Pattaya, A Place for Old Western Dudes

If you are a Thai dark-skinned girl and desperate for a foreign husband good enough to be like your father, come hunt here and you could be lucky. Am I so mean about this place? Yes I am. A city province 100 kilometers away from Bangkok with a bitch-infested beach especially at night, troublesome european gang men bullying the local men, also those hot gorgeous eastern european women who caters sex… still to the local men, are some of the irking highlights of this crowded city that I’m very, very incompatible with.

Retired white men with bloating stomach are the most irritating unwanted features you will encounter in this place, be it in the shopping mall, restaurants, or even at the public transportation they called songtaew. One golden rule: don’t look at these old dudes or else they might probably assume you’re interested to spend your life to serve and be with them in their forthcoming diaper years and inutility.

For several times I visited pattaya to see friends or just hang-out at night if we’re holding a race event, it really never came to my mind to familiarize this place’ streets and landmarks (except for walking street) and still not confident enough to marvel around alone as I see brothels anywhere reminding me of one of the saddest fate of women, prostitution.

In fairness…it’s popular for most tourists who want to have a taste of sea water very near to Bangkok without traveling that far down south. And while hanging out in the morning or early afternoon, you can sit back, relax and order some not-so-fresh seafood while watching the polluted water with people enjoying the banana boat ride and those show-offs speeding the jet skis. Am I fair in this paragraph? Oh it’s really hard for me to pretend or sugarcoat my words on things I truly detest. My insincere apology for mocking this place is ok if not accepted.

If you still want to enjoy at least a small fraction of your trip to Thailand, come and visit. But then there are still far better place to go to smell the breeze of the beach and definitely not a crowded one. And by the way, you can check the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum here.


Pattaya Image Link: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/162/369146486_f853b3e290.jpg

Kanchanaburi, There’s a Bridge from the Past…and the Reptile Experience

This is the largest province located in the central west side of Thailand. There are so many good places to see but me and my colleagues visited only few familiar and popular landmarks, the Erawan Waterfalls and the Bridge over the River Kwai. This is the first travel I have had with the people I work with in my current employer and it was very historic, adventurous and thrifty as well.

Hanging out with the locals in Thailand is indeed benefiting and enjoyable as I can learn and practice my Thai language, explore more food and places and mostly, know more about their cultures and history. I’m a person who really takes pleasure in knowing the origins and records of the past on any particular subject I get interested in, be it political, religion, science, or anything that shaped a situation or a place.

When we visited this popular bridge over the river Kwai, I moseyed the place and browsed those few posted surviving photos of the prisoners of war who erected the bridge during the World War II. There were many of them, mixed people from different race and they all look starved, tired and worn-out. History said that many people got ill and died while constructing this bridge, well I guess those photos says it all, and I felt a bid sad thinking about it.

We didn’t stay that long and after some picture-taking on the bridge we went to this popular Erawan Waterfalls. We took a long trail going up and after reaching some tiring meters of hike and feeling the pain in our backs and legs, my peoples decided to go down again and enjoy the water…they said the water is more cooler there. I didn’t see the point... or maybe because the waters from the taller height is warmer as it's near the sun!

I actually didn’t take a dive, just soaked my legs in the water and washed my face to freshen my consciousness. While still tasting the salty product of my sweat I noticed a meter-long iguana-like reptile swam across me and I leaped out of the water while uttering lots of the F words. The people around me including my friends sighted my unbecoming behavior and the cursing on air, they all laughed at me and the others were surprised. It’s too casual for them to see any scaly animal around, they said it’s harmless and they all live along the falls and the forest nearby. Ok, its nature preservation, but I’m wondering if something like anaconda or that character in lake placid would appear, is that going to be extreme fun too? Ok I won’t resent on that anymore. I have to admit that my impromptu reaction seeing that reptile was priceless as my colleagues were laughing helplessly and lasted kilometers more until we reached Bangkok that same day.

The history, the falls, and the reptile are the memories planted in my head every time I hear the word Kanchanaburi. The second time we went there I just insisted to visit a smaller waterfall. We also strolled into some caves seeing cute doraemon-looking bats while grossing more scars on my legs as I got bruised several times climbing and falling on those rocks inside. Simply wonderful!

Kanchanaburi images:
Erawan: http://z.hubpages.com/u/444595_f520.jpg
River Kwai: http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/1c/01/68/bridge-on-the-river-kwai.jpg

Koh Samui, The Island and the Mountain Life

I am really, really a blessed person. Not only because I know that I rock in my own simple and special ways but also gifted with generous and caring friends who pampered me for almost a month and stayed with them in this very beautiful island in Thailand. Ah well of course I created a website for them, but then I believe the service I gave wasn’t that enough compared to the kindness they showed me as I was unemployed that time and let me say, in very minimal living. I experienced luxury with them.

They own and develop luxury sea view villas located in the northern part of the island (Bang-po), settled on the mountain and I can say that life is a complete serene if you stay there, only the sound of the crickets and geckos will wake you up sometimes. If you hate the urban life, this place is exactly for you. The place is great, houses are well designed and architectured with pools, lavish gardens, sea view, well-fed dogs and nice northeast people that work and live in the estate and considered like family as well.

“Aren’t you done yet? We need those post lights on and you’ve been there for ages already!” This is the usual line my friend utters when I’m taking a shower at night. She’s not impatient, but while I’m using the hot water in the bathroom, some post lights in the estate will shut off as the phases of electricity wasn’t enough yet during that time. Of course she’s just kidding and annoying me while I’m scrubbing myself privately and extensively. If I reasoned her that I’m doing my shaving, she will say I’m not a gorilla to be like removing all the hairs from my body to be that long. And when I’m done and rush out, she always bet that I ran-out of flavor already for that lengthy shower.

Lunch beside the beach, swimming and browsing topless middle-aged-not-really interesting western women are the daily stuff me and my friends do in daytime. At night we visited and dined in restaurants,resorts and hotels along the eastern side of the island (Chaweng) and sometimes enjoyed drinking cocktails beside the beach with candle lights together with few local friends. That was the first time I had my first glass of Kamikaze. One funny place to visit in this island is this Hin Ta / Hin Yai or simply called “Grandfather / Grandmother’s rock. Cut my brainless head but believe me this is not a nature’s product. It was specially sculpted to look like a male and female genital organs and the history it explained is not believable enough to shape coarsely like that. Just enjoy the white sand beach, the waterfalls, full moon parties and snorkeling.

Koh Samui is a paradise, believe me. Though I'm no longer the one who recently designed my friends' website, I still guarantee everyone for a vacation in this island, and the villas as well.

Visit: Santisook Luxury Seaview Villas http://www.santisookvillas.com

Koh Samui: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Hin_Ta_Hin_Yai.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/6/75272892_ad290f08e9.jpg

Bangkok, the City of Angels...and Strangers

My first trip to Bangkok dated way back almost a decade ago wasn’t really that exciting, not even planned and yet surprising to the person who was expecting someone else and not me to fly and see him. A trip that was immediately scheduled right after a long training from work and of family matters…and this I say was my first successful travel abroad after those numerous attempts to Taiwan, Korea and that office sponsored Australian training cancelled by Ex-president Joseph Estrada due to his J.Walker’s blue label drunkenness.

I came to Bangkok to discuss an unfortunate episode in my father’s life, as being cheated and fooled by a woman he loved aside from my mother, I can say that time I saw a broken man in a city full of strangers. But then I also met few Filipinos who’s been living in this city for several years and somehow I felt like, there is a family to be considered here. But looking at my father’s fate, I can say that he doesn’t have any good friends in his life that time as he was even provoked and tolerated to create a scene that really, really went dramatic.

The first place I wondered by myself in Bangkok is this shopping area they called Pratunam. I bought some few clothes and Thai decors as presents for my family and friends in Manila. It’s a very crowded place and vendors are allowed to sell anything on the side streets without being caught and I can say the costs are cheap if you buy more than a piece. I really don’t have any good reason to buy such things as we also have those in my country, but the idea of buying just to make some people happy is somehow fulfilling.

Bangkok has a lot to offer, the food, the people, and its culture. Now that I’ve been here for almost nine (9) years, I say that living in a different place is a real tough challenge to anyone and bears unending drama and frustration if you are not so careful with your decisions, and mostly, choosing the people to be with. But I can say we don’t need too much friends to make us busy and occupied for not feeling the homesickness. There are far better things to do like, working hard, traveling, a little bit partying and still remembering and connecting those people back home?

Bangkok: http://www.photos-bangkok.com/pratunam.htm