Mesmerizing Thailand… Chapter 2 – Pattaya & Bangkok

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 1/10^th 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

Timothy……….

This post is dedicated to Timothy, our street pet dog who turned a dog hater like me into a dog lover. I don't see him on the streets anymore. Hope he is fine and has found a better master. I for one will miss his crazy acts and his friendly nature.

As I set off to work,

you brush past me wagging your tail.

Guiding me to the end of the street,

protecting me for the entire trail.

When I first met you I was scared as hell

A dog hater like me never took you so well.

But now when you have gone Timothy,

with lot of tears of pain, my eyes do swell.

Where have you gone Timothy?

Leaving me helpless and sad

There are many places in the earth that will attract you

But do remember you have a special place here in my heart

As I enter my street from a hard day's work,

you instantly spot me and jump over me with joy.

I forget all the pain and tension that were at the back of my mind, your smile gets me going and brings me back to life.

I really miss you,I miss you like hell

Hope one day you will come back to me

But for now I pray to god you are with someone better

Someone who will pamper you and  keep you well

Mesmerizing Thailand… Chapter 1 – Koh Samui

OK before I start, here is a Kaun Banega Crorepati Question for you

Where does an Indian go for a cheap international holiday?

Here are your options

1)     Holiday? WTF is a holiday? I am an IT employee

2)     Cheap? WTF is Cheap 1$ = 65 INR

3)     Thailand

4)     Major blow to Modi. I had to have this as an option too you see how could I ignore the wave that has caught the nation these days especially the Media. Don't believe me? Look at the picture below ;) 

Yes. You are right it is Thailand but looking at the way rupee is sliding these days soon we cannot even afford holidaying in Bangladesh ;) and that will mean a major blow to... no no, not Modi but to all the Indian men who visit Pattaya for all the obvious reasons u know(caught ya!! I know what you did last summer  ;) ) and all the traders who visit Bangkok to buy dozens of those huge LED TVs at throwaway price.

Ok enough of kidding now for some serious stuff Thailand has both cheap destinations like Phuket, Pattaya etc. and exotic destinations like Koh Samui, Krabi etc.  and every women likes to have an exotic and a memorable vacation and if you remember what I had said in my Seychelles blog 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" ;).   Then by now you would have definitely understood as to where I am getting at. Yes you are right again I have sacrificed my salary for another 3 months and at this rate I soon need to sell my car for making a living ;).

So Koh Samui it was, our Anniversary destination!

I have split the blog into 2 parts to give you details about Koh samui and mainland Pattaya & Bangkok. In this part I will tell you about the spectacular Island called Koh Samui.  As a regular drill let me introduce you to Koh Samui. Koh Samui or Ko Samui is the second largest island in Thailand, Phuket being the largest Island. It is located on the east side of the Mainland Thailand hence you can witness some spectacular views of sunrise from this Island. August is the peak tourist season in this island since it is monsoon time in the rest of the islands in Thailand and it is holiday season in Europe. Hence the island is full of Europeans in August. I did not spot a single Indian on this island!! We looked like aliens to many tourists on this Island with a number of tourists staring at us and on many occasions asking us from which part of the world we came from. May be they have never seen an Indian before surprising isn’t it?

We traveled by Thai airways to Koh samui from Bangalore and I strongly recommend Thai Airways for a hassle free comfortable flight and unlimited in-flight booze ;) .We chose Sandalwood Luxury villas based on lot of research done on Trip Advisor as our place of stay in Samui since the resort was moderately priced compared to other resorts and offered a breath taking view of the Ocean. It was the best decision I have ever made. Sandalwood Luxury Villas made our first wedding Anniversary a memorable affair.  As soon as we checked in we were shown our rooms. We were awestruck at the magnificent view from the room. The room had a private infinity pool in front with the view of the Ocean. Let the picture speak for itself.

Infinity Pool

View from our room

Isn't it breathtaking?? The Hotel has 4 such pools with similar breathtaking views of the Ocean. I for one jumped into the pool soon after checking in…. Chilled beer infinity pool and the mighty Ocean made a spectacular start for our vacation J

If you do not wish to spend the entire day at this magnificent resort and shift your arse out of the resort to check out the island then there are many things that you can do on the island as follows.

A day outing of Chaweng and Lamai beach

The Big Buddha

Fisherman’s  market

One day boat trip to Angthong national marine park where you can Snorkel and kayak

Koh Tao supposed to be the best snorkeling place near Koh samui.

Since we had just gone to relax in Koh Samui and do all the activities in Pattaya  we chose just few activities in Samui i.e.,  a day visit to Chaweng, Lamai, Fisherman’s Market & Angthong National Marine Park.

On day 1 we visited the fisherman’s market in the evening. The market was bustling with Tourists drinking and making merry. There was loads of yummy street food and Cocktails available for 100THB. There were many street performances like magic shows, rock shows, cultural performances etc. . I have never seen cocktails and booze being openly sold in a street just like street food and being a foodie and an occasional bewda it felt like heaven to me ;) . After having some amazing street food and cocktails we decided to break for dinner. We dined at one of the hotel located at the beach side. I tasted Singha beer the world famous beer in Thailand for the first time. The food was OK the ambiance was amazing and that was a perfect end to day 1 of our vacation in Mesmerizing Thailand.

Day 2: Sandalwood Villas offer free pick up and drop facility to Chaweng and Lamai Beach and hence we decided to spend the 1st half of day2 in Chaweng and 2nd half in Lamai. There is nothing much to talk about the beaches as they are crowded as hell and don’t offer that exquisite view. But the beaches are good for a swim as the tides are not that much. The only thing I would like to say about the Chaweng beach visit is the drink which I instantly fell in love with “Mai Tai”. After a swim and relaxation at the white sands of the beach we decided to have lunch at the Malibu beach resort. I ordered Mai Tai cocktail from the menu as it looked interesting and when I tasted it I instantly fell in love with it. I suggest you too to try this drink….. So after the lunch we boarded the taxi to head off to Lamai Beach. Lamai beach is same as chaweng but less crowded. We spent an hour or so at the beach and headed off to the resort in the shuttle provided by the resort since the Jacuzzi at our room was sad that we hadn’t used it yet ;). We went back to the resort indulged in free spa provided by the resort as part of our package and got back to the room for the Jacuzzi experience. The details of the later half is not available but trust me it was awesome ;)

Chaweng Beach

Mai Tai drink in red

Lamai beach

Day 3: We had booked for the one day tour of the Angthong National Marine park through Samui Island Tours. After a tasty breakfast from the hotel we were picked at 730 in the morning from the hotel and transferred to a huge boat. Unlike the Huge boat in Seychelles this boat looked straight out of the movie pirates of the Caribbean ;). I guess the boat was a pre historic era boat and moved at a pace of 1 km/hr . It took us almost 2 hours to reach the marine park in this slow moving boat. Once we reached the park we were made to sit in the Kayaks, 2 per Kayak( Me and Wifey had to mention her somewhere in the blog u see ;)) .  We kayaked through some beautiful mountains and some narrow caves. Kayaking through the caves was amazing and a unique experience. After Kayaking we climbed some steep steps and we were greeted with some spectacular views of the Emerald lake. The lake is untouched which explains the emerald green color and cleanliness of the lake. After the lake visit we had quick lunch and taken for Snorkeling.   The Snorkeling area is very small and the visibility is very bad. Snorkeling at Nethrani island was much better than this place. After snorkeling and swimming for couple of hours at the beach we headed off back to mainland from where we were transported back to our hotel. After freshening up, wifey laid out a wonderful candle light dinner by the pool. A sumptuous and romantic dinner culminated our last day at Koh Samui.

Yummy Breakfast

Angthong national Marine Park

Naturally formed Crocodile Rock

Kayaking through the caves

Emerald Lake

Day4: We woke up early to catch a glimpse of the spectacular sunrise and we were not disappointed. It was a magnificent view of the sunrise. We checked out of this beautiful paradise called Sandalwood luxury villas and headed off for the next leg of our journey, mainland Pattaya. 

Thank you Koh Samui &  Sandalwood for making our first anniversary a memorable affair. If things go fine we wish to revisit this paradise in near future.

Bangalore to Bheemeshwari fishing camp..... One day adventure outing

The frustration resulting in the plan

Well it had been a long time since I went out for a trip with my friends and I desperately wanted a break after few hectic projects in office. My friend from Pune called and said he would be visiting Bangalore for a day and thus was born the idea for a weekend trip. My friend was Available for just a day and overnight stay was not possible, so all the far-away places like Chikmagalur & Coorg were ruled out. After much discussion and research online for day trip we narrowed down to Bheemeshwari Fishing camp run by Jungle lodges. We heard it was a good place for one day outing. We were planning to cover Mutathi/Mekedath on the way to the resort but due to time constraints we decided to directly go to the fishing camp. So the plan was set.. it was going to be a Bheemeshwari day trip in Bheemeshwari Jungle lodges.

Bheemeshwari Route

There are two routes to go to Bheemeshwari fishing camp.

Route1:- Bangalore->  Kanakpura-> Mutathi-> Bheemeshwari Fishing Camp

Route2:- Bangalore-> Kanakpura-> Halaguru-> Bheemeshwari Fishing Camp

Route1 has lot of bad stretches and so we chose to travel via the 2nd route. There is a Forest check post on route 2 where there are bag checks etc and where they note down your vehicle number and details, but there were no animals on the way though.

Jungle lodges and resorts Bheemeshwari

The look and feel of the Bheemeshwari Jungle lodges was not that great compared to Jungle lodges Kabini/Bandipur where you are admist nature and abundant wildlife. This resort is good for one day activities.

I feel the tariff of 1700 per person that the resort charges for just the activities and lunch was very high. But we couldn't do anything about it as we had no other option.

The Activities

We reached the resort by 12PM and were directed to the front office. We were given the itinerary for the day and directed to the cafeteria where we were served lemonade as the welcome drink. There was a guide assigned to us who took us to the spot where adventure activities were held. There were three tall trees to which ropes were tied to making a triangular circuit. The ropes were tied about 20feet above the ground. We were supposed to walk on these ropes and that constituted 3 activities ( Burmaloop, Elephant walk & parallel walk). We completed these activities and headed to our next activity which was called Zip line where you would be tied to a rope over your head and you will go from one end to another hanging on the rope. We completed this activity too and were directed to the dining room for lunch. The food was good and I liked the chicken a lot.

After Lunch we were made to sit on the round boats and ferried along the Bheemeshwari River. This was called the coracle ride. The Coracle ride was exciting as there were some good rapids in the water which threatened to topple the boat at some places. After the Coracle ride we spent some leisure time at the resort and were served Tea.

We checked out by 5.

All in all the experience was ok but I still feel the Bheemeshwari jungle resort tariff of Rs 1700 per person for the activities is way too much…. Hope the resort reduces the price someday and includes some more activities like Trekking etc. to the itinerary overall bheemeshwari fishing camp day trip was a funfilled day trip.