Blues Bar and Massage (Nov. 20, 2014)

Last night I did make it to the Blues Bar, called Ad Here the 13th on Sam Sen Rd, near Khosan Road. I left around 8:00 pm to try and be there by 9:00 pm when the music was supposed to start. Of course, because I wasn’t sure of exactly where I was going, it took me until after 9, but not by much. I grabbed a taxi and the driver was a really friendly guy who spoke maybe 10 words of English. He was super chatty, and because I said a couple of words in Thai, he thought that I spoke Thai and began to have a long conversation with me. 

Some plants by a bus stop on the street

When he learned that I didn’t speak Thai, he still tried to communicate and by the end of the ride, I had learned his name which was something I cannot remember how to pronounce, perhaps Vwan Gmun or so it sounded. He asked if I was married and told me he was, and that he had two ‘bebai’. Two girls from what I gathered. Then he told me that the Thai government, was ‘velly bad’ ‘no good’. He told me the name of the party that he liked, and pointed out a billboard of the party that we happened to pass on the drive. He was really nice and took me to where I had asked, which turned out to be the wrong place, but fairly close. We drove down this dark alley and he kept saying ‘you ok hill? (here). Then he asked some guys in the alley and I said the name of the bar, which they knew and directed him to. Thai people are so nice and really do want to help you and make sure things are safe. 

So, we turned around and he let me off where the men had told us. I had the cross street, but the driver couldn’t understand what I was saying and that's what got us off track. Anyway, we got back on track, thanks to the alley guys. He let me off and I proceeded to look for the bar. I couldn’t see it, and you never know if it’s actually on the street it says, or if it’s on a Soi, a street that comes off that street, and has the same name. I went into the 7/11 to ask, but they didn’t know, so I started to ask the non-Thai people I saw on the street, hoping that someone might know. Lo and behold, I asked a French man who thought he had remembered walking by a bar just down the street a bit, that was playing live music. I followed him and he was right, I found the bar.

I went in, sat at a table near the back and listened to a single Thai guy who was playing his guitar and singing the Blues. It was quite funny because he sounded awesome, but now and then you’d realize that he probably didn’t speak English and was singing English songs with a couple of errors here and there that made the meaning of the familiar songs, quite different.

I ordered some food there, chicken with cashew nuts, jasmine rice and a bottle of water. It was really good, and the music was great as well. I sat there for some time, eating, listening and just absorbing the atmosphere. There were several expats there. Some were as young as 40’s all the way up to 70’s. Otherwise, the place was packed tight with Thai people. The bar is very small, so to get packed, didn’t take much. People were being served and listening out on the street when there were no more seats inside. It was really cool.

Rice and cahew chicken

Close up of chicken

A young Australian couple sat next to me and we started chatting. They had just come from Vietnam where they had lived for the past 3 months, studying online university courses, and living cheaply in Saigon. A really interesting couple to meet, and sit with. We enjoyed the music, and stayed for the next set, which was a small group of Thai guys. One guitar, a bass, small drum set, a violin and a caucasian guy on the mandolin. A weird, but excellent mix of musicians. The bar itself was quite eclectic and made up of many interesting items. Even the bathroom was cool.

                                      

                                                 View from the front, looking to the back

Another view, and Australian guy

View of bar from the back to the front

Wall hanging above my seat

Bathroom from toilet

Bathroom from door

After the second set, it was around 11:30 so I decided to walk for a while and orient myself so that I could easily find it again when I return. I will definitely go back as it is near the busy backpacking area, which is always rocking and has many night markets with lots of travellers, so it’s safe. I walked for an hour or so, then grabbed a taxi and went back to the hostel. It was great because I was the only one in the dorm room, so I had a fantastic sleep, with no noise or air con issues….lol.

Today I got up around 8:30 and finished organizing what I had started looking into for my move to Cambodia, at the end of the month. My visa for Thailand is only for 30 days, and I arrived on Nov. 1st. I decided to start my Cambodian adventure in Siem Reap, which is in the north of Cambodia and is a lovely little town that you can walk or bicycle around in a day. I booked a hostel for two nights to start, One Stop Hostel, and will take it from there, once I arrive to see if I want to extend the stay in Siem Reap. I also looked up some air fares on Air Asia, the low cost domestic air line for Asia. I found one flight that wasn’t too much, on Nov. 29 at 10:00 am. There was another one, a bit cheaper, but I would arrive at 9 pm, and don’t like arriving at night when I am not familiar with the place. So, I opted to take the earlier flight instead. I researched a bunch of other stuff on the Cambodian Embassy site and found a lot of interesting information. One thing that I liked was that Canada encourages Canadians to register with Smartraveller which is affiliated with the Canadian/Australian Embassy. This site tracks you and sends you information about the countries you visit, their laws, things to watch out for, scams, and travel advisories for that country. It is a really great site smartraveller.gov.au and I am going to join it. As well, there is a Canadian travel site called travel.gc.ca which registers you on the Canadian government site while travelling to update you with information etc of different countries political issues, etc. Both are great.

So, with my plans all in place for my move to Cambodia on the 29th, I decided to celebrate, and go for a massage……lol. I saw a place advertised on the next street over, called the Holistic Massage Centre. I gave it a try and got a fantastic Thai massage for two hours, for $14. It is crazy, but boy what a great massage. The lady I got was excellent and worked out many of the knots I didn’t know I had gotten from all that scuba diving and hauling equipment. I was going to go to Limpini Park to finish off my drawing, but didn’t get there after my massage. Instead, I bought a couple of skewers of street meat, a few mandarins, and came back to the hostel to relax. I think I might go to Chinatown tonight for supper, and see what that area looks like.

Front of massage shop with herbs etc

Area for foot massages

Massage place from outside

Outside #2

So that was my day. Oh, on the way back to the hostel, I saw this random sign on a post, advertising......????? You decide...lol.

More tomorrow, have a great day.