Going back to Thailand in 2022

This is my first blog since 2014. Wow where did those 7 years go! No excuses. I just found other things to keep me busy and I also got lazy. I do have a reasonable following on my Facebook Page (MYTHAIGOLF) but I haven’t exactly been prolific there either. What tends to happen is that I post on my FB page more regularly when I’m in Thailand rather than when I’m home in the UK. If you’re on Facebook and not already following me please check out and like my page. Not only will you boost my following but there’s some interesting and funny stuff on there and I promise I’ll endeavour to post more. I’ll tell you that just writing this blog has given me a lot of incentive to increase my output!

So in the last seven years I’ve been traveling to Thailand every January and February and staying for between 4 and 7 weeks, usually with two or three bases but always ending up in Hua Hin for three weeks of golf with my wonderful mates. I would have been there this year if it hadn’t been for Covid-19! My wife accompanied me for the first time in 2014 and has been back every year bar one up to 2020. She loves Thailand and we’ve traveled quite widely in Southern Thailand on each of those holidays.

When we were in Hua Hin last February (2020) there were two charming Chinese ladies (mother and daughter) staying at our hotel. I learnt that they were from Wuhan Province in China and were stranded in Thailand because Wuhan was in lockdown and they couldn’t go home. Up until that day (6 Feb) my knowledge of the virus and the implications of it spreading was limited. I was in holiday mode and I wasn’t clued in to the daily worldwide news. Meeting those ladies made me start taking a greater interest but I had no idea, like most of us, where this was all heading. When I arrived back in the UK on 3rd March we were only 3 weeks away from a full lockdown. I quickly learnt that I had flown out of Thailand just a few days before they closed their borders. One of my group found himself stranded in Thailand until June!

What a 12 months we’ve all just experienced! A year no one could ever have contemplated.

I recall clearly my first ever holiday to Thailand in late January 2005, barely a month after the Boxing Day Tsunami that took the lives of so many in Western Thailand, and across the Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean. A tragedy of massive proportions that lead to the affected areas receiving aid and support from all around the World. There was a massive global response to help rebuild the lives of millions of people in Southeast Asia. 

Now here we all are 16 years later in 2021, and now in the midst of a global response to a global issue that started in Asia and has killed so many worldwide. Countless people have been affected, and infected, across our planet. So now another rebuilding process is underway with the rollout of the vaccine in most countries. Step by step we are heading back to some kind of normal, whatever that’s going to be! This means that for many of us the urge to travel far and wide once more is giving us something tangible to look forward to. The light at the end of the tunnel will gradually become brighter!

My wife and I are determined to get back to Thailand and plans are already taking shape for the big return in January/February 2022. Okay so no green light yet but I can see it happening, as can all of my friends who’ll be going back there with me. Twenty golfers plus several partners have already signed up but I know that number will grow as quarantines are dispensed with and barriers lifted. Thailand needs tourism and we are ready to go and support all those Thai people we’ve grown so close to since our first tour to Hua Hin in February 2012, and before that to Pattaya from 2005-2011.

Forthcoming blogs will tell you about our plans for next year’s tour with information about golf, some wonderful days out in the Hua Hin area and info about other beautiful places to stay within a one hour drive of the town.

I aim to blog again in April. I hope you’ll catch up again then.

My Thai Golf-Memories of recent tours

Well that's 2013 done and dusted which leaves just 46 days until our global gathering of golfing talent meet again in Hua Hin for the 10th playing of the annual Thailand Trophy.

I have some great photographic memories so I thought I'd share just a few of them with you all.

2010 in Pattaya-The Glen Gorse GC [Leicestershire] contingent.

Ok so who is wearing a rug? Who cares! What about the blond rinse!

Team photo-2011. Our last tour to Pattaya.

We did 7 tours to Pattaya and it was time for a change of scenery. Hua Hin was an obvious choice.

How can you not like Hua Hin when you play courses like Sea Pine!

 

The boys from Surrey loved it. What a great addition to the tour group they have all been. Pete, Doug and Zac are just three of the group.

Big Rob from Burton-on -Trent buzzed in and took cash from young Callum who had flown in from Perth, Australia

Ever present Mark is from Shakespeare country

Then there's Fozzie. You'd have thought that a fella from Hereford would know how to open a bottle of Ketchup!

The Pro, aka Wardy, joined us in 2013, all the way from Laos. This picture says it all.

.......and finally

Jonesy from Liverpool and Dave from Cape Town, SA.

What a diverse group of golf lovers. Long may the tour continue.

My Thai Golf-Snake time on Koh Samui

Earlier this year there were six of us left on Koh Samui with a whole day to kill. 
'How about I call Greg and get him to arrange an island tour' I suggested.
The consensus was it was a great idea to see all the main sights but JC insisted on adding a proviso.
He would go so long as we could include a visit to the Samui Snake Farm.
As usual we all fell into line to keep the old fella happy.

I called Greg [Samui Golf] and told him what we wanted to do.
His reply stunned me slightly.
'Hell Bob, what do want to go to a snake farm for? You'll see enough snakes tomorrow when you play golf at Santiburi'   He was being very serious.
Nevertheless we insisted on going to the farm and he agreed to add it to our schedule.
What an experience it turned out to be. Health and Safety officers could write a thesis on that place.

It started with a wander around various cages and pits.

Burmese Pythons

Then we came across this fella

There was a sign saying 'don't feed the crocodile' and I was already tempted to throw JC in.

 Our guide was an interesting character. He only had two fingers and one thumb. He'd lost the the rest of his digits as a result of Cobra bites. He been bitten over 300 times and was now immune to their poison. He also only had a couple of teeth so who knows what happened there!

Meanwhile the rest of the staff were preparing for the show.

The show began, not with Snakes, but with Scorpions.

To begin with our smiling compere lined them up on his arm.

 

Then he stuck them on his face.

I think he had done this before.

Then it turned into an audience participation show.

At this point Jan suddenly developed a severe case of flatulence

Then out came Carlos the Cobra.

I am quite close whilst taking this picture and Carlos is really giving me the eye.

 

The show then developed into a test of 'who has the fastest reactions' as several more Cobras entered the arena, and that pit wall was pretty damn close to where we were all sitting.

Would you even think about getting as close as this?

The show ended with Mr. Three Fingers bringing out a Burmese Python for a photo shoot.
Apparently these don't bite but have been known to hug their prey to death before swallowing it.
Sorry but not for me.

Fozzie wasn't so sure either as his face clearly shows.

 On the way back to the hotel there was a chance to stop off and sit on the beach telling snake stories.

'I'm telling you Fozzie it was this big'

The following day we were playing golf at Santiburi.
As our first group walked off the 3rd green a Cobra slid silently through the semi rough and into some nearby bushes. Ball hunting was suddenly off the agenda that day.

Thanks again to Greg once more for arranging our island tour.
We did manage to see some culture during that day but we'll all remember it most for our visit to the Snake Farm. It was a very good shout JC.

If you are visiting Koh Samui then Greg Lester at www.samuigolf.net will arrange an island tour for you, and if you ask him nicely he will include the Snake Farm.

My Thai Golf-The build up has now officially started.

So November is almost over and we're closing in fast on another Christmas, and beyond that, the big tour.

Our twelve days of competition golf in Hua Hin start in mid-February.
Who will be crowned Champion Golfer and winner of the Thailand Trophy in 2014?

It looks like 26 of us will be giving it our best shot. Here is our schedule;

Monday 17th February-Palm Hills GC for practice day one. A day of friendly challenges.

I guess it will be the usual fashion parade on our first big day together. There's always one!

Tuesday 18th February-For the really keen ones it's a trip to the local driving range.
The rest of us will stay by the pool.

Wednesday 19th February-Second and final practice day at Black Mountain.

Whenever we are waiting to tee off at Black Mountain the buzz amongst the lads is electric.

Thursday 20th February-
Round One of the Thailand Trophy at Banyan. Single Stableford, full handicap.
Winner is the highest aggregate scorer over all four rounds of the competition.

Despite my advice about avoiding the snakes at Banyan Mr. Robinson decided to go looking for one earlier this year.

Friday 21st February-Round Two at Springfield

Springfield's 18th hole has an island green which can be just a little intimidating. A cracking par five to finish.

Saturday 22nd February-Nine hole mini competition on the Par 3 course at Black Mountain for those who can drag themselves away from the pool.

Great fun and a break from the big competition.

Sunday 23rd February- Rest day for most but a few will decide to organise a game.

Monday 24th February-Round Three at Majestic Creek. This is when it all starts getting very tense.

Water does feature in a big way on several holes at Majestic Creek. A few extra balls may be required.

Tuesday 25th February-
Final Thailand Trophy round at Black Mountain. The top four will play together as the final group.
There tends to be a bit of sledging in the coach on route to the course which does spice it all up a bit.
That all stops once the first shot is struck.
There are usually five or six in with a chance of winning and the same number trying to avoid finishing last.

Some of us tend to find that the Black Mountain experience can be very tiring.

Once we are back at the Hotel we have an evening of great food, celebration and prize presentation but before we leave Black Mountain the winners pose for a few photos.

2013-Simon [The winner], Mike [Runner up], JC [Third and also King Rabbit] and Jan [4th]

Wednesday 26th February- A day of recovery and for a few, departure.

Thursday 27th February-Pairs Competition at Royal Hua Hin. Draw for partners.

It's not unusual to get a few spectators at Royal Hua Hin but this lot weren't interested earlier this year. Siesta time!

Friday 28th February-Our final round together is a team competition at Sea Pine, a links course of sorts with the last three holes adjacent to the beach. Super venue which is owned by the Thai Army.

In 2014 this will be the last chance for one of our better players to show off his swing. Nice pose Alan.

Before I go here's some sound advice from our 2011 Thailand Trophy Champion pictured below.

Frosty says;
When you buy a new pair of golf shoes for your holiday always check that you have a left and a right shoe before you leave the shop. Then check again when you are lacing them at home, and it's always worth another look before packing them in your suitcase. [I suppose you've guessed the rest]
Then when you unpack in Thailand you won't find that your brand new pair of £100 golf shoes are both for the same foot.

I should add that 'boy wonder' doesn't usually make silly mistakes like this.
However, having made one major error, he thought it would be a good idea to check that he had brought all his clubs.
No problem there. All 16 of them were safe in his golf bag!

Switched on or what! Our 2011 winner has been likened to a coiled spring! What do you think?

 Information on all the courses we will be playing can be found by putting 'Hua Hin golf courses' in your search engine.
All these courses are within a 25 minute drive of the town centre.

My Thai Golf-Dreaming of Koh Samui and Santiburi

Once I'd played at Santiburi the first time I was desperate to get back and have another go. From the moment I first walked into the clubhouse I knew I was in for a serious dose of the WOW factor.

I stood on the verandah in the restaurant, looked out and tried to take it all in.

What a setting and undoubtedly some of the most spectacular views I have experienced at any golfing venue I have ever been to since I took up the game 44 years ago. Simply breathtaking!

Nice backdrop for a practice putting green! The greens here are undulating, quick and challenging.

Now for the big challenge of playing another of Thailand's top five golf courses.

You've got to be straight if you want to score well. There are a lot of sloping fairways and most of them feed into water or thickets of trees so hitting Driver is not always the best option.
As the caddies will keep telling you, 'Caddie know best!'

Suddenly this little gem of a par three appears in front of you. Don't miss the green long and left!

Some of the views at the highest points on the back nine will make your eyes water.

It's no wonder all the caddies are so happy and friendly here. What a place to work!

Have I grabbed your interest? Are you going to Koh Samui sometime soon?
Santiburi Golf Club is only fifteen minutes drive from all the main resortson the island and you can rent a good set of clubs when you book your golf.

Just don't leave Koh Samui wishing you'd played this wonderful course. You will regret it if you do.
The guy who can sort everything out for you is Greg Lester, a Brit from Surrey who sounds like an Aussie.
Check out Greg's website www.samuigolf.net

There's no end to Greg's omni-competence.
Holidays, golf, accommodation, island tours, airport transfers etc etc.  Whatever you need Greg will sort it.
He can even arrange a golfing partner for you so you really don't have any excuses about not playing here.

When you're scanning the home page on Greg's website you'll find a link to a fantastic tour.
A 14 day escorted golf trip that starts with two rounds on Koh Samui, has a stop over in Khao Sok National Park on the mainland for one round and ends with four rounds in Phuket. It sounds like a dream trip and one that I fancy a crack at sometime soon.
I'll let Greg's video link paint the picture for you. Have a look at this.
http://www.samuigolf.net/14day_13nights_presentation_video.php

See you next week.

My Thai Golf-What a brilliant idea-Part Two

Our five day tour to the River Kwai at Kanchanaburi continues;

Day Three-
For me Remembrance Day [11/11] will forever bring back memories of our trip to Kanchanaburi in 2012. So many Allied Soldiers and civilian labourers died building the Death Railway for the Japanese in 1942-43. Ofcourse there were many survivors who have all had to carry the burden of witnessing such evil cruelty for the rest of their lives.

Today is the 12 November 2013. I've been giving a lot of thought over the last few days, not only to those brave souls that died in such desperate circumstances, but also to those who endured that living hell and made it home, only to live on wondering why they had been spared.

To truly understand what some of the Allied POWs were put through you have to visit Hellfire Pass, about an hour's drive north west of Kanchanaburi. Here over 400 lives were lost excavating rock and soil so that track could be layed in a cutting some 75 metres long and 17.5 metres deep. Prisoners used basic tools, working around the clock, to complete this stretch which was literally hacked out of the side of small mountain. All soil and rock had to be carried away from the site using baskets. The heat must have been unbearable with so little air under the thick canopy of trees. Daytime temperatures regularly exceeded 35C and a lot of work was done during a particularly heavy monsoon season.

Hellfire Pass got it's name because at night those working above the cutting could see down into what they considered to be the jaws of hell. What they could see was in fact other prisoners working by oil lamp at the the rock face at the bottom of the Pass. Note the tree now growing in the middle of the Pass.[see below]

In 1988 the Australian Government built the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum as a testament to those who died and those that survived. The plaque below can be found in the Pass. The museum is by the car park.

If you visit Hellfire Pass don't make the mistake that we did. We should have gone into the museum first before venturing down the 300 steps that take you to the bottom of the Pass. We would have understood more and we could have hired some headphones from the museum that would have allowed us to stop at each of the viewing platforms that are built amongst those 300 steps, and listened to the commentary that describes each part of the construction. We would also have known what to expect and bought extra water before our trek.

We had no idea what we were doing when we headed straight down those steps in a searing 40C heat.
Thankfully our driver, Simnot, decided to accompany us and when he realised how desperate we were for water he virtually ran back to the top and fetched a load. A schoolboy error on our part.
Just so pleased Simnot came along.

We had walked down to the cutting once. A journey that many POWs made more than once every day for weeks on end and without Simnot to rescue them.

Earlier that day, on the sound advice of our Hotel manager, we had been to Saiyok National Park, a few miles north of the pass. The River Kwai runs through the park and presents you with some dramatic photo opportunities, particularly from the suspension bridge that was recently built there.

Many local people live on houseboats moored along the river.

Other houseboats travel up and down the river pulled by motor boats.
You can take your own journey on one of these houseboats.

 This fella looked like he was doing a bit of fishing from a moving houseboat. Very brave!

Water pours into the river from mountain streams creating stunning waterfalls.

It really is a beautiful part of Thailand.

After Hellfire Pass we were all drained. What a day.

Day Four-Nichigo Golf and Country Club

The drive from Pung Waan Resort to Nichigo was about 30 minutes. The course was in great condition with some very challenging holes. There are 27 holes on the complex so three sets of nine holes. Plenty of water to negotiate but undoubtedly the most difficult part was the greens. They were very quick and virtually unreadable, even for my caddie. No wonder, as I discovered later, she was only 14 and this was her first full round as a caddie.............and she got me!
I might have putted better if one of the local monkeys had caddied. We had quite a following and all after food for their young family.

JC decided after 14 holes that his trek down 300 steps at Hellfire Pass the previous day had got the better of him and he was most keen to get back to the clubhouse for a lie down. Despite our concerns he insisted that we carry on playing and his caddie drove him away.

To our surprise as we walked off the 18th green there was JC sat in the terrace bar with beer bottle in hand, smiling and waving. Another empty bottle was on the table. What an amazing recovery!

The view from the clubhouse terrace at Nichigo is magnificent.

That evening we ate at CR12, a fabulous restaurant alongside the floating one we'd been to earlier in the trip.
The CR12 was by far our best eating experience in Kanchanaburi.

Day Five-Bangkok

Simnot drove us the 90 miles to Bangkok and dropped us off at the Rembrandt Hotel around lunchtime.
What a great choice of Hotel for your last night in Thailand. I just wish I'd spent more time there.

Would you believe that of all the golf tours I have arranged to Thailand in the last ten years this was my first night sleeping in the capital. The Rembrandt is excellent and I would go back any day.

Our determination to thoroughly enjoy our final night of the holiday lead us to the Queen Vic Pub and onward to Soi Cowboy. The rest is a blur as was the flight home the following day.

All our thanks go to Ian Lewins for making our last five days so memorable.


 By the way I'm still counting-It's now 65 days to lift off.

Next week we are on a mini tour again.