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Headlines (Sorry — not clickable)
1. Cremation Ceremony for Ned Haywood, Paul’s Father
2. Goodbye to the Silver Dollar Bar in Washington Square After a Quarter of a Century
3. All Expat Asia Pool Challenge October 28-29, 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia
4. Is the Dadgum RAINSY SEASON Coming Already???
5. Big Ken’s *Other* Son’s Coming Out Ceremony
6. “Two Fallen Angels Seeking Peter” (Just to Lighten the Mood a Moment)
7. More Photos of the Texas Lone Staar’s Wall Memorabilia
8. An All-Too-Quick Visit with Dean Barrett
9. “But MY L’il Noi’s DIFFERENT!”
10. Gary of Loei, Ken the “Krazy Kanuck,” and “Asia” Lynn, at the Silver Dollar of the Bar’s Penultimate Day
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Cremation Ceremony for
Ned Haywood, Paul’s Father
The ceremony last Saturday was well-attended; I counted 55 people, including Paul and myself. Many of those at the ceremony went onto the Moonshine Pub for a sort of Irish wake, except held post ceremony. Many others who went to the Moonshine hadn’t been to the ceremony, and I quickly lost track of how many there hadn’t been to add to the overall count for the day’s two events, as people were coming and going in a steady stream, though when I gave up, around 40 people were or had been there, about a third or maybe half of whom hadn’t been out at Wat Thepleela.
I’ve uploaded about 20 photos and 1 short (10-second) unusual video of a feature in the wat though not directly associated with any one ceremony to my Flickr account, where they are available for any of you to view. The link is here (which you may have to copy then paste into your browser’s address bar):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89344431@N00/sets/72157628980224641/
The video is of what turns out to be a robot, or mechanized mannikin, of a figure, apparently a man, with unkempt hair and a somewhat skeletal appearance to his face repeatedly performing a deep wai, the traditional Thai greeting and show of respect. I’ve never heard of, read about, or seen this before, nor had the two or three Thais I asked, all lifelong Buddhists. (This was outside on the walkway running along the front of the building housing several salas.)
In any case, both the ceremony went well, with many well-wishers on hand.
Goodbye to the Silver Dollar Bar in
Washington Square After a Quarter of a Century
Yes, by the time you read this, Silver Dollar will be about to pass into memory, as it will close at the end of business on Saturday, January 28, 2012.
It will be joining the other places that have already gone to that Great Washington Square in the Sky: Texas Lone Staar, Wild Country, and Cat’s Meow, along with the now-gone Garden Spa, Sazanka Spa, and Bourbon Stret.
I first discovered Silver Dollar — and the Square — in November or December, 1994, just a few months after I moved here from my previous Asian Abode, Macau. That was back in the Bobby Toomb’s day, and I immediately liked the place, from which I explored the Square and came to know the legendary George Pipas of Texas Lone Staar and Doug Harrison of Bourbon Street, along with The affable Khun Riam of Wild Country and her now-long-gone husband, Jerry, as well as the lovely Khun Meow at Cat’s Meow, back then called “No Probl’m.”
Which the Silver Dollar won’t be, not anywhere, at least not anytime soon. Besides still having to continue to deal with the flooding of their home late last year, they’ve been busily shuttling stuff out of here from upstairs so that once they close the doors they won’t be left in a dead rush trying to empty out the several-floor shop house. Besides, they have their other residence, the Moonshine in Jomtien, and their Thai restaurant in Houston. Though relatives manage the other two businesses, the places aren’t attention-free, of course.
Starting at 6:00 P.M. or so Saturday, a keg will be opened and the beer will be free as long as the keg lasts.
My buddy Tobin, a.k.a. “Robot-y,” called me this morning (Tuesday) to say he’s scheduled to fly up to China next Monday and had planned just to fly down from Chiang Mai sometime Sunday evening before heading on up to Tianjin. But he plans to fly down late Friday night or maybe Saturday morning instead, as he really like the Silver Dollar and wants to be here for it’s last day.
I’ll be taking photos the next few days, including of the memorabilia on the walls, a few of which I plan to take to a copy shop to scan into my thumb drive.
Lots of memories here, and this is gonna be a tough one for me personally, as would have been the Texas Lone Staar, in particular, had I been able to be here instead of stuck in the U.S. when it closed. And Wild Country and Cat’s Meow sure as heck would have been tough enough themselves.
They may re-open elsewhere sooner or later, and I just hope they do, and soon — preferably somewhere in the vicinity. I don’t mean on Soi 22 (though that would be GREAT), but at least somewhere in, say, the rectangle I jokingly say marks the only neighborhood in which my retirement visa here is valid — between Petchburi Road on the north and Rama 4 Road on the South, and Soi Thonglor (and an imaginary southern extension of it to Rama 4 Road) on the east and Soi Asoke and Ratchadapisek Road (the latter between Sukhumvit Road and Rama 4 Road) on the west! 
But REALLY . . .
Big time . . .
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Click on Richard's Picture to Go to His Website with His Writings
Burma Richard’s Website Doesn’t
Have an Image Banner Yet, So I Took
This Picture from the Site and Made It a
Direct Link to the Homepage. Just Click and Go.
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All Expat Asia Pool Challenge
October 28-29, 2011 in Jakarta, Indonesia
I got an e-mail reporting on this event, of interest to some Squaronians and others interested in darts, since several of the bars along Soi 22 and in Queen’s Park Plaza a number of “Plaza Heads” and “Soi 22 Drifters” are members of various bars’ teams in the neighborhood.
I got the following e-mail reporting on the event at the beginning of November — but kept forgetting — from one Klaus A. Marek (a.k.a. “Jack”), with whom I’m not acquainted, as far as I know, but to whom I’m quite thankful. A few pictures follow the text, which is,
Hi Kurt
here a few words to the Jakarta Pool Event last week. Attached also some photos.
Born out of an idea over a beer between Mark D (Bangkok) and Brian Piggott (Jakarta) 5 month ago to bring 6 players from Bangkok to Jakarta and have a game in a pub an event was developed with about 150 participants. The location was the ballroom at the Arion Swissotel Jakarta with 4 Guinness Championship Pool tables, international referees, film teams and excellent service staff.
On the 28th/29th Oct. 48 Bangkok Expats (Members of the Bangkok Pool League) traveled to Jakarta to meet the Jakarta All Stars (about 50 of them) for the first All Expat Asia Challenge 2011 and Team BANGKOK was bringing back the trophy, which will remain in Bangkok until Jakarta or some other Asian city can make it to Bangkok next year and take it away from us. The score was 20-20 after the first round, and 41-39 in our favor after round 2. Team BANGKOK made it’s move in round 3, taking a 54-46 lead, and finished with a 61-53 win.
A few people had to cancel out of the trip at the last minute because of the floods, but the 48 that made it proved to be enough to win the day. Team JAKARTA was a great side, and even greater hosts. They went overboard in making everyone on Team BANGKOK feel welcome. They laid out the red carpet for us, wined us, dined us, and exceeded all the expectations we had. They are a wonderful group, and we salute them.
Team BANGKOK came not only with their game, but a great attitude that made the event much more than a pool tournament. They partied hard, played hard, and came together as a team when it was needed. The win, and the overall success of the event belonged equally to every one of those that came, and we salute them as well. They did the league, the sport, and the City of Bangkok proud.
We think all those involved on both sides would agree that it was a truly magical event that they all were proud to have been a part of. The work done over the last 5 month by people in both Jakarta and Bangkok to organize and stage the event was well worth it. The end result was more than we envisioned, and that was due mostly to the great attitude that both teams brought to the event.
22 different nationalities (no locals) were represented by the participants, a real Expat event.
The Plaza and Washington Square were represented by Hideaway Pub, Sport 20-2, Moonshine, Mash, Classic Club, Corner Bar and Sportsman.
Everyone was having an absolute blast, and the competitive spirit was just sensational.
Cheers
Jack
And the pics:
Team Bangkok Picture 1
Team Bangkok Picture 2
Trophy
(Sorry; the quality’s insufficient for me to adjust the size of the three smaller shots so they appear larger — they get blurry.)
It seems as if it was a great event, with fun had by all.
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Click on the Banner to Go to
Christopher G. Moore’s Website
Is the Dadgum RAINSY SEASON Coming Already???
It sure as heck seems like it. I’m sitting in the Silver Dollar, and about an hour ago I was working on this column on the bar’s computer when the power went off a few seconds, came back on for a couple of minutes, then briefly went back off before going off a few more seconds then coming back on another couple of minutes, and finally going off for about 20 minutes.
Why? It was raining, for pete’s sake. And this is supposed to be the dry season, moving from the cool into the hot season — but not the monsoon one.
About two weeks ago, it rained all night at my apartment after sprinkling and lightly raining off and on throughout the day. By morning, the rain was coming down pretty good.
Here’s a snapshot of the rain earlier today:
I think you can just make out the splashing at the lower end of the picture.
In any case, we DANGED sure don’t want another one-in-60-years flooding scenario AGAIN. In this neighborhood, as regulars readers will recall (if they weren’t here themselves anyway) that we didn’t flood, but we might not be so lucky next time. Gulp.
Late Note: It’s Friday morning now, and when I got up a little before 7 o’clock, it started raining fairly hard about two minutes later. Unbelievable for this time of year. Kept up about half an hour, then quickly tapered off.
Big Ken’s *Other* Son’s Coming Out Ceremony
Awhile back I wrote a short bit about Big Ken’s son’s graduation ceremony from his initial military training, a ceremony which in the British forces is called a “coming out ceremony.” Now I have pictures of his other son’s, so without further ado, here they are:
Ken’s Son Is the Tall Lad in the Front Rank
Ken’s Other Son and Ken
Despite Ken’s apparently not-so-happy look, don’t kid yourself; he’s so pleased he can hardly stand it! And proud as proud can be, as he well should be; his sons are turning out to be most excellent young men, and their willingness to serve Queen and country is just part of that. They are a tribute to their Father, by the way, one of the finest gentlemen it has ever been my pleasure and honor to know.
Well done!
“Two Fallen Angels Seeking Peter”
(Just to Lighten the Mood a Moment)
I shall be kind and leave the guilty party from whom I got this anonymous, but it is funny. The title is mine, but the rest is either Guilty Party’s or some unidentified other source’s
“Two Fallen Angels of the Night Seek Salvation”
Two prostitutes were riding around town with a sign on top of their car which said: “Two Prostitutes — $50.00″A policeman, seeing the sign, stopped them and told them they’d either have to remove the sign or go to jail.
Just at that time, another car passed with a sign saying: “JESUS SAVES.”
One of the girls asked the officer, ‘How come you don’t stop them?!”Well, that’s a little different,’ the officer smiled, ‘Their sign pertains to religion.’
The following day the same police officer noticed the same two hookers driving around with a large sign on their car.
He figured he had an easy arrest until he read their new sign:
Two Fallen Angels
Seeking Peter — $50
They’ve Put Down Their Sign in This
Photo as They Chat with, Um, “Someone”
Of course, in Thailand, no self-respecting Lady of the Night (or the Day, for that matter) would carry such a blatant sign.
After all, they scarce need to do so, except maybe for the oblivious (chuckle)!
(Guilty Party — that’ll be an Underberg next time we meet, My Friend!!! If I can FIND one, that is, LOL!)
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More Photos of the Texas Lone Staar’s Wall Memorabilia
Here a six more photos of stuff on the Lone Staar’s walls, none of which I know what happened to. (The first, second, and last ones may make Shrinking Violets blush a wee bit, but they’re quite mild, really.)
The Top One in Particular May Be Hard
to Read, So Here’s What the Three Signs Say:
LIFE IS LIKE A SHIT SANDWICH
THE MORE BREAD YOU’VE GOT
THE LESS SHIT YOU’VE GOT TO EAT
Because of the Glare from the Flash, I’m Not Sure Who
These People Are in the Main Center of Interest in This Photo
I’m Virtually Certain the Late
Pat Landry is the Man on the Left, and I Should
Remember Who the Other Two Are — But I Don’t
I Reckon Just About EVERYONE
Remembers the Unforgettable Gator,
Who Passed a Few Years Ago After Having
Lived in the Kingdom for Decades.
Burma Richard Took the Photo.
Josh Gaines Was Another Unforgettable
Squaronian and Old Thai Hand Going Back Decades,
Like Gator Did. Burma Richard Also Took This Photo,
One of the Best He Ever Has Taken of a Squaronian.
No Comment Needed Here!
And there you are, another half a dozen memorable pictures of the gone-but-never-forgotten Texas Lone Staar, all thanks to the ever-affable Randy R., to whom a huge thanks is due.
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Clicking on the Banner Will Take
You To the Website as Advertised!
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An All-Too-Quick Visit with Dean Barrett
Was sitting here when in walked Dean Barrett, another of Bangkok’s fine resident authors. He was able to stay only a short while, as he was en route to meet someone else, and when he said “a lady,” I gave it up since a skirt winds every time!
H said he has been down in Pattaya speaking (to a group, I mean, not whispering sweet what-nots and the like!) and sold a few books. Anyway, I took a picture of him lounging in a booth, the got beside him and had one of the ladies take one of the two of us:
As You Can See, He’s All Dressed
Up — for Steamy Bangkok, Anyway — for
His Hot Date; Do Note His “Dress Shoes”!!!
(Sorry ’bout that, Dean; when I noticed the shoes, I just couldn’t resist, LOL! Sure I’ve got sandals — but I’m not going for a hot date, either!)
Hm. I See We BOTH Have that Rasputin
Look — HE Looks More Rasputin-ish, Doesn’t
He? Just LOOK at Those Glittering, Beady, Crazy Eyes!
Well, it took the lady only three or four tries to get one; she kept releasing the button before the flash fired. (This camera is slow about that, to be fair.)
Dean’s one of the Good Guys, too, and has been a Squaronian for years. In fact, way back when, I was living above the Texas Lone Staar when Dean contacted me. We had never met, but he wanted to secure accommodation before making the move from New York to Bangkok, so I arranged with George to have a room at the place waiting on him. Of course, if Dean had finked out on me, I would have been left paying at least a portion of the bill, but I took a chance, and it paid off; we’ve been friends ever since.
An interesting man, he lived for years in Hongkong, where he wrote a column for the venerable South China Morning Post English-language newspaper, one of East Asia’s leading nones. (The name of his column escapes me, though I read it faithfully during my Macau years).
An excellent speaker of Mandarin Chinese, he was stationed in Thailand with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War years, do such stuff as listening to China Central Television’s radio arm to thrilling stuff like the audio tracks of revolutionary operas and songs written directed by the late, unlamented Jiang Qing, wife of Chairman Mao; Wikipedia has this to say about her “artistic talents”:
Jiang Qing also directed operas and ballets with communist and revolutionary content as part of an effort to transform China’s culture. She dominated the Chinese arts, and in particular attempted to reform the Beijing Opera. She developed a new form of art called the Eight model plays which depicted the world in simple, binary terms: the positive characters (“good guys”) were predominantly farmers, workers and revolutionary soldiers, whilst the negative characters (“bad guys”) were landlords and anti-revolutionaries. The negative characters, in contrast to their proletarian foils who performed boldly centre stage, were identifiable by their darker make-up and relegation to the outskirts of the stage until direct conflict with a positive character.[1] Critics would argue that her influence on art was too restrictive, because she replaced nearly all earlier works of art with revolutionary Maoist works.
Real sweetheart, huh?
He also listened “news broadcasts,” and when not otherwise engaged in useful military intelligence work monitored calls to place orders at pizza parlors in Japan, a critical piece of cultural and business intelligence keenly sought after by military intelligence, the CIA, and Pizza Hut. (He spoke some Japanese, too. Enough to get around Giza anyway, where all the ladies were fast becoming addicted to American-style pizza.) Off-duty, he constantly risked his Army career by swapping intelligence (and other stuff) with ladies of questionable virtue in various hot spots, but he managed to complete his enlistment without getting renditioned to whatever the equivalent of Gitmo was back then.
Anyway, it’s always great to bump into Dean — something that doesn’t happen so often these days.
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Just Click on the Banner to Go to
the Homepage pf Stickman Weekly
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“But MY L’il Noi’s DIFFERENT!”
This is a claim any Old Asia Hand has heard many a time, in some form or fashion, from Seoul to Singapore and around all of East and Southeast Asia.
For the newly-arrived, what this means is that a foreign guy — usually a Westerner — makes his virgin — no pun intended — trip to the Mysterious Orient on holiday, then hits the bar scene, where in many cases, the flesh trade is in full swing. He’s read the warnings: “You can take the girl out of the bar — but not the bar out of the girl,” “Don’t believe her when she says she needs 30,000 baht for an emergency operation for her Mother,” etc.
But Mr. Newbie meets some “L’il Noi” who sweeps him off his feet, and he decides he’s now more expert about the local bar scene (be it Bangkok, Bali, Beijing) than locals who are true Old Hands, and decides his L’il Noi is that one-in-a-million exception who genuinely has fallen head-over-heels in love with him. Never mind that he’s 68 and look 85, is stooped; and is as fashionably attired as a caveman who’s been on a spending spree in the men’s department in Paris or some such place; while that his L’il Noi is 22, is so beautiful she makes the angels sing and legions swoon, and could talk Scrooge out of a king’s ransom: she’s “DIFFERENT!“
Um, yeah. Right.
Even if she IS that one in a million, it isn’t due to anything about Mr. Witless, but divine intervention. Or something. But not him.
Well-respected web columnist Stickman has addressed this question in his latest column, “Low-Fat Stickman,” in his “Stickman’s Weekly” series, for the umpteenth time. (What local columnist or blogger covering the night life here hasn’t???)
It’s the very last item right at the bottom of the page. Stickman doesn’t take to fools kindly, and refuses to write in sweet, dulcet, dreamy tones suitable for a misty, moon-lit night on a lovely spring evening. He spits it out on the tundra under the harsh, merciless, clear light on a cold, cold day.
And he’s spot on.
http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/StickmanWeeklyColumn2012/Low-Fat-Stickman.htm
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Gary of Loei, Ken the “Krazy Kanuck,” and
“Asia” Lynn, at the Silver Dollar of the Bar’s Penultimate Day
Well, I’m at the Silver Dollar (surprise, surprise) and about three hours ago, Gary of Loei came in, so I broke to visit with him a bit while he was sitting with Ken the “Krazy Kanuck.” While we were chatting, “Asia” Lynn came strolling in. And so it went.
Gary Enjoying a Break from His Heavy Duties as Lord of Loei
Gary’s kept his Squaronian membership, despite pissing off and moving way upcountry to the remote province of Loei. While only about 350-400 kilometers NNE of Bangkok, it may as well be in one of the Magelleanic Clouds, or at least next to Tubbs Corner, Texas, the Facebook page for which list this information: “middle of nowhere.” That’s it, no joke. But Tubbs Corner does boast the intersection of Farm-to-Market 1053 North and State Highway 329 — with a four-leaf clover intersection! And the two roads actually become divided — will wonders never cease? — for a few hundred feet to each side of the intersection! Imagine the fun on Saturday night, when all three locals gather to drink beer as they watch other drunk West Texans barreling off of or onto one of these majestic thoroughfares at 150km per hours — with a load of squealing pigs screaming bloody murder!
Actually, that would be high drama in Loei, but Gary thrives on watching grass grow, clouds form, sleeping, and Leo beer. But it sure was good seeing him again — and that really isn’t a joke. He’s a friend of many years, and always a delight.
He was chatting with Silver Dollar regular Ken, who’s pretty much a regular. He’s also nuts, but what can one expect of someone raised on a short stretch of the Gulf of St. Lawrence coast of the unnamed, 2-acre (.8 hectare, or to make it sound more impressive, 5-rai) islet immediately north of St. Paul Island, from which it is divided by a narrow sea waterway named “The Tickle” — another source names it “The Tittle, and the islet “North Island” — from St. Paul Island, which is itself north of the northern tip of Nova Scotia. (I’m not making up the unnamed islet, “The Tickle/The Tittle,” or St. Paul Island up; look ‘em up on Google Maps, for starters. Better still, go to www.stpaulisland.net — that’s right; the uninhabited island actually has its own website, and it’s surprisingly interesting.) Actually, Ken’s native rock — I mean islet — has a lighthouse, so it wasn’t completely uninhabited before automated lighthouses came into vogue.
It was a perfect place for Ken to grow up, as it both drove him crazy and taught him to put up with it simultaneously. What a deal, huh! He also didn’t have to worry about wild beasts, because neither St Paul Island or his native roc- — I mean “islet” — have any native land critters, though there are birds. And of course lots of fish in the sea. And he had a commanding view from atop the islet’s 125-foot/~41-meter mountain, except the region is shrouded with heavy fog much of the time, so all he could do was admire his hand in front of his face.
All that nonsense said, Ken is a really great guy.
Then along came Lynn, of whom I forgot to snap a pic as he, Gary, and I immediately got involved in animated conversation. He was biding his time while his lovely wife, Khun Nan, was shopping for new bed linens in the Emporium. (No big-box chain hypermart or roadside Thai open-air market, please!) As she is the type of lady to closely examine all 27 brands, 45 colors, and 162 patterns available in all there various combinations, Lynn fled, telling her, “you have the credit card; I’m going to the Square.” Unlike most wives, however, Nan graciously invited him to hit the road, plop down and wait, then she would call him when she was (damned good and) ready — 
!
Lynn’s another American whose life’s events some years ago back Stateside took a turn such that he decided to start afresh elsewhere. A successful businessman, he planted his roots in Asia, and has been somewhere on These Mysterious Shores for about as long as I have — a quarter of a century. And he’s not only still going strong, not only going from strength to strength, but doing better all the time. He’s become one of those “if it’s Tuesday, this must be Beijing” kind of guys. He’s universally well-liked, as is Khun Nan, welcomed by one and all any time at all. Everyone in this neighborhood just wishes he could get around more, but since they live out in the wilds of Paknam, it’s not so often he manages to get into town.
The three of us enjoyed a nice 2-3 hours together, joined late by the ever-friendly Nigel, who likes to come in from ruling over ruffians, rascals, rogues, and reprobates at his [truck] yard way out towards Chonburi or some other godforsaken place. (Anyplace outside the boundaries of my visa — Petchburi Road between Soi Asoke and Soi Thonglor, Rama 4 Road likewise, and the two aforementioned sois is “Out There in the Great Murk” to me.)
What a wonderful time we had. . . .
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Coming up on 9:00 P.M., and I’ve gotta post this.
Damn. The very last column I’ll write at the Silver Dollar.
I sure do hate endings, doggone it all.
Oh — I’ll be here tomorrow, taking pictures, blabbing, etc. And I’ll enjoy it . . . while it lasts.
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Enough for one go . . .
Mekhong Kurt
