Naklua Pattaya Bar wedding Party

 

Video:  Jack used two cameras, his Nikon D750 and his Leica Lx10 to shoot this video

 

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.

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.

It's 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 theirlocal 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 fined 24 women from Pen Bar

I can cite many examples of customer loyalty to the Pen Bar.   One loyal customer was Saint Thomaswho 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.

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

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 a later 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 overcharged Per.  And none of her employees did either.