Culture and a Bar Crawl (WTF?)
Everyone is up and ready by about 1pm. We are off on a trip to offer prayers and provide ourselves with one year of good luck. We really didn't understand what it was that was being described to us, but it appears that the girls really want us to have this experience so we decide to simply 'go with the flow'.
Before we leave the hotel, Am makes a quick call on her phone and then it's over the road and we flag down a baht bus for use as a private taxi.
We follow our regular journey into Pattaya, but at the end of Soi 8 we stop and Noi from Cherry Bar (see Day 1 & Day 2) climbs onboard. This is a bit freaky. I am now sitting on a baht bus with the two women that have shared my bed so far on this trip to Pattaya.
I decide that a chaste arm round the waist of Nok is safe, but I am not going to annoy or upset Noi deliberately. The bus continues up 2nd Road to the big roundabout and then heads off North up Pattaya - Naklua Road. As we pass the end of Phothisan Road, Nok points down the road and tell me "My loom there". Okay that's interesting, is this a general comment or does she want me to know? I have a quick look at the surrounding landmarks to ensure I could recognise the street again.
The bus continues northward and then finally turns off the main road, down a dirt road and then into what appears to be the back of some sort of rescue centre.
We walk acroos the yard and into the entrance of what looks like a large old municipal building. We have to each fill out a form and pay 250 baht.I have absolutely no idea what is going on now. We are given a prayer sheet with instructions on how to pray and what offerings we have to make at each shrine. We then buy joss sticks (lots of joss sticks!), candles and little bottles of oil.
As we cross the hall before going upstairs, there is a noticeboard with some horrific pictures of people that had met violent deaths and also pictures of foreigners dead on their bed or some at the side of their hotel pool.
It seems that this place is for offering prayers to those that have died with no-one to bury them and the money is to provide coffins for them (That's the best I could work out from what we were seeing and what we had been told and the 250 baht was our individual donation to help finance the charitable work.) If anyone knows any more about this place and the true signifigance of the work it does, I'd appreciate a reply to this thread.
Anyhow, we make our way upstairs and walk out into an area with several shrines to different gods and it appears that there is a different ritual to be carried out at each.
We start by offering the prayer written on the piece of paper given to us at the entrance. I decide that I should treat the whole ceremony with the respect and dignity that our hosts are showing and so I consider who I should offer prayers for. As all my ancestors are dead, I see very little of my sisters and I am divorced, I choose to offer prayers to my two children and to Nok who has accompanied me here. All three are young, healthy , vibrant people and I pray that they all have long, happy, healthy and fulfilling lives.
After offering a prayer, we have to pour some oil into the lamp at the side of the cauldron. I think we were supposed to burn the prayer sheet at this point, but we did it at the end of the journey instead.
Then it was up a few steps into a covered area where prayers were offered to the eight fairy spirits (I think) and then it was necessary to place joss sticks in the planters in front of the shrine. I think it was seventeen joss sticks each here and they had to be place three in each of the five planters starting with the centre one and then the extra two joss sticks to be offered to the door god. Again a little oil is offered to the lamp.
Then it was on to the next shrine. Here it was necessary to offer the oil again and to also light two candles. One to be placed either side of the table.
Then on to the next shrine
Then on to the Big Buddha where you had to go and rub his belly after offering prayers.
And then to the last one, where you rub the golden orb after offering your prayers.
After the final burning of the prayer sheet, there was a final return to the shrine of the fairies for Nok where there was a ceremony of rattling sticks in a beaker until one came out. This seemed to be some sort of fortune telling ritual. Nok went over and tore off the sheet which was appropriate to her and passed it to me after she had read it. It also had a translation in English.
"Keep trying, no complaining,sorrow and trouble will be soon far away. A baby girl is forthcoming. No lucks, no support, Legal case not favourable"
Now what the hell does that mean?
Anyhow, we are now finished here and we find a baht bus willing to take us back to the hotel. As we travel back down Pattaya - Naklua Road, I recognise the street where Nok has her room and I point it out to her. This gets a big smile, so maybe I've actually done something right for a change.
Anyhow, we get back to the hotel and sit around for a short while before it's time to SSS and set off on the FLB Bar Crawl. (A very cultural day!) We leave the girls with some money for drinks and food and arrange to meet them at the Cherry Bar at around 12:30 that night.
By 6:30, we are in the hotel bar and ready for action again. It's the usual run into town, followed by Kilkenny's and then arrive at the FLB at around 7:30.
I speak to the Mamasan tp pay BF for Nok for the last few days of my holiday Nov 2 - Nov 5. So that's 4 days @ 500 baht = 2000 baht. So far so good, but Nok has asked me a few times if I will also pay BF for her for Nov 6 & Nov 7. Well as I was planning to leave her a present at the end of the trip, this can just be part of it. I ask to pay BF for the two days and I'm told that it will cost 1500 baht for BF on Nov 6 and 500 baht for BF on Nov 7. Nov 6 is a party night and if Nok were to work until the dancing finished then BF would only be 500 baht. As I'm not even due to be there, this seems pretty pointless and I pay the full charge. I am given 3 seperate tickets. One for Nov 2 - Nov 5, 1 for Nov 6 (triple rate) and 1 for Nov 7.
The voting takes place for the crawl destination and the winner is Soi 7. This is good for us as we only have to get from Soi 7 to Soi 8 to meet the girls at the end of the crawl.
Okay, it's time to go. Head off to get the baht bus and first stop is Anna Jet.
There is a lot of bustling around whjilst everyone tries to get setaed and order a beer. There is only one lady that I have eyes for but she is working very hard to get everyone settled and doesn't look my way unfortunately.
I am quite happily drinking my beer and generally chilling out when there's a crash to my left and Kevin has managed to kick the table so hard that his bottle of beer is launched all over me. Great, the crawl is about 10 minutes old and I smell like I've been on it for 10 hours.
Anyhow, the result of this incident is that the elegant lady that I wanted to see now comes over, sorts out another beer for Kevin and then starts drying me off. There is a God I suppose, but I'd rather have stayed dry. I think Tain was the looker of the bar.
After Anna Jet of course
Then it was off to a couple of beer bar complexes where we all split up and met a variety of girls, but nothing that really caught my eye. Played a few games of Connect 4 and got beaten every tiome, so I bought the lady a drink and gave a 50 baht tip.
Then it was on to a seriously classy place called Amazing Paradise. The TV setup and sound system was great, the DJ was good, there were plenty of pool tables and the place was kept cool with dozens of ceiling mounted fans. It had to be done; we got the DJ to play Paradise City as this really was. As well the girls being pretty they were also good fun. I highly recommend this bar to everyone that comes to Pattaya.
We missed out the next beer bar as we were too happy where we were, but we did meet up with the rest of the crew at Goldfingers Go-Go which could only be described as poor with the exception of the one on the arm of MightyOne. (He does it EVERY time!)
Final destination was Worldwide GoGo on Beach Road between Soi 7 and Soi 8. I remember going in there , but then it's as if someone just turned off the lights. There are snippets of memory, but not much.
We get back to the Cherry Bar and I see Nok to hand her the BF ticket for Nov 2 - Nov 5 and there is no response. I guess that she knew that was going to happen. I give her the BF ticket for Nov 6 and get a smile and I then give her the BF ticket for Nov 7 and she seems pretty happy.
It would appear from reading Chris's report that I went back to the hotel with him and the two Noks ( Nok Nok) at about 03:30. I have a very vague recollection that I went to the bathroom thinking that I was going to throw up and just fell asleep in there (again)!
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