PATTAYA

Saturday morning we packed a weekend bag and met in the communal area of the hostel, there was 17 of us due to head to Pattaya and we waited for a mini bus due to collect us at 8am. This was our first experience of ‘Thai time’ as at 8:30 we were still waiting and thinking of that extra 30 minutes we could have had in bed! Eventually we were off and what we were told would take about 2 hours seemed to take about 3 and a half! We stopped half way for some authentic Thai food in the form of McDonald’s, most of the group had a regular breakfast and I had an ‘English Muffin’ (chewy microwaved bread). Most of the food is the same as back home although they did offer ‘Pork Porridge’ not something anyone was up for trying! The hotel that we had booked looked good and had a tiny pool and nice outdoor seating area which we waited in until the rooms were ready. As soon as we were checked in it was bikinis and suncream on and we headed straight for the beach (as this was the main reason for coming, apart from Walking Street which I’ll get to later). The beach was a bit dirty and the sea was practically brown but it was there and we could swim! After buying a ball and playing in the sea all day we headed back to the hotel to prepare ourselves for a night out in Pattaya.

The hotel organised transport for us in the form of a large Tuk Tuk, which we nicknamed a ‘Truck-truck’. These are intended to carry about 12/14 Thai people not 16 Farangs (Thai word for westerners), we crammed in anyway and sat 2 people on the floor with a further 2 people hanging off the back! The main strip is known as Walking Street and is jam packed full of neon signs, lady boys and people trying to get you into their bars or to a ping pong or strip show! We went to an amazing sea food restaurant for dinner and then ventured into some of the bars. The first bar that we landed at was a go-go bar with lady boys dancing on the tables, it is ridiculously difficult to tell a lady boy from and actual lady! We were on the look out for adam’s apples, big feet and big jaws! The next bar we made our way to was a gay bar where the dancers looked more like women than men but were definitely not lady boys! Watching the lady boys and thai prostitues was fascinating, you just could not take your eyes off them, the transformation is amazing and the have better figures than many girls I know! After a bit of drinking and dancing and making friends with a ladyboy named Mya we piled back into a ‘Truck truc’ and headed back to the hotel where we immediately got into our bikinis and jumped into the pool. The owner loved it that much he took a photo for his instagram! On Sunday morning when we got up we went for breakfast (cold fried eggs and disgusting coffee!) the weather was stormy so we didn’t bother much with the beach and instead chilled out in a restaurant before a quick dip and then it was time to head back to Bangkok for one last night on Kho Sarn Road before heading to the hotel for orientation week the next day.