03.16.06
It burns, burns, burns the ring of fire
3/15/06, Pattaya
We did not get to bed until 2AM and decided to sleep in for a bit. I began the morning with an unsuccessful search for banana rotee near the hotel. We got some yummy corn cakes and then stopped at one of the eateries for locals to get curry and rice. I got a chicken pananeg curry that was tasty but a bit upsetting.
After a visit to an Internet Café I tried (again) to change by return ticket and managed to get close to a confirmed change. On the way back along the beach we got some coconut ice cream and with ice cram I mean a cup with sweet sticky rice, jellied palm nuts, coconut ice cream, candied milk ice cream, two types of nuts and condensed milk on top. Not bad for less than 10 baht. Sitting along the beach we were petitioned for all kinds of activities and I decided to pay the 400 baht for a parasail ride. A boat took me out to one of the many platforms where they strapped me in and took me for a quick run around the platforms then landed me back on the platform.
We sat under beach umbrellas for a while enjoying the view then stopped at a local smoothie shop for a banana smoothie (they were all out of mango) before heading back to the hotel. We then walked along Pattaya 2 and up Middle Road looking for a laundry that could wash our clothes and got a coconut and rice cake from a sweets vendor. After spending some time walking around a local supermarket we stopped at an off road restaurant and got fried pork with garlic and a sweet and sour pork salad. The latter had a spicy sauce that burned Nick’s mouth and upset my gut so much that I had to hop on a pickup truck taxi back to the Hotel to use the restroom. We have dubbed this effect the ‘Ring of Fire’. If you have experienced it, you know what I mean.