Preparing to Usher in the New Year

Preparing for Christmas has been a very hectic time but I find that it was very rewarding as well. This year, Christmas Eve fell on Sunday. Unfortunately, Palla is off on Saturday and John had to work on Saturday afternoon and night. Since I needed a vehicle to purchase any last minute items, I had to take John to work on Saturday afternoon and then pick him up at 2am when the bar is closed.

I was up early on Saturday (about 9am) and started preparing the major cooking. Some preparation has been done over the last couple of days - like making the pastries...yucks, really do not like that as I do not make good pastries!!

Like last year, I stayed awake the whole night on Saturday, went to pick John at 2am and then continued to bake the pies and cook the rest of the stuff. By the time I finished, it was almost noon and I took a short nap - 1 hour nap!!.

Sunday night was good to us. We had many customers and the satisfaction on their faces after eating the meal makes me feel real good. I truly felt my time was well spent when I received the praises from the customers for the good food. Well, we ended up closing at 6am.

Now, the time has come for the New Year preparation. This time around, I think I will do something slightly different. No more pies because they take too much of my time. More like hotpots, casseroles, roasts and salads. Certainly hope that the crowd would like it just as much.

To all you readers, John and I wish you Happy New Year and may the new year bring you health, happiness and wealth.

Cheers

Christmas Eve Party in Viking Bar, Koh Samui

The time of the year is here again. And yes, we will be celebrating Christmas with our customers.

Like last year, we will be having a free buffet but this time, the buffet will start at 11pm on Christmas Eve night. We intend to have Swedish Meatballs, Ham, Pies, Quiches and much more for the buffet.

On top of this, all customers will get a Lucky Draw ticket for every 100 baht alcoholic drinks order. We will have two draws, one at 1am and another at 3am. The prizes for the lucky draws includes the famous Viking T-Shirt worth 350 baht, Whisky, Rum and others. The winner has to be present in the bar to claim the prize when the ticket is drawn.

Last year, we had quite good fun. We even had a free dance performance from 4 lovely girls from Malaysia. See our pictures from our photo album in our web site, www.vikingbar.net.

As for me, well, guess it is time to start preparing the menu and making the pastry. One nice thing though - I have had at least 3 offers from customers wanting to help in the cooking. Gosh, am I lucky this time around!!!

If any of you readers have ideas for making the party more enjoyable, please do let me know.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Viking Bar Online Store

We have finally setup our own online store to allow all our friends and customers to purchase some nice souveniors as gifts for friends or just for yourself.

All our T-shirts except for value line has printing on both the front and back. The front is our logo and the back has the year and address. As this year is about to end, the T-Shirts we have now is in limited quantities only.

We also have caps and mugs for our online store. However these items are not available in our shop in Koh Samui, Thailand.

We intend to expand our online store with more products for customers and also with interesting designs from Koh Samui, Thailand. If you have any ideas of what you would like to purchase, do drop us a note if you cannot find it in the store. Our email is judy@vikingbar.net or john@vikingbar.net or you may also drop us a note from our contact page in our website, www.vikingbar.net.

We are very excited over this online store and definitely look forward to improving it with quality products and new designs over period of time.

One Day Visa Run

Finally, after 20 months in Koh Samui, I had a taste of what a one day visa run is like. I have heard about it many times from customers and even John but this is my first experience on 13th November 2006. Well, all I can say is that it is something I would never ever want to try again!!!!

I was picked up at 4.40am for the 6am ferry. John has booked me for the visa run with a company that has a nice big bus. Maybe I was never scheduled to ever do a one day visa run...whatever the reason, the company's big bus broke down weeks before and the replacement was a mini bus. A slightly bigger than normal mini bus (14 seater) but still a mini bus. There were 9 passengers althogether but of course, I was the smallest sized one. By the time I got off the ferry and went to the mini bus, the only 'best' seat was a single seater just before the door. Gosh, even for my size, the seat was small!!!!! and uncomfortable.

As per all that I have heard, well, the driver drove as if he was in the Grand Prix and by the time we reached the Perlis border, I think I almost died. I truly do not know how I survived the journey back. It was a harrowing experience and I think many times, I almost went to either hell or heaven. I chose the best method to ignore the crazy driving - sleep (or trying to sleep) throughout the whole journey.

Well, all I can say is that I was very happy to be back home by 6.30pm that day itself and I think it will be another long while before I venture for this one day visa run again. I salute those who does this on a monthly basis and for periods like 6 years!!!! I really do not know how John can take it but then again, he had the luxury of the big bus. Maybe the next time (if I ever gathered up enough courage to do it again...ha ha ha), I might be more lucky and will be able to experience the luxury of a big bus.

Loy Kratong in Thailand

Today is the full moon night of the 12th lunar month in Thailand. This is the day where Loy Kratong is celebrated. Loy Kratong is the one of the biggest festival celebrated in Thailand (second to Song Kran). It is a festival where people give thanks to the Goddess of the river.

Traffic is very heavy tonight especially at the areas like Chaweng Lake, Big Buddha and Nathon. Lot of people go to these places to let off the little lotus boats into the waters. Some believes that if the flame in the boat does not go off when it travels out to the waters, then your wish would come true. You can read more about it from http://www.thaiembassy.jp/culture-eng/loykratong/index.htm.

Since today is the full moon day, it is also full cleaning day for us at the bar. We have a monthly ritual where we take everything out of the bar and do a thorough spring cleaning. This unfortunately also means that we are closed in the afternoon for about 2 to 3 hours. It is hard work trying to remove chewing gum that customers leave under tables, chairs and counter top. At times like this, I fully understand why the Singapore government bans chewing gum in the country.

Yard of Ale

Mid this year John brought back a Yard of Ale glass as a new addition for our customers. We thought this would be a good compliment to our shot competition.

The Yard would take 5 bottles of beer and the challenge is to drink it all down without stopping. Last week, we finally had a Swedish customer who wanted to take the challenge. Actually this was our thought when he ordered a Yard of Chang beer. But in actual fact, all he wanted was to drink from the Yard because it is different!!! He and his friends had a go each on experiencing how it was like to drink from Yard - it takes technique to drink it down without causing too much bubbles. In fact, even filling the Yard was a technique itself.

And each time they were holding the Yard and passing it around, our hearts was pumping very fast. Why? Very simple - the Yard costs us over 4,000 baht and it is our only one. So, if they break it...well...it would be the end of the Yard and no one has actually dared to take up the challenge of setting a record yet!!!! And in the end, these guys ended up filling the yard 7 times!!!. We are now looking at obtaining half yard of ale glasses - in plastic.

Working 13 hours !!!

Last week was a real test of our endurance. Our main staff on afternoon duty, Palla, had to go with her boyfriend to Penang for his first time application of a tourist visa. The trip to Penang for this application takes in total 4 days. She left on Wednesday and was scheduled to return on Saturday evening.

At the same time, our evening supervisor who is also our cashier took 8 days off from Sunday, 1st October to Sunday, 8th October. The unplanned leave she took threw us off guard and suddenly from Wednesday to Saturday, John and I were stuck with having to work day and evening.

We had only one jeep between the two of us and while John was scheduled to work days and myself the evenings, we had to be awake for the total duration of the working works. I had to take him to work for our opening at 1pm and he had to return to fetch me back from work when I finish at 2am.

The positive effect of this hair raising event is that we know we are capable of handling the situation. But it is certainly an event that we would not want repeated. Our normal day off is Sunday and due to the lack of cashiers for that whole week, we had no day off for the last two weeks. We were truly very happy when Palla came back on Sunday for the day shift and we could then concentrate on the night shift. Hopefully, this weekend will be uneventful and we can have our well deserved rest.

Yesterday we also had the tap for Chang draught beer installed. So, now we have another added item to our vast menu. Preparing for the installation was another event altogether. When we discussed with the supplier for the installation of the draught beer, nothing was mentioned about compressors and cylinders. Couple of days before the installation of the tap, the Chang technician came and said that we had to prepare a space for the compressor.

He gave the measurements to John and suddenly it looked like we might not have sufficient space for the compressor behind the bar. After some juggling around with space, John had to go to the bar at 9am one morning to cut off a section of the bar preparation area. He had to go early because he had to complete the job before the afternoon shift starts. Luckily he managed to get it in time and now we can offer draught beer to our customers.

Is it safe to visit Thailand and Malaysia

Strange how certain events can change the perspective of anyone. Just a couple of weeks ago, a coup was declared in Thailand. While most of the world's opinion is that it is wrong, this coup is truly one of the most peaceful coup one can ever see.

There was no bloodshed, no arrests or any violence. On this beautiful island of Koh Samui, business is as usual everywhere. It is just as if nothing has happened so far.

While the borders to countries like Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos was closed, the borders to Malaysia remains open. This reflects not only of the safety in Thailand but also of the safety in Malaysia. Many people continue to ply between Thailand and Malaysia via the Thai/Malaysia border without incidents.

So, if you are planning a visit here and would like to travel to Malaysia via road (for budget reasons), please do so. Malaysia is equally a beautiful country on its own. It is entirely different from Thailand and the vast change in culture and environment can be seen as you travel down south.

New Visa Rules For Staying in Thailand

In a crackdown for illegal workers, Thailand is now tightening the rules on "visas on arrival". In the past, visitors from about 57 countries can enter Thailand for 30 days without charge. However, it is found that many of these "visitors" are actually owners of businesses or workers in Thailand. What has happened is that most of these "visitors" participate in what is called a visa-run every 28 days.

The new rules that is coming in place from October 1st 2006 is to limit these "visas on arrival" to 90 days over any six month period. So, anyone who stays more than 90 days will have to be out of Thailand for a period of 90 days before they are allowed to enter. However, if you have a proper tourist visa (which can be obtained from your country or neighbouring countries over here), you will have a chance of staying more than 90 days.

Each tourist visa that is issued by Penang or Kuala Lumpur is currently for a period of 2 months. However, nothing has been mentioned as to whether a visitor can continue to apply for a tourist visa every 2 months. This is something that is still unknown and not discussed.

There are many opinions about this matter and especially on how it will affect the tourist business in Thailand. My personal opinion is that anyone who wishes to stay here and work here should be legal. This means the person should apply for the non-immigrant visa and work permit and hence, pay the taxes to the government. However, I have come across many "visitors" who stays in Samui because of health issues, wanting to be with their Thai girlfriend or simply because they like the island. These will be the ones who will be badly affected by the new ruling unless they are allowed to renew the tourist visa every 2 months.

Any comments?

Life in Viking Bar for the past 18 months

Time seems to pass by so quickly. It is already 18 months since we shifted to Koh Samui and took over the Viking Bar business.

When we started, both of us knew nothing about cocktails and alcoholic drinks. For me, it was a true experience in a new world all together - both in the business and also in the country. In all my life, I have hardly ever entered a bar/pub in Malaysia and my career was concentrated on software computing. Suddenly there I was venturing in the business of a pub in a new land.

Looking back, the experiences have been motivating and exciting. For the past 18 months, I have met so many different people from all walks of life and many different countries. It is particulary satisfying to see the same customers again after a few months or a year.

For our first Christmas and New Year, we served free food and had lucky draws for our customers. I still recall the difficult moments I faced with the menu for both the events. Since we have no kitchen in the pub, we had to provide food that is just easy to reheat with the microwave. We decided to offer the Swedish meatballs and pastries. To my horror, there was no pastry on sale at all on this island. Hence, I had to make all my pastries - from flaky pastry to the normal short crust pastry - from scratch. It was a hard task - trying to make 18 pastries for one event. Struggling with the water cuts and electrical cuts that was constant in this island, I ended up baking for about 30 hours without sleep just before Christmas. However, the result of seeing the happy faces on the customers truly makes up for the lack of sleep. This year, we will offer the same free dinner cum supper to all customers of Viking Bar for Christmas and New Year.

Today, Viking Bar is open from 1pm till 2am. We have also extended our menu to include coffee (expresso, cappuccino, latte), ice cream, shakes and popcorn. We are able to do so mainly because of the support of our customers.

We also have an extensive selection of Swedish and Norwegian music. Our customers are able to choose from our list and hear their favourite songs. Of course, there are times when we are overwhelmed with requests. In times like that, we play at least one song from each customer before rotating back to another choice of the same customer.

You can visit our website, www.vikingbar.net for more information about our pub. We have a good selection of photos of our customers since March 2005. Feel free to download any of the pictures.