Where are they now?

[poshglasgow]

Like so many of you, accustomed to at least one trip a year to Pattaya, I am increasingly yearning for that day when I may step off the flight at Bangkok, after nearly three years absence. So, this evening, while the winds and rain do their worst and temperatures plummet on the south coast of the UK, I opened a bottle of Singha (3 large bottles, each of 630mls, for a fiver in Tesco and Morrisons) and dipped into my portfolio of memories of so many exciting trips of yesteryear. Various characters re-appeared as phantoms - some more welcome than others.

As I set the ball rolling, please add your own favourite recollections/memories of characters / venues in a feast of warm nostalgia that not even a UK winter can cool. Memories awash with fond memories, in preparation for that day when, given reasonable health and with the financial means to do so, we may revisit Thailand again with a degree of confidence. I predict that will happen this year 2022. Omicron, from my own research and learning, may well prove to be not so much a bogeyman as a knight in shining armour, heralding a return to a degree of normality as the pandemic becomes endemic.

So, in raking through my memories, I caught sight of Mama Pai at the Sunee Plaza bar (green chair bar) chewing on her nightly supper of chicken, her head bobbing up and down behind the bar as she feasted. Will she still have a job after all this mayhem? I do hope so. I first met her when she ran a unit at the 'eclectic' Siren Bar of the 90s. I wonder too about Pai's long-haried son, Joy, (ex-military). I recall too the former owner of that bar (wasn't he a Dutch guy, now deceased who resided near Soi Yensabi)? I haven't seen him for years.

Where is running boy? has he avoided the lure of yaba? Does yaba even exist in Sunee anymore? Has the virus cleansed us of that menace that sent so many young minds askew? My God, I recall the nightly skirmishes and battles that occurred every night in Sunee with gangs of yaba-fuelled urchins racing through the sois with sticks and other weapons.

What about the guy who pulled himself abound Boys Town selling flowers from his mobility trike, with a sign along the lines of: Like me, these flowers are not perfect, but please...."

What happened to Dudley who owned Penthouse? Is he still around? I think I'm right in saying he was from a wealthy family in Wiltshire. I stayed at the Penthouse in 1993 and again around 1999.

And what of the owner of the former Gentleman Club? Swiss guy? Did he return to Europe or is he languishing in some less exotic venue?! Across the road, opposite Lewinsky's and the Italian restaurant, was an interesting breeders' bar - the Sin Bin - run by an Irishman who loved to play Rod Stewart's greatest hits at full volume.

More recently, I've been thinking about how long it will be before I throw my case into the Venue and pop into see Zak in @Home bar next door. I wonder how he's coping? Zak, if you're reading this please don't go anywhere until I have that first beer on my next visit.

Anyone remember the blond-haired adonis, 'Art', who was a dancer at Throb, next to Cafe Royale? I fell madly in love with him but he was whisked off to Germany by Herr Flick and returned to manage the Kitten Club - part of Penthouse !! And what has become of Ott, a freelance masseur operating out of Copa? He used to bike in each day from Chonburi. I've sent him various texts but none has been acknowledged. I fear he may have come to harm on the highway.

Please share some of your own special memories of venues, friends and characters.