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July 2000

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Sunday 30th July
    Me and Stuey went to Koh Samet again this weekend. Another late night on Saturday drinking and drinking in "Oasis" bar. One of the waitresses recognised us from last weekend and said to me, "You're not going to have another late night tonight are you?." I told her we'd wait and see. We left the bar at 4:00am. We ended up drinking Thai whiskey and Kirsberry a Danish cherry wine.
    On Saturday afternoon we went to Candlelight Bay and had something to eat. While we were sitting in the restaurant one the blokes that works there came back from a fishing trip. He was dragging a 1 metre shark behind him. I got up to have a better look at it and found that it was still alive. Before I could stop him he picked it up by the tail and thrust it into my hand. It wasn't thrashing about or anything but you could see its gills opening and closing and it twitched a bit. Stuey took a picture of me holding the shark.

    We got back to the hotel and Stuey had just enough time to shower and eat before his lift arrived to take him to the airport. Keith was going home today too and offered to take Stuey to the airport in his minibus. So at about 7:35 p.m. Stueys holiday was over. I feel like I could sleep for a week. Jase is still in town and I told him I'd give him a call next  week and we'd meet up for another beer before he goes home. So I won't get a weeks sleep.

Friday 28th July 2000
    Tonight was Stueys last night in Pattaya as we're off to Koh Samet for two days before he goes home on Sunday. We had a steak each and went and bought some T-shirts and shorts. Then we went to Delaneys Irish Pub and had a few beers. There were some people in from work and we had a chat with them for an hour before coming back to the hotel. Then we had an Irish coffee each before coming up to the room. Early start tomorrow so not too late tonight, even though it's nearly 2:00 am!! More Koh Samet pictures on Sunday evening.

Tuesday 25th July 2000
    Tonight Stuey has gone to get the laundry done. Just after he left the phone rang. There was a message for me to call Jase who's in Pattaya for his holidays. Jase works at the same factory as me and I see him in the pub now and again. It's a bit weird really, all these people from Ellesmere Port in Pattaya at the same time. Stuey still hasn't contacted Chiv's Mum and Dad yet. But he's supposed to go out for a beer with them too.
    I was knackered at work today. After a weekend full of ale I said I wouldn't drink yesterday. Well, I did and went to bed very late again. So now I'm gonna have an early night.

Monday 24th July 2000
    Weekend update today. Friday night 6 of us went into town supposedly to meet Khun Woody. He never showed up. An English couple came out with us and we went to a bar called Sam Sara. We had a load of ale and the English couple made for the door. Actually they sneaked to the door. They'd been drinking with us and knew we had a joint bill but did a runner without paying. Cheeky B******s!!! It was there last night in Thailand and were leaving early in the morning. Tom, one of the Americans, said he overheard them saying they didn't want to cash anymore travelers cheques. So if anybody introduces themselves as Michaela and Trevor from Salisbury in a holiday hotel and asks if they can join you on a night out just tell them to f** off. Kids I'm sorry I'm swearing on my web page but I was definitely not happy.
    We went to a couple of bars and got bladdered. Saturday morning the bus was leaving for Koh Samet at 8:00. The problem was we didn't get back to the hotel till 4:30 so were a little jaded in the minibus. Saturday we just slept/rested under the sun. In the afternoon I had a 1 hour 40 minute massage, pedicure and manicure. I fell asleep halfway through it. I woke up and didn't know I had had my finger nails cut. In the evening we had a few beers and something to eat and went to "Oasis bar". We drank till it closed at about 2:30 and went to another bar on the beach and drank till 5:00.    

    Sunday morning felt a lot like Saturday morning. We got to the beach by midday and baked ourselves. The weather this weekend has been excellent, much better than it has been for ages. It's always hot here but not always sunny. This weekend there was hardly a cloud in the sky. Paul arrived on Sunday, he missed the bus on Saturday. He'd been on the island for about 3 hours when he walked passed me on the beach. He said to me "This place is great, why didn't you tell me it was this nice?" I've been telling him about it for 3 months and thought I must have bored him to death with it. He suggested going back next weekend. 

    On the way back to the hotel the minibus dropped some people off close to Captains Corner restaurant, it's a place I've mentioned before. So we took advantage of that and got off ourselves. A huge barbeque meal was devoured and Irish Coffees were drunk and then we went back to the hotel. A great weekend and we'll repeat the Koh Samet part of it.

Thursday 20th July 2000
    I took Stuey for his first trip into town last night. We went to El Toro steak house and he updated me with all of the football transfers from home. Paul Gascoigne has signed for Everton!! Stueys mate Si works at Manchester airport and he checked in Gazza once, he said he was bladdered before he even got on the plane.
    We went for a walk around the town, the look on Stueys face was priceless. It made me realise how I have become used to the sights of downtown Pattaya. A trip to an island is long overdue and we're off to Koh Samet this weekend to put that right.

Tuesday 18th July 2000
    Khun Stupid arrived today. He is called Khun Stupid as one of the bar maids asked when "Khun Stupid" was arriving. I explained that his name was "Stuart" but she had trouble saying that and the nearest she could get to saying it was Khun Stupid. So maybe it will stick. I'm sure Stuey hopes it won't. Tonight he was suffering severe jet lag. So just a night in the hotel showing him what's what, towels for the swimming pool, breakfast arrangements etc. He also met the girls from the bar. I told them he's a single man that drives a BMW and looks like David Beckham. The first bit is true, the second is questionable. Here's a picture of him suffering jet lag.

Monday 17th July 2000
    Paul and I went to Captains Corner last night for all you can eat barbecue. Paul ate for Belgium, two salads, two baked potatoes and two plates of meat. I had half of what he had. Earlier in the day we went go-karting with Keith. I had more spins and collisions in this one afternoon than in all my previous visits combined. Keith set a new personal best of 28.30 seconds. My best is 31.20 seconds. Paul's is similar to mine. After eating we came back to the hotel, I went into the bar and had a few beers with Tom. He'd had quite a few before I got there, totally bladdered he was. Today the plan was to sit by the pool till 1:00 p.m. and then go to Jomtein beach for the afternoon. (I still haven't been) I woke up this morning and it was raining, "The best laid plans of mice and men...." Paul came round before, he was in the middle of uploading his latest version of his web page. We are going to see M.I.2 tonight, again. We have to time our arrival better this time.
    One of my mates (Chiv) parents are in town for a holiday next week. Stuey knows them well and has arranged to meet up with them. Also Jase, a bloke from my local pub is in town seeing his in-laws the week after. Stuey has given him my phone number and we'll meet up and have a few beers. So tomorrow you will have my opinion on M.I.2 I hope it's better than "Gone in 60 Seconds!!"

Ian

Saturday 15th July 2000
    Niki sent me the rest of the children's school reports yesterday so I decided to make a new page with them on, follow the link. Today is the first day of a 3 day weekend (National holiday on Monday) Last night me and Paul went out for something to eat and a few beers. We intended to go and see Mission Impossible 2 at the pictures but when we got there all of the films had already started and we would have had to wait around for at least an hour until the next showings. We didn't wait, we went for a few beers and then came back to the hotel.
    Stuey, my mate from home, is arriving on Tuesday. He's been saying for 2 years that he was going to come and visit me. First in Poland, then in China, then in Poland again and now in Thailand he's finally going to visit. I've already warned him that during the week I can't go out and get bladdered every night as I'll be at work the next day. We shall see. I've included a picture of Stuey, he won't thank me for it but I have included it anyway.

Thursday 13th July 2000
    My sinuses filled up during the night and I was in agony all day. It feels like a fat woman wearing stiletto's is standing on my face. The sooner she decides to stand somewhere else the better.
    Kimberley got the results of her SAT tests at school yesterday. She got all 5's!! That would have qualified her to take an entrance exam at a private school in Chester. But she wants to go to the school her friends are going to. I can't complain, I did exactly the same when I was her age and I don't regret it so she will go to the school she wants to go to.
    Jan Aernouts, my boss here, had his last day at work today before he leaves and goes to work at Opel Polska (The factory I was at prior to coming to Thailand) We had our picture taken together so here it is. Professor Paul (The web page expert) has shown me how to make thumbnail pictures. Just click on the picture and it opens up full size, nice one Paul.

It saves me a lot of time resizing and editing pictures, I wish I'd known this when I started making my page.
    As promised on Sunday I am posting some pictures from the girls' school sports day taken last week.

Tuesday 11th July 2000
*Reprise* OK I wrote that update during dinner hour at work today and I have finally managed to get it all to work!! So now I have a copy of my web page at Geocities. Paul tells me it is faster to view than xoom so try looking at http://www.oocities.org/ian_bowler It's the same page but if you have trouble connecting to xoom try that one. I'll leave them both running for a week or two and when I have decided whichever one is better I'll keep, then delete the other one. More pictures will be posted tomorrow. I'm too knackered to be bothered with loading pictures from my camera. Goodnight World.

    Well, just as I thought it wasn't as straight forward as I hoped it would be. Uploading using the new software turned into a disaster. At one point I thought I had lost everything, six months worth of pictures and diary entries all gone!! But I managed to find them in the end.

Monday 10th July 2000
    I have put some new software on my computer today, it is to ease the updating of my web page but it's new and I'm not sure how to use it yet. So there's a good chance this won't upload properly. I'll learn it and hopefully make a better web site.
    Lots of people at work are due to leave Thailand this weekend so there is talk of a farewell party. Of course I'm not leaving and the party would probably be on Thursday meaning work the next day for me. I'll have to see how I fell nearer the time. Well here goes, fingers crossed, let's hope it uploads.

Ian

Sunday 9th July 2000
    I seem to have avoided any jet lag so far. Going and getting bladdered in the bar last night saw to that. I've just spent ages down loading pictures to post on the web page. A couple of old pictures from China have been added to the China page and a few pictures have been added to the Thailand page so have a look at those after you've read the diary.

	This is my new motorbike. It's a Honda VFR 750-F. Niki arranged to buy it from my brother and it had been stored in my Mum and Dads garage waiting for me to come home. I arrived home on a Thursday evening, by Friday I was insured and taxed and ready to go. It sounds absolutely fantastic and I can't help screwing it just to hear the engine noise.
	Me and my bike.
	A rare sight, one of the children (Rebecca) washing dishes. She has a chocolate moulding set and had just melted some chocolate and put it into moulds to go hard. As you can see most of the excess chocolate had been removed from the plate by tongue!!
	Our friends Andy and Jayne. They stopped at our place during my home leave and we had a few beers. Well actually we drank enough to float a battleship. This picture must have been taken quite early on as they look sober!
	A group photo, starting to look a little worse for wear. The beer that Andy is holding is called Bishops Finger. We'd finished all the lager by about 10:30 so we had to drink whatever was available. Definitely not my favourite brew that one.
	From the left: Jack, Jack, Martha, Kimberley, Max and Rebecca. All the kids get on really well. It was almost 2 years since they had seen each other but they just played together like it was yesterday. Martha is a Britney Spears lookalike.
	OK, I'm bladdered in this one.
	And WE are bladdered in this one!
	"Time for bed" said zebedee.

I've also got some pictures from the childrens school sports day. The girls did really well and got lots of medals. Jack's sports day is this week so I won't see that one. I'll download the sports day pictures and post them later in the week.

Ian

Saturday 8th July 2000
    My first update for July. I have just got back from my final home leave. I sent myself some pictures from our home computer to myself in Thailand so there will be some updates on other pages as some of the pictures are ones from China that I didn't have on my laptop. Well, now I have them so I'll update a few pages.
    When I got to Manchester airport they were very helpful and asked me if they could be of any further assistance. I said "Yeah, give me a free upgrade from Frankfurt to Bangkok". She said "I can't guarantee it but I'll put a request onto the computer system". When I got to Frankfurt the upgrade had been granted. Some snotty nosed check in desk attendant looked me up and down and didn't want to let me in business class. He kept looking at the upgrage approval and me in my Glasgow Rangers Football shirt. I told him it was a football shirt and he said he knew it was. I asked him if there was a problem and he said no because I had an upgrade but he kept looking at me purely because I was English, wearing a football shirt. I said "is there a problem because I am wearing a football shirt?" and he just said "no" so I walked to the plane. But he just didn't want to give me an upgrade because I was wearing a football shirt. What a complete and utter tosser!!! He really pissed me off.
       On to something else, I had a great home leave. Our friends Andy and Jayne and their children were in town for a visit. They live in the states and it's the first time I've seen them since May 1999. A bit of a reunion party at our house turned into a bit of a piss up. We had a great night. I've got a few pictures from that and I'll post them tomorrow. Time to get over jet lag with a few beers.