Our 21 day trip back to Pattaya and California

It was a great spring but we are on our way back to California for the summer.  To get ready, Daeng bought stuff, like spices, she says she can not buy in California. 

We said bye-bye to our friends and family, packed everything up to travel and covered the bed and furniture in our master bedroom with sheets.  We will be back in about ten weeks.

The only thing I forgot was my eye drops in the refrigerator.  Daeng's niece, Nue, mailed them to us at our hotel in Pattaya.  Thanks Nue!

Car rental return was normal except Thai Rental Car charged me 351 THB (about $11.70  USD) more than we agreed as they told us that two of the extra days were weekend days. 

I kidded with Daeng that this "Sterile Area", at the airport, was for me because I'm old and sterile. Daeng said, with a smile on her face: "That's good!"

Jon, our pre-arranged driver, picked us up at the old Bangkok airport and we made the two and a half hour drive to the Honey Lodge Hotel.  We have been using Jon for car service to and from the airport for a few years.  He is a nice guy and always is on time. 

We had to laugh as I told the folks at the Honey Lodge that I was going to jump into the swimming pool like the man in this video: CLICK HERE.  The lady at the desk told me to do it the day we were checking out.  The Honey Lodge Hotel is an old hotel about a minute walk from "Walking Street" here in the "Fun Zone".  They remodeled it two years ago and it is now a very nice boutique hotel. Rates when  up from about $18 USD to a little over $30 USD a night.  Here are some pictures of the place: CLICK HERE.

We like Pattaya for the diversity.  You can find just about anything you want here.  You can read more of our stories of Pattaya by CLICKING HERE. 

Daeng likes the shopping, as well.  The largest beach front shopping center mall in Asia is here.

CentralFestival Pattaya Beach : Asia's Largest Beachfront Shopping

It is also nice to meet other folks from all over the world at meetings here in Pattaya City and Jomtien Beach.  We also get to spend some time with our friend Boonma.  He is from New York City but lives here most of the time.

There was a festival at Jomtien Beach last weekend.  They had all kinds of displays of art works and things.  Here is one of decorations made with soda and water bottles.

There was even the monster truck on display, including monster sound system with huge speakers so you can get lots of "Boom-Boom". 

One of the many things that amazes me here in Pattaya is the ocean tides.  Here is a picture of the tide out. If you click on the picture you can see the boats sitting on the sandy bottom.
  Then here is a picture of the tide coming up about half way.  The boats are now floating.

Normal tide is from about six feet to ten feet high.  Here is a picture at high tide.

This morning Jomtien Beach was nice except a little windy. 

We went shopping for some "Singing Bowls". These bowls are used in the Buddhist Faith.  You run a little wooded paddle around the outside of the bowl and the bowls resonates, sings.

You would think in a county that is over 98% Buddhists they would be easy to find.  We could only find one shop in Pattaya that carries them.  It is a shop that specializes in gifts from India.  It does take a little practice to make them work.
 
We are just about ready to return to California tomorrow.  The 14 1/2 hours plane rides really messes with our minds on this return.  We leave Bangkok at 5:05 PM and arrive in Los Angles at 8:35 PM. That's 3 1/2 hours after take off and the total trip is about 30 hours from pillow here
to pillow in the USA.

It was a nice spring in Thailand but we look forward to getting back to California and fixing air conditioning system.

If you need your air conditioning or anything else in your home fixed just visit our website www.DIALONEtoday.com and give us a call.