First night in Patong

---

Love it. Beautiful beaches with white sand, beer waiters, 8$/hr massages, umbrellas and sun. I don't why anyone would ever want to leave.

We live about 10 minutes away from the beach. Yesterday we walked over and on the way decided to go to a little restaurant along the way. We stopped at this beach side cafe and had fried noodles and rice (there's a lot of that about). And cold water. That's become a staple. Which is hard for me since I don't like clear liquids.

We got to the beach about 3pm and walked up and down the coastline for a bit. Then we found our Aussie friend and sat and chatted for a while. He and his cousin have been here for almost a month so they are good resources for us. One used to live in Houston for a long time and frequented Austin- small world.

The beach faces west so the sunsets are supposed to be spectacular. We haven't seen it yet, but hopefully we will tonight. We are going to go to to Muiy Thai boxing tonight too. There is a stadium about 5 minutes from our house.

There is also a fresh market right by our house. We walked through yesterday and I have to say that I was a little shocked. I've seen things like this on the discovery channel and thought I'd be fine walking through it and was excited to see it for myself. But the smell is really powerful. You just don't get the full experience from TV.

We walked in by the fruit section (thinking it would be a safe bet) and nearly projectile vomited into the durian stand. That's the fruit that is harvested several miles from any city and is not allowed into restaurants or hotels because of the overpowering stench of decay it produces naturally. It really is not pleasant. It must be an acquired taste.


So we walked quickly from that area to the meats. I always thought that I wouldn't like to see meat being chopped up, but it wasn't bad at all. The pig head being chopped off and hungup for sale was much better than the fruit. Oddly enough. Everything is so cheap- we eat for a dollar and the market is even cheaper.

It's pretty humid here, which I guess I shouldn't be a surprise. Yesterday after walking for a few hours and playing at the beach, I was so looking forward to a cool and refreshing shower. But there's just this sad little trickle that came out. It was scalding hot so I guess I should be glad that it wasn't more than a trickle, otherwise I would have burned myself. And my chi hasn't adjusted to the outlets here yet so I'm basically dirty and frizzy.

Last night we went out on Patong beach with our new Aussie friends. Rows and rows of bars make 6th Street look tame and boring. It's actually like a mini Vegas/Amsterdam/New Orleans with bright lights and interesting different people and prostitutes and bars and trannies. I wanted to take my picture with them, but they charge for that. Probably not the only thing they charge for.

Okay, well it's about 6pm here so we are off to go eat. We found a place where you can get a slice of pizza for 50 Thai Bhat (about a dollar). So we are excited to not eat rice or noodles for dinner. We tried to go for lunch, but they would only serve us Thai food- we'll try again tonight. Wish us luck!

---

Photos

This little piggy went to market...
This is the fresh market for meat. There was also pre-plucked chickens. Didn't get a photo of that though

Fruit o' Death
This is the fruit that smells of decay

Life's a beach
Here we are at Patong. Like the straw hat? I got tired of the sunburned face.

Comments

[Colin]

No Durian's Allowed
I distinctly remember the Durian's offensive odor. I've heard that, despite the putrid smell, they taste rather sweet, kind of like a mango. You should give it a try and report to all of us on its taste. They had Durian everywhere in Singapore too; it must be a Southeast Asia thing. The smell's so bad that they were banned from subways, buses, and elevators. But seriously, you should try one.

[Christie]

Durian's-yummy!
Oh yes, I agree with Colin, you should both try one! I miss you guys so much-I'm about to experience my first weekend without any of my monkies. =(

[LinaLand]

i'm not scared....
maybe a bit timid, maybe a little scared too. But I think that I should try it. I'm not sure if we'll get Lisa back into that market, but I'll suprise her with durian for breakfast one day... If you get lonley just skype us!