Thai Smiles, Part 27: Seen On Jomtien Beach

This last trip actually allowed me a little beach time while in Pattaya, and although many of the heavily populated public areas aren't what you could call award-winning venues they do provide a fine place to relax; whether to you that means reading, eating, drinking, people watching, sunning or sleeping. I prefer a mix of the above, myself - with a minimal amount of sun and an emphasis on the people watching, because there's such a divers array of tourists and locals, and dozens of quick surprises that happen so fast you can usually only catch them with your eye. Every so often, though, I luck out and happen to be pointing the camera in the right place at the right time.

For example, just walking into the area I was intending to plop myself down I took the top photo of the guys at a chair-for-rent concession sharing a laugh late one morning. Somewhat like office workers would do hanging around the water cooler they were taking turns sharing stories of one sort or another, punctuated by whoops of laughter. It was a superb example of sanuk.

The young man flashing his stomach later came by my chair shirtless and startled me with the near-billboard-sized arachnid tattoo across his back.

On my way out for the day I asked if I might take a photo of it, and he proudly raised his shirt and waited while I did just that. For what he must have endured to have it done he deserved to show it off a bit, I thought.

The guy selling ice cream had hands that showed evidence of many days of handling the small slabs of dry ice in the cooler he carried strapped over his shoulder, even as quickly as he could move it around to take the treats out when he made a sale, as he did with me. He had a great smile.

One of the problems having an older, simple "no frills" camera as I do is that it's difficult to adjust for strongly back-lit situations, such as from shade into the bright light of the beach. It makes it a challenge to get pictures such as the one below, but the delight on his face as he raced along playing ball with his friends made it worth salvaging the image.