Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.

[Dodger]

Rarely do I start a day without a visit to the boat docks in Bang Saray, and yesterday was no exception. It was 5:30 AM and the sun was just thinking about rising when I arrived. The first thing I spotted was a lone tour boat lashed to a jetty at the end of the pier with several Thai deck hands busy performing tasks. With the lockdown in place and no customers to service, this provides plenty of time for the fishermen and tour boat operators to do some cleaning and general maintenance with the hopes that they’ll be in operation sooner rather than later.

I sat on my motorbike sipping my Ice coffee enjoying the serenity on the bay, as well as the view across the bay to the shores of Pattaya. Having this clear of a view across the bay before the pandemic hit was extremely rare. The air quality has improved so much over the past 18 months that I can now see Pattaya as clear as a bell (day or night).

I sat there gazing at the skyscrapers dotting Pattaya’s shoreline for a long time, as my mind tried to envision what Pattaya must have been like back when it was just another sleepy fishing village, surrounded by rice paddies and small bamboo shacks - getting its name from a late king for its strong south-westerly winds. Then came the stampede of people with their lust for money and sex, who built skyscrapers to replace the small bamboo shacks, and pushed the fishermen out of the bay to make room for a host of sparky new speed boats and expensive floating fortresses. Nothing would go unchanged.

Then, nature has its way...and the wind carries with it small molecules so powerful that they can force the encroachers to leave as fast as they came...leaving behind a thousand hollow skyscrapers left to fend for themselves. Everything that’s been constructed along it shores seems out-of-place right now against a landscape that appears to be transforming back into itself. Really strange.

Before I left the boat docks I spotted what appeared to be a lone fisherman in a small boat fishing off the point near Pattaya Park which put a lump in my throat. I wondered if maybe he was one of the original natives who’s been patiently biding his time until he could once again cast his net unprovoked in clear water again.

I’m hoping one day that the two can coexist again, as long as the environment is respected in the process. I miss “Pattaya”, but only if I can see it.

Similar Threads:

• A go Bar, how much you Tip, if Boy sitting with you?
• Face-sitting is good for them (especially in Cambodia)
• Face-sitting is good for them (especially in Cambodia)