Thailand has a great deal of coastal area, some of it quite famous but best accessed by a flight. We decide instead to go down the western side of the Bay of Bangkok by bus and visit Pattaya, a very crazy waterfront place! The whole economy is based on the tourism industry which supports a healthy trade in the sex industry and it is all quite there, in your face with girly and go-go bars everywhere. One guide book said that if you bring your children, be prepared for some awkward questions, perhaps too if you bring your wife!
We find a nice guest house a block from the beach and take a walk. This is just an amazing place. There ARE lots of families and many wifes and many men with Thai "girl friends." (These are not the ones with their wives!)
Awestruck, well fed and tired, we go back for a nap before the evening. We find that everything becomes far more exagerated than it was in the daytime. Neon, Chaos, bells and whistles, girls, guys and fresh seafood galore.
We stop for dinner. The biggest restaurants are all famous for their fresh seafood and have their whole menu posted in the front of the restaurant by way of plates under glass and you choose the courses you want not by looking at a menu, but by seeing the actual plated order. No mistakes! The hostess walks us through the choices noting our every selection, a few appetizers, a salad and a steak and lamb for our main courses. We are then escorted to a table on a huge pier over the water.
On our walk back toward the hotel we stopped and listened to no less than three live bands and passed as many more. While the singers can rarely speak English, they learn the songs through mimic and sound exactly like the original band. We actually heard John Lennon and other long dead favorites. Shut your eyes and you were certain the star was there performing on your behalf. This was as different a place in the world as I have ever been!
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