20231108 AAAA Trip - Laem Chabang, Thailand - Pattaya and cellphone bye-bye-a

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 53/105 - Laem Chabang, Thailand - Pattaya

We didn't want to make the long haul into Bangkok again so we opted for the medium haul to Pattaya.

1. Our ship's location, more or less, at Laem Chabang Terminal A-2
2. Downtown Bangkok, roughly two hours away by bus
3. Pattaya City, about 45 minutes away by bus

Pattaya is a coastal town with a huge tourism draw.  Beaches, hotels, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, shops, prostitutes, marijuana dispensaries - Pattaya has it all.

We were dropped off near the mall and wandered a bit up the beach.

There was water so...

There were at least a dozen parasails up

Typical wiring in this part of the world

We wandered through the food court in the mall, taking advantage of the air conditioning.

Not sure what pork floss is, but these rice crackers come with it

Sometimes, you just want a taste of home

After 32 ounces of Coke Zero, there was a need for a comfort stop.

Note the distress on the two on the left - this is where the problem started

We left the mall and started walking to a yarn shop as Arlona wanted to check out some yarn.  About halfway there, she realized that when she was in the bathroom, she placed her phone on the toilet paper dispenser so it wouldn't fall out of her pocket.  Then, she left it there.

She ran back but it was gone.  It was never turned in to customer service.  I was able to track it outside the mall, but when it got out of wifi, the connection died and I couldn't track it. We decided that was enough and we returned to the ship without her cell phone. So much for the good nature of people.

A venue called Terminal 21 with a Christmas tree and an aircraft

I spent the afternoon locking her credit card and setting up the phone to wipe if it connects to the internet.  Then, I spent a loooong time on the ship's crappy internet connection working with Verizon to get a new phone ordered.  We have friends from The Villages who will be joining us in Bali, so our hope is to get the phone delivered at home, have a neighbor activate it, and then have our friends pick it up and bring it with them.  We'll see how that goes.

We listened to our fourth safety briefing today at 4:30 p.m. as we prepared to sail on the fourth leg of this five-leg journey.  

Next up was the dinner pre-game at the Explorers' Bar for the sunset.

Dinner was in the World Café.  Tonight, they featured a "Taste of Thailand" and as usual, it was excellent.

The next two days are sea days as we make our way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.