We now have our own Thai Premier League team, Pattaya United FC!

What a view! The Nong Prue Municipality Stadium is less than a 5 minute motorbike ride from our house. Lorraine and I took off about 10 minutes before the game. We arrived, she hopped off the bike, bought 2 tickets, hopped back on the bike, handed the tickets to the ticket taker (who I think was a police officer) and drove on in. In another 10 minutes, I had my new jersey and we had beers in hand. Now we just needed to find a place to sit.

I threw on my jersey and a fellow jersey wearing fan called to us and said “Pattaya!” and pointed to the stands across the other side of the field and led us to where the serious fans were. We took off in his direction and he kept looking back to us to make sure we were following him. He must’ve been the foreign ambassador because he brought us over to the packed stands and he introduced us as ‘new fans’ in Thai to everybody. Next thing you know, the obvious happens. They made room for 2 more seats in the front row for us. Just another one of those “man, I love Thailand’. The usual local hospitality was waiting for us. I think Lorraine and I will become a fixture for the home games.

Ticket to get in: 50baht ($1.38)
4 Leo beers: 120baht ($3.32)
1 Loaded home jersey: 780baht ($21.59)
Living in Thailand: Pretty f’in cool

More pics…