Woe is me, v-day and am stuck at home ill. J called to say that I probably had a lucky escape as it appears that in this country you run and around and plaster people with stickers. How romantic. What do you say to that? Thanks for making me look like a loser from Project runway where I had to make a suit out of trash? Course, am lucky I escaped said stickiness but you be damn sure that I am looking forward to seeing what the kids have done to him. Ah...every cloud...
What is it about V-day anyway? Last year, we were driving back from Chi when we had a blow-out on the highway in Kentucky and ended up stuck there for a while waiting for a trooper, nothing like truck fumes in your face to get you in the mood. The year before we were in the least romantic country on earth, well, they have black day where if you are single you have to eat black food and stuff, mmm doesn't that just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside?
The year before that we weren't long together so I boycotted it to avoid the pressure and had a rather nice evening with two of my closest female friends, which brings me to the weekend. Our sort of anniversary. I didn't quite realise it was our anniversary on Saturday until Friday evening. Who moans it's the men who forget these things man? I'm just as bad. We went down to Pattaya beach to relax. It isn't exactly the most romantic setting to be fair. It is the only place in Thailand that GIs could go to on holiday during Vietnam, and really, I doubt the image or trade there has changed much since then.
Lots of foreigners with a beautiful Thai woman. Everybody knows this goes on, it is well-known for it, but it is a different feeling caught up among it. I don't have a problem with it when it is a fit young bloke with a fit bird or an old bloke with an old Thai bird. But, I just feel weird when I see a bloke who clearly wouldn't be able to bed a moose in his home country but is spreading about the wonga for a bird half his age in Pattaya. It is made worse by the fact that they think they are kings because of the woman on their arm and they seem to forget that she isn't really there for the right reasons and doesn't necessarily look like she wants to be there. I'm sure it makes it difficult for those who do have legitimate relationships. That aside, Pattaya is the closest beach and Jomtien area is fairly quiet and family oriented and the bonus of so many tourists is cheap accomodation and decent restaurants so you can't always complain.
It was a fairly nice weekend except or the part where I woke up in horrendous pain with stomach cramps and the inevitable squits. Clearly, I was paying for getting a little carried away and buying steamed Prawns on the beach from a woman selling them from a big pot she carried around with her. Yes, yes, all the warning signs were there, she should have had a huge neon light advertising Gastroentiritis really, but you know, after a while you think you are impervious to the porcelain ache, until you take it a little too far. I'm sure it is the fact that when you first arrive in Thailand, no matter how hot you think you can take your Tabasco or whatever, your first Thai meal will blow your head off. Then you learn that in Thailand they judge the heat of the food by the amount of Chillies that they put in the food. then you realise that Thais have 8-10 Chillis in an average dish and the average Westerner can only manage 3! After a few months of training you can muster about 5 and then you think that your stomach is made of steel and you can eat anything. WRONG!
Oh well, better luck next time...
Hope you all have a good time today whever you are whatever you are doing...
