The long and short of it

Wednesday 15th

I decided to pack before I went to the office and we loaded my bag and clubs into the car. This meant I didn't need to go back to the hotel again.

Another day of bug fixing, a mixture of killing time and being frantically busy. Hopefully all is well although it is unlikely that it is 100% perfect.

We eventually left about 4-30 and headed via Sri Thep rather than back through Wichian Buri. As usual there were goups of kids and young adults out with there buckets, hoses and water pistols. If you were on a scooter you just had to assume you'd get soaked before you got home. It was bright and sunny when we left but within half an hour became overcast and we had a few showers, but not a torrential downpour.

It was the last day of SongKraan so like Easter Monday, everyone who went away for the holidays is heading home. Traffic was slower most of the way to Bangkok. However by aggressively switching lanes my driver was able to pass some slower cars that just stayed in the one lane, several times. (Irony program engaged).

Once we got close to Bangkok, it got really slow. The bypass road to the airport was virtually bumper to bumper the entire way. My driver took to driving along what we would call the emergency stopping lane. I don't like this in principal but we did movce a lot faster than the rest of the traffic so I put my principals to bed and let him do his thing. At one point this lane was blocked off with witches hats and we had to join the regular lanes eventually we cought up and got ahead of the cop car that was moving theses from the side of the road to the middle of the emergency lane. Of course he immediately swung into the emergency lane again.

Eventually we joined the main road to the airport which was 4 lanes wide, sometimes more and he could put his foot down. Normally this is about a 3 hour trip and much closer than Pattaya but it took 4 1/2 hours this time. I'm glad I'd allowed extra time.

The business class check in was brisk as usual but with my golf clubs I had to go to the oversize luggage check in as well. A staff guy met me as I walked through the doors and took over my trolley and guided me to a free check in counter, then he wheel the trolley over to the oversized check in and then back to the Business class express passport station and to the entrance to the lounge. I hadn't had anything since lunch and it was now after 9 so I had some snacks and a couple of drinks and did the cryptic crossword in the Bangkok Post. I have been doing these at WB as well but as they get the papers a day lot had not down Wednesday's.

I was thinking of having the free massage but decide to check my email instead and then it was too late. Business class was less than half full and a guy in the seat near me who'd flown in from Kazakhstan said there were only 4 passengers on his flight. I had the meal, watched "Bedtime Stories" on the personal video and then got a few hours sleep before we were woken up for breakfast. I picked up some duty free and even though my suit case was in the first couple of dozen out, my golf clubs were delivered personally before it. Apart from getting my shoes out for inspection, customs was quick. I'd had them cleaned at Phoenix so they were probably as clean as they've been since they were new. The customs lady was impressed as well.

As usual a pile of mail was waiting to be sorted and I've had to start organising my trip to the US straight away. This will be covered in my next blog.

More High, Lights from Pattaya

Tuesday 14th

Not much different today from yesterday. Just working through problems and fixing them. Found out that the use of formatting in the excel files such as 12.25% or 23.5hrs was messing up my text to number routine and losing the numbers after the decimal place.

The weather here is bright, sunny and hot during part of the day and then pouring with rain later. It was raining when I left about 7pm so not much water throwing happening. I finally loaded the movie into Monday's blog. I started doing that late on Tuesday and after along time of loading, there was a power outage so the connection was lost. I tried at the hotel and could not even connect there last night but have loaded it at the office.

I have included some photos from Pattaya, taken by one of the guys when they visited one of the tower buildings last week. This has a cable car going up and you can come down on it or take a flying fox. Also some typical night scenes taken by another.

When the chips are down

Monday 13th

I guess this is the final instalment in the potato saga. The fields I have been photographing since last year have now been replanted with next year's crop. If anybody needs some photos for a school project called - "The life cycle of the Thai potato" - you know where you can get some.

Once again the day was spent in the office, fixing bits and pieces, adding extra features and updating Documentation. Every bug fixed here is one less that will need to be fixed later.

I left a bit earlier today and the light was better for filming the Song Kraan activities in the town. (It also wasn't pouring with rain, so there was some point in throwing water. Yesterday everybody on foot or in an open vehicle or scooter was drenched anyway.)

After dinner I watched most of the telecast of the US Masters. It was spoilt a bit by seeing the results in the sports highlights just before the broadcast started. However it was still enjoyable watching such a high standard of golf. When I started nodding off around 11-30, I decided to go to bed, already knowing who won.

A cock and bull story

Sunday 12th

I woke up this morning with a particularly sore back. Even with my extra mattress these beds are very hard. I also discovered in my rush to get in last night, I left the key in the door.

Another long day at the office. Fixed the plotting problems, added a new excel report and did some other tidying up. Panu is working late to get the new spreadsheets ready and out to the sites. Not sure why these weren't sent out weeks ago so there would be a whole lot of data already available for testing.

I am trying to plan my trip to US since I'll have to get on to that asap. Probably a similar itinerary to last time with a direct flight there and coming back via Hong Kong. I've seen that Cathay have flights to Perth at a more sociable time than the Qantas one I took last time. Leaving at 3pm and getting in late a night, instead of flying over night. They also have flight to Adelaide so perhaps I'll come that way and see family.

Weather was better today but since I'm inside in an air conditioned office it doesn't really affect me much. As we drove back to the hotel tonight, there were lots of kids and teenagers with water pistols, hoses or buckets chucking water at each other and at cars. Only one of them actually wet us. Normally April is the hottest month but the rains seem to have come early this year. There wasn't any point in the kids being out last night as everyone would have got wet from the downpour.

I watched quite a bit of the golf tonight and then the film "Beowulf". The insects were particularly bad tonight.

It seems we all got out of Pattaya at a good time. The Red shirts turned up the next day protesting at the ASEAN conference there. I heard somebody got killed but didn't see anything in the paper.

The photo is of a gate to a farm just out of Wichian Buri on the main road to Bangkok. I'd seen it several times before and finally got a shot of it. Presumably they raise chicken and cattle there.

I get Leied

Saturday 11th

Today was the day I was supposed to go home but here I am again, working in the office at Wichian Buri, even though it is Easter. Can't really complain, I get paid well for it.

There were a number of problems to sort through, some of them trivial and others a bit more complicated but being on the spot with real data makes it easier to duplicate the errors. Once that is done it is not too difficult to fix. One tricky one was the protect/unprotect of excel spreadsheets. I hadn't got the parameters correct and it was using a logical value of true as a password when re-protecting it. This meant they could not unprotect it because they didn't know the password. A quick google bought up some sites that allowed me to unprotect the existing sheets and also returned the password needed. Another site gave me the correct parameters so this won't happen in the future.

It is Songkraan here and one of the girls in the office gave me a floral necklace. Another one squirted me (gently) with water. The sprinkling of water is a tradition for this time but in some places this has degenerated into an excuse for water pistol fights and wholesale drenching of people with buckets of water, garden hoses and so forth. Fun if you are in the right mood but annoying otherwise.

Last time I was here, I plugged the network cable into my laptop and immediately had access to email, the net and Skype. This time it was much more complicated. Eventually the IT girl called me and I got it all sorted. Apparently Thailand has just introduce some sort of internet censorship program, literally the day before I arrived. This requires companies to track sites visited or some such and so everyone requires a login to access the net and so forth. Australia is proposing something similar but let's hope it never gets passed.

It was after 6 before I left and I was still working on some plotting issues. It was raining fairly heavily by then and I was worried that there might be power cuts again. We'd already had a brief outage earlier in the day. Fortunately it didn't happen but there were a couple of times when the satellite signal was lost for the TV. I watched a bit of the masters and then had a relatively early night. Photos are of the room.

Another long drive

Friday 10th

I think I won another long drive competition today. Not on the golf course but on the road. I was up about 7-30 and had finished my shower when the phone rang. It was a taxi that I'd confirmed for The Rev and TVL and he was 12 hours early. He'd already got the Rev down to reception and with the help of the girl at the desk we got the message through that he was supposed to come at 8 at night. This was not the guy that brought us there but a "friend". Anyway, they said they would still use him and he went off to have a sleep.

I finished my own packing and was surprised that my case wasn't overflowing. I'll give that blender to someone at Wichian Buri, likewise the mattress, so when I leave it will just be the suitcase, golf bag and laptop case.

I got copies of the photos taken by The Rev , TVL and Ed for the composite CD and eventually checked out about 10-30. TVL spent some time at a wat that is being built entirely from teak, including wooden pegs in stead of nails, as for the palace we saw in Bangkok. It has apparently been under construction for 28 years and there is no hurry to finish as there seems to be a belief that the king will die when it is finished. It looks interesting so I have included some photos even though I didn't see it myself.





I have also included some golf shots from the others. The movie was taken on the par 5 at the Navy course where I got my birdie, so the fairway wood shot you see me playing at the end, finished on the green. The green is behind the smaller tree in the middle of the frame and the hole is 520 yardslong from the white tees. The last hole yesterday, which I also hit in 2 was 493 yards long.



I spent some time in Le Katai and Pairot eventually arrived just before 12, at the end of the suggested period. Apparently he'd left home at 7am. We soon had my stuff in the car and after a few quick goodbyes we were on the road. We stopped for lunch at a KFC for about 15 minutes and it was after 5 by the time we got here, so he had a long day. We had some rain soon after leaving Pattaya and drove through another storm North of Bangkok. Traffic was very heavy and slow in some places and yet other road sections were surprisingly empty. It is the start of the Songkraan holidays and like Easter, it seems half the population is going away.

I have a different room again this time - in the "A" group. This has an alcove which has the wardrobe in it but the sleeping area is a bit smaller. It is closer to the canteen and I can actually get a wireless connection from my room, which is a bonus. Its about 1200 speed - about double what I was getting in Pattaya. It is also free-standing although is shares a common roof with the other units, but this means no shared walls so hopefully no noisy neighbours at 5-30.

It is now coming ap to a month since I first arrived so quite a few shift changes have happened in that time. Jim is back and Spencer has gone and the geologists changed about the time I left. Keiran was back tonight with his family, stopping over on the way to his in laws for Songkraan.

Firing on all cylinders

Thursday 9th


Today I played Phoenix again, this time with a golfing group based at the Travellers Rest Hotel. There were about 40 players including 3 other women. I played with 2 of them, who were visiting from Ireland and who would have been in their 50's, I'd guess. There was also a younger Thai girl playing. Originally a Canadian guy was playing with us but since he was walking, the Rev was swapped in so we could share a cart.

I hadn't even thought about other women as there seem to be so few non locals here and when I signed up I gave my Collier handicap and said I'd play of the white tees, as I have done all 2 weeks, even though the oterh ladies played off the reds. A good thing too or they really would have strung me up as a bandit. I had my best score since I've started playing again, 2 1/2 years ago with an 81 off the stick and 42 points. This was equal best for the day and won the middle handicap division. The 800B prize covered my entry fee and transport plus most of the drinks on the course.

I had 7 pars and 2 birdies. One was on the par 3 with the bridge and the other on the last hole, which was a par 5. I hit the green in 2 but had a bad first putt and needed to sink a 12 ft second putt for the birdie. Much was made about being on for 2 at the presentation. They have knocked my handicap for their group down to 13, my lowest ever - anywhere, anytime. The main difference from yesterday was probably in the putting as I dropped a number of long ones and did not have any 3 putts. It was the first course that I've played a second time, which also helps.



Since this is the same course as yesterday there are only a couple of new shots of the course itself plus views towards and from the clubhouse.

The weather was better today in that it didn't rain. It was very hot and humid and the sun was out so we did get quite warm at times. There was a bit of a breeze about from time to time which helped a bit.


We had drinks there after the showers and then gathered back at the Travellers Rest hotel for the presentation. I had a beef stew there for dinner from the "Golfers only" menu. On the way back I picked up my re-zippered purse and TVLs repaired golf bag.

Burning up the course - not quite

Wednesday 8th

Today was our last game in the competition and Phoenix was arguably the best course of all. The greens were excellent which just gives it the edge over the Navy course.

I played well again but my driving wasn't quite as consistent as yesterday. I did however score on every hole today, although a couple relied on fairly long putts dropping. I went out in 19 and home in 16 to be just one over my handicap. The winner was Peter with a 39 but he'd only palyed 2 games so wasn't in the running. In the end I won the best three games total by 10 points. I also picked up one nearest the pin, but as no one had hit the previous par 3 this was a jackpot hole. I had one birdie to day as well.

This course also had a lot of water but it was mostly alongside the hole rather than across it, which happened a few times yesterday. There was one absolutely gorgeous hole which did have a significant water hazard. there were 2 fairways split by a bridge and a garden. You would need to be a really big hitter to drive the water and I finished up way right with an interesting second shot (which finished in the left hand bunker).

The scene looking back was too wide for a single shot to do justice, so I have included a short movie.

There was a lot of colour on this course, mainly bouganvilleas but other flowering trees as well. We played the Lake and Ocean courses (the third is called Mountain) and on the final hole you look down the fairway to the spectacular view of the sea and an island.

We were almost lucky with the weather. It started to rain lightly with about 3 holes to go and was quite steady as we played the last. Then it bucketed down and we were all quite wet by the time we'd unloaded our bags at the bus and got back to the clubhouse, where we all had showers.
We had one local with us who first suggested we go to the caddie's bar, which was closed, and then to a sea side restaurant, which was open. The catch was still swimming in tanks at the entrance so you knew the food would be fresh. A fishing fleet anchors nearby and there was one lonely boat out trying its luck.

After we returned I decided to play with a different group tomorrow. Several of the others had played with them on this and other trips and they are also playing Phoenix. This will give the extra game and allow me to leave around lunch time on Friday.

I also dropped in my purse, which will be rady tomorrow, and had to take everything out of it. Try doing that and you'll be surprised at just how many cards you are carrying.

One more of our group left tonight and we met at Le Katai to say farewell, before going our separate ways. With a late lunch I wasn't really hungry.

In the Navy...

Tuesday 7th

Today we played the Navy course at Plutaluang. They have 4 courses of 9 holes and we played the east and west courses. I had an exceptionally good day scoring 83 off the stick for 40 points - 4 under my handicap. This included at least 3 or 4 3-putt greens as well. I was rarely off the fairway with my tee shots and the one time I finished in a dry water hazard, I got out, chipped on and sunk my putt for a par anyway. I also had an eagle putt on a par 5 that gave me a tap-in birdie. In addition, I picked up one nearest the pin and the long drive. This has given me a lead of 8 shots in the comp, replacing the 23 points from the first day in my best 3 scores.

The course was not suffering from the dry as much as some of the others and had a lot of water, elevated tees and trees in the fairway. The latter did not impact me much but a couple of the others got quite frustrated with them. There was even one hole that had some monkeys in the trees and the bushes along side the course. Their signature hole is an island green next to a lighthouse. This was on one of the course we did not play but you can see it in the distance in the shot of the par 3 that we did play.

It was probably the best of the courses we've played this time. There was a special on today and for 1020B we got green fees, a caddy and a cart each. this effectively saved us 700B. With the caddy tip, it wasn't much over $50 today plus transport etc.

After the game we had showers and then ate at the restaurant there. This is the first time we have done this but I'm not really sure why. Apart from the first course, they have all had places to eat. The view from the restaurant is quite spectacular - overlooking the lake, the first and last of the east course as well as the last on the south course and the floral emblem. The club house is circular and built around a central garden and water feature.

There was a brief spell of rain - heavy drops but not too dense for a short time while we were playing. Enough to get the umbrellas up but not really enough to influence the game. ie our grips didn't get wet. However, as we left in the bus, it started to pour and it rained all the way back to Pattaya, with quite a bit of lightning about as well. The scooter riders we passed looked like drowned rats.

Our last official game is tomorrow but Danny has a game organised on Friday at Eastern Star, where we played last Friday. I'm tossing up whether to play that and arrange for my driver to pick me up late on Friday or whether to leave on Thursday instead. I can't see much point in hanging around here on Thursday just to leave early on Friday.

After updating this blog I got some stuff at the 7-11 and then joined Ed and TVL on Ed's balcony for a drink, before we all headed over to Le Katai. TVL and I later went for a walk to get something to eat and decided on Mexican from a stall around the corner. It wasn't too bad but we were both still hungry so we moved further down Soi Dianna to the International food hall where I had a pasty while he had some chicken and a slice of pizza. We then went to the sewing lady who fixed his back pack and she will replace 2 zips in my purse for about $6. Much cheaper than getting a new one.

It's a jolly holiday...

Monday 6th

Today is a Thai public holiday, although you would never guess it by whether the shops here are open or not. Danny changed our game to tomorrow since, he said, the prices would be higher today and the courses crowded with locals.

I woke up about 9-45 and not long after it started to pour. We would have been soaked if we'd been playing today - good call Danny. I finished my book before I got up and wandered over to Le Katai. A couple of the guys were there and were having lunch or very late breakfasts. I just got some fruit from a street stall.

TVL headed up to Lotus after that. I looked at more tops/dresses but the only one I liked was the same as the one I'd already bought. If they'd had it in my size in a different colour I would have got one but they only had white. I then found the cereals and got some more for breakfast. I then looked for TVL who'd gone his separate ways. I didn't see him so went out, had some noodles for lunch and still didn't see him. After checking the downstairs shops again I went back up to the super market and he was just coming out, having bought some jeans and more tops.

We caught a baht bus to the bowling lanes and had 3 games. My first bowl was a strike but this turned out to be the exception rather than the rule. I managed to break 100 all 3 games and improve slightly each time but nothing fantastic. TVL is much better and in his last and best game got over 200.

It had been several years since I'd last been bowling and my shoulder and back were aching, so I had another massage later, asking them to concentrate on those areas. At the end I was on my back covered in towels and as soon as I got up to get dressed I had an attack of the shivers. I needed a warm cup of tea to get me ready to leave. I had some Pad Thai on the way back. Some guys were in Le Katai but we didn't stay up too late.

A day off, rest.

Sunday 5th

Despite the late night I was awake at 6-30 so I read my book for a while and when I woke up again it was 11-30. I'd check the program schedule so I turned on the Australia Network to watch the Dockers game - that was a waste of time. It was interesting not having 30 seconds of ads every time a goal was kicked and you actually got to see a replay.

I used half time to have a shower and check out if anyone was watching across the road. None of our guys were there and the ball they were kicking on their TV sets was round so I watched the rest of the game back in my room. (or I did till 3/4 time when I wrote up the previous blog while listening to their dismal performance in the background).

I then went to the pool for a swim and later watched some of the Formula 1 on the big screen in La Katai, having lunch at the same time. When it was called off due to the heavy rain there, I went and had another oil massage. What a lot of wusses those F1 drivers are - a bit of rain didn't stop our guys on Saturday.

We met up at Le Katai for dinner and stayed there till about 10, eating drinking and talking. I didn't get more than 200m from the hotel all day.

The photos are of Le Katai, from the street and from inside. Since it gets a mention quite frequently I thought I'd better show it.

When I came 2 years ago it was just the bit on the right, I latyer of tables outside and some more inside. Now the inside has a big screen projection and lounge chairs and they have bought the left building as well. About double the space out side and inside they have 4 huge screens for game playing and a half dozen internet stations.