Trip to Pattaya part 1

This weekend Nuch, through one of her friends at work, we got us the use of a Condo at the coastal resort of Pattaya.
Pattaya is around 110km east of Bangkok, we caught the 18.30 coach from Bangkok (See "Thai Coach Network" post), it takes about two hours to get there, we arrived on time, but had to wait for a Taxi. I use the phrase Taxi in its loosest form, basically its a pick up with two rows of seats in the back and a cover to keep out the wet, we were jammed 14 people in the back. The picture of Nuch in the back was taken the following evening when there was only us two in a taxi. Anyway, too cut a long story short, we where dumped about 500M from the Condo, walked all the way down to it, only to discover we were to late to check in, thankfully the guards let us dump our stuff in the room. So at around 21.45 we had to find a Hotel, so a 500M walk back up to road and another pick up ride to a Hotel called Jontiam Beach Resort. This did not look a cheap Hotel, but we were knackered and needed somewhere to sleep. We had to pay only 2400bht (£32), this was for a night stay at a four star Hotel and a buffet breakfast thrown in. We couldn't be bothered to find a restaurant, so we had room service, I will do a post later about the Jontiam later.
After breakfast in the morning we caught the taxi back to the end of the condo road and walked 500M again. The wait was worth it, the Condo was very nice, only 200M from the beach. We went straight down to beach which was also called Jontiam Beach. The main beach in Pattaya is called Pattaya Beach, this is were most foreign tourists end up, just over a mile away, the Jontiam is a nicer beach and because mostly Thai's use it, the prices for food and stuff is alot cheaper.
Whilst on the beach we bought these King Prawns, cooked for us right where we sat, they were fantastic and only cost £1.40. You could have a massage, your nails done and any amount of different food from the Hawkers who come round selling their wears. One Guy tried to sell me a copy of "The Sun" for £7, when I said "Righty oh! I'll have a dozen of them" in my best sarcastic voice, he procceded to get the papers ready. It was then I discovered the Thai's have yet to use the complexity of english sarcasim in there everyday life, he went away with a pissed off look on his face.
For lunch I decided to eat something foreign, so I had Beef Strogenoff at a restaurant attached to the Hotel we stayed in the night before. Very nice. After a few more hours on the beach we went back to the Condo before we hit Pattaya's famous nightlife. I will tell you all about it in Pattaya part 2.















Sunset on Pattaya Beach