Birthday party in Udon

Fortunately, Charly's life is full of pleasant surprises (unfortunately sometimes also less pleasant ones). Until a few years ago, he would never have dared to predict that he would spend the rest of his life in Thailand. However, he has now been living in Thailand for a while and in recent years close to Udonthani. Today his report of a birthday party.

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Birthday party in Udon

It's Thursday, October 18. Today seems to be my birthday. I don't generally like birthdays, not even my own, but this time I wanted to make it fun. Also to break through any rut, which threatens to arise after years of staying in Thailand. For that reason we booked three nights at the Pannarai Hotel in Udon.
By far my favorite hotel in Udon.

Also invited my Dutch friend and his Thai wife, who live near Roi Et, to come to Udon for this occasion. Also booked a room in the Pannarai for them. Furthermore, of course, Toey invited the daughter and son with his girlfriend and a number of Thai people we met here. Arranged with everyone between 17.00 and 18.00 pm, on the terrace of the Italian restaurant daSofia, in soi sampan.

The morning doesn't really go according to plan. The electricity goes out at 10.00 am. This happens quite often, but Toey's inquiry tells us that this outage could last all day. That's why we decide to drive straight to the Pannarai, hoping that our room would be available despite our early arrival. Fortunately, that is the case, so we can check in before noon. The room is, as always, fine again. After unpacking the suitcase and installing the laptop, we decide to go to the swimming pool and have something to eat there. The water of the pool is wonderfully cool. Lying in the water you forget for a moment that it is 12.00 degrees outside.

Gritsana P / Shutterstock.com

My boyfriend and his girlfriend from Roi Et have also arrived. Feast of Recognition. We have a lot to talk about.

At 16.30 pm we walk to the daSofia restaurant. Walk, because daSofia is only 60 meters from the Pannarai Hotel. We are warmly welcomed by Tsum, the owner, and her husband Manfredo. Nah and Pat, the service ladies, are also present and greet us warmly. Tsum and Manfredo have set up an elongated table for 16 people, across the full width of the terrace. On a large, standing blackboard is written in chalk: Congratulations with your birthday Charly. Sweet.

Fortunately there are no balloons, otherwise you could just be confronted with people who think that you can drink here for free. Manfredo joins us and tells us about his recent visit to Buriram. The motorcycle races of the Grand Prix circus took place there. So the whole top of the motorcycle racers was there. Manfredo, himself an enthusiastic motorcyclist and in possession of a rather heavy motorcycle, can talk about this with passion. He is extremely proud that he was allowed to take a picture with Paoli Rossi. His wife Tsum tells us about their stay in Rayong, a few days after the Buriram races.

In preparation for the high season, daSofia was closed for four days. Tsum, Manfredo and their daughter Sofia, relatives as well as the staff of daSofia were on holiday together in Rayong. Refueling, as it is called, to start the high season energetically and get through it well.

Toey's kids and the other guests trickle in one by one after 17.00 p.m. It is soon very cozy, everyone is having a great time, and while enjoying a drink the latest news and gossip are exchanged. I make a round of all our guests to have a chat with everyone. The owner of the Brick House bar/restaurant opposite looks on a bit resignedly. I deliberately didn't invite him, Max and his wife Ann, because Brick House falsely tries to blacken daSofia. Brick House customers are invited to post rave reviews about Brick House on Tripadvisor. And vice versa, to post bad reviews about daSofia.

It's a pity that Max wants to compete unfairly in this way. Also a hopeless battle because the quality of the dishes that daSofia serves from the kitchen is much better than what emerges from the kitchen of Brick House. Incidentally, it is a pity that both parties could complement each other very well and strengthen each other.

I left the composition of the dinner to Toey, because all guests except my friend and me are Thai. Toey, together with Tsum, has put together a mix of Thai food. I ordered real Norwegian salmon fillet from Manfredo, for my Dutch friend and myself. Together with delicious Italian baked potato slices and a spinach dish. The food is really fantastic. Everyone is having fun with it. Our salmon fillet is also excellently prepared by Tsum.

For the occasion I have selected an excellent bottle of white wine. My friend sticks to beer, but Manfredo would like to enjoy the wine. After dinner, Toey's daughter surprises by showing up with a cake, with some burning candles, of course. Not the number of my age, because they don't fit on any map. Another surprise, this time from Tsum and Alfredo. A bottle of Italian Prosecco wine is opened and all guests are offered a glass.

At about 21.00:2 PM, the guests go home. Toey and my friend's girlfriend decide to walk to the UD night market and do a little shopping. My friend and I walk along for a bit but stop at Good Corner. After a few drinks we cross the street and sit down at T-Sood (formerly The Shadow). We are the only guests. About half a dozen ladies to welcome you and take you to a seat. When I ask where the life music has gone, I get the answer that it will be present again in the high season. Too bad, at The Shadow there was live music every night during the weekend. But maybe that's why the business has passed into the hands of T-Sood. The only luck we have at T-Sood is that Chelsea against Manchester United is live on TV. I follow the game until the end (Chelsea's goal in the fifth minute of injury time, a few seconds before the end). Final score 2-XNUMX.

My friend and I then walk back through soi sampan, where we are of course expressly invited to enter the various bars and massage parlours. You know that. “welcome, handsome man” and more such texts. Funny thing is that the ladies first take a good look at whether you as a man walk by alone. Then they dare to call. If they see that you are with female company, they will keep very calm.

The Pannarai Hotel

We continue to Day and Night, just past the Pannarai Hotel. It's quite an art to walk through Day and Night without being pulled into a beer bar. It is just not as bad as in soi 6 in Pattaya, but it makes little difference. Finally we arrive at Little Havana. A pleasant beer bar, led by Tony. Here too, of course, there are some ladies who are out for a drink and possibly more, but it is done in a modest and quiet way. I can appreciate that. And I'm not afraid to give a few ladies a lady drink. They are here to make money and I respect that. If you can't appreciate that, you should sit in a normal bar or, for example, on the terrace of Good Corner or daSofia.

In time, Toey will also come to Little Havana with my friend's girlfriend.
We make some fun, get a few more bar ladies for a drink, and have a world of time together. Particularly pleasant, partly due to the efforts of the owner Tony, who keeps a close eye on everything and intervenes immediately where things seem to go wrong.
Finally walked back to the Pannarai Hotel and had a great night's sleep.

The next two days enjoyed the extensive breakfast and the swimming pool at the Pannarai. Too bad that breakfast is only possible until 10.00 am. I made a comment about this to the general manager, but I didn't feel that he was going to do anything about it right away. Furthermore, I enjoyed the conversations and the drinks with my friend and his girlfriend. Made some trips to bars that we didn't get to on the first day, such as Vikings Corner Bar, Zaaps Bar and the Red Lion Bar. It was cozy everywhere, but that's because my friend and I know that you have to make that fun yourself.

Another delicious meal at Sizzler in the Central Plaza, at Laem (also in Central Plaza, next to Sizzler) and finally at daSofia. We also walked to the night market with our ladies and bought some T-shirts and two jeans there. Had a fantastic three days, with great people. I'm already looking forward to our trip to Roi Et / Selaphum in November.

Back home now and enjoy the World Series baseball in America (Boston Red Sox against the LA Dodgers) and the football matches in the CL of Ajax (against Benfica) and PSV (against the Spurs) next week. Actually, I don't get the time to get bored here in Thailand. And to think that I would have liked to do so much more here in Thailand. Like learning how to play pool properly so that I don't get played off the table by every bargirl, taking classes to learn the Thai language properly, taking cooking classes because I like cooking.

Unfortunately, I'm running out of time. But that doesn't matter. I'm having a great time, I'm enjoying it here and I'm happy with Toey who takes really great care of me, and with our house. In our house we have the peace that I love. And if we want to go out and look for the crowds, we drive to Udon center in half an hour.

Submitted by Charlie