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Night Out in Chalong

Posted by Garth on Friday, June 20, 2008

I realize it's been awhile since I posted anything relevant about my trip. This post, in an attempt to at least keep my loyal readers up to date, isn't really about tropical islands or any such thing. It's just about a night out.

Yesterday Santino went training (he's a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). He came back and had popped a rib or some such thing while "rolling". So he's not gonna be training for a week or two. And he was ready to shake his party arm. Me, being the good, supportive friend that I am, figured it was my responsibility to make sure that he wasn't alone in this endeavor. Around 3 or 4 pm we went down to the bar and started drinking and playing pool. Nothing major, just a few beers. But the bar downstairs is fun because the girls that work there are fun. There are 4 noteworthy ones... Sara, Ying, Tuk and Fah. Sara definitely speaks the best english (in fact it's probably the best english I've heard from a Thai person). Ying's english is alright, and definitely communicable. Then there's Tuk and Fah... not so much english going on there. But they're both cute and they smile a lot, so who needs to talk, right? Anyway, Fah's wearing this rocker shirt and torn jeans (very abnormal style for this girl). After a few beers and some pool Santino decides to go take a nap, so I'm hanging out with these girls shooting the shit. Turns out that Fah is planning a night out at Icon, some clubby club in the area. Ying moonlights there (literally - she starts work there around 1am and goes til 5 or 6). So Fah invites Santino and I along. Sara and Tuk were supposed to come too, but Sara ended up going to some birthday party or something. Around 11:15 I wake Santino and tell him we're going out at midnight. He is obviously along for the ride (and then some) given his current mindset and physical condition.

Around 12:15 we head out. Santino riding my bike with me behind him, and Fah riding her bike with Tuk behind her (I tried to switch it up cuz riding behind Santino is totally gay, but I think Tuk was afraid to ride with him... for obvious reasons). After 10 or 15 mins of driving down dark backroads we get to Icon. But instead of going in we go across the street to some other little tiki hut -style bar while we wait for Ying to get to work and for the place to open (I don't think it actually opened until 1am). Anyway, we finally get to Icon around 1. We are literally the first people there. We order a round, and as I'm drinking my beer I think to myself "hmm... I wonder how much a bottle costs here". Now, in Toronto, bottle service is fucking expensive. Probably $300 a bottle (which includes mix, but for that price it better). So I ask Ying how much a bottle is. At the low end is Thai Whisky for around 800 baht a bottle (this is less than $30). At the high end is vodka (Smirnoff - nothing fancy) for 2000 baht. Since I'm in the mood for Vodka Tonics I order the vodka. The place starts to pick up, but realistically speaking Santino and I are the only guys in the place. Group of girls to our left, group of girls on the dancefloor, and we're hanging with a group of girls. Talk about pre-selection.

Music was alright... a little too hip-hoppy for my tastes, but he did mix in some hard techno which was a nice change of pace. Now, I haven't mentioned this before, but for some reason Asians like to mix up the floor a bit. And by this I mean that there's mini steps, slants, and just general non-flat, non-standard floor action going on. This presents a problem when sober, but when drunk it's just stupid. Trying to walk in a straight line to the bathroom has me walking up a slight incline, then through a door and down some steps. Then down some more steps, then the bathroom itself is raised about an inch from the floor outside it. And the return trip is the opposite. Suffice it to say that it was a challenge going to the bathroom, especially as the night wore on.

After we are all nice and lubed up (by that I mean drunk - get your mind out of the gutter) at around 4am we decide to go to some after hours place. Again, I get on the back of Santino's bike and we take off. Now, I should know better, but taxi service in this place is few and far between, especially if you're not in Patong. Anyway, Santino thinks he knows where this place is, but it's obvious after driving around for about 5 mins that he has no clue. We stop at some crossroads... and fall over. Literally. The bike (with us on it) just fell over and we both landed on the road. All the while I'm laughing my ass off. Good times. We manage to get back on the bike, still with no clue where we're going, and after another 10 or 15 mins of driving end up back at Chalong Circle and Dos Gringos. After that I have a memory of hanging out with Fah listening to tunes, so they obviously found their way back here and didn't wait too long for us at Laguna (the after hours place). I have no idea when she arrived here. I have no idea what happened to Tuk or Santino. I vaguely remember her leaving, probably around 5:30am (I say that cuz I seem to have logged an IM message around that time).

Suffice it to say that it was a good night. And I didn't even lose my phone.

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