30 March - Pattaya

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Saw another side of Pattaya today, a much nicer one. Friends of Nitaya's took me on the tourist drive into the hills at the outside of Pattaya, then along Jom Tien beach. It has some beautiful sights. When we visited the high vantage point there were the usual food stalls, but one had some different fare. The warmers held baked goodies consisting of frogs, scorpions, grasshoppers, large bugs that looked like very big cockroaches, and many more smaller insects. I didn't see anyone buy any and declined the offer of a taste. They must do a roaring trade though or they wouldn't be set up there every day.The pictures will tell the story.

We stopped at a roadside fish market on the way home and bought shrimp, crabs, oysters and squid for a BBQ tea. It was to be a celebration and farewell for Christine and I.

We had a sumptuous meal Thai style, with Australian wine and Thai beer, and fell into bed past 1.00am. Christine was exhausted as she didn't return until 8.00pm. She really enjoyed her trip up the river Kwai, and finally got up and personal with a huge tiger. I will include some of her photos, but can't tell you about any of them.

Many people dropped in during the day and evening when we were home to say goodbye. Even one of the neighbourhood dogs who thus far has been very unfriendly decided to be our pal today. Wut, one of the young men we met on our last visit, and whose wife was pregnant came to say goodbye, and tell us that his wife had a little boy on Friday by cesarean section.
As he is muslim, there was to be a haircutting ceremony tomorrow, and he invited us to join them. Unfortunately as we will be travelling to Bangkok, we had to decline, but promised to drop by and see the baby.

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Photos

Day at the beach
Git, Nitaya, Bee and the children at Jomtien beach

Jomtien Beach
The girls

Along the beach
not so crowded here, and it was a Sunday

The view
The view of Balihai and Pattaya beach

Bongggggggg!
The huge bell at the Buddha site at the top of Pattaya

Memorial
This is a statue of the 5th (I think??) king who was a sailor. The area is much revered, and people take gold leaf and put it on the statue as a sign of reverence

Eewwwy food
baked scorpion anyone?

Frog legs
Don't know if you eat the bones too, but there is not much meat on those little guys. Bit like pistachios, you have to buy a big bag to get half a feed!!