The Sleazy Street of Pattaya

The streets of litter glitter

Glazed Art along the sidewalk for a price

The shopping mall that, believe it or not, houses the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum and amusement gallery

Boyz Town! Girls Abound!

The scenic road to and fro the factory

The Silver Lake

A golden outline of buddha has been engraved onto this rock by laser.

Balcony of Mercure Pattaya from Room 612

It's nice to be in a clean room. It doesn't feel like I'm in a hotel; more like a chalet, or even an apartment. Definitely feels a lot like being home.

That's the toilet - clean, white, I'd go so far as to say spotless! I understand the hotel is only 2 years old. Good upkeep!

That's the view from my balcony! Yes, it has a nice balcony overlooking the large swimming pool below. My room was the 6th floor.

There you go; the balcony porch lazy chairs for your travelling partner who may be simply be on vacation whilst I'm busy working. I'm going to have a good time, notwithstanding work!

The view from the balcony to the pool! See? I kid you not! Nice sized pool isn't it?

Mercure Pattaya Hotel

Dinner was fried rice with pork!



In this restaurant! And before anyone thinks I was having it good, everyone else was having the seafood buffet! What a spread I tell you! See the chef cooking the seafood outdoor?


That's my placemat setting before the dinner!


This is the Mercure Hotel Pattaya. Really feels like home, minus my recent acquisition of a luxurious memory latex King Koil Mattress.



And that's the outdoor of the restaurant from a short distance. The room rates are so affordable - 1,900baht per night. That's just SGD85/night.

The journey from the airport to the hotel was wonderfully smooth. The new highway is beautiful and with 4 lanes each side. I can see them constructing additional lanes! Possibly an 8-lane expressway when it's finished!

Early 70’s Cab décor; My Miri Marriott Buffet Dinner

This has been a day of God’s Grace and Mercy! George Muller was right! No matter what happens, it is essential, imperative that one takes care of one’s soul first and foremost at the start of the day! It puts us in the right place and at the right time.

I woke up late this morning, giving myself barely an hour to shower, breakfast at the fabulous Marriott Breakfast buffet spread, and have my QT with Daddy God. After my shower, I realized that I had only half an hour; it was already 8:15am and my first appointment was some distance away (I learned about 20 minutes away given time to get a little lost and landing up in the wrong office building, only to wind up at the right one after consultation with my client).

It was a toss up between having my breakfast or my QT. I chose QT and let me tell you; it’s true! QT a day, keeps the devil away! And all things work in tandem with His Perfect Will and Perfect timing.

I got my cabbie to drive me to my customer’s location, and it was a simple enough meeting. My customer was very friendly and I ended the meeting in barely an hour. My cabbie was good enough to circle back to collect me again, and I thought I had no further appointments for the day. Thus I headed back to Marriott, making a quick supermarket stop to pick up some water and some potato chips for the afternoon. I also had time to grab a Colonel Burger which was really a tiny little piece of bun with an equally small chicken patty.

But I was certainly thankful, having not even had a cup of milo or anything the whole morning.

Back in the hotel room, I promptly sat down to take care of my email and trip report. I even managed to have some time on msn.

By 2pm, I was still on my email, and at 2:07pm, I received an email from a Consultant who was looking for assistance. This wasn’t any Consultant, but a major Engineering company and consulting for Shell Sarawak. I had been trying establish a connection with Shell Sarawak but could not find any leads. The Consultant was writing to me from Miri and explained that they needed to have someone contact them. It was indeed very fortuitous that I was indeed in Miri at that time. Of course it was a little bit of a task to change back into my working attire, having already peeled them off and got really comfy in my shorts and tees, but this was an opportunity which can only be described in the words of the wise – Divine Appointment.

I made the appointment and it was a good meeting. It looks like Miri shall be a regular stop for me hereon.

Ok, the cab to that appointment reminded me of how cars in Singapore used to be in the 70s. The back seat was protected by a nostalgic patchwork “cushion”. I haven’t seen that in a long while!

Oh yes, and all the other pictures of the food are what I had for dinner at the Marriott Miri. That’s my concluding excitement for the day.

Marriott Miri Day 2

The pictures show the view from my room to my front porch. The weather's great for a swim...if I had my swim wear. The pool is something else. It's huge and the restaurant faces it. Such an idylic afternoon. The hotel is hosting a Brunei Shell Petroleum event and families are coming in and out of their chalets. Yes, I'll consider this room a chalet. Big enough for a nice family get-together.

The disadvantage of such accommodations is it makes business travellers like me feel a little out of place; perhaps that is why they have merchant hotels so us working folks don't have to feel envious of the holiday-makers lying around the poolside and playing tennis on a weekday! Such moments sure make early retirement increasingly enticing.

My suggestion for all who intend to take up a room here in the Marriott Miri Resort and Spa; be prepared to walk around with blinders so you wouldn't feel quite as forlorn.

MIRI, Sarawak again!

Flying into Kuching airport from Changi airport started out to be an experience quite like a cattle stampede to a rather spoilt traveller like me, being used to an easy check in, squash-free counter queue at the usually organized Changi Airport.

They had to situate the check in counter for MAS at the shuttle flight counter section, i.e. Row 12, Terminal 2. Forget about personal space. Trolleys become diabolical queue jumping equipment where uncouth passengers shuff into your way with their trolleys and try their best to run you down so they could have one less person to contend with. After all, for some reason, MAS seem to take extra long time to check in every single passenger.

I was feeling a rush of agitation as a scruffy Indian national rammed his trolley against me to rid of me from the queue that seemed to be snaking in all directions. I was in a bad enough mood to create a huge scene at the airport, but just when I thought I'd give that rude dude, elderly no less, a piece of my mind, eye, foot, fist, and other body parts that would cause the greatest harm, I remembered the sermon on Sunday.

Ecclesiastes 3 - a time for every purpose under the sun. And God is the entire purpose for our lives. I felt the empowerment of the Lord upon me, and I prayed for wisdom to handle the situation in the most Christ-like way. Suddenly, the gentleman standing behind me and right beside the rude dude motioned to me to move ahead of him, and promptly told the elderly man to cease with his shoving. Hm. The Lord provided someone to rescue me from acting on my aggression which would hardly have solved anything but would have incurred unnecessary retaliation and spoil everyone's day, as it is with the vicious cycle of anger.

I was really thankful for God's Mercy. He saved me from myself.

The flight was somewhat pleasant enough, smooth and little turbulence. The Lord held me up in His Loving Arms. Food was curry fish with rice and it was good.

This was my 3rd time into Kuching Airport, I think, and this time, I remembered to take a picture of it. As the picture show, this was a spanking new international terminal, and as I waited in transit for my enroute flight to Miri, I thought it silly that their Immigration Counter was located in a rather odd location. I would not expect an uninitiated traveller transiting in Kuching to go back into Immigration and obtain clearance when the gate where the next flight was to be was just beside the gate where I had exited from the flight to Kuching. If I had not asked, I could have walked towards the gate and skipped immigration altogether.

Thus, for anyone transiting Kuching to Miri or other parts of Malaysia, remember to head toward the Immigration Counter for clearance before heading toward your enroute flight. I don't know what the consequences would be if one didn't do that. I suppose become an illegal immigrant?

While waiting for my flight to Miri, I tried to use the Coffee Bean Cafe for internet connection to no avail as the network was down. I ended up watching tv and realized that they screened a Singapore-produced serial, and thereafter, a Hokkien, possibly Taiwanese serial. It was really interesting to note that a good number of the population was obviously Chinese, Mandarin Speaking, and even Hokkien speaking.

I understand that Singapore was considered a closer ally to the Sarawakians than West Malaysia.

Miri Airport was also just as new as Kuching's, but as the photos may tell, the taxis really need upgrading. Aurgh! My cab was quite filthy, with more mosquitoes flying about than a dumpster.

Well, here I am, in Marriott Miri Resort and Spa again. Service at check in was sparse, but the room is definitely worth the wait. Wish I could spend it with my beloved instead of being here by myself. I'm so grateful my Jesus will, as always, be with me.