Our pal David “Crazy Dave” Polman wasn’t really crazy, but he had this wild “crazy” laugh that would spook locals and even those that knew him well!
Dave usually had a smile on his kisser and his infectious bellowing laugh could be heard for 100 meters!
Dave would let this wild laugh go out without a care in the world, he’d simply be reading the Bangkok Post or one of the many paperback books his customers left on a table and he’d suddenly be almost yelling that laugh out.
It actually scared a few of his timid local workers and they ended up thinking David was daft!
Thinking the big, bearded sunburned guy was crazy is another matter all together! Dave was very intelligent, well read, he’d been around and mastered many professions/trades and was one of those few “Jack Of All Trades, but Master Of ALL”! He could build a radio from tubes, get any thing mechanical/electrical working that was broke and kept his “007 dual side piped little Honda” running like a watch!
Thai Garden restaurant, Daves real Pride was always his top concern. His only short coming might have been his “control freak” management that never really let the place blossom because once the “boss” was out of the shop, things went badly, very badly.
Many was the time that Crazy Dave went for a short visa run to Penang, only to return and find his shop empty of all supplies, the cook had “loaned” some of the kitchen pots/gear to “my friend have”,etc…
At times it was funny, but certainly not for Crazy Dave, he’d yell and bellow and rant and scare the seaweed out of his “employees” and they’d quickly round up all the gear they could, but Dave never really learned to delagate or properly train any assistant and in the end, the place just turned into another “part time” open bar along the sunny beaches of Patong.
The place, run at it’s best was because of Dao’s great cooking! Dave would go daily to the big open market in Phuket town, the Baht-Bus would deliver the goods later that afternoon.
