November 27, 2006 Pattaya, Thailand

November 27, 2006
Pattaya, Thailand

I woke up this morning (9:00ish) as Spizz was heading out on a run. I did some computer work and got ready for the day. At 9:45 we headed for the lobby and had the hotel breakfast.

After eating we headed to the main road and jumped on a taxi. We planned on getting off at a mini-golf course and playing there for a while. Unfortunately, we never saw the place. Instead, we rode the taxi back into the center of town (where we were last night). We wandered around and did some shopping. Clothing was spectacularly cheap and we each made some fun purchases (soccer jersey’s and nice shirts).

As we continued down the promenade we stopped and examined a few post cards. Spizz spotted one of Pattaya with an incredibly large Buddha. He purchased he card and we made it our mission to find the huge statue. We asked several people where it was and they pointed us toward the hill at the edge of town.

Thinking it was too far to walk we looked for a metered taxi (not the trucks you jump on and off). When we finally found one he told us that it was too close for him to give us a ride and said we could walk.

For the next 40 minutes we had a very strenuous and very sweaty hike up a large hill. When we finally got to the top we were treated to a spectacular view of the city. As we explored the top of the hill (looking for the Buddha) we stumbled upon a large war memorial and a really cool Buddhist temple. Still, we couldn’t find what we had set out for. Eventually, we gave up but were still glad we had made the tip up the mountain.

Then, on the way down, Spizz spotted it! The massive Buddha was on the hill opposite ours. Rejuvenated, we hurried down our hill and toward our goal. The climb up this hill was long, but not nearly as steep. After a quick 15-minutes we were at the base of the Buddha.

We climbed the steps and wandered around the statue. It was very impressive. In addition to the enormous Buddha there were many other cool statues at the summit. We spent time examining each one and then headed down.

We leaped into the back of a taxi and headed back to our hotel to rest. When we got back we decided to relax and watch BeerFest (which Spizzle purchased today). Unfortanetly, the DVD did not work! We were both very disappointed. Instead, we watched a few episodes of Entourage.

At 18:00 we headed back to downtown to do a little more shopping and get some dinner. After completing our shopping (which included another copy of BeerFest) we went to a restaurant called Planet Food to eat. The food was tasty but mosquitoes attacked me the whole time we ate.

Once we were done we made our way toward Walking Street. I took some photos and we wandered along. Eventually we stopped to drink a couple of beers and play some connect-4. I was on fire! My record for the night was 15 wins and 2 losses, with 1 tie (spizz went 4 – 15)…

From there we jumped in a cab and headed home. When we got back we put in 007:Casino Royale (also purchased today). We were both tired and got bored fairly quickly. At 23:00 we turned off the movie and went to sleep.