Part 54

Tony's View

Published

5 June

2009

Matters arising from last episode

In the last episode I wrote about Gary and Sang, and was later asked by Gary to amend part of it. Unusually, this I did. As a rule I think that once I have published something, later changes in circumstances don't warrant amendment of an episode. (E & O E).

Now I first met Gary some years ago with his wife Annabelle in Carsten's bar in Tha Sadet in 2005, but never managed to include their picture in any previous episode.

Sadly Annabelle died earlier this year. I wasn't sure that it would be right to include her picture posthumously, but Gary is happy to have this picture of him and Annabelle from 2005 included in this episode.

Sang (pictured left with Micky's wife Oui in the Outback Bar) read Gary's comment at the end of the last episode, and retorted that 'he met me in a bar, and he left me in a bar, so what did he expect'? Besides which it wasn't 2 days, it was at least 6 days later.

Well I wouldn't know about that, but I do know from recent discussions together that Sang regards me as an 'older brother' and I guess this old photo of Micky & Oui's wedding (Episode 31) from 2006 might have something to do with it.  With Micky & Oui are Sang (with child) and my former wife Dott. 

Udo & Fred

I included a picture of myself with Udo and Fred in the last episode and was disappointed to learn that Udo was already back in Australia, so we never got much of a chance to chat. However he has written with some news of Ming. I have included his email below.

I did bump into Fred late one night in the "Swidis" bar wrapped around this young lady, so I have used it here to remind Udo what he is missing in Nongkhai. I was in the bar myself because it stocks Chang light (no other reason I swear), but as the last bottle had been opened previously (it was flat and tasted bitter) and they insisted that I still had to pay 80 baht for it, I doubt that I will be going back soon.

Thanks for the nice comments Udo. Guest contributions are always welcome as long as they fit in more or less with the spirit of 'View'.

J-Lo bar closes and re-opens

Often I was the only customer, which suited me as I than had  all of A's attention. However Mam wasn't making much money this way, so she decided to close the bar, which is how Oy, A and Gip (l to r below) came to be stretched out on my sofa watching tv and staying at my house.

After a couple of days Oy and Gip headed back home to Sakon Nakon, but I managed to persuade A to stay longer.

Now, after a few weeks together A and I (pictured left together in 'Swidis' bar) have become inseparable, and will continue to live together for the foreseeable future, interrupted only by my imminent visit to UK for my daughter's wedding.

Perversely, within days of closing the bar, Mam reopened it, but as I no longer had to go there to be with A, and I would have had to take my own beer, I've not been back. Sandwiching Greg Lek are raven haired Sexy Prim and dyed hair Aree-Na. Mam is still busy taking care of Gordon, which means that the bar is now being run by Sexy Prim, on whom I did have a small crush at one time (allegedly). More of Greg Lek and Sexy Prim later.

Mam is about to close the bar once more and relocate to a spot close to Big Greg's Sunset Bar, which rather neatly leads on to .......

Big Greg's Mekong Sunset Bar

Visiting Big Greg from Australia were his brother Michael posing below left with Greg, and his father Frank, posing below right with Greg's wife Daeng. Greg had not mentioned his wife before, so Daeng's presence was a bit of a surprise to many, Greg included apparently.

I think it was the same day that a very pale looking Mark was there visiting from Laos with his Laos girlfriend but I could be wrong. 

Big Greg has said that his wife will be taking over the bar while he will be off to Singapore, but that has yet to happen. Could it be that he has failed to find any music by the British group 'Family', and can't face the shame? Somehow I don't think so, Big Greg is not the man to run from defeat. Instead he claims that I had partaken of some sort of 60's hallucinogenic substance and imagined their existence. As if.

More joint birthdays at Nong's bar

A rare sight in bars in Nongkhai is Kim (far left with the impish look) but he was at Nong's bar for the 40th birthday of Staale (see below).

Also in this picture is Nong herself with husband Kenneth who like Kim comes from Denmark. Rather a nice picture of Nong and Kenneth I thought, and Kim looks quite fetching too!

Right Staale at 40 gives a thumbs up.

Left Paul with Sexy Oy who together with Husky Prim has just opened the 'Naughty Bar', more about that later.

Sharing her birthday with Staale was Tik-Tee who I think was 18 years old. Below I was surprised to see Sam (with glass in hand) as I thought that he was still in Australia. In the background is Nano, while on the left is Peter with wife Phanh.

Sakon Nakon

A comes from Sakon Nakon province and her family live at Tha Lae about 20 km from Sakon Nakon on the road to Nakon Panom. After our time together in Nongkhai, I took A home to Tha Lae. Now all Thais and most westerners who have lived here a while know the story that the people of Sakon Nakon eat dogs. Well it's true, so I had to include this picture of a shop selling dog meat. It doesn't look very appetising, so I didn't buy any, but I did try some later and found it chewy. Apparently it is an acquired taste.

A's family live in a rural village and make their living from the land. A owns the only shop in the village (far left), which was run by the rest of the family while A was in Nongkhai. Left A poses with her father.

A's daughter Fai (in pink) and son Foon were joined by neighbour Nan to pose for this photo. Little did they know that they would be on the world wide web. Far right A's mother is a fearless samlaw (tuk-tuk) driver, with Fai, Foon and their grandmother in the back.

Gip, centre left, & Oy, in yellow (both pictured horizontal above) come from the same village as A. We went out to a local karaoke one evening and were joined by A's younger brother Ek, who feigns a crush on Oy, which may or may not be real. Ek makes his living catching dogs, I think you can guess their fate.

I particularly liked this karaoke and the guy above right on guitar, who had a nice line in Scorpions music. He was joined by A seen here giving her best. We were unlucky that a massive storm hit late in the evening, which brought down a tree onto local power lines. That brought the evenings entertainment to an end. However it was raining to hard to get to the car, so we just had to stay a while. When we got back to the hotel, that too had no power, and therefore no AC, and no water supply. Somehow we survived.

I make no secret of my preference for Chang make a point of  patronising  and  publicising

 light, and try to all those who stock it. I was however rather surprised to find that A's children Foon & Fai have already acquired a taste for it as they show here.

Nok (below) has opened a prestigious furniture shop close to the Pantawee  hotel, and has used the garden

at the rear to make a spacious open-air bar. An opening party was a must, and was attended by the cream of Nongkhai society, some of whom are pictured right. Naturally A and I were there.

As were the three Greg's, from left to right, Big Greg (with characteristic two bottles of beer), Greg Lek,  and Another Big Greg (sometimes a.k.a. Medium Greg). In the centre are Pete and Nano framing Sang and Som behind the bar. Someone snapped me getting some food, but I have no idea who.

Below Sang & Nikki with Rainbow providing 'the finger', Milford and wife Rungthong,  and A and I with Nikki kindly providing two fingers. How thoughtful.

unable to stop himself and two (different) bottles of beer. Most people know already that he is known as 'Dake the beer thief'. Both Brendan and I number among his victims.   I have no idea what was going on right, was Greg hungry or just being romantic?

Seeing Nikki wrapped around Greg is probably an appropriate moment to fulfil my promise above, viz, "more of Greg Lek and Sexy Prim later." It seems that Greg was drinking in J-Lo bar (now run by Sexy Prim) when Nikki chanced to pass by on her motorbike, and spotted Greg there. Later, when Greg went home, Sexy Prim closed the bar. Nikki passing the bar again saw the shutter down. She immediately phoned Greg demanding to know where he was. Greg replied truthfully 'I'm at home watching tv.' Not even bothering to check, (perhaps it was not that likely), Nikki returned to J-Lo and demanded that Sexy Prim raise the shutter, because she 'knew' that Greg was there with her. When she opened the bar to demonstrate that he was not, Nikki attacked her, giving her a vicious bite on the right breast. (I know this because I was allowed to inspect the wound, but was not allowed to photograph it ... shame I'm sure you would have enjoyed the view of silicone valley). Greg has had to pay compensation to Sexy Prim for 'loss of view' rumoured to amount to 150,000 baht.

A nice touch at Nok's opening bash was that many of the girls were wearing attractive black dresses, modelled here by Sang, Nok and Rainbow.

Apologies to Tim for not including his picture before. Tim is from Australia and has been running the Outback Bar for some time - it now stocks Chang light for the first time - but tells me that he will soon be off, perhaps back to Oz. Shame, as Udo said above about Ming 'one more nice bloke missing in Nongkhai'.

New Bars in Nongkhai

Below left in pink outside Mam's J-Lo bar is A. (If you care to count, that is the ninth picture of her in this episode). Ni (with broom) has opened a bar next door, while alongside her Sexy Oy and Not Sexy Prim have also opened a bar, where Big Greg and Paul were having a beer. Below right, Another Big Greg enjoying a beer with Husky Prim, has yet to be joined by Paul.

Above left the interior of Ni's bar, while right r to l Sexy Oy, Husky Prim (not to be confused with Sexy Prim now running J-Lo) and Miaow pose for me while waiting for customers in 'Naughty Bar'.

In Conclusion

I'm off to UK next week for a few weeks to take care of my parents and to attend my daughter's wedding, which means that there won't be a new 'view' until perhaps August. I've mentioned Udo a couple of times above, so I would like to conclude with something that he sent me that reflects my own views perfectly.

As ever, best wishes to you all

 Tony

 If you want copies of any of the photos, or want to write, but you don't know my personal email address, you can send email to :          mail@nongkhai.co.uk