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March 31, 2015
We got a ride in a taxi to the bus station and they told us the ticket for the bus to Pataya is 130 baht ($3). We bought the tickets and then a man led us to a van. Just like in Mexico, they started jamming everyone into the van and then they were going to cram all the luggage in the isle! John and I looked at each other and said, "HELL NO"". We got out of the van and went inside to the ticket lady. John explained to her that we want to ride on the big bus and not in the van. She ran out the back door, went to the van driver, and got the money back, then came back to the window and gave us the refund. Of course we paid 130 baht each which is $3.90 and she only refunded $3.60 but thats Thailand! Anyway, she sold us tickets for the large tourist bus and they were cheaper! It was much more comfortable and the ride was going to be a couple hours so I am glad we switched.
We are in transport now...I think Americans take so much for
granted! Electricity, clean water, toilets, sewage systems, gas, roads, cars, food, everything! We don't appreciate what we have and are so spoiled! I am also convinced that the entire world is hoodwinked! Governments, Royalty, and elites take everything! The people think it is normal to live in squander and to work their asses off and to hand over most of the money they make to taxes and penalties, and fees, and charges, and bullshit! It is bad everywhere! I have been to over 50 countries now and I have yet to find one I want to move to. I am looking though, I believe they are trying to take America down and I really want to leave. Problem is, it might be the best choice out there, at least for now.
I am not sure what this town we are headed to is about, I only know that John has friends there and they are all planning on getting together tonight for dinner.
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I am on the bus ahead of schedule to go to the airport and fly home to the U.S.A. The plane was 8 am and it is 7am. Hopefully, I can make good
use of the extra time. I felt terrible last night and even worse this morning. I have a bug I caught off a hooka in Nepal. Then I slept terrible because I was worried about oversleeping and missing the plane.
This morning I gathered my things and Da gave me a necklace of real flowers. They smell wonderful around my neck.
I have mixed emotions about going home today. Part of me is sad and wish I could continue on to other countries and part of me has had enough. I feel like every where I go I get taken advantage of financially. Right now they just got me for an extra 20 baht for my luggage on the bus! We didn't pay for the luggage coming here! I can't find my paper that has the flight numbers on it. I don't know how things like that get lost out of my purse! I had it at the floating market 2 days ago. I just hope they are taking me to the international airport. There are 2 airports in Bangkok and it has been a problem, ending up at the wrong one, unknowingly. I just asked and I
am ok.
I love traveling alone, dispite the last two comments. It seems my only bad times are when I am thinking of someone else; concerned how they feel, worried about where they want to go, trying to be accommodating.
I spent yesterday in a town called Pattaya. When we got off the bus a man pulled up to us on a motor bike and asked if we wanted a ride to the hotel. Only Da and I were standing there and I thought he was trying to pick up on us! After all, we are 2 people standing next to 3 large suitcases! How is he going to take us? Come to find out, the cab service there is motor bike, for the most part! They are identifiable by the vest that the driver wears. We saw many of them while we were there.
it was not long before I discovered what Pattaya is about! It is obviously a town for old men , usually American but almost always foreigners, to get young women . Everywhere you looked there were old men with young and beautiful girls. The shops are filled with sexy, hooker
clothes, mostly dresses. These beautiful girls were tolerating these men that were spoiled and obnoxious, a lot of times. It was nauseating. I heard, on the bus, one man talking politics and business to some young girl that barely spoke English. He was carrying on as if he was speaking to a colleague. I doubt if the girl understood anything he was saying! They just smile and nod their heads. Another guy, at the bar, kept speaking to a girl in broken English saying, "You number one girl!" and shit like that! Another guy had his phone out and was showing a girl pictures of himself trying to impress her. It was all so sickening.
Last night we arrived in town and went to the bar to meet up with his friends. Everything was fine and we had nice conversation and only Da was there, then. Later, we went to dinner and met up with them and one guys girl didn't come but the other one did. I don't remember her name but she was very pretty and very sweet. Her boyfriend, Mark is his name, is about 5 foot tall, wears glasses, and has a short man attitude.
She had a beautiful face and a healthy looking body. Most of these girls are skinny to the point of unhealthy looking and this girl was not at all overweight, she just looked healthy.
I could have hit John when he walked up to us and said," She is a little overweight so she knows to wear the striped on her dress vertical and not horizontal"
WHO DOES THAT? I had to correct the situation by saying," Her body is perfect! The other girls are way too skinny!"
I told him he could hurt her feelings and he claimed that she couldn't understand what he was saying. That is ridiculous! If you are talking financial and economic jargon with words like, marketshare, quantitate easing, floating liabilities, etc...then they don't understand. But you talk about a woman being overweight? She understands! Besides, these girls understand a lot more than the men give them credit for! I think they listen and don't let them know how much they understand so they can hear between the lines and get one up on these guys.
After dinner was through we started walking towards The Walking Street, which is the most
popular tourist spot in this city. Marks girlfriend walked up to me and grabbed my arm to pull me aside. She looked at me with sad eyes and started confiding in me, as if we were best friends.
She said," I am so worried, I do't think Mark loves me anymore,. I think he is looking for another woman. He doesn't pat attention to me the way he used to. I love him so much, what should I do?"
I looked at this short little Napoleon walking in front of us and thought, you should be celebrating. But what I said was,"there are a lot of other fish in the sea! You can get someone so much better" .
She looked at me and said,"But I love him."
Her eyes looked so sad that I realized these girls get hooked in and think they need these guys because they are providing for them. I decided to retire any thoughts of talking her out of it and approached Mark instead. Just so I was not fronting her off, I involved John in the conversation. I stopped them both and said, "You guys have got it made! These
are beautiful girls and I don't like the way you are treating them, making them walk behind you, ignoring them. You better hold their hands and be grateful you are blessed with these amazing women before I give them a long talk and teach them the American way. "
John followed me as I walked away and said, "I am good to Da!"
I whispered to him that it was not directed at him. A look of understanding crossed his face and said, Oh, I get it".
Apparently, Mark got it too because he was now holding is girls hand and she was beaming at me, smiling ear to ear. I know John appreciates Da. He made no secret about it the moment he met me. He had not said more than 10 sentences, when he said," When you meet Da you will see she is much younger than I am. Don't get me wrong , I know what it is all about! I don't fool myself! I am in my 70's and where in America can I get a beautiful young girl to be with me? I can't but here it is the way of life.
I know why Da is with me and it's ok."
At the time I thought to myself, why is he telling me this? I really had not even wondered about it, I figured he lives in Thailand so he has a Thai girl. No big deal. Now, after seeing Pattaya I fully understand why he was clearing his conscience and claiming "guilt" to all this. I think that most of these relationships are started very shallow, but these are real people! I believe that girl has real feelings for Mark and just like American girls, can pick an asshole and get stuck loving him and thinking she needs him! I think Da loves John more than he thinks she does.
I do find it amusing that when these couples all get together and have dinner that these women all talk to each other in Thai and are probably talking shit on these guys and they all never know because they are too lazy to try and learn any Thai! They expect the women to learn English and they are living in Thailand! I hate when people come to America and are too lazy to learn English! But they
aren't doing themselves any favors by not giving any effort to it! In the beginning of my trip, I had a guide that is American has been in Thailand for 4 years and she speaks fluent Thai! It is an easy language to learn. I already know about 10 things to say and I have only 2 weeks in! These guys have been here for 10 plus years!
After dinner we walked down the famous WALKING STRET. It is a street of bars and hookers basically, but lit up bright, with lots of attractive things going on to influence customers to go in. The girls outside the bars work there and are all for sale, for the night, but if you pull them away from work you will pay extra. It looks a bit like a cross between the Red Light District in Amsterdam and Las Vegas. As we walking we saw mostly girls out front holding signs or just looking pretty, but there was an acrobat contortionist that was performing in front of her bar. There was also live bands playing. Most of these bars had no front wall or doors, just open space, so that people could
see what is happening inside. (In the part of Pattaya where we are staying, the bars have no walls at all, making all sides an entrance!) There was a restaurant roasting a whole pig on a skewer in front. There was a few bars with upper floors and girls dancing in large plate-glass windows. There was one bar that had a sign in it the was completely inappropriate and racist! Telling a certain culture to not harass the girls there and that particular culture had a bar across the walk way from them. It was very shocking.
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I am in the airport in Taiwan . I am frustrated about it because it in not in the flight path to America and if I have to stop here, I want out of the airport for at least 48 hours!
I am anxious to get back and update this travel blog, and return to my life that is on hold. When I reach home I am only there for 2 days then off to Florida to get on a cruise with my son to the Caribbean. I won't have time to get much done
then I will be gone another 14 days. Mostly, I am miserable because I am sick and my ears won't pop on the plane!
This is my first time on an international flight that I have had no interest in watching movies or reading. I just slept off and on the entire way. I arrived in L.A.X. and took a bus to the train station and then a train home.
I never have regrets about traveling except that I couldn't spend more time and gone more places. I will miss my friends that I made along the way. The world is so large and there is so much to see and learn! I have learned a lot about Asia and will probably return to the continent but not the same countries. Only because I am not rich and any money spent traveling has to go to seeing new places!
Even the journey home is an adventure! I took the bus to the downtown Union Station and missed the 6:00 bus and caught the 6:30. When I got to the train station I had just missed the 6:30 train to Riverside and it was the last one! The
next train was 8:30pm into San Bernardino and it was late, then cancelled! The next train was 9:30 to San Bernardino and it was late! It is 10:30 pm now and I am still at the Union Station, my phone is dead and there are electric plug-ins around. I managed to get one last call in to my roommate Debbie, and she is on the way to get me.
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Ewig Bali
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https://www.ewigbalitour.com
I don't know what different about Pattaya, many friends told me Pattaya one of places must to visit.