Whilst September may be the “low season” in Pattaya there are quite a few tourists about – and the past two nights my favourite live music bar has been fairly full. Although this makes it harder to get a seat by one of the fans it does mean the band tend to put a bit more effort into the music – on the obvious basis that this means more tips or free drinks for them from the customers.
The number in the band has also gone down to four – the mama san – Nit - wants to cut costs and presumably when Noi was alive and playing it didn’t matter if they had five in the band as he was joint owner of the bar.
I first saw Nit last night on this trip – she’d been away at one of the temples in Bangkok making merit (or whatever) by doing a short stint as a Buddhist nun.
Whether she makes any merit or not she certainly knows how to make money and her instinct for cost control is alive and well.
On Tuesday I went to see the film “District 9” – about an alien spacecraft stopping over Johannesburg. I was offered an assignment there back in January of this year – which I turned down. Judging by all those aliens wandering around the place probably just as well.......................
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Monday, 21 September 2009
Vacation
Monday 21 September and Monday 28 September are both public holidays in Chennai - so naturally I've taken four days from my annual leave entitlement and flew to Thailand on Friday night. Once again the flights were on time - so I departed at twenty five past midnight and was checking into my hotel at 7.00 am Thai time on Saturday.
The news indicates a continuing instability in Thailand and the "Red Shirts" and "Yellow Shirts" continue to argue and fight over who runs the country and the consequences of the 2006 coup.
Just as long as they don't take over the airport like they did last year......!
The news indicates a continuing instability in Thailand and the "Red Shirts" and "Yellow Shirts" continue to argue and fight over who runs the country and the consequences of the 2006 coup.
Just as long as they don't take over the airport like they did last year......!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Mumbai
With the Jet Airways pilots return to work at the weekend I went into work on Monday to discover that the trip to Mumbai was on again.
So we flew Monday evening, visited a contractor yesterday, and came back this morning.
There’s not really lot to report – Mumbai Airport is certainly a lot more modern and impressive than Chennai – but so is my late father’s shed – so that’s not saying a lot.
What we saw of the city itself from our air conditioned black limousine was that the tall buildings had a lot more character to them – indeed looking across the lake from the hotel at night it was similar to Hong Kong – but the roads and traffic were no better .
Still, it’s somewhere else to add to my list of places I never expected to visit!
So we flew Monday evening, visited a contractor yesterday, and came back this morning.
There’s not really lot to report – Mumbai Airport is certainly a lot more modern and impressive than Chennai – but so is my late father’s shed – so that’s not saying a lot.
What we saw of the city itself from our air conditioned black limousine was that the tall buildings had a lot more character to them – indeed looking across the lake from the hotel at night it was similar to Hong Kong – but the roads and traffic were no better .
Still, it’s somewhere else to add to my list of places I never expected to visit!
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Life on Mars
Back in the 1970’s – when I was at Grammar School – one of our British Prime Ministers tiring of a strike by the coal miners called a General Election to ask the question “Who runs the country?”.
As one commentator has said the reason he was voted out was the electorate took the view that if you don’t know then we’d better let someone else have a go.
Back in those pre- Mrs Thatcher days industrial strife was a regular event – and there was even a song by The Strawbs whose chorus line ran “You don’t get me, I’m part of the union”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOCWUgwiWs
As the character Sam Tyler says in the BBC series “Life on Mars” (a series about a policeman who has an accident and finds himself back in 1973) it’s like “another planet”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifeonmars/
It felt a bit like that here this week as we attempted to organise a business trip to Mumbai.
One of the main airlines operating internal flights in India is a company called Jet Airways. On Wednesday about half their pilots “called in sick”. The cause of this is – as far as I can make out from local newspapers – that two pilots decided to form a union and were sacked by the company owner for “indiscipline”. As a consequence other pilots are staying home in sympathy – and after five days it’s still not resolved. All the usual actors – Government, other unions and the like are involved and in the meantime other airlines reap the benefits and hike their prices – causing Government (yet again) and other agencies (who clearly are ignorant of the basic economic laws of supply and demand) to protest and threaten further actions.
It appears to have now been resolved but whether we ever make it to Mumbai remains to be seen.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8252965.stm
Back in my youth I remember going through the Dorset village of Tolpuddle and being told by my father all about the “Tolpuddle Martyrs” – farm laborers in England back in the 1800’s who were deported to Australia for having the temerity to form a union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolpuddle_martyrs
And even Norman Tebitt – loathed by “the left” and hero of the Thatcherite right – was at one time an official in the British Air Line Pilots Association in the UK!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Tebbit
As one commentator has said the reason he was voted out was the electorate took the view that if you don’t know then we’d better let someone else have a go.
Back in those pre- Mrs Thatcher days industrial strife was a regular event – and there was even a song by The Strawbs whose chorus line ran “You don’t get me, I’m part of the union”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOCWUgwiWs
As the character Sam Tyler says in the BBC series “Life on Mars” (a series about a policeman who has an accident and finds himself back in 1973) it’s like “another planet”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifeonmars/
It felt a bit like that here this week as we attempted to organise a business trip to Mumbai.
One of the main airlines operating internal flights in India is a company called Jet Airways. On Wednesday about half their pilots “called in sick”. The cause of this is – as far as I can make out from local newspapers – that two pilots decided to form a union and were sacked by the company owner for “indiscipline”. As a consequence other pilots are staying home in sympathy – and after five days it’s still not resolved. All the usual actors – Government, other unions and the like are involved and in the meantime other airlines reap the benefits and hike their prices – causing Government (yet again) and other agencies (who clearly are ignorant of the basic economic laws of supply and demand) to protest and threaten further actions.
It appears to have now been resolved but whether we ever make it to Mumbai remains to be seen.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8252965.stm
Back in my youth I remember going through the Dorset village of Tolpuddle and being told by my father all about the “Tolpuddle Martyrs” – farm laborers in England back in the 1800’s who were deported to Australia for having the temerity to form a union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolpuddle_martyrs
And even Norman Tebitt – loathed by “the left” and hero of the Thatcherite right – was at one time an official in the British Air Line Pilots Association in the UK!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Tebbit
Sunday, 6 September 2009
The apartment
Probably not the most exciting of photographs but as part of the purpose of this blog is – as well as musings on music, life and whiskey – is for folk at home to see how I’m getting on.
My apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining area and living area where the TV resides. There’s also a small balcony with a washing machine on it.
All this – along with cleaner, cook and food for £950 per month – about the same as it cost me to stay in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur back in 1999!
This week saw the place plunged into darkness for about half an hour when a blackout occurred during a storm. At least I‘d finished my meal this time around and so no risk from chillies.
On the domestic scene I think my cook is getting the idea of what is needed to cook bacon and eggs – though he still doesn’t seem to grasp that I don’t need a plate of noodles of chapattis to go with them.
Other than that there’s not a lot to report. There was an article in the local press about the rise in mosquito carried diseases – Dengue fever, Malaria etc – during the monsoon season. A possibility exists that I might have to visit Mumbai in the next few weeks – but nothing for sure.
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