THE TAVERN

HUa Hin Beach 2010

     Once again, I do not seem to be able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labors.  As successful as The Tavern in Bangkok has been, I decided to branch out and get involved in another enterprise......this time in the relatively small beach town of Hua Hin.  About a two hour drive southwest of Bangkok, this area is home to the King's primary residence as well as hosting some of the nicest golf courses in the country. I chose Hua Hin over the other well known beach resort of Pattaya because it is quieter and there is not the "in your face" nightlife/bar scene that makes Pattaya a hotbed of partying rather than a place to relax.

      I have been to Hua Hin many times over the past 14years and have seen some extensive changes with both a more modern infrastructure as well as a greater variety of bars and restaurants to choose from. I also wanted to be within walking distance to the beach. So after some research and investigation, I decided to take over the All Nation's Guesthouse which is one of the oldest guesthouses in Hua Hin.  Being the oldest has some good points and some bad points.  The bad point being that it is one of the oldest guesthouses in Hua Hin! Of course that means construction, lots of construction.  The biggest drawback is that there are ten rentable rooms with four total bathrooms. Now I am not going to share a bath and I don't know of anyone who would. That means dividing the bathrooms and knocking out new doorways so that each room enjoys a private bath. That will be the biggest challenge. For now I have redone the restaurant on the first floor and will be having our reopening party for the new All Nations Lodge and Cafe (note the name change) on May 15th. Some pics of the renovations are below.

Picture of the new bar                                        Picture of the bathroom enlargement 

      Glass Front Being installed    

The TAVERN, HUA HIN                       

   Of course, I couldn't just take on one project at a time and so I  purchased a small bar in the nightlife district about three blocks from the All Nations and am renovating that at the same time! It will be called The Tavern as well and is being constructed as a replica of the Tavern in Bangkok. Not an easy task and of course, once you start ripping out walls, new problems present themselves.  I hope to have The Tavern open around July 15th but that may be optimistic as you can see by the construction pictures below.

Installing New Floor After Gutting                                                                           Beginning the new front wall

New Front Wall Finished

THE NEW SIGN GOING UP!

        And so...........wish me luck.  This old body of mine is not used to this physical exertion, and the hot season is in full swing as well. I've lost twenty pounds in the past month which is a good thing. The unanswered question is whether it will kill me in the process. Will follow up with more pics as things progress as well as some beach shots.

JUNE 15. 2010

    Well, things continue to progress and our official opening date for The Tavern Hua Hin is July 1st with the big blowout opening party set for July 4th......an auspicious date wouldn't you say? Since most of the staff in Bangkok want to attend I decided to close the bar in Bangkok for two days to allow both shifts to come. As you may infer from the pics below, The Tavern Hua Hin is actually a bit more spacious than the one in Bangkok and in some ways nicer with wood panels lining the atrium and two big screen TV's. I tried to get away without any weight bearing posts, but that proved impossible.  Nonetheless, the two necessary posts are not in the line of sight of the TV's which is a big improvement over Bangkok's pub. I'm hoping for a good turnout. Many of my regulars in Bangkok have promised to attend, but we'll see. The next pics will be of the finished bar as well as the party.

Atrium Cut Through

Reinforcing Steel Beam being Sized

Dtae After The New Concrete Bar was Poured

Gypsum Drop Ceiling being Installed

     On the other front, The All Nations Lodge renovation is going slower than expected, but it is a huge job for the work crew involving the removal of concrete and tile walls over four floors and construction of new walls and baths including the upgrade of electric and plumbing systems.  I figure with luck, September 1 may be a possible opening date of the hotel.

          Penthouse Bath Walls                                                                  Normal Baths

OPENING PARTY of THE TAVERN HUA HIN

JULY 4th, 2010

     Believe it or not, we made the opening date of July 1 and the party on July 4th but not without a few tribulations. On the morning of July 1, after a month of listening to the builder tell me that the water on the bathroom floor was coming from assorted fixtures that were not hooked up, I decided to investigate for myself. The result of my assessment was that one of the joints inside the wall was leaking, probably from someone forgetting to glue the joint. The fix necessitated jack hammering a groove in the wall to find the leak, fix the leak, patch the concrete surface and replace the wall tiles.  Thank god it was the "soft" opening and not the day of the party.

     After discussing it with the staff, we decided to close the bar in Bangkok on the 4th and 5th so that everyone could come to Hua Hin and enjoy the party.  Turns out it was a wise decision as the customer turnout was bigger than expected and we would have been short staffed if we had not brought everyone down to the beach. Needless to say, as with most of our parties, we went through a huge amount of food and the bell got a good initiation.  I lost count after the tenth bell ring. In fact I don't remember much after 9 PM!

       So now our big job is to get the regular clientele that The Tavern in Bangkok is known for.  Although Hua Hin is much more seasonal than the capital, I am  confident that our Air-conditioned pleasant atmosphere will draw a regular crowd.  Inasmuch as we are one of the only pubs that opens early and has food late, a specific niche market is anticipated in short order!

THE CULTURAL CHASM (a short story)

     Anyone who has resided in a foreign land has stories of how different the mores and beliefs of a country can be. Sometimes the difference can cause an exciting experience, a happy experience, a sad experience, or any combination of the above! What follows is a short account of one my attempts to leap across this divide. 

     All Thai homes and businesses have a "spirit house" located either at the corner of the property or on the roof. This is to allow the spirits residing on the property a safe haven in which to exist and thus ensure the good luck (and by inference the lack of bad luck) which  will follow the building and its inhabitants. These spirit houses can be simple wooden models to elaborate concrete structures 6 or 8 feet high. Not only must one have a "spirit house" but it must be maintained and fed on a regular basis. The All Nations building had its spirit house on the sun deck of the fourth floor rooms at the south east corner.

     One day as I was deciding where to place the Jacuzzi for the large penthouse unit, it was obvious that no matter where or how I built this small pool the spirit house was directly obstructing the spectacular view of the ocean.  I knew that I could not just take a sledgehammer to the temple but had to move it to another part of the deck.  I called my girlfriend and asked her to talk to the landlord and ask if it was okay; of course I would foot the bill. I figured that would not be a problem with the owners since they were of  Chinese ancestry and have a whole different set of beliefs.

      Once we got the okay from the landlord, we had to choose whether to merely move the old spirit house or buy a new one. My girl informed me that they only cost about 4000 baht (130 dollars.) It seemed like a small price to pay for the unimpeded view we would get while being immersed in a cool pool sipping on an ice cold pina colada! Alas it was not that simple.

       Next we had to obtain the Thai equivalent of a shaman to come to the site and tell us where to put it and how it had to be oriented to the North/South axis. That afternoon he arrives with his compass and shows us that it must point south east and located at the south west corner of the deck. That was no problem but then the bombshell!  All spirit houses are built on a concrete and tile pedestal and he wanted this one to be built on an eight foot by five foot  pedestal. That would have taken up half of the sun deck!  After further negotiations (and in consultation with the spirits I am sure) we compromised on a four by four pedestal.

     So now the contractor builds the pedestal and we have to send someone (with a monetary contribution of course) to consult the monks about when the auspicious date for the ceremony would be.  Next Thursday was chosen and preparations were made.  The new temple was bought and moved to the roof in sections. The morning of the ceremony arrives and all of this food, pig's heads, rice wine, beer, fruit, animistic icons, Buddhist amulets, flowers, and other assorted offerings are delivered to roof along with tables, candles, incense, and lotus buds.  For some reason we had to hard boil 28 eggs as well.

               Preparing the offerings. Notice the hole in the pedestal left there to bury the good luck charms.

Without boring you with the details, the ceremony was long, intricate and filled with lots of chanting and assorted rites. At the conclusion, the shaman gets his fee of 4000 baht and the contractor must remove the old temple (without breaking it) and transport it to the local temple (where it is broken up) to be buried beneath the sacred banyan tree with a contribution to the temple of course.  The contractor gets his fee for his contribution and his workers commence to drink the wine and beer making them useless for the rest of the day.

      By the time the entire ordeal was finished, 4000 baht morphed into 40,000 baht.  My girlfriend assured me that this was money well spent to assure good luck for the hotel and the business. At six the next morning the 6,000 liter water tank on the roof exploded!

THE FINAL DAYS

        After about 9 months of constant frustration, difficulties, and not a few setbacks, it was time to admit that running two locations was more stress than I wanted and certainly more headache than someone who is retired should be incurring. Incompetent contractors, corrupt government officials, conniving police as well as a disappointing high season had all taken their toll on my demeanor as well as my health. So despite the huge effort as well as financial investment, it was time to cut my losses and run!

       People constantly ask me questions like, "How hard can it be? Why don't you hire more staff? "

       I'll give you an example of a conversation which I had with my receptionist.  As funny as you may find it, it is neither atypical nor funny when you are trying to build a business. After almost three months of waiting for the cable company to install TV reception into one of the rooms (which they had neglected to do on the first installation,) they finally showed up to finish the job.

      I returned from Bangkok two days later and remarked to  my receptionist, Joy, " So we finally have TV in room 2."

      Joy replied, " No, they left without doing anything because you were not here to pay them."

      Trying to keep myself calm, I asked "Why didn't you just pay them out of the cash drawer?"

      Joy confidently replied that she was not sure there was enough money to pay them.

      Now I was trying not to blow my stack and scream at her. Anger is counterproductive in Thai culture. "Well, how much was it going to be?"

      With a completely straight face she replied, "I don't know, I didn't ask!"

     SOOOOOOO with great relief, on April 1, 1011 I took my leave of attempting to do business in Hua Hin. In some ways, the hotel eventually turned out to be quite profitable although the bar probably would never have made enough money to justify the effort.  I'll try to find the final pictures of how the rooms turned out and post them at a later date. There are quite nice and if anyone is going to Hua Hin, I can still recommend the All Nations as a great place to stay with superior value for the money.