Thailand > Cycling through Pattaya

The last day has arrived. I pack my travel bag and bring it to the reception. There is a special room to leave the luggage. After breakfast we rent two bicycles from the hotel again. We ride along the boulevard behind Jomtien and continue on sandy roads towards Pattaya. This saves us from climbing the hill along the coastal road.

Thailand - The porter pumps the bicycle tires for us

In Pattaya we cycle into the center and park our bikes at the large shopping mall. There we visit the “Believe it or not” museum, filled with all sorts of records, strange events, and optical illusions. Afterwards, we enjoy a large cappuccino in the department store. We then continue cycling along the boulevard. At one of the shops I buy some food for on the plane. I also buy a Thailand T-shirt, bargaining it down to 60% of the asking price. Still, I feel it could have gone lower. Through the streets of Pattaya we ride back to Jomtien and return the bicycles. For our final dinner, we eat at a restaurant near the hotel. Geert orders a dish with peppers—the taste is overwhelmingly hot, yet still quite good. Around 7 p.m. we board the minibus to the airport. Darkness falls along the way. In Bangkok we drive over the concrete highway, about 10 meters above the city. We arrive at the airport in good time; the flight is not even listed on the screen yet, so we cannot check in. With our luggage beside us, we sit down in a café. We spend our last coins on drinks. We think we have just enough for two colas, but we hadn’t noticed the 10% service charge. The waitress refuses to give us two colas for our last coins—we are short 3 baht. So it becomes just one cola. Around midnight we check in our luggage, and at about 2 a.m. the plane departs for Amsterdam.