My Trip Report

Yesterday I returned home to Australia after a 4 week trip to the Kingdom of Thailand.

Landing at the new airport on day 3 of its operation, I was ushered off my plane and into a waiting bus on the tarmac. Rather than talkie me to the international terminal as I was expecting {some were domestic passengers being picked up in
Phuket}, the bus stopped at the domestic terminal, something I did not realise until I had ventured into the building. Upon seeing a few "domestic" signs around the place, I approached a couple of lovely ladies in Thai national costume
who immediately gestured to a male who, with walkie talkie in hand soon had me headed off onto another bus and onto the International Arrival Terminal. God only knows what would have happened had I been a half wit and proceeded to enter the Kingdom
of Thailand without first clearing Immigration and Customs. It would have been very interesting indeed when it came to leaving the country.

My first impression of the airport was one of awe which soon changed to shock after leaving the arrival terminal and witnessing the que waiting for a cab. Without a doubt, it would have been more than 50 meters long. After about 30 minutes,
I was again experiencing the wonders of Thailand's famous taxi drivers. What was that on the speedometer? 130km per hour !

We took the expressway which traverses to the north of the city from Bang Na and exiting the expressway on Sukhumvit, arrived at Soi 7, my intended destination still in one piece.

I was in Bangers for 3 nights before heading down to fun city, mainly to catch up with long time friends and inhabitants of the City of Angles. That done, after visits to Cowboy and Nana as well as the Emporium and a few other Sukhumvit establishments
{massage parlours}, I caught a car down to Pattaya. At a cost of 1,400 baht it is more expensive than the public bus by far, however I just wasn't in the mood to travel that distance this time on the bus, and well, what the hech. A comfortable
2 hours later, I checked into my hotel, Sandy Spring on Soi 13, not the first time I have stayed there, having taken a room the last 3 trips. The cost, as with so many things has risen over the last 12 months being around 1,100 baht a night for
a room without a balcony after joining the hotels "club" for 300 baht. No joining fee for a lady, large room with fridge, TV Cable, telephone, nice bathroom and all the other mod cons makes this price a good one.

Two major problems I had at the hotel were being woken at 2.30am in the morning {yes….I had a night in} by a din outside my window only to have my room soon after filled with pesticide spray injected into my room via the air-conditioning
unit from the outside. Now why anybody in their right mind would authorize the fumigation of Pattaya for mosquitoes or any other place for that matter at such an hour leaves me only shaking my head. The other problem was the disappearance of two
brand new shirts, given to the laundry dept. This was the second time I had an expensive shirt go missing from the hotels laundry service in two years. I had purchased the two shirts only days before at the Emporium in Bangkok so to say I was
a little upset would be to put it mildly. No compensation of course was offered and no explanation given. Unfortunately, it will be my last stay at the Sandy Spring Hotel.

Then came the most disturbing incident. I had been on a bit of a bar crawl along Walking Street and decided to pop into an agogo bar with a similar name to another along Beach Road. I was enjoying the music and the chat with the manager/owner.
I few drinks later which included a couple of shooters and the lights went out. Now I have been drinking for a long time. I always know when I have had enough, putting myself into auto pilot and making my way home. But this night the lights went
out long before my head hit the pillow. I can remember waking in my hotel room and making the dash to the toilet to vomit, only to see the remanence of the B52 shooter brown colour. My head was fuzzy. I went back to bed and in the morning checked
the contents of the wallet. It had about 120baht left which made me even more suspicious that something untoward had happened to me the night before. I don't carry credit cards in my wallet, leaving them in the hotel safe so all that was
missing would have been about 500 baht or so I estimate. What had happened? Had I been the victim of a "date rape" drug? Was it raphipnole or was it simply excess alcohol? I remain suspicious to this day and state here that if this is
what is happening at this bar, then the game they play is a very dangerous one indeed. Without concrete evidence {which of course the perpetrators rely on} no complaint was made to the police. Who knows. May be the police are in on it anyway.
At this point I will point out that I always carry only that amount of cash that I think I will need for the night when I go out. Usually I will carry around 2,000 to 3,000 baht depending if I intend to have a feed or not at one of the many restaurants
in the town before, during or after the drinking session. This way, any losses are minimal and as mentioned before, I NEVER carry my credit cards with me. Ones drivers licence should also be left in the hotels safe, to prevent identity fraud.

I was struck by the number of new agogo bars off Walking Street and many with very good and innovative shows including the Pattaya branch of Angle Witch. Without giving to much away, the shows in Angle Witch Pattaya make the Bangkok name
sake look like pre school training for nuns. Outside of Angle Witch, the latest craze or "theme" is the bath tub soapy show, consisting of at least a couple of naked girls doing a lesbian act. At some of the agogos, punters are invited
to touch the girls however a "tip" is expected for this. With the exception of Peppermint and a few other agogos on Walking Street, most of them could be best described as pedestrian, which would explain the low number of punters inside.
One place that did impress was Secrets. A modern establishment, open only about two months. Along with food and of course drinks, it has very attractive girls dancing "coyote" style. The other one that stood out was Cats agogo at the
end or Walking Street. Believe me, the walk is worth it.

So after three weeks in fun city, it was time to return to Bangkok. After three more nights and checking out the unusual haunts of Cowboy and Nana, my holiday had come to another sad end.

My final hurdle was the que at the airport waiting to clear the security gate. It took more than 30 minutes as everyone, including bags were not only examined but my person was padded down. Everyone got the same treatment. There were 4 lanes
with little effect on the long wait which was more than anyone should be reasonably asked to expect or tolerate. Oh well. Perhaps it is a sign of the times.

Stickman's thoughts:

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