9. Bus trip to Pattaya

I don't check luggage anymore. I had some luggage lost once long ago, and I've resolved to never check luggage again. It's OK as long as I travel alone....probably wouldn't work if I traveled with a woman. This is my bag, the same backpack I walk to work with almost every morning. I have 5 weeks worth of stuff packed in there. You can do it if you want to, just got to learn how.

I pack a mean suitcase

This post is two days worth. I decided to take the bus trip from Sihanoukville to Pattaya, and man was that ever a mistake. It's the worst day since I've been here. The bus company came and gathered up everyone and took us to the bus station, and it left on time. But the mountainous road along the rocky coast was very twisty, up and down, and in poor repair in places. Often the bus had to slow to around 5 or 10 mph many times. The second half was a little faster.

Rough roads made for slow going

Had to slow to a walk to cross this mess

Potholes galore

Bus arrives at Koh Kong border crossing

The walk between border checkpoints seemed like
about half mile in the hottest part of the day

It's when we got to the border that things turned ugly. I had paid in Cambodia for a ticket through two countries, and perhaps that wasn't the smartest thing to do in hindsight. Once you pay, they have your money, and you are at their disposal. There was no bus waiting for us. We were left in the hottest part of the day to inquire to locals or whoever we saw as to where our bus could be met. After a while of walking up and down the Thai side of the border, about six people traveling to Pattaya congregated and we found someone who seemed to know what was going on. It seems the remainder of the trip would be in small passenger vans. What's more, the vans would not leave until they were full. As a result, we had to hang around almost two hours after our departure time. When enough passengers finally trickled in to make our quota, I was sandwiched into the back row with three other fat guys. All passengers were English speakers, and the rather surly driver spoke no English. We made three bus changes on the way, and each time the smaller and more evil of the passengers made a point of hogging the front seats, leaving the meek fatties squeezed together in the back row like so many water balloons. At the next stop I had to take it upon myself to implore some of the skinny passengers to please, please take the back seat. Only one silently agreed, the angel. Two ignored me, and the smallest and most wicked one leered at me and said  "I rather fancy the front seats". At the last moment I appealed again, and things at last became quite a bit more fair. A frizzy haired old man who looked sort of like Albert Einstein and weighed all of about 100 lbs switched seat with the whale of our group (300 lbs?) and we were off. However, after my whining and griping about seating, the remainder of the ride was tense for me. Our scheduled arrival of 6:15 PM ended up being 9:30 PM. Never again. I'm flying from now on.

All I heard about Pattaya is that it is the center of the international sex tourism business. There is a small coastal region which is home of Walking Street, haven't been there yet. I suppose I should make my way down there and see what it's all about tonight. The majority of Pattaya is a large city, home mainly to the Thai workers supporting  the large hotel and entertainment industry. Last night I went to a very fancy restaurant where I was the only farang. I think it was called "The Living". It was very interesting to see young trendy Thais (I'm supposing most were successful Bankokians) in their own element. There was a band playing with drums, acoustic guitar, sax and a singer.


The songs were in a jazzy western pop style, and sounded so familiar...the words were in Thai, but it almost seemed they were in English and I simply could not understand the words, normal for me anyway with most rock and pop songs in English. The food was simply superb. I had a seafood mix in a blazingly hot sauce, with two appetizers and drinks with a small tip for about $25. Not cheap, but very reasonable for what I got. I then went to the Mini Siam Museum, where they had the world's great architectural sites in miniature.

At first I thought it would be tacky, but it was all very interesting and well done. Well, except for the lighting. They really need to redo the string/plastic tube lighting. This work was quality enough and deserves a lighting upgrade. In the back corner of the complex was a model bank building that seemed out of place, nothing special. As it turns out it's the bank which supports this park, so they get their building in there too, alongside Angkor Wat, the Eiffel Tower and the Roman Coliseum.

I also went to a lookout point to get a view of the entire bay. It was really pleasant and cool up there, and I spent about an hour just hanging out and looking around.

Pattaya Bay. I've been told it's not a good beach, but Jomtien Beach
 further south is quite good. Will find out later.

These were some beautiful flowering trees surrounding the lookout point. White, yellow and pink. They were out of reach so I could not tell if they were fragrant.

I feel rested now after that awful bus trip, so I think I will head down to Jomtien Beach this morning and see what that's like. The weather here is great, with a constant breeze coming in off the ocean. Just had breakfast and coffee and feeling strong. I hope everyone is well at home.