Thailand 3^rd Report November 17, 2019

Friday, 15 November, I went and played bridge at the local bridge center here.  I had brought two wood turned gifts for two of the coordinators for the bridge group and it seemed that these were warmly received.  I was able to play bridge with John one of the coordinators.  He is an Australian who retired as a Major in the Australian Army and regrets that he chose family over career and left the Army without achieving his career Army goals.  He did have rich careers afterwards in civilian occupations.  The competition was keen as usual and though we did not place well, it was fun. I had brought a portable fan, and this was not necessary because the air-conditioning has improved. 

The bridge group has a new system for keeping track of the scores.  They use items at each table similar to iPhone which the scores are recorded on and are posted to the system via the internet.  This system is very modern and expensive.  Each phone like device cost over 2,000 dollars and was a gift from one of the people who visits here and plays bridge.  The gift was from Avon Wilsmore who is also the author of the book titled:  Under the Table, The Case Against the Blue Team.  Dave, one of the primary coordinators for the group gave me a copy of the book.  The book is about the world champion Italian bridge team who were proven to be cheating and were sanctioned not to compete internationally in bridge tournaments for a number of years. I look forward to reading the book. 

After bridge I tried to go to a favorite Italian restaurant which I try to visit on each one of my trips here.  Very good food.   I could not find it in its usual location, and it is evidently closed.  I will miss it.  I did find a terrific Mexican restaurant nearby and was treated to excellent Mexican vegetarian food. 

The local laundry lost one my shirts and I was able to retrieve yesterday.  It is a nice shirt and I am glad to get it back. 

Saturday, I played golf with the Travelers Rest Golf Group.  The group transported me along with four vans of golfers to the Pattavia Golf Course.  The course is very nice, and my caddy was very efficient and pleasant.   The caddy’s here hold umbrellas over our heads to protect from the sun, heat, mark golf balls on the green, clean golf balls, drive the cart, point out the break for golf balls on the green, find golf balls when hit.  They are a fun asset to play golf with which is part of the fun to visit here.   I played with three people, two from China and one from Canada.  I had an extensive talk with Mr. Chang who was a past executive with Fortis Bank and ICBC bank who bought out Fortis.  They were a good group to play with.  I was suffering from Time zone change (14 hours difference here from the U.S.A.) and really broke down from the heat and only was able to get 31 using the stable ford system of scoring.  The heat of the day over here is oppressive.  When I used to walk the courses over here (those days long gone), after three holes, the front of my shirt would be totally wet with perspiration. Pattavia golf course greens are obscene regarding how slick they are, and I had great difficulty putting.  I ended up walking 11,670 steps even with using the cart on the course.  After golfing over here, we take showers at their club houses.  Otherwise no one would able to stand being near us.  A necessity and part of the Thailand golf experience.  The golf day lasted too long and we did not get back until close to 6PM.  We were stuck in significant traffic on the way back to the golf meeting place.

Sunday, I played golf with Colin’s Golf Bar Group.  We played Greenwood golf course which was very good. I had another good caddy and played well over all with 37 on the stableford system.  The mistake I made was asking to play from the green tee box area because of my age and also play that at my home course.   An obese fellow golfer named Gordon from New Zealand harassed me throughout the round regarding my use of this tee box and I will avoid using it in the future.  I don’t like being harassed and am capable of playing from the white tees. On this golf day there were no Americans present.  The bus going to and back from the course was filled with Irishmen, English, and a Canadian.  They chatter constantly about what ever.

November the 18, Monday, today is move to another hotel room day in the same hotel.  Upgraded version.  Also, another bridge day.  I was moved to the nicest hotel room I have ever stayed in. It is fantastic.  See the pictures.  Formal living room with TV.  Large kitchen area.  Terrific bathroom walk in shower with jacuzzi, two balconies.  It is called a Royal Suite and it lives up to that name.

I played bridge on the 18th and was assigned to play with Glen who in the past has not been the best bridge partner.  This year, there has been a radical transformation.  Even though we were not at the top, he played very good bridge.  Any mistakes were on my part.  The bridge people speak mostly foreign, non-English languages. So, I am not able to call the director about them because I do not know what they have said.  Most of the countries are European which they come from. This year there is no Asians in the group.  There has been some in the past. 

My big accomplishment yesterday was arranging golf for today, and Thursday by going to the bar assembly places.  So, for the rest of the week I will play golf three times, bridge twice and then come home Monday.