Loch Palm Golf Club, Phuket, THAILAND

March 8, 2009

After a chance meeting at our hotel with a former colleague, we managed to arrange for a round at Loch Palm through his agent, Alee. He had arranged for a van to pick us up from the meeting place, Thara Patong. Alee was waiting for us at the golf club. He spoke fluent Malay.

The Clubhouse

The first tee box was congested with starting golfers. We asked to tee off from the 10th. to avoid the big crowd. Permission granted, we hurried and drove the balls out of bound. Zack sent his first shot OB. My drive headed towards the OB zone, ricocheted off a tree trunk and landed on the ladies tee box. Our jovial, elderly caddies advised us to slow down. I parred the next 2 holes.

Hole no.10. OB on the right

Loch Palm plays 6,555 yards from blue tees. It has a balanced mix of undulating terrains, bunkers and water hazards. The hills fringing the course make a good backdrop. The 168 metre par-3, Hole 14 struck me as the most scenic. It tees from elevated ground with bunkers in front and waters on the left and at the back. I overshot the green and ended in the back bunker just before the water. I managed to chip in for par after struggling out of the bunker.

Hole 14

It started to rain but we pressed on in the drizzle. After 2 holes it stopped and we had a beautiful cloudy weather for golf. The front nine was more forgiving. There were many holes that played straight from the tee boxes to the greens. No doglegs.

Palm trees, Lakes & Hills

Our caddies were very friendly and added much joy to our game. My caddy was talking non-stop throughout the game. She claimed to be a “kun Yai” (grandmother). We jokingly told her that we were “kun Po” (grandfathers). She would volunteer her advice for every single shot that I took. She deserved a fat tip.

The last par-3 on the front nine.

We were truly enjoying our round. Zack was mimicking Camillo Villegas’s antics, literally crawling on the ground while lining up his putt. The caddies couldn’t stop laughing. The weather was perfect for golf, the caddies were great and we had a good round.

Zack had a swinging time..

Phuket, THAILAND

March 6 – 9, 2009

We had a meeting in Phuket, Thailand’s no. 1 tourists’ destination. We stayed at Baumanburi Hotel, located on Patong Beach, Phuket’s most famous beach. Our meeting was in Thara Patong Beach Resort & Spa, about 20 minutes walk from our hotel.

Our Meeting Group

My Idea of a Meeting Place

Patong is always crowded with tourists, particularly farangs (westerners). We could find scantily clad tourists almost everywhere. The beach was really crowded. If your idea of a holiday is to escape the crowd, then, Phuket is definitely the wrong place to be. The roads were congested with traffic: tuk tuk (small brightly coloured Daihatsu & Isuzu pickups with covered bench seats in the back, song taew ( small pickups and buses with benches along each side, picking up and dropping off passengers as they go), and motorbikes ( mostly rented & probably the most popular way of getting about in Phuket). Once, on the way to Thara Patong, I was almost knocked down by a turning motorbike.

Phuket's soon to open Hard Rock Cafe

Patong was the place to be in Phuket when night time came. It came alive with street vendors, tourists loitering around the brightly lit restaurants and bars. It was a common sight to see old farang men walking with local girls. Most of the girls were dark and not so good looking, by Thai or Asian standard. One local guy explained, the girls vying for the farangs’ dollars were local rejects. The old guys did not seem to bother much. I was beginning to think that Phuket was devoid of beautiful girls that made Thailand famous.


A street scene along Patong Beach

Sunset

Things were expensive in Phuket compared to Bangkok or any other South East Asian cities. Vinai, a colleague from Bangkok commented during our dinner that the big prawns cost about BHT500 per kilogram in Bangkok. In Phuket, it was BHT2,000. He could not believe the price! A 2-hour traditional Thai massage costs BHT800 compared to less than BHT300 elsewhere. Of course, a round of golf costs 4 to 5 times more.

Patong's Night Life

On our last night we went to the night market in Phuket Town. It was a far cry from Patong. There was no crowd, not many farangs and of course the real Thais were there. Our driver was kind enough to show us around. The night market was like any other night market in Thailand, selling the same old stuffs but at much lower price. We bought some foodstuffs and headed back to our hotel.

Patong Beach in the morning. It gets crowded very fast

That was my second trip to Phuket. The first was with the family many years ago. I don’t think Phuket is a good destination for us, Asians given the crowd, the price and the many farangs. I would rather head to a more sober and quiet place like Penang or Langkawi.

That is my idea of a holiday.

Blue Canyon Country Club, Phuket, THAILAND

March 6, 2009

From Phuket Airport, we went to Blue Canyon Country Club right away. It is the nearest golf course to the airport. It is also the top golf course in Phuket, a must play. The entrance gate and the clubhouse looked grand.

The Fairways

The Greens

There are two 18s at Blue Canyon, the Lakes Course and the Canyon Course. The Canyon Course is the championship course and more expensive. It is also a walking course only. The Lakes course is about BHT1,000 less and we opted to play there. The club charges BHT800 for a buggy and one golfer can only ride on one buggy. A round at Blue Canyon’s Lakes could set you back BHT5,000, about 5 times more than what we used to pay in Malaysia. As everything else in Phuket, things are on the high side, price wise. Phuket is the most expensive place in Thailand.

I hit my 2nd shot across this "Blue Canyon"

There was a big group of Korean golfers about to tee off at the same time with us. We managed to ask the marshal to let us play through. It was a lucky break as Korean golfers are known to be real slow.

Zack contemplating a shot

The Lakes Course was built around many lakes and ponds. Waters are very much in play. It measures 6,504 yards from the blue tees. The fairways were a bit soggy due to the rainy season but the greens were in excellent form. Overall, it is an above average cost, including the price.

I had a slow start. For the first 4 holes, I had equal number of mulligans and drove the same number of balls into the water. My caddy, Mariam, was beginning to lose confidence in me. Only at the 5th hole I managed to find my form back. Then again, towards the end the old problems cropped up. I was being consistently inconsistent. The sun was getting hotter and hotter. Both Zack and I were really struggling in the chili hot Phuket sun. We planned to continue with another round at Loch Palm GC after Blue Canyon. When we finished our round at Blue Canyon, we headed back to our hotel.

With Mariam, my caddy. Most caddies were Muslim.

Johny Walker Classic, Perth, AUSTRALIA

The Vines
February 20, 2009

The Vines, Home of Johny Waker Classic

This was our last day in Perth before our flight back to KL early the next day. We decided to go to Fremantle. No visit to Fremantle is complete without browsing through the Fremantle Market. It only opens on certain days in a week and Friday is one of them.

After some shopping at the market, we proceeded to the E-Shed Market for more souvenirs and nougats. There is a shop run by a Malaysian that we never missed whenever we were in Fremantle. After all the shopping, we went to have lunch at the famous Kaili’s, said to serve the best fish and chip in the whole Western Australia. We never missed Kaili’s either.

One incidence at Kaili’s made me think twice of visiting the place the next time we are in Perth, if there is next trip. Our kids, Nina and Anas went to order some seafood platters while my wife and I went to order lobsters at another counter. The kids’ order came first and the whole family shared the food. After going through the food Nina realized that the order for seafood platter was supposed to come with scallops, squids and other standard items. We had only fish and chips. I asked Nina to go back and asked for them since we were obviously served the wrong order. The problem was we already dug into the fish and chips. The restaurants people argued that they had included the other items in and we must have eaten them and came back for freebies. They reluctantly gave Nina the missing items but not without some bad remarks. Surely they could have known that anybody who could afford lobsters would not cheat for some baby squids. I was pissed off.

At the Scoreboard

We went back to our hotel and tried to grab a nap. It was too bloody hot outside. I could not sleep, still fuming at the Kaili’s incidence. Since it was our last day, I suggested that we take a drive to the Vines, the venue of Johny Walker Classic which was in its second day. It was one of the major golf tournaments in Australia. Again, my trusted portable GPS found us the way to the golf club.

It was around 6pm when we arrived at the Vines. It was summer time, daylight would be until 8pm. I drove past the gate. Nobody bothered to ask for entrance tickets. It must have been towards the end of the day. We spent sometimes taking photographs, buying souvenirs and loitering around the scoreboard.

Been There!

At least I could claim that I was at the 2009 Johny Walker Classic live in person.

Curtin University of Technology, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Nina’s Convocation
February 19, 2009

It was Nina’s big day. She’s graduating from Curtin with a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management. That was the reason for our trip to Perth this time.

The Graduation Venue

A week earlier Nina was down with chicken pox which she contracted from her brother, Anas. She was carrying the scars when we had to make the Perth trip. I was more worried of the Australian immigration stopping us from entering because of the visible chicken pox scars. We got through.

Curtin's Campus

With Dad and Brother at the Business School

The graduation ceremony was held in an open space in the evening. We were all dressed our best to see our only daughter receiving her scroll. We arrived earlier to take some photos around the campus. It could be our last trip. I was in full suit and tie, something that I had not done for many years. It was really hot that day. As for Anas, he wore a shirt with collar for the first time in his life. We all dressed for the occasion.

All in the Family

Before the ceremony

It was dark when the ceremony began. At least it was cooler a bit. When Nina’s name was called up to the stage, I was beaming with pride. There were more Asian students than local graduating that day. I had a feeling that Curtin has mostly international students. We paid 3 to 4 times more than the local for the students’ fees. It made sense for business.

And so it began

After receiving her scroll

There was some light refreshment after the ceremony. Then we were off to Makan Makan Restaurant in Victoria Park. After sending the gang back to the hotel, I headed to Burswood for a last fling.