Peach Blossom Garden, Crown Cave, Guilin, China

Region Where Minority is the Majority. Strong As Zhuang.

                       

Our first stop this morning is a ethnic cultural theme park. This kinda ethnic park almost always included in a Guangxi province tour package. After all, Guangxi official name is Guangxi Zhang Autonomous Region. China has 5 autonomous regions. 

All yellow shaded provinces are autonomous regions
with Guanxi (where Guilin is located) being the southernmost

A casual glance at the map of China would have detected that all these autonomous regions are on the landlocked fringes of China, bordering with other countries, naturally. Because once upon a time, some of them were other countries. Except for Ningxia, which in a sense borders with another country as Inner Mongolia was not part of China before Gengis Khan.

Another Chinese ethnic minority was the Manchu (or Manchurian) who ruled China, and are absorbed into China like Inner Mongolia. Where's Manchuria Autonomous Region? The Manchuria 'autonomous region' is composed of three dumplings-eating provinces that sits at the north east corner of China, which border Inner Mongolia, Russia, and Korea. It's a cultural diverse region.

Another province that inhabited by a large population of ethnic minority group is Yunnan and it borders with Thailand, Myama, Loas and Vietnam. So why Yunnan and the provinces in the north east most of China aren't autonomous regions? They should be. But they are not. I could only speculate that it's due to the complex Chinese historical and political background. With the Manchu, its people and culture are being assimilated into China. Or to be precise, when the Manchus conquered China, they desperately wanted to be integrated themselves into Chinese culture to bring harmony (and to avoid rebellion) to the Qing Dynasty (and the policy worked out well).

Think of Catherine The Great who was a German princess. In the funny days of old, she didn't have to learn Russian to rule Russia. But she chose to teach herself the Russian language, and even joined the Russian Orthodox Church to go an extra mile to show her faith (in God and country). This won her brownie points with the Russian people.


Where was I? Oh yeah, back to Yangshou Guangxi. This ethnic cultural park, Peach Blossom Garden (桃花源), showcases the cultural architectures, artefacts and peoples of various major ethnic minority groups in Guangxi. If you ask me, I would prefer to see one real ethnic village than a dozen ethnic tourist display villages. I think the name for this park in the similar westerner tour packages might have been called "Peach Blossom Shangri-la", but I'm not sure.

Just like my yesterday's trip to Fengyu Cave, and Silver Cave the day before that, the passing scenery on our way there is as good as the destination, if not better. Below is a small sample.

In fact, yesterday, i visited the Yao minority in Fengyu Cave. So the Autonomous Region of Guangxi has a share share of minority communities.

As we were free to explore the park, the tour guide didn't accompany us to do running commentaries (like a tennis match). So we were left clueless about the various minority groups roaming around the park. I took this photo and left to my own device to find out who these lovely gals were. The research can be a formidable task when you considering how many minority groups there are in China. Officially there 55 minority groups in China, give or take. This number is a very broad stroke, and the actually number can be a lot higher depending on the classification criteria.

Sailing into the Crown Cave

Is this the peach blossoms that give this place its name?
probably not as it's not the right season...

Take Taiwan, it has approx 26 known Taiwanese Aborigines languages, which implies the Formosa Island has at least 26 ethnic groups, and the number should likely be higher. But PRC government count all Taiwanese Aborigines as one group. Think of a country like Vietnam, which has only a fraction the size of China has recognized 54 distinct ethnic groups. Some of the groups like the Yao that you met in my last diary entry, and the Miao, etc live in both countries. If Chinese authority sorts its ethnic groupings the way the Vietnamese or Taiwanese government does, the figure would get bumped up several times over. Indeed, there are many sub-divisions within the Yao people that Chinese authority simply lumps them into as one. Maybe it's a good thing because the diversity simply boggles the mind.

Some stage performance as we glided along the river

Undaunted, I thought I do the research by narrowly the research with some deliberation. First, not all ethnic minorities in China live in Guangxi. Duh. Even then, there still left with quite a number of minority groups (probably more than 20). I further narrowed it to the largest and most familiar groups - the Zhuangs (壮族), Yaos (瑶族), Miaos (苗族), and Dongs (侗族). I actually heard about the Miao people of Vietnam way back when I was still in my primary school in Vietnam, but didn't know that they also live in China. Starting with my first search of Zhuang, I hit the jackpot right away - I was able to identify costumes of the girls in the photo as the Zhuang people. After all, the official name for this province is "Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region". The Zhuang is not only the largest group in this province, but in fact, the largest in China - some 16 millions strong (Zhuang = 'Strong' in Chinese).

Most minorities have very colourful and flamboyant costumes, the Zhuang traditional dresses are quite simple, typically black and blue. The top looks like a top half of a short-sleeved qipao that are ever so popular in the West.

The unique wooden architecture is the famous Drum Tower of the Dong people. If you have already read my diary entry on "Guilin - Day 2", you would have thought this is a Yao costume (with slight variation), but in fact a Dong costume. That's the thing about this sort of ethnic park, there're different ethnic people walking around different places leaving the tourists like me can't make heads or tails - actually Yaos or Dongs - out of this place. This tower has 5 tiers of roofs, some have many more - as many as 20.

We headed for yet another cave in the arvo. 3 caves in 3 days in a row. I have never been so caved out, especially that I'm not a cave man - I mean a cave person (a civilised cave man). Don't bore me with another set of calcium carbonate formations, I said to myself. This one called the Crown Cave. Having seen Silver Cave 2 days ago, it takes a great deal to win me over.

The Crown Cave didn't top Silver Cave, but it has its own charm. I wasn't as disappointed as I have with Fengyu Cave that I went yesterday. Instead of trekking the cave in more or less horizontally, we ascend as we proceed deep into the cave. As we entered the cave's centre piece, standing at the bottom, the steep stairs led our eyes skyward towards the tall and impressive limestone columns on top of the stairs. It reached the top of a very high cave ceiling, with its limestones structures adorn the columns like intricate, exquisite carvings of some Renaissance genius sculptors. For an European, this probably reminds them of a cathedral with soaring columns and vaults. To me, it looks almost exactly like the underwater palace of the Dragon King of the East Sea (東海龍王) that I remember from Chinese movies. Quite spooky and stunning.

Embroidery session

We finished the night with the watching of "Impression Liu Sanjie" ("Liu's 3rd Sister" 刘三姐). The show takes place in the open with the backdrop of the picturesque Guilin limestone karsts. The 'stage' is an inlet surrounded by seven limestone hills. Because it takes place at night, several karsts were light up with flood lights. They took on an eerily magical and translucent quality - imagine shine a torch light onto your face from below your chin in the dark. Yep, that same eerily ambience of a ghost story telling writ large provides the backdrop for the show. Most of the dancers perform in water, and I was told they do this all year round. My guide told me that one of his Harbin tourist member told him that winter here is colder than Harbin - the famous City of Ice Festival in the North (in 'Manchuria'). I find it hard to swallow, but what is even more incredible is that the actors do their performances in water scantily clad. Many performers are fishermen by day, which explains their constitution of an ox that we mere mortals can only admire them from afar in quiet awe, followed by some loud applause. As impressive as these feats of physical endurance, these kinda things come natural to them, what is impressive is asking the farmers and fishermen to turn into performers, which is not something that come natural to them. Isn't this the developing story of China today? While China is trying to turn farmers into factory hands, Zhang turn them into stage performers.

Because the show was done in open air, the audience is susceptible to weather elements and other not so pleasant random Acts of God. It showered before the show started and we were given raincoats at the entrance. Our spirits weren't dampened. Our guide cheered us up by saying that the light rain adds atmosphere. He wasn't too far off the mark.

This show was created and directed by the ever so popular Zhang Yimou. Anyone who had sampled his movies and watched the 2008 Beijing Opening Ceremony last year knows about his handiworks. I watched the Opening Ceremony and nearly all his subsequent movies starting from "Raise The Red Lantern" (Gong Li gave a commanding performance), which introduced me to his cinemas. So I held high expectation of this show, and it was was met with resounding success; it delivered one visually stunning images after another of the highest caliber. Stylish, visual poetry. You don't have to be a part-time stock photographer turned casual shutterbug like me to appreciate the sumptuous feast for the eyes, and an awe matched only by the physical fortitude of the performers. Not surprisingly it was photography that save Zhang from slipping into oblivion. Truth be told, as a short-attention-span movie watcher, I found the absence of narrative a bit slow going. But this is just me, and it also explains my general boredom with staged performances of several kinds. Overall, the show is a must-see (despite my attention deficit). If you can stay focus, the performance is quite captivating and magical, the atmosphere dreamy, transporting you to another world. It costs $50 SGD/AUD if my memory serves. It's a China price.
This Chinese tourist operator website should offer clues on what I was talking about. Open the images on the left hand side of the webpage to get a better view. http://www.yxlsj.com/chinese/dt_first.asp?id=媒体

Zhang also created 3 other similar shows at 3 other Chinese tourist icons. According to the guide, "Impression Liu Sanjie" is the first and still the best. This show reminds me of the Light and Sound show at the Pyramid of Giza. Perhaps, Zhang got the idea from there. The Pyramid and the Sphinx was light up with multicolored light and given it that translucent feel, not dissimilar to the limestone karst. The light-up of these Egyptian icons was spectacular and impressive, but the rest of the 'show' consisted of a giant video screen showing some dramatised doco. This part is a bit passe and when compare the Liu Sanjie performances, it's quite lame. The narrator of the video sounded too 1930's with its over-the-top theatrical voice. Sorry! It was quite embarrassing. Replace the narrator with a Shakespearean actor and it would tone down its theatrical decibels by a few notches. Providing some live performances like Impression Liu Sanjie would have been better. Of course, you don't go to Egypt to see this lame show. But as some world tourism official suggest, if there's one show you should fly there to see, it would be "Impression Liu Sanjie". I wouldn't. But then stage performance isn't my cup of tea.

Jingjiang Palace 靖江王府, Guilin, China

Jingjiang Palace/Castle and Mausoleum was our first morning stop. This is one of the optional tour.This palace belonged to King Jingjiang (one of the brother of Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, hence "King"). During the 257 years from the building of the palace to the end of Ming Dynasty, 14 kings from 12 generations lived here.

Jingjiang Palace
Rated AAAA by the official tourism authority
according to the plaque (in the photo's foreground)

 One of the buildings in this palace complex that I didn't expect to find here was the Imperial Examination House (Gongyuan 贡院). I'm somewhat surprise because Guangxi is essential a political backwater (it's as far away from Beijing as it can get).

Here lies one of the great Chinese invention. While the ancient Greek invented Democracy, Chinese came up with Meritocracy, which is embodied by the Imperial Exam for Civil Service. This Civil Service Exam created a level playing field, allowing the son of even a lowly blacksmith or farmer the opportunity to advance to the highest rank in the land: military general or chief minister of the imperial court (except for the top job). This idea originated by Confucius (circa 500 BC), and put into practice in the Sui Dynasty in 605 DC (existed a few centuries earlier in lesser forms). This is the 7th century Chinese version of the modern day Equal Job Opportunity Movement.

Confucianism empathises hierarchical relationship and harmony (vertical power structure) while Democracy favours individual rights and expressions, competition and conflict (horizontal power structure), democracy wouldn't take off in China as long as Confucianism thrives. This is why the East never meets the West, or would they? I hope I see the day when they have a rendezvous in my lifetime. I hope so because I just want to live to 300 years old. Actually many societies of former British colonies like HK and Singapore already shows such marriage of the East and West, and gives birth to many interesting hybrid, colourful forms of government. Even China herself is changing. She's changing from a Mao suit into a business power suit lately. If you ask me (I know you won't, so I just ask you to ask me), I prefer her in an alluring qipao. Now has many suits and dresses in her humongous closet (plus a few dusty, spiderweb covered skeletons). The business suits may not look as fetching as qipao or as together as the Mao suit, but it puts 3 square meals on the table for all her kids. Get real, Mao suits don't work on China, or anyone else. You simply can't knock a decent power suit, can you? Call me company man, I like the suit.

Claustrophobic needs not apply

Ok, back from the tangent. The tour guide put our tour group members into the individual Examination Cubicle (see photo); they even handed us with Examination Papers. On the side of fold-up Examination Table (it opens like those in a beer bar counter) is the calligraphy brush and ink plots. The Imperial Exam Papers contains many questions that tested the scholar of his general knowledge. In our mock paper, it contained general trivia regarding Guilin and our tour.

In the ancient time, for the three day grueling exercise, this cubicle will be your examination room, dining room, bed room, and toilet. Yep, they provided the scholars the chamberpots for their not so literary, but substantial outputs. That's why there's an oil lamp in the niche of the back wall so the scholars wouldn't step into the chamberpots at night. Or allowed them to burn the mid-night oil, literally, to the original meaning of the expression.

This is the first time I hold a calligraphy brush in more than 30 years, with trembling hands, I thought I scribbled as much as I can on the papers and take it home as souvenir. I should enjoy looking back my calligraphic doodles that only I can read (much worse than the doctors'). Half way through my papers, the Imperial Examiner Clerk snatched it away as he yelled "Brushes down! Brushes down!"
As it turned out, they took the Imperial Exam Papers of the whole tour group (25 people) for assessment. They graded my papers with the highest mark and therefore passed this exam. I guess while others are busily posing for photos, I was busy writing. What's new?

All dressed up and going places in the Ming government...
and showing off the credential papers

They dressed me up in an official uniform of a newly appointed bureaucrat - a Mandarin of the Imperial Ming Dynasty. As Guilin and this area is a county-level district, I was officiated the rank of licentiate (xiucai 秀才 - loosely translated as "Budding Talent") in passing this exam - the lowest rank of the scholar-official. This instant-noodle-time public fame might just make the trip worthwhile. I kid. The photo ops just put meaning into my pathetic life. I jest. About the meaning, not the pathetic comment. That remains true as gold.

Bowed at the altar of the teacher / originator of
the civil exam Confucius 孔子
as part of the ceremony (no tossing of mortarboards)

Cruise Boat to Hotel, Two-River Four-Lake Cruise, Guilin, China

7 Star Hotel + 2 Rivers & 4 Lakes

Our carrier was Hong Kong Airline and we arrived Guilin ("Osmanthus Forest" 桂林) about 2PM. We joined Wing On travel agent for this trip.

 A cruise boat (not ship) took us to our hotel. I can't remember if the photo is the actual boat we were on, or something like it.

The riverboat

 

Cruise Boat to Our Hotel

Instead of the usual road transportation in tourist coaches, We boarded a cruise on Li River (Lijiang. 'Jiang' is 'river' in Chinese) heading for our hotel. This is a nice touch, offering a very different perspective, pointing at the motorists on the road, "Those poor suckers stuck on the road! " and laughed. No, i'm not gloating. I'm sympathizing. 

There were many genuine sights where locals carrying on their daily lives, totally oblivious to our presence.

Here's a quentissential fisherman wither his working partners cormmorant. This wasn't done for the benefits of the tourists (although that would be arranged for our benefits in the trip).

Fisherman with cormorants

Angler, unconventional DIY fishing
without  the help of cormorant.
How sad! How brave!

Too many anglers spoil the sport ?

Sydney time, takes me right back home.
But why Sydney?

After an hour of sailing and passing a local beach, we were graced by the city's most famous landmark - the Elephant (Trunk) Hill, which looks like an elephant (with a Mohawk) dipping its snout into the Lijiang. Not a great leap of the imagination, especially if you're a hair stylist.

Elephant Hill

The water level on this part of the Li River was quite shallow, I could spot the beautiful pebbled riverbed quite well. Most locals sail on this Li River on bamboo rafts with bamboo poles, which propels the raft by pushing it against the river bed than using like an oar to push it against the water.

 

Raftsman pushing his raft

Guilin is often covered in mist, but the view in the river bottom is clear. This shallowness produced the most cliché image of the Li River of Guilin - the fisherman on the bamboo raft with or without a file of soldiers of cormorants.

The tour guide told us that during low tide, he has to ask the tour group to get off the boat on shallow section of the river to walk along the river bank in order to lift the boat, and return to the boat in deeper section of the river. It didn't happen today.

The Elephant (Trunk) Hill is a major tourist attraction of the Guilin city where you can get there and walk around and through the cave and touch the elephant trunk and take cliche picture of you inside the hole. Unfortunately, it wasn't on our itinerary, and we could only contend to watch it afar from the river. Our hotel turned out to be less 10 minutes by boat after The Elephant (Trunk) Hill and 5 minutes from the Liberation Bridge, which spans the Li River in the city centre.

Seven Star Hotel

The hotel locates in Qixing ("Seven Stars") district in Guilin city (actually county) and was 5-star by Guilin standard. It would probably only be rated a 3.5 or 4 (i'm in a generous mood) stars by international standard.

Two-Rivers Four-Lakes Cruise

After dinner, we went on the famous Two-Rivers Four-Lakes Cruise. It would be more enjoyable if it was not so hot and humid. I packed only early autumn clothes, not a pair of shorts in sight. What was I thinking? Why not pack a couple of shorts? Not that it will break my bag or back. HK was more hot and humid than Singapore, and Guilin is more so than HK. It was unexpected (for me). As soon as the cruise was over, I went for shopping for a pair of shorts. The hot spells must come rather sudden, the locals was walking topless in pants while holding their shirts. That was a sight not mentioned in the brochure. I may have bought a pair of shades for that purpose.

Live performance in a theatre by the lake

Pagoda by the lake

Silver Cave, Guilin, China

We headed for the Yinzi or Silver Cave in the afternoon, passing through the amazing scenery of Yangshuo. The satellite picture shows 20,000 limestone peaks in the Guilin/Yangshuo area. With so many limestone peaks, it's not hard to imagine the number of limestone caves exist. The Silver Cave is one of the popular one.

We were on a boat like this that takes us to the cave

If there's an example of "It's not the destination, it's the journey that matters", this little trip to get to Silver Cave is such example.

One of the breathtaking scene we saw while we're on
our way to the Silver Cave

Mooo idyllic scenery

The overcast misty atmosphere does lend it to resemble the black and
white Chinese ink calligraphy that associates so much with Guilin

The first cave I visited was a cave in Sydney (near Wollongong city) back when I was in the later stage of growing taller, and more pimply. The visit didn't leave me with a good impression. First (bad) impression lasts and it lasted for a few decades. Nothing wrong with that cave, I guess caving is just not my cup of tea. Needless to say, my reaction of going to visit another cave is somewhere between lukewarm and tepid (I don't care for lukewarm tea or beer for that matter).

Don't know if it was the low expectation, the Silver Cave wowed me all the way with its myriad of limestone formations, one feature outdid another, and its size is far exceeded that of my first cave (as far as I can remember. And we tend to remember things much larger and fancier than they actually are when we are small). 

Is this upside down? I don't think so...
Looks quite puzzling for a newbie like me...

Just when I thought nothing could top what I had seen so far as we came to near the end of the cave, something quite unexpected appeared. A group of soaring limestone columns and formations around a bend were as good as anything I have seen so far, but what makes this spot so unexpected and unique was a pool of water in front of this formation. The pool of water isn't very large (small than an Olympic swimming pool), and is only few inches deep. It's the perfect mirror reflection of limestone formations above it that is really bumped it up a notch to a new league of uniqueness.

As I looked down into the pool of water, the plunging depth of limestone structures is reflected as deep as its soaring height, its ceiling becomes its floor. The illusion is so complete that I felt woozy from vertigo - the same deal I get when looking down onto a street from, say, a 15 storey window. I instinctually stepped back from the water edge, fearing that I may plummet into a pool of a few inches of water. The whole effect is eerily magical. Surreal. Actually quite frightening. Judging from other awe-struck looking, jaw-dropped tourists passing through here, I knew I didn't mistaken vertigo for awe-inspiring. Maybe we all do.

Awesome

This photo could hardly justify with what I depicted above. It does a good job in serving as an example to budding photographers of how one can fail miserably to capture the grandeur of the scenery. The cave limits how far I can stand away to take in the whole thing. A fish lens would do a better job (with a nice distortion). Also in order to capture both the limestone formations and the water reflection, a portrait (or vertical) orientation is called for, but it also ensures that it will lose out on the width/breadth of this thing. Even with the vertical format, I managed to only take in about 2/3 of the view above water, and less than 1/5 of the mirror reflection. In any event, no technology allows you to encapsulate the haunting quality of this place. In the words of the youth, real kewl...(don't forget to nod while swaying your bod when you say that, for max effect).

After dinner in our hotel in Yangshuo, we made our way to West Street. This street is also known as "Yangshuo's Lan Kwai Fong". LKF (Lan Kwai Fong) has became synonymous with in Central Hong Kong that has a concentration of trendy, westernised types of cafe, beer bars, and restaurants that draws Western customers, tourists and expats alike. 





One of the local speciality is the beer fish, and it isn't hard to find in Yangshuo and even easier in West Street. We didn't get to try as all our meals are provided. You can also hire a bike here to watch the drop dead gorgeous scenery, and judging from what drove past me, tandem bikes are quite popular.

Banana Crêpe, Fruit Stands, and the Red Light District, Pattaya, Thailand

Pattaya: Party Ya!  Pattaya: Part Two Ya!

Banana Crêpe

Nice to be back. One of the things I missed about Pattaya is the banana crepe. Both Ada and myself love this terrific dessert. Its allure lies in its simplicity. There are other crepes with different fillings like raisin, palm seeds and cashew nuts. But banana is our cup of tea.

Thai banana crepes with a dollop of butter onto the pan

Nearly all done, turning off the pan

Banana slices are wrapped in a flour dough, lightly fried on a flat round iron plate in butter for a few minutes until it browns. Nestlé carnation milk is dripped onto it, and sugar added (which we always insist to skip it - there're enough sugar in the banana and the condensed milk). Fantastic to eat hot off the frying plate. I don't know how many of these stands there are in Pattaya, the one we enjoy run by a middle-aged Thai lady outside a 7-Eleven store (as seen in the photo background) on Second Road not far from where we stayed (Fraser Resort). See google map below for location (from memory). See google map further below.

The following photos show another lady vendor selling the same thing. They're quite popular here for good reason.

This crepe stand locates on Beach Road right across the beach (as seen from the background). But I haven't tried her cooking.

From this photo, she only had banana filling. I think they're the best. I go banana with bananas.

Fruit Stands

Other thing I missed are cockles and especially the rose apples. Sure I can get these in Singapore, but they are about 4.5 times more expensive. More importantly the convenience of getting them. Fruit stands are dotted around Beach Road every 30 metres or so. The fruit are packed neatly in the glass cases on ice, making them impossible to resist especially on sunny days.

Itinerant street vendor selling fruit is busy on a mobile phone
Their business is on wheels, so they tend to move around

Cockles are common in SE Asia cooking. For someone grew up in Vietnam, the memories of eating it would warm the cockles of my heart. Before the Vietnamese brought them into the Cabra markets, you can't find them anywhere in Sydney. Even now, you won't find them on any menu of any restaurants in Sydney (don't know about other states of Australia). Pipis are Sydney's cockles. Pipis are larger but not as tasty as cockles.

Walking Street

The streets are quiet especially before 4 pm when Pattaya just wakes up from its nightlife hangovers. Fraser Resort locates on Pattaya City Walk, close to where all the "actions" are. It's near the southern end of Pattaya Beach, and a stone throw from the Walking Street.

Neon signs on Walking Street,  searing your eyes, fighting for your attention

Gogo bar on Walking Street titillating and assaulting your senses

Open bar stands around Pattaya City Walk area

You'll find that people there refers street names that are different from the google maps' official names
(click to enlarge)

Even in this low season, this area comes alive after 9 pm with neon light blazing, blinking at you alluringly with its bright colourful (but mostly red) eyes. Pattaya City Walk is right next to some odd sounding official street name like Pattaya Soi 13, better known as Pattayaland Soi 1, the gogo bars central (rivalled only by those in Walking Street).

Kitten Club, a gogo bar at Pattayaland Soi 2. Hey what's up pussycat?

A kaleidoscope of dazzling neon light, searing the wide-open eyes

And only two lanes ("soi" in Thai) away is, you've guessed it, Pattayaland 2, and a even smaller lane that runs off Pattayaland Soi 2 is Pattyaland Soi 3 with its other end connects to the gay venue of Boyztown. While gay bars are scattered around this area, Boyztown is the heart.

The arch of a raised eyebrow, beckoning "C'mon boyz..."

Its Boyztown logo suspended high in the sky as if to beckon with an raised eyebrow to the pedestrians walking unsuspectingly on Second Road. Some people refer to the the whole area from Pattayaland Soi 1 to Pattayaland Soi 3 to as Boyztown as gay boy bars are interspersed between girly bars in Pattayaland soi 1 and soi 2. As I walked past these sois, I would be chatted up by all sorts. Girls in cosplay as maids and nurses, and boys. Although I'm only passer-by and had never intended to become their customer, I don't mind it at all as the touts in Pattaya isn't aggressive. In fact, sex workers here are mild mannered and friendly. Perhaps the government tourism agency have had given them a stern talk about aggressive touts that would annoy tourists.

Despite its close proximity to the Pattayaland Sois, Pattaya City Walk is set up as a respectable soi. In Asian countries like Thailand, the respectable and the not-so (or socially so-so) can rub shoulders against one another (Such contrast are less likely , but not unheard of in the West. Back in my hometown of Sydney, Kings cross comes to mind). A wat - Thai Buddhist temple - is located not far from the crepes street vendor, at the corner of all this worldly affair of the flesh. But then, isn't Buddhism about tolerance and compassion?

Opposite Fraser Resort is an open-air restaurant that has traditional Thai dance performance every night, and it's officially opened tonight by Her Highness Princess (The King's daughter-in-law). I'm somewhat disappointed to have missed to grace her presence because of my departure tonight for Bangkok

That's how Pattaya mixes - the very healthy banana crêpe (can sound pervert if your head is in the gutter) and fruit stands mixing with the red light district, and the respectable traditional Thai dances. Everything goes.

The Russians are coming! the Red Shirts are coming!

...but the Summit Leaders ain't coming!

It was the day of ASEAN Summit. When I walked past the hotel lobby, the hotel staff warned me not to wear red top. "Not too worry. Red isn't my favourite colour", I said. Besides too hot for red in this weather. I'm a greenie.

Even though the focus of the protest was in the Royal Cliff Beach hotel not far from Fraser Resort where we stayed (less than 1.5 km), but there is no hint of any political disturbances. It was very localised event (the later Bangkok disturbances are more widespread). The Red Shirt successfully stopped the Summit from starting. This was the first time I heard about the Red Shirts. I think the first time the world heard about it too.

Red Shirts protest
Source: Telegraph

First came the US sailor boys, then the Russians in droves. History is full of ironies. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read my diary on my first day of arriving Pattaya.

I was somewhat surprise about the large number of Russian tourists here, and not just hot-blooded tattooed youths who frequent the many unique Thai traditional adult entertainment venues (some of the tattoos are probably done at the many affordable local tattoo parlours that are sandwiched between massage shops. Some are unisex. Some are men only).

Pattaya has diversified away from the sex industry, and the tourist demographics also expanded from young men, people with different sexual orientations, to include couples, families, and just about anyone. I guess the tropical heat and cheap Thai Baht attracts the snowed in Russian as much like snows and Russian dolls attract people like me who grew up in the sub-temperate zone.

Some message shops are attracting Russian tourists...

...while others are actually run by Russian. I have visited this place a few doors from Fraser Resort and met the Russian owner

After dark, the (in)famous Walking Street at the end of Pattaya Beach lit up with neon lights of restaurants, go-go bars, strip joints, discos, open-air bars with Muay Thai (Thai boxing), open-air bars with snake rattler, open-air bars with pool tables, open-air bars with ...(just fill in with your imagination).

Many children visiting here at night, chaperoned by their parents, wide-eyed, dazzled, confused or titillated by all the sights and sounds. I've seen the same sights - parents with children in arms, prams, and hands - walking through Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong or the red-light district in Amsterdam (de Wallen). Red light district isn't just for the Reds: former Soviet Russian or Red Shirt protesters.

One of the gate of Walking Street at the western end

We dined in this seafood restaurant at Walking Street. The food is not too bad, but the view of the ocean at dusk more than made up for it.

The Pattaya beach at dusk could be quite nice.

While some Russian tourists, especially the young ones, are attracted by the red-lights and neon lights, the family are obviously more attracted to the Pattaya beach and its water sports.