The begining of Sailing and the Language of Pattaya

I am starting to get into a routine in the mornings here at the yacht club. The Yacht club is great, the food is great, the beer is cheap (just like everything else...), and the view over the water is phenomenal. We sailed for 2, 2 hr sessions on my birthday, which was what I wanted to do, spending my birthday sailing in a tropical climate (I don't think this birthday will be topped for a while if at all). Its actually quite peaceful here once the sun goes down and cicadas stop screaming. On the 7th we went for a nice long sail, the wind was 12-15 knots, and the waves are steep and big, but that just adds to the fun. The wind seems to build throughout the day to usually peaking out around 10-15 knots and it usually hits that around 1pm and goes throughout the rest of the day. Beaching the boat will definitely be interesting if there are any kind of waves, we saw some 3 ft waves crashing on the beach about 5 minutes after we had gotten on shore and if we were still in th water we would've had some sketchy moments.
March 8 was measurement and it was a chaotic gong show. Our boat lost weight in the last 2 years and we had to put some lead corrector weights in the boat to get it up to weight. Our new sails weren't registered on our measurement certificate because we just got them the day before so that also added to our hassle. Measurement day may be evil, but its a necessary evil. In the evening we went into Pattaya to check out the sights, and wow, are there sights. Bar girls beckoning you to come drink at their bar, a males ego will not be as big as it is in Pattaya (well at least until you realise their motives, lol). We had dinner at a local restaurant, I had a real nice and spicy stir fry squid with chilli peppers dish. The total cost of that dinner for 11 people 1700 baht (included 11 large beers). We had a lot of fun touring the streets and I ended up picking up 2 boardshorts and 1 pair of flipflops for 500 baht (approx $17).
There is one more day of measurement and since we are all taken care of on that part we will be we will be heading into town and hitting up the go kart track, which should be a lot of fun. From here in Pattaya the hobbit says bye.

Bangkok to Pattaya

Morning
-Woke up unscathed, might have been the smart drinking of gatorade before sleeping, lol, yes hobbits are smart from time to time
-Hobbit Hotel Review
-Nothing Fancy, but when you are just sleeping in the hotel, who needs anything more.
-3 rings of power
-Rush hour? how about rush day, the traffic never seems to slow down.
-100 baht cab ride to the bus station
- we sat in traffic for 20 minutes before we drove around the block to the bus station, that was a little annoying, lol
-Bus Ride to Siracha cost us 117 baht each, and it was a airconditioned coach, which was nice.
-We then took a tuk tuk to the Tiger Zoo, only because they were right there.
-LOTS AND LOTS of Tigers and Crocodiles in the zoo
-Got to feed an elephant which was very cool, and interesting
-The baby elephant was very cute.
-Frank was a kid again looking at all the tigers
-Took a picture with a baby tiger and that was very very cool (the baby tiger was very cute)
-In the tiger show they had the tigers jump through fire hoops, it was very cool.
-In the croc show they had the crazy guy put his head in the crocs mouth, CRAZY!!!!!!
-In the elephant show they had the elephants play basketball, well they slammed the balls in the baskets, lol
-50 baht 2 bottles of water and 2 beer
-30 baht bus ride back to the siracha main road.
-1oo baht for the rest of the bus ride down to pattaya
-200 baht to turn a bus to a cab and take it to the yacht club (which was hard to find, the locals don't know what the club is)
-The Yacht Club is Stunning
-Will be using the Pool a lot
-The Food here at the yacht club is great, but I haven't had a bad meal yet.
-Pattaya will be interesting.

A Day in the Life of a Hobbit - Bangkok Style

(Notes taken during or slightly after events)
Night 1
-Cab ride (1100 baht, rip off, but hey still only $36), crazy driving, thought I was in "The Fast and the Furious the Short Film", but then I was introduced to the dark side of Bangkok and was given a slow drive down the prostitute street...
-VERY humid, hobbit melting weather
-The Watergate Hotel is very much basic but will do the job
-Feeling alone, but will get better when I meet up with Frank and the rest of the sailing crew.

Day 1
-Very Crazy here, hustle and bustle
-The Road "Laws" are more guidelines than anything else
-Can't really complain about the traffic in Calgary after being here for a day.
-North Americans would definately have trouble getting used to the traffic here
-When in Thailand you must take a tuk tuk just for the experience but the tuk tuk drivers will try and take advantage of you and you will pay a little more
-When taking a cab always ask for them to turn on the meter cause it will save you money.
-Went to the Grand Palace (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), the Sitting Buddha, the Standing Buddha, the Reclining Buddha, and The Temple of the Dawn.
-The word to describe them all is PHENOMENAL, I really enjoyed them just wish I had someone to share the experience with.
-Favorite was the Temple of the Dawn, it was the most unique and was a tall pyramid type structure with very tall steep steps (hard for hobbit legs to climb)

Night 2
-Met up with Frank and his tour group in the evening after a 2 hr nap (jetlag and pollution drained me)
-Had Dinner and then went out to Soh Can Road (don't hold me to the spelling)
-The evening was great, in the group that I went out with, there were 2 20 somehthing australian sisters, 1 mid 30's englishman, 1 20 something englishman, 1 20 something brazilian, and Frank and I.
-We picked up some booze from the 7 eleven (thats right) and walked up and down the street for a little bit, taking in all the sights (said no numerous times for pingpong shows)
-First bar was an open air bar and we shared 3L of Chang beer and it cost us 400 baht total
-The one "downside" to an open air bar is you get bugged by some roaming street vendors including little kids, just stay firm and say no
-The next bar had live music and was a blast, and again the theme is cheap beer :)
-We then went to a dance club and danced the night away
-Although the hobbit is need of dance lessons and will be taking applications for his dance partner ;) lol

A long flight for a short person

(Took notes, during and shortly after each event)
Woke up early on March 2, original flight from Calgary to Vancouver was delayed (10:10-10:45) so my layover in Vancouver wasn't much of a layover, it was more of a jog over to my next gate. My little hobbit legs got one last workout before I got on my 13 hr flight to Hong Kong.

Hobbiton now presents "The Hobbit In Flight Movie Review"

Dan in Real Life
-Starring Steve Carrol, Dane Cook, Juliet Binoche
-Dane Cook actually shows some good acting and depth in his role
-Carrol was alright but should stick to comedic roles
-Binoche pulled the movie out with her performance
-The Hobbit gives it 3 Rings of Power out of 5
The Game Plant
-Starring Duane "The Rock" Johnson, Roselyn Sanchez
-Token Disney Movie
-Formualic Plot
-Not enough Sanchez, lol.
-Rock manages to pull off a good performance with his charisma, too bad the story isn't great
-The Hobbit gives 1 Ring of Power
Jun0
-Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner
-Great Movie
- Off the wall but fun
-Ellen Page's Oscar nomination very very well deserved
-Michael Cera and Page's chemistry was awesome
-Knowing what Page looks like in a skin tight suit (Xmen), the wardrobe leaves a lot to be desired, lol.
-The Hobbit gives 4 Rings of Power.
In the Actors Studio (Feat John Cusack)
-Need to watch "High Fidelity"
-Lipton has underrated dry sense of humor
-Cusack is a cool guy
-"Putting Cameron Diaz in a cage with a Monkey... Thats a good day"

Meal Review
-TV Dinner Wannabe's
-Free Beer (Henieken, Molson Canadian, Coors Light) is Free Beer

Layover in Hong Kong
-The Hobbit is proud to announce that he got to the Hong Kong Airport before Starbucks (its under construction)
-Saw a Magnet for Happy Valley (you take that as you want to take that)
-Hobbits do not do well on 13 hour flights, even hobbit legs get cramped
-Still hasn't quite hit me that I'm not in Calgary
-The Flight plan for my flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong: North to Alaska and the Bearing Strait, then South through Russian and China airspace.

Thai Airways flight- Hong Kong to Bangkok
-Purple has never been used as it was inside the Thai Airways plane.
-Not much to report other than the colour was loud, and that I slept for most of the flight.

Bangkok Airport
-Busy, the customs was easy and not too busy.
-The architecture of Hong Kong and Bangkok airports are very similar, and very cool.