Fish Spa and Great Thai Food

On our way out to breakfast this morning, I had to take a photo of one of the alters on the way. Many of the properties and businesses had an alter of some sort. This one above was particularly beautiful.

Our first adventure of the day was a fish spa. For 150 baht (almost $5 Cdn), little fishes ate the dead skin from our feet for 20 minutes. I was a bit afraid once I saw the tank of fishes but that quickly turned to uncontrolled laughter as soon as the fishes found my feet. Don and I were crying because we were laughing so hard. It felt like little electrical shocks AND the worst tickling you can't stand. It was the best $10 we've spent! Our feet came out nice and soft.

We found a nice outdoor restaurant for a cheap and cheerful Thai lunch. It was so good that we returned for dinner tonight. Having trouble posting pics in this entry. Check out our food in the next entry.

Oh and we saw an elephant across the street from the hotel. It disappeared so quickly into the trees that I didn't have a chance to pull out my camera so you'll have to use your imagination. There was a person riding it if that helps.

Tomorrow, we're going to cooking school. It should be fun!

Night all. J

A View of Our Apartment

Our balcony is the one on the top floor to the left of the green towel.

Day 2 - Pattaya

Got woken up by a rooster nearby. We had a great night sleep on our soft bed which is a big change from our rock hard bed in China. We had a buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then walked down to see thebeach. On our way we walked through a nice neighbourhood with beautiful houses and courtyards. After a short 15 minute walk, we reached the beach. The water is a nice green colour but the beach we saw was small and stuffed with foreign tourists with too little on for my liking. Needed to avert my eyes several times!

The rest of the day was packed with new experiences. Here is a quick summary:

• Took a baht bus for the first time with some help from a couple of fellow tourists. These are a cheap form of public transportation (10 Baht per person or 32 cents Cdn). The routes are limited but they come very often. They are pickup trucks with 2 rows of benches in the back. They beep, stop, you get on, get to where you want to go, ring the bell, get off, pay the driver. Will try to get a pic another time as we WILL be using them again.
• Took bus to Pattaya, the bigger city nearby. We are in a suburb at the edge of it. Checked out the beach there. The above was the view but again more foreigners jamming the small beach.
• Checked out the Walking Street that is a narrow one lane road that is lined with bars, go go bars and other attractions that come out at night. OK during the day but I'd be afraid to walk it at night. Lots of bars with all the chairs turned towards the street for people watching. Lots of massage parlours here. One interesting combo was the tailor and massage parlour store.
• Found a Starbucks with air conditioning and enjoyed a coffee break. Girls who worked there were so nice and spoke great English. Another interesting store placement.

• Walked through a Middle Eastern section with lots of Hookah pipe restaurants to get the baht bus back to our area and lunched at an expat restaurant. There are tons of them here, expats that is as well as restaurants owned by them. Incidentally many many of these expats have a Thai lady companion. Draw your own conclusions.
• Came back home and took a dip in the pool. Ahhhhh!
• After a nap, went back out to have a Mexican dinner in Thailand, ha ha. But on the way there, saw my first bar girls (ladies who sit in the bars to attract and entertain customers).
• Found the fresh food market near our hotel on the way back and picked up some tasty oranges and little bananas to replace the ones we've eaten from the gift fruit basket we got from the hotel. There were little stalls set up with different foods. Thinking we're going to try it for lunch tomorrow.
• Christmas in January - Since we are staying for a month, we got our kitchen supplies from the hotel today. We will have the choice now to cook in our hotel apartment with the toaster, kettle, pots, pans and other cooking and eating utensils. It's Christmas because much of it was still in their boxes so we got to open them up like presents.
• While I napped, Don hung out on our balcony reading and surfing the Internet

After a full day, we are now just taking it easy in our room. Don is enjoying some English tv programs while I blog. Good night. See you all tomorrow for another exciting day in Thailand.

J

Day 1 Part Deux

Last night, we ended up just going to the Tesco / Lotus (grocery / department store). Got there by hotel taxi at a reasonable price and got hosed on the way back by local taxi. Little choice since we couldn't see another way home and it was our first night here. Had a nice cheap Thai dinner in the food court though so we saved money there. And we came home happy with our bags of provisions after a great time in the store. When we are on vacation, we enjoy shopping in grocery stores more than many tourist sites.

This was our lunch on our first day at the hotel restaurant:

Thailand, Day 1

We left a 5C Shantou, China this morning and after a short 3 hour flight, we touched down in Bangkok where it is 28C. Thanks to a prearranged airport pickup, we were in the car quickly and were at our hotel in an hour and a half. The drive was mostly out in the countryside so there were only fields and factories to see. The only thing that stood out were the signs. I can sometimes figure out Chinese signs, but there is absolutely no chance with some Thai signs. Luckily, many are bilingual and so far we haven't had any problems communicating with only English. Nice compared to the part of China we live in.

We checked into our home away from home for the month. As you can see above, we have a nice view of the pool. We went down to have lunch at the hotel restaurant by the pool. Of course, we had Thai food and beers and enjoyed the lovely breeze.

After a lazy afternoon getting acclimatized, we are just trying to decide what to do for the evening. Stay tuned.

We're Back !!!

I can't believe how lazy I've been about the blog. Living abroad has become our "normal" life so things have become ordinary for us. I'd rather blame it on the Great Firewall but that would be wrong. It's time for me to start appreciating life here and sharing through the blog again. Hey, I'll add this to my resolutions. Anyhoo, this is a short posting because we're getting ready to leave for Thailand tomorrow. Can't believe that we are going! We started planning this in November so it hasn't felt real until now.

Through the recommendation of a new friend we met at Algonquin this summer, we've rented an apartment for a month in Pattaya. We have no grand plans for Thailand, only that we will be warm:) If all goes well, we'll also spend a week with our Canadian friends, who we teach with here, in Phuket.

So for the next month, I will definitely be posting our adventures ... unless we end up just lounging by the pool, ha ha.

Happy Canada Day !!!

We are proud Canadians! Don just hung our flag out on the balcony and we watched some of the Molson Canadian videos on Youtube - classic "I am Canadian" commercials. Feeling proud to be Canadians even though we are thousands of miles away. We are coming home soon for the summer and will have our Canadian luggage tags proudly displayed too. See you all soon! J&D