Hangin’ with the Dude

Probably my best farang friend in Bangkok is the Dude. I met him within a month of moving to Bangkok, and one way or another, we seem to have become friends.

The Dude is a good guy. I’ve never seen him participate in the pay-for-play scene beyond the simple acts of drinking a beer or occasionally ogling a girl.

All-you-can-eat buffet lunch, terrorism, mobile phones and Fred Flinstone

Buffet Lunch

I had lunch with five other people today. They are all Thai. Their was a married couple in their 40’s, and a good friend of the husband’s who looked to bid mid to late 50’s and his two teenage sons.

We went to an all-you-can-eat buffet at the Siam Beverly Hotel on Ratchadapisek Road. It’s walking distance from the Huai Kwang MRT train station. The buffet price was 179 baht per person.. a real bargain.

Saturday night mojo

I went out on Saturday night without a mobile phone (which I lost on Friday). I was expecting to see my friend Petey on Soi 22 — he had sent me an email earlier in the day telling which bar he’d be at, and telling me to call or SMS if I was coming. Without the phone I couldn’t comply with instructions, but I went to the bar anyway.

I checked before and after 9, but no sign of Petey.

PAD Rally and coup rumours in the news

Photo, caption and stories from Bangkok Post

Supporters of the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy are confronted by opponents from across the street outside Thammasat University where the PAD yesterday held its first gathering since the new government took office. — PHRAKRIT JUNTAWONG

Saturday’s Bangkok Post reported three related stories.

1. They reported on the large gathering sponsored by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) at Thammasat University. The newspaper report said that the number of people was “thought to be in the thousands”.

Two photos from Soi Cowboy on Friday night

There’s no shortage of elephant photos on Bangkok blog sites, but I’ve never published one before. This fellow was one of FOUR pachyderms on the soi just before midnight.

Bad Mood & Bad Luck

I haven’t been feeling very happy or lucky lately. I’m a moody guy — always have been — and for the last few weeks I’ve been feeling a bit low.

Work hasn’t seemed interesting, the budget’s been a bit tight, and I haven’t really done or seen anything new or exciting lately. I’ve been complaining to friends overseas by email about my crap mood — always a bad sign.

My 2005 holiday – part 18 – Off to Kho Tao then Mom died so back to the US

In 2005 I came to Thailand for the first time. I came on a holiday that lasted for several weeks, from April to June, and saw me visit Bangkok, Laos and Cambodia.

As hard as it may be to imagine, I didn’t know anything about the naughty nightlife of Bangkok before I came here. Until I spent some time on the internet ahead of my trip, I didn’t know anything about Thailand at all.

During my holiday I sent daily reports to my friends & family via email — a sort of private blog.

It occurred to me that it might be interesting for me, and hopefully you as well, to post extracts from those holidays. My plan is to post a series of blogs over several weeks made up of those writings. I may at times interject comments on the original diary entries from my perspective 3 years later.

This is the next entry in the series… I hope you enjoy it!

15 May 2005 Lunchtime

Noi called me yesterday to say that there was a big exhibition at the Queen Sirhikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) for travel & tourism, and that if I went there I could book discount travel. She was thinking ahead to our plans to visit Laos and Viet Nam.

I decided to go there and check it out.

You need to have balls to make this decision…

Latest sex-change fad poses risks

(BangkokPost.com) – The leader of a homosexual group has cried foul over reports that doctors have been performing surgery to sever testicles of young patients.