A Day at the Beach near Pattaya

A couple of days I went to be very lazy at the beach near Pattaya at Jomtien. I rent a chair under some umbrellas, have a manicure, pedicure, a massage, some drinks and read. It is a nice way to spend a day.
The weather is great! The temperature is in the low 80s with a nice breeze and reasonable humidity

This is my mani-pedi lady. An example why thy call Thailand the "Land of Smiles":

 

The massage guys and the mani-pedi ladies circulate among the chairs along with folks selling fruit, various foods, watches, cheap jewelry, pirated DVDs and pornography. They easy accept a simple "mai krap" (no thanks) and move on. Not really a bother. The massage guys and mani-pedi lady remiembered me from past years. It's like a pleasant reunion.

They often bring their small children to work with them. Some sleep, some of them play.

The massages can be done in your chair or for a more complete massage you can move to the sandy area behaind the chairs:

The umbrellas serve as protection from the harsh sun for those who want it. In general the Asians prefer not to have dark skin and avoid the sun. The drug stores are full of skin whitening products rather than tanning creams like in the states. They think that the westerners who bake in the sun are are truly deranged.

Moving on to Pattaya for a few days

Today I went 2 hours southeast of Bangkok to Pattaya, the beach town. Pattaya has evolved over the last few years into a more family friendly resort city. No, the sex sleaze is still there but there is a different kind of peerson traveling there. There are more Asian tourists from China, Japan and Korea. The Russians visiting are not so much the ill-dressed rude, drunk, exploiters of young beauties. There are more sophisticated Russian couples and families. Western...American and British are fewer.
In addition, there is an effort to present a family friendly shopping destination. This is evidenced by a few more 4 and 5 star hotels and several new or remodeled shopping malls.

The ride down to pattaya from Bangkok was a bit different. I used my taxi driver from the airport for the 2 hour drive. Mr Vilai was my assigned taxi driver at the airport queue when I arrived. I noticed his cab was immaculately clean and he was wearing a pressed shirt with epaulettes. As well, he was a careful driver. We were talking about my trip and he offered to take me to Pattaya for 40% of the usual limo price I usually use. It was a good trip with accompaniment by Mr Vilai's personal burned CDs of American country music; not the usual wailing of Thai regional music.
Another interesting thing on the ride was a big effort by authorities and volunteers to discourage drunk driving during the holiday period....at the expressway toll booths they were giving away several bottles of mineral water to each car. "Drink water not alcohol"
We arrived and I went poolside to read in the very lovely weather..low humidity (for Thailand) and temperatures in the high 70's.

The Neighborhood

 The other day I took a walk around the neighborhood. There are 2 parallel large roads, Sathorn and Silom that are very busy with crushing traffic and very noisy and active. They are connected by several quiet side streets. I walked from Sathorn Rd up to Silom Rd on Soi Convent, named for a Catholic orphanage and church on the street hen I walked down Silom Rd and returned to Sathorn Rd via Soi Sala Daeng. Toward the Silom end there are several areas where the local office workers eat their lunches from vendors on the sidewalk. The famous tasty, cheap and ubiquitous "street food."

 The people line up to buy their food from the vendors which is very fresh and inexpensive.
It is 99.9% safe and clean since it is sold and consumed quickly and does not sit around.

Then they sit at small tables on small plastic chairs or stools to eat and talk.

Many of the vendors bring their younger children to work with them.

There must not be much daycare in Thailand as this is a very common sight. Often the grandmas accompany the vendors to help watch the kids.

There are quiet areas on these tree lined side streets just away from the hustle and bustle of the the office and business areas.

On one side street/alley seemed to be the home of a an entrepreneurial medical center:

One stop shopping!!

I did go to the Hannukah party with my cousin at the 25th story apartment of her Israeli friends. Friends of hers thru her book club. The building was on the riverside with a great view of one of the bridges spanning the Chao Praya river.

Settling into Bangkok

Since I've been here in Bangkok so many times, I don't have a lot of new things to photograph. I got here on Thursday morning after a 17 1/2 hr flight in the Premium Economy section of the nonstop THAI Airways flight. I took a short nap that afternoon and went to bed for the nite at a bit later than my normal bedtime since I went out.
I'm staying in a different neighborhood than I have before. I tried a type of accommodation that is common in BKK- a serviced apartment. It's the price of a nice hotel but with separate living area, bedroom and a kitchen; it's for usually longer stays of businessmen. I'll be here 11 days.

I met my Cousin Jean the second day for lunch at a nice French restaurant. I brought her a load of nutritional items and spices from Trader Joe's that she had requested. I transfered the goods to her and we had a nice lunch and visit. She invited me to a Hannukah Party this week that a group of Jewish expatriates are having; I accepted because it might be interesting to see how the Jewish community in Bangkok celebrates. That will be tomorrow.

Getting Ready for New Adventure

After a quiet summer and fall with "routine" trips to timeshares in Palm Desert and Hawaii I am leaving again for Southeast Asia. I will take the 18 hour nonstop THAI Airways flight from LAX to BKK and stay in Bangkok area for a while.
The highlight of this trip will be a planned 11 days in Myanmar/Burma. In Myanmar internet access is rare and ATMs nonexistent. And credit cards are not accepted. It's like SE Asia 30-40 years ago.
But it is a beautiful place.
So get ready for some photos of the next month.

I'm still alive but not snapping photos

Since my last post I have been skiing at Snowbird Utah; spent 8 days in Hawaii at Ko Olina and gone to Palm Desert to play golf for a week; will go back to Palm Desert next week for more sun and golf.

But I've been extremely lazy and not taken any photos. And my blog needs photos to have meaning. Therefore no posts. Maybe next week, I'll try to take photos in the desert.

Everybody behave in the meantime!

Return to USA Tomorrow

As usual, I have finished my trip in Pattaya, Thailand at the Marriott here with its lovely pool area and the local beaches nearby and the crazy nitelife. The view from my hotel room here:

For some reason the hotel is filled with many US Marines. I think they are having some sort of military exercise here in the Pattaya area. Some are from the Camp Pendleton/San Diego area. I was not allowed to be told what sort of mission they are trying to accomplish here, but their desert camouflage uniforms look very conspicuous so I don't htink it is a secret.

More Thai kids. These guys are at the fish tanks in which you can dangle your feet  and the little fish will nibble away at the dead skin on your feet. Felt to be good for the health of your feet.

Back in Bangkok; Jim Thompson House

I'm back in Bangkok for several days. Back at the Renaissance Hotel. View from my room is above. The weather has been extraordinarily pleasant: low humidity (for Bangkok) temperatures in the high range of mid 80's (F) and in the upper 60's at nite. The poor Thai people are complaining that it is "cold" and wearing jackets and scarves. I think it is pleasant...just wearing long pants at nite.

Jim Thompson House is a landmark tourist stop is Bangkok that has eluded me during my previous visits. Jim Thompson was a CIA agent during World War 2 that was assigned to Asia near the end. He ended up moving to Thailand and revived the silk hand weaving industry. He promoted the industry and conceived designs. He built his house in 1959 in traditional Thai design...on a quiet side street next to a klong (canal).
It is a quiet interlude in the middle of this busy city.

The canal:

A fish pond next to the restaurant at the House:

Thai Kids

It is very common for younger children to accompany their mom to her workplace as I guess cheap day care is hard to find here. They are usually roaming around the workplace  area especially when it is on the streets where a lot of commerce is transacted...selling prepared food, selling fresh groceries, selling souvenirs and stuff to passersby.  As a former pediatrician, I can't resist these little munchkins.
I like to try to take pictures of some of then as they very cute and interactive:

 

 

Excursion to the Similan Islands

My last day on Phuket was filled with a daylong trip to the Similan Islands National Park. These islands are a 1 hour and 30 minute ride by speedboat from the northern tip of Phuket Island...and I do mean "speedboat" outfitted with three 225 horsepower Honda outboard motors.  It was a surprisingly smooth journey on a smooth sea. The water is clear and beautiful with extraordinary varieties of fish and coral; they are reputed to be one of the premier scuba diving spots in the world. We spent time lounging on a couple of lovely beaches and snorkeling in a couple of different spots.

The weather was cloudy and we passed thru a rain squall on the way out to the islands:

But when we got to the islands the squall was over and we 1st stopped at a beach:

The snorkeling was magnificent. I saw the most fish and the most varieties of fish species any where I have snorkeled. And the amount and variety of coral was the best I have seen.

On the island where we had lunch there was a tranquil prayer house:

It was a long day but well worth it. Tomorrow I return to Bangkok.

Patong Beach, Phuket

After a week at the isolated luxury of the Marriott complex at Mai Khao beach at the northern of the island, I moved down to the Courtyard by Marriott (using some Reward points) at the island's biggest tourist area at Patong City.
This place is not at all isolated. It is a beautiful sweep of a bay and white sandy beach that has groups of hotels, restaurants, clubs, dance clubs, bars...straight, gay and Katoey(ladyboy) areas. One must pick a hotel carefully as noise can continue to 5 am at some of the clubs. There a large number of Europeans escaping winter from Scandinavia, Germany, the UK, and Russia that come here for R&R. Of course, Australians are here as they find anywhere that is fun.  And there are many Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists too.
The water and beach are delightful with warm, clear, calm, clean water, and beautiful sand with opportunities for boat rides, jet ski rentals, parachute flights attached to speed boats or sleeping in a cheap rented beach chair with umbrella.

Khao Sok National Park

Yesterday I took a day long excursion to Khao Sok National Park which is 2 hours north of Phuket Island in Surat Thani province. It is a beautiful area of  jungle/rainforest that is dotted with pinnacles of limestone karsts, slow flowing rivers, and many animals.
Upon arrival we took an hour and half float trip in one of the rivers in inflatable canoes. We floated from one beautiful scene to another.

 

 

We had a very good Thai lunch which was followed in the afternoon by a visit to areas with voracious fish to feed and playful monkeys. It started raining (not unexpected in a rainforest!) when we were ready for an elephant trek so we donned ponchos and get soaked in rain and perspiration...no photos since the camera would have got ruined.

 

After this we got back into our bust to return to the resort. The interior of the bus was decorated in typical south Asian fashion:

 

Cozy, eh? Not easy to sleep on the way back with such bright decor.