We Survived Our First Week

Well, we survived our first week in Thailand.  We've spent most of our time learning the area and getting our condo all situated.  We actually had to move from our initial condo into a slightly smaller, but more manageable condo.  We were missing a few things when we started to set everything up, but fortunately we have people looking after us to help us out along the way.  On a slight side note this is our address:

Room 202.

Learning the area seemed like it would take a while at first, but after walking everywhere and then learning how to ride the Baht Bus (the local taxi) we seemed to have learned the area fairly quickly.  For those of you who do not know exactly what a Baht Bus is, it is basically a truck with a cover and railings that drives around the Pattaya area.

That is the best picture I currently have of a Baht Bus, but you get the idea.

I think our favorite part of walking around and learning the area is going to the beach.  The entire beach is lined with umbrellas and chairs for tourist to sit in and lounge around.  It can be annoying at times while you're sitting on the beach.  There are vendors who walk up and down the beach selling everything imaginable: fruit, grilled prawn, fried shrimp, ice cream, sunglasses, necklaces, hammocks, henna tattoos, jet skis, boat rides, and so much more.  Now, 99% of the vendors I will dismiss before they even position themselves in front of us, but the fruit vendor (the only one i really want to come over) is the only one who I have to wave over. 

That was the woman with the grilled prawns.  Also, that man in the black speedo thing, he stood in that 5ft radial area for over an hour and half with his hands on his hips spinning in circles like he was modeling to impress.

The beach view was quite nice as well.  Like Hollywood, Pattaya Beach has a sign on a nearby "mountain" That says "Pattaya City".

The orange and white buoys are swimming areas and outside of those are boats and jet skis lined all up and down the beach.

There are several malls along Beach Street (not the actual street name, but the street is referred to as Beach Street).  The closest mall to us is Royal Crown Plaza.  There are 4 levels to that mall and they have many great shops and come of the comfort food from back home: McDonalds, Burger King, KFC.  A little farther down the street is Central.  This is a 7 level (8 if you count the level below ground, and probably the best level) mall.  This mall has a great view of the beach and the street below.

This picture is from the deck on the 6th level overlooking Beach Street and the Bay.

Well, that is about how we spent our first week in Thailand.  We haven't done much in the way of night life yet.  We went out last night for the first time, but we weren't out for that long.  We went to Walking Street, which is the nightlife capital of West Pattaya.  I will try and get some pictures to post for next time, but until then just let me say that Walking Street at night is unlike anything you will ever find in the States.  Hopefully I'll be able to take some tasteful and appropriate pictures to put online for my next post.  Until then, I hope everyone is doing well, and those of our friends who are still in school we hope exams went/are going well and have a wonderful and safe holiday break.

Cheers,
   Cush