Back in Patong, the place feels like home away from the home I don't have anymore. I can recognize new buildings being completed since I was here last time, but otherwise, not much has changed.
Since I had forgotten to order a hotel, I had to make a last-minute order, which got me a room in a pretty good looking hotel owned by a Finnish couple. The problems was the location, as it was kind of far away from everything, in what the owners called the newly developed area of Patong. Oh yeah, in maybe 5-10 years it will be an integrated part of the city, not until then!
I know where the best food places are, the best fruit smoothies, the best bars and also know a handful of Thai sentences. With my pretty bad hangover from the night in Khao Lak I just strolled through the nightlife, feeling like anything else than a drink at this point.
Next morning I went to the beach to see if our old buddy was still working there. He recognized me from 50 meters away came running up asking where I had been and where my friend was? Do you want Tiger or melon smoothie? Ha ha, he had a good memory I have to admit. Being only 11 in the morning I settled for a melon smoothie and some breakfast from their little beach kitchen. Life is good! Tiger for desert.
Some time in the afternoon it was time to utilize the happy hour offers, and I went to a bar we had also frequently visited. I sat down at the bar and the bartender smiled to me, put her hands together bowed and said in Thai, welcome back. Piña Colada for you and your friend, she asked? Where is your friend by the way? You still want two Piña Coladas, right, haha?
The other girls come behind the bar counter and whisper a little, then they point and laugh, yes, now they remember me too? Funny. A few minutes later I am served a Tequila from the bar tender, long time no see :-) I spend a couple of hours in the bar joking around with the girls, meeting some of the other regular costumers. At 18 their shift ends and the night crew arrives. Then the atmosphere totally changes, not at all funny anymore, obviously they are now catering to a different clientele.
I met Aon and Aom in the bar, two girls I met last time I was there. They stopped by for a drink and we went for dinner afterwards. They invite me to a party with some of their friends the same night and I agreed to come.
To get around I had to rent a moto bike as they call it, a moped/scooter I would call it. 80-90% of the traffic around the city is on the motobike, fun to drive and much faster than the car. But maybe it also belongs in the dangerous category, because the idea is to go between traffic everywhere to beat the cars, but it works. I picked up the two girls and we drive to another hotel, where I Ai and Eddie, a British guy who married a Thai, but lives in the UK. There is also an Italian guy, Francesco, who has been living there for 3 months, he only has a few days left, getting mentally ready to leave back home.
The next couple of days, I am just totally spacing out, hanging out on the beach during day, partying a little every night with some of the guys, meeting other people.
One day we were at the beach, it had been really hot and humid. Usually it would rain 10-15 minutes every night with lightning and thunder, but this day it sneaked in over the hilltops while most people were still at the beach. The sky suddenly just turned black and we rushed up and jumped on the motobike. 2 minutes later it started raining, it was so heavy I couldn't see anything at all and had to drive into a restaurant to take cover. I was not the only one doing that, after a few minutes there were quite a few people there. The owner didn't seem to mind, he was as surprised about the weather like everyone else.
Maybe Thailand is cheap, but I sure do spend a lot of money. Especially playing games for drinks in the bars. Got to meet more of their friends, Tiki, Mae, Mam, Jaa and so on, can't even remember all their names. The funny thing though is that when I then around town on my scooter, someone is waving at me "Hi Danny" or suddenly there is a cute little girl on a scooter next to mine looking at me, hello Tiki, haha. So many tourists here and still they remember me in the crowd. Am I different than other people, I tell myself I am in a good way.
Obviously a lot of the bars are places that tourist guys come to meet Thai girls and in many cases to exchange certain services for money. They can smell "bad" people a mile away, and there is a clear difference in behavior of people here. A couple of times I got pretty embarrassed being next to another group of Danes seeing and hearing them speak Danish about the girls. I guess that is just how it works here. There is a lot of bad stuff going on, no doubt about that, but keeping an open mind there are plenty of nice people around and things are not always what they seem to be.
Since I had forgotten to order a hotel, I had to make a last-minute order, which got me a room in a pretty good looking hotel owned by a Finnish couple. The problems was the location, as it was kind of far away from everything, in what the owners called the newly developed area of Patong. Oh yeah, in maybe 5-10 years it will be an integrated part of the city, not until then!
I know where the best food places are, the best fruit smoothies, the best bars and also know a handful of Thai sentences. With my pretty bad hangover from the night in Khao Lak I just strolled through the nightlife, feeling like anything else than a drink at this point.
Next morning I went to the beach to see if our old buddy was still working there. He recognized me from 50 meters away came running up asking where I had been and where my friend was? Do you want Tiger or melon smoothie? Ha ha, he had a good memory I have to admit. Being only 11 in the morning I settled for a melon smoothie and some breakfast from their little beach kitchen. Life is good! Tiger for desert.
Some time in the afternoon it was time to utilize the happy hour offers, and I went to a bar we had also frequently visited. I sat down at the bar and the bartender smiled to me, put her hands together bowed and said in Thai, welcome back. Piña Colada for you and your friend, she asked? Where is your friend by the way? You still want two Piña Coladas, right, haha?
The other girls come behind the bar counter and whisper a little, then they point and laugh, yes, now they remember me too? Funny. A few minutes later I am served a Tequila from the bar tender, long time no see :-) I spend a couple of hours in the bar joking around with the girls, meeting some of the other regular costumers. At 18 their shift ends and the night crew arrives. Then the atmosphere totally changes, not at all funny anymore, obviously they are now catering to a different clientele.
To get around I had to rent a moto bike as they call it, a moped/scooter I would call it. 80-90% of the traffic around the city is on the motobike, fun to drive and much faster than the car. But maybe it also belongs in the dangerous category, because the idea is to go between traffic everywhere to beat the cars, but it works. I picked up the two girls and we drive to another hotel, where I Ai and Eddie, a British guy who married a Thai, but lives in the UK. There is also an Italian guy, Francesco, who has been living there for 3 months, he only has a few days left, getting mentally ready to leave back home.
The next couple of days, I am just totally spacing out, hanging out on the beach during day, partying a little every night with some of the guys, meeting other people.
One day we were at the beach, it had been really hot and humid. Usually it would rain 10-15 minutes every night with lightning and thunder, but this day it sneaked in over the hilltops while most people were still at the beach. The sky suddenly just turned black and we rushed up and jumped on the motobike. 2 minutes later it started raining, it was so heavy I couldn't see anything at all and had to drive into a restaurant to take cover. I was not the only one doing that, after a few minutes there were quite a few people there. The owner didn't seem to mind, he was as surprised about the weather like everyone else.
Maybe Thailand is cheap, but I sure do spend a lot of money. Especially playing games for drinks in the bars. Got to meet more of their friends, Tiki, Mae, Mam, Jaa and so on, can't even remember all their names. The funny thing though is that when I then around town on my scooter, someone is waving at me "Hi Danny" or suddenly there is a cute little girl on a scooter next to mine looking at me, hello Tiki, haha. So many tourists here and still they remember me in the crowd. Am I different than other people, I tell myself I am in a good way.
Obviously a lot of the bars are places that tourist guys come to meet Thai girls and in many cases to exchange certain services for money. They can smell "bad" people a mile away, and there is a clear difference in behavior of people here. A couple of times I got pretty embarrassed being next to another group of Danes seeing and hearing them speak Danish about the girls. I guess that is just how it works here. There is a lot of bad stuff going on, no doubt about that, but keeping an open mind there are plenty of nice people around and things are not always what they seem to be.
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