Somewhere sunny and 75

"Now let me welcome everyone to the wild, wild west. 

A state that's untouchable like Eliot Ness." 

- Dr. Dre, "California Love"

Last weekend I went down to the coastal town of Pattaya with some friends. The town has a pretty seedy reputation.  It's sort of like the Thai version of Las Vegas. But we all wanted to go to the beach - sacrifices had to be made.

I grabbed a bus down after work Friday. Fun travel fact: the cab from the bus station to the hostel cost more than my bus ticket to get to Pattaya. Due to travel delays I ended up being the last one to get to the hostel. The owner enthusiastically told me that since I was the last to arrive, I would have to be the first die. Funny guy. This set the stage for a very promising weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d5_lrn9v-g

Pattaya is a very interesting place. There were a few odd details that set it apart from other cities I’ve visited in Thailand. First, there are hardly any Thai people there. The city is completely filled with expats. The only Thais I really saw were the ones who owned or worked in some sort of business.

The other really weird thing was that this place is packed with Russians. The amount of Russians far outweighed any other nationality there. Most restaurants had their signs and menus in Russian – sometimes not even having English at all. Not very helpful if you don’t speak either language.

Saturday we laid out on the beach all day. This was great. I hadn’t been to the beach in forever and it was nice just to relax in the sun for the day.

We also found a Thai man to take us on his banana boat for a little while. This is a giant inner tube that holds up to 6 people. The boat drags us around and it’s basically like tubing (Crystal Lake, what up). It was pretty fun and I got a good taste of the ocean when he would whip us off during the sharp turns. Sea salt is much better in sea salt and vinegar chips.

In case you weren't sure, this wasn't us

At night we checked out some of the bars and clubs in the downtown. This areas were still completely filled with Russians as well. The nightlife was similar to most places in Thailand but we didn't really venture into the rougher parts (don't worry mom and dad).  All in all, it was a good weekend trip to see a different side of Thailand.

On the school front, midterms are over and the home stretch of the semester has begun. There are only five more weeks until finals, which is pretty wild. After that, it's a two and half month break. My Netflix que can hardly wait.

Chinese New Year is in two weeks. I’m looking to relax this weekend before traveling somewhere for that. It will be the second new year I've had in Thailand, so I'm getting pretty stocked. Bangkok is also shut down right now. This makes the second government shutdown I've seen over the past three months. Two new years, two shutdowns. The world is a pretty wild place.

Mark