Pattaya 2

Now this vacation! 

My mom wanted to go out and about on this day and all we wanted to do was relax so we did just that

We lounged poolside - ate, drank and swam for a few hours. The weather was great and the pool was refreshing. When the sun was going down we got ready for another show my mom insisted we needed to see.... And you need to see too!

Alangkarn Show (unfortunately just like Tiffany's, they don't allow photographs either)

Alangkarn means extravagant and that's exactly what it was... And extravagant Thai cultural show. It is a theatrical show starting off at the beginning of history for Thai people, Sukhothai Era, and end at present day. Similar to going to see Civil War reenactments, except this show has better costumes, pyrotechnics, flying performers and elephants! It's a very beautiful and engaging show to see so I recommend you go if you the chance. I believe tickets were $10 and the seats were excellent. 

This was the stage after the show

You can also take pictures with the performers after the show, this was not as expensive as Tiffany's Show... I think it was 50B ($1.54) per performer.. Their costumes are very detailed and the set changes are amazing

Earlier in the day I was just thinking I wanted to take an awesome picture on an elephant...and it happened! It was scary getting up there cause it's like sitting on a monkey bar with a nose and rough skin but it was so much fun... This pic costed me 200B ($6.14) but this was worth it for me... If I was wearing pants I would've taken the other pose they offered me too where I sat at its neck while it lifted it's from legs up! 

This random character was chasing us around so we just took a picture with it and gave it 20B ($0.61)

After the show we decided to go walk around the hotel to see what was there to see 

In Thailand you will find that all you need is space anywhere to open up anything... 

This is a cart fitted with a wok to cook up whatever your specialty is and sell it!

Street side vendor selling various grilled chicken parts

I'm a butt girl and these chickies had nice butts

Street side Som Tum?

The streets are also lines with bars, mostly attracting foreigners... And mostly posting their (relatively) prettiest girls up at the front to attract the foreigners (some of them aren't girls so don't say I didn't warn you)

Why can't this happen in the states? VW Bar is just like a food truck right?

We leave early the next morning so we decided to finish our shopping and return for a last night sleep in a nice bed

The next day Na Taew said she knew of a great seaside restaurant and asked it we were interested... What kind of question is that? Yea we're interested!

Thanks for the photo bomb Joe!

Fish, squid, shrimp, crab, and fish balls.. Oh my!

This is the fruit of the devil... There are places that post signs stating a fine if you bring this inside! Durian.. bleh!!

 

Natural sundries

After lunch we drove back to Bangkok... But not before stopping at a recently complete museum 

The Erawan Museum

It took something like 10 years to complete and is 17 stories tall... It was one man's vision and when he passed away, his son took over to complete this father's plan. Now the son has also passed but this beautiful and meticulously built museum is left to remember their dedication and perserverance

Just outside of Bangkok, you can't miss this gigantic 3 headed elephant statue/building from the highway. Follow the signs and park under the highway pass (parking is free for now), there's a dude who drives a golf cart shuttling people back and forth. Foreigners must pay 400B for entrance ($12.29). You must dress appropriately for this museum too, long pants/dress and sleeves covering the shoulders. With your ticket you get some incense, a flower ornament and a lotus flower. You first pray with the incense and ornament and post it to the spirit of the museum (make sure you light the correct side of the incense, not like the foreign girl I saw who was then frantically trying put out the handle end). Then you go to the moat surrounding the museum and pray with your lotus and release it in to the moat. 

The grounds is set up like a park with beautiful figurines and statues. The bottom level of the elephant features information about the museum, creator, and historical information. 

This is the center level of the museum, dedicated to the Chinese goddess Guan Yin

This details in the museum feature beautiful and meticulous mosaic work done with broken china 

The third level doesn't allow photographs so I didn't take any but it features a collecting of antique Buddha sculptures and a lookout to the city from the neck of the elephant 

It's a beautiful and peacful place to visit just for a few hours outside of the city, a nice way to get away for a little

Now in to Bangkok and Na Taew's brother (Na Thon) wants to meet us for dinner.. We all haven't seen eachother in over a decade probably... He wanted us to see a new place called Asiatique Riverfront 

What used to be a lucrative trading port, turned Japanese storage bunker during WW2 then to warehouses, has now turned in to shopping and dining lots

Joe, Valerie, mom, me, Na Taew, Na Moo - yes I know I'm pale

We let Valerie decide on dinner and she chose Korean BBQ, Kim Ju, which was a pretty good choice

All you can eat pork and chicken BBQ with rice, Kim chee, and soup for 288B ($8.86) 

Me and Na Thon

The copper tube between me and Na Thon is the vent! You can pull it up and down to clear the smoke! I smelled less than I would if we were at Soot Bul Jip! Haha

Overall if you don't have much time in Thailand, Pattaya is nice but it's getting congested with settled foreigners (Russians/middle easterners/Indians). There are much nicer beaches and beach cities but it's still a good option... Especially if you get to see Tiffany's Show and Alangkarn 

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