We Were Getting Low,

on frozen bloodworms for the fish,

 so off to the first of the aquatic shops on Thepprasit Road, but no luck there,

 so on to the second, 6 packs for 200 baht and back home,

 the strange looking cactus was still putting on a nice show of flowers on the front of it,

 and the ones behind it were opening too,

 mid-afternoon it was glad rags on,

 and we were off to the Central Festival on Second Road,

 upstairs to the Hilton,

 and into the Drift restaurant,

 we passed the cake displays,

 and bar, 

 settling by the window, 

 we were here for afternoon tea, so whilst it was being prepared we had a look outside,

 the pathway was surrounded by water,

 as were the outside seating areas,

 with nice views over Pattaya,

 we walked the length of the restaurant outside,

 but it was a tad hot,

 so back to the air condition interior, where our tea, 

 and coffee awaited us,

 I was Mum and poured,

 all very nice,

 our afternoon tea snacks arrived, 

 a few crab, chicken and individual quiche lorraine, on the top shelf,

 cakes on the middle shelf, 

 more cakes and scones on the lowest shelf, 

 time to have a bite,

   it almost seemed a shame to spoil the display,

  a neat touch, the tiramisu had the 'H' from Hilton in sprinkled chocolate on the top of it,

 our afternoon tea finished,

 it was time for Diana to stream a live video to Diana's family many of who with Bill, Flor and family were also watching,

 the trick here, 

  is not to walk into the water whilst filming!

 we made our way past,

 both of the cake displays,

 and the pool, 

  we decided to walk into town, after crossing to the beach side of the road the Hilton looking up, 

 to the balcony where we had been,

a bit of a walk, but we had to burn off a few calories,

a neat use of the barriers to separate swimmers from boats,

a few of the locals using them to go fishing, they made it look easy casting the nets, but I know from trying it myself it takes a lot of experience to throw a net this far and wide,

no luck on this cast I am afraid,

we continued our walk,

past the Cadillac Bar and Wave Hotel,

the sign says it all,

on the other boom of the buoys,

a few more locals were trying their luck,

again with not much success,

we had now reached the end of the beach,

to where we wanted to go next, the Pattaya Beer Garden,

we made our way past the shrine,

the view looking past the water treatment plant to where we had walked from,

our table for two, 

 looking towards Cape Dara in the far distance

it seems that net fishing is getting popular, even taking place from jet-skies,

 a rather nice yacht,

moored in the bay,

   decisions, decisions, well it had to be a bottle of bubbly,

a long drink to cool off,

after that walk along the beach,

 just what the doctor ordered,

it was just so nice sitting here in the late afternoon sun,

'Cheers!', though to be fair Diana did not drink any of the bubbly,

for some reason she was still hungry,

so sliders and chips were ordered,

looking across the bay,

 the water banana boat tied up for the evening,

as the sun lowered,

we made a move back to the street,

a final look at the beer garden,

and into Walking Street,

there is a new place of worship that has opened,

just as you enter the street on the right-hand side,

almost opposite The Stone House,

not easy to miss with the big guy outside,

then a gap in the shop fronts,

next to the bar that has the car on it's side,

we continued along the street,

I do not recollect seeing this bar before,

but it seems that Wednesday is a good night to visit,

on the beach side of the street,

one of the Turkish ice cream stalls,

another new one for us the L'taliano restaurant,

we arrived, the New Gold Star Bar, or as we call it Dang's,

it is on the corner of Soi Diamond and Walking Street,

a nice refreshing vodka and soda,

or three as we watch the night fall, the bar is opposite Candyshop,

then a pleasant surprise, I first meet this gentleman some 30 or so years ago,

we always say hello, whither he remembers me or not is another thing, but over the years we have meet countless times, he is disabled and sells flowers, always smiling, it is nice to know he is still here and well, we said our farewells and made a move for home in one of the blue and yellow taxis, a nightcap and we were off to bed.