We ended up only staying for about 30 minutes because despite having good music, it was pretty much just unattractive girls that no one had ever told were unattractive shaking what their mommas gave them for lots of old guys... No real dancing, just lots of reasons to vomit.
We headed to Tiger Disco next, which was markedly better. Again, no cover, and a much larger crowd.... Including a fight which broke out basically right on top of us. Some drunk guy tried to make a pass at one of the girls and was jumped by 5-6 security instantly... I mean they were on top of him before I knew what was happening, and I was there. Security here is on top of their a-game.
We had one of Orasa's friends with us though, and since she worked at Tiger, she couldn't come in and had waited outside, so we moved on quickly. Finally, we ended up at Seduction Club, which was hands-down the best. I had some reservations about the place because I had read about it online before about girls being offered money to go home with different guys, and I wasn't wholly comfortable taking Maria there. Orasa assured me it was the best though, and nothing like that, so I just resolved to stay on guard.
The cover charge was 400 baht (about $13), and a Corona cost me about $8. Now, the stupidly high prices aside, this really was amazing, and a must-visit if you're in Patong. The DJ may have been the best I've ever heard, and the crowd was fun, not fantastically intoxicated, and the evening was wholly enjoyable. We didn't stick around too long though, the day had been exhausting and our legs hurt from extended travel.
Yesterday, Orasa had the day off, and took full advantage of it. We hopped on our bikes and made our way to the eastern end of the island, then down the coast to ... not where we were trying to go. She was attempting to take us to the Big Buddha statue, but we went the wrong way, and ended up at a temple.... and then the zoo. Since we were planning to visit both anyways, it ended up working out though.
The temple was gorgeous. No other way to put it. My one regret was not being able to speak Thai, because I would have loved to have known what the murals on the walls said. Not a lot to say about it I'm afraid, it was a temple. It was beautiful and we got some great pictures. We discussed the lives of the monks in brief with Orasa because the differ a bit from the lives of holy men in our own countries, so that was interesting to learn about)
The zoo, which despite being a bit decrepit, was a ton of fun. The tickets were only 500 baht (about $17) and included entrance to all of the shows. We made our way around for a bit, and then caught an elephant show, which was great. The played football, painted pictures, and played (read: broke) musical instruments. It was cute, and very fun. I remember growing up hearing about Barnum & Bailey and the animal cruelty charges, and haven't even much a fan of captive animals since. That being said, the animals seemed remarkably well taken care of, and though I'm not a certified elephant shrink, they seemed happy and like they had great relationship with the handlers.
We went on to see a monkey show, where they rode tricycles, played basketball, and answered math problems... kind of. The crowd would pick two numbers to add or subtract, and the handler would solve it, then draw with his finger on the board what shape to get and the monkey would retrieve it. Still impressive, but not as impressive as it might have been ;)
We skipped the crocodile show to save time, and made our way on to the Big Buddha statue. It was in some state of renovation and was covered in scaffolding, and the entire grounds were in a rather dramatic state of disarray. Still, as usual, the amazing beauty of the place made up for it, and we were glad to have made the trip.
There was an amazingly high-pitched siren sounding off the whole time that took me the better part of an hour to realize was for meditation, which I thought was lovely, although I doubt any tourists realized it that weren't Thai.
After another half hour of driving, we made it to the southern tip of the island just in time to watch a gorgeous sunset with 30,000 other people. We got there earlier than most it seemed, and so we sat down near the cliff face on a rocky outcropping with no one in front of us, and got some beautiful pictures before a giant cloud mass completely obstructed the sunset just before it hit the horizon... stupid clouds.
We made our way back up the west coast to Patong and arrived back at the hotel at 7pm. We showered and changed and met Orasa for dinner at her favorite Thai restaurant which was thankfully right around the corner.... I don't think I want to ride a bike again for a while. The food was buffet style, but all raw. When we got back to the table there was a bowl with a fire in it and an over-turned colander on top you pour water around the sides and cook the meats on top and the rest you put in the water to cook. You're given a few choices of sauces to pour over your food, but all were spicy and didn't agree much with Maria. Still, the food may have been the best I've ever had, and although long, the day was arguably the best day ever. Altogether, the bill came out to about $6 for way of us... which was impressive considering how much everyone at the buffet was eating. It had to have been the cheapest food on Earth.
Tooooon of pictures ... I'll just post the highlights)) Take care all, see you in a few days))
No comments:
Post a Comment