Living and owning a business in Thailand, CS style.

[Captain Sensible]

Here is a pic of me sucking on a big spliff that I bought in the Burmese town called Phaiatonzu (sp) on one of my treks .



hehehe. Happy days eh?

[Captain Sensible]

And finally for tonight this pic is of the bar before I refurbished it. I am posting it so that you can see what a sad fokking shithole it was brfore I snazzied it up. Tomorrow I will post the pics of the bar after I refurbished it.

[MeMock]

Fantastic stuff captain. Even better with pics.

Wow - what an interesting story to finally end up in Thailand running a pub.

Q: So when the German chef left did you end up owning the pub? If so how was that arranged paper work wise or did he just shake your hand and say 'it's all yours'? Also, why so many name changes, It seems to happen a lot with pubs in Thailand - changing their names every 2 years or so. i used to think it was because it was under new ownership but you changed the name 3 times during your stay.

[Captain Sensible]

The name changes were due in the main, to the fact that I was stoned outa my head most of the time and was forever dreaming up new ways of getting more punters in. I never actually had any paperwork to say that it was mine. It was just accepted that it was. I paid Armin a rent for the building and I paid the landowner a rent for the land. Thinking back on it now, it was all very risky and I could have been turfed out at any time but as I was employing a number of the locals I was just left to get on with it. I also never complained about the Thai police who would often use the beer garden to drink when they finished the night shift. I would often come down from my room to find 10 or more of the local constabulary getting drunk as skunks on their own booze in the beer garden. It was all done on a wink and a handshake actually. I never even had a license to sell grog but hell we were in Thailand and the local Thais were enjoying the fact that they now had a pub that attracted loads of falang that they could fleece.

Here is a pic of the pub after I had one of the local builders build a roof over the beer garden.



I got rid of the barbed wire fence too coz it made the place look like a POW camp and besides, the Thais only used it to hang their washing on.

[Captain Sensible]

Here is another view of the beergarden after I had snazzied it up.



Some nights the place was absolutely chokka with folks and I remember one night when there wasnt a spare chair in the place and ppl were actually sitting on the ground enjoying the atmosphere when we had a power failure. I thought that this might be reason for folks to go back to their guest houses so I immediately started a sing along.

Immediately after the gasps and whoops that ppl make whener there is a power cut I started singing that old Monkees song...............hmmm, I cant remember the name of it just now but it goes like this..........

'Oh I could hide neath the wings
of a bluebird as she sings
The six aclock alarm will never ring
but it rings and I rise etc etc...............lah, lah, lah

Anyway, I must have had around 80 punters in that night and they all joined in and sang along. Not one of them left.

Of course the Thais were all astounded at what was going on in the pub.
It was a real hoot.

[Captain Sensible]

On the day that I changed the name to the Elephants Head I hired an elephant to mark the occasion and draw attention to the fact.



I also put on a free buffet dinner which was an enormous hit with all the backpackers but really pissed off all the guest houses in the area coz everyone came to my gaff for dinner and the guest houses had no one to sell meals too.

Mai Pen Rai. eh?

I actually made a mint that night and sold out of grog. I had to send the boy up to the shop to buy up heaps of grog at retail price just to keep it going but what the hell did I care as I was raking it in.

[Captain Sensible]

Here is a pic of me in my quarters upstairs from the pub with the workbench there in the foreground.



I have still got that bedcover as well.

[Captain Sensible]

And here is a snap of me with some of my customers. The gal that is hanging on to me actually went on to become Mrs Sensible.



I eventually went back to London and lived with her for 8 long years before fleeing back to Australia.

[MeMock]

Fantastic stuff.

So...you had no paperwork at all, very risky by the sounds of it but as you said 'you were racking it in'

Now this is a very common comment to make when you are a westerner in a foreign country starting up a new business. Trying to keep up appereances and all that. Where you racking it in like you said or just getting by?

Also, you mentioned the police coming to drink at your place but bringing their own booze...that wouldnt happen now. Did you ever ina ll your time there have any trouble with the local police/government? If so plese explain. Also did you ever need the help of these people and in what situations.

[Captain Sensible]

I quickly recognised that the business was seasonal and there were times when no one came in. The hot season in particular. Kan gets very fokking hot in the summer and folks tend to head for the islands at that time. So I made hay while the son was shining so to speak. I never kept books like you would with a real business but I always had plenty of dosh in my pocket. I actually bought a long tail boat and used it to take gals up river and have adult fun in the open air. They loved it.
I never had any trouble with the coppers as my head waitress was the sister of the chief of police in Kan. Everything was all sabai sabai.
I would always get a warning if I was doing something that was a bit moody like selling cigarettes that I had bought in Burma for tuppence.
I used to sell ganja too and when they found out about that I had to stop. Well, I had to stop being so overt about it anyway.
It was funny coz there were three prices that I charged for ganja. Thai price was basically fok all coz I wanted their business but didnt want to piss any one off. Falang price was simply double what I had paid for it. And then there was Yid price. hehehe. I used to sell the Israeli's a small bag of ganja for 125 baht where the same bag was sold to normal falangs for just 50 baht. I reasoned that it was justified because they were so fokking rude and had nowhere else to buy it.

The only real problem that I had to deal with was from a local Chinese guy who saw what I was doing and decided to open his house up as a bar and go into competition with me. We had a small war go for a while there what with him offering free ganja and cheap drinks etc in an attempt to win over my customers. One night he sent a guy in to my bar with a gun. This trumped up little hoodlum came right up to were I was sitting on my own and sat himself down and asked me if I was scared of him. I looked at him in disbelief and he then pulled out his gun which was a small callibre pistol and waved it at me. I got to admit that he did scare the bejesus outa me so I immediately upturned the table on him and knocked the gun out of his hand. I then punched shit out of the little fella and dragged him out onto the street. I then went back and got the gun and threw it in the river.



Thinking back on it now it was real wild west stuff and I did have a few sleepless nights thinking that the Chinese guy might torch the pub as it was built out of timber and bamboo.
Nothing ever happened and he eventually closed down and I never had any more trouble.

[poolcleaner]

Originally Posted by Captain Sensible

Here is a pic of me in my quarters upstairs from the pub with the workbench there in the foreground.



I have still got that bedcover as well.

Bryan Brown would be right proud of your clobber there Cap!!

[Captain Sensible]

hehehe. I just came across this pic of me with three gals that I took up to Burma on a trek. Which one do you think that I played with?



Clue, it wasnt the gal far left. She was American and a complete pain in the arse.

[MeMock]

Let me guess...it was both the other two?

Righto - back on subject.

You meantioned it was real wild west stuff from time to time...what year was all this happening and have you been back since then and how much has it changed?

[Captain Sensible]

Originally Posted by MeMock

Let me guess...it was both the other two?

Righto - back on subject.

You meantioned it was real wild west stuff from time to time...what year was all this happening and have you been back since then and how much has it changed?

There is no fooling you MeMock.

Let me see now. I opened in 92 and I think that the incident with the gun happened in late 93.
I have been back twice since my return to Oz from London and my gaff is now called the Jungle Bar and run by an English guy who caters to the same market but unfortunately doesnt do that well as there is now probably 40 or more bars on the main Thanom which is in a different part of town and most folks go there coz the bars have gals and all the usual nonsense.

[ChiangMai noon]

This is a great thread captain.
One of the most enjoyable reads in a long while.
:drillserg love these smilies.

glad I'm not the only one who has posted pics of himself on here.

[Captain Sensible]

kawp kun makt CMN. It sure is bringing back a lot of fun memories.

[MeMock]

I'll take that credit thanks CMN!

So 1992, thats 13 years ago. Quite a lot has obviously happened since then and we wont go into that just now but I believe you are planning a return.

When is this happening?

Where are you going to live?

What are you going to do?

And the most important question, are you going to snot Cd playing Patrick when you get there?

[ChiangMai noon]

Originally Posted by MeMock

I'll take that credit thanks CMN!

Big hand Memock. you rock.

[Captain Sensible]

Originally Posted by MeMock

I'll take that credit thanks CMN!

So 1992, thats 13 years ago. Quite a lot has obviously happened since then and we wont go into that just now but I believe you are planning a return.

When is this happening?

Where are you going to live?

What are you going to do?

And the most important question, are you going to snot Cd playing Patrick when you get there?

Oh dear. I hope to be on the ground in the Los in time for Chrissy dinner at KK's where DJ Pat will punch me.

I aint got a clue where I shall be living but I have a horrible feeling that initially I shall be sharing my time between Bangers and an undisclosed location elsewhere.

I have made enquiries about doing the Celta course on January 30 for 4 weeks but am still waiting for their reply. Of course I shall also be doing some rove reporting with my camera for Teakdoor and hope to start getting some nice web pages up as soon as possible. I am heading to the dogs first up so we can plan how to get Teakdoor to be the biggest and best site in Thailand.

[Captain Sensible]

Failing that I shall open a fish and chip shop. 'The Captains Seafood Emporium'.