Wrapping It Up With An Expensive Banana Boat Ride

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Tomorrow is my last day in Pattaya, and the last day of this trip. Very early the next morning I will be taking a taxi back to Bangkok's airport (fortunately Pattaya is close enough that I can get to the airport without returning to Bangkok), where I will be flying to Tokyo for a layover, then a direct flight back to NYC. The trip has been long and it would be nice to return home and settle back in again. No pictures with this update, although I might finish up tomorrow (or when I get home) with some extra miscellaneous photos of the whole trip.

Today I had originally planned to go to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo, but after finding out that Sri Racha is a fairly far ride from Pattaya, I decided not to deal with the aggravation. Instead, I slept (relatively for me) late and started the day at the Apex Hotel for their buffet breakfast, which was wonderful (and only about $3.50). After lounging at the room for a bit, I went to the beach, as I figured being in a beach city I would have to visit at least once. Going to the beach at Pattaya means having to be bothered every 20 seconds by someone trying to sell you someone, but they aren't very persistant and a wave of the hand is all you need to get them away. Deciding sitting around was too boring (I was offered to rent a jetski but decided it wasn't worth risking my life), I decided to try a banana boat ride. The speed boat pulling the banana boat, to my horror, was driven by a boy who looked no older than 13 or 14. The reason for the topic title wasn't the actual cost of the ride, but a loss caused by a very stupid mistake on my part. I got onto the banana boat wearing my prescription sunglasses (sunglasses with lenses cut to allow me to see), and promptly lost them the first time the banana boat flipped. Prescription sunglasses aren't exactly cheap, so it looks like I'm out the ability to look cool while still being able to see until I next visit the eye doctor (at least they weren't something I used very often).

I returned to my room and ended up falling asleep for a few hours. I woke up and decided to see a Thai movie (which is easy to do since most cinemas in tourist cities show the movies with English subtitles, poor grammar though they may have). Some Thai cinemas have a special class of seating where you get larger seats with all sorts of perks and table service for food and drinks. This one only had opera seating, which could only be purchased in pairs, so I passed and took a regular seat. I saw whatever was playing next, which was something called Kobai the Movie. The movie itself was a very basic slapstick comedy, reminiscent of the Three Stooges but with some crude jokes added (Thai films can't show nudity but jokes about sex abound). It was about three men from a primitive mountain tribe who are visited by rich philanthropists from Bangkok who want to develop their village. The men fall in love with a beautiful girl from the group, and when she leaves they go to Bangkok to find her (with the cliched jokes about primitive people coming face to face with technology). There was also a crudely added subplot about the girl being a target for assassination. It was a bloody awful movie but it was nice to see something Thai.

I have way too much baht remaining due to the stupid ATM outside my hotel. After you type in your PIN and press OK, the machine lags for a bit, causing you to think you didn't hit the button and press it again. But you did hit the button the first time, so the machine now registers a second press, which ends up being the button on the next screen to withdraw 5,000 Baht (about $166 or so). Since there is no confirmation button, you automatically withdraw the 5,000 Baht. This is actually the second time I did this, but the first time I was able to spend off the money. This time, since I only have one day left on my trip, I will likely have a lot of leftover money which I will have to exchange back to USD at a loss. Ugh.

Anyway, I'll finish up with some random things to say about where I am. Pattaya is a beach city, except being Thailand, there is massive amounts of prostitution thrown in. At breakfast this morning I counted the number of guys eating their meal with Thai hookers and counted about 6 or 7. Pattaya is a popular get away from Bangkok for beach activities, but it is also a popular destination for sex tourists, which means at night I can't walk two blocks without hearing a half-dozen bar girls calling out at me. That and the sight of seeing old white men walking around with young Thai girls gets old very quickly. That said, if you are into extreme sports, there is accommodation for practically every kind of land, water and air activity here. I myself would like to try a balloon ride but the cost is a bit high, even in Thailand. The banana boat ride was a bit hair-raising for me, as having a driver who hasn't even hit puberty yet isn't exactly comforting. One more random thing to close: in Thailand, bugs are considered a delicacy. There are stands around the cities selling all sorts of nasty grub if you can stomach it.

P.S. Ooh, forgot one thing. Last night I finally got a chance to put all that college effort to work! I went to the Pattaya Hard Rock Cafe to pick up a pin when I saw a woman at the counter hopelessly trying to explain something to the staff. I realized she was speaking German and tried to help her. She was trying to tell them she wanted the item wrapped up, but could only speak a couple of words of English. Although the staff couldn't provide her with the service she wanted, she was grateful for the German-English interpreting. She explained to me she was from East Germany, where the only foreign language she learned was Russian. It's unusual to meet a German tourist who can't speak English so opportunities to use German are slim. I was glad to finally find one of those chances.

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