Jomtien Cozy Inn Chon Buri

... from near and far.

Nowadays, Pattaya has both become the best known of beach resorts and centers of tourism in Thailand with around 6 million visitors annually. Tourists prefer to visit for here many reasons, including luxury hotels, beautiful beaches, friendly people, excellent shopping, reasonable prices, a wide variety of sports opportunities, and especially for its world-renowned nightlife.

... to P*tt*y*. And we re*lly h*d been looking forw*rd to s*mpling some of the (closed) w*tering holes on the be*ch. Right then *nd there we decided th*t we h*d to book *nother night, so we *greed to st*y Sund*y night too. But th*t still didnt solve our current dilemn*. Wh*t were we to do on S******y then? And there w*s even soccer m*tches *t night th*t we re*lly w*nted to w*tch over * pint. Our pr*yers were *nswered in the form of * pub c*lled Shen ...

Rutuferdin til Thailands var ahugaverd. Tar sem ad tetta var 13 klst
ferd til Bangkok yfir nott pantadi eg rutu med rumum. eg var spurd
hvort eg vildi vera uppi eda nidri.. eg valdi tad ad vera nidri. og
aircondition. kl 17 kom ruta ad saekja mig, litil throng og sveitt ruta
sem myndi bara keyra mig ad landamaerunum. tangad vaeri bara 30 min
akstur. Vid keyrdum um baeinn, adallega i hringi til tess ad saekja
annad folk. vorum enn nalaegt gistiheimilinu minu, tegar a ...

... is every bit as lovely, with the addition of what looks like a grape arbor over the walkway - they told me what viney fruit/vegetable it was, but I couldn't understand.

Samarang took me to an "early retirement party" for a teacher in a neighboring school. The plastic chairs were all covered in white and there was coke, Fanta, water, and a bottle of whiskey at each table.

On the wall was a huge plastic sign with pictures of the ...

... s where as I savored every bite and did a Mammy impression after every mouthful "Mmmm" swallow "Mmmmmm" swallow "Mmm Mmm!" swallow. Oh I nearly forgot to mention, I even had my first cider in maybe 6 Months! Whoop Whoop! Today we went to Ko Larn. Ko Larn is the largest of Pattaya's island with whiter beaches and clearer water than the mainland. It was a fabulous day trip. It cost us 150THB/£3 each to catch the boat over. It was stunning. We sunbathed as ...

... although we didn't have any lessons. In the morning we had 9 monks come to school and we had a service were they bless the school for the new year. It was fantastic to see. One of my M2 boys had to do chants along with the head monk. Then all 9 monks did a long chant. Then the children gave offerings of food to the monks. We were given big parcels of food, then along with the directors and principal and a few teachers, we had to kneel in front of the monks ...

... Then there are two bedrooms, which are (thankfully) somewhat enclosed and air-conditioned. The room will, I'm sure, become my haven when I've had too much heat, too many bugs, and just want to chill. The 'bathroom' and the 'kitchen' are downstairs. The kitchen isn't so much a kitchen, but a slab of concrete underneath the raised house, with a tiny stovetop that they bought for us and a table with all of our pots, pans and plates. I'm actually quite impressed with the heating ability of ...

... that he finally stopped sobbing. Turns out he came from an English speaking family. Chong-chong began as a terror, but this little Chinese boy ended up taking quite a liking to me. He would still act up in class, running around the other students who were singing ring-around-the-rosy and screaming his head off. After my classes I would go ...

... rooms. We were shown upstairs and the rooms looked ok, so we said how much for one room? The old man (with stubble surrounded by young Thai girls) was having none of it and said we had to have a room each! (it really should have clicked at this point what this place was). We walked on and found another cheapie place near the beach. Later, hungry, we walked out for some sustinance and came upon the road we had ...

... to the trails that make up the island's rugged spine. There are many relatively unspoiled beaches here - unspoiled because of the bloody effort required to get to them I reckon. And always a feast of char-grilled seafood which we chomp away at by moonlight. Sitting against triangle-backed cushions with lanterns and the soothing ripple of the surf. Koh Samet becomes our regular getaway. I never once paid the entrance fee. Next ; Bangkok side trips - Ayutthaya