Wednesday 8th - Saturday 11th May 2019 - We cross the Gulf of Thailand again

It's been a quiet week, for both us and Cha Am.

The long break is coming to an end and it's showing in the amount of people that are coming to the beach. A good thing for those of us that are here on a semi-permanent basis. 

As far as we're concerned we are quite happy with our routine of long morning walks, before the heat really takes over, and then spending the rest of the day popping in and out of the pool. 

When the sun decides to go down we then decide what and where we go to eat.

A very uncomplicated life indeed.

Our friends Tony and Nancy arrived on Wednesday and to welcome them we decided to take them to the Cha Am Wednesday Night Market. 

BAAAM!! There's an instant dose of culture shock for anyone coming to Thailand and thinks that because they've spent a week or two in a place like Phuket they know this country.

Well, it (the culture shock) worked 😁 

I think they were a bit overwhelmed, and understandably so, and I'm sure the fact that they had left their home with 14ºC and were walking around a market that was, at least, 38ºC contributed to the 🤯 looks on their faces. One of them is quite cool about things but the other did not cope well.

When we do go to the market we head straight for the open air family run bar tucked away in a laneway. They serve cold beer and reasonable strength G&T's, so it's always a good place to start.

When the first round of drinks was finished the topic of dinner arose. I suggested that they should go for a wander and buy whatever they fancied as I, being far more adventurous than any of them, would definitely like anything they would buy.

They came back quite quickly and opened up their bags of food. One contained some small pieces of what looked like a vegetable omelette, and the other two large bags had six large skewers, each, of meat.

The "meat", which they bought solely based on "It looked good." was chicken livers and pope's noses (A pope's, aka parson's or abbot's, nose is the triangular stub where tail feathers grow on poultry. Also called the pygostyle, or chook's arse, is the fleshy tail that is either cut off after trussing the bird, or left on and eaten as a delicacy, as is the case in Thailand.) which made me laugh.

When they pulled the meat skewers out of the bag and realised what they bought they decided that they would probably leave them all to me. 🤦‍♂️

I happen to like both of those parts of the chicken but they are both very rich and they had bought so many of them that most of that purchase ended up in the bin, Shame, shame, shame.

They went out for round two and returned with a grilled fish, some sweet potato and grilled corn on the cob. They seemed to enjoy that much more.

   Wednesday 8th

Tiz with our visitors at the Cha Am Night Market bar

G&T's for all, and two beers for me

Cutesy signs, surely locally made to give the impression of an international flavour 

I've include this mainly for my son Angus, who is very brand aware 

and originally told me about the "Supreme" brand.

The Thai ripoff industry never fails to amuse me

Thursday 9th

Before coming over Nancy expressed a desire to go to Pattaya, which I found odd as Pattaya is, for most people that I know, a curiosity full of perversion or simply a den of iniquity. 

Nancy is a very soulful and poly-religious person, which made me think she really didn't know much about Pattaya, but I wanted to go back for a look at the depravity that is "Walking Street" in its non-Songkran state. We caught the afternoon ferry from Hua Hin to Pattaya. 

We got to the ferry terminal a little early and stopped off at the Sit and Drink Bar 

for a beer and some delicious spring rolls 

My travelling companions on the near empty ferry. This time it cost us 1200 baht (~AUD 55) which was 400 baht (~AUD 15) more than our Songkran trip. It is considered extortion by Thais and is almost exclusively used by non-Thai tourists.

106 kms in 2 hours for less than AUD 55

or

340 kms in 5 hours for less than AUD 25

By the time we walked to the Travelodge from the ferry it was time to head out for dinner.

I didn't bother taking any pics of the dishes we ate as they were the fairly standard Thai fare which we have all seen before.

However, we did go to Walking Street after dinner. It wasn't as raucous or as busy as I would have hoped or expected, but it wasn't quiet either and it was entertaining, for some of us.

Our friend Nancy couldn't get out the place quickly enough. 

To say she disliked it would be a gross understatement.     

Here is Nancy's husband Tony. 

He really found his calling as an assassin, 

given the very tight grouping on the forehead,

which is very funny as it is the polar opposite of his persona.

Tiz really loved the lollipop stand, behind her. 

I suspect she may have an inner "entertainer" that is screaming to be released.

🤔....... 😁

The girl with the long polka dot dress had "I'm a CRAZY Russian girl!" on the back of her singlet,

which made me laugh.

Yep, I'm pretty sure she was a girl, but why the tautology? Crazy AND Russian girl?! 

Yep, they do go together well.

This was but one of many such "Russian girl" bars and it made me think of how the Russians had infiltrated Thailand. Interesting stuff.  

It wasn't all that blissful as it was quite ordinary. Lots of gorgeous young girls selling a "good time".

Meh! 

"Yeah, but where's the ladyboys?"

And on the subject of ladyboys, here is a pic from a dear friend Jill, the sister of my mate Greg.

Jill has travelled the world for close on 50 years, which is odd as she only looks 21. 😀

And by travelled I really mean travelled, and not in the sissy way we do it now.

I'm not sure where (either Pattaya or Bugis Street, the later being most likely) or when (somewhere in between 1970 and 1990 .... maybe) but it shows how easy it is to be misled.

Yes, we all know experts at picking out 3rd genders but this lot look a lot like girls to me.

  

Jill now lives in London with Graeme, her husband, and their two boys Tom and Jack, but continue to travel as family. They are inspirational.

We love her, and her lot, dearly.

We'll be seeing soon(ish), Pegs 👍 

... and now the pic!

and here is here accompanying email note - 

"Many, many years ago Gra and I went to Pattaya for the same reason as you, to see what it was like. Bars were thumping, loads of loud Americans at said bars, ladyboys of course, but not a patch on the beauties used to be in Boogie St Singapore. Except now I guess they’re legal, tho then nobody took any particular notice. We stayed 1 night and legged it somewhere more salubrious. Look at the chest of the one 2nd from right! Ladyboy in pink is looking jealous."

😂😂😂

The most important thing that a pic cannot convey is the pitch and intonation of their voice.

Some people spot hem from their hands and others from their "Adams apple" and others by their hips, all of which are unreliable in my experience.

The voice, when I am in doubt and thinking that "She is definitely, positively a girl! Guaranteed 100%" often makes me go "D'oh! Woulda lost that bet 😳!"  

200 baht shirts, in Walking Street, that were being sold for 350 in Hua Hin.

I went back to Hua Hin and showed the guy at the Sit and Drink bar that had pestered me to buy a shirt as we were leaving and made him sell me a shirt for 200 baht. It was all done in good humour and I know he still made a profit on it, just not as much as he would have preferred.

Coconut icecream with jellies for 100 baht on Walking Street. It was just OK.

I wandered up and down Walking Street enjoying whilst trying to spot ladyboys, which I failed at.

If there were any I just didn't see them, but then again I'm told I'm not good at it.

However, on the way home, I went up an alley that we had walked when we were here last and lo and behold the whole alley was full of 3rd genders (refer to note earlier on about the pitch  and intonation of their voice), all wanting my business! 

I was flattered but wanted to get home to Tiz, so I thanked them and picked up my pace. 

Friday 10th

We had planned on going to the Sanctuary of Truth but found out that it was being refurbished and was more like a construction zone which required you to wear helmets. 

We chose to go to the Wat Phra Yai Temple, aka Big Buddha Statue, on the hilltop overlooking Pattaya

Entrance to the Big Buddha with King Maha Vajiralongkorn on the right

 93 steps up

My Buddha, for a Saturday, which I was born on

THE Big Buddha

Buddha for a Monday, which is the day Tiz was born on

Reclining (Lazy?) Buddha next to the Fat Bastard Buddha, 

both of which I can relate and pay homage to  

Tony doing a mini walkabout, for which he is well known for

93 steps down

At the entrance to the site there was a common scam happening.

As you walk in and go to take your first picone of the guys running the shop on the left yells at you not to take photos. Most people are intimidated by this and don't. When they see you be compliant they rush over and take a pic and by the time you have returned from the site at the top of the steps they have put the pic on a bowl and dish and picture frame and them pressure you to buy it.

There is a simple way to avoid this scam-

1- Do not obey the ruffians demand to NOT take pictures when you first walk onto the site, as he has no authority to do that.

2 - When you come back down and they persist with the demand whilst trying to get you to but there crappy souvenir you should ignore them or give them that "Travel Sex" look.

Parasite scammers like that should be banned by the sites' authorities and I blame the people that run the place as being complicit, Buddhists or not. 

 All the pics that follow are taken from the Naval Viewpoint at the top of the hill overlooking the ferry terminal. A really great spot to overlook Pattaya, 

The tower you see here is almost on the beach front and looks like construction has stalled.

Tony reckons that it may have been stopped by the authorities because it blocks off the view from the Naval Viewpoint. He may be right, but as this is Thailand the real reason is bound to be far more complicated and wrapped in all sorts of sordid and intriguing reasons.    

They have an "easy listening" radio station transmitting from up the Navy Viewpoint.

I'd been looking for a place to have my beard trimmed for a while 

and as the Grab cab pulled up next the Travelodge Tiz spotted a barber/hairdresser. 

10 minutes and 150 baht (~ AUD 7.50) later .......

Mmmmmm ...... nice

Lo-or mak mak 

We packed our backpacks at the hotel and headed down to the ferry.

Two very rough hours later we stepped off the ferry in Ha Hin feeling quite green.

A few Changs and a big bowl of chips later we were feeling fine. 

Saturday 11th 

We went for a walk in the morning and from one of the roads leading into the beach road came this old Honda. The fact that it was traveling at a fair pace and didn't slow down for the right hand turn, nor did the driver look right or left as he turned the corner, wasn't why it caught my attention.

What caught my attention was just how filthy and neglected it was AND that it advertised a cleaning contractors number on the rear windscreen.  

The pictures don't really show how bad it was, but trust me, it was a shocker.

For dinner we went to A-roy Restaurant which has a very good reputation.

I ordered fried oyster, which is an oyster rich omelette. Very good.

The others had a whole fish, which we specifically asked to have NO chilli on, and a plate of vegetables. As you will have guessed, it came out with what seemed to be extra chilli.

The whole chilli thing with its variations of  

"Can I have it just a little bit spicy?", 

"I asked for no chilli and it has chilli.", 

"Yes, I asked for it spicy but this is too hot!" 

and everything in between is just tiresome. 

Thailand does not do western variations of chilli very well, if at all.

My belief is that if you don't like eating spicy food then don't come to Thailand.

But if you don't heed that advice be prepared for a lot of disappointing meals and lots of discussions with wait staff as to why you need to send the dish(es) back.

OR

just go to a western style cafe and eat western style food at western prices.

Simple.

I'm tired and I want to go to bed.

I hope you had a great week and I'll be here again soon.