Since we kept it rather casual last night, we were able to get up and be somewhat productive today in Pattaya. For the most part, during the day, Pattaya's main attractions seemed to be the clothing vendors. There are still bars that open up around 10AM but they are relatively quiet as people are still trying to figure out what happened to their lives the previous night. For us, it was a chance to observe Thailand's Sin City during its sleeping hours. We did the typical negotiating with merchants, trying to get t-shirts down from 300 baht apiece to 150. We did the street food vendors as often as we could, trying various types of fried rice, fried noodles, spicy soups, and grilled pork, beef, and chicken. We made sure we walked down the beach, although, in this particular part of Thailand, is definitely not something picturesque. The beach is rather thin and the water is not that clear but the temp of the water is about what you would put in your bathtub, which is a nice change to the 65 degree waters of the Atlantic.
We traveled down to Walking Street again and it was almost scary how quiet it was compared to the night before. Steel grates pulled down over what were enormous beer bars the night before, no one trying to convince you to enter a go-go bar for 55 baht Singha Beer night, and vehicle traffic running back and forth on a street I was certain held true to its name. Had I been deceived in my semi-drunken state the night before?
While we were on our way out, we decided that in this dire heat, it would probably be best to stop in the next place for a drink. Out of the corner of our eyes, we couldn't help but notice the glimmering white of an ice rink and realized that Asia Sport was showing regular season NHL hockey games from the night before. If i remember correctly it was Dallas and LA and both with working their way into better play off positions so it was apparently a big game, especially to the guy who was 6 beers deep across the bar from us. We sat there and talked with him, found out he was from Arizona and were curious what he could possibly be doing in Thailand just before the rainy season. He mentioned he was here for dental work. Now, once again, being from the US, I was having a tough time understanding why someone from the States would fly over to Thailand of all places to get some work done but I wanted to hear him out. He had said the he did not have dental insurance and for the procedure that he needed to be done, it was actually cheaper for him to fly to Thailand, stay there for 3 weeks, get his dental work done and fly home, than it was for him to get it done on home soil. It was hard for me to imagine but when he broke down the semantics of it, he was actually right. After he started calling guys by their nicknames and fist pumping after a redirected Matt Green goal, we knew it was time to move on.
Our next order of business was getting a minibus down to Koh Chang so we had to swing over to our sweetheart at the tourist travel place and she helped us set everything up. The minibus, which holds 7 people comfortably was booked by 9 people and cost about 850 baht ($28). We would be the first to be picked up and were told to be ready at about 7:30AM. We were fine with that, we just had to make sure we behaved tonight and there would be no issue with making that departure time...
Afterward, it was time to grab a bite to eat, stop by a few shops, and head out for the night. While we were walking from our hotel, the closest streets to us were, again, filled with bars and massage places. the reason I mention these massage places is because it is impossible to walk by one of them without 10 gorgeous Thai women all screaming "Massaaaaage" at the same time. Us being two relatively young and fit guys basically got assaulted every time but we found it to be hilarious after a while and we would play along and act interested. You'll know what I am talking about if you ever go there.
We grabbed a few kebabs (the main part of my diet in Europe) and went down to the beach. There are not only people that have shops set up that sell things but also kids and adults alike that walk around trying to sell their goods as well. In this particular instance, a woman tried selling me a wood frog, I kindly said no, she persisted, I gave her 20 baht to go away, she got mad at me, we took a picture, and off she went. She was a sweetheart but I figured giving her free money was enough.
Finally, it was time to go have a few casuals. We stopped at a beer bar only to have 40 women yell welcome at us and decided to set up shop at the first bar. Right away, 2 girls came over to Dougie and I, took our drink orders and engaged in typical conversation with us. The only thing that was different is that they seemed genuinely interested and could hold a conversation better than any other bartender I knew. So, we sat there, enjoyed our time with them and held Jackpot dice tournaments for drinks. The only thing was, they never bought drinks so it was a suckers game for us, even so, it was a great time.
After a great night sitting around playing games and enjoying a few Changs, it was soon 12:30 and we needed to book a hotel (www.agoda.com) for the upcoming excursion to Koh Chang as well as get some sleep for another long day of travel ahead of us. Walking Street was just starting to pick up steam and we knew if we didn't get out now, it would consume us to daylight.
Day 5 Pattaya/Koh Chang
6:45 came around way too early but we felt we had plenty of time to shower, pack up and grab a bite to eat before our 4 hour trek to Koh Chang. Unfortunately, the driver had other ideas and we were forced to check out and finish our breakfast around 7:15AM. We stopped at maybe 3 other hotels and once again, were packed in as tight as possible with Dougie riding shotgun. I humored myself with Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Tiny Wings for the majority of the drive down despite stopping 4 times to refill our natural gas fueled Eurostar van.
Once we got to the city of Trat, we had about 45 minutes to wait before a few more vans came and picked everyone up to bring us to our 1 hour ferry ride to the island. What was amazing to me, as we were driving to the dock, was the houses that lined the streets along the way. This was the same as when we got to the island as well. We were on one of the most beautiful islands in the world with great hotels and beaches and deep within the forests were these broken down torn up villages with clotheslines and garbage and filth everywhere. Were these the dwellings of the workers on and around the islands? Were they forced to live in slums after working in 4 and 5 star hotels all day? I really have no idea but I felt it was such a stark contrast that it was worth mentioning. Anyway, we boarded the boat and set sail to paradise. On the way there, a Buddhist monk had boarded late and without hesitation, 5 or 6 people immediately offered him their seat, which happened to be right in front of mine. I had to jump on the opportunity.
Finally we arrived on the island of Koh Chang so we all were asked where we were going, we had mentioned White Sand Beach, paid 50 baht and away we went. The same held true for what I had mentioned before with the poorly built shacks and houses before we got to the other side of the island, which was our destination. We figured that if we were just dropped off on that part of the beach that it would just be a 3-5 minute walk to our hotel so we jumped out at the north end of the beach. Unfortunately, our hotel was past the south end of the beach so, with 35 pound bags on our backs, in 95 degree weather with 100 percent humidity, we muscled our way to the south end only to get to the hotel about 30 minutes later. We stayed at the Keeree ele hotel for $56 a night.
The only way I could describe Koh Chang is that it is basically identical to the island on Lost. Beautiful beaches and water on the outskirts and terror and peaks on the interior. There are not even roads that go inside, the only road on the island is basically a circle that goes along the entire coastline. We checked in, unpacked out bags, and decided we were going to die unless we had proper nourishment in the likes of street meat. As we were on our way down to eat, a massive downpour started and lasted for at least an hour and a half. (My first clue probably should have been the cumulo nimbus beasts in the back of this picture). We were stuck under an awning for about 20 minutes when a lone motorbike wheeled in next to us. Off jumped a guy with a mohawk and a girl soaked to the bone from the torrential rains. We had been standing in front of their tattoo shop for the last little while and once they arrived, they invited us in for a beer or 2. I assume they knew this probably wouldn't let up for a while. We talked tattoos, drank some Changs and after an hour or so with them, clear skies crept through the clouds.
We ate quickly because our main purpose for this leg of the trip was beach and sunshine. We grabbed a few beach chairs, threw our stuff down and went for a swim in the 80 degree water that was more clear than a bottle of Aquafina. This was it. This was my paradise.
After a few hours, then sun went down, and we figured it was probably time to see what the nightlife was all about in this area. While we were sipping on a cold one, we saw some guys with face paint and wearing the equivalent to a kilt. I figured something awesome was about to take place so we stuck around. For about 15 minutes these 4 guys lined up on the beach and were doing fire dances, spitting fire, eating fire, basically anything you can do with fire without being injured.
We cleaned up and approached the only thing we knew at that time, the beer bars. I actually felt terribly bad right around this point. Like I had mentioned before, when you approach these spots, these girls are trying to do anything to bait you in, sometimes standing on chairs, yelling at you, grabbing you by the arm and pulling you in against your will. Well in this case, it was a girl standing on a chair. I'm not sure if she was on unstable ground or if her 5 inch heels gave out on her but her 3 foot fall directly onto her elbow on solid concrete could not have felt anything remotely close to pleasurable. We felt it was best to spare her the embarrassment and politely moved on to the next bar.
The next establishment we stopped at had a great group of girls working there, very fun, very open, so we figured this would be our spot for the next few nights. Things started off the same as the last beer bar we were at with causal conversation which turned in to playing that dice game again, which turned in to playing connect 4, and finally a huge game of jenga. For some, this doesn't sound too appealing but it was amazing what a nice change of pace it was from the places we are used to back home. Much more relaxed and fun when everyone is involved.
While we were there, we talked to a German guy and were kind of telling him about what we had planned for our trip. We said we hoped to be in Koh Chang for 3 days, get to Bangkok and fly to Chiang Mai for 3 days, then Dougie had to leave and I would be on my own for the remaining 7 days. He said that if we were only going to be in Chiang Mai for 3 days then it was not even worth going. He said that we needed at least 5-7 days up there. We trusted his judgment and felt that our Koh Chang trip could definitely be extended by another 2 days and then we would make out way back to Pattaya for 2 days, Dougie would leave, and I would wing the rest of my trip after. Sounded like a good game plan and we stuck to it... for the most part.
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