We Are Going To Have A Day Out!

off to the near island for a day on the beach, first stop the 7-11 for a few nibbles on the beach as there is not one on the beach we go to, but the 7-11 was closed for repainting, so on to the Family Mart,

whilst waiting I took this shot looking across the road, I guess it all makes perfect sense to someone,

park the bike and on to Bali Hai pier,

at 30 baht one way it is a cheap day out with a boat ride thrown in!

not much room but we had a seat each and we were off,

we sat at the rear of the boat,

we caught the 10.00 ferry, the down side is that it lands on the near side of the island, we should have gotten up early and caught the 09.00 ferry that goes directly to the beach we wanted to be on, what a great thing hindsight is! but it is goodbye Pattaya for the day,

as we arrive at the jetty there is a resort on the left,

with bungalows over the sea, great for addicted fisherman, you can fish 24/7!

there are a few on the other side of the jetty as well

the view back to Pattaya,

then a 30 baht motorbike taxi ride over the hill to the beach, the streets in the town are just one bike wide,

literally, if one bike is coming the other way it is a tight squeeze,

and if you are a bit tall remember to duck as you go around some of the corners,

then up the hill,

and down the other side,

our first glimpse of the beach,

we are nearly there,

looking back the way we came, the fare is 30 baht each, but we only pay one way as we will take the return ferry from this beach,

already it is more than a bit crowded,

we stopped at the place we normally sit at, but the price of a chair had doubled, now 100 baht each, so we had a little walk further along,

along the way many shops are selling fresh fish and seafood that can be bar-b-qued,

a few large shellfish as well,

plus lots of shrimps and crabs,

it was more than a bit overcast when we left, in fact Diana thought it might rain, but as the time past it got brighter,

until there was hardly a cloud in the sky,

it was high tide, so chairs were put out as the sea receded,

all along the beach the charge was 100 baht a chair so we walked back to our usual spot,

diet coke for Diana, coffee for me, Diana had a crab poc-poc, for me chicken fried rice, all for 220 baht,

then of course a coconut for Diana and a beer for me, well it was hot out there!

'Cheers!' from me,

and from Diana,

Diana decided to have another walk so she took a few pictures of the seafront shops,

lots of nice things to buy, but of course everything has to be brought over from the mainland so prices are a tad higher,

by now the place was really filling up with tourists,

although there were two or three seats here and there available it was difficult to find six or so seats in a row for groups of people arriving,

well Diana just had to have an ice cream! the really strange thing out here is that all of the Thai vendors walking along the beach call out what they are selling in Russian, I have to say it, I was the only person that I could hear on the way out, whilst there and on the way back again speaking English, with the exception of a few Far East tour groups everyone else seemed to be from Russia,

then time for the 4.00 ferry in the afternoon to make our way back to Pattaya, cost for both of us for the day? 120 baht ferry return, 60 baht taxi to the beach, 200 baht for the beach chairs, 220 baht for the food, 30 baht a coconut, 40 baht a beer and 20 baht for the ice cream, change out of 700 baht for a great day out, also it would have been 60 baht cheaper if we had caught the 09.00 ferry,

on the way back we caught sight of the Yellow Submarine, it takes tourists around the coral reefs that suround the islands, last time I looked 1,800 for Thais, 3,600 for tourists, I have never seen it moved from it's moorings since it went into service more than a few years ago,

if you are brave enough you can hire a jet ski, but be carefull out there!

if you are in a hurry there are speed boats for hire to make the trip to the islands, cutting the journey from 50 minutes or so to just 20,

another ferry catches us up as we near Pattaya,

Royal Cliff Hotel, we will be on land soon,

Pattaya light house and the newly completed road over the top of the hill,

nearly there going past one of the floating restuarant, this one we have not been to,

but we had a great time on this one last year,

past the City sign and we were back on shore,

next a sit down to watch the world go by we stopped at the cafe just at the begining of the pier,

a ice coffee for Diana and a beer for me,100 baht,

we called into Friendship as I was getting a bit low on wine to buy another box, to save Diana cooking we had decided to buy two portions of chicken soup, whilst I stayed with the bike I took this shot on a egg seller, there is a small charcoal fire under the eggs to cook them,

but bad news, no sign of the soup stall, so Diana is cooking tonight,

we settled down to watch Around the World in 80 Gardens this was the last DVD in the series, firstly traveling to the stylized gardens in Europe, think Château de Villandry, nice but not to my taste, then to South East Asia, where I think Monty lost the plot somehow, he complained that he could not find a jungle garden, well for me the answer is go to the jungle, the same could be said that you could not see a mature British forest garden in say Birmingham or Manchester, if you want to see a forest, well, er, go to the forest, but all in all a fascinating series, I must admit I got a bit lost when people were making all sorts of airy fairy statements about gardens, I guess the same sort of conversations people have about art in galleries, not for lesser mortals like me,

by now it had started to get dark, so Diana switched the lights on, but our electrical problems of last month had come back to haunt us, with a dull expensive sounding bang all 5 of the lights on the newly replaced dimmer switch failed, as did 2 bulbs on the other circuit when we switched those on, a job for Arry in the morning, next A Touch of Frost, Conclusions, Frost investigates a robbery at a local casino and a hit and run accident that may involve Roger Massie, the son of a local Member of Parliament, as the title suggest everyone is jumping to the wrong one,

to round the evening off another couple from Tales, Bird of Prey, Jack and Edna's pet parrot dies after laying an unusually large egg which hatches out into a very ugly and fairly large black bird, that unlike it's mother can not speak, or can it! I Like It Here in Wilmington does a real double take, garment manufacturer Harry Elton is in big trouble, thanks to his business partner Marvin's lack of foresight in predicting the next season's fashions, he stands to lose all his cash and face bankruptcy, unless he can claim on someone's life insurance policy, but whose? then off to bed.