Holding a snake in a bar in PattayaWhen we finally arrived in Pattaya and found our hotel I knew I liked it already. I felt like Waikiki, and a little bit of Florida, and Bali all rolled into one. Really busy all the time, good and bad smells coming from every direction, people trying to sell you everything. Craaaazy! Plus we had a corner hotel room with giant windows taking up two walls so it felt like being on a boat or in the penthouse.
We went for some food at Andy’s favorite place to eat in Pattaya: The Pig and Whistle. It was like entering a different world when you stepped in- it was totally a traditional English Pub inside, except for the Thai staff, and had traditional English food on the menu as well.
That night we grabbed a few slices of pizza for dinner and then started drinking.
We went to a couple bars that night, the first being Boomerang Bar where Andy knows the owner. We played some pool and watched the people go by and sales people come in. There were a few guys going around with a Polaroid camera and either wigs and funny sunglasses or various types of animals (pythons, iguanas, slow loris!) offering to take your picture for 150B ($5). We would take pictures with out own cameras and sometimes give the person like 50B if we felt like it.
We went for some food at Andy’s favorite place to eat in Pattaya: The Pig and Whistle. It was like entering a different world when you stepped in- it was totally a traditional English Pub inside, except for the Thai staff, and had traditional English food on the menu as well.
That night we grabbed a few slices of pizza for dinner and then started drinking.
We went to a couple bars that night, the first being Boomerang Bar where Andy knows the owner. We played some pool and watched the people go by and sales people come in. There were a few guys going around with a Polaroid camera and either wigs and funny sunglasses or various types of animals (pythons, iguanas, slow loris!) offering to take your picture for 150B ($5). We would take pictures with out own cameras and sometimes give the person like 50B if we felt like it.
Boomerang Bar
Walking Street
Jennie Star Bar... a ladyboy bar
Later we caught a Pattaya style tuk-tuk (a pick-up truck with benches and a roof in the back) to Walking Street- the craziest part of Pattaya. Of course Andy took us into a ladyboy bar first haha. We danced in there for a bit and then went into Marine Disco, which was pretty cool, with lights under the dance floor and shit like that. By this point we’d all split up so Andy and I both squeezed onto a scooter taxi that took us back to our hotel. Andy then had two kabobs and we went to sleep.
The next morning it was down to the Pig and Whistle for breakfast, well lunch, and since everyone was pretty hungover we all had a quiet day. I walked along the beach for a bit taking in the sights. That night we went to a bar with live music where you could request the songs they played. Andy and Danny even got up and played an Oasis song the band didn't know. We also went back to Boomerang and that’s when I fell in love with the slow loris.
Dan and Andy taking the stage...
Me and a SLOW LORIS!
The next morning Andy and the boys tried to wake up to watch the Cotto-Paquaiai fight at 8am but weren’t able to get up. Luckily, it didn’t start til 11 so they didn’t miss it. We watched it in the Pig and Whistle and had some food.Then it was zoo time. The Million Years Stone Park and Pattaya Crocodile Farm to be exact. It was both cool and sad at the same time. Cool because you could pay a bit extra and get your picture with baby tigers, big tigers, bears, crocodiles, and elephants. And feed the big scary crocs. Sad because some of the animals were confined to quite small cages. There was a Crocodile Show as well where this crazy thai guy plays with some crocs, sticks his head in their mouths, puts his hand down one of their stomachs and brings back up some stomach bile, then eats it, and other shit like that.
Baby crocs
Feeding some crocs
BABY TIGER!
The Crocodile Show Arena
Posing with a croc After the zoo we went to the International Snake Show. The show consisted of a few guys playing with snakes. First this one guy brought out a pair of cobras and teased them for a bit. Then this made one of them bite into cling wrap over a glass to prove it was still venomous. The next guy brought out a python or something non-poisonous and taunted it a for while. Then the other guy came back with a viper. And finally they brought a big Burmese Python out of a burlap sack and made it angry, then got people from the audience (there were 10 of us only haha) to come get pictures with it around their necks- I did it!
Cobras
Schmoochie Schmoo
Autisic monkey
After the show we wandered around the ‘grounds.’ They were scruffy as shit. There were some dirty aquariums containing more snakes, a few caged squirrels, an autistic monkey, a chained up elephant, a few cocks who’d obviously recently fought, goats, pigs, and turkeys. It was dirty and weird. The people who ran it lived amongst it. There was laundry hung up and kids toys scattered about.
Back to the hotel where Rob finally showed up. He hadn’t been feeling well and went to a health clinic. They took some blood and told him he had Dengue Fever. He’d had enough and I helped him book a flight home to England that night. Our spirits were a little subdued at this point so we just went out for some food and then called it a night.
The next morning we slept in til just about check out time and then got a minibus back to Bangkok… no Khao San Road this time though- just an airport hotel since we had an early morning flight the next morning. Getting there was easier said than done. Our driver spoke little English and took us to the airport first. We told him, no, we want this hotel- the one on the sheet of paper we’d given him, address and all- and boy did that confuse him. We spent probably another 45 minutes driving around looking for this place (I’d found it online at some last minute hotel website). We finally pulled down a dirt alley and low and behold there was our new looking hotel at the end of it. Sure we had to pass by a swamp within a derelict building and we may have been the only people staying there, but shit, we’d found it! Haha
We ate at the restaurant and then went on an unsuccessful hunt for a 7-11 but found a minimart instead for beers. Then we played poker, 20baht buy-in, and I somehow won! Ha!
Back to the hotel where Rob finally showed up. He hadn’t been feeling well and went to a health clinic. They took some blood and told him he had Dengue Fever. He’d had enough and I helped him book a flight home to England that night. Our spirits were a little subdued at this point so we just went out for some food and then called it a night.
The next morning we slept in til just about check out time and then got a minibus back to Bangkok… no Khao San Road this time though- just an airport hotel since we had an early morning flight the next morning. Getting there was easier said than done. Our driver spoke little English and took us to the airport first. We told him, no, we want this hotel- the one on the sheet of paper we’d given him, address and all- and boy did that confuse him. We spent probably another 45 minutes driving around looking for this place (I’d found it online at some last minute hotel website). We finally pulled down a dirt alley and low and behold there was our new looking hotel at the end of it. Sure we had to pass by a swamp within a derelict building and we may have been the only people staying there, but shit, we’d found it! Haha
We ate at the restaurant and then went on an unsuccessful hunt for a 7-11 but found a minimart instead for beers. Then we played poker, 20baht buy-in, and I somehow won! Ha!
No comments:
Post a Comment