FIRST VIEW OF THE FAR EAST - PATTAYA

Wednesday 12th December 1984 – Pattaya

Had a lazy start to the day – just finished packing, had breakfast and then it was time to go. All aboard the coach for a rather slow and fairly boring trip to Pattaya. Very little to see on the way, although there was the odd scene of interest with rice paddies in various stages of cultivation.

Rab on the balcony at Pattaya

The road just outside Bangkok as awful. Some said it was under water for three months last year and as a consequence it has to be rebuilt completely. We got to the hotel just after 13.00 and soon had the crushables unpacked and hung up – and then we were off to the beach. Not much sand and quite a few people but it was nice to be back in sea water. David and Chris joined us after a while but the rest stayed up by the pool, which seemed a bit of a waste to me. Jennifer and Patty came by later for a stroll, but we just spent the afternoon lazing there and relaxing. Rather nice.

One of the views from our room

 

And here's another view - very pleasant indeed.

The view of the sunset from our room was spectacular and, as usual, I couldn’t resist a couple of shots. David and Chris came around for a quick spot of Maekong (local rice based whiskey) before we all foregathered for the evening’s entertainment – a trip into town for a show and a dinner. The show was at a transvestite theatre and was fairly interesting at first but palled somewhat as the cast mimed their way through interminable Thai and Chinese ballads. The comic scenes were very basic involving a small man who looked like Arthur Askey reincarnated (and may well have been if one believes in the teaching of the Buddha). We expected him to burst into the Bee Song, but he didn’t.

A ladyboy high kick

Some of the boys were quite beautiful by any standard but their choreography left much to be desired, especially their high kicks, which were often executed with a bent knee and no pointed toe. The audience was quite interesting to watch because photography was allowed, which resulted in a constant movement of people up and down the aisles, in and out of their seats. No one seemed to object and all were enjoying themselves. (These Thai people have become very much better known since we were there in 1984 – and perhaps are better known as ladyboys, the term used in Thailand.)

From there we went to a Dutch restaurant Dolf Ricks. Very few of us had eaten lunch and as it was 21.15 by the time we sat down it was a rather subdued and disgruntled party. It was amazing how quickly everyone perked up after the first beer and the change in atmosphere by the time we had eaten was remarkable. We had grilled fillet and how nice it was. The local food is excellent as has virtually everything else we have eaten on this trip, but it is nice to have plain Western food just occasionally.

Thursday 13th December 1984 – Pattaya

A very good day today! Started with an early breakfast which was not quite up to Bangkok standards as there were no pancakes, but otherwise very good.

We had all opted for the Coral Island Tour, so we assembled in the foyer at 09.00 and set off in what pass for taxis here – a bakkie (ute/pickup) with seats and a canopy. The biggest advantage is that it is usually cool but the canopies are usually designed with Oriental midgets in mind, not tall farengis. We rattled our way downtown to the beachfront and boarded a longboat for our trip out to the converted fishing boat that was to take us out to the island. At night the view reminds us a bit of Lake Kariba as there are hundreds of cuttlefishing boats in the bay with their lights blazing.

 

We set off in good form and in fine weather and with a pack of souvenir sellers aboard it wasn’t too long before everyone was wearing Pattaya hats. The only reason I didn’t get one was that they didn’t have one to fit! The sea had barely a ripple and it took just over an hour to get to the islands which looked calm and serene as we approached them, with a few holiday cottages dotted about. When we rounded the point to get into the lee of the larger island though, what a difference. Dozens of water scooters dashing about; speedboats hither and thither; large boats coming and going; longboats ferrying passengers to and fro and no less than three parasails in the air at the same time. Frenzied activity might be an adequate description and how there are no serious accidents, the Lord alone knows

Take off.

Frying!

We duly went ashore and were assaulted verbally by scores of souvenir vendors selling anything made of shells plus cotton clothes and sundry items. We found a little place to camp slightly out of the mainstream of activity and spent about 45 minutes there while some swam, some bought and some – Jennifer, Patty and I – went aloft on the parachutes. Unlike the Seychelles (where I had an adventurous parasailing trip. The engine of the boat cut out and the crew simply released me and let me blow out to sea where I landed, tangled in the ‘chute. But that’s another story for another time) they dropped their passengers back on the beach, catching them as they came down, except for me. I dropped in the water, partly, I suspect because the catchers wished to avoid any chance of injury. I enjoyed the flight which gave a splendid view of the island and bay.

It had not been made clear that we were to move on and most of the party were a bit put off by the crowds and lack of space, but we needn’t have worried as we were soon off to what Sam described as ‘our private island with no Chinese.’. there may not have been any Chinese, but there were a couple of kiosks selling the usual junk. We all had a couple of beers and I hired a water scooter (now known as jet skis) for 300 baht for an hour. 

A bear on a jetski

I went  around the island by myself to get the feel of it and then took Rab and all the others (individually!!) for a ride. They are good fun, especially those with a 30 horse motor as we found  out after lunch when we had another spin. The sea was a little rougher and the much more powerful motor gave a very different ride. Rab chickened out very rapidly, but Jennifer tried another trip, somewhat to her regret I think. I belted around for a while on my own but it was quite tiring keeping it under control.

Chris and David cruise in for lunch

The lunch was excellent. There were green mussels, plenty of fish and some crab with fried rice. The fish were cooked whole in the same way that Dixon and the cook do it on Lake Kariba – delicious. Oh! There was also a bit of squid with a hot chilli sauce. Richard behaved very badly, as usual, but the rest of us had a really good time. We left about 14.30 by which time I was pretty badly sunburned, more fool me! The trip back was somewhat quieter than the outward bound one as the food and drink combined with the sun set everyone off to sleep.

Starting to carve the watermelon

A finished product

Back to the hotel and a cool swim, a shower and then back downstairs for a  special Thai Evening put on by the hotel. There was a wide variety of delicious food and some exquisite examples of “vegetable art”. We had noticed before how artistically the fruit in particular had been set out, both in Bangkok and here and the two girls doing the carving had really gone to town in preparing some really beautiful examples. The sculpted watermelons in particular were striking and in fact one was completed during the evening as we ate so we could see the technique and the detailed work. It took two and a half hours and the end product had a delicate pattern with alternating pink and white panels.

Butter statue behind the cook

There was also an ice sculpture of a rooster and two butter statuettes – one of the flautist who is on the hotel logo and a matching one of a musician playing a stringed instrument.

I decided to have a taste of every dish and I did – just a small serving with very little rice. I was glad I had because so many of them were so tasty. Difficult to say what was best, but probably the fried rice with crab; the ginger and pepper pork and the squid satay. But it was difficult to choose those out of the twenty or so contenders. I didn’t even try to have one of each of the vast array of sweets, contenting myself with fried banana and sesame seed, grilled tapioca, palm sugar and banana and a couple of very small coconut tacos. All in all, a most enjoyable evening and not too pricey we felt at Z45 for the two of us (including a cognac each @ Z$4.50 a throw!) The price of booze in the hotel is ferocious.

(Richard blotted his copybook finally at this evening. He had been annoying everyone. The widow, Pat, who he had attached himself to after being rejected by everyone else almost missed out on the evening because she wanted to avoid him. It was only when I promised her that she would sit between me and Rab that she came down from her room. During the course of the evening he made an absolute pig of himself by loading his plate with a mixture of the dishes time and again and getting steadily smashed as he downed drink after drink. His fate was sealed when he picked on Patty. Her partner, Jennifer, leapt to her defence and the altercation ended with the suggestion that he leave the party. He said he would do that but didn’t have sufficient funds to get to town. Jennifer’s response was to empty the ashtray in front of her and throw some coins into it saying to the crowd that all contributions were acceptable. Everyone threw money in, she emptied the pile of money into his hands and said “Well, you’ve got your fare now, so you can bugger off.” – and he did.)