Dear Readers
We at Viking Bar would like to wish all of you a very happy, prosperous and healthy new year.
Time really flies and it is already my second new year that I am celebrating in Thailand. It seems like yesterday when I just made the decision to shift here with John.
Last year was a very exciting year for us. We kicked off January 1st 2006 very well and was so busy that we did not have much time to even breathe for about 3 months. From January to December, we saw what was the business like during the peak, high and low seasons.
Our customer profiles also change through the different periods. More Scandinavians come during the peak season as this is the winter season back home. But when it came to the high seasons, we saw more of the English and other European nationalities. We even had a few from Luxembourg. In between we had the Australians, Canadians and Americans. We also had customers from the middle east and South Africa. I think almost people from all continents was at the bar one time or another during the full year. Oh yes, we have very few Asians - maybe because very few Asians come to Koh Samui. After all, Samui is an island where you want to relax and do nothing for your holiday. This type of holiday style unfortunately does not suit many Asians who loves shopping, shopping, shopping and cannot just sit and do nothing at the beach....ha ha ha
Like the previous year, we made some improvements to the bar. We added a new 42" plasma LCD TV just before the world cup. We improved our store room, renovated the previous bedroom to be a office upstairs and added a staff toilet. We also separated the men's urinal from the ladies toilet, hence creating 'two' toilets so that queues need not be so long. Unfortunately, this meant that the ladies toilet is now much smaller than before. Well, guess we all need to make some sacrifices sometimes.
Oh yes, in terms of drinks, we introduced a new cocktail called Hurricane after our holiday in New Orleans. This is a great drink and is very strong but tastes deceptively mild. We also introduced a new shot called Bluetooth, named after a famous Viking Warrior. As for snacks, we now have popcorn and bombay mix.
We also extended our bar hours to the early afternoon. Now, we are open from 1pm to 2am and happy hour is now from 1pm to 10.30pm. Our deals for happy hour is the best in this busy street of Soi Green Mango.
We have had some staff change as well. Palla, our youngest staff is still with us but she now works in the afternoon shift. We have new waitresses and bar tenders.
As for our web site, http://www.vikingbar.net/, we launched our online shop to sell some souvenirs for our readers, customers and visitors. We also launched our Viking Blog (what you are reading now) and hope to share our experiences with our readers.
The monsoon that was to appear in end November did not arrive. We were all prepared for the worst after experiencing the monsoon in the year 2005. But to our surprise, all we had was a couple of days (only a few hours each time) raining and sunshine all the way. Of course, there were continuous false alarm of thunderstorms and heavy rains but after the experience of 2005, everything seems very mild.
2006 was also the year of the military coup in Thailand. Again, the only effect visibly seen was the reduction of tourism. It was and still is very peaceful here (despite the recent bombings in Bangkok on New Year's eve).
Well, that's a quick recap of what happened last year.
Once again, happy new year to all of you out there.
We at Viking Bar would like to wish all of you a very happy, prosperous and healthy new year.
Time really flies and it is already my second new year that I am celebrating in Thailand. It seems like yesterday when I just made the decision to shift here with John.
Last year was a very exciting year for us. We kicked off January 1st 2006 very well and was so busy that we did not have much time to even breathe for about 3 months. From January to December, we saw what was the business like during the peak, high and low seasons.
Our customer profiles also change through the different periods. More Scandinavians come during the peak season as this is the winter season back home. But when it came to the high seasons, we saw more of the English and other European nationalities. We even had a few from Luxembourg. In between we had the Australians, Canadians and Americans. We also had customers from the middle east and South Africa. I think almost people from all continents was at the bar one time or another during the full year. Oh yes, we have very few Asians - maybe because very few Asians come to Koh Samui. After all, Samui is an island where you want to relax and do nothing for your holiday. This type of holiday style unfortunately does not suit many Asians who loves shopping, shopping, shopping and cannot just sit and do nothing at the beach....ha ha ha
Like the previous year, we made some improvements to the bar. We added a new 42" plasma LCD TV just before the world cup. We improved our store room, renovated the previous bedroom to be a office upstairs and added a staff toilet. We also separated the men's urinal from the ladies toilet, hence creating 'two' toilets so that queues need not be so long. Unfortunately, this meant that the ladies toilet is now much smaller than before. Well, guess we all need to make some sacrifices sometimes.
Oh yes, in terms of drinks, we introduced a new cocktail called Hurricane after our holiday in New Orleans. This is a great drink and is very strong but tastes deceptively mild. We also introduced a new shot called Bluetooth, named after a famous Viking Warrior. As for snacks, we now have popcorn and bombay mix.
We also extended our bar hours to the early afternoon. Now, we are open from 1pm to 2am and happy hour is now from 1pm to 10.30pm. Our deals for happy hour is the best in this busy street of Soi Green Mango.
We have had some staff change as well. Palla, our youngest staff is still with us but she now works in the afternoon shift. We have new waitresses and bar tenders.
As for our web site, http://www.vikingbar.net/, we launched our online shop to sell some souvenirs for our readers, customers and visitors. We also launched our Viking Blog (what you are reading now) and hope to share our experiences with our readers.
The monsoon that was to appear in end November did not arrive. We were all prepared for the worst after experiencing the monsoon in the year 2005. But to our surprise, all we had was a couple of days (only a few hours each time) raining and sunshine all the way. Of course, there were continuous false alarm of thunderstorms and heavy rains but after the experience of 2005, everything seems very mild.
2006 was also the year of the military coup in Thailand. Again, the only effect visibly seen was the reduction of tourism. It was and still is very peaceful here (despite the recent bombings in Bangkok on New Year's eve).
Well, that's a quick recap of what happened last year.
Once again, happy new year to all of you out there.
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