Today Is The Start Of The Pattaya Music Festival,

so we thought we would pop along to have a look and listen, it was strange to see Second Road in daylight, this part of it we normally only see at night, walking towards Walking Street from Second Road I noticed this BMW, nice looking machine, but not quite my style, also no basket on the front, so where could we put our shopping?

the restaurant with those lovely neon signs looks a bit different in daylight, one of the clubs has a car in it's entrance, the sign underneath says, 'steal me if you can'

much to my amazement the Walking Street television screen is still working, unlike the pedestrian crossings, 7 now out of action, with all being switched off at weekends as they slow the cars and bikes down too much, we walked past the smaller of the beach side McDonald's, strange to think when I was first here there was not a single one, or any 7 - 11's come to that,

for anyone that is interested in going this is the programme, also avoid Second Road for the next few days as Beach Road is going to be closed, Second Road will become gridlocked,

we were lucky, just as we approached the Chang beer band they started playing,

and very good they were too,

we going to have a look at some of the stalls but with cars and bikes still using the road plus parked bikes and cars taking up one lane we gave it a miss, which is what happened to a few shoppers as they forgot to look out for cars and bikes, in the evening the road will be closed to traffic,

one of the Soi's looking up from Beach Road to Second Road, it all looks so different in the day time,

to get to our bike we had to walk past McDonald's again,

so we had to have a quick stop there,

a few friends have said that the Beer Garden behind the Siren bar complex is a cool place to hang out in the evening, we might give it a try again,

one Diana's favorites, sea food,

especially lobsters!

two of the newer bars in town,

nearly at the bike, we parked at the end of Soi Diamond in the small Soi opposite,

just before the Diamond Beach hotel there is this small shrine on the left, I guess this is for all of the bars and street,

this is where I used to stay when I first started coming to Thailand, I still say Hi to the same porter every few weeks that was there back in the early 1980's as we some times drive past his house,

the reason I said before that I thought the big shrine was one for the street is because this one is next to the hotel, so I guess this is the hotel's one,

next to the hotel the street gets a little narrow,

on the way home we stopped off at Tuc Com, we needed to buy some DVD cases, to save space and weight Mahendra brought over just the DVD's and the slip around covers, we then buy new cases out here,

and after Diana putting them in their cases this is what they looked like,

a few scary ones there for Diana,

plus of course the newer Poirot and a lot more besides,

later Jay and Precil called in for a chat and a cup of tea,

next to the night market,

I had not seen this stall before, selling artificial flowers,

I am not sure what they are made off, they looked quiet good, but I must say I prefer real plants and flowers,

so far nothing in front of the bar tonight,

so for me a quick walk to see if any thing is new in the pet section, but nothing of any interest,

by the time I returned to the bar a couple of ice cream vendors had arrived,

I have to say it, I do not think many will be sold today, the past few days have been for here quiet chilly, a couple of nights ago going down to 21 C,

full moon, I should have gotten my telescope out,

whilst at the bar Geoff called in to say Hi,

also Juu and Dang were here, the girls have just returned from another shopping fest,

next home feet up to watch the first of our new DVD's first one Diana wanted was a scary one of course, Lake Placid, a man-eating crocodile begins picking off tourists in beautiful Lake Placid, worse it is a big crocodile, could it be some ones pet?

next a strange one Bootmen, charmer Sean Okden gave up tap-dancing when he started working in the steel mill, I wonder why? he then decides to start his own tap-dance group wearing hardhats, which he soon gives an original edge when the steel mill inspires him to weld metal on their shoes and dance on industrial steel, so it the metallic acoustics fit well with a local rock group, after many trials and tribulations his group put on a show to great acclaim, think Fred Astaire with a hard hat,

keeping to a tap dancing routine, The Best of Riverdance (2005), I actualy went with Bob and Debbie to the Hammersmith Apollo to watch a performance of this, but by then the original dancer had been replaced by his understudy Colin Dunne, who was superb, as was this DVD, then for us off to bed.