Bloggin'......

Thailand! - Day 4

CORAL ISLAND

We met up again in the morning with our fellow tourists for breakfast at the hotel. One thing I've always enjoyed at hotels is the continental breakfasts where they prepare a wide variety of foods, and the variety of fruits and juices. Here at the Marriott, the variety is an understatement! Through a little mix up, we forgot to get a picture of the juices, but Jen, Diana, and I had an impromptu tasting session.

Today's actvities included an excursion out to Coral Island, a local island off the coast from Pattaya. It's an amazing island, with its white sand and clear blue waters. Our first stop before the island, though, was a platform about a mile from the the shore for some parasailing. I, myself, and a mother of one of the other families, were the only ones to take a trip up in the air. It was a only a short flight in the air but I had a lot of fun, none-the-less.

We gathered our things, and made our way on the final approach to the island. It was a bit crowded, but there was plenty of space for us to play in the sun and water. We even rode a bannana boat, an inflatable "water toy" that can seat up to four people, pulled by a jetski. The guy driving was a bit crazy, as he would weave through traffic in the water and then jerk the rope to make us spill all over. We got a lot of good laughs, though the first ride was a bit unexpected and we thought for sure, we'd run someone over.

We spent the rest of the morning just swimming off the beach and playing in the water.

FREE AFTERNOON

After returning from Coral Island, we were given a free afternoon in which we could tour and explore Pattaya by ourselves. The girls went to the spa and I decided I could explore the city by myself. "Great", the girls said, I could go find a post office for them and mail their post cards. Girls can be mean. =P

Finding the post office was not hard. It was the wait that completely surprised me! When I got there, it was a post office on a seedy street, full of bars, and "hotels", but it was a post office, none-the-less. It was crowded inside, people sitting, people standing, and a numbering system that seemd like it was on infinity. I looked for a stamp vending machine, as stamps were all that I needed. Alas, I had to take a number, 584 or something! I looked up at the board and saw that they were only up to 450 something. Sigh! This only brought back memories of the DMV back home. Double sigh!

I paced around the room for a little bit, trying to think if it was worth spending my free afternoon at the post office. But then the strangest thing happened. In the back of the room, there were sacks of what appeared to be mail and someone's ticket. I picked it up expecting it was someone's discarded ticket, when I saw the numbers: 468. I looked at the board and saw 466! I had found Gold! Was it real? Was it a trick? I was in a foreign country. Did some mobster expect me to pay a "convienience fee" for it? I was scared! Then the number was called. 468! I took the number, and darted to the counter. 17 stamps for postcards, I said, and they gave me the stamps.

Now in Thailand, it seems self adhesive technology has yet to appear here on the streets, so I decided it was best to go back to the hotel in which I could wet the stamps with some water and mail them from the hotel. But as I made my way to the door, the person who stood next to me when I found the ticket preceded me out the door. Now, thoughts of the mob really started to run through my mind! Do they break knees or cut off fingers I thought!? I quickly turned around, and thought not to attract attention to myself and stall for time by licking each stamp individually and mailing the postcards right there. I've forgotten how disgusting stamp adhesive was and by the end, I think I lost all taste/feeling in my mouth.

I dropped off the postcards and proceeded cautiously out the door. No one in sight! Great! I was going to go back to the hotel, but I decided to walk around for a bit. The streets were filled with shops and street vendors peddling their wares, from fake watches to manufacturer rejects. I saw a lot of "orth ace" backpacks and jewelery, but I didn't have much need for those things, as I had plenty of junk at home already. I spent the rest of the day sitting on the beach, peering out into the open sea and reflected on my day's adventure.

We met up again in the evening as a group for a seafood barbeque buffet and we all had a great laugh over my adventure today.

TIFFANY SHOW

In the evening, we attended the Tiffany Show, Thailand's first tranvestite caberet show. It was a fun filled show, of culture and entertainment. Transvestite style. Interesting indeed. We sat pretty close up to the front of the audience, so Diana kept poking at me, "oh, so pretty... quick take a picture, take a picture...." However, she was just as tired from her day, as she fell asleep halfway through the show. So did Jen. =P

Posted by Jimmy at September 13, 2004 12:00 AM