Pattaya City... Playground for all....especially adults...!!
Besides his red and silver scooter, Willi also sports a zany blue helmet... Transformation complete...!!
Helmets not always necessary...
It is a well established getaway today, but the town is not widely advertised as a holiday destination as far as I know, and until Willi invited me to join him here, I can’t say that I’d ever heard of it…
But after two days here, you better believe that it is certainly a place that I would recommend you to visit if ever you have a few days to spare before or after your business in Bangkok is done with…
Especially for those wanting to “broaden the mind” with sights and sounds that you would probably not find in your average neighbourhood back home…!!
The Big Fella takes up a little more space than the average scooter...!!
This life-size elephant is made up of small pieces of driftwood...
There are regular buses and taxis that run between Bangkok and Pattaya, and the drive to the international airport takes barely two hours…(a lot less if you’re aboard the Big Fella…!!)
Walking Street, Pattaya... A very different place when the suns goes down...!!
We didn't get to the top floor to visit the Ripley's Museum... Willi was hungry, and knew of a another good restaurant on the lower floor...
Even though Willi and I had a very busy two days together, we barely scratched the surface of things to see and do here… There was quite a bit of smog about, caused by a low pressure system that sucked the dirty air down from Bangkok, and this made for a hazy smudge that hung around out to sea, but did nothing to block out the heat and sunshine…
And speaking of heat, any form of exertion here will immediately result in sweat-soaked clothing…!! The temperature remained in the mid-thirties throughout the day, barely ticking lower at night… Humidity is up there in nineties, making shade a valuable commodity…
"Barman...!! Something cold for goodness sake...!! We're melting out here...!!"
Parking is at a premium in Pattaya...
This guy just used the wall...
Willi and I rode into the centre of town, which was a few kilometres away on the northern side of a hill that separated our area from it…
I handed my laptop in at a tiny store in the Tukcom Electronics Mall, and explained the problems I was having with it…
I was told to collect it later that afternoon, and after shelling out 2000 Baht, I am happy to report that the machine is no longer overheating, thanks to a new power cable and some re-programming…
The Tukcom mall is crammed full of small and medium-sized shops and we strolled through the many floors, looking at the latest camera gear on offer, new ranges of laptops, and a bewildering range of other electronic goods that this mall was famous for…
Willi had already sussed out all the better places to eat at (naturally) and we enjoyed a number of great meals in restaurants that he had been in before… Our lunch at the Hilton Hotel was especially tasty, and we were able to choose meals from almost a dozen different countries…
Caesars salad at the Hilton Plaza...
Meet Marilyn...!! Happy days are here again...!!
Willi knew all the places where we could safely park our bikes; the alleyways that made getting from one major street into another a simple affair; the best streets to look for bargains on, and of course, the bars and clubs that most ex-pats frequented…
This places seems to cover all the bases...
We stopped at the Pattaya Lighthouse... Unconventional, just like the rest of the town...!!
This is the biggest statue of Buddha in Thailand...
I take this to mean that Tuesdays are rest days...!!
Willi introduced me to a group of Swedish guys whom he had met here before, and we spent one lazy afternoon on the beach with them, watching hotshots on their jet-skis and larger motor launches powering through the flat waters of the bay…
Even when it's muggy, the views are not too bad...
Waiters flitted between the beach umbrellas and sun loungers. serving drinks and bringing meals from the mobile kitchens that were parked nearby..
By late afternoon, the beach began to empty as people drifted back to their condos for a late afternoon nap before heading out on the town…
And that is when the town comes alive…
Buddhist Shrine on the hill above our hotel...
©GBWT 2011
Interesting – also never heard of Pattaya. Must not be in the loop of what to know in Thailand.
It’s lot of Scandinavians that goes to Thailand for a couple of weeks of holiday !
Nowadays the thaimafia is tired of the russian mafia in Pattaya so they are moving away.
That’s what I have heard.