For
many years only two beers were available in Thailand. Singha and Amarit.
Both, I found, at the time pretty bloody awful. Amarit you rarely
see these days which is a blessing in itself and Singha, remarkably,
became a so called 'World Class' Ale. In many places, even in Bangkok
itself, warm beer was prevalent and ice cubes in Singha was just not
my go unfortunately.
We
would normally hit the 'Bangkok Bar', at the mouth of the Chao Phraya
River just before dawn about 4:30 AM. Once anchored at the Bar the
ship's divers would go down and fit grates over all the hull, sea
water intakes. This we did in many ports, for once in Kobe in 1970
Derwent got into serious trouble when she sucked up huge amounts of
plastic into her intakes.
Once that task is completed and the Thai Pilot, the Official Entourage,
the Embassy Staff and most importantly the money change officials
get aboard we weigh anchor and proceed up the winding, shallow, busy,
fast flowing Chao Phraya River at the breakneck speed of about 4 knots.
It takes about four hours to get up the river to Khlong Toey. This
trip would be stinking hot for all those closed up below decks at
Special Sea Duty Stations and was perhaps one of the longest harbour
entries in Asia. It would be, however, a very scenic entry for the
upperdeck parties. If you were super lucky you would get a berth alongside.
If not, then out to the middle of the river secured to 'Dolphins'.
When at the dolphins the ship would be surrounded by native Thai boats
with the most dazzling Thai girls selling everything from wood carvings
to cold beer. The sailors would have loads of fun, leaning over the
guardrails teasing the life out of these young ladies. Liberty boats
were the only way of getting ashore and these were provided by the
local Thais in their racy long skinny boats. Many a great time was
had by racing each other up and down the river in these swift, sleek
craft. The Thai Skippers always ready to accept a dare and push their
boats to the limit to impress the 'Farang Taharn' (foreign sailors).
