Where is Peter? (concluding)

Thanks for the many messages of suport. I am now through - 3 bypassess - and I'm out of intensive care and rid of drips, catheters and drains (these last are really something you don't want to encounter).
No rebirth experiences - but deeply gratefull to the Cardiac Team at Bangkock pattaya hospital.
Should be out of hospital by Saturday evening - but will be keeping a low profile for the next month or so. Might even do some revisions to the Web Site. So I will miss High Season at Anna Jet - always a really enjoyable time. Peter

Where is Peter?

Some may have noticed I haven't been in the bar this week - ask one of the girls and you will get anything that springs to mind: "Gone back to his country, on holiday, not well".

Well, the truth is I'm in Hospital.

On Tuesday I was suffering from acute and incredible indigestion which was so gassy that it was causing chest pain. Anna insisted on taking me across the road to Pattaya Memorial - all the time with me sobbing that all I needed was a fart.

The staff at Memorial checked me over gave me loads of shots and arranged for one of Bangkok Pattaya's super mobile CCU and there I was, complete with sirens blaring on my way to BP hospital.

I was rapidly turned into a pin cushion and covered with electrodes - all of which confirmed a Heart Attack.

"This doesn't happen to me! I'm not some over weight boozer living on Fast Food, Alchol and Fags, who never excercises. Nor do I ever get stressed! "

Actually, a minutes reflection showed that this was a pretty accurate description.

Anyway ... I woke up to two hours on a robotised hospital bed with a huge sensing head zooming up and around all over the place. Occasionally I could see on the monitors. They were trying to open up the blocked arteries feeding my heart muscles. They had made an incision in my groin and were pushing tubes up the artery to the blockages.

I've always said that Thai Girls know that the fastest way to a guy's heart is through his groin (European girls believe it's through their stomach) - the evidence was there!

At least four blockages - one very old, one they managed to repair (which is why I'm writing this) and two left that they gave up on.

So where am I? Sitting in my Hospital room, feeling fine (but a trifle nervous) awaiting a triple (or even quadruple) heart bypass operation tomorrow morning.

Prognosis is good for everything except our bank balance! I doubt I'll be able to update you for about 5 days.

In the meantime, if you are in Pattaya, then do please pop in and see Anna. She is very nervous - worried her nagging has sent me to an early grave!

Cheer her up will you, for me please?

Trip to Europe

Firstly, a slideshow of some of the 1400 pictures we took is now on the web site.

It was a long trip - just over 3 weeks. Actually the longest holiday I have ever had! We had been to the UK together twice before - so I wanted to show Anna a bit more of Europe. Some friends were arranging a trip to stay in a Villa in Italy - so that drove the location and timing.

The locations were excellent - though there was a little too much exploration of architecture and not enough shopping for Anna's preferences! But Paris was a disaster - just too cold for either of us. I love Paris - it's a great city to stroll around, but we were just too cold! Anna swears she will never go back!

We got back to the bar in the early evening - it was great - after nearly 24 hours behind glass, we were both struck by how good the girls looked, music, atmosphere - everything. We had a great night, got really pissed and went out until 7am! Then we were both ill! Hopefully, you get the same experience when you arrive (without getting ill)!

I'm trying out a new slideshow format - it loads faster and has better quality - but I can't work out a way to add the music. Short of learning Flash I don't think I can sort it out. Anyway, as always feedback on the format is welcome. Hover your mouse in the bottom third to see the slidehow play button. Right click will open an individual picture in a new window (and right clicking again allows you to save it).

In case you are at work (yes, I know you are), bored and want to look at more shots:
Try: www.annajet.co.uk/europe/uk
www.annajet.co.uk/europe/france
www.annajet.co.uk/europe/italy

The Uk ones are really designed for my family, the Italian ones for the group we were with - so be warned!

About Feeds (RSS or ATOM)

I don't really understand this - but it looks as if Feeds are a way to check for updates automatically (and other things). If you are using IE7, then you will see a funny icon (mine is between the little house (Home) and the print button. Normally it's grey. If it goes Orange, that means a Feed is available.
Click the button, follow the simple instructions and in your Favourites panel you will have a new section - Feeds. You will find the site you activated shown there. Hover and it will show you whether the page has been updated (it is checked by your computer automatically - I think even without IE being open) - if it has - clicking will take you there!
The main Anna Jet site doesn't have a Feed. This Blog does.
When I make updates, I will post them on the Blog - and you will know without actually loading the site.
Bye the way - the feed is a simple machine print - won't show any pictures or stuff.
Saves a click or two.

New Pictures

Don't know if anyone is using RSS - but if you are - posted a new picture set today.

Opening new Disco : Mixx

Last night we were invited to the opening.
It's a very expensive undertaking - right at the far end of Walking Street - actually on the square by the Bali High pier.
Taking a leaf out of some of the clubs on RCA, it's actually got two separate areas: Hip-Hop and House with a short corridor joining them.
It's on the third floor of an up-market shopping mall and you take a glass enclosed lift to get there. You arrive in the Hip Hop section - theme is plush red with bad reproductions of nude 'old masters' around the walls.
We walked through as rapidly as possible into the House room - all in white, fabric banners on the ceiling and a huge plastic modern style light fitting that kept changing colour. Sound system was good ( funnily, supplied by the same people who supply us). The dance floor was a sort of dry swimming pool and quite small given the size of the place. Lighting levels were on the bright side.
Like at most openings there were lots of people and many already had clubs so there was a great deal of interest.

They had a European DJ and I simply couldn't stay too long. He was playing the same boring style of House as they play in Insomnia. No melody, just electronic beat with the occasional electronicly modified growns as singing. This stuff is so boring and a world away from Anna Jet, Casino and Marine.

Insomnia must be the No1 club at the moment, it's packed from about 4am. It's popularity is derived from them doing cheap drinks for girls and like everywhere else, where the girls go, the guys follow! I've hated it for about 3 months now - it's too crowded and the music too boring. I haven't stayed long enough to even finish a drink!

Lucifer has always had discounted drinks for girls and Mixx is issueing 50percent discount cards to girls. We tried to use one for my drink and were told it was for unaccompanied ladies only (same as Lucifer and Insomnia).

However, Marine is finally fighting back - they have ripped a lot of seating out of Marine 2, substituting with tables and stools. They have also cut Heinken prices (I think for girls only) to 100 baht. This is still bad compared with the 65 charged in Insomnia, but it's something. The only thing I like about Marine is the music (and, I guess, the tradition) so I'm happy they still aren't responding enough - gives me room to dance!

Anyway, back to Mixx. They were kind enough to invite us and I wish them well. I'm sure they will get reasonable custom from Thais if they are staying open late (I think the late night "The Beat" on Soi 4 has closed). But it's long walk from the main sections of Walking Street - lonely too. A bit like the walk to Boom in the old days. Maybe people from Jomtien will be happy - it's more convenient for them!

Escape - Koh Phangan

After a very dangerous and expensive night in Charlies Angels go-go followed by drunken meanderings around the Black Moon party, I decided I had better move on!

250 baht got me a taxi and boat ticket to Phangan and Hat Riin. This of course is the Home of the Full Moon Party. Since I was recovering from a Black Moon party I felt I would be safe!

The boat trip was depressing - no one under 16 seemed to be aboard! As I treckked (is this the correct backpacker term?) from the boat pier my impressions were confirmed. I was in a land populated by strapping boys carrying rugby balls and very pretty girls - the best speaking Hebrew. Hell, so what if I was "street furniture" again, I was here to explore and take pictures.

Hat (Haad) Rinn was completly unexpected. I had heard about the Full Moon parties and had understood that what made the venue unique was that one side faced the sunrise whilst the other faced sunset. And that is true. What they don't tell you is that there is a small hill and town separating the two. I had imagined a long sand-bar - what I found was a penninsula with a distinct hill at the end. Like Phi Phi, the town is bars, restaurants (showing movies) and Internet/travel agents.

Planning to be up with the sun, I was back in the hotel room before midnight - setting my alarm for 05.30. Still awake at 01.00, I abandoned my early start and cancelled the alarm. Luckily, and with great consideration, Anna called me at 05.00 to ask me what was today's date? So that was my night's sleep! Were the shots worth it? Well the rising sun was covered by clouds - but I'm sure there were one or two "keepers".

Then a hair rasing taxi ride to a dual bay up in the North East - Thong Yai Pan. The road was mainly a sandtrack - winding it's way through the mountains. Beautiful. Thankful that I hadn't opted to hire a bike.

The two bays are really beautiful - white sands, bungalow resorts (not sure about these - mine hasn't got a TV) and not an Estate Agent in sight. Bliss.

But ....... boring at night! I remember I went Koh Samet at this time last year with my son Sam. We were asleep by 10pm. Hat Rinn had quite a few people but here ....... Probably only 2-300 tourists spread between the two bays. The restaurants are lonely - they don't even show movies - how much does that cost for Christ's sake? These guys are living the dream - untill the money runs out.

And NO GIRLS! The thing about Pattaya, Patong and Bangkok is no matter how quiet things get - there are always GIRLS, and they always fancy you! Here there are so many Caucasian nubiles desperatly seeking their holiday bunk-up and (as Anna once said) giving it away free the Thai girls have given up. Never seen this before - even Phi Phi had girls hanging around. If anything, what I've seen is European girls with Thai guys. Wonder if their wives are as understanding as the Thai guys who live off their girlfriends?

Tomorrow I've a flight back to Bangkok at 8pm. So normal service will resume. Anna says we have been doing really well - so maybe I'll be travelling again soon!

Are these islands a substitute for Pattaya? Well, no.
Phangan is a beautiful island and far less developed that Koh Chang - I certainly plan to come back - but I spend about 48 weeks a year in Pattaya. You guys get the chance to get to Pattaya for 2-4 weeks. You would be disappointed if you used some of this in the islands.

A few pictures are in this gallery: http://www.annajet.co.uk/shoot%202/index.html?detectflash=false

Escape to Samui.

Had to get away. Visas all done. So get away - from everything!
Two nights so far, staying at P&P Resort on Cheweng beach. Have stayed here a few times, nothing special but it's mid range (1150/night) for a beach place but still 3 minutes from Soi Green Mango.

It's about 2 years since I've been here. Lots has changed. The really busy bit of Chaweng has been made one-way - heading SE. You come back on a new road by the lake - a nightmare at night - no lights.

As in Pattaya, lots of places have changed or simply disappeared! Upmarket restaurants have replaced the mid-range pubby places. My favorite - Ninja, is still here but it's cleaner, new menu and staff. No sign of the Japanese guy who used to run it (presuambly the Ninja) or his wife. But they might still run the place, they now have another in Lamai and a "Garden Resort" to boot.

The new "terminal" is in operation - still unique and a tribute to Bangkok Airways who had the balls to build the airport in the first place. I'm split between admiration and resentment for them. They did, afterall, open Samui up - but are now harvesting the rewards. Same as their flight to Siam Reap - they are the only ones to fly and can therefore charge about a 30 percent premium. Their travel service is even slicker than AOT - you simply don't think to choose another taxi service - but their taxi to Cheweng was 500 baht - it should be 2-300!

I love Chaweng - fantastic beach (except Dec - Feb), good style in Soi Green Mango (even 3, very shy, Go-Go's) but the rest of the island is getting really bad. It's just being turned into luxury resorts and housing. You can buy your own piece of beach frontage - but since everyone else is doing it - it's the only beach you can go on! All the little coves, headlands and views are now fenced off. Yesterday I got up at 05.30 (yes, really) to look around on a motorbike and had to fit a really long lens to take pictures - I couldn't get within 500 meters of the sea!

The corruption is also obvious. Thai law prevents building on slopes in excess of 45 degrees. Here, it resembles the stuff that was built in Spain (before they fell down), houses hanging off cliffs and mountain slopes. I took the bike up a peak near Lamai - the road was so steep that eventually I was so scared that I got off and walked! But everywhere new villas were being built - terraces hanging out over the mountain-side. How long these places last will be very interesting (to me) and tragic for the investors. If they don't collapse, the Thais will take them back - they have probably got illegal Land Documents.

The "Influential people" will simply wait for the money to be laundered (buy a football team?) , check which haven't collapsed and then arrange for them to be taken over again. The prices are so high that probably the buyers are Bank Robbers or Casino owners - so no harm done. Just hope someone hasn't sunk his pension into them!

Q Bar (ex Bangkok) has also opened since I was here last. A couple of Klicks out of Chaweng and near the peak of a hill. Magnificent position. I arrived as they opened at 6pm - really just wanting to take pictures from their terrace. I left at 7 - the only customer. I was surprised, I thought the smart set would be there for 'Sundowners'. Maybe there is somewhere better? Or they were all checking their Land Documents?

Enough already. Time to get on the beach - can't stay long - lots of friends are due in the next few days.

Where are the pictures?

Apologies - I'm late. They are all taken but I need to caption and build the slide-show.

Got distracted you see. We bought a Video Camera (for all those firsts with babies). You guessed it. I'm up to my neck in Video editing. Whole new experience and a very steep learning curve. Believe it or not, I can't use my PC at the moment - it's got 8 hours to go to complete a 33 hour processing job! I can't believe it! Admittedly I'm following a slightly different workflow to Adobe's recommendation - but this is crazy! It is sheduled to complete around 05.00 tomorrow morning.

So, promise, the pictures will be my first job when I wake up.

Video's of Anna Jet? Yes, that is certainly on the plan. In fact the "footage" is in the "can" (impressed?) but I've still got a long way to go. A new animation for Anna's birthday and Visa's for Europe are ahead in the queue.

Pro DJ!

How important is music to Anna Jet?

Well, it certainly costs money!

When we opened the bar in Soi 2, we spent around 26,000 baht. Sony music centre and 4 speakers. Terrible! But pretty typical of most bars (in fact better than most).

Four years ago when we opened Anna Jet we rented Denon DJ kit but only used locally made amps and speakers. Our first DJ pawned the new kit, replaced it with 2nd hand stuff and did a runner with 3 months rent! The owners were looking for him for months but accepted that we were innocent parties and just left us with the 15 year old kit! The DJ? He was probably found in a ditch somewhere.

So 3 years ago we had to buy new Denon dual CD players and a mixer. Cost around 65,000 baht. Last year we upgraded our amps, installed a cross-over and 6 new speakers - about 110,000 baht.

This summer we've upgraded our outside speakers and we've just had to replace the Denon kit. 3 years life (and yes we had had them serviced) seems pretty short so this time we have changed to Pioneer. Got a really good discount and only had to fork out 54,000 baht.

Joe is like a pig-in-shit: stickers plastered all over his little booth and is scratching and stuff.

I'm working out how many Heinekens we have to sell to pay for it all!

Tips

People sometimes ask about tipping.
Tips are important - the basic pay is very low and tips and incentive payments made by the bar should be far higher than the daily salary.

Firstly, the general rule is that if you give a tip directly to someone - then it is seen as personal to them - it is not put into the general 'Tip' and shared.

Money that has been left in the change tray goes into the general tip. It is then shared by the girls who have worked in the bar from 5pm to when the bar closes.
This means that girls who are late, have been bar-fined or who opt to go home at 3am (but before we close): will not share the tip.
This feels pretty fair - especially since we often don't close until after 5am.

Some special tips:
You may see customers sticking notes to the ceiling and the girls climbing the pole to get the money with their teeth. This money goes in the general tip - some can do it, some can't, so they share it.

When someone uses a room for a short-time, the girl who has been bar-fined will give a 50 baht tip to whoever goes up cleans and changes the sheets. Again - spreading the 'Good Luck' around.

How much should I tip? Obviously it's your choice - but (unless we have really pissed you off) leave something!
If I'm in a bar that has been boring and the only conversation was with a tranny: leave the coins. If the bar has been OK and I've had a few drinks: leave the coins and the 20's. Somewhere Anna and I go regularly and we have stayed an hour or more: probably 2-300 baht.

Lastly, there's 'grope tipping'. I hate to see a guy all over a girl and not giving her anything. At least a few drinks - and if you've really had fun then at least 1-200 baht. You might have had fun - but give her something for the trouble!

Soi 7 - new Go-Go's

The Go-Go opposite has been open for about a month now. It's called Blue Angel. Pretty girls, and the boss Gow is great fun. The uniform is little white skirts and tops. Gow is pretty mean though - she has failed provide any knickers!
Honestly, it's too small to be a great sucess but a lot of fun can be had never the less. Works well with Anna Jet and can be a useful escape. I just announce that I'm going to "du hoy" and go over there!
Check it out next visit.

Silver Star have also opened in the old Faulty Towers restaurant. Much bigger than their place in Soi 8. Tasteful nighties and a Jaccusi. A bit bright for my taste but can be fun!

Introducing Nan

Years ago, when we were talking about staying together, I told Anna that I couldn't give her a child because I had had a vasectomy. Her English was still very poor and with hindsight it became obvious that she hadn't understood when she kept asking why she wasn't pregnant!

Whilst she loves Tat (her son), she really longed for a daughter.

Last Autumn, Anna's sister Nam gave birth to a baby girl and after much debate in the family it was agreed that the baby (Nan) should be brought up by us. Incidentally, Nam is now pregnant again.

So now we have a daughter. Anna is over the moon! Me? Delighted for Anna, Nan has already found a place in my heart .... but, hell, I'm 54 .... this was not on the plan!

Nan is normally on show in the bar between 3-6 pm. Pop in and see her. (You could buy a drink too - I'm losing sleep about my ever receeding retirement now that there is one more mouth to feed and educate!)

Joe's News

DJ Joe is currently running around showing everyone pictures of the twins that have recently been born to his ex-girlfriend Ice. He is confident that they are his - they are both bald, brown and big. We will only know for sure when we see them mixing! So a few years yet!
Congratulations Joe.

Welcome!

There are lots of things wrong with the web-site - but one piece of feedback I always get is that people like it's speed and simplicity. But I also know that people want to know what's going on.

So I thought I'd try a Blog.

Comments are welcome - maybe we will drop the forum and this will substitute. If you get too abusive then I'll delete/edit posts!

Pattaya has far too many forums already - lets just keep this about Anna Jet and it's community. So it's about our family, girls (and blokes) and the bar/guesthouse.

Peter