Chiang Mai, THAILAND

Alpine Golf Club (formerly called Chiang Mai Lamphun)

January 14, 2010

We had booked tee off time at 12.30pm but the group was in high spirit to play 27 holes. So we left the hotel early hoping to get tee time for additional 9 holes. On arrival, we found out that as in most courses in Chiang Mai, we had to follow the alloted tee time. With nothing much we could do, we hanged around the club house. Waiting. To quote Felicia, a lady golfer in the group, "we got balls but no brains".

Clock on the tee box. To make sure that every golfer follows the tee off time

I had played at this course during my first golf trip overseas in 2000. Then, I was just a beginner in golf. I could hardly remember the course.

The format of the day was boogey play. I was paired with Daniel Ng, BC Lim, Chairman Hiu and Bobby. The purse was another BHT21,000 coming from 21 golfers.

Alpine was a far better course than Royal Chiang Mai or Gassan Lake City. We teed off from the white tee box as it was club's regulation that only golfers with handicap of 9 or below could play from the blue tee.

I played almost flawless golf for my handicap registering only 1 double boogey in the front nine. I thought I already saw the "Clarinet Jug", the prize money. Disaster struck on the first par 5 hole of the back nine. My flawless drive from the tee box was out of bound. My approach shots went about 100 meters up and 10 meters to the front, twice. I ended with a big 9. I still managed to play well on several holes but screwed another 2 holes. Despite 7 pars and 1 birdie, I did not get the Clarinet Jug.

It was at Alpine that we met Lek (trinidacnx@yahoo.co.th or HP+66817161566), a lady who introduced herself as a golf consultant, a new term at least to me, for a travel agent doing golf tour. She was pretty, jovial and friendly. Lek could see that she was with a group of upmarket golfers (with yours truly as the exception) and stayed with us for the next 2 days. Good marketing person.

We had dinner at the Good View Restaurant (053241866). At least someone made a reservation this time. We had Japanese sushi as appetizers and Thai food as the main course. The restaurant was a perfect place for dinner. The setting was beautiful and sitting by the riverside gave the ambience of a romantic place.

After dinner Zack and I went to a spa near the hotel for a massage. It was there that I accidently walked into a pool of water fronting the entrance. For aesthetic reasons or good fengshui, some spas in Thailand have a pool of water right in front of the entrance. I did not see it until it was too late. For that embarassing glitch, the spa gave us a BHT100 discount for the massage. I ended with a wet pant and red face. Luckily I brought 2 pants for the trip.

Chiang Mai, THAILAND

Royal Chiang Mai Golf Club

January 13, 2010

We checked out of Imperial Mae Ping and checked into Shangri La, where our group was supposed to stay. There were 21 of us, 18 from Malaysia and 3 from Hong Kong. All were businessmen/women mostly in the chemical industry.

Having checked in, I was at the hotel front having a cigarrette break waiting for the group to arrive. Suddenly the hotel staffs were running around, some talking on walkie-talkies, some came out waiting for someone to arrive. Even a car parked in front was asked to clear away. I thought it must be some big shot arriving. It turned out to be the reception for our group arriving from the airport! It was quite a reception from a 5-star hotel.

Shangri La Hotel

We proceeded to Royal Chiang Mai GC, the first course in the group's itinerary. As we were being registered, I realised that my golf shoes were not in the bag. I must have left it in Boon Sung's car. One call and he confirmed that they were inside his car. So I rented a pair from the club for BHT100. It was a bit oversized for a small guy but it had to do.

The format of play was stableford and prize money BHT21,000. I was paired with Francis, Bobby and Zach.

The Flight

Royal Chiang Mai is just an average course but very popular as seen by the crowd of golfers. It was apparent that Chiang Mai is a golf destination. Golfers were on the fairways of every hole. They came by the busloads. It was truly international with westerners, Japanese, Koreans, Malaysians and local Thais all over the place. You really need to book tee time to play.

The Fairways

My game was bad, as usual. Bobby and Francis made good golf buddies and it was fun to play with them. We had a good time despite the bad scores. May be I could place the blame on the shoes!

The Club House

Dinner was supposed to be at Good View Restaurant located by the river side. When we arrived, the place was crowded and full. They definitely could not accommodate 21 of us without any prior reservation. So the group opted for another restaurant serving Teochew food. Except for Zack and I, the rest of the group were Chinese. Since we skipped lunch for golf, everybody was really hungry.

After dinner, I waited for Boon Sung to come to the hotel to send my golf shoes. I was really touched by his sincerity. I would recommend him any time. He may be contacted on his mobile at +66818818239.

Chiang Mai, THAILAND

January 12 - 16, 2010

Both Zack and I had to take flight a day earlier because Air Asia tickets for travel on the 13th. were sold out. In our quest for cheaper fare, we missed the flight with the rest of our group and ended paying more.

The flight was full, made up mostly of holidaymakers and golfers. On arrival, we took a cab to Imperial Mae Ping, our hotel. The cab driver was an old man, overly cautious and slow. He offered to take us to Mae Jo Golf Club for BHT1400. It was time for us to shop around. At the rate he was driving us it would be dark by the time we reach the golf club.

After checking in, we found a guy offering to take us to a golf course for BHT800. He recommended Gassan Lake City Golf Club. He said it was better than Mae Jo. We got ourselves a bargain. Boon Sung, our driver, was one happy and friendly guy. He understandably took us to Sophia Restaurant near the mosque for halal meals. We had our lunch there during our last trip and it was good. Somehow, it was disappointing during this trip.

Gassan Lake City is part of Gassan group of golf courses in Chiang Mai. We played at Gassan Khuntan the last time and thought it would be of the same standard. We were wrong. The course was poorly maintained. Even grasses grew in bunkers. Zack wanted to walk the course. It was mid day. Despite the temperature in the 20s, we could feel the heat. The caddies were old. After a few holes, Zack's caddy, Pim, booked by Boon Sung, gave up under the pretext of pain in the eye. I tought she just got tired of walking especially after caddying for 18 holes earlier. After the front nine, Zack also got tired of walking. We hired a buggy, finished our game around 4pm. I had quite a good round for my standard with 6 pars and a score of 92 on the card.

Boon Sung took us to a place called Chang Klan for a Thai massage. For BHT500, we had a good rubdown.

We had dinner at the night market. We did not actually spend time shopping or browsing the stalls at the market as we were tired. It was an early start from KL and sleep was definitely what we needed the most.

(There are no photos for this blog because they did not turn out ok. I suspected that the exposure was wrong)

HCMC, VIETNAM

11- 14 December, 2009

The trip was more for Nina. It was her first time in Vietnam and my 11th. HCMC remains as one of my favourite places in South East Asia.

On the way to Ben Thanh Market for some crazy shopping.

Ice Cream Break by the Sidewalk

Cu Chi TunnelInside Cu Chi Tunnel

Tapioca Break with Nguyen, our guide. I believe half of the people in the country are called Nguyen.
Tunnel Entrance. This was the same post found on Cu Chi tour brochures. Somehow, the tunnel was enlarged to accommodate the bigger size tourists especially from the western world. But crawling inside still took some efforts.

Night Time in HCMC. Our hotel, Bong Sen is at the far end. HCMC was heavily decorated for the coming Christmas. The picture was taken in front of the mosque and a new halal restaurant called halal@saigon. I strongly recommend the restaurant. It has many Vietnamese dishes, unlike other halal places with mostly Indian or Malaysian foods.

Notre Dame. One of the popular tourist spots in HCMC.

Inside Notre Dame. My first time inside a church. It was during a mass on Sunday. Amen.

Post Office. Another popular attraction. This colonial building houses the real post office. The interior was worth a visit.

Inside Post Office

Reunification Palace

War Remnants Museum

Reluctant Tourist. Anas complained of coming to HCMC too many times. It was his 3rd. trip. HCMC is still Daddy's favourite place.

It had been a long day for this tired soul!

Mt. Bromo, Surabaya, INDONESIA

November 21 - 23, 2009

The trip was planned much earlier. We were sending our maid back for holidays and after that climbed Mount Bromo. Unfortunately, Ton's mom passed away 2 days before our trip. After the funeral, we left for KL to catch our flight to Surabaya.

After reaching Surabaya airport and saying good bye to Sutin, our maid, we made our ways to Mount Bromo. First, we stopped at House of Sampoerna, a museum depicting the life of its founder from rags to riches.

House of Sampoerna

Then we stopped at a salt factory in a fishing village called Pasuaran. It wasn't much of a factory and more of a repacking place for salts coming from outside.

The fishing village of Pasuaran

After Pasuaran, it was a long drive on winding road to Tosari, the place we stopped before going up the mountain. It was cold and wet. We came during the rainy season. We woke up at 3am to begin the climb at 4am. It was by the jeep all the way to Mt. Tengger to observe the sunrise.

Familiar Faces in the crowd

With my favourite son.

Coming Down from the observation point

Ton shopping on horseback.

Bromo National Park is listed as one of the most beautiful places on earth. I agree.

As far as she goes

So I made it to the top.....

After the climb we went back to the hotel. We had breakfast and left Tosari for Surabaya. It was mango season. We stopped along the way for some of the biggest and sweetest harumanis we had ever tried.

The Royal Golf & Country Club, Bangkok, THAILAND

October 3, 2009

This was the venue for our Merdeka Golf Tournament. I had played at this beautiful course during earlier trip. It has a lot of water hazards and pretty flat terrains. I was paired with Haji Amir and 2 locals. Unfortunately, my golfing was haphazard on the very day that I should perform.

Below are some photos taken by Yusoff. My camera was out of commission.

It was a formal gathering with batik shirts. I was more of a royalist with yellow shirt

Hari Raya Get Together at the Malaysian Embassy

Breakfast at the Deputy Ambassador' residence before the tournament

View of Bangkok from the Deputy Ambassador's apartment

My old friend Khiew, blue shirt (a Malaysian residing in Bangkok) with his flight

The caddies were more helpful compared to the Indonesians

Thai Country Club, Bangkok, THAILAND

October 2, 2009

We went to Bangkok at the invitation of the Malaysian Embassy for Merdeka Golf Tournament. There were more than 20 guests from Kuala Lumpur.

Our big group of 23 golfers.

We had our practice round at Thai Country Club on the 2nd day after arriving the night before. Thai Country Club is the home of the Volvo Masters and as such is more on the upmarket.

The scene before the start of our game. The caddies had a field day

My foursome with (L to R) John, Haji Amir and Yusoff

With Yusoff, Haji Amir and John at Par-4 Hole 10. The plaque says Tiger Woods reached the greens in one on this 365 yards hole. I managed a boogie.

Somehow, my trusted old camera decided to ''kong"'out. I was left without it for the rest of the trip.