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Displayed prices are for multiple nights. Check the site for price per night. I see hostels starting at 200b/day and hotels from 500b/day on agoda.

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Kevin, owner of Jasmine Mansion, has a bunch of new stories up on his site Riff-Raffles. Here are some excerpts.

 

 

The Animal Mishaps Continues

“Come on get up, I have just seen a lovely dog at the market I want to buy.” These were the words I was woken up to this Pattaya morning by Mrs. Boss, who had been up and out at 6:00AM to do the hotels grocery shopping. I am not at my most erudite when woken, but the audience had already departed the scene and I was left to scramble out of bed and into the shower. I eventually made it downstairs and made myself a coffee before looking at a clock. It was 7:30AM — far too early for me to be contemplating the day ahead and the news of purchasing a dog had most certainly not registered with me.

 

As I boarded the car and we headed towards the market, I realized that Mrs. Boss was serious. We were off to purchase a dog — despite the clear and evident knowledge that our youngest son is allergic to dogs. James is my wife’s pride and joy. She adores children up to the age of about ten and then, as soon as they start to think for themselves, she tends to let them loose. Sam reached this stage a year ago so all of her love is saved for James. So what on Earth was she thinking about now? How on Earth could James and a dog inhabit the same living space? I understood that the dog would live outside, but, as is my experience of animals, they always make a beeline directly for the people that least want a beeline made in their direction. Perhaps Mrs. Boss had hatched a cunning plan that would see James and a dog thrive in a similar environment, but even were it not very early in the morning such a plan would still be miles away from my consciousness.

 

We went off to the market and to the pet stall there. A cluster of puppies, some only a few days old, lay around in cages. There were a couple of Rottweiler puppies aged six weeks and one of them was most certainly cute. Being in a small cage all day, every day, for most of his young life meant that he was not exactly active, but at least he managed to stand up and lick away at my hand. A few years time and he will have that bitten down to the bone, I thought to myself. As I toyed with the dog, Mrs. Boss spoke to the owner of the stall and the next thing I knew she was pressing 5,000 baht into his hand and we were getting a certificate detailing injections given and injections to be done. We had, so it appeared, acquired a dog.

 

Full Story

 

 

 

Even Pattaya Hoteliers Get the Blues

I am, at last, back at my computer and able to write with some degree of fluidity. This has not been the case over the past few weeks as everything was rather laboured, hard work if you like. I managed to put together a few stories of recent events but in the main these did not flow with anything resembling my usual style — be my style good, bad, or indifferent. In early December, I started to feel rather down in the dumps, I was fed up with everything and everyone. Now whilst that isn’t too different from my normal take on life, my ability to even smile, let alone laugh, at events that encompassed me had disappeared.

 

tombstone.jpg

 

I initially put my poor frame of mind down to my being homesick — something that happens a couple of times a year and normally passes after a day or two at the most. When things had not changed for a week, I became quite concerned and also began to suffer other ailments. Nothing was that serious but all of these issues together really started to weigh me down. My sleep patterns were all over the place and even having been in bed for over 12 hours, I would wake tired and struggle to get myself out of bed. A couple of times I did not even bother and stayed there all day save for a trip to make a coffee or visit the bathroom. My bones ached — I mean they really ached — making every movement extraordinarily difficult and considerably painful.

 

Full Story

 

 

Popping Prozac in Pattaya

After several weeks of this personal destruction, I decided to visit the doctor. My moods were now really threatening to get me into some serious trouble as I would either totally ignore or, worse still, bark at anyone who deigned they had the right to talk to me. Even at the hospital, I shouted at the triage nurse. She was only taking my blood pressure when she asked what my symptoms were. “Why — are you going to fix them?!?” I responded gruffly. She stood and smiled, not the calm smile of the caring nurse, but the inane grin of a Thai who has arrived at a place she does not want to be. “I will tell the doctor and just in case you were wondering, my problem is nothing to do with my dick!” I added.

 

Having been advised that my blood pressure was fine — fortunately it always is — I sat back in the waiting area. A few seconds later, time to get my pen out and open the newspaper at the crossword page but no more, I was called into the doctor’s office. Aching limbs, constantly sleepy, lethargic, depressed angry with everyone, and suicidal thoughts were all the symptoms I poured out. “I think you depressed,” The doctor said. “Yes, brilliant — fucking brilliant. I presume in a minute you are going to tell me I have aching limbs, am constantly tired and hate everyone — in fact just simply tell me that I have everything I have already told you I have. What are you a doctor or a fucking parrot?” I knew I had gone too far. I knew I should have just sat and nodded my head, but I could not help myself. Doctors were also high up on my hit list for this year.

 

Having let me calm down the doctor ran a few tests to check that I did not have arthritis or any other debilitating illness or disease and asked me about my work and life in general. There I was off again, bemoaning the fact that there was only work — there was no ‘life in general.’ Fortunately, my lethargy soon got the better of me and I could no longer be bothered to argue with the doctor or rail against the world, I simply slumped back into my chair. Medication for my aching limbs, medication to prevent the medication for my aching limbs affecting my abdomen, sleeping pills and 25mg tablets of Prozac were prescribed.

 

Full Story

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