Beach handball at Jomtien Beach

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We were dropped by Mo Chit sky train by Shirley in order to get the sky train and then Bus to Jomtien Beach. This is next to Pattaya and still a beach but doesn’t have all the hassle and drunk westerners that Pattaya does! So we got on the sky train to Ekkamai and then walked to short distance to the bus station. I got accosted straight away with a ‘ madam where you going?’ As I actually didn’t know which booth I needed I told him and he duely took me to his bus that was leaving for Jomtien beach in 5 minutes. As I had left Mark outside with the bags I went to collect them after buying the tickets and got on the bus. It was a second class bus so no toilet and lots of stop offs on the way but we were glad to be on the move out of Bangkok.

However, having been told the bus would take us to Jomtien - it didn’t. We arrived at Pattaya and were told we had to get off and take a songthaw bus to Jomtien beach - only they don’t run to Jomtien only Pattaya, but strangely enough they knew a taxi that would take us there for ten times the cost! However as it was now getting late in the day and we needed to find somewhere to stay we took the taxi to Jomtien beach front and stopped for a drink before tracking down a guesthouse. The first guesthouse we asked told us they had rooms for 400 baht but when I pulled a face she said a fan was only 300 baht so we went and had a look - with a tv, fridge, private bathroom and balcony we decided that was a good price and stayed!

Exploring along the beach we came across a beach handball court which was being used for the Asian open beach handball tournament - the first one in Thailand. So later that evening we went to watch some and saw a very close match between Thailand and Oman. I ran back to get the camera but by the time I got back the match had finished - Mark explained they had gone to penalties and Thailand had lost on the last one. As he was sitting where the team had converged we managed to get some photos with them!! That loss meant they had come second in the tournament overall!!

The following night we went back to see some more and it was the closing ceremony of the tournament with the final game between Thailand ladies and Vietnam ladies! Thailand won the game with relative ease but it wasn’t as fast paced as the men’s game. We managed to work out most of the rules but still aren’t sure why sometimes they award one point for a goal and sometimes 2 points!! As this was the closing ceremony there were Thai TV cameras around so we may have been on Thai TV!!!

Mark was still suffering with an ear infection so we didn’t spend much time on the beach as there was little shade and the sun was too hot to lay out in. I did go for a brief swim in the water which was lovely and warm but enjoyed watching all the Thai families playing around us. Thai’s don’t appear to have swimwear you just go into the water in whatever you are wearing including Jeans and a shirt!!

As we needed to go over into Cambodia we are going to move on to Chantaburi shortly so we are closer to the Border. It is also a famous Gems and jewellery town, so interesting for Mark to look around.

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