Goodbye Bangkok & Hello Pattaya

Well of course I forgot to put in the pic below.  HI Mom I’m OK!!!!..  Sorry about that.  Won’t happen again (who am I kidding, of course it will happen again).

This was taken at the Canyon just on the outskirts of Pai, Thailand.  It was a little bit of a hike to get to this point, but it was majestic.  I mean probably one of the best sunsets I have ever seen (and I live in Tampa, FL so that’s saying something).

Soooo sorry for the late blog post.. Time flies when you are living in the future half way around the world (Thailand is 12 hrs ahead of EST, hence the living in the future).

I am saying so long to Bangkok and onto new adventures, but first, this is a picture of the Skyline of Bangkok as seen from Lumpini Park.   Such a great place to go for a run, or play in the playground, play basketball (more in a minute on that), do some yoga, or Jazzercise.  I have a video but don’t know how to get it uploaded right now.  There literally 100’s if not 1,000’s of people doing dance aerobics in the park at 5pm.

To harness my inner yoga I found this at the mall.  I had to try and do the pose and get it just right. I think I did a pretty good job for only have done yoga twice in my life.  I guess I should start since so many of my friends do Yoga now.   Hell, there I go again cursing, I even know a few instructors.  Hopefully they approve.

So this was just a Mall, but in the middle of the mall there were these lanterns that glowed so bright it almost made you walk to the middle of the mall to see them.  I am surprised they were brighter in the picture (I did tone down the lights in photoshop, but still).   They were so beautiful I had to take a picture..  What do you think?   Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.

So this is near the mall above, but also in the downtown part of Bangkok.   This is a little buddha area with TONS of flowers (Sorry I didn’t get the name).   People come to pray for their family and friends and loved one (both living and dead).   They also burn a ton of incense, as a way of showing respect and prayer.   I found this woman dressed in traditional clothing praying and just had to capture the moment.  Such a profound experience.

What can I say… I still got it (a little)!!!   Hoopin’ it up with the locals.  They were kind enough to let me shoot around some this day.  Do you see the range?  That’s Steph Curry-esque.  I mean I am clearly at least at the NBA 3 point line here.  If memory serves me right it did go in too (I mean would I lie about something like this?)   I guess I did a good enough job that they asked me to come back and play the next day (which I did).   I played pretty good for not having played in a long while.  Maybe I will try and shoot hoops everywhere I go.   I hear basketball is huge over in Indonesia.

Another sunset from Bangkok.   This time over one of the largest temples in Bangkok.  This is right by the Grand Palace.   Such a beautiful thing to see.  I really recommend everyone comes to Thailand at least once in their life and enjoy the Culture as well as the Food!  In this picture there was a group of us walking back from the Pier and Wang Lang Market (where they have the best local food to take-away in Bangkok).  Take-away is their term for To-Go.  They serve everything in these little baggies, but you can’t really eat much AT the market as everything is made to take-away.   It’s super cheap though so it’s worth it.

Goodbye Bangkok for now.. You will hold a place in my heart, BUT, HELLO Pattaya!!!

Pattaya is known for a couple things, I won’t mention them here cause my mother is reading this and I don’t think she needs to hear about them.   That being said, it’s also known for a beautiful skyline (according to me anyway), and only about 1 hr boat ride (it’s a slow boat) to a really nice beach as you can see below.

This shot above is one I took at Samae Beach (Ko Lan, Thailand).   Such a beautiful place and the water is actually quite clear.   The far thing in the upper right corner is an ENORMOUS solar panel.  I have no idea what it’s used for, but it looks rather impressive.

The shot below is also from Samae Beach looking out of my lounge chair area that is covered with all these umbrellas.  They literally cover an incredible amount of area with these umbrellas.  There was zero light spill into the area.  I almost wonder how they did it. For those wondering about the beaches, well they aren’t like west coast Florida sand, that’s for sure, but they are like eastcoast Florida sand (think Jersey Shore, but even a little nicer or Ft. Lauderdale).

As you can see the water out there is really clear.   So much that even I went into the ocean (those of you that know me, know I am deathly afraid of the ocean)..   It’s really only because I can’t see and I want a fighting chance if a shark is going to attack me.   (Think Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie The Beach).  I just want to be able to throw a punch before I go down.  Yeah I know it will be slow motion, but still.

From my lounge chair on Samae Beach in Ko Lan.

Remember that beautiful Skyline I told you about here in Pattaya.. well here it is.   Crystal clear water, boats, boats, boats, and of course a skyline.  What else could you ask for?  Well I guess a beach would be nice, but you won’t find a good one here.  For that you have to take a boat at least 1 hour to one of the other islands, like Samae Beach above.   Those beaches are going to be MUCH nicer, not eastcoast Florida nice, but still much nicer.

Lastly,  what would a blog post be without some FOOD!!   I don’t know why, but the food just tastes SOO much better here in Thailand, there is just so much more flavor (not sugar, just flavor).  You see that shake in my left hand?  That’s a pineapple shake.  Not just an ordinary shake, one of the best damn pineapple shakes ever.  I used to think Burger Fi had great shakes, or Portillo’s, but they ain’t got nothin’ on the shakes over here.  Maybe they don’t drown their fruit in pesticides or maybe they just go and pick the stuff off the trees, whatever it is.. it’s amazing.  It’s delicious, scrumptious, even Fantabulous!!!

I know you are asking yourselves, well Ryan.. what’s that in your right hand then?   Well you will have to wait for the next blog post to hear about those amazing little things.  IF you are following along on facebook, you might have an idea already.. Just don’t spoil it for anyone.

Thanks for following along in my adventure everyone.  Please share this and if someone you know wants to follow along have them reach out to me to be added to the blog.   I would love to figure out how to have people OPT IN to the blog, but that might have to wait for a few days.  If anyone knows or wants to help,  let me know.

Thanks

Ryan G