September 5, 2009-Saying Good Bye to Bangkok

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Moving Out

We worked in Bangkok for three years.

This week we quit our jobs and moved out of our apartment in the Silom district and left Bangkok for good.

Bangkok
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Bangkok Restaurant
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We loved this city but it is time for a change and we have new projects to do and new adventures to find.

Surat Thani Workboats
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On Monday we drove to Surat Thani.

On Tuesday we drove our rented SUV, stuffed with bags, the rest of the way to Phuket.

Click here and here to see more photos of Bangkok & Surat Thani

By Thursday we had packed up Wings and set sail for the Royal Phuket Marina in Phuket Town where we had arranged a haul-out and the next morning the staff there lifted Wings out of the water.

Hauling Out at Royal Phuket
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Removing the tiller
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We have a big project to finish at Royal Phuket including repainting, rudder work, engine work, hydraulics rebuild, upholstery, and other items. We expect it to take up to two months; the weather may be the biggest factor since this is the rainy season in Phuket and that will slow the painting portion of the project. We got right to work.

While this work is being done we will live nearby in an apartment at Boat Lagoon. We are set-up here to do more work in our professions but we will be very choosey about which offers we accept.

After this refit at Royal Phuket we will sail to Malaysia for further work. Stay tuned for progress updates.

Click here for more photos of our hauling out experience.

Flowers at Royal Phuket
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Click here for some more shots Judy took of these flowers growing at the Royal Phuket Marina resort.


Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Phuket

July 31, 2009-Photos from Thailand

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Beach at Hua Hin

We've done some touring around the Bangkok area while we've been staying in Thailand. One weekend Andy and Nita came down from Hong Kong and we rented a little Bimmer and drove to Hua Hin. The town isn't much but we found a very nice and elegant hotel there and saw some pretty sights on the drive back when we stopped at the Khoa Wang temple. This temple on a hill-top was once one of the the homes of the King of Thailand. Even on a very hot day in July the King's house at Khao Wang was cool and breezy.

Click here for photos of our Hua Hin trip.

Bangkok, from State Tower
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We also got a nice view of the city when we went to the roof-top bar at Bangkok's State Tower which is in our Silom neighborhood.

Click here for some more shots of Bangkok


And we visited Marco & Tessa & Tara at their Hotel in Bang Tao on Phuket while we were down there to work on Wings. We had some fun in the pool and at the beach.

Marco & Tessa and Tara's Hotel in Bang Tao
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Click here to see a few shots from Bang Tao

Fred & Judy, Bangkok

December 5, 2008-Escape From Bangkok

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Temple Doorway, Angkor Wat, Cambodia

After two weeks of being stuck in Bangkok due to the occupation by anti-government protesters of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport a Thailand Court decision gave the protesters what they wanted: the prime minister was forced to step down, and once the protesters left we were free to escape Bangkok.

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Suvarnabhumi Airport looks normal

We had a "plan-B" to get out of town for the long King's Birthday weekend even if the airport was still closed: a 9 hour drive to Phuket in a rented car, but with the airport open we could take our scheduled flight, booked months previously, to Cambodia to meet several friends from Hong Kong and to see the Angkor Wat Temples. We canceled the car reservation and went to the airport.

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Angkor Wat

In Cambodia we took several hundred photos which I have been editing like crazy and we will have them uploaded to after this coming weekend.

Fred & Judy, Cambodia

December 1, 2008-Stuck in Bangkok

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Walking on a quiet Street

This is supposed to be a sailing blog but you might have noticed we aren't doing much sailing. Like this weekend for instance.

We had tickets to fly to Phuket on Friday night to spend the weekend on the boat but the airport is closed; our flight was cancelled.

Thailand is in the middle of a political mess. There hasn't been a coup like there was two years ago but there have been thousands of protesters in the streets, some violence has occured and the government is in a real delimma about what to do about it. The government has been trying hard to avoid a confrontation with the anti-government protesters and they have successfully ignored the protests for several months. Now, however, the protesters have escalated by occupying the airports and this is getting everyone's attention, including ours.

We weren't thrilled to be stuck in Bangkok but it could have been worse: our part of the city is quiet and the weather is very pleasant this time of year. We chose to make the most of it.

On Sunday morning we took the train to Silom avenue to run some errands and afterwards we decided to have a lazy afternoon enjoying the really great December weather in Bangkok. We walked home.

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Soup

We stopped at a street cafe for some Thai noodle soup ("A little of everything, please, and spicy") and a Chang beer. Then we continued walking.

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Orchids

A stop at a flower shop was worth while; we brought home these nice orchids.

At the end of the afternoon we watched the sun go down from our apartment balcony and reflected on things: What will be the outcome of the political problems? Will there be fighting or a negotiated end to it? Will our next trip in 5 days also be cancelled? How will Wings feel if we don't come visit her?

We've learned that you can't predict or control things like this, and maybe that is part of the excitement of living in a foreign land: you don't know what is going to happen next.

That's cruising.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok

Click here to see a few more photos.

November 22, 2008-Bangkok Shopping

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Photo with new lens: Street BBQ

We roamed around Bangkok on Saturday with two items on the shopping list: new crew shirts, and a new lens for the Nikon.

We had an idea for new crew shirts for next season's Phang Nga Bay Regatta and I've been working on some
graphics for them. We needed to find a tailor and the right cloth to have these shirts made. It took most of the afternoon to put that together but finally we found the right tailor shop and the right cloth and we ordered one shirt (to be ready Monday) so we can see how it looks and fits. Later we will order 10-15 more.

The other item on the list was a new zoom lens for the Nikkon. The Tokina zoom lens I have been using since 1999 has been dropped a couple of times so it is damaged but frankly it never was as sharp as I wanted. My Nikkor 80-200 zoom is much better but that lens isn't right for general shooting. So we shopped around for the one I'd found on the Internet, the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED zoom lens. We found the lens and bought it. It will be great I think (click here to see the first shots with this lens). Unfortunately the prices for camera gear and electronics are not as good in Thailand as other places in Asia; we could have bought this lens for less in Hong Kong or even in the USA.

But we're not in Hong Kong or the US; been there, done that. Now we're in Bangkok and it's OK.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok

November 13-Meeing New Friends in Bangkok

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We went to Kaosan Road, noted as the center for packpackers in Bangkok, and found it to be full of young tourists of the less affluent type.

Unfortunately it rained like hell the whole time and we were hard pressed, in fact we were unable, to get much in the way of photos.

However we did meet Judy's new friend Mary Helen, and her travelling colleagues Gill and Denise for dinner. Mary Helen is a cruiser from Seattle who splits her time between sailing as crew for various captains and land travel all over the world. With Gill and Denise she is off to Myanmar next.

Click here for more photos.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok

October 9, 2008-Bangkok not Dangerous

Bangkok Street Scene

Bangkok not Dangerous?

Been a lot in the news about the protests in Bangkok and there’s been some violence. People have been hurt; and even some deaths have occurred. The news coverage has been graphic and in fact it has touched me in a way that few other news stories have. I’m watching the TV:

There is a protestor on her knees praying in the street. Then I see she is not praying. The protestor is kneeling motionless on the pavement and bent over with her forehead on her knees but she is not praying; there is blood. For all I can see she might be dying in this strange position of prayer or already dead. I think she is alive, but she is not moving or screaming or crying out or even turning her head to look for help and I sense she is facing her pain and shock completely alone and dealing with it inwardly, fighting by herself to reconcile this disaster which has occurred to her body as in the end we all must. At this moment the world outside of her pain does not exist.

The jumpy video is shot as a camera man runs up to her with the aid workers and the camera closes in to show her as it comes up from behind and it catches a bit of her bare back and white panties above the waistline of her jeans and this is disturbingly intimate.

The aid workers reach her and roll her onto a stretcher and you see some more blood and she still isn’t moving and she is rolled away, long black wavy hair and one arm draped over the side of the gurney.

The whole thing takes less than 10 seconds but the image stays with me.

But most of Bangkok goes on without the least acknowledgement that people are dying nearby. The Parliament Building where this has happened is not far from our apartment. I can see the area from my office building but I can’t see anything happening. Traffic is normal on the streets, trains are on time, stores are open, people go about their business. We get notices at work to stay away from that area of town but there is not even much discussion in the office. Strange.

And during the last two weeks there has also been a big festival going on in Thailand. The Buddhist Vegetarian Festival is famous for vegetarian diets and bizarre body piercing rituals. Some cruisers ventured out into Phuket Town to see young Thai men poke sticks through their cheeks. Judy and I stayed away.

But we did encounter the festival on the last night quite by accident: coming home from Thai lesson we find Sathorn Road blocked by pedestrians, food stalls, Buddhists alters, and people are every where, sitting on the street. There is incense burning and bright lights and smoke drifts upward. Strange music comes from somewhere and our cab is blocked. We exit the taxi and walk through the crowd. It is 11:00PM but people are arriving by foot from every direction and there is a buzz. I shoot some shots with my phone and we make our way home and from our apartment we can hear the music and crowd far into the night. By morning however it is all dispersed and the streets are completely clean.

I wonder how many of the festival goers are thinking about the protestors over by parliament house.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok

I don't have the video of the injured girl from the protest but click here to see the video of the Festival

August 24, 2008-Neilson Hays Library-Bangkok

We took a walk on Sunday and wound up on Surawong Road. Here we found a beautiful and historic building, the Neilson Hays Library. I knew this building was something special when it caught my eye at the corner on which it sits; the simple, classical, style marked it as one of Bangkok's older structures, but with the obviously well kept off-white exterior and dark window frames it was unusual. I wondered if it was an embassy? As we came to the entrance and could read the sign we saw it was a library. Set back only a few feet from the busy street, but peaceful within it's walled compound, this library was a gem to find. Inside are shelves lined with books, new and old, in English.

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Neilson Hays Library

From their web site, "The Neilson Hays Library was founded in 1869 by the Ladies' Bazaar Association, which formed the Bangkok Ladies' Library Association to serve the reading needs of the large English-speaking community in Bangkok. The building and property now occupied by the Library were part of an endowment received from Dr. Hayward Hays in 1922 in memory of his wife Jennie Neilson Hays who had served on the committee of the Library for at least 25 years. It is the oldest non-profit association in the Kingdom of Thailand."

Go to the library's web sitehere

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Neilson Hays Library, inside

Rich wood, cool air and quiet inside the library, and lots of nice books to look at and check out.

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Thai Boxer Statue

We walked across Naradiwas and saw this statue. Notice the elbow to the chin? Ouch!

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Chong Nonsi Station

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"W" Hotel site

Another sky scaper going up

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Samsung F480

This is my new 3G Touchscreen Samsung phone. Click on the image to read my mini review.
One area in which the Samsung shines is the 5mp camera. I took the photos on this page (except the last one) with it. I've already filled the 4gb memory with music too. What fun.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok

June 22, 2008-Quiet Day In Bangkok

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Sathorn Road


On a recent weekend Judy had to work both days and I lazed around the apartment. She decided to take a break from her work assignment on Saturday afternoon and we headed out onto the streets of our Bangkok neighborhood just to get out of the house.

We did some shopping in an inner city supermarket and stopped at the local bank branch to file some papers and just wandered around with the Nikon taking a few photos. But I was feeling a bit low on energy after a whole day on the couch and even photography seemed like too much work, so we found an Irish pub and had a pint while watching the end of a rugby match.

Eventually we found our way back home, which, for now, is a high rise apartment in the city. A bit of a change for a couple of sailors but we like it well enough.

Click here for more photos from a quiet day in Bangkok

Fred & Judy, Bangkok, Thailand

March 10, 2008-Back in Bangkok

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Going to Work

Well, you’ve got to be careful what you ask for; you just might get it. I went looking for another job in Bangkok and I got it. We are back in Bangkok, back in the corporate world.

After a few interviews, a couple of trips to Singapore for some paperwork, and a lot of waiting, the job came through last Thursday and on Sunday we flew to Bangkok.

Monday morning I put on my suit and went off to work. My new job is with IBM at another big Thailand bank. The project is huge and I just have one small part, but still, it seems like a challenge. Am I up for it? We’ll have to see. So far I like it just fine.

This is a two year project and I’ve got a one year contract initially. So we are here for a while. We don’t mind though, we like Bangkok. The boat is safe in a good marina in Phuket, and we can get there on weekends and go sailing, so that is cool too.

Click here for more Bangkok photos.

March 16, 2008-One Week Later

We've been in Bangkok one week now; after five days we were happy it was finally Friday and we were ready to party on the weekend.

Saturday was a great day:

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I Like this one!

We got off to an early start and looked at a bunch of apartments all over town. We found a terrific one we liked a lot near Silom Avenue, right in the heart of Bangkok, near a train station, close a lot of restaurants, and within walking distance to plenty of shopping. It is also one block from a freeway so I can get to the office quickly.

Then we went shopping for some computer equipment, had street food for lunch, came back to the hotel and had a good workout in the gym, went for a swim, fooled around in the apartment, took a nap, and after it got dark we went back to the neighborhood where the new apartment is and checked it out in the evening: How much is happening at night, is it scary to walk around, can you get something to eat? It was fine, maybe too quiet actually, but Silom is a couple of blocks away and that place jumps all night long.

Click here for some more shots of the apartment shopping trip.

We called the broker and said we’d take the apartment. Then we found a great restaurant for a celebration dinner, had a $60 bottle of wine, and after dinner listened to live jazz over Hennessey cognac.

Last of all we took a taxi across town to Tokyo Joe’s and watched two top headliner blues bands rock out on the last night of the Bangkok Blues Festival. They were great and we were close enough to almost be on stage with them.

Click here to see some crummy cell phone clips from Tokyo Joe's

Yeah, I know this ain’t about sailing and this is supposed to be a sailing blog, but we've got to work to finance future cruises, and, boy, it’s good to be back in Bangkok.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok, Thailand

PS; we’ll post some more sailing stories soon so stay tuned. Meanwhile
Remember this?

Dec 20, 2007-Candace Visits Thailand

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Elephant Ride

Our Granddaughter Candace flew to Thailand for a bit of touring and sailing. First stop: Ayutthaya. The elephant ride was manditory.

Next we'll go for a cruise in the Andaman Sea including Phuket and Langkawi. We'll update you with stories from that trip as soon as we can.


Meanwhile, click here to see a few other images from her visit.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Bangkok

November 6, 2007-See You Later Bangkok

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Living aboard in Singapore

The jolly crew of Wings has moved out of Bangkok and back aboard. Yes, that’s right; we’re full time cruisers living aboard our boat in Singapore now. Our work assignments in Bangkok are over for the time being and we’ve completed our move from Bangkok to Singapore. The apartment life in Bangkok was fun and we love Bangkok, but we are happy to be home. One good piece of luck was that we managed to sell all the household goods we bought for the apartment, (except some large pieces of art which got shipped to an unsuspecting family member, surprise!) Still we had 10 suitcases full of stuff and getting THAT aboard Wings was a challenge, but its all stowed now and we are shipshape and ready to go (plus, we have a big donation for the Salvation Army).

We’ll now spend a few weeks working on the boat and keeping the job search ticking over, then we’ll be off to Phuket Island, Thailand in late November.

Other than a few things we know we’ll do, our plans for the months ahead are not completely definite: we are looking for jobs and who knows if something will develop there, but we do know that we are going to sail in the King’s Cup sailing regatta in December, and our Granddaughter Candace is coming to visit over Christmas and New Year’s. During that time Wings will be based in Phuket.

After that, who knows? Maybe there will be more working in our future. If not, then certainly there will be more cruising. The historic ports along the Straits of Mallaca will be interesting and we want to visit them all. Plus the cruising around Phuket is supposed to be stunning, and we will have some fun doing that. Then there are the runs down to Langkawi for duty free supplies.

So now that we have some cruising back in the immediate future you get a cruising story from us a bit more often. And we’d love to hear from you, so please write to us and tell us about everything from home, we miss you all.
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What's Cooking?


Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Singapore

October 20, 2007-Bangkok Street Scenes

Standard Bangkok Street Scene

Click here see the images from Bangkok's Streets we shot today, mostly motorbikes, because that's what you see on the street in Bangkok.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok

October 19, 2007-Soi Dog Blues

Soi Dog Blues Band

A bit ragged this morning; too long of a night at Tokyo Joe’s listening to the Soi Dog Blues Band; too much dancin’ in the street and howlin’at the moon, too much of the drop that I drink. But a good night it was for one and all, I’ll give it that.

We find the music scene, if we stay long enough and if there is one, in every place we visit and we found the music we like best in Bangkok at Tokyo Joe’s Blues Bar. Ranks up there with the warehouse that one lost night in Noumea and the stage in the park in Papeete, or the clubs in Brisbane, but none of them top Seattle in the 90’s. We went to Tokyo Joe's again last night.

The Fugitives were playing when we arrived and they pulled up some old Bob Dylan just for us, or that’s what we thought, since we’ve just finished reading Dylan’s autobiographical Chronicles and we’ve been thinking and talking about him and his music. They sang Just Like a Woman and gave it to the blues…“but she breaks just like a little girl”. And later a Beatles song: “one thing I tell you, you just got to be free”. Mixed in with some other old songs of other genre’s, and the swirling smoke and pints of Guinness and the crowd of fat white guys and laughing Thai girls; we got into it.

When the Soi Dog Blues Band started playing Judy started dancing, some Thai guy in the crowd joined her once and by the middle of the set she’d dragged me off my bar stool too and we didn’t care if we were the only people in the place on our feet; we were lost to the fun of it.

I don’t really remember much of it after that, just a few images and sounds, the jangling guitars and the rattle of the snare drums and the intensity of the singer who said he hasn’t given up his day job, the hooker in the corner with the Tina Turner hair and all the gold bracelets and a cell phone and a cigarette in her long fingers hanging behind her back to keep the smoke out of the eyes of her john; us talking to the band members when they went on break, and somewhere in all this we ordered tacos, and they were good too, but I can’t say what was in them.

I guess for us, cruising includes the bars.

Judy & Jet




Fred & Judy, Bangkok


Click here for a short clip taken with my phone, but don't expect much fidelity.

September 29, 2007-Thai Dancers in Bangkok

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Masked Man

We went out to a dinner show last night and got some images of the dancers. I managed to get this one finished today.

I also made one of a Papua New Guinea drummer, click here to see that image.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok