03.16.06
Welcome to the Jungle
3/14/06, Pattaya
This morning we hailed down a Tuk-Tuk and asked the driver to take us to Lamdum, the restaurant where locals go for Khal Soi. When we got there we asked the driver to join us for lunch, but ever after we made it clear (or at least we think we got the message across) that we were willing to pay for it, he turned us down. We both wonder if he might have been uncomfortable because of a perceived class difference. The place was definitely for the locals. I ordered a pork Khal Soi and Nick ordered a Chicken one. The soup turned out to be the same for both with very tasty noodles. The chillies in vinegar sauce were a perfect compliment. I also had a couple of delicious Iced Teas.
Our Tuk-Tuk driver stuck around and got us back home in time for a check at the Internet Café before heading out, a good thing since there were no Tuk-Tuk that far out of town. A taxi to the airport and a NokAir flight back to Bangkok took most of the evening. We then spent some time at our airport counters trying (again unsuccessfully) to change our return flights before hiring a car to take us to Pattaya. An official private car to Pattaya would have been about 3,000 Baht and a bus about 400 Baht. We were able to hail a Taxi off the official line and got him to drive us there for 1,000 Baht. On the way we were treated to an impressive light show as lightning lit up the clouds overhead. The diver dropped us off at the AA Pattaya Hotel where we secured a room for 850 Baht a night. We probably could have argued the price down by 100 Baht or so but just over $20 US seemed very reasonable for a clean hotel just a few steps from the beach in the middle of the beach bar zone.
Nick went off to look for food while I (once again) tried to change my flight. After that I headed south along the beach road to what is variously known as ‘The Village’ or ‘International Meeting Street’ but I had to dub ‘The Zoo’ because of the constant noise and distractions coming from the various girl bars. After a short while of walking down the zoo I had to pick up the pace and keep my eyes straight ahead because I was suffering from sensory overload from the constant solicitation. I walked back on Pattaya 2 looking for food and got a couple of beef sattay from a street vendor. At first I thought I thought he was overly salting the sattay but the seasoning he kept applying made the meat delicious. I filled up with a beef kebab on Pita served from a rotating spit set up along the road and a beer. I was afraid of being assailed by hookers if I went into a bar so I instead got the beer from a 7-11 and borrowed a vendor’s chair for my meal. Exhausted I then headed home and watched a couple of episodes of ‘Dead Like Me’ before turning in.