Pattaya Cake, Pattaya Cake
The whole idea of going to Pattaya wasn't something I wanted to do. I have been to Bangkok two times earlier (maybe three, I really cannot remember) and have successfully avoided Pattaya Beach. Pattaya is more or less a sex tourist destination. Actually, more. It's a nightly mating dance of the dead-enders from both sexes. Desperate aging three-time-losers meeting up with girls who started out just to send money to starving relatives and now sport $600 cell phones. This is only a very small part of Thailand and I'd managed to avoid it until now. Megan, however, insisted that she wanted a look. I emailed her a few pictures from the web as well as some travel reports, but they simply strengthened her resolve to go. I booked us into a nice hotel well away from the "action." The hotel was nice but showing its age. Luckily, our suite was modernized recently and the service was excellent.
The way that transportation works around Pattaya Beach is based on shared mini-buses (which are actually pickup trucks with seats in the back). They go in the same loop around the beach area. You wave one down (you see one every fifteen seconds or so), jump in the back, then ring the bell when you want to get off. The cost is $0.25 per ride per person no matter where you get on or off on the loop, and you pay when you exit. The first night we walked down the main "beach road" and onto something called "walking street" which had a conspicuous number of cars and motorcycles. Most of the people left us alone, but we got a few bar girls yelling such timeless classics to me such as "I love you long time," which, of course, delighted Megan. We found a seafood restaurant which had a nice view and so-so food. People rave about the seafood in Pattaya but it didn't hit me as anything more special than what I had in Bangkok. After dinner we stopped at a bar on Walking Street and took a front-row seat to watch the parade of sleaze. Can you pick out the Pattaya Love Connection Couples? That was good for about two hours' entertainment, after which we walked until we found a mini-bus and headed back to the resort. The next day we had lunch at a Laotian restaurant (very nice), went shopping, got some silk (which is sure to be half price in Chiang Mai), walked around a bit more, had an unmemorable dinner and stayed in for the night. I think Megan wanted to have another look at the menagerie, but I was done and just dozed off.
The way that transportation works around Pattaya Beach is based on shared mini-buses (which are actually pickup trucks with seats in the back). They go in the same loop around the beach area. You wave one down (you see one every fifteen seconds or so), jump in the back, then ring the bell when you want to get off. The cost is $0.25 per ride per person no matter where you get on or off on the loop, and you pay when you exit. The first night we walked down the main "beach road" and onto something called "walking street" which had a conspicuous number of cars and motorcycles. Most of the people left us alone, but we got a few bar girls yelling such timeless classics to me such as "I love you long time," which, of course, delighted Megan. We found a seafood restaurant which had a nice view and so-so food. People rave about the seafood in Pattaya but it didn't hit me as anything more special than what I had in Bangkok. After dinner we stopped at a bar on Walking Street and took a front-row seat to watch the parade of sleaze. Can you pick out the Pattaya Love Connection Couples? That was good for about two hours' entertainment, after which we walked until we found a mini-bus and headed back to the resort. The next day we had lunch at a Laotian restaurant (very nice), went shopping, got some silk (which is sure to be half price in Chiang Mai), walked around a bit more, had an unmemorable dinner and stayed in for the night. I think Megan wanted to have another look at the menagerie, but I was done and just dozed off.
posted by Free Buffet at 7:06 PM
3 Comments:
hey... heard abt your doggie :(
still, i'm happy u had a blast in thailand...
j'me.
From J'me's post, it sounds like you got some bad news. I, too am sorry about your dog.
On a happier side, this whole trip sounds great... my travel journals always read more like a food log, so I like your previous posts. But since I just found out you were on the trip, I don't know how long you're going to be gone and where you're going next. Care to share an itinerary?
BTW - I'm very jealous: the closest I've gotten to Dim Sum lately is Jake's Yum Yum Dim Sum board book.
Gailen:
I took off for three days in Hong Kong, then two days in Bangkok, then two days in Pattaya, then a week in Trang (stiLL Thailand), then two days Chiang Mai, now am starting three days in bangkok followed by one day in Hong Kong and then back to SF. And yes, when I was gone, my doggie Newman succombed to his almost 15 years.
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