Pattaya Thailand - Version 2.0

Right - so where did I leave off? Of yeah - not going to bore you with the details of my travel day, but I will include a few shots of EVA air planes and the Taipei terminal. What can I say, my posts have been a little short on images, I think I'm just to lazy to make this site look all nice and pretty.

So I get off the plane in Suvarnabhumi and my pants are feeling a little loose. Now I know I didn't lose a few pounds on the plane ride over so I knew there was some sort of a wardrobe malfunction going on down there. I found that I had lost the button to my pants and they were starting to fall down. I found myself awkwardly trying to walk around holding up my pants. Which became even more of a challenge as I grabbed my bag before customs.

One interesting thing to point out before I get too into my ramblings is that I had travelled over during the peak of the Swine Flu scare in the spring. Now after the SARS epidemic Asia had a few years back they take these things quite seriously - as opposed to the US.

When you get to the entrance at customs they funneled all the arriving passengers in front of a thermal scanners attended to by a couple of cute nurses. One even flipped me a nice smile. However that smile turns to a frown if you set off the scanners and are then summarily quarantined from entering Thailand. I passed with flying colors and that smile. Now I understand that these thermal scanners are no longer in use as the swine flu is now thoroughly entrenched. I'll see in November time.

Ok so back to my travel report. So my pants are falling down, I've cleared customs and I'm on the hunt for my driver. I walk by the area he was supposed to be waiting for me and there was no sign of him. I wasn't sure what to do, so I waited around for a bit and decided now would be an excellent time to break my belt out of the suit case.

Once I properly secured my pants to my waist, I went looking for my driver again. No luck. There was a TAT (Tourist Authority Of Thailand) desk next to mine and I asked if they could help me. The cute girls looked at me and giggled. I didn't quite understand what was so funny till one of them said the other thought I was cute. I must have looked better than I thought after traveling for 24 hours. Then again, I really don't look that great after a bunch of sleep.

They paged my driver for me, and he soon came running up apologizing for being late. No worries lets just get my ass to Pattaya....to be continued

Lots of Catching Up to Do

Well, I can't believe it has been so long since my last report. I have a lot of catching up to do to fill you in on all the details of my May trip to Pattaya as my November trip is getting close - just 9 weeks away...yee-harh!

I'm going to skip the normal travel day mumbo jumbo, as it is just that. You all know how it works by now. I get on a plane, I try to sleep, watch movies, and kill the odd 17 hours or so it takes me to get from LA to Bangkok. I'll just start by catching you up from the meeting the limo in Suvarnabhumi, however that will have to wait.

For now, I am in the middle of clean up mode. I just got done with a hardy day of work, after a completely terrible week. My mind is in overdrive and I'm not sure I'm quite ready to sit down and knock out a mega chapter in the life of Jimmy T.

What I will tell you is what has been on my mind for the past several weeks...moving. I think I need a change in my life. I'm not quite at mid-life crisis age, but I'm picking up velocity and will be there before I know it. I think it maybe time for me to head back to the ole right coast and be a bit closer to them family. The parents are getting older and I've got a cute little niece that I never get to see.

But the real move I want to make is to live in Thailand and SE Asia for 4-6 months a year. It won't be easy, however I think I maybe able to make it work. My plan is to unfold over the next year - with an start time of Nov 2010 - Jan 2011. I know that is a long way off, but this is a major change for me and plenty of things must line up in order to make it happen. I like the idea of becoming location independent, and being to work wherever I want.

The plan is to fine tune my skill set in IT, while getting another year of experience under my belt. I would sell my house, visit the family for a month then head off oversees. I would hopefully have some income coming in while I was there, I don't want to live off my savings. The plan would be to live oversees for a few months, come back and consult for six months, then head back out again. I wouldn't limit my time to just Thailand and Asia either. I would like to live in Europe for a while as well. London has been a dream destination for me.

When other people are looking to settle down, I'm looking to uproot...I've always been a bit of a unique person. That's all for now.

Can't Wait Another Year

After such a wonderful trip I could not see myself waiting another year before I could return. I started to make plans right away to get back within 6 months. It would not be easy, and I would need to make it a short trip.

I planned on heading back again over Memorial Day weekend, taking a little over 7 days worth of time in Pattaya. It would be a short trip, and with the long flight I would hope it would be worthwhile.

I booked my tickets again on EVA Air, I was quite happy with their service and the newness of their aircraft on my last trip. I scheduled my hotel, this time all week will be spent in Pattaya, and readied the car service to pick me up at the airport. Then it was just a matter of waiting till the month of May arrived.

Six months was a lot easier to wait than a year, go figure. But the time really did fly by and before I new it I was once again on my way to the land of smiles.

Dream World And The Chao Phraya Dinner Cruise

After partying pretty hard for two weeks, I was happy to get a call to spend my last day in a more relaxed fashion. It was the King's Birthday, and as most bars would be closed, a group was heading to Bangkok for a little fun. The destination was Dream World , a theme park / Disney knockoff that had lots of rides and things to do.

Now I would recommend making a special trip to see Dream World, but if an opportunity presents itself it is a fun side trip. I was pretty hung over so the rides weren't that appealing to me. I thought I would either puke or poop my pants. But most of our party seemed to be enjoying themselves.

We left early and spent most of the day there. When all the fun and rides had finished then we headed out for the second part of our outing, a dinner cruise in honor of the King's Birthday. Now this experience I would really recommend.

You board the ship at a hotel right on the Chao Praya River and once everyone is on board, it departs. It starts a slow cruise down the river as the night falls on Bangkok. The ships main inside level is essentially a large dining hall. You can go outside and to the bow of the ship to really enjoy the view.

You cruise up the river to the Palace, when you get there it is night time but the Palace and Temples are well lit. The ship's mates pass out candles and at the appropriate time they are lit. The people on the boat sing a song in Thai to Their King. Then you are treated to a nice fireworks show before returning down the river to disembark. It is a wonderful experience to be a part of, I think I was one of only a few westerners on board.

After a full day, I don't think we got back till midnight, I was exhausted. I packed my bags and dozed off to sleep before I had to wake up once again to return home. Thailand - I'll miss you when I'm gone.

The Pattaya Trip Continues - Part 10

We made it up to Pook's Swan Bar on the back of a couple motorcycle taxi's. I'm still not 100% sure I really trust those things. I even had to ask for a helmet to wear, might do me a bit of good to protect my noggin if I fall off and go bouncing down second road.

They have some really nice lady boys on staff here, and I was more than happy to sit and have a few beers. We downed a few, flirted with the girls then headed off down the road. Now I'd been partying for several straight nights, and I mean hard partying, I'm not sure how I was still functioning. But we were off to another circuit.

We hit the usual places, and what more can I tell you at this point? It was pretty much a repeat of all the other nights combined. And that is pretty much how the rest of the trip went as well. It would be nice to have different stories to tell, but I pretty much just did the same drunken debauchery most nights...only the faces did change once in a while.

I grew quite fond of the place but wished I'd gotten out more and seen some of the sights other than those inside of the bar and my hotel room. My next trip I would make sure and do just that. Two weeks flys by when your having fun.

Having the airports closed was getting a little unnerving toward the end of my trip. They started to fly people out of Utapo near Pattaya. I was checking in with my airline everyday, or trying to at least as you could never get through on the phone. I ended up calling EVA Air's main office in Taipei to get things sorted out. They were very helpful and were one of the few airlines flying out of the other airport.

Two days before my departure the protesters left the airport and things were back to normal within 24 hours. It was quite amazing really. My flight was rescheduled back to Suvarnabhumi at it's regularly scheduled time. Quite a relief.

Pattaya Trip - Part 9 | One More Round

My first trip to Pattaya was shaping up nicely. Though one day was starting to blend into the next after the all night partying. I stopped off at the front desk to ask if there was any news about the protesters at Suvarnibhumi airport - of course there was none.

I made my way once again to the Avenue Mall to get the daily allowance from the ATM machine. I usually get about 10,000 baht, keep half in the room safe for the next day or emergencies, and keep the other 5,000 baht with me. I rarely use it all up in one day, but I like to have a bit more change in my pockets just in case.

After topping up my wallet, I headed over to Shenanigan's Irish pub on the second floor of the mall. We had slept in late, and by the time I got out the door it was already lunch time. The place has a real pub feel to it, and the cuisine is a mix of Irish Pub food and Thai. I decided on just a plane club sandwich and fries. Not a lot of meat on the sandwich, but it sure hit the spot.

My friend called as I was finishing the last swallow of my coke, and asked if I wanted to join him for lunch. Although I had just eaten I decided to keep him company and enjoy an early afternoon beer. We shot a few games of pool, I think I may have one at least one this go 'round. And he introduced me once again to the Thai rules of pool, which I still don't understand.

We decided it was late enough for a wander down Soi 6 to see what type of mischief we could get into. We grabbed a baht bus and made our way north. As I suspected, nothing had changed from a few days ago, so we made our way back down the street popping our heads in to bars for a drink. I mixed in a bottle of water here and there as I didn't want a repeat of my first night in town. I wanted to be a little more sober for the evenings activities.

We made our way back to Pooks Soi 6. What can I tell you about this place. It is an open air bar downstairs filled with ladyboys and a girl only go-go upstairs (which I understand is now closed). It has a couple of the podiums for the girls to dance on a long bar with plenty of seating and a pool table. The talent is pretty good whatever persuasion.

We had a few drinks, chatted with the girls. I met a stunner there which my friend wanted me to barfine, but as the night was just beginning I passed. But vowed to see her again while on my trip. We decided to head back up to the sister bar Pooks Swan house for a few more, beers that is.

The night is just getting started again...

Pattaya Trip - Part 8 (Protesters At The Airport)

I awake in the morning and have a quick session with my girl before sending her on her way. I have yet to make the jump to taking them out for breakfast, a movie, or some other activity the next day. Just hasn't felt right.

I sit and watch the t.v., the BBC broadcasts in Thailand, and got caught up in the situation. Things had gotten worse. It seems protesters had seized the airport and stopped all traffic. This was bad news. I was supposed to be heading out to Phuket in a couple of days, plus the protesters had never escalated things to this point before. Seizing Suvarnabhumi was a big deal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7740000/newsid_7749500/7749511.stm

Of well, I think to myself, there is nothing I can do about it. I shower and get dressed and decide to head out for the day. I seem to run the same circuit. There are a ton of things to do in Pattaya, yet I can be arsed to do a quarter of them. I always plan on doing it the next day. Being on a drunken binder every night so far hasn't helped.

I give my mate a call and see if he wants to get something to eat. He is off shopping with his girl so we plan to meet up later. I head back to the mall, do some more window shopping before grabbing a bite to eat. As I'm finishing up my burger, my friend calls and says "wanna get a beer?" "Does a dog lick his own balls?" - long pause "So that would be a yes then?"

We got a bite to eat and discussed the airport situation. He was scheduled to head back home in a few days, not much longer after I was to depart for Phuket. We both had concerns, but his was more pronounced as he had to get back to work, I could easily stay in Pattaya for another week and wait it out. Not much we could do but enjoy our time and keep the news updated.

We decided to mix things up a bit tonight and hit a few different bars that weren't on the past night itineraries. We headed up Soi Diana and popped into the Pa Pa Bar and the New Orn bar. Nothing caught our fancy but the cold beers, so we moved on. We headed down to Soi 6 for an early evening drink at Pook's but decided to stop off at one of the Family Bars that was on the way. I can't remember the exact location, but it was small, with a pool table in back. Sounds like 50% of the Beer bars in Pattaya.

We played a few games, drank a couple of beers and moved on. We got into Pook's and settled in. The alpha girl that molested me a few days prior was soon at my side. Very nice, but I wasn't interested. Another cute girl soon approached that caught my fancy. We talked and my friend found an old acquaintance to join him for a drink. He urged me to bar fine the cutie with whom I was talking but I passed.

We made our way up to Soi Yamato, happy hour had almost finished up but a few lads were there and we had some drinks. I already had a pretty good buzz on from the daytime drinking, and knew it was going to be another long night. We headed out to Walking Street and made our way up to Linda Bar to say hello to Sonia. Then off to Ezy for a night cap.

We were both a little sh*t faced and decided to head over to the Hot Tuna bar for a few more drinks and to shoot some pool. They had a live band that was quite load, but I enjoy the live music. Once again I got my but kicked in pool and we decided to end the punishment.

I went to get us another drink and when I returned my friend was no where to be found. I looked around for him a bit, went outside to see if I could locate him, it is like trying to find a drop of water in the ocean. I was drunk so decided to go home but not before stopping to say hello again to Sonia. We chatted for a bit and I asked her if she wanted to play pool with me. She agreed and we went across the way to a pool hall where I got myself another full on ass kicking. This was starting to become a pattern.

After the last game we headed back to my hotel. It was a great session and I slept like a baby. I woke up in the morning for another great round before sending her off.