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(Daryl)
Well folks, after a few days, we got outta Bangkok, but left some Bangkok photos here as an encore. We headed 5 hours southeast to the hedonistic city of Pattaya, where the women are hot, but their diseases are not. This is a city that's based on it's overcrowded beach and its thriving sex industry workers that you run into EVERYWHERE. Anytime the three of us would walk by one of Pattaya's many bars/brothels, we'd hear 10-20 "ladies of the evening" shout in Thanglish "Welcun you hansun men" with the hopes that we would stop and take them "out." All of us got our butts grabbed on more than one occasion. Pattaya did have a nice, cheap buffet though. (A side note: If you wanna get Kev's attention, all you gotta do is mention that "B word"). The buffet tasted ok, and it was fun to people-watch, especially the old men who thought they were with an attractive Thai girl, but actually were with a member of the kathoey (transvestite) population. Dustin and I had a good laugh anytime we saw that. If you're ever thinking about coming to Pattaya, unless you're the sick type in the market
"Somebody love me!"
Jet-lag gets to Daryl's head. for an underaged prostitute, take our advice and skip it.
In the daytime though, we had quite a pleasant adventure. We spent one day walking along Pattaya Beach, and found a secluded spot with nice lounge chairs. There, we did what we do best, VEGETATE. The next day in Pattaya, we went bungee jumping off a 65 m tower. That was one hell of a rush. Though it's something I've done 17 times throughout the USA and Canada, it scares the crap outta me every time. Looking straight down at the ground, and jumping towards it with faith in a rubber band is never easy. Y'all shoulda heard Kev though when he went. He let out a killer scream like I never knew he had in him. Dustin was dead silent. I gotta hand it to Dustin and Kev, 'cause they are two very brave souls. I can't wait to go jumping again with them in Nanaimo, BC.
After bungee jumping, we were off east to Koh Chang, Thailand's second largest island, with some of the best beaches in the country. We found a great guesthouse owned by a British guy. Our days there were spent beachcombing, trekking,
Trainspotting
The Skytrain is a great way to get around downtown. Now if only it would inspire the civil engineers in Seattle... and motorbike riding. We had a fun little quirk when our motorbike got a flat tire. The rental lady said we had to pay for it, since there is only supposed to be two people at a time on one bike. Dustin reminded her that if that was the rule, then she shouldn't have given us THREE helmets. Once that took the wind out of her sails, we got two more bikes. Dustin taught me how to ride one, and we continued on to Koh Chang's premier waterfall. Secluded beaches were something we were always on the hunt for, and as you can see in the pics, we found a few. It was in riding through some of the most amazing views in the world, that I knew I was truly in paradise.
It was here also, that I received the sad news of my dog, Bandit, passing away, that I've had since childhood. It shook me up for some time, but I was with my good friends though in a legendary place, so I was truely happy. Thanks Kev and Dust. You guys are awesome. Well, it's off to Cambodia.
With lvision and purpose,
Daryl Willard
Diiylo BuneMAHN (My Thai name)
"I decided to leave school to travel, because I found that school interfered too much with my education." - Me
"Don't cry because I died, smile because I lived" - Unknown
(Kev)
I bungee jumped for the first time...but definitely not the last. It was a great experience; Dustin and Daryl jumped without hesitation, but I experienced a "Banks moment"...I froze, but then with the second count down I just went for it. Daryl says the Nanaimo bungee in Canada has special deals during Valentines weekend...might be a fun time.
We bungeed in Pattaya, and for me it was one of only two good things about the place; it also had a cheap and well-stocked buffet. Pattaya is a disgusting place though, because it is full of nasty old men, and Thai prostitutes...it is what the town is made of and apparently known for...we just weren't aware of it.
Thankfully, we escaped Pattaya to the paradise that is Koh Chang. Here, we hit the fun and familiar routine of mopeds, waterfalls, and beautiful beaches. Well that about wraps it up for me.
Catch ya later
~Love
Kev
(Dustin)
Back in Bangkok again, this time Daryl showed up with gifts. We decided that we would have to move pretty fast through the rest of Southeastern Thailand so that we would have enough time to check out Cambodia and Laos. After spending another couple days in Bangkok, we barely made it to a bus out to Pattaya and found out that we were probably the youngest and least interested in the "activities" that go on there out of anyone. The women there sure like to get up close and personal with you, but thankfully, they figured us out quickly. The room that we stayed in was amazingly nice, and there was a buffet right down the street which is always a plus.
The beach is a pretty packed place on the west side and really wasn't so interesting compared to lots of the others we have been to. Lots of large hotels all over the place keeping the place looking pretty commercial and touristy rather than relaxing. We were lucky though because finally we had a chance to go bungee jumping. It was a little different than the pictures made it look because it was just
at a large scaffold-like thing with an elevator that went to the top over a large pool of water. In the picture it looked like it was out over a jungle pool, well it turns out that the jungle pool one is its other branch up in Chiang Mai. In the end we shelled out the money and had our turns at the large elastic band experience. It really was pretty cool, Kev and I for the first time and Daryl going on 17 or something. We really wanted to keep doing it, but money and time issues never seem to be on our side so we took our T-shirts and the memory and walked off to another bus.
Sometimes its easy to get buses, other times its really not all that fun because we had to wait by the road and try and catch the name shouted out of the place each bus was going to, and try to understand it before they whizzed by so we could gesture for them to stop. After a night in Trat we got the whole "take you to the wrong ferry terminal" treatment and were a captive audience to the more
Evangelists
These guys got majorly hassled by most who passed by, but they were resiliant in their purpose and preached on unphased. expensive price. Koh Chang turned out to be pretty neat though, some decent beaches and everything was pretty relaxed. They had waterfalls and secluded beaches all along the main roads which was pretty cool. Our moped broke down with a flat tire pretty quickly so we had to go back and trade it in but other than that our time was pretty smooth on the island.
On the way out we had the usual "the ferries aren't running" routine but as usual they were. We decided to get the cheap ferry back to the mainland but that actually worked out pretty bad for us because it dropped us off at this middle of nowhere terminal, the only taxi there was overpriced and then when we refused to pay that much he left and we ended up paying a tiny bit more for some private person to take us the same distance. Worked out but a little lighter in the pockets than we would have preferred, but we made it back to Trat with enough time to get some stuff worked out to get to Cambodia early the next morning. Another lesson on life in any case.
Cheers,
Dustin
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Heidi
non-member comment
Wow ... the "I've got sunshine" picture kills me! I WANT TO BE ON THAT SWING!