Q & A with Aging One (his asian experiences)

[aging one]

Yup that is Thanonsak Pae Somwang now GM of Samui Paradise formally Chewang Guest House at about 10 years of age, he is now 39. I am in the picture as is Larie Bauer a Canadian who caused me a huge amount of grief.

The bottom picture is me 19 years ago and my head waitor Saichon from Satun.

[Marmite the Dog]

Would you like some Samui pictures now?

[friscofrankie]

YEs please.

[aging one]

These Samui pix when they are posted will be of Chewang Guest House and the beach 19 years ago. Just as we began to upgrade from huts to nice simple rooms. It has gone more upscale since, but retains the old bungalows but completely refurbished.

Thanks Marmers you are a gentleman and a squire.

[Marmite the Dog]

[Marmite the Dog]

[aging one]

Thanks again Marmers, it sure does not look like that anymore!!

[Marmite the Dog]

So, are you going to tell the tale about this one?

[aging one]

That was a rough one, a charcoal truck in the middle of nowhere. Actually first trip Mae Hong Song. Let me look back, probably along the lines of elephants and opium.

One of the worst rides of my life. I am on the left.

[Ken May]

[quote=aging one]I can type in colors, thats it. I am gonna sit down with my man Frankie ...[quote]

I knew a man who claimed he could fart in colours, but I never got close enough for him to prove it. You can try that one with Frankie one night.

[MeMock]

Welcome back to the show after that quick word from our sponsors (3 weeks )

AO - where the hell are we up to?

Perhaps we can jump forward a little bit to the time you were put in jail in Bali?

I also would like to find out more when you used to own and operate a restuarant.

[kingwilly]

welcome back MM - we all missed u!

[aging one]

Okay I went down in Indonesia in 1982, then went back to the states for 5 years to get my feet back on the ground. I moved over in 1987 to run bunglalows and a restaurant on Samui, Chewang to be exact. I will be posting the gorry details in a bit.
Let me get the summer term exams marked.

[aging one]

January 2nd 1982. It was a grand day, I had been successfull in my real estate dealings had a shit load of money in the back in a saving deposit box, two one way tickets to BKK in hand, Deborah right next to me, and a plan to become a gemnologist at AIG here in Bangkok.

Arrived in Bangers and went straight to the Privacy Hotel on Soi Nam Du Plee where my buddy Banpot Tankel was the manager. If I wrote ahead he would always save me the best room. Right to Hualompong the same afternoon, and got to tickets for the next evening to Surat.

We had dinner at Nicks No. 1 which used to be the top foreign restaurant in BKK. Walked back to the hotel in heaven, a couple of more days and back at Chewang Guest house for about the 6 or 7th time.

Slept late and didnt get up until noon, and then we were off to a Foodland that used to be on Ploenchit near the British Embassy. Cheese, salami, bread, chips, condiments and back to the hotel for a shower before leaving for the station which was 5 kilos away on RAMA IV road. They advised one and a half hours after 3pm because of the traffic then. We made it and I was shocked. Deborah had bought the tickets while i chatted to a friend who worked at the station. She had bought first class tickets and we had our own compartment.

Needless to say with the "delicious" Singh beer and our picnic we were in heaven. We did not sleep much as being drunk and quite adventurous we decided to see how many different ways you could make love in a train car. She was very clever about this.

5am Phun Phin Station Surat and onto the bus for the ride to Surat port, it was all better organized than the year before and now the boat left at 9 and we were on the island at 12:00 noon.

Hopped in the first songtow going and paid the driver to just go!! As we cut off the main road to get to the beach tears welled up in my eyes, as I knew this was still part of my ongoing love affair with the LOS. Pulled up and got the bags out. PETER began to be shouted about, Pae my buddy, his older brother PU, and younger sister Ah, were all running at me shouting very loudy, I shouted back and then Deborah began shouting and soon we were wiaing and hugging. Out came the gifts for all of them and they were really happy, we had stopped for two nights in HKG and got a lot of new electronic gear. The hit then were speakers for a walkman!!. A tape walkman. Where was Kamnung the father of the whole clan. He had left his truck and told them to bring me to Poh Phut where he was clearing land.


Was not used to driving on the left but made it there quite quickly, Kamnumg saw his truck coming and started off through the field running in the mud. I too jumped in and it was like those funky commercials where lover are running to reunite. But it was true affection on both of our parts, he gave me what I wanted in Samui, and I had made his place the most successfull on Chewang.

After a lot of hugs and not much waiing we were off to his moms house to see something. Yup he knew what I liked and what I would show him how to make money with. From way up in Sakorn Nakorn across the Lao border, he had gone and gotten it himself. 18 inch long red and green buds that were stuck together from resin. Out came the bong, and he dismissed his kids and Deborah, this was going to be a long night, and I would find that Nathon Samui had more night life and much more varied night life than I ever believed possible.

[aging one]

We stayed 2 months and did nothing but relax. Deborah had been working hard and I had been 12 months of 70 or 80 hour work weeks making the money to have this new life.

All we did was play with the kids who were all on summer holiday, teach them more and better English for fun, and help then set up a management system for the bungalows and restaurant. They were up to 36 bungalows and were doing over 5,000 baht a day in the restaurant. It was easy to redo the menu, insert a short order sytem for the cooks and staff, and simply show them how to organize the books. I love it there and still do as I pay for my food and drink. That visit was free for the room and has been and will be forever I guess. Thats what I like about South Thai people, the family still stays with me when they pass through BKK. Its all the better that they have relatives here as well.

But it was now time to head to Bali, we came back up to the Privacy and picked up the tickets we had booked on TG BKK/JKT/DPS, but these were rountdtrip as I was coming back in 3 months for gem school!!!

Through mail and telegrams I had been in contact with two very close friends from the SFO bay area who were now basically splitting their time between Bali, and the States. One was was a co pilot for Air New Guini {sp} that was Lance Mason, the other was Jose Luis Rodriguiz who was working for the CIA in all honesty. They were both former pilots in the Viet Nam war, and had gone on to work for Air America for a number of years. Both always new nice people, the best new places, and had a lot of money. They were getting us a house out in Petti Tenget out from Kuta about 12 K, very near the Bali Oberai. We hoped it had all come down well but did fly in with our fingers crossed.

Right in to a taxi and out to the address Lance had written me. Damn I wished there was an internet then!! The driver knew it and had us there in 45 minutes. We pulled up to Lance and Jose Luis's place and it looked like Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson rolled up with the Bali touch. It was so beautiful. So where was mine?? " It wont be ready for 5 or 6 days so you will stay with Bill". Who the fuck was Bill and why wasnt my place ready, and where was Bills place? " Down the road 3 houses" Off we went, and you could hear laughter from the top floor sitting room which was open air, Bill must have seen us coming because he was at the gate to open it. Fuck me!! It was Bill Murray, who it turned out had known these guys longer than I. To say Bill Murray is funny is simply not enough he is outrageous and larger than life at least back then. The life of the party and always going. He consumed copius amounts of any drug available and it had little to no effect accept to make him happier. He had 18 days off in a row!!! So Deborah and I ended up spending 4 days with a wild and crazy Bill Murray. Alot like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, very very much the same.

Our house was soon done and we moved in. It was great, but a one bedroom after Bills place was just nice. Nah it was over 120 sq meters for a one bedroom and was fantastic. Outdoor shower if you wanted and the whole 9 yards. Included in the rent of 800 bucks a month was a maid a cook and a motorcycle, but you had to buy the food even if you didnt want to, as you had to feed the maid and the cook, but it was money well splurged.

[Skulldigger]

This thread rocks so hard it aint funny!

[MeMock]

Bill Murray as in Lost in translation and groundhog day Bill Murray?

Mate this thread just gets better and better.

[MeMock]

Damn I wished there was an internet then!!

This quote really jumped out at me AO. I mean us young whipper snappers have got travelling so easy thanks to the internet and the mobile phone. Even with these I still have trouble meeting up with different people on the road.

How the hell did you (or others) manage it back in the day of landlines snail mail and telegrams?

[aging one]

It wasnt easy MeMock. Telegrams and strategic mail drops. I used Amex which in Bali turned out to not be a very good idea!! No cell phones either.

If I wanted to contact Deborah when I was on the road and she was in Europe working it took 6 or 7 days for the letter to get there and then the same time back. So you had to know where you were going to be to pick up a letter.

Yes!!!! That Bill Murray, one hell of a guy. No contact at all after 1982 in Bali.

[attaboy]

^In Europe people would post notices at or post letters to the local American Express office. Amex was a hub for young travellers in the old days.

Great thread guys.

[aging one]

Amex was used just as a mail drop as it was better than Poste Restante, as they will forward my mail.

Here in Thailand the two billboards were 1. At the old Foodland next to the British Embassy that is moving, and the Malaysia hotel, which was also on Soi Nam du Phli. Khao San was still Thai back then. Those two places had hundreds of posts up!

[MeMock]

So tell us what happened during and after your time with Mr Murray. I have a scary thought in my head that something in your amex was intercepted leading to quite a long time of pain and suffering!

[aging one]

Clever young ozzie newspaper man you are!!!

Building up to it MeMock. I can post it well of in bits and pieces. I am compiling notes now leading up to the day at the Bali Intercon, in Sanur.

Look back and see the pix of me and Pae in Samui and take a look at the other guy, he caused me more grief than any other human on earth.

[MeMock]

Excellant....*MeMock rubs his hands together*

Take ya time mate, you are a great story teller (but this is better cause its all true) so build up to it as much as you like, myself and others are hanging off every word.

[kingwilly]

^ fuckn oath hangin off every word -

man AO you are the story teller !

got any irish in you - cos u go the gift o the gab!

and was this a mate that grassed you workign fo rhte CIA then?

bloody hell - ever thought about meeting him again!

of course you have every bloody day i'll bet!