Thursday, October 27, 2005

Out For Lunch

Took and I went out today for lunch at Bob's. We both had the pulled pork sandwich. I have no idea what "pulled" is, but it was unmistakably pork.

After that, it was next door to windowshop at Pattaya's largest motorcycle dealer. I can get a Yamaha Nouvo with automatic transmission, factory-customized paint, parts, and even tinted glass for under $2,000. (The version on the left is the standard version.) When I mean customized, I mean pretty much every part that is visible. (All the customizing is not that expensive either. That's the thing about these little runabouts: They are laughably inexpensive to get parts for. Replacing all of the body panels (everything that is red in the photo) with a custom funky graphic design is $150... and that is probably 10 times more expensive than the next most expensive customization.) Anyway, I'm going in tomorrow to put a down payment in. The bike will take a month to put together.

After that, it was off to Pattaya's temple for prayers. Took missed them yesterday. While Took was rattling joss sticks and wai'ing the Buddha, I was engaged in conversation by what had to have been one of the most senior monks in Pattaya. Unfortunately, I could not understand a word the gentlemonk was saying, and Took had to come by (on her way between stations) to translate for me. It turned out (as I learned after) that, aside from aged mumbling through only 4 brown teeth, the oldster was from Rayong (about 30 miles south of Pattaya), which has it's own twist on the Thai language. Although he was trying to speak proper Thai to me, his accent (and toothless condition) was killing me.

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