Thelma and Louise Take on the World: From Central Pattaya to the Tiger Zoo

We had to take a break from the sun, so Tuesday was a day in Central Pattaya for shopping and adventure. We took off in one of the back of the truck taxis and had no clue where we were going. Since it was songkran, we made sue to wear clothing suitable for soaking. We finally arrived close to where we had intended after a little confusion muddled by the language barrier, but we made it all work out just fine. We made it to the beach front and started our shopping adventure. Thelma and I wandered through shop after shop filled with knock off Louis Vutton, Versace, Mulberry, Burberry, Chloe, RayBan, Prada...everything. There were also tons of trinkets and souvenirs as well. It was tons of fun. Thelma bought some cute RayBans and I bought some designer underwear.

For breaks from the heat we wandered through a couple air conditioned malls. We of course made a stop at McDonalds for coke zero and we also tried a corn pie. It was delicious. It was a cream corn pie made just like their apple pie. Yum Yum.

That night was cart food night. After we arrived back at our place, we we out to try the food from the various carts that go past. We bought some smoked ribs, chicken kebabs, and more of those delightful pancakes. Then we found a random festival with live music, more food vendors, and a bunch of carnival games. We finished our foods and then decided to try some fried things at one of the carnival stands. They were disgusting. We are not quite sure what they were, but maybe deep fried small eggs in wontons? Not good. But...we tried it. Then, we went to play some of the dart games. Thelma lost, but I won and got a nice sized stuffed animal. We gave the stuffed animal to this adorable little Thai girl and called it a night.

Wednesday was Sriracha Tiger Zoo day!!! We arranged for a round trip to the tiger zoo the night before and we left at 9:30 Wednesday morning. After about a 45 min drive...we arrived. Our guide was all about us following the park schedule of Crocodile Show, Tiger Show, then Elephant show. We really just wanted to play with the tigers...but we followed along to the croc show. It was loud and crowded. There was this crazy guy and lady laying on the crocs and putting their hands and heads in their mouths. We were not too impressed and left after about 5 mins to go find the tiger cubs. There was no one in line and it was amazing. Thelma and just sat on the bench and the ladies brought the cub over for us to feed and take a picture. It was so soft and cuddly. Too cool. Then we went out to find the big tiger. It was quite frightening to sit next to the big cat, but it was such an amazing feeling to put our arms around him. Such a creature of beauty and power. Amazing.

We later caught up with the masses at the Tiger Show, but then went our own way for the rest of the time. We wandered around looking at the animals. Thelma played a couple shoot and feeds. She was given a pellet gun and shot at targets above the big cats. With a bulls eye meet would fall out and the tigers would pounce on it.

Before getting into the van to go home, the guide told us we would be taking a mini train. We had no idea what he was talking about. Just about half way home, the van pulled into this big complex. We were led inside this beautiful beautiful building and were met by beautiful professionally dressed Thai women. We were given free drinks and then led into a mini train that was a really just an Epcot Center ride about the World of Gems. It was a pleasant 20 mins or so of learning about the making, acquiring, and perfecting of gem stones and jewelry. At the completion of the mini train, we were escorted into seriously one of the 4 largest jewelry stores in the world. It was huge...at least two full basketball courts in size and full of any jewel you could imagine. It was quite interesting. We were then given a free ride back to our hotel.

That night we were tired. We had 7 eleven hot foods for dinner and called it a night.