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MuayThai lesson
I doubt if this big farang needs too much practice to be intimidating To play the video above, first...
I'm sorry, but you'll have to turn down the poor audio, see control at bottom of video, centre.
Coming from Cambodia into Thailand The Thai immigration offers a "30 day non-visa entry" but you must be careful because it's really only for 29 days and then they'll fine you $15 per day for overstaying.
From the border I took a minibus to Trat, Thailand. A four dollar room in Trat is really basic with a shared bathroom. In Cambodia for five dollars you get a clean room with cable TV and a clean private bathroom.
From Trat I planned to go to Koh Chang, the second largest island in Thailand, but it's raining season and
my sea-legs are very poor especially in bad weather. A tropical island in the rain doesn't sound too enticing.
Instead, I headed direct for
Pattaya. This is a beach resort but it's infamous for the night scene which attracts lots of men.
Pattaya is trying to change its image into a family tourist hot-spot. like Las Vegas has. Accommodation prices are cheaper than Bangkok for quality places largely because of the surplus
Soi Cowboy, Bangkok
Fellow traveller, Alex.
See his website:
http://www.foldabikes.com/CurrentEvents/Story/IndoChina.html#eng
where I'm flattered to have a photo of myself with him and Howard (scroll down first page on his site). in rooms however because they don't want any "Cheap-Charlies", there is little to no basic accommodation.
There are lots of grey haired guys and old guys who can hardly walk. Yet they usually have an attractive young companion. Sometimes with an infant. Few would trade the attention they get
here for what they could expect at home. Unfortunately, they are easily coerced into long term relationships and there are lots of businesses capitalizing on this.
Cable TV offers the "Pattaya's People Channel". It has local events and also local news...very graphic. "Another expat died ..." and the video shows an old British lady slumped over the phone, ... then, the next scene, one of the police officers is carrying her body out over his shoulder wrapped in her bed sheet.
The next news video showed a woman hanging from a tree in a wooded area after a domestic dispute. Police figured she must have committed suicide. I think the Suicide Form is the easiest and quickest for the police to fill out.
Update January 2011, re: Liam's Art Gallery.
Liam's Bangkok Post, May 9, 2008 article on the millionaire Nilphatthanakorn family: The elder brother was killed Alex's fold-up Brompton bicycle
The bike instills a cheerful attitude in everyone. and initially written up as a suicide by the police, even though he had two bullet wounds in each leg by a different gun before the fatal chest wound. Under pressure they plan to investigate it as a potential homicide. The fatal weapon was registered to one of the brothers.
BANGKOK: There's a Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) gym that offers foreigners a chance to add this martial art to their repitoire. This isn't only for guys. Ladies along with girls and boys are seen training here. It can be pretty heavy duty training.
(see photo).
Alexis, (see photo) a travel acquaintance from eight years before, had been travelling Asia and the Pacific on his most recent trip. He was flying home from Bangkok so I made the bus trip from Pattaya to say hello before he left. Alex has been travelling extensively for the last ten years. Visit his web site to see more at :
Alexis Mumzhiu's Stories Press, "Skip Russian text". (then scroll half way down the page)
We first met on a train from Bangkok to Cambodia in January 2000 along with another fellow, Howard, who now lives in Pattaya.
Koh Larn
A short boat trip from Pattaya allows swimming in clean waters. Howard (see photo) and I arranged to get together to say hello. He spends a lot of time now volunteering for Mercy Mission.
Alex travels with a fold-up bicycle and it gets a lot of attention not only when he rides it through the city but from tuk-tuk drivers, restaurants and anywhere he stops to visit.
Bangkok is pretty clean w.r.t. littering. One reason is that there is a 2000 baht ($70) fine for disposing of cigarette on the street and the same for spitting or other littering. This is especially enforced with foreigners. Good.
The bus from Pattaya arrived at the Eastern Terminal and let me off, as it does all foreigners, into the arms of the local police. They needed to see my passport then searched my baggage and pockets. Little bits of kleenex from my pocket were carefully unraveled. This provides extra income for the smallest of infractions, for example if you don't have your passport on you or if you have medication without a prescription.
Returning to Pattaya, I took the train.
Back in Pattaya on Beach Road I bumped into Jerry, a big fellow I knew from Chiang Mai two winters ago.
jellyfish
It's not uncommon to see jellyfish the size of dinner plates all along the Gulf of Siam He's re-located here because of the smoke pollution up north caused by the farmers burning their fields. I realized it's a small world as he told me about 2 other guys I knew from Chiang Mai who had just stopped to talk to him within the last 24 hours. One of them, Tomas, a frequent Irish visitor to Thailand happened to be available for a get together to discuss old times before he left for home. (see photo). Buy his book,
Prey Hunt The Light by Tomás Cuddihy .
I don't visit museums as much as I used to but I spent one morning in Bangkok visiting a few museums at Siriraj Hospital, mainly to see the forensic portion. One exhibit in particular concerned the murderer-cannibal, Si Quey. In the 1950's, he killed young girls and ate their heart and liver raw to provide long life (for him). His dried-out body slumps against the wall of a glass case. The executioners bullet hole in the skull is filled in.
The founder of the museum has a large photo in front of his donated skeleton suspended from a hook for all to see. It's surrounded by skulls and foetuses preserved in formaldehyde.
It was interesting to
Pattaya's Walking Street
Lots of entertainment available. see a large photo on display of Elvis andPriscilla meeting The King and Queen of Thailand.
Epilog:
Unfortunately I've got an airplane to catch back to Canada.
A return airplane tickets gives a totally different perspective to a trip.
If there is no return date to consider you actually are more of a wanderer.
With a return airplane ticket to consider you are always planning your trip around the date that you must meet up with the airline.
Unfortunately that's what I'm doing now. I cringe at the thought of passing through US customs.
There is no more transit area when changing flights in the US. You must enter the US before you can board your connecting flight.
The US custom/immigration officer is a perfect example of what happens when a person with moderate intelligence is put in a position of power. A "Cambodia stamp" in the passport means be wary, oooooh.
In Asia, officials place their stamp orderly. Six or eight to a page. The US official turns to a blank page in the middle of the passport and plops a lopsided stamp in the centre to claim the page for USA only. I'm a
Infamous Pattaya
Walking Street at Night retired chemist spending one hour in transit before I catch another flight to Canada. Still he picks me to have a bag search ostensibly for exotic forbidden food. Do you think maybe in the plane load of Asians that its more likely I'm disembarking with someone who may be trying to bring in a small amount of his favourite Asian delicacy? Me, I want a hot dog from the street vendors in Toronto.
It's no wonder that in a survey, the USA was voted the most anxiety-prone border crossing.
Second place went to Iran.
One attraction to USA is the fast money.
When I got to the check-in counter and asked for a better seat they told me the plane was full. Totally Full!
"We are asking for volunteers to give up their seats for a $400 credit."
With no reason to hurry to Toronto I took advantage of it and was delayed a total of six hours arriving in Toronto.
In parts of Thailand, around the bars, there's more farangs (foreigners) than locals.
In parts of Toronto, around the University and Library, there's more Asians than westerners.
What I pay for a dorm bed in the
Pattaya Sign
Demand is enough to have several store front businesses low-income, crazy section of Toronto, I could have a beautiful air conditioned private room in Thailand.
Yesterday, June 5, 2008 the temperature high was 20 C.
Today it was 33 C.
Be sure to check out the photos below.
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