Bangkok Week 22 November 29, 2008 A day trip down to Pattaya and Jomtien Beach, and some tropical Holiday Spirit! View fullsize We intended to leave for the bus station at the crack of dawn, but dawn had already cracked! View fullsize Riding the skytrain, almost the length of the line, to get to the eastern bus terminal. View fullsize Our 7am bus to Pattaya! Probably the route most frequented by foreign backpackers. View fullsize Our front-row tickets. View fullsize The last cassette tape player in Thailand! And on our bus! View fullsize Meals on wheels. View fullsize Arriving at the bus terminal in Pattaya, and being greeted by the foreigners. View fullsize One of the many Russian real estate / travel agencies. View fullsize First stop: Pattaya Park Funnyland! View fullsize HA HA HA! View fullsize This carousel is bandtastic! View fullsize Their roller coaster had a unique lift system: the central frame spins and pushes the car up the track. View fullsize The Russian mother-daughter pair were wondering why the heck I kept photographing them. View fullsize The ride attracted many onlookers. View fullsize The most expensive coaster yet-- and that's after we convinced them I deserve the Thai price! View fullsize "Aah! Not another one!" View fullsize It earns its name "Slalom Coaster". Also, a view of the water park we skipped. View fullsize 296! View fullsize Smiles mask the nausea. View fullsize An overgrown elephant? View fullsize And finally! We reached the beach! View fullsize The beach was lined with these shaded chairs that you could rent for B30 a sitting. View fullsize The upper portion of Jomtien Beach was closed to cars and had a (partially) shaded footpath weaving through the sand. View fullsize Who knew we'd reached Greece!? View fullsize Trying to cool off in the water. View fullsize The main road along Jomtien Beach. Believe it or not, this is the less sleazy half of the area. View fullsize Make sure to follow the instructions, you hear? View fullsize More beach, taken over by more rentable chairs. View fullsize Vendors walk around the chair areas selling everything from fried foods to tattoos! View fullsize A typical soi. View fullsize A man and his 'nuts. View fullsize Lunch at a simple Thai place. View fullsize The chair area where we finally parked ourselves. View fullsize And the chair area next door to ours, complete with front-row view of a sandcastle construction site. View fullsize The menu of speedboats and sea-doos available to us. View fullsize Finally giving into the heat and taking the plunge. View fullsize Bobbing around with the rental boats. View fullsize A view down the beach, away from Pattaya (and toward the fancy resorts). View fullsize AAH! We're gonna be spilled out any minute now! View fullsize The scheme to keep dry our money and cards didn't really work. View fullsize Some shoes in the sand. View fullsize A coconut! View fullsize My first coconut! View fullsize Excavating for the last bits of flesh. View fullsize We didn't bring any books to read, so we took pictures of ourselves instead. View fullsize Yet another sunny view. View fullsize The solid roof of umbrellas under which we sat. View fullsize Later in the afternoon, as the sun moves across the sky (and the guy in front of us has left). View fullsize Bangalows? We know what they're for! View fullsize Getting a tour of the town courtesy of a truck-taxi. View fullsize Only real tourist traps feature banks-on-wheels. View fullsize A farang tuk-tuk driver! View fullsize A Pattaya intersection and its wires. View fullsize A typical sewer plate. View fullsize Back up at Pattaya's (notably more sketchy) beach. View fullsize The wind had started to pick up... View fullsize ...and the water was getting choppy! View fullsize Who looks happier? View fullsize Just for you, Mike. View fullsize Dinner with James, another department alum now teaching at a university nearby. View fullsize My Pad Thai... which had to be taken back after it was found to be filled with shrimp. View fullsize The infamous Walking Street ... View fullsize ... which would be better named the Street of Sleaze. View fullsize We discovered where The King retired. View fullsize The only 2 who didn't stop for several beers along the way. View fullsize The beach at night... looks a little more serene than during daylight. View fullsize Back at the bus station, waiting to board the bus back to Bangkok. It took about 1.5 hours to go home, but 2.5 hours to come here! View fullsize Paragon's posh Christmas ambiance both outside... View fullsize ... and inside! View fullsize The main department store features not one, but two large trees. View fullsize Outside, there are plenty of balls shooting water (...) View fullsize Hallelujah! View fullsize Just have a close look. View fullsize Paragon's slightly abstract Christmas tree. View fullsize The view from the top. I imagine it's very lit-up at night. View fullsize Inside, reindeer prance through the fountain, their necks weighed down by even more decorations. View fullsize Bangkok's attempt at snow... and one resident's attempt to hide himself in it. View fullsize Sitting in snow, in shorts! View fullsize Feather-dusting the snow! View fullsize And this Christmas tree... View fullsize ... is made of old CDs. I guess normal trees can't survive here. View fullsize Even columns are redecorated for the "season". View fullsize An appropriately tacky holiday message from MBK. View fullsize Mommy, why is Santa hanging himself and his reindeer? View fullsize Photographing all the tropical decorations is exhausting and clearly merits a break. View fullsize A New and Improved pencil case, to replace the one lost on the bus. View fullsize Skyping with the visitors at Hotel Tomczak.
