last day in Thailand :(

July 24
I can’t believe tomorrow is my last day here. It feels like I’ve barely been here and I already have to leave. I don’t want to go for many reasons. I hate the whole traveling process, I feel like I didn’t get very much time to see everyone, and I have no idea when is the next time I can come back (due to work holidays and such). Most importantly I feel like there isn’t anything for me to return to in Ohio. The whole job search has put me in a mild panic because part of me just doesn’t want to take that next big step in my life, while another part of me wants that change so I can at least get away from Athens. There’s some things going on in my life right now that I’m unsure/uneasy about, and I fear that coming back to Ohio will make things harder (although I am hoping that it will make things better). Well, enough about my unimportant thoughts about life because this blog is about traveling so here are some things about traveling!

On Monday July 21 we went to Pattaya Beach. I really enjoy this beach because it offers so many things to do in terms of nightlife as well as lazy, fun relaxation. We made a small pit stop in Bangsean Beach where we met up with my uncle (mom’s brother) John, his wife, and my cousin Pete (sadly Pat and Put had class so they couldn’t come). My uncle John built a condo complex (on land that belonged to my mother but she sold to him) about 5 years ago and recently put in a new pool that we wanted to check out. Before arriving at his condo, we swung by this one road/hill that has a bunch of wild monkeys that run free. It’s so random! The colony of monkeys has been around for ages. We drove up to the top of the hill that overlooks the ocean and we got out of the car and bought some bananas, cucumber, and peanuts to feed the monkeys. They were so happy and friendly. None of them showed any aggression toward us and they all came over and begged for some food. They were so cute! There were a couple that had babies latched to their tummies and backs. Some would come up to us and sit by our feet and make a little noise begging for a banana. They were really cute because they would reach their hands up to grab the food from us... like a little human lol. We spent quite a bit of time feeding them and then we finally stopped by my uncle’s condo.

After checking out the new pool we headed to Pattaya which from Bangsean is only a half hour away. We stayed at the Montien Pattaya, which was really beautiful and everything was so gorgeous with excellent service. We really couldn’t have asked for a better place to stay. Our first day pretty much consisted of swimming in the hotel’s pool, checking out the beach, and having dinner at this open-air restaurant nearby. The rest of our night consisted of playing cards and me losing 250 baht. Ooops.

Our second day was really great. I woke up around 9AM to a gorgeous view of the ocean. The ocean was actually quite busy. It was filled with boats and parasailors. It was actually a really cool site to see. We got breakfast downstairs soon after. Their breakfast buffet was awesome and offered so much food for so many different cultures. I finally got to eat some bacon, which in my opinion, is a delicacy that I’ve missed the most since leaving the US (tacos comes in second, followed by Wendy’s 5 piece chicken nuggets... mmmm). After breakfast my mom and I went to the pool then eventually met up with the family for lunch. We ate at S&P which is located in this mall down the street from us. I was really adamant about eating somewhere with AC because it was blazing hot that day. We shopped around a little after lunch then went back to relax in the hotel. I proceeded to finish watching season 4 of The Office (yes, I found bootleg copies of it before it was even released in the US, yay for me). By dinner time we went to another mall to eat suki yaki at a retaurant called MK. Suki yaki is where you order a bunch of raw meats and veggies and you throw it all in this boiling pot in front of you. Sounds kinda weird but it wasn’t that bad. I actually prefer fondue or dim sum when it comes to ordering things a la cart but oh well. After finishing dinner we decided to take a little trip to the Hard Rock Café for some drinks. The Hard Rock Hotel happens to be right beside our hotel, and low and behold, there is a Hard Rock Café right in front of it! It was nice finally getting to do something that pertained to drinking because I felt like I’ve had this big stick up my ass the whole time I’ve been here. There was this Thai band playing cover songs in English.. and they actually sounded good so I was quite surprised. After having some drinks we headed back to the Montien where we spent the rest of the night playing cards. This time, I broke even!

Well the next day basically consisted of the same thing... same breakfast, swimming and tanning, then checking out around 2pm then grabbing some lunch. We headed back to Bangkok by 4pm and went straight to our relatives’ house for dinner and to say goodbye. Of course, what’s another family gathering without playing cards again? So we did just that... and I ended up making 50 baht that night. Not too shabby I guess.

So here we are, now Thursday. My last day in Bangkok. I shopped around a little bit today at Platinum with my mom and my old nanny. My cousin Pat stopped by to meet up for lunch and shopped around too. I hate saying goodbye to these people because it feels like forever until it’s the next time I get to see them. Our older generation is aging like crazy and I don’t like to think that in just a couple of years, they may be gone. Living 6,000 miles away from them really complicates things.

Well on another note, I’ve had a slight sore throat for the past three days and it’s really pissing me off. It hasn’t gotten worse, nor has it gotten better. It’s just... this stupid little sting in my back of my throat. Ughhh just what I need before having to fly. I think my eardrums are going to rupture if this sore throat leads to sinus problems (which I kinda have a feeling will happen regardless). Ok, time to relax.

Ta ta.