The Travelers

January 17-19, 2017

I was kept well-entertained while Tim was in China for three weeks.  Our son, Mike, has a good friend who was traveling in Thailand with his sister and her husband.  The sister and husband were actually on a year-long trip to see the world.  They saved their money and left their jobs, embarking on the trip of a lifetime.  You can see their travel blog HERE.  How nice to be able to do this while you still have the stamina of your youth!  Mike's friend met up with them in Bangkok, and after a few days there, they came to stay at our place in Pattaya for a couple of nights.

They took a bus from Bangkok to the stop in South Pattaya, not far from our place.  Once they were settled and relaxed a bit, we went to dinner at Hopf Brew House on Beach Rd. and enjoyed some home-brewed wheat beer and pizza.  I know this isn't Thai food, but I figured they'd get enough of that on their own.  We then walked down Beach Rd. to Walking Street - can't come to Pattaya without experiencing that - street entertainers, scantily-clad women trying to entice clients into their establishments, and invitations to "ping pong shows" every fifty feet.  (I don't know why they think that, after you've said "no" to the first ten invitations, you would suddenly say "yes" to the next one?  Always amuses me.)  After reaching the end, we cut over to Second Rd. and stopped in a few shops before heading back to the condo.  Best part of the night for me?  Playing Euchre, like only four mid-westerners can - a nice little taste of home!

The next morning my guests took to the hills for some exercise, jogging and trying out the equipment at the outdoor gym park just up the road.  We enjoyed a relaxed breakfast, and I provided some samples of teas from our favorite Tea Village.  Late morning our driver took us up to the Sanctuary of Truth just north of Pattaya.  I never tire of this place, and always see something different.  We caught the end of the cultural show, then took a tour with my now-regular tour guide, Bubbles; she never fails to entertain.  Saw some pretty amazing sculpting happening in the artists' area - a model first being conceived in clay, and a dome being constructed piece by piece.

We had lunch at Baba Eating House, one of my favorite places to go when we lived up at that end of town.  Stopped in to Tea Village, and Lita treated us to some nice tea.  We tried some Pu-erh tea, a fermented, aged tea from China.  This tea comes in tightly packed disks, and is labeled with the year and region of its production.  It has an interesting bite, one that grew on me after several sips.

Tea Village website - they do quite a good mail-order business

We had the driver drop us up at the top of Buddha Hill, where we enjoyed the view before heading back to the condo on foot.  Cooled off with a swim, then treated my guests to a home-cooked meal.  More Euchre and some Chinese Checkers finished off the night.  The next morning we said our good-byes and Mick took them to the airport for their flight to Chiang Mai where they would continue their adventure!

Here are some pictures from Tim's trip to China.  It wasn't all work - he was able to get to Beijing one weekend to see the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, and a co-worker took him around Nanjing.

Tim and his guide

Snow on the Great Wall!

On to Nanjing...

Back to work...