Naklua Pattaya Bar wedding Party

Why would an English expat have a Pattaya  Bar wedding party?  At the Naklua Pen Bar of all places?

Pattaya Bar wedding
Will and his bride. Pen the bar owner with her back to the camera.

This is an unpretentious place where the locals hang out far away from the Pattaya go go bars on Walking Street.  I can go on and on about why so many of my friends come here.  But I’ll let this you tube video do most of my talking.

Most of these friends of mine are expats  living in Thailand year round with retirement visas.  Or they are men  still living in their home countries who keep coming back to Pattaya and have been doing so for years.   Most of them are Germans.  I’m American.   While Will is an Englishman.  I suppose Will wanted his wedding party to be unforgettable.  And Will knew that Pen, the bar owner, was the woman who would get the job done.

Pattaya Bar wedding lead singer Ploy
Ploy, lead singer for Alex sound which Will had Pen hire for his party’s music.

This video will explain everything.  Will wanted me to do it.  So did Pen.  So I bought along two cameras.  A Nikon D750 slr with my prized Nikon 24-70 2.8 lens and newest little gem.  A Panasonic LX10 with its very fast 1.4 Leica lens.

May May with female Pen Bar regular to her left. The boyfriend’s stuck in his mother country and very sorry to have been missing all the action here.

But first, a little background for why the Naklua Pen Bar wound up hosting a Pattaya Bar wedding Party.

The Pen Bar is like an English Pub or American tavern where the locals congregate.

Its been here for over 10 years.  It is in Naklua where Westerners actually own condos where they stay for the long haul, many of them for the rest of their lives.  Naklua is a different kettle of fish than Central Pattaya with its thousands of bars that cater to tourists staying in hotels.  It’s like many places in England and the United States that have their local pubs and taverns  where the locals go.

Let me give you an example.  During the party a Thai woman was sitting at the bar next to my girlfriend.  Full of excitement she started thrusting her smart phone in front of my face.   Video conferencing with her was her German boyfriend who was stuck in Germany, unable to attend Will’s wedding party.   I can’t remember a single night that I went to the Pen Bar when I didn’t see the couple together.   But here he was back in Germany eating his heart out to be here with the rest of us.

Saint Thomas bar fines 24 women from Pen Bar

I can cite many examples of customer loyalty to the Pen Bar.   One loyal customer was Saint Thomas who inspired one of my characters in Welcome to the Fun House.  Saint Thomas was an American who lived in my condo building.  We called him Saint Thomas on account of his being almost the exact opposite of a saint.  Such as bar fining 24 bar girls from the Pen Bar in one three month period.    Then he moved back to the U.S.  But whenever he’d visit Pattaya he would email me to ask Pen to keep her bar open for him because he would be arriving late from the Bangkok airport.  He’d then take a taxi which would deposit him with his luggage right at the bar.  He’d never go to the hotel first, not even to shower.  Then after he got good and drunk, he would bar fine one or 2 of Pen’s bar girls.  Pen would have someone drive Saint Thomas and his girl (girls)  to his hotel.

At a Pattaya Bar wedding party the groom gets to sing to his guests. Well, at least at the Pen Bar he does.

And brother, Saint Thomas sure used to get drunk.  I don’t think he missed a night.

Later he died.

Per my Norwegian pal reminds me of a Viking Warrior who takes no prisoners

Another great fan of the Pen Bar is Per.  Per’s a Norwegian friend of mine who you can see in all his infamous glory in this video.

I’ve seen Per drop 10000 baht in a few hours of buying drinks for the ladies.  I think he was ripped off by the bar.   But I never saw him spend 10000 baht at the Pen Bar.  The reason was–Per was oftentimes viewed as a prime target due to his generosity and love of alcohol.  Which led to unscrupulous bar owners and cashiers  grossly overcharging him.  Pen never did.  And none of her employees did either.

Pattaya Bar wedding Party bar girl motorcycle taxi drivers
Two of Pen’s girls taking Will and Tonpai home. This is typical service for Pen’s customers in good standing. Pen will just say, “You. Take Jack back to his condo. He forgot to bring his motorbike.”

This was one helluva Pattaya Bar wedding Party

Will left at 4 a.m. but I stayed until after 5 a.m. still downing all those beers.  Reminded me of a canoe float trip on the Current River in Missouri.  After the ice melted in the coolers in the canoe, the canned beer got very warm.   In those days I probably drank over 30 cans of beer and it got to the point that the more beer I drank the soberer I got.  And so it was here at Will and Tonpai’s wedding party.  Seemed I just couldn’t get enough of the beer.

Trust me, a Pattaya Bar wedding is a lot more exciting than those ho hum affairs in the U.S.

More links to Pen Bar

The Song Pattaya Pattaya in video at the Naklua Pen Bar

The Thailand Naklua Pen Bar 10 year anniversary Dance-a-thon Video

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