Pattaya

We arrived late in the day to Pattaya and by the time we had secured a room, it was dark. We had been up very early to accommodate our travel, so only took the time to find some Pad Thai and a beer and then retired. Sunday was equally busy, what with arranging our travel to Koh Chang - which include hiring a moto to run me up to the bus depot, at times hitting 70 km/h on choked streets, so I could check on public transport to Trat: can't get there from here - getting a haircut, finding both breakfast and lunch, and squeezing in a trip to the beach. I'm sorry to say I took no photos while in Pattaya, so you will have to do with a brief discription. 

Imagine the heavy smell wafting up from the sewer over dirty, broken streets, heavily populated with 250lb, elderly, drunk and belligerent European men, all sporting shaved heads and "wife-beaters", with young, scantily clad Thai women on their arms. Imagine dozens of bars on every block staffed by working girls. Imagine an over-crowded beach, so polluted that only a few Russian tourists will venture a swim. Imagine vast, beachfront, air conditioned shopping malls featuring outlets for all the major North American brand names selling products at prices far, far out of the reach of most Thais, as well as this traveler.

The saving grace came last night. Kim and I made our way to Jomtien Beach, just south of downtown Pattaya. There we enjoyed a meal from the street, and later, to our greater enjoyment, attended an evening of cabaret at The Venue. The performers were all gay men, transvestites or transgendered men, a couple of them easily the most beautiful women that I have seen in Thailand. The music was recorded performances by female artists, lip synced by the performers, and augmented by dancers, a light show and smoky special effects. It was great and the audience was very enthusiastic, though Kim was the only double x'er in the crowd.

*****

So you are up to date. Our next stop is Koh Chang and we will be there for the better part of a month. The last time I was in this situation, posts on this blog became somewhat spotty. I'll try and not let that happen to the degree it did last time, but if there is little to report......