What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

Three weeks just flew by when we were having fun in Jomtien, south of Pattaya ! We thought that it was going to be a long pre-Christmas warm-up, but in actual fact, there were so many sights worth visiting in this old horse of a Thailand tourist city, time just wasn't enough ! Besides, we rented an out-of-the-way apartment in Phra Tam Nak where we just merged and disappeared into local life, hopping on and off the local transport, songthaw, where-ever we went. The rampant tourism-related development had given Pattaya a bad reputation in the past, but we found the present-day Pattaya to be a pleasant, welcoming, friendly, at-ease-with-itself, convenient, calm and all in all, a comfortable city to hang out; during daytime at least. We spent our days lounging in and around the spacious terrace, visiting the Big Buddha, hiking mini-tracks all around the city and beaches, taking time over our lunch (Pad Thai, my favourite !) in pleasant air-con mega-malls, shopping at the many local outlets (many were run by expat Russians !) and just for our memory, each evening was spent, over a scotch and soda, catching up on AGT, BGT and X-Factor on the SmartTV. Wonderful ! In our quiet, low-key compound, we also took time off swimming in the residential pool and enjoyed the mild sunshine in this cooler climate of the year. Truly feeling alive and well, we reluctantly dragged ourselves away and vowed to return soon; a short goodbye we were sure, to this lovely city and we'll meet again !