Getting Acquainted - Part 2
Another event filled weekend in Thailand has come and gone.
Friday saw us leave the office at 8.30 PM, that after we had planned to be away by 6.30 PM. Such is the nature of this type of project.
So, the weekend did not get off to the best of starts, but arriving back at the hotel at 9.30 PM saw me grab a quick shower, shuffle into a pair of jeans, t-shirt and sloffies and head down to reception to meet Dan and his other half. We had agreed that Dan would take me to the software shop, then have dinner an Vientiane restaurant, my favourite, and go out to play pool and have a few beers.
The software shop was an experience! Enter a tiny computer shop / internet cafe, through a back door, down an alley and in through a "buzz me in" door. Inside is a smallish, air-conditioned room, with shelves from floor to eye level on either side. The procedure is find the category of software you need, graphics, operating system, multimedia, PC Games etc, or DVD's and music cd's (which are mostly compilations of albums or genres, copied to CD as MP3's). Then browse a catalogue of available software.
Once you have located what you want, eg I needed "The Sims" game for Meghan and I wanted Adobe photoshop, you note the catalogue number on a piece of paper and present it to an assistant. The assistant then disappears out the door and returns in 5 to 10 minutes with your CD's and an instruction to pay in the computer shop. At 150 Baht this is a good deal. Adobe Photo Shop (Premium Edition Suite) and a DVD which Dan bought cost the grand sum of 280 baht. Probably what we would pay for a couple of blank CD’s.
Software in hand we head a few blocks downtown to Vientiane restaurant, by baht bus. The baht bus is a bakkie, converted to accommodate passengers at the back, which ply the routes around Pattaya. You flag the taxi down, hop on and when reaching your destination, ring a buzzer, hop off and hand the driver 10 Baht. Simple and cheap and safer than using the more expensive motorbike taxis.
I said I felt like fish and Dan suggested the Sea Bass, deep fried and topped with a sweet chilli, tomato based sauce. Sounds good as we tuck into a quart of Heineken. A few minutes later the waiter arrives bearing a large tupperware container, see-through, with a lid firmly in place! Reason for the lid, I discover, is to keep the live sea bass from ending up on the floor, as it is thrashing around inside the waterless container. The waiter enquires whether the fish is of a suitable size, to which I nod and he is off to chuck it in the deep fryer. The fish arrives on a large plate, head, fins, tail in tact, bedecked in the sauce. Quite tasty, but I would have preferred the flesh firmer, fussy me. Also ordered is a fried pork dish which we share.
Over supper I start getting to grips some Thai and in no time learn greetings, and a few useful words. Help, thank you, no thanks (especially useful on the beach with the hawkers, coz if you try to turn them away in English they go on and on, but say "mai ow khap" and they toodle off without a fuss) also words like GO and Now, some numbers and directional words Left, right, straight.
These are proving to be most valuable and I have acquired an appetite to learn a few more. The language is not that difficult from a pure words perspective if kept simple, but there are many words spelled the same but have different meanings given the tone in which they are said, rising, falling, level etc.... No matter to learn those, because I can get some basic messages across and the Thais seem genuinely impressed that a foreigner tries to speak Thai and are very accommodating in helping correct pronunciation and syntax. "Pom chop pai tonnee khap" means “I like go now!” "Cheque bin tonnee khap.....leea-ow leea-ow" please bring cheque now, quickly.
All sentences should end in "khap", which does not actually mean anything but is a pleasantry or sign of respect! "kah poon khap" kah poon is thank you, but always ended with khap. Hello "sa waa dee" but more correctly "sa waa dee khap"
Marvellous stuff!
Dinner done and armed with some basic Thai, we head off by baht bus for a bar closer to home that Dan frequents and we get stuck into a few Heineken and get the pool going. Dan is a reasonable player, but his girlfriend Lee, a local, and 7 months pregnant, is a real challenge (sorry Dan). The bar scene is loud, but let me explain why.
The bar is one of probably 20 in an open complex, with a roof. Each bar plays its own music and most bars are separated by nothing more than a pool table. Many of the bars have live bands, each playing their own style of music. So from where we are playing pool, there is music played from a hi-fi, over speakers we would associate with a DJ playing at a party. 20 metres away, to the left, is a band playing heavy rock music, 15 metres in front a band playing older 60's and 70's and samba style stuff, 20 meters to the right, more hard rock from a 4 piece band. The bar directly behind has got nightclub music going full tilt......... Attempts at conversation are futile and are limited to single word requests or gestures for more beer or the like. Fascinating, the night passes so quickly and we saunter off at about 3 AM, not bad considering we only left to go out at 10 PM and probably only finished supper by 11:30 / 12:00.
I am grateful in the morning, coz I do not have a hangover and actually sleep in for some time, rising at about 10. I grab breakfast downstairs and head off to collect the software I had ordered the night before, which was out of stock. Also pick up 2 music compilations for the price of one.
Wonder around the markets for a while and head back to the hotel. to deposit my goods and get some beach stuff. Spent the afternoon on Pattaya beach.
The evening saw me having dinner at Vientiane, said it was my favourite, and I opted for my favourite dish, Thai green curry, steamed rice and a pint of Heineken. Back to the bar to meet up with Dan, a few hours of pool, and in bed by about midnight.
Sunday was the day I had been looking forward to all week, a trip to Koh Lan, an island 7.5 km off shore of Pattaya........
Friday saw us leave the office at 8.30 PM, that after we had planned to be away by 6.30 PM. Such is the nature of this type of project.
So, the weekend did not get off to the best of starts, but arriving back at the hotel at 9.30 PM saw me grab a quick shower, shuffle into a pair of jeans, t-shirt and sloffies and head down to reception to meet Dan and his other half. We had agreed that Dan would take me to the software shop, then have dinner an Vientiane restaurant, my favourite, and go out to play pool and have a few beers.
The software shop was an experience! Enter a tiny computer shop / internet cafe, through a back door, down an alley and in through a "buzz me in" door. Inside is a smallish, air-conditioned room, with shelves from floor to eye level on either side. The procedure is find the category of software you need, graphics, operating system, multimedia, PC Games etc, or DVD's and music cd's (which are mostly compilations of albums or genres, copied to CD as MP3's). Then browse a catalogue of available software.
Once you have located what you want, eg I needed "The Sims" game for Meghan and I wanted Adobe photoshop, you note the catalogue number on a piece of paper and present it to an assistant. The assistant then disappears out the door and returns in 5 to 10 minutes with your CD's and an instruction to pay in the computer shop. At 150 Baht this is a good deal. Adobe Photo Shop (Premium Edition Suite) and a DVD which Dan bought cost the grand sum of 280 baht. Probably what we would pay for a couple of blank CD’s.
Software in hand we head a few blocks downtown to Vientiane restaurant, by baht bus. The baht bus is a bakkie, converted to accommodate passengers at the back, which ply the routes around Pattaya. You flag the taxi down, hop on and when reaching your destination, ring a buzzer, hop off and hand the driver 10 Baht. Simple and cheap and safer than using the more expensive motorbike taxis.
I said I felt like fish and Dan suggested the Sea Bass, deep fried and topped with a sweet chilli, tomato based sauce. Sounds good as we tuck into a quart of Heineken. A few minutes later the waiter arrives bearing a large tupperware container, see-through, with a lid firmly in place! Reason for the lid, I discover, is to keep the live sea bass from ending up on the floor, as it is thrashing around inside the waterless container. The waiter enquires whether the fish is of a suitable size, to which I nod and he is off to chuck it in the deep fryer. The fish arrives on a large plate, head, fins, tail in tact, bedecked in the sauce. Quite tasty, but I would have preferred the flesh firmer, fussy me. Also ordered is a fried pork dish which we share.
Over supper I start getting to grips some Thai and in no time learn greetings, and a few useful words. Help, thank you, no thanks (especially useful on the beach with the hawkers, coz if you try to turn them away in English they go on and on, but say "mai ow khap" and they toodle off without a fuss) also words like GO and Now, some numbers and directional words Left, right, straight.
These are proving to be most valuable and I have acquired an appetite to learn a few more. The language is not that difficult from a pure words perspective if kept simple, but there are many words spelled the same but have different meanings given the tone in which they are said, rising, falling, level etc.... No matter to learn those, because I can get some basic messages across and the Thais seem genuinely impressed that a foreigner tries to speak Thai and are very accommodating in helping correct pronunciation and syntax. "Pom chop pai tonnee khap" means “I like go now!” "Cheque bin tonnee khap.....leea-ow leea-ow" please bring cheque now, quickly.
All sentences should end in "khap", which does not actually mean anything but is a pleasantry or sign of respect! "kah poon khap" kah poon is thank you, but always ended with khap. Hello "sa waa dee" but more correctly "sa waa dee khap"
Marvellous stuff!
Dinner done and armed with some basic Thai, we head off by baht bus for a bar closer to home that Dan frequents and we get stuck into a few Heineken and get the pool going. Dan is a reasonable player, but his girlfriend Lee, a local, and 7 months pregnant, is a real challenge (sorry Dan). The bar scene is loud, but let me explain why.
The bar is one of probably 20 in an open complex, with a roof. Each bar plays its own music and most bars are separated by nothing more than a pool table. Many of the bars have live bands, each playing their own style of music. So from where we are playing pool, there is music played from a hi-fi, over speakers we would associate with a DJ playing at a party. 20 metres away, to the left, is a band playing heavy rock music, 15 metres in front a band playing older 60's and 70's and samba style stuff, 20 meters to the right, more hard rock from a 4 piece band. The bar directly behind has got nightclub music going full tilt......... Attempts at conversation are futile and are limited to single word requests or gestures for more beer or the like. Fascinating, the night passes so quickly and we saunter off at about 3 AM, not bad considering we only left to go out at 10 PM and probably only finished supper by 11:30 / 12:00.
I am grateful in the morning, coz I do not have a hangover and actually sleep in for some time, rising at about 10. I grab breakfast downstairs and head off to collect the software I had ordered the night before, which was out of stock. Also pick up 2 music compilations for the price of one.
Wonder around the markets for a while and head back to the hotel. to deposit my goods and get some beach stuff. Spent the afternoon on Pattaya beach.
The evening saw me having dinner at Vientiane, said it was my favourite, and I opted for my favourite dish, Thai green curry, steamed rice and a pint of Heineken. Back to the bar to meet up with Dan, a few hours of pool, and in bed by about midnight.
Sunday was the day I had been looking forward to all week, a trip to Koh Lan, an island 7.5 km off shore of Pattaya........