Welcome Jomtien Beach Pattaya

... also walked around the orchid garden of the cultural center. They had several different species &amp; colors of orchids. We are not real flower coinsures, but we knew that Mormor, Morfar &amp; Mrs P would have loved it so Jack took several pictures for them. They had made several different sculptures using terra cotta flower pots...lots of pictures of those as well for Mr. P. <br><br>The microphone in the bus worked much better ...

... our hotel wasn't right there, but we thought that might be a good start. Unfortunately it was not and we ended up wandering for a while and then finally getting a cab. However our cab driver had no idea where he was going and we drove around forever trying to get there. Luckily he did agree after a while to call the hotel and get directions from them. We finally made it around 9 pm, showered, ate and went back to Walking Street to meet up with a guy ...

... 6) for the visit and the medicine. I didn't even turn it in." And of course, for little things like malaria or strep throat, you just go to the pharmacy and get antibiotics over the counter. Likewise for birth control pills, viagra, valium, Retin A for acne, etc. Most pills (even aspirin, decongestant, etc.) are sold in blister packs of 10, so they are cheap per tablet to begin with plus you only buy minimal amounts at one time.<br><br>Add to that the ...

... waves, German sausages and Belgian beer instead of local food. Not good... The second day we tried to do restore some of the damage and checked in a better hotel with a nice pool, got our feet massaged and enjoyed a nice meal with some exotic, crunchy apetisers (see photos). They needed a bit of garlic parsley sauce (anything tastes good with garlic and parsley) and we doubt they are actually traditional food but it was a good laugh. Catherine even liked the small ...

... cock' farm.. Emily and I were quite excited about the prospect of this until we realised it was breeding cockrels for fighting! So we saw how the cockrels lived, are bred and taken care of - and believe me they are taken better care of than us humans! Anyway the guy gave one of our young fighters a cockrel to take home so we had fun transporting it home in a make-shift box with a whole for it's head! One morning we had a massive buddist ceremony outside ...

... a freebie ride, it didn't take me long to decipher that most of the drivers thought that you were a willing sponser of their petrol tank! and the only reason you were hitch-hiking was that there was no public transporation around! I once resorted to hitch-hiking with a few Farang buddies of mine after we had got lost somewhere in the jungles of Kanchanaburi. Since most of the drivers passing-by hadn't a clue what we were up to sticking our thumbs like a bunch of clowns ...

... However, we had noticed earlier that storm clouds had been brewing down the shoreline. And of course, these storms clouds turned into a storm, in which we became caught. Luckily Sam, Gabe, and me had seen it coming a few seconds early and bolted to the 7-Eleven. Jimmy, however, had wandered off to wash his feet and got caught in the torrential downpour. He was soaking wet by the time he found us ...

...than starve and die tomorrow." Intense stuff. This was the reasoning of one Thai bar girl who tried to entice one of the staff here by saying "I boom boom no condom." Apparantly an extreme rarity for these girls. Every day you learn a little more I guess. Anyway - off to some island tomorrow to lie on the beach and eat coconuts. Not too shabby I guess.

We have now nearly finished our week in Pattaya, and will soon be enduring a 50km cycle North to the seaside resort of Bang Saen. We have had a pleasant week, last night we went to a strip bar, (I was sure it was a snooker hall Jo, honestly). We are starting to learn the Thai language (3 words per day). The dog eat dog style traffic (and human eat dog style food) is beginning to ...

... to get some medicine. I really wanted to go out that night, but I just took my medicine and went to bed.<br><br>July 8<br>I slept in late. Around 11:30 N comes to meet me and we go to eat at the restaurant right next to the hotel. There were only a couple of customers there. The restaurant was so peaceful and quiet. The food was great too! Does this country even have bad food? We went to see a movie at royal Garden ...