Yesterday was Jan's birthday. We spent the day around the pool drinking and after a quick trip to Tescos and the local fish market we had enough food for our BBQ. We all had a great time - except Paul who slept through the whole event. The drinking games went on till the early hours of the morning. At which point me and the boys decided to hit the karaoke bar we had frequented the night before. Despite the 2am curfew this place somehow manages to stay open. I was intent on singing My Way by Frank Sinatra.
There is little sex tourism going on round here - as I am told it is the home of the King. However, when you visit a bar you are instantly surrounded by girls - anyone of which you can take home without even paying. Within seconds of arriving a young lady was sitting next to me who said her name was Mai. She had a good command of the English language so I decided not to tell her to go away and instead bought her a drink - so that I could pick her brain about some of the questions I had regarding Thai society. Mai, last night told me that she earns around 3 pounds a day no wonder these girls are so eager to bag a man who will spend more in a night than she earns in 2 weeks on booze. In fact a beer represents 1/3 of their daily wages. At the end of the evening (around 6am) I decided to go home in a tuk tuk - she followed me - I told her she wasn't coming back to my hotel. "why you no want boom boom?" she asked.... "It's all a little too easy" I replied. She looked back at me with little puppy dog eyes and seemed genuinely upset. "Don't worry love, I'll buy you another beer tomorrow!" I shouted out to her as my tuk tuk drove off.
I awoke this morning feeling less than fresh - but the thought of seeing monkeys spurred me on.
I got ready and together with Paul, Garry and David made my way to Monkey Mountain. I stood around and took some photos of these strange little creatures. Then I felt my bag being snatched out of my hand .... it was a monkey thief.... he ripped the plastic bag right open - however, there was only sun cream in there... I decided I would need a stronger bag before I went to look at the gathering of monkeys a little way off. I soon noticed that the tourists were feeding the monkeys bananas - and monkey nuts. I bought a whole bag for around 40p and proceeded to feed the monkeys. Within seconds I was surrounded by them pulling me, begging me, climbing on me. I was having the time of my life. After a while I decided that I was getting bored and it was time to torment them a little bit. I held on fiercely to a banana whilst a monkey tried to pull it from my hands. The little fellow was quite strong but no match for me - I pulled, he pulled and I watched his face turn from excitement to annoyance - then without warning the bastard punched me in the face. Needless to say he then got his banana. I've now learnt a lesson - don't annoy monkeys.
I got ready and together with Paul, Garry and David made my way to Monkey Mountain. I stood around and took some photos of these strange little creatures. Then I felt my bag being snatched out of my hand .... it was a monkey thief.... he ripped the plastic bag right open - however, there was only sun cream in there... I decided I would need a stronger bag before I went to look at the gathering of monkeys a little way off. I soon noticed that the tourists were feeding the monkeys bananas - and monkey nuts. I bought a whole bag for around 40p and proceeded to feed the monkeys. Within seconds I was surrounded by them pulling me, begging me, climbing on me. I was having the time of my life. After a while I decided that I was getting bored and it was time to torment them a little bit. I held on fiercely to a banana whilst a monkey tried to pull it from my hands. The little fellow was quite strong but no match for me - I pulled, he pulled and I watched his face turn from excitement to annoyance - then without warning the bastard punched me in the face. Needless to say he then got his banana. I've now learnt a lesson - don't annoy monkeys.I walked back to town via a fishing village - I have never seen creatures quite like some of the crustaceans that I have seen there. The place smelt terrible. I made my way to a bar with Dave and we sat and cooled down to some icy Shinga beer. Thus far it had been a perfect day.
However, all perfect days invariably go wrong - and this one started to when we got back to town. As I was down to my last 1000 Bhat I decided to go to to the cash machine. For some reason my card isn't working. fortunately I can tell I still have money in the bank and am with family who i can transfer the money online to and they can take it out on their cards - however, it is a major inconvenience for both me and them. The online banking failed the first 5 times - coming back with the response - Server too busy. The cash machine said communication error. I'm hoping it will work tomorrow.
I'm out tonight with Adam, a man who has lived here for 9 years and is cousins with Ollie and Elliott. He works teaching English as a foreign language at a local uni. He speaks fluent Thai. Im hoping that he will be able to give me more of an insight into this strange land - and maybe tell me what those bar girls are saying when they are nattering to each other in Thai and giggling at you.
However, all perfect days invariably go wrong - and this one started to when we got back to town. As I was down to my last 1000 Bhat I decided to go to to the cash machine. For some reason my card isn't working. fortunately I can tell I still have money in the bank and am with family who i can transfer the money online to and they can take it out on their cards - however, it is a major inconvenience for both me and them. The online banking failed the first 5 times - coming back with the response - Server too busy. The cash machine said communication error. I'm hoping it will work tomorrow.
I'm out tonight with Adam, a man who has lived here for 9 years and is cousins with Ollie and Elliott. He works teaching English as a foreign language at a local uni. He speaks fluent Thai. Im hoping that he will be able to give me more of an insight into this strange land - and maybe tell me what those bar girls are saying when they are nattering to each other in Thai and giggling at you.
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