Thanks to the cheap travel packages offered by all the major
travel agencies and easy access to all the forbidden things (you know what I mean
;) ) Pattaya has become very popular among Indian youth for all the wrong
reasons these days. This is the major reason why you are met with suspicion and
raised eyebrows by friends when you tell them you are visiting Pattaya. But
Pattaya has more to what meets the ears, it has something for everybody.
Pattaya is not just a heaven for bachelors but also a good place for couples to
spend few days and enjoy the night life, famous attractions and indulge in water
sports this place has to offer.
Before you visit you need to be aware of few
things/terminologies that you will come across a lot when you visit Pattaya. This
will help you to plan better and prevent you from wandering off to the unkown
;)
So here are few terms that you need to know before your visit.
1)
Tuk Tuk
2)
Go Go Bars
3)
Lady boys
4)
Ping pong show
You can Google these for more information J
We spent 3 days in Pattaya and I think it is more than
sufficient for seeing all the major attractions of Pattaya.
Day
1 : We checked out from Koh
Samui at 9 in the morning and boarded the flight to Utapeo at 10am. Our plane
landed Utapeo Airport at 11 in the morning. Utapeo Airport is the closest
airport to Pattaya. It is a very small airport and doesn’t have much transport
options. Hence I suggest you that if you are planning to go to Pattaya through
Utapeo Airport you book the taxi beforehand so that the taxi driver will be at
the airport waiting for you with a placard with your name on it.
We had made the taxi bookings through our hotel for 1000 Bhat
(2000 INR). The driver was waiting for us at the airport on time.
We had decided to stay close to all the major attractions in
Pattaya and not spend much on the accommodation as we would hardly spend any
time at the room and we would be visiting different attractions for most part
of the day. We booked an economical hotel at Soi 8, beach road which cost us 6k
INR for 3 days. It was a well maintained hotel but since it was located near
the beach road it had many Go Go Bars around it with music playing till 4-5 in
the morning. So if you are a peace loving person and want to go to bed at the
right time you need to stay away from this place.
We checked into the hotel at around 1 and after quickly freshening
up we headed off to the art museum. We
boarded the Tuk Tuk for 10 Bhat each
to the art museum. The art museum had some really nice 3D paintings. After
spending an hour at the art museum we headed off for the world famous show in
Pattaya, Tiffany’s Show. At first I
was really cynical about the show as it was a show performed by Lady Boys but when
I watched the show I was taken aback by the magnificence of the show. The colors,
The props, The stage, The performers, The background, everything made a
memorable experience. No wonder this show is so famous and it is a must visit
for everyone travelling to Pattaya. The show got over by 730 in the night,
leaving us wanting for more. As I am blessed with a fun loving wife she did not
want to go back to the hotel and instead visit few more places…… So we boarded
the Tuk Tuk again and headed off to walking street.
What do I say about Walking Street, a very lively street at the
end of the Beach road. The street is full of Go Go Bars, People holding
placards of the Ping Pong shows, Eateries and curious tourists. What I liked
most about Walking Street was Coconut Ice-cream served on Coconut never tasted
something like this before. We dined at one of the live fish restaurants where we
had to select live fish from the fish tank after which it was cooked and served
right in front of us. It was a heaven for a fish lover like me. I had some
fresh squid rings and Salmon. This ended the first day at Pattaya. It was a day
well spent after all the skepticism surrounding Pattaya. We realized all the
things said about Pattaya are not completely true and even a couple can spend
quality time here.
Day
2: After a hectic day1 we planned to tone down day2 a bit. We
planned to visit the Aquarium in the morning, Floating market in the evening
and visit nearby bars at dusk.
We took the Tuk Tuk for 100 Bhat for two people to the Aquarium.
I really liked the concept of the Tuk Tuk’s. They were open jeeps plying
tourists to different parts of Pattaya at nominal rates. You needed to press
the alarm button located on top of your seat when your destination has come. For
short distances and shared drive they charge 10 Bhats per person but if you are
planning to hire a tuk tuk for long distances you need to have good bargaining
skills. We hired a Tuk Tuk to the aquarium for 100Bhats for 2 people from Soi 8
after a long bargain. I found Thai people very nice and honest. After a long
bargain the driver dropped us off at the correct place without any hassles and
did not try to fleece us. Once you strike a deal with the drivers, be rest
assured that you will be dropped off at the correct destination and you will
have a hassle free drive. But as a thumb rule always bargain and get to a price
before you take any kind of transport.
The Underwater World/ Aquarium was again something new to me. I
have never been to an Underwater Aquarium. An avid fish lover like me has never
seen fish as an endangered species or appreciated its spectacular color/texture/looks
in captivity like an Aquarium. I have always envisioned fishes as exotic food
items ;) . So it was a unique experience for me. We saw many different species
of fishes like puffer fish, Sharks, jelly fish, Stone fish etc. We were lucky to have visited at a time when
the divers inside the huge aquariums were feeding the fishes. It was a
spectacular sight. After spending an hour at the aquarium it was time for us to
head off to the Floating market. We took a Tuk Tuk again for 20 Bhats this time
to the Floating Market.
Floating market as the name suggests is a huge market with shops
mounted on elevated wooden platforms situated on top of a water body. There are
few vendors who sell food items on the boat too. You can hitch a ride on a boat
if you want to that will take you around the floating market for 100 Bhats.
Else you have bridge like structures on which you can walk and experience the
floating market. I did not understand the concept of paying 200 Bhats per
person as entry fees to visit a market. The market is overcrowded by tourists
indulging in some exotic street food and beverages. There were some dance
performances to pacify tourists like me who were wondering why did they pay 200
Bhats to visit a market ;). All in all the place was a onetime visit/watch like
most of our bollywood movies ;).
We boarded another Tuk Tuk back to our Hotel and that completed
Day2.
Day3:
How can you visit a place which is surrounded by the mighty sea and
not indulge in any water sports, to be more specific underwater walking,
something which I wanted to experience, which was our main intention of
visiting Pattaya. Yes, Day 3 was dedicated to water sports.
There are more many tour operators who operate a day long tour
to Koh Larn/ Coral Island for snorkeling, underwater walking and parasailing. We
chose Pattaya Sea King Tours for the one dayt tour as it was cheap and they
gave us a free CD containing our pics of underwater walking and snorkeling. We
were picked up at the hotel at 930 in the morning and transferred to the speed
boat. We were 8 of us onboard and surprisingly all of us were Indians, It felt
like home. For the first time I was travelling on a small speed boat for a long
distance that itself was a water sport for me J.
It took us half an hour to reach Koh Larn Island where we spent
an hour Snorkeling and after which we were transferred to a bigger boat for
underwater walking. It was a unique experience and what I like most about the
underwater walking was feeding the fishes. The fishes were literally ripping
off the bread off my hand and at a point I was scared that they will eat away
my fingers too ;). The visibility in the water was not that great but was
manageable. We were transferred back to the speed boat after the underwater
walking and underwater posing for photographs ;) . We had a sumptuous lunch
which was included in the package and which included some fresh fishes to
satiate you cravings for sea food when at sea J. We spent the next two hours shopping and relaxing at the
chairs laid out at the beach. All in all it was another day well spent. We
hopped onto the speed boat and were back to Pattaya by 4 in the evening.
We went back to the room
freshened up and headed off to the beach with some beer and chips. We spent
rest of the evening at the beach watching the sunset and finished off with
another dose of fresh sea food dinner. This marked our last day in Pattaya and
almost the end of our Thailand trip.
Day4:
Tour De Bangkok…… We checked out of our hotel in Pattaya and
hired a private taxi to Bangkok which cost us 1200 Bhat. We had booked a
cheaper accommodation again at Bangkok which is centrally located so that
different tourist attractions are easily accessible from it. We booked a hotel
which was located right next to the Nana metro terminus.
We checked in by 12 and dumped our luggage and headed off to
explore Bangkok. We planned to stay just for a day in Bangkok as there is
nothing much to do here. We asked the hotel guy about which is the best place
for shopping and he said MBK market. We located MBK market on our map and took
the train to that place. We got off at Siam which is supposed to be the Bangkok’s
city centre. I just loved the infrastructure in Bangkok… All the destinations
are easily accessible though the metro and buses and the city is beautifully
planned…. All the buildings are interconnected to each other and to the train
terminus….
MBK market is a huge shopping mall where you can find every
possible item ever manufactured ;). Branded stuff to cheap gadgets to Ray Ban
costing 300 INR…. Everything is available in this market. It is a heaven for
shopaholics…. I was cursing myself to have spent 4k on a Ray Ban Polaroid when
a similar item is available at 1/10th the cost in Bangkok. Well no
wonder Bangkok is pitted to be the numero uno shopping destination for us
Indians J . For all my budding photographers just
imagine if you could own a Canon 55-250 tele lens for just 7K wouldn’t that be a steal?
Exactly that is the kind of price you get stuff for at Bangkok. And MBK market
is the place to go for such amazing deals. After spending sometime at the MBK
market and having come lunch we were planning to get back to the hotel but when
you have a khatron ka khiladi types wife with you rest assured you can never
have a 9 to 6 types tour….
Wifey looked at the map and said why go back to the hotel look
at this river in the map and the Bangkok metro runs till midnight so why not
head to a station close to the river and walk beside the river? And if you
remember what I have been saying in all my blogs that “a quote next to a famous personality in a morphed internet picture
once said "Always agree to your woman else every discussion will be an
argument" ;). So we checked the nearest station to the river and
took the train to the station. It was 9 in the night and we got down at the
station leading to the river without knowing what on earth we were doing out
here in the middle of the night. We saw a huge crowd assembling near a gate
which read Asiatique free ferry. Wifey gave the excited look to me again and I had
to toe the line again and stand at the queue without knowing what was Asiatique
or where the ferry was taking us too…… A true middle of the road tour…..A big
boat picked us up from the pier and we were travelling to the unkown…..
But the destination was spectacular… Asiatique was a sea side
market bustling with tourists and thanks to my dare devil wifey that we decided
to take the ferry to this place….. This
was a good end to our Thai trip…. We had some really nice Ice Cream and
indulged in some street shopping… Our Bike trip to Ladakh has moulded us to
take up any kind of adventure into the unknown…. We took the boat back to the
pier and the metro back to our hotel in Nana…. All in All it was a fun filled adventurous
and a tiring day out in Bangkok…. Thank
you wifey for being there and accompanying me or should I say guiding me
through all adventures in my life.. Truly blessed to have you I must say J
We went to the local bar had the world famous Singha beer and
retired to bed…. That marked the end to our Thailand trip. We took the flight
to Kolkata the next day from Bangkok and spent some quality time with cousins
and were back to Bangalore the day after that….
All
in all Thailand is an amazing country with so many islands to visit and so many
activities to indulge in…. I strongly recommend Thailand for a memorable
vacation J
