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.