Walking Street and Rugby

We had our very first night out without the kids on Saturday.  Our lovely new friends from NZ offered to babysit for us for the whole day and night so we could go out and watch the AFL Grand final and check out the night life in Pattaya.  We were so excited.  Judd was too, he couldn't wait for us to leave.  It was such a relief to know that the kids felt comfortable staying with new people, it allowed us to really relax and enjoy ourselves.  The only problem was that we have been so wired and busy with setting up our new life here that by mid afternoon we were exhausted and ready for bed.  We pushed on though purely for the reason that we just couldn't give up such a great opportunity to go out without the kids in tow.  This country really isn't built for strollers and toddlers.

We went into Pattaya to a pub on Beach Road called Gullivers for lunch and joined up with some other expats to watch the game on the big screen.  The pub was great, the beer was great, the food was fantastic but the game was atrocious.  As it was between St Kilda and Collingwood and we are St Kilda supporters and hate hate hate Collingwood. It was the most painful game to watch.  Not only was it the second grand final in a week we had watched as the first one the Saturday before ended in a draw and the rules stipulate that a re match must be played to decide the winning team.  So we had to sit through another awful game of football and watch our team lose, again.  So we drowned our sorrows and played some games of pool, which surprisingly I won 3 of and I haven't played a game in over 3 years.  I was very proud of myself.

There were also alot of American Navy Sailors in town from the US George Washington.  They were so easy to spot, young, fit, crew cuts and all carrying backpacks.  They all walked around in groups of 2 or 4 and were surprisingly very well behaved considering they have been on a Aircraft Carrier for months on end. 

After more beers and dinner we decided it was late enough to head down to Walking Street to initiate ourselves with the infamous night life.  We caught our very first Baht Bus, which is a ute or pickup with a roof and bench seats installed on the back.  They drive around regular routes and stop when you either wave them over or press the buzzer to stop.  They only charge 10 baht per customer per ride.  Once I was told how to use them I realised how easy it was and how convenient they are. So we rode down to the end of Beach Road hopped off and took our first stroll down Walking Street.

It was alot tamer than we imagined, there were just alot of tourist (and sailors) walking along buying food and shopping at the market stalls.  There were of course all the cute little stripper bar girls outside each bar trying to coax people, especially men inside.  Our friend took us into a bar called The Iron Club which was a small club filled with podiums with naked or half naked girls dancing on them.  There was a round spa bath full of bubbles with girls dancing in it and metal rings hanging from the ceiling, which I soon learned were for them to swing from and do tricks on.  One girl swung right up to our unsuspecting friend and showed him her private parts and scared the shit out of him as he was looking down at his phone at the time.  I couldn't stop laughing.  There are two things you can do in a bar like that, laugh or gawk and I was trying not to gawk there were enough sleazy men doing that. Ewww.  This bar didn't have the girls doing ping pong ball tricks thankfully as Marcus and I weren't up to it, we were so tired that we had one beer at the Iron Club then left and walked the rest of the street and caught Baht Bus back to our friends car and headed home.  I think if we were to ever go back we would have to be with a few of our friends from back home, especially for me, I needed another girl to laugh with me.  I took lots of photos though, the neon lights fill the night sky and there is so much to look at that you hardly notice the half naked girls standing outside the bars.

I am not sure if I would be very comfortable with Marcus going there on a boys night out but it is something I will have to deal with as alot of the men who work over here take their bosses or clients out to Walking Street as this is a big part of what Pattaya is famous for.  I do trust him.  There are some expat women here who let the sex industry here spoil their experience of living in Thailand, they cling to their husbands and never let them go out.  But like Marcus said after we got home, you see worse in Australia and prostitution is actually legal as long as it is in a Brothel.  In Thailand it is completely illegal, the bar girls are purely there to entertain and it is up to the man to pay what they call their "bar fine" which releases the girl from her duties that night at the bar and she is free to go where ever or with whom ever she likes.  If the night comes when he is invited out with the guys, I probably wont sleep well but I wont stamp my foot and say "No you cannot go!"  I am not his mum or his boss, I am his wife and if he respects and loves me and our family he wont do anything untoward.  I know I would hate it if he tried to control me in any way, I know it would push me further away until I was too far to return.  And I know that he feels the same way.

Marcus in a scrum

All in all we had a great night out and then followed it up the next day by going to watch Marcus play his very first game of Rugby Union.  What a laugh.  He looked so different.  I admire him for playing though, firstly because he was very hung over and secondly because he had no real idea on what he was doing.  They were playing the US George Washington sailors.  WOW, they were big, muscled and gorgeous men.  There were a couple of huge African American men who were pushing 7 feet tall and almost as wide.  One of them gave Marcus a real big hit in a tackle, he came out with a huge bruise on his thigh, scratches on his neck and aches and pains all over his body.  But he wouldn't stop going on and on about how much fun it was to get out there and get muddy and hurt.  Judd loved it too, he got to run around and around chasing his football with the other little kids, they rolled in the mud and had a great time. Even Lillie enjoyed the freedom of just wandering around the big open field.  After the match (which we lost) we went over to the club rooms for a swim and a beer.  The club rooms are amazing, they are at a Polo Club.  The pool is huge, there is a big bar and restaurant and also an indoor riding stadium and stables.  Now I know why Marcus hangs around so long after rugby training, it is a great place to sit and have a few beers.
They don't play every week but they do train. I think the next game is against a team from Sydney who are touring Thailand in 4 weeks then there is a tournament up in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) a place where I am dying to visit but apparently it is a boys only trip.  Yeah right, we will see about that.