 5 minutes later asleep.

Fortuately I slept well and feel much better today. A quick dip in the pool made me realise that I'd bought my older bikinis and as I started to swim I could feel them slipping. Will need my one piece for actual swimming it seems.

Two new interests come together

After my holiday in Thailand in October 2006, I decided that I should learn Thai. Most foreigners, especially those who live there, concentrate on learning to speak the language but may never learn to read and write. On the other hand, I was frustrated when I was there not to be able to read Thai, not even to transliterate or pronounce it, so I decided to learn to read and write as well.

I had bought Thai for beginners and a dictionary while I was there and initially started to work through that. I also found a tape course in the local library and later bought an interactive Computer based course called "the Rosetta Stone" through Ebay. I worked with the tape and book initially and in the new year signed on for an adult education class, followed by further lessons after that with a small group at the teacher's home. After that I started on the DVD course. I found the DVD useful for practice and extending my vocabulary but would not recommend it as a starting place. There is just too much you need to know before you can start using it, including how to read the Thai script.

Quite independently, I decided to take up golf again after more than 15 years since I last played regularly and about 4 years since I'd played at all. I had pretty much played hockey twice a week non stop for over 7 years and I was a bit burnt out after the last Australian Championships in July. Our plans to play golf in Hua Hin never eventuated due to the cost.

Initially, I thought I'd have to play mid week but when I mentioned it to my friend and fellow hockey player Marie, she invited me to play as a visitor with her club on Saturday. That lead to me soon joining the club and, after a few months, getting my handicap down to 17, which was more or less where it was when I stopped playing. The club plays on a public course and is affiliated with the WA golf league so we have official handicaps, a number of open events at different courses and inter club pennant matches. There are 50 or so members, mostly guys but there are 4 girls that play fairly regularly as well.

After a decent wait of 3 months to ensure I was going to continue with it, I bought some new clubs and found myself not only playing pennants but being the team captain. I also managed to win the B grade competition on the first day of the State championships, although I fell in a big hole and the second day.

Not long after I joined up, a few weeks before Christmas, we were asked if we were interested in a golf holiday in Pattaya, Thailand in July 2007. I decided to to go and although it seemed a long time away at the time, it is now only 2 days away. Ther are 10 of us are going, Marie, myself and 8 guys.

We arrive Saturday and leave the following Sunday. I have booked to play 3 games with a day off between them but some are playing an extra Tuesday game. The hotel won't be the 5 star standard from my last trip but it won't be costing me 5 star prices either.