Sawatdee Khrab

That's how you say Hi if your a Guy in Thai. Mel and I have just got back from our 2 week holiday there; we spent 2 days in Bangkok and 11 in Pattaya. Bangkok was crazy, it's so rammed with stuff it was unbelievable. At first I almost felt claustrophobic just walking down the street; it definitely takes some getting used to. You could be walking down a main road and somebody would've put a telephone box on the pavement and left the entire flow of pedestrians with only a foot wide gap to pass through behind it. It was as though anybody could put anything anywhere they wanted, and with that mentality the city grows. It's interesting because amongst all that chaos everyone seemed really pleasant and friendly towards everybody else, nothing like Manchester, or 'The West' for that matter. Even when everyone's beeping everyone else in possibly the world’s worst traffic, there doesn't appear to be even the slightest bit of aggression or malice in any of it. I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of religion, but I've come back with a much higher opinion of Buddhism than when I left.

Pattaya is right by the coast about 2 hours car journey from Bangkok, it's a pretty big town with much of the rammedness of Bangkok. It's got a pretty bad reputation for being a sleazy sex hole, and in parts you can see why, although it's really not that bad- you definitely need to be out looking for Chickboys to get Chickboys. With the exception of the Haagen-Dazs shop everything there is ridiculously cheap too, Starbucks Raspberry Frapachinos are only about a quid! We stayed in a hotel complex right next to the beach, which was a bit out of the town. I can't explain how mint it was, I'd like to have lived there. I feel like I could ramble about it all for hours, but I'm sure pictures make for a much better internet experience so I'll move on.

This is from the plane on the way home. The man sat in front of us had the most leathery skin, he looked out the window and I took his picture.

Why don't they cut to the chase and call it 'Jockshop'? This store was in the Tesco shopping centre. Tescos in Thailand!

There's nothing particularly special going on here, just that the map on the telly said we were over Iraq! I'm sure that's not supposed to be significant really (it's just another country), but a day earlier I was immersed in Andy McNabs 'Bravo Two Zero', so in my mind we were probably dodging anti-aircraft fire.

Just the leaves above my Sun Lounger.

Poser Mel.

How we knew what drinks to buy I'll never know.

posted by Sean @ 09:52 

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