The Girl in the Big Mango

1-Jan-07 now.

Things have been tough in my hometown, Bangkok.

Several bombs have gone off all over Bangkok in the past 8 hours.

Rumour has it that more than 20 bombs had been planted. If that’s really the case, we’re just half way through.

Two major spots for countdown in Bangkok cancelled all activities earlier this evening. And right after midnight, there were two bombs going off very close to one of the two spots.

My deepest condolences to the victims & families.

Almost new year now.

Not too busy week it was. Lots of heacache, though. Sometimes, it’s just unbelievable. If people started thinking before doing something, they would make everyone’s life so much easier. Three out of seven people, going to work in Europe, got important documents to apply for a work permit very wrong.

Documents were in Thai.

So, that’s kinda screwed up a bit.

Another major thing last week was that my big boss’s father passed away. Two other bosses were away. So, I’ve been responsible for appropriate actions on behalf of the company. We’ll sponsor the service on Wednesday. So, I’ve to prepare my Israeli boss and my good self for this.

It’s usually the most senior person in an organisation to go up and do the ceremony. But since my Israeli boss doesn’t know anything about Buddhist funeral.. and is Jewish.. I might have to do it.

Not that I know about it more than she does.

Weekend hasn’t stated yet, but I’ve been drinking a lot already.

Different places. Different people. Different beers.

I met up with the boys from an Embassy the other day and had a nice time. We played a bit of pool. Of course, I lost both games. But not too badly. Either I play better when sober, or it was just my lucky day.
Last night was the funniest for this week - so far. If the same girl turns up tonight, we might have another entertaining night. Less drunk though. Because I’m hungover.

Actually, I think I was still drunk when I got up this morning.

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It has been a mad and cold week.

Earlier last week, I attended a Christmas Party with people from work. That was fun and productive. Got some interesting idea about work to present my beloved. Not sure what he thinks of it yet. But it looks interesting to me.

I left that party with some gifts, and headed to the pub. Andrew and his uncle were already there. And one of Andrew’s girls joined us a bit later. I like this girl. She’s very nice. Having had some wine at the party, plus beers in the pub, I recall singing Bohemian Rhapsody in My Way style - in the bleedin’ pub. Yorky said that sounded frightening.
As much as I want to defend myself, I think I have to agree with him.

After the pub, we headed to another upscale pub. Andrew’s uncle was fun to hang out with, actually. Everyone had a great laugh. Everyone got to dance, except me ol’ mate, Andrew. Bloody boring git!

It was a fun night. And that’s a very good thing, considering all shite at work I’ve got to deal with and sort out.

I’ve got to get all four different projects (about 20 staff involved) under control next week. One of them shouldn’t be a problem - so far so good. Another project is so screwed I can’t be bothered to worry much. Nothing we can do anyway, since it’s the new law that screws us up.

I’m so looking forward to four trips in Jan and Feb.

It’s here.

IT’S REALLY HERE!!!!!!!!

I shit you not. Temperatures have dropped a bit the past week here in Bangkok. Now, it can get as old as 20 Deg C. Just how I like it. I’ll have to put on a jacket soon.

My beloved is currently in Chiang Mai. I just screamed down the phone earlier this evening to express my love for him. No, more like how much I wanted to go to Chiang bloody Mai. It’s even colder up there. Chiang Mai’s low is 11 Deg C. I could freeze to death there, come to think of it.

Not much has been going on. Just.. cakes.. cookies.. beers.. and work, of course.

Holidays are coming up. But I’ll stay in Bangkok. I’m saving trips for January or February, when it’s not packed with tourists everybloodywhere.

Right. When you say that magical word, you can almost taste it. I’m going to have dinner and a few drinks with Andrew and his uncle.

Last Tuesday was Lee’s 48th Birthday.

I went down the pub to meet with friends and surprise Lee with a birthday cake.

Wednesday night, an American guy invited me out as he was out with his friends. I thought I would give it a miss and would go home because I had to come to work early the next morning. Then, Andrew talked me into joining him and his mates in the pub. Which I did.

I ended up going home around 3AM.

We started from the Dubliner. Then, moved to Titanium. Then, a seedy bar on top of Andrew’s soi. That place opens until 2AM. So, four of us played pool. Being normal people that don’t play pool for a living, we were absolutely shite at it. The game wouldn’t end, cos we were so terrible. And we lost track of time.

Next thing I knew, a woman behind the bar started bitching at us in Thai. There were only two Thais in our group. I brushed it off cos I didn’t want to ruin the night. Nope she wouldn’t stop. She bitched like we were causing them troubles, and that she shouldn’t have allowed us to play in the first place.

Tell you what, all of us don’t get to sit, drink, play pool all day for a living. We do something else. And playing pool comes around the bottom of our To Do List. Is it a surprise that we are rubbish at it?

I think not.

We didn’t play to beat the shit outa the other team. We played for a laugh.

The owner, some old white guy, said they were allowed to open until 2AM, not 2.20AM. The grumpy old cow said they told us 5 minutes ago that they had to close the place. None of us recalled that episode.

We paid the bills and left. The grumpy old cow gave us the pool game money back, saying no charge. I was very pissed off, because of her manners, and had a vision of me throwing a 1000 THB note at her screaming “will you please just shut the fuck up now?”.

That was just a vision. I didn’t do anything to her.

By the time we left, the black ball was still on the table. You see, we could leave without finishing the game. It’s not a matter of life and death. And it’s only 20 THB a game.

Outside the bar, I told Andrew how rude the grumpy old cow was. His mates were there so I didn’t go all narky. Those people shut the place and walked past us - still bitching. I let a “HEY, SORRY WE DIDN’T KNOW!!!” out. The white guy turned back and waved like “Whatever”.

I’m going to burn the place down.