Friday, March 31, 2023
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
First Report, Thailand Trip by Gary Bingham
Thailand Trip report 2023, first report
This is my 26th trip to Thailand. The question is “why Thailand” and for me it is no grocery shopping, no driving, no cooking, no vacuuming, no garbage emptying, no walking the dogs. Here in Pattaya, activities include: golf with a caddy, playing duplicate bridge with interesting people (actually the ones back home are mildly interesting), inexpensive massages (one hour for six dollars; I tip them three dollars; high roller).
I tried something new this year and paid big money for an expensive seat on the airlines (EVA; great service, reliable). Business class top level. Actually I could got less of a business class and probably the same service on the plane. It was unique to serve me meals in separate courses and have them lay a proper table cloth on the tray (no normal tray; big roll out). Also the seat positions itself by pushing buttons where a person can completely lay down. They offered me pajamas to wear and they over and I declined. Linda wants me to wear them on the way back. The food was specially prepared vegetarian and I think I cook better at home vegetarian. I know, picky.
The other big deal on Best Business class was access to the “lounges”. The lounges offer free food, drink, including alcohol (I am not an enthusiast at drinking alcohol and had none). The food is very good, including vegetarian dishes. Also, the seating areas are varied and a person can be in any seat they desire. The one area I took advantage both in LA and in Taiwan airports was the showers. I showered both places and it is terrific. The big mistake I made was in Taiwan where I brushed my teeth using their water. Almost immediately, I became sick. I had not swallowed and did rinse my mouth with their water. That is enough. Fortunately I have some special medication for just such an occasion and these pills have worked.
Arriving in Bangkok also worked very well. The crowds of people were the very most I have seen. Terrible. However, I pulled the elderly 87 year old card, circumvented the crowds going through customs and gain access to the area to get my luggage. Always my first priority is to get Tai currency. Surprisingly, my Schwab card which I have for this purpose would not work in the machine. I then tried a new travel card that Linda and I have recently purchased, and that worked perfectly. I then was able to collect my principle bag and pick up my golf bag in the unusual bag pick up area. My next step was to get my phone converted to using a Thai sim card. I was able to get one at a good price, with no line of people (found at the other end of baggage claim area, whole area is very large). I made my usual checks, had the employee call my new number and tape the number on the back of my phone. It all worked.
I had sent an email to my usual taxi from Taiwan and he was waiting for me on the second floor next to the number 3 exit. He had a large sign with my name correctly spelled on it. With my luggage I went to the small store in the airport and bought a bottle of water which gave me the change to pay the taxi driver. Just a little over an hour and a half later, we pulled up to my new hotel in Pattaya called the Stay, on Soi 10. This is by far the nicest place I have stayed at here since my first trip in 1967. Also, the drive used to take 3 1/2 hours. It is also now on regular interstate type highways a little over an hour to get to the edge of Pattaya. I traffic in Pattaya I too much.
I organized the room and went to the
Witherspoon’s bar where I will playing golf from mostly on this trip. Paul the coordinator was there and he and I figured out it wood be stupid to try for me to play golf in this heat and humidity my second day here with my elderly age. Not wise. So, he told me I could get a ride to the ladies LPGA event which is going on locally tomorrow. I think also this would be too much my second day here. Too many hours standing up in the heat. Over 12 hours difference in the time zones.
So, I will organize for the future to play golf on Tuesday, Thursday and Bridge on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I plan to take a new ride, taxi service called Bolt.
Paul has told me that it is insane to try to play golf here now on the weekend during high season with the masses of Tourists.
This concludes my first report.
Gary Bingham
Friday, March 10, 2023
A Thailand Vacation (a poem by Gary Bingham)
A trip away from responsibility
Dominated by Buddhist Religion Culture dissembler to western culture
Frees me from my own
A huge release
Tropical climate
Features: playing golf (beautiful courses), playing bridge, cheap massages
Golf requires a caddy
Fun caddy services: holding a sun blocking umbrella, knowing where my golf ball is in a dense jungle environment, reading the break of a putt, cleaning the ball, complimenting well struck shots
Services: inexpensive rapid transport, motorcycle taxis, baht buses
Entertained by open bars walking by highly visible masses of people barely hanging on to bar stools while drinking large amounts of intoxicating beverages.
Meeting interesting people from other countries, cultures.
Listening to their stories.
Enjoying the prospect of planning my next trip to Thailand
Thailand, fifth and final report March 2023
Monday 6 March: No alcohol is being served In Thailand by law today and it is a shocker to go by the open bars and see no-one drinking alcohol. Really, they must have a stash in their rooms. From what I see on my trips, it is the primary activity for most tourists here.
Today, my plan was to take a 30 minute taxi ride to the Museum of Buddhist Art and then visit another museum of art in town. Well, we drove 30 minutes to the Buddhist Art Museum and it had a big sign out front reading that is was closed for renovation. Downer. I had checked out the internet and my distinct impression is that it would be open. So, I was out 10 dollars for the round trip and maybe on another trip I will visit it. I am interested.
On our return to town, I asked the driver if she would take me to an Art Museum. She took me to the Art in Paradise museum. It is advertised as a 3d Art Museum. I found the art to be very good and enjoyed walking through it. No shoes were allowed to be worn. I took some pictures. The Thai artists who painted it did a very good job.
I picked up my last day of laundry to be laundered In Thailand. A planned event. The laundry service is great here. Being always frugal, I take the laundry to the mostly very close laundry services which are on each block. They usually do two day service, including ironing at a modest price.
March 7, Tuesday
Played golf on Pattavia golf course. Very nice, well maintained course. Had too many trees in the middle of fairways. Excellent caddie who took care to get me close to my ball.
On way to the course sat next to an Australian “bull rider”, golf driving range owner.
Played with Eddie and David. Eddie painter and is now a gym dealer. David retired banker. Both are from Australia and were fun to play with. Also played with an old Thailand resident named “Bucker” from England.
On March 8th, I returned to the USA by EVA which is a Taiwan company. Was able to use the shower in the EVA lounge in Taiwan before flying home. Long flight home with stops in Taiwan, LA, Phoenix and finally in El Paso. Had to push my belongings 10 minutes in a cart at LAX to get to the Southwest Airlines terminal. Took Lyft to get home from my late night arrival in El Paso. Good ride.
Overall, this trip was very good and I had to relearn old lessons to be very careful on the water I exposed my mouth to and absolutely not to eat “street food”. I had the proper medication with me to deal with it and I should have been smarter. I also need to vary the leg I put over the rear of motorcycle taxis. I need to use the left leg more often. I am not use to stretching that much and the joint of the right leg hurt after a while. Also, I need to stop playing with competitive golf groups. More fun to play with noncompetitive ones. I was getting bored at home and nothing that I know if breaks up the boredom better then a trip to Thailand with golf, bridge and cheap massages.
Saturday, March 4, 2023
Thailand 4th Repport
Thailand 4th Report
Thailand, Pattaya 2023, fourth report
March 2, played golf at Pleasant Valley Golf Course. As usual, meet interesting people on these trips. The golf course was in very good condition and the caddy was very young. She got a red flag to go with my advanced age to get me closer to the ball and green. I appreciate it.
On the way to the course I sat next to a person who got rich by having a crew of people who followed hurricanes in Florida. They would almost immediately be present to do work rebuilding homes after an hurricane. He rattled off the names of many hurricanes where he and his crew made large amounts of money. He is still bitter about a domestic violence misdemeanor charge he has. He thinks the system did “him wrong”. He is now a bit coin trader who likes vacationing in the Philippines, Phuket Thailand.
I played golf with Kim (male) and Connie from Denmark. Both very nice with limited English skills. Another person in our group was Mike, Australian who made his money planning road net works in a middle eastern oil country. He referred to conflict between tribes getting in the way of him developing road networks there. All three were walkers and so we had limited to talk.
Prior to leaving for Golf I chatted with Paul, the coordinator for Golf at Witherspoons. He is very nice person from England. Does a good job of coordinating the various personalities, transportation system to get people to and from golf courses in large groups. He described the seasons for increased people populations in Thailand. The High Season lasts from October through early March. Pauls says that he will go from a five day a week schedule for golf to three day in March. The demand will slack that much. Paul says that this years high season is higher then in previous years.
March 3, 2023, Friday
Played bridge for what appears to be the last time in Pattaya this year. Played with David from England. He is the second English person I have played here with over the years. I just do not play with well English people from England. Again, we did not communicate very well. Lowes score of the pairs today. I still enjoyed the challenge of playing bridge. It was fun.
I then had research on where to get vegetarian food other then the place I routinely go. Today, I went to Karma Indian Restaurant. Big mistake. I told them just a little bit spicy and it was very, very hot. Also, I told them to bring me a beer and it never arrived until I stood up and demanded it (gestures only, drinking motion).
So I got the bad news at bridge today. No bridge on Monday. The restaurant we play at is going to be cleaned. Not nice. So, I will have to invent some activities for the next few days. I am programed to play golf with a new/old group on Tuesday and then Wednesday, I return home.
My eating habits over here go from starvation to over eating. After not eating for a number of hours, at the 5 star vegetarian restaurant I had two dishes of food and should have stopped at one. Golf here takes all day including close to two hours for transportation, shower at course (a necessity because of the extreme heat). In the old days here, we would have a meal, drink at the course before returning. Now it is mostly piling in the van and retuning to Pattaya.
March 4, Saturday
Four more days before return to Texas. Reconciliation day. Took last laundry load into cleaners. Figured pick up time for my ride to Bangkok. Big error, made mistake on calculating medication and am two days short of my prescribed medication. Will go to local drug store to see if they have similar meds. Big one is blood pressure. This is the first item I calculate for a trip and I missed the correct numbers.
Took long walk down the block on beach road and then back on second road.
Bought Linda two throw away blouses. I write throw away because she usually does and it is no problem. Not a lot of money spent on them. Also, bought myself a new grey cross body bag. Tired of old one. Also my cross body bag here has a small cord that cuts into my shoulder a little.
Was able to buy the correct important medications so should be fine getting home.
Went to web recommended Indian restaurant and it was closed. They have a Dairy Queen in the Royal Gardens sold me ice cream at prices 20 years ago in U.S.A.
Walked by Doug Maiko condo, Viewtalay. Looks like a fortress now. Hope Doug is able to rent it out in this COVID times.
I am at over 13,000 steps and need to stop walking for the day.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Thailand 2023 Third Report
February 26, 202, I think in all the years I have been coming here, I have not come in the classic high season period of time. November to February. I am glad I did not. There are massive amounts of people here. I hear many, many different languages as I walk around. Tonight, I went to Central Festival (one of their largest and most popular shopping buildings) to get more cash from an ATM at a bank that I trust. While there, I ate in their food court. The food court has drastically expanded and also has more of a selection of vegetarian food. I actually saw a vegy burger. Wonderful. I thought I picked out a soup that did not have meat and told them so. The finished product may have not been pure. The prices are very good. For a large bowl of soup with various ingredients, a slice of vegy pizza and a iced latte coffee came to a total of 6 dollars. That is correct, six dollars. I could barely move for the amount of people there. Packed.
Monday, February 27 Played bridge with Jean, results read Hugh Waliford. French speaker and we did not communicate well. I did bid and make 6 no-trump. Wonderful. Otherwise, we were last with 34 %. The last hand I bid incorrectly otherwise I thought I bid OK. I will be surprised if he wants to play with me again.
I figured out the problem with my cell phone, I should have switched to cellular. Otherwise, works fine. Golf tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 28
Today was golf with the Witherspoon group. We played Mountain Shadow. My caddy was very nice. When they discover my age they try to physically escort me around the course. I discourage that however they do a very nice job of getting me close to my ball to hit it without walking long distances. I got to play with two very nice people, Willie and Gary. Gary is from England, Liverpool and now lives in Scotland for the last 26 years. Willie is a Japanese American with Substantial success in life and a very successful family. His most recent activity was farming in California. His Grandmother just missed the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima when she stayed home sick from school. We had lengthy chats driving to the golf course. He described the success of each family member. It was fun to listen to him.
The golf course was very well kept up and was fun to play. In my trips to Thailand, I had repeatedly played it. I struggled initially and started to play well on the back nine. My latest efforts are directed to always hit the ball straight at the target. I mostly was successful when I am able to hit the ball which I struggled with the first part of the game today. Over 9,000 steps today. Back hurts.
The herbicides on the golf course brought out my agent orange from Vietnam rash on my legs. I had protective special cream on and only partially worked.
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