After a lazy day on the beach, watching a "lady" procure a date....wasn't going to happen, poor thing was completely out of her mind on something.... Anyways, apart from that, reading, swimming in bath water temperature ocean, fruit slushies for lunch...I could get seriously addicted to those:) , we decided to make our way into Patong. Taxi won out, and a good thing too!!! On the way into Pataong, we saw two tourists that had come off a scooter, badly grazed, sitting on the edge of the road:( These drivers here are maniacs on the roads!!! There is NO safe distance between vehicles.....you just need to close your eyes until the car stops!
Got there as the sunset over a spectacular horizon, cruise ship in the background, parasailers dotting the sky, lots of beach goers littering the beach ...this is party central for the younger crowd! How to describe Patong.... An invasion of your senses, leaves you feeling winded, bewildered and in total awe of everything going on around you! Vegas meets tourist Mecca, meets the Rand Easter Show.... Bright lights flash bars, clubs are open....restaurants every other store, mixing first world, high class juxtaposed to a traditional Thai fish market, selling, crabs, lobster, shrimp and fish.... You are accosted at very step, an invite to their restaurant, to show you a dress, give you a massage..it is never ending! There are as many massage/spas as there are restaurants and clothing stores...entire streets as walkways to food courts, with really bad singers.... Men dressed as ladies ...scary!!! Some of them are beautiful!!! Their voices undeniably give them away.... And the fact that they check your husband up and down!!! lol so funny!!!
The crush of humanity is daunting as you make your way through the crowds...and this is off season....couldn't imagine being here in peak season!
The accosting continues to buy gimmicky toys, that spiral, and twirl and light up, the prices start at 500 Baht and as you walk away drop to 200.... And that's how it goes...a cacophony of sounds, from shrieking birds, little lemurs( I think that's what they were) , music pumping, and throw in all the multi cultural people from around the world...overwhelming... The smell of the fish markets, to barbequed meats, to the jasmine the thai ladies were, smells I had no idea where they were coming from and not so pleasant either... It keeps you reeling, and wondering what's next. Yes, there were some very scary shows we were invited to, along with the rest of humanity....boards shoved in your face to read...saw one or two lines...enough to warrant a decade of nightmares.... :(
The fish spas are plentiful and of course I had to try one! Your feet are washed and dried and placed in a tank of water with a hundred or so two inch little fish, that latch themselves onto your submerged legs and feet.... Now I am not a ticklish person, in fact I loved being tickled...but that felt like pins and needles all over...incredibly ticklish until you get used to it, fascinating to watch...until I discovered something very disturbing...a BIG fish, a shark fish...in my tank, yes, the one I had my feet in...needless to say, my tootsies were no longer feeling as safe as they were a few minutes ago....so out came my feet...and horror or horrors...some of the fish were still attached to my legs and feet!!!! Arghhhhh! So after I had managed to splash half the tank of water out after extraditing them off of me...I managed a clean getaway, with toes and feet and legs in one piece!!! Lol :)
We met some fellow South Africans at dinner :) unmistakable accent... We walked, and popped in at various shops, before heading back to our quiet sanctuary in Surin....
No comments:
Post a Comment