It is January 25th today and I have been invited on a 3 day break to celebrate Chinese New Year with Pani and some of her friends. There are six of us on this trip, Nan, Top, Ploy, Aom, Pani and me. We are staying in one Pani’s friends houses, at a military base, by the sea in Sattahip, a few miles south of Pattaya.
It’s an early start for me today, 5:30am, I am catching an interesting bus that will take me to Future Park Rangsit Bangkok. The journey will take 4 hours and cost 220 Baht (about £5.30)
There was only me on the bus when it set off from Hua Hin, it was still dark. The bus stopped at various places along the route to pickup, and drop off, people. Some I think were on their way to work. Everyone was pleasant and smiled, but I got the feeling I was out of place on this bus. Eventually we got to the bus’s final destination and everyone got off, so I thought I should get off too. I didn’t know where I was and just followed the others into the bus terminal. Then suddenly Pani was stood in front of me, and my anxiety disappeared.
We then made our way to where Pani had parked her car and met up with two of her friends Nan and Aom. The four of us then drove to a temple near Sattahip where we met up with Ploy and her boyfriend Top. After visiting the temple we went to a busy seafood market, and bought some interesting looking fresh seafood. This was followed by a trip to Makro supermarket to buy various cuts of pork and vegetables. We then made our way to the accommodation.
The house we stayed in at the military base
When it went dark, around 6:30, the girls went to work in the kitchen, whilst me and Top drank alcohol, and tried to light the barbeque. We were soon grilling shrimps and squid.
Cooking over – now it’s time to eat
The rest of the evening was spent eating, drinking, talking (I could understand a little), laughing, and more drinking, and more eating. I was drunk and first to bed.
The whole trip was a very pleasant experience. We visited some interesting places and it was nice to meet Pani’s friends. Below are just a few more photos from this trip.
Me, Pani, Ploy, Aom, and Nan, all wearing our Elephant Pants