We started our day at midnight when Helen Jeanette woke up from her ”nap” and spent most of the night attempting to nap, playing, or watching tv with Helen Jeanette. We knew this was a possibility so both kids and I slept in Mom’s room to preserve Chris from the insanity. (He’s the one working here after all.)

Chris joined us for breakfast at 6 and then we hit the road using a taxi we hired through the hotel. The drive to Pattaya took about 1 hour 45 minutes and the kids slept most of the way. Mom and I enjoyed taking in the surroundings on the drive.

   
   
Our taxi driver found a speed boat (500 baht per person round trip) to take us to the island. Originally we’d been planning to take the ferry (30 baht per person each way) but we missed the 9am and had no idea how to find it anyway. The huge bonus about this was the speed boat stopped at a platform and everyone had a chance to go parasailing for an additional 500 baht (approximately $14 US)! They were incredible efficient at cycling people through and the ride was probably 1.5 minutes and they were getting 6 people through 2 boats every 5 minutes. We asking to be dipped and they stopped the boat during our flight so that we floated softly to the water and then they gunned it once we’d gotten wet. I got wet up to armpit level but Mom got completely dunked. It was awesome and a total bonus to the day because we weren’t planning on it and only had a slight inkling that it would be an option.

While we waited for the speedboat we played with a baby on the beach, one of very few Thai children we’ve seen.

 Ko Larn was beautiful and crowded! Normally I would hate this but for what the kids wanted to do it was fine. What wasn’t fine with the kids were the endless strings of people wanting to take pictures of them. Groups of 6 people would come and each one would want a selfie with one of the kids. They were both sweet about it at first but eventually adopted a ‘I’m here to play’ attitude. Killian loved the water and kept wanting to walk or crawl directly into the ocean, with no regard for whether the waves were completely going over him or not.

I neglected to negotiate for a cold coconut and got laughed at by some old ladies. They wouldn’t even accept the money I’d agreed to pay and took 100 baht instead of 170. This included a 20 baht bottle of water, but still Mom said the coconut in Bangkok had been 40 Baht.

The ride back was choppy but Killian slept anyway. We walked briefly looking for a shower before deciding that it was better to just dress in the streets and then eat at an Irish pub for lunch. The food was actually delicious and the group at the table next to us was talking about an orgy they had been to, so we got to experience Pattaya’s main reputation.

The taxi took us to the Pattaya floating market, one of the main things I was looking forward to. It was a bit of a let down but still a really cool area. We took one little open boat and wove in and out of the market. I was disappointed there weren’t more people selling things from their boats, that must be more common on weekends. The next boat was an amphibious vehicle and took us to a little farm area for a monkey show. Killian adored this but Mom and I found it a little sad. The monkeys were on leashes and didn’t seem all that well trained. I had also hurt my eye and taken out my contacts so was a little too grumpy to be positive at this point (remember we’d been up since midnight).

One highlight of the floating market was we got to put our feet in the ‘fish spa’. For 100 Baht for adults and 50 for children we got to feel little fish eat the dead skin off our feet. Helen Jeanette was reluctant but the store owner talked to her and I’m so glad she did. It tickled and we told Helen Jeanette the fish were giving us kisses.
   
    
 
The kids (and adults) slept on the 2.5 hours ride back to Bangkok and we couldn’t wake the kids up when we got back so they both ended up sleeping 5pm-4am. Mom and I got room service and passed out shortly after arriving at the hotel. It was an exhausting day but I’m really glad we got to experience the beach here in Thailand.