DAY 24 - JOMTIEN BEACH

Corinne and I went to Jomtien Beach today, a 15 minute walk from the condo; Phil and Linda stayed at the pool. The beach there is less busy than Pattaya and the water cleaner but still a lot of people. You rent your beach chair from the  vendor for 40 baht ($1.20) which is good for all day. He or she is then bring your drinks as you request them (beer is 80 baht - $2.40). There were a lot of Europeans at this beach and of course the multitude of old caucasian farts with young Thai girls. There are numerous vendors that stroll up and down the beach that will sell you anything from a pedicure, food, shirts, dresses,  souvenirs, binoculars, large wood carvings, fresh fruit, deep fried seafood, ice cream, you name it. Corinne bought a beach coverup and I bought a Thai shirt with a dragon emblem on the front (I'm going down right native). All in all it was a really nice way to spend the afternoon, enjoying the sound of the surf, sipping a cold one (juice straight from the coconut for Corinne and San Miguel for me), watching the parasailers  and people watching.  Even saw a woman, looked to be pushing 80, in a string bikini !!!  Don't think I need to say more about that. 

Speed boats pull the parasailers around
(& come really close to the swimmers)
or you can hire them to take you out to one of the islands

Young coconut.  They even provide a metal spoon so you can scrape out the meat.

We left to go back to the condo at about 2:30 pm but this time took a baht taxi (10 baht = 30 cents) which dropped us directly across from the entrance to our condo complex 5 minutes later. As with every time you have to, crossing the street can be a nerve racking experience trying to avoid being hit by either a scooter or a vehicle as there are few cross walks and the drivers ignore them in any event. Our friend Abe describes driving here as "bumper cars" but trying NOT to hit anyone.  It's actually a very appropriate way to describe the driving here.

"Bucket Seat" in Thailand
OK, there's some photoshopping going on here, but it's not too far off the truth!!
We've heard that you can buy attachments for the front of your scooter for little kids to sit in,
that might be the case in this photo.