May 30th
Flew from Osaka's Kansai Airport to Bangkok. I left at 6:55pm and arrived
at about
10:30pm. I hurried over to the Nana Hotel because I knew
that the bars would close at
1am. I met my friend, Mike, in 'The
Golden Bar' (on the street in front of the Nana
Hotel) and we immediately
went to a couple of bars (one of them was 'AngelWitch'). I
met a
girl named Ta (refer to her picture on the 'Picture' page).
May 31st
I had breakfast with Mike and Ta. I sent her on her way and Mike and I
took a 2-hour
taxi ride to Pattaya (for 1,200 baht). We checked into
'The Royal Palace' hotel and
they had plenty of rooms available. We
lucked out because Cobra Gold had just
finished 3 days beforehand and most
of the military personnel had left Pattaya. Mike
and I tried to call
my friends Ken and Phung in Jomtien but had no luck. (It turned out
that they had stayed at a different hotel than I had written in my notes.)
We walked
down 'The Walking Street'. I bought a silk shirt
(150 baht -- $3.50 at 42 baht per
dollar) and we bought some beer and
munchies for the br> hotel room. We returned to
the hotel and rested
for about 45 minutes. Later, we ate dinner at an Indian restaurant
on the beachfront road. Afterwards, we went to 3 bars, shot some pool for
about 2
hours, a bar girl bought me a rose, and returned to the hotel at
about 2:30am.
June 1st
At 8:00, I ate breakfast. A Chinese family sat at the table with me,
speaking Cantonese
the whole time. Their girl, about 9 years old,
walked up to me, looked at me, didn't say
a word, and returned to her seat.
When I was leaving, I told her "You're pretty." in
Cantonese. You should've seen the look on her face!
Mike and I took a tuk-tuk to Jomtien to try and find Ken and Phung.
(Refer to the
picture about 'No elephants allowed!'.) We didn't
find them but at least we can say that
we know what Jomtien's all about now
-- It doesn't have the party-type atmosphere like
Pattaya. After
that, we spent some time in a square bar located in front of 'The
Walking
Street' and then went to a bar on Soi 2, the same street as our favorite
restaurant, 'The Blue Parrot'.
Later, Mike and I were planning on getting "foamies" at 'Sabai Land'
when Ken called
me. He was in the lobby and he and Phung came up to
my room. They decided to go to
do some shopping while Mike and I got
foamies. We agreed to meet later at the hotel
and go to dinner.
I got a foamy from a girl named Nah (and nothing extra), gave her a
300-baht tip, talked for about 30 minutes, and she returned 100 of it. I
asked why and
she said because she liked me. Ahhh!
We met Ken and Phung at the hotel and went to an all-you-can-eat rotating
restaurant
at the top of a hotel in Jomtien. Afterwards, they went
to a cabaret while Mike and I
did our usual thing, went out to bars.
We returned to the hotel at about 2 o'clock.
June 2nd
I accidentally met Mike for breakfast. After that, I went to a
convenience store to buy
bandages for blisters on my feet (from walking so
much in Japan and, now, Thailand).
I dropped off some laundry at Soi
3 (and it only cost 20 baht -- 50 cents -- for all of it).
We walked
through one of the 2 malls to cool off. (Refer to the pictures of Craig
with
his handheld fan and also the water fountain.). I bought a
'Bangkok Post' newspaper to
take back to a friend in the United States.
Mike returned to the hotel to rest and I went
to the 'Blue Parrot'
for a glass of Thai iced tea ("chaa yen"), went to a
square/beer/gaming bar, bought a pair of Nike running shorts for 250 baht, and
then
returned to the hotel. Shortly afterwards, we went to a beer
bar for about 2-1/2 hours,
had some dinner at an Irish restaurant, and then
dropped off the things at the hotel.
We went to a few bars on Soi 2
including 'Cats', 'Bubbles', 'Planet Rock', and 'All
Girls'). The
following is why you shouldn't hesitate if you find a girl that you like --
I picked one girl. I joked around with her for a while about how much the
bar fine
cost. When I finally decided to pay it, she walked me to
the cashier. On the way, she
stopped in front of a table. I
asked what was going on and one of the men at the table
(who had just
walked into the bar a few minutes before) said that he'd already paid her
bar fine -- the night before! If I wouldn't have messed around, I might
have been able
to leave with her before he arrived. Don't make the
same mistake that I did,
especially if you find a Thai girl with the
silkiest hair that you've ever felt in your life.
Mike took a girl and we went to a beer bar that we'd been to a couple of nights
before.
Mike left about 30 minutes later, I played pool until about
2am, and then I returned to
the hotel.
June 3rd
I went shopping for shoes that were big enough that they wouldn't pinch my
blistered
toes -- size 11's. After going to 5 stores, I bought some
Reebok's from the original store
for $30, about half the price that they
would cost in the United States (if they were
indeed Reebok shoes or some
cheap knock-off). Then, we went back to the beer bar
located at the
beginning of 'The Walking Street' to find my girl Tdek. We found her, I
paid her bar fine, and Mike and I returned with her to the hotel.
A few hours later, our friend Dave arrived at the hotel. We went to the
'Blue Parrot'
for dinner. After that, the four of us went to a bar.
After a short while there, Mike
and Dave went to a beer bar and we
agreed to meet at either Tdek's beer bar between
9:30 and 10:00 or at a
different bar between 12:00 and 12:15. I went back to the hotel
with Tdek at about 9:15 and didn't have the energy to return to any bars.
At 12:15am, Dave and Mike showed up at my door with 2 girls. They
asked me to
join them in Mike's room for an after-hours party. After
a few minutes, I got up and
went over. I partied with them for about
10 minutes and then returned to my room.
(You could've stuck a fork
in me because I was "all done" and wouldn't have felt it
anyway.)
June 4th
I slept with Tdek until about 10:15. I called Dave about having breakfast
and we
accidentally met Mike at the restaurant. (By the way, 'The
Royal Palace' offers free
breakfasts to guests until 10:30.) I said
good-bye to Tdek and after they took showers,
we went to a beer bar along
the beach front street and played games with the girls (i.e.,
Connect-4).
After about 30 minutes, we went bowling, playing 2 games. I wasn't
going to order anything from the menu and then after seeing that a Sing Ha
Gold beer
only cost 50.80 baht ($1.20), I had one. I paid the girl 51
baht, she laughed, and I
returned to the game. I thought about it
and realized that the beer wasn't 50.80 baht;
small beers were 50 baht and
large ones were 80 baht! I went over to the girl, asked
for my 1
baht back, and gave her a 10 baht tip. How embarassing!
After finishing, we returned to the hotel. I went shopping for things
while Mike and
Dave rested (water, toothbrush, etc.). I returned
and we then went to dinner at
'Coca' in the mall.
We checked out some
karaoke bars. One cost 300 baht for a room but had no women
in it.
Another one cost 1,000 baht for a room, but that's too expensive.
(We were
looking for one that was ju-u-u-ust right.) We went to a
couple of beer bars, hoping
that the first karaoke bar would have women in
it if we returned later. I finished
the night by going back and
picking up Tdek, the girl from the night before.
June 5th
I had breakfast with Mike and Dave while Tdek slept. After finishing, I
walked Tdek to
the taxi stand. I then checked email messages, picked
up my laundry, and bought some
baht. (I love to say that!) A
little after 1 o'clock, we went to happy hour at 'The
Tahitian Queen'.
It was full of women -- about 25 -- albeit tired ones from starting so
early in the day. We sat down and one of the girls on a couch pulled
my head down on
her lap. Her name was Vi (pronounced "We", if you
care). Eventually, we switched
positions and she sat on my lap.
During the next 2 hours, she slept for about 30 minutes.
After that, we went back to the Indian restaurant from the past night and had
dinner.
Then, we went to some beer bars. (Imagine that!)
We checked the 'Sakura' karaoke
bar, but it wasn't open. So,
we returned to the karaoke bar that didn't have any girls.
We figured
that we would have fun on our own. (At least Dave and I did.) About
10
minutes later, 3 women joined us. (Refer to the associated
picture.) We stayed and
sang for about 30 minutes. (I sang a
Thai song and just about hurt myself. The Thai
employees thought that
it was funny!)
Afterwards, we went to another square bar. Mike wanted to get a girl that
he met
earlier at the 'Peppermint' bar on 'The Walking Street'.
Meanwhile, Dave and I
checked out 'The Doll House' downstairs. There
was nothing going on, so we returned.
Dave got a girl and the five of
us went to 'The Marine Disco'. Mike got a girl for me,
but I wasn't
interested in her. They left with their girls and I left about 15 minutes
later. (One of the girls was wearing black thigh-high stockings with
garters. Ooh, Baby,
Baby!)
I went back to the 'Overseas Call' bar to try and smooth things over with Pa,
the girl
that Dave made mad the night before and who had given me a rose
during my first night
in Pattaya. (Refer to her picture.) It
didn't work, but she liked me and gave me her
email address. I spent
some time there and returned to the hotel, going to bed at about
4:45.
June 6th
At 10:00, I had breakfast with Dave. At 12:30, Dave, Mike, and I took a
taxi to the
'Nana Hotel' in Bangkok (for 1,400 baht). After settling
in, we ate lunch at the hotel.
Then, we checked our email.
Then, we took one-hour naps. At 6 o'clock, I met Dave
and Mike in
the lobby. We went to some bars. Afterwards, we ate dinner at an
Italian
restaurant on Soi 13. As planned, we met Ken and Phung and 2
Thai people that they'd
met earlier in the trip during a taxi ride in
Bangkok in the front of 'Christie's'. I
suggested that they eat
dinner at the same Italian restaurant while Mike, Dave, and I
spent time at
'Monet'. While there, we met 2 girls and played pool and foozeball with
them. I went back to the restaurant and Ken and Phung said that they
were going to let
their Thai friends show them the town. Mike, Dave,
and I went to a bunch of bars on Soi
Cowboy -- Baccara, Joy's, Long Gun,
Dollhouse, and some others. Mike got a girl at the
'Long Gun' and we
returned to the 'Nana Entertainment Plaza' area. Dave met a girl
and
her friend -- At -- there. (Refer to her picture.) We went to the
hotel and spent
some time partying there. After about 15 minutes, At
and I left (I wasn't interested in
her.) and we went down to a side street
and ate (I don't know what). I went to bed at
4:15.
June 7th
I got up at 9:45 and ate breakfast at 10:05. I called Ken and Phung and I
we agreed to
spend time with them until 2 o'clock when we would meet Mike
and Dave at Soi
Cowboy. They shopped for about one hour, buying
gifts for people back home. We
went to 'Clinton Plaza' and Ken met a
girl named Kai. (Refer to the picture with
Phung, her, and me in
front of 'The White House'.) Ken agreed to meet her there at
around
1 o'clock in the morning.
We accidentally met Mike and Dave in front of the 'Robinson' department store
building
on our way to Soi Cowboy. We all went there together,
hanging out at a beer bar until
the other bars opened. At 3 o'clock,
we went to some of the bars for a while. We
returned to the Nana
Hotel to have dinner and so that Dave could return to Japan.
Then,
we returned to Soi Cowboy and some other bars -- Play Skool, Toy, and others.
Mike got the same girl from 'Long Gun' -- Ah -- and I got a girl
from another bar --
Puah. We returned to Clinton Plaza to pick up
Ken's girl, Kai, but she was gone. We
decided to take our friend
Dan's suggestion and check out 'The Therme' for after-hours
action.
We got there around 2 o'clock and there were about 250 people there,
two-thirds of them were "working women". Ken saw one girl that
we liked, so I
brought her over to him. After about 45 minutes, we
went back to the hotel. (Ken
stayed at a decent -- and inexpensive
-- hotel across and down the street from the Nana
Hotel.)
June 8th
I woke up at 6:30, not being able to sleep well since I knew that I was going to
have to get
up early to catch a plane back to Japan. I walked Puah
(Refer to her picture -- the last
one on the 'Picture' page.) down to the
lobby and got in a taxi at about 7:20. We
arrived at the airport at
7:45. I flew from Bangkok to Osaka in 5 hours and 15 minutes.
I got to Dave's hotel at 7:30. We ate dinner at 8:45. We went to
a couple of bars in the
Shinbashi area (Rock-Rock and Grand Cafe), and left
the Grand Cafe at 1:30. (It was a
good thing that I slept on the
plane ride from Thailand.) We walked by a few bars
including
'Canopy' but nothing was going on. So, we returned to the hotel and
crashed
at about 2:20. (I spent the next 4 days in Japan,
accidentally, and returned to the
United States on June 13th. The
details are on my 'Japan, 2002' page.)