I updated my blogs last night at the internet game shop around the corner from Nitaya's. It is used exclusively by young Thai boys to play games. Really noisy and dark. The boy next to me was playing a game with music. Blow me down if I didn't hear the latest Guy Sebastian song, some JT and Blackeyed Peas. Christine and I certainly stood out in the crowd, but at least I had music I enjoyed. It was really hard to read the keyboard in the dark and the seats were really hard, in a variety of old armchairs and moulded to little bums. I think a concrete seat would have been better. After the initial shock at having a couple of old English ladies in their midst, the kids got on with their games and ... read more

Today walked and shopped, walked and shopped. The more I see, the more I have to keep my wagging pointy finger in my pocket. The place is chock a block with disgusting dirty OLD, OLD, OLD men (lots and lots of europeans) and very young Thai girls. Honestly, the average age of the men visiting here would have to be over 50. Nitaya gives them more dirty looks than me though and mutters loudly "very sad, very sad". She has lived here for 27 years and says that it is becoming worse by the year. She is very sad that these old men come here for "boom boom" and then leave the young girls to go home. She says she is very glad she has no daughters. Pattaya even more so than Bangkok is a city ... read more

Nitaya and I went to Pattaya beach while Christine stayed home to try to kick her cold. The beach is very crowded with sun beds under shades, but not many tourists. There are lots of new hotels being built, and I can see that it would be a very popular holiday place. Bars, bars and lots more bars. Nitaya said we can go down to a friend's bar tomorrow night to see a “boy girl show”. I went to another of her friends who is a tailor. The Tonkins will be very well dressed on my return to Adelaide and at a very reasonable price. I began to realise that I was an oddity as a tourist. I don't think I saw any other older western women. I did see lots of older western men with ... read more

Christine & I set out to go to Patina Plaza and found a cab outside the hotel. Instead the cab driver talked us into going to the floating markets and the Palace so we bartered a price of 300 baht for the day. He said we would only be a few hours, so plenty of time to go to Plaza later. We both wanted to see the floating markets so set off. Hour and a half later we finally arrived at the parking bay to go to the floating markets. We then had to pay 2,200 baht each to get on a gondola style boat to get to the floating markets!! Ended up paying 3,500 baht for the both of us. Still bloody expensive. Off we went along very polluted canals between coconut palms through what ... read more

Well here I am in Bangkok. Arrived at the hotel at 11.00pm Thai time (1.30 SA time) so opted for bed considering there is no bar here. Met an interesting couple on the plane, mum & daughter. The daughter is my age and her mum is about to turn 94 this week. They are travelling back to Russia where mum was a renowned ballet star to celebrate a book launch about her life, and to receive accolades for a ballet she wrote 4 years ago before she went blind. They had another 13 hours travel after a 5 hour stopover in Singapore!!!!!! Mum was the epitome of the retired ballet star. Complained about the noise, the cold, our seats too close to the toilets etc. etc. They moved shortly after take-off a few rows up and ... read more