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Well its finally here!!! we leave Thailand in 2 days time for a week in Bali, 6 days in Kuala Lumpur & then back to Oz. we're sad to leave & have had a ball, will be back asap.These last few days have been spent in Pattaya which is a 2 hour drive south of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand. It has a bad name as there are a lot of old white men with young Thai girls here & a very liberal sex scene but we really like what we've seen.[you see old white men with young thai girls nearly everywhere in Thailand] There are 4 times more girls than boys here so a great shortage of jobs, especially in the country areas. The shopping here is great & at least on par with Bangkok, maybe even cheaper if you're good at bargaining. There are a couple of factory outlets similar to DFO & Harbourtown in Oz where you can get genuine brands at factory prices. Also some good western style shopping centres which are much cheaper than Phuket.There are lots of touristy things to do as its predominantly designed for westerners..eg elephant trekking, para sailing, jet ski riding, a big theme park, Ripleys believe it or not.etc. We can't comment on how good they are as we'll save them for our next visit. The restaurants here at Jomtien beach are very good & cheap. They have a very good variety of european ,english & thai food & there's an Aussie bar that sells bundaberg Rum!!!! Jomtien Beach is very pleasant, relaxing. there are a few markets as well & its lovely & cool to walk along the beach front in the evenings. There are floodlights on the beach as the Thais like to picnic on the beach with their families in the evenings away from the sun. Since we've been coming to Thailand we've noticed very few flies which is why its so nice to eat outside. In Oz as soon as food is brought out, out come the flies!!! Would highly recommend Pattaya for everyone but come with an open mind, this is eastern not western ways of looking at things. On to Bali next.

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