Saturday - I broke record for my furthest solo adventure so far. Went to Pattaya beach by bus from Bangkok. Had to do it although I knew that going to the beach alone is not much fun. It's either that or staying put at the apartment (I wasn't in the mood for anything else other than the beach!). BTW, the day before, when I called my mom, she just advised me not to go travelling on my own (dangerous and everything - blah, blah, blah). She doesn't understand I'm pretty much addicted to sightseeing. I'm willing to risk a lot of things and whatever happens, I shall not regret.

Anyway, I was pretty excited because this was quite a 'rambo' style adventure whereby I didn't do much planning at all. And I wasn't very sure of going to Pattaya either. All I knew was which bus station to go to and which beach to head to. Other than that, I was pretty much on my own. My guide book does not have a map of Pattaya nor much information on going there. Oh, what the heck. All I'm going to do was just to visit the beach.

So I took a cab to Ekkamai bus station (the Eastern terminal). Luckily the taxi driver could speak a bit of English because I wanted to be sure that he was going to take me to that particular bus station and not some other place with the same name!

At the bus station, just like my colleague told me, there was only one counter for the Pattaya bus. The ticket costs only 90 baht. Every half an hour there would be a bus. The last bus from Pattaya is 9pm.

Waited a while before the bus arrived. The bus departed at about 10.30am. There was a bit of traffic jam along Sukhimvit Road - 20 minutes. Only after that, our ride was smooth (as silk?).

During the bus journey, there was heavy rain off and on. I was like - 'Oh no! How to sightsee in the rain? I didn't even bring an umbrella! Anyway didn't worry too much about that because I don't like to worry over things that I can't control.

Wasn't sitting by the window and the rain was pretty heavy for me to view the outside scenery from the bus. So closed my eyes and tried to sleep (without success like always!).

About 2 hours reached the destination bus station. From there I was supposed to take a tuk-tuk (like a trishaw motorbike) but I couldn't see one at all. But there were many 'songthaews' (public vans) and a man was calling out 'Jomtien'. Cool! That's the beach I'm heading and I get to try the songthaew after all!

There were like 10 people on the songthaew and I had no idea where the Jomtien beach was. Couldn't even ask the driver because I was sitting at the very end. So I decided to depend on my 'travelling luck'. Hoping to see the beach and check for signs!

At that time, I still couldn't see any beach at all. We passed through the Pattaya town where some spots were littered with go-go bars and clubs. You could see those neon signboards with girlie pictures and says 'Sexy shows - no cover charge'. You could also see a number of guys (some of them old ones) with young Thai ladies. It made me wanna puke.

Suddenly the songthaew turned into a junction and I could see the beach! But I knew it could be just the Pattaya beach - not Jomtien yet. I decided to try my luck by asking one of the passenger.

What luck! He spoke a bit of English too. He asked 'Jomtien, sea breeze?' That was what I heard and I couldn't figure out what he meant until after he left that I thought he meant 'Jomtien, see beach?'. He helped me tell the driver to drop me off at Jomtien.

The minute I reached another beach, I knew it was Jomtien because I saw a lot of Thai people having picnics by the beach. Jomtien is a more popular place among Thai people - more family oriented. The ride costs me 30 baht (I think I was suckered because the ride should be 20 baht). It is pretty frustrating not to be able to argue when you can't communicate with the other party!

Anyway, I was here at the beach! Yippee! Mission accomplished!

Couldn't immediately celebrate as I was in search for a public toilet after more than 2 hours journey. Toilet fees is 5 baht and for shower is 10 baht. I changed into my swimsuit just in case I could go for a swim in the sea (but I doubt so since I couldn't just leave my belongings alone).

There were three tasks to accomplish at Pattaya - (1) to search for a nice spot for a future visit, (2) to take some photographs and (3) to get a good sun tan.

(1) - You'll be amazed of how commercialized the beach is. On one side of the road is the sands and beach. The other side are all shops - restaurants, souvenir shops, motels and hotels. There were many big umbrellas with folding chairs (what do you call those chairs anyway?) for you to sit and enjoy the sea breeze. There would be small tables too just in case you need to have food and drinks by the size. There were many vendors selling drinks and along the beach you could see tubes for hire and banana boat rides. There were also boards saying that the beach was a rabies free zone and that dogs were not allowed. Well, I can tell you that I counted more than ten dogs around here!

It was a very long stretch of beach and I walked on and on in hopes of finding a seaside which was interesting - you know where some parts are rocky and you could see fishes (like in Port Dickson?). Well, the beach was all sands and too long for me to get to the furthest end which I think are private beach owned by hotels. I walked about 40 minutes before getting tired and sleepy! There was a open spot which was occupied with those folded chairs and I decided to 'settle there'. I brought a fly-sheet (which I remembered later was also a raincoat as well) and set in on the sand.

Had my lunch of sandwiched which I made in the morning. Actually there are many foodstalls around but I prefer having my food looking at the sea and enjoying the sounds of waves and feeling the sea breeze. Also read a magazine lying down. Then decided to sleep on the beach with my cap covering the face. I'm just acting out what I see in movies and pictures from comics. But it was really hard to fall asleep - I worried that suddenly someone would run off with my belongings.

After an hour of trying to doze off, I woke up because I suddenly thought whether a person could be killed from a coconut falling on top of one's head. I was actually right under a coconut tree.

(2) Took less than 5 shots here. The last one with me in the picture taken by a Thai girl. Just had to had a memory that I was here!

I decided that I wouldn't go to a beach alone next time. It's not fun to watch other people having fun! I wouldn't mind coming to the beach to enjoy the wind and taking a stroll. But not able to play in the water is pretty torturing to my mind!

(3) The weather was actually fantastic for fun and frolick on the beach without getting tan at all because it looked like it was going to rain but didn't at all. So, I didn't get my sun tan after all. I really wanted to swim at sea because I haven't swam in the sea before since I knew swimming. That's why I am looking forward to beaches to try out my swimming skills. But that would have to wait another day since I didn't have anyone to watch over my belongings.

One thing that I hoped they would have were the canoes but they didn't. Because I could go canoeing alone with my bags in the canoe and explore the seaside. That was actually my plan (which didn't materialize).

At 3.30pm I packed my stuff and walked along the beach again hoping to get on a songthaew which goes to the bus station. Well, I did get on a songthaew but had no idea where it headed to! There was only a lady and her daughter but they got off somewhere in Pattaya town before the station. I couldn't speak to the driver as there was a glass window between the back seats and the driver's seat. So, here's hoping on my traveller's luck.

I knew my luck ran out when I saw a temple that I hadn't seen before when I was heading towards Jomtien. After a few more minutes the van stopped and the driver indicated that it was the last stop. We had arrived at some part of the town where I totally had no idea where I was. So I asked the driver whether he knew where the bus station was.

Fortunately he also could speak a bit of English and said that he could take me there but for another additional 30 baht. I know I was suckered again, because the fee was too high. But what the heck I couldn't see any taxi stands or bus stations around. So I got back on the van.

I knew the point where I headed on the direction away from the station. It was at a roundabout and I was right. Okay, so I'm not bad at directions but I must prepare myself more rather than count on luck. Anyway, it's still a devilish thought that I liked getting lost once in a while.

There was a bit of good news in that I arrived later at the station because I would have taken the earlier bus which broke down somewhere along the route. Some of the passengers got on to our bus and they had to stand for about 1 hour.

The journey back to Bangkok was quite enjoyable because the bus driver drove pretty fast and the road wasn't totally flat. So, it's a bit like roller coaster with sudden ups and downs.

Reached Ekkamai station at about 6.15pm. I took the skytrain back to Chong Non Si but somehow got on the wrong skytrain at the interchange at Siam station! I ended up at the National Stadium station. So, I thought what the heck, I might as well shop around at Tokyu Shopping Complex.

I looked for the toilet because I was still wearing my swimsuit! Changed into something more comfortable and decided to have dinner at Tokyu as well. I had 'yakisoba' noodles at a Japanese restaurant which served Japanese noodles (ramen). Mmm... quite yummy. Yep, it was an enjoyable meal!

I also bought two blouse at Tokyu store. They were something I like and nowadays if I see something I like and quite reasonable, I'll just snap it up. I didn't want to come here a second time unless I have to!

And so that was my adventure yesterday. Today I went to work for about 6 hours. I really enjoy my weekends here - business with pleasure. It feels like a vacation each weekend I'm here!

Regards,
Li Li