Pattaya, all grown up.

Wednesday 17^th  Feb 2016.

No need to get going too early this morning, so after a leisurely breakfast, we opt for a wander down Beach Road towards Walking Street. Of course, being daytime, not much is happening, so we wander on, turning away from the beach and heading for a more ‘local’ area. 

wet market

We manage to find a market, fruit, veg and wet market in the middle, housewares, clothes and fabric, (yes fabric!) around the perimeter. Sadly though, no fabric makes it into my possession today. Walked till our feet and backs hurt and jumped our first baht bus back to base. Success! There’ll be no stopping us now! 

Finally we get time to laze by the pool, have a swim and of course, a cocktail. 
 
Sorry, no feet and cocktail photos today, maybe tomorrow………….  The pool is certainly among the most spectacular I’ve ever seen. It’s very freeform and curvey, 0.65m at one end, and 2.5m at the other. Not sure why it needs to be so deep. 

Tonight, the gang is heading for the Hilton Sky Bar for pre dinner drinks, then dinner somewhere in the Central Shopping Centre before going to see the Tiffany show. Pattaya has changed so much since we were here nearly 14 years ago, there’s so much more money in town now, lots more development, and a lot of it is high end development. 
 
Trouble with a large group is that they’re difficult to get moving, that’s why you often hear tour guides putting their foot down and pushing the group to get going. But this is not a tour group and there is only an organizer who has put a lot of time and effort into planning the activities, but has no real power to use the cattle prod. So while we leave the Sky Bar in good time, getting to dinner and ordering takes longer than is preferable, so we decide to chill out and try for the Tiffany show on Saturday night. Literally chill out. After dinner we go to Frosty Freeze for ice cream, made before our eyes from fresh cream poured onto a frozen metal plate and worked until it becomes – ice cream! There’s many choices of bits and pieces that can be added to make any flavor you want. It’s really yum, and I’m glad I didn’t know this place was here 2 days ago! It’s been a nice opportunity to talk to some members of the group we haven’t talked to much, and also to talk to members who have recently arrived. 

After ice cream, the group head their own ways, mostly either home or into a baht bus to take a look at Walking Street in full flight. We’re looking forward to tomorrow when we’ll hear all the stories.