Today my morning constitutional has two aims. The first is to investigate the Thai market on Soi 53 Sukhumvit and then to see how far it is to walk to Kevin's new place.
I leave the room and turn right down the dirt road instead of the usual walk back down the Soi.
I follow the track until it opens up on to another Soi
And as is usual in Pattaya. the electrical distribution network never ceases to astound me. How the system continues to work almost defies belief, however in the main it DOES.
At the end of the Soi I see a few stalls for the market and I'm going to investigate. I'm at the edge of the market and as I walk past a few stalls, it all opens into a labyrinth of walkways between a multitude of stalls. This is predominantly a food market and I am pleasantly surprised at the prices compared to Big C or Friendship, but knowing what some of these ingedients are is going to take some time. I emerge from the market alongside the railway line, however I am on the wrong side, so I walk back towards the road and cross to the other side to continue my walk.
Out here the fact that the road is not complete is a matter of little consequence. There's a track that can accept vehicles, so it's used. As I continue, I can see Pattaya station in the distance and realise that it's not quite as far as I had thought.The platform is deserted :
And there's little sign of activity at the ticket office either
However a look at the timetable explains why :
The 'down' train from Bangkok arrives at 10:00 and the 'up' train to Bangkok departs at 14:21. That's it, all other traffic on the line is for freight. The journey to Bangkok takes over 3 hours, so it's not the most efficient way to travel, but at a fare of 31 baht, it's probably the cheapest.
Continuing past the station, the 'road' continues
And there's an entrance to the small estate that Kevin will be living on. (It's the left hand side property)
The gates are all locked, but it's possible to see the pool and the patio area
Kevin had asked me on Messenger yesterday if there were any shops or bars nearby. I said that there was nothing around, however I was mistaken. Right at the entrance to the estate he has a food and drink outlet, however I can't really see him making it his 'local'.
For the return journey, I head towards 'civilisation' and the Sukhumvit Road. The road comes out at the temple and school opposite the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, so I simply head back down to Soi 53 where I manage to buy the ingredients to cook a red 'panang' curry. I decline from buying the meat as I hadn't checked what we actually have in the fridge, but I'm quite pleased with myself when I think I have everything I need. (I check with A when she returns and she says that everything is right.) So in the next couple of days, I'll be embarking on my first attempt to cook an authentic Thai meal with fresh ingredients.
It seems that tonight though A wants to eat her favourite 'farang' food, so we end up with pizza being delivered which is both expensive and not that good in my opinion, but it was what she wanted.
Expenditure for the day
Water - 19 baht
'Big' Coke in 7/11 - 22 baht
Lemons for tea - 10 baht
Curry Paste - 10 baht
Coconut Milk - 30 baht
Eggplant, Kaffir Leaves, Basil Leaves - 15 baht
Phone topup - 100 baht
Pizza - 350 baht
The next couple of days are to be spent learning to use a new software package and attempting to get a couple of websites online and catching up on some administrative tasks that I need to complete, so there may not be much in the way of TR posting. Also, I'm unsure as to what A's schedule is like for the next few days, so I've yet to decide if I'm going to attend the daytime GoGo crawl tomorrow afternoon.
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