4.30 And We Are At Mark's House Getting Ready To Go,

after a couple of drinks,

Anchisa and Diana went to find a baht bus,

and here it is, 500 baht one way, so all aboard the skylark!

as we left Pattaya it was totally dry, but along the Sumkavit highway the weather took a turn for the worse,

in a matter of seconds the rain caught us up,

with a vengeance!

and just when I thought it could not get any worse it did!

plastic macs always needed at this time of the year,

Pattaya Floating market really was floating by now,

and a fairly empty car park,

but as we turned into Ban Ampour the rain finally stopped,

we thought we were going to Prechai, but it was closed till Thursday,

so we had a stroll through town looking for another place to eat, which is not a problem as there are several restaurants in the area, also many shops like this one above selling dried squid and shrimps, the smell, the smell!

we walked along to the jetty where the squid and fishing boats were tied up,

little and large!

boats as far as the eye can see,

ah, so romantic!

I guess the fisherman's shrine,

we could not walk past the dried seafood shop with out buying some thing,

I have to say the smell in the shop for me was totally unpleasant,

we eventually decided on the Malabar, it looked quite laid back and rustic, not at all like the others, which like Prichai have more of a fast food look about them, (except the bit of Prichai where we sit at the far end which is all wood),

Anchisa, Mark and Diana at the entrance to Malabar,

this is the jetty that we see from Prichai, at night it looks so nice, but as it still looked like it might rain we stayed in the covered area,

in the center of the restaurant is this huge tree, it has lots of growths on the trunk,

and when I say huge it really is,

I almost had to walk in to the sea to get it all in,

the green blinds are where we normally sit at Prechai,

a small shrine in the tree,

the first plate of food arrives, crab fried rice,

then shrimps, crabs and vegetables,

prawn doughnuts, morning glory, big prawns and rock lobsters,

then two pans of steamed mussels arrived,

and then the fish course,

sunset over the bay,

but back to the food, the fish is kept warm and continues to cook as it has a burning piece of charcoal under it,

never let it be said that my behaviour is fettered by such constraints as good taste, I just can not get the hang of chopsticks, well that is my excuse! (quote by Tom Lehrer) go here to listen, it really is good,

we did eventually go onto the jetty for a couple of drinks,

the food was great, some new and totally different flavours,

Mark called his taxi driver for the way home, the total for the meal was 1,200 a couple, we brought our own wine but had more than a few gins and vodkas before we left,

our car for the way home, not that I remember much about it, but a loverly evening and yes it was a blessing that Prechai was closed as we went to another venue, now heres the rub next time we go to Ban Ampour which one will we go to, now that's the right question!