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  Sunday 27th of December 2015 and I went for my shower when we finished our boxing session. One and a half hour until I have to be at Bangkok Slot Car Club. I got started with New Year's Eve plans. Chiang Mai for bird watching, sounds great! I called a few bird watchers in Chiang Mai. They were going to hide at home during the New Year as the parks are full and the traffic jams and all the people would make any bird watching impossible. It was crazy up there during the  holiday. Crazy, not FUNKY crazy because then I would have gone. But just crazy, then I stay in Bangkok or go elsewhere.
I found a Thailand bird list on www.norththailandbirding.com so I down loaded it and I started to prepare my “on line” list of birds I have seen in Thailand so far. So don't be surprised to find this page on www.aladdin.st in a very near future. But today it is slot cars at Bangkok Slot Car Club and I will have to continue with my bird list another day. I took my SCX Classic - Fiat 124 Spyder racer and I went to look for a taxi. The taxi driver, Jeez! Just as you think you have riding with them all there is a new surprise. This one was turning the wheel - left right non-stop all the time and I was about the ask her to stop  so I could get out and take another taxi.
Luckily enough I didn't get out. Turned out to be a nice lady even though her driving drove me up the walls. She  was a English/ Japanese Teacher but she had to give up her work because of pain in her legs. It was interesting to talk with her.
Anyway, she dropped me outside Bangkok Slot Car Club a few minutes after 1 o'clock. I knocked on the door and the owner of the shop opened the door. I stepped inside and my Fiat 124 Spyder were soon in the  slot. I talked with the owner and I learned a little about the Sclextric and SCX. Scalextric had to change the name to SCX to be alowed to sell their stuff in Spain.
He prepared a hand controller for me, red colour and I was in the red slot. I bought my SCX Classic Fiat 124 Spyder when I joined Bangkok Slot Car Club and the owner told me that I had to break in the car. So I started to run  lapse after lapse.
I was chatting with the owner while breaking-in the car. Thank God for that, or it would have been very boring just drive lapse after lapse. For sure, if you are joining Bangkok Slot Car Club you will have a nice host. Of course, the first time it is a wee bit awkward. We were soon joined by a guy from America and the British guy that was there when I joined Bangkok Slot Car Club was soon showing up.  Breaking-in the blue & yellow racer
 Breaking-in the blue & yellow racer
 Breaking-in the blue & yellow racer
 The blue & yellow racer comes down the track in full speed
 The blue & yellow racer comes down the track in full speed
 The blue & yellow racer comes down the track in full speed
 The blue & yellow racer comes down the track in full speed
 Breaking-in the blue & yellow racer
 Breaking-in the blue & yellow racer
 Breaking-in the blue & yellow racer
 Red racer VS the blue & yellow racer
It was quite boring to break-in the car. But it gave me practice and hands on experience. My new  American friend was soon having a red racer in the yellow slot and darn, that was a quick racer.
There was a stretch, maybe 4 to 5 meters long and even though I was half way when he came up on the straight stretch he just whistled past me and was ahead of me in to the curve. There were a few sharp bends before we came up on a short straight stretch. And my SCX Classic  - Fiat 124 Spyder was ahead of the red racer when we came out form the curving part of the racing track.
He was way quicker than me but I left him behind at the curving section and after a few lapse I overtook him and thus I was one laps ahead of him. Now it was very fun to drive the slot car. Of course, to drive around the track alone is not very exciting. Sometimes it was so exciting so I forgot to release the throttle and the car flew of the racing track. By the time the blue & yellow racer was back in the slot the red racer had left me behind again. So it is easy to understand that it is better to skid off the track where we stand, just a few seconds to be back in the race. If it happens at the other end of the track you are way behind. But we're not here to give up!  Red racer VS the blue & yellow racer
 I leave him way behind at the curvy part of the race track
 I leave him way behind at the curvy part of the race track
  The blue & yellow racer have to make a pit stop after a crash
 SCX Classic - Fiat 124 Spyder, a beautiful racer
 SCX Classic - Fiat 124 Spyder, imagine this beauty in RED & yellow
  A second pit stop
 A second pit stop
 The blue & yellow racer up against something else
 The blue & yellow racer up against something else
 The blue & yellow is ready to take on anything
 Another crash
 Crash - The way to do it, blocking the way for you opponent
  Driving with “slicks” skidding around the track
 The blue & yellow having a rest
 The blue & yellow having a rest
   Bangkok Slot Car Club, I must give them  out of 5. THIS WAS FUN!! And what a bunch of nice guys I met at Bangkok Slot Car Club. Next race is on the 3rd of January and I told them that I would be back if I didn't managed to get away on a bird watching tour. What do you know? The American guy turned out to be called “bird” something.
I told him that I had seen the openbill something at the Red Lotus Sea - AH! The Asian Openbill stork, he said - Yes, that's the one, I said. Yeah, he loved birds and I told him that I had been looking for a club. He told me that there were a few bird tour organisers. Now the British guy told me that his wife was an ornithologist. He called her to see if she knew any clubs. Yeah, this was a great afternoon. I looked at my wrist watch as I started to get a wee bit hungry.  - What the duck!!?? My wrist watch broken?
My wrist watch showed 5 o'clock and I had been here for 4 hours and it felt like 15 minutes. I was  shocked! Jeez, where  did the time disappear?
So yes, Aladdin can really recommend you to join Bangkok Slot Car Club. It was fun as soon as you were racing someone. I will be back. OK, the area don't have too many taxis so I had to wait for a while before I got a taxi. Back home to check the pictures before going to HomePro to change the door bells I bought  yesterday evening. And as I was hungry I had decided to make a stop at Queen  Victoria at Sukhumvit Soi 23 for some of the best Bangers & Mash you can find in Bangkok. And of course, while at Queen Victoria I must have some of their excellent Welsh Rarebits.
A pot of tea to flush down the food. The food was exactly as good as I remember it to be. But be careful. Queen Victoria, there is only one Queen Victoria on Sukhumvit Soi 23, I REPEAT, THERE IS ONLY ONE QUEEN VICTORIA ON SUKHUMVIT SOI 23 Tread carefully and make sure you enter Queen Victoria. There are other pubs, and just because someone open a pub, and believe me, it doesn’t mean that they know how to make Bangers & Mash. I have been at other places at Sukhumvit Soi 23 when there have been too much people at Queen Victoria. Believe it or not, I have left without finish my Bangers & Mash.  Welsh Rarebits to start with
 Main attraction: Bangers & Mash
Everyone complains about customer service in Thailand. I have never had any problem, well, except for SAMSUNG. But I will never buy anything SAMSUNG again. HomePro, no problem to return my door bells, they offered my money back. But I told them that I just wanted to change them for some other door bells. And while I was at HomePro I bought a  “pit stop” kit for my racer
My new British friend had served my car and he gave me some tips of what you “need” to have. He greased and oiled my  car. He cleaned my tyres and the car got more quiet and quicker the more I used it.
And of course, after a few incidents I learned that some of the super glue can come in handy when least expected.  I have pretty much given up my idea to go on bird watching over the New Year weekend. Everyone I spoke to told me that it would be a waste of time as it would be crowded in the parks around Chiang Mai so they didn't had any tours until January. But by then I will be in India for my Tiger safari. My Uncle was a professional Ornithologist. This looked to be a very boring thing to do, only House Sparrow and crows. No colours and I was wondering what there could possibly be to make this interesting. But age are doing crazy things with us and now I'm going to be a bird watcher. Mostly because of all the beautiful birds in Thailand. I was on Birdingpal's web page and I might be able to get away on some 1 day trips around Bangkok. I went to Asia Books to look for some bird books about Thailand and I bought the “A  Field Guide to the Birds of Thailand and South East Asia by Craig Robson” that was recommended by Nick Upton on his web page www.thaibirding.com.
I was at a Takoyama book store but all birding books on Thailand
 Hmm, maybe this bird watching thing is the latest to have caught on.
Yeah, I hope so, then maybe people will start to show respect for the nature and the animals living there. Anyway, I walked to Asia Books. The girl at Asia Books gave me the book and I opened a page. DARN! There was the Pheasant-tailed Jacana. First page I open. Of course I recognised the bird from my pictures from the Red Lotus Sea. I had spent 2 days on internet trying to find the bird to find the name. There it was and I bought the book and I could walk back home to complete my LIST of the birds I have observed in Thailand. Now I can't wait to get away for my first bird watching trip. New Year's Eve and I'm off for my first birdwatching trip. Chiang Mai and Hia Hin, forget it. All hotels are full, unless if I want to pay 60,000 Baht in Hia Hin. Anyway, the Guides are off for the New Year's holiday. But thanks to Nick Upton and his web page www.thaibirding.com I found a few good parks in Bangkok that are good for birdwatching. And I will start with Sri Nakorn Kuen Khan Park, Bangkok - Also known as Bang Krachao which is often referred to as the "Green lung of Bangkok" So this promise to be exciting! So thanks’ to Nick Upton at www.thaibirding.com for HOT birdwatching tip for the Bangkok area on his web page. And if you click HERE you will soon find out if I manage to see any birds.  
    
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To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
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