Golf marathon Thailand (IV): The Royal Bangkok Sports Club...

Saturday, 27th March 2010.

After the delicious lunch in Pattaya on pakTgAzman's expenses on Friday afternoon, our group of three was transferred to Bangkok to our respective hotels. Pakdokter and pakZahardin had been booked at the Novotel at Siam Square, where our respective partners had spent the previous two days, shopping to their delight at the nearby Siam Paragon and the MBK Mall. PakTgAzman had left his family at the President Royal Suite Hotel ( what do you expect - after all pakTgAzman belongs to the royal household of the Kingdom of Kelantan!) further up at Sukhumvit Soi 17.

Both pakdokter and pakZahardin had to wait at the lobby of the hotel as both our partners were pampering themselves at a spa at the Siam Paragon! Pakdokter later learnt that their spa treatment cost 2000 bahts per hour........and pakdokter had to scour the whole of Pattaya looking for the best deal.......hmmmmm....

Pakdokter's partner had booked dinner at the Dome Restaurant on the 64th Floor of the State Tower. Pakdokter had visitied this restaurant and jazz bar last year for drinks and decided to try out their restaurant this time. Pakdokter's partner had called up the restaurant earlier and was told that it was fully booked and were put on a wait-list. The booking was only confirmed on the day itself! And unlike last year, they now also enforce strict dress-code - no shorts, collar-less tea-shirt or slippers for the gentlemen and equally smart casual matching outfits? for the ladies.....

The Dome is an open-air restaurant at the top of this 64-storey tower with a jazz combo and a lady jazz singer in action. From the top one gets a panoramic view of the whole of Bangkok city with the meandering Chao Phraya River at the side of the tower flanked by the many 5-star hotels and apartment blocks.

And the cold front/current from China which we felt that morning at the Siam Country Club was still blowing across Bangkok and we had to endure our dinner in windy condition with a temperature in the mid-teens. So to help keep ourselves warm we had to order a bottle of Prosecco from the Veneto region of Italy. Dinner was a fusion cuisine but the bill came to a 'whopping' 20,000 bahts for the four of us.

Fiona, pakdokter, pakdokter's partner and pakZahardin...

Saturday morning gave pakdokter a little 'window' to do some (window)-shopping. The Novotel is located directly opposite Bangkok's biggest shopping mall, the Siam Paragon. Believe or not, pakdokter has been to Bangkok umpteen times but has never set foot on this Siam Paragon. Walking towards the mall, the band of 'red shirts' supporters of ex-Premier Thaksin drove past on trucks, lorries and cars. This political rally appeared quite friendly actually, it felt more like a street "Ram-vong' party ( in Malaysia - the equivalent would be like the 'joget lambak' maybe...). There was little sign of hostility or aggression, their supporters on the streets waved and cheeredfor them. ( Unfortunately at the time of this writing, this political protest has taken a bloody and violent turn)

Anyway, the Siam Paragon was no different to our own Suria KLCC, the Pavillion or the MegaMall. More or less the same stuff and pakdokter's impression was that things were probably more expensive than in KL. Perhaps some of the stuff had a slightly better abd bigger range and choices. So pakdokter returned to the hotel empty handed........

The Royal Bangkok Sports Club was actually walkable from the Novotel but with our golf bags and hand luggage to carry, pakZahardin and pakdokter hopped onto a taxi to the club. Pakdokter had taken part in this inter-port games for the past 3 or 4 years and some of the caddies there had come to know pakdokter already. So the same bag-caddie and the umbrella-caddy were waiting to accompany pakdokter for the game. We also had a 'fore-caddy' whose duty was to follow us through the game and jump into the pond to retrieve our ball everytime we hit into water. So no worry about not having enough golf balls here, one always gets back one's ball from the water hazard!

Pakdokter partnered pakAzman to represent RSGC and we both played to a handicap of 21. Our opponent was the sole RSBC player, Mr L Pichet. His partner was unable to come due to the many traffic diversions caused by the 'red-shirts' rally in Bangkok.

Mr Pichet is a senior golfer in his late 60's or early 70's. He played to a handicap of 15! What a shame for the two of us....

Mr Pichet had lived in Malaysia for 10 years or so during the 60's. He was one of the first person ( or maybe the first person) in Malaysia involved in the setting up of a 'chicken-farm' industry on a big scale in Negeri Sembilan. Mr Pichet had a lot of good words to say about Malaysia. He told pakdokter that every time he went to Malaysia he witnessed so much chnages and progress that the country has made. He said he was so impressed by the development of our transport infrastructure ( highways, ports and airports) and he also believed that Malaysia's ability to forge ahead of the other Asean countries was helped by the fact that we have a good education system made available across the country. Honestly, it was refreshing, for once, to hear an honest commendation, about our country, coming from a businessman of a neighbouring nation. Pakdokter is tired of having to hear constant 'whining' and 'groaning' and 'complaining' by fellow Malaysian folks who drove Beemers and Mercs, smoke Monte Cristo cigars and sipped 1st-growth Bordeaux wines and yet had nothing good at all to say about our beloved country......

Mr Pichet is now retired and lives in a town on the Korat Plateau, a good 2 hour drive north east of Bangkok. He comes down to Bangkok during the weekends and on some weekdays to attend board meetings of some Japanese companies of which he is a board member. Mr Pichet highly recommended to pakdokter to visit Korat. It has 6 good golf courses and being located on high altitude is a cooler place to be at especially towards the evening. He also recommended to pakdokter to drive up to Chiangmai from Bangkok as along the highway there are a few good golf courses belonging to the Power Authority of Thailand who have developed resorts and golf courses where their hydro-power dams and lakes are located. And he said the hotel and golf rates are a bargain.......

Well, pakdokter will certainly look into this!

The game was played on a match-play best ball format. Mr Pichet played truly to his handicap and pakdokter was left to do the best as pakAzman, for some reason, did not have his form, that afternoon. At the end of the day, we walked home squaring the match, contributing at least 1 point for RSGC. On the first day, The RSBC thrashed RSGC for the Erawan Cup 7-1 but RSGC led in the Seladang Cup by 22-16( pakdokter played in the Seladang Cup competition.)

Dinner that night was at the RSBC Hall and apart from the lavish spread, a group of very talented 'caddies' from RSBC put up a fantastic 'cultural show' to prove what a multi-talented trio of girls they were! Unfortunately these girls were too shy to be photographed and pakdokter is unable to put on record here what a great show they put up for us.....