1st travel weekend: Pattaya (12/16 - 12/17)

For my first weekend travel experience while studying in Bangkok, I ventured down to Pattaya, a beach town on the southern coast of mainland Thailand, and what an adventure it was! Joining me on these travels were Bo Parfet, a Kellogg graduate and the epitome of Mr. Adventure (i.e. he has climbed the tallest peak on all seven continents just to give you a hint), and three daughters of the Yindee family, friends of Bo's. Every aspect of our travels turned into an epic journey; just to name a few --4 hours of craziness on the road trip down (i.e. it was supposed to be a 1.5 hour drive to Pattaya), an elite polo match, my first swing of a polo stick off of a mock horse, quite possibly the best dinner I have ever had, and a volleyball game in the middle of nowhere. These are captured in more detail below.

Four of us left Bangkok on Saturday at noon with the hopes of making a 3pm polo match. "It's 1.5 hour drive" the Thais told uu ...yeah, that didn't quite work out. After finally realizing that our van driver was afflicted with grandma-style driving syndrome, we ditched the ride, and jumped into the car of the 3rd sister, who we picked up just north of Pattaya. The car, which held up impressively through numerous potholes, uturns, and fishtailing, is captured below




Bo, our fearless co-captain, was our driver and in full-on GAME FACE for 2 hours looking for the well-hidden polo fields. I'm in the back holding on for dear life, but to be honest, Bo had it under complete control the whole time -- never fear! Line of the trip -- after perfectly and confidently reiterating directions we had just received, Bo casually states, "...and where the hell are we anyways??!!?" -- yeah, not to confidence inspiring :-)


Finally, we arrived!! Right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!! This polo field was just a decoy, in order to hide the real 'polo' field where the actual tournament was being played -- quite a funny joke we thought; we couldn't stop laughing! (...sense some sarcasm???)



Ok, FINALLY -- we're here! Well done Bo. This was the first 'The Argentinean Ambassadors Cup" -- an attempt to build relations and sport between polo playing countries.


Here are the three Yindee daughters settlingl into their first drink just before the 2nd Polo game. From the left, we have Topaz (aka Gertrude), Pearl (aka Navigator), and Angelique (aka BuzzKill ..later Big A!!). They were all troopers throughout it all -- it made for a great team.

...and not bad on the eyes :-)



While we missed the 3pm Polo match, but we did catch the 4pm match, which thankfully started ~ 1 hour late at 5 pm in classic Thai style (i.e. TIT 'This is Thailand'). This was my first Polo match, and I must admit that I was very impressed. These were some top caliber players -- rated 0 and higher (-2 is the lowest). The finesse and power with which the riders and horses move is unparalleled.



Finally, a rest. What a beautiful set of horses! The games are so intense that each horse only plays 1 of 4 periods, or"chukka's", so there are about 80 horses needed per game to the best of my estimation.



While incredibly difficult to find, the Polo field is set in the middle of a gorgeous mountainous Thai backdrop, which you can see in the background below.

Here we have the Argentinian Ambassador to Thailand, who is being interviewed by Bo's friend Tom, who served as our gracious host for this journey -- thanks Tom!

Having been impressed by the entire Polo experience, we now aspire to one day be Polo champions. Below, you can see us temporarily living this dream as we are all huddling around the Ambassador's Cup.

Tom was kind enough of take us down to a Polo training device to practice our skills. All of us, besides the non-athletic Topaz, took a swing on the mock horse. Here we have the three ladies in a classic Charlie's Angels pose.

Yeah, um, Angielique got a little excited on her follow through attempt; however, you can't fault her for her passion! This photo was shared with many at her expense -- she was a great sport as always :-)

Bo and I took our own swings, and being the competitors we are, of course it had to be a competition! I benefited from the similarity with the golf swing, as you can see me in action below. I crushed one about 50 yards. Bo? Well, he didn't quite make it over the initial fence. It was all good, clean fun.

..and the follow through

Certainly, Bo had the form!

To our sheer delight, Tom asked us to stay for what I can honestly was one of the most amazing dinners I have ever had. It was simple -- potato salad, cole slaw, chicken, and beef; however, in classic Argentinian style, the chicken and beef were some of the most tender morsels mankind has ever known.

...and the scenery wasn't bad either

Bo was certainly enjoying myself, and had top class manners on display! ....

However, I was not be out done...

After dinner, we finally ventured down to our hotel, called Shore Cliffs, on the southern end of Pattaya. A photo of the hotel the following morning is captured below.

I was in rare form for the entire trip, and decided so sport the safari look for some ill-fashioned reason at breakfast the next morning.

After breakfast, we ventured out to find a volleyball game. After about a 1.5 hour hunt, we decided to make our own game on a distant beach near the old-stomping grounds of the Yindee household. It was not quite the caliber of some of my games in Hermosa Beach, but it was fun nonentheless ... and most importantly, it gave me the workout that I needed!

..and another action shot! To Bo's credit, I believe he aced me on this one. His newly acquired Russian partner, who randomly appeared out of nowhere, is captured in the foreground.

After working up an appetite, we settled into a restaurant for a classic Thai meal. The adventure was almost over, but we were still ALL smiles.

...and the personality was never lacking!