Day 1 :
We landed in Thailand at about 6 15 AM (local time). Visa was on arrival. The fast track lane was longer than the normal lane. We took the normal lane. Visa was not required for Pradyun as he holds a US passport;. We paid for myself, Bala and Harshitha and came out of the airport. At the entrance, the tour organizer had arranged for a pick up. There was a lady waiting for us who gave us local sim cards and put us onto the taxi driver who drove us to our hotel, A-one cruise hotel, in Pattaya. It was a two hour drive. The roads were broad and nice and it was quite sunny - as in Chennai. We reached the hotel at 10 45 AM by which time the breakfast counter was closed and we were also a little early for the check in (regular time being 12 noon). So we went around hunting for breakfast, not having had milk or anything else from the early morning hours. We found an Indian restaurant which served all breakfast dishes. There was a taxi which ferried on the main road from anywhere to anywhere for 10 THB. You just have to stop a taxi and get in and ring the bell when you have to get down. We came back to the hotel after the breakfast and there we found Pimmi, our guide for the touring of Pattaya city. We finalized the program for the next 2 days and checked in.
In the evening, we went on a complimentary tour to gem show.Pick up was sponsored by the gem store - complimentary. The government is trying to rope in a lot of visitors for their promotional campaign. Bangkok is world's largest producer of rubies and corals, they say. There was a small tour around the gem store which had miniatures explaining how mining is done to dig out the precious stones. There were men working on cutting and polishing of the stones. There was also one large showroom of jewellery made out of these stones. We had a good time learning about all the jewellery making. There was free pick up from the hotel and we were later dropped at the ALCAZAR show from there. The pick up and drop is included in the show tickets itself. The show is a cabaret which had beautiful models and handsome men dancing to music from all parts of Asia and lasted for an hour and ten minutes.
The hotel was a 5 minute walk away and we reached and cooked our dinner. We had carried some rice, rasam paste, a small rice cooker and a few utensils. We purchased yogurt and milk and we had a decent dinner.
Day 2 :
We were to leave for Coral island tour on a speed boat by 8 30 AM. We boiled milk in the cooker, cooked rasam and fed kids for breakfast and left for the complimentary breakfast spread and left at around 9 AM. Our guide for the trip was Amy who was very amicable and friendly with the kids too.
The beach was a few yards away from the hotel. We walked over to the beach and took the speed boat. The ride was nothing short of an adventure as there were forceful tides and the speed boat kept going up and down. We had our life jackets on and our first stop was at the parasailing point.
I was in two minds on whether to do it or not. Bala coaxed me into it saying I must try it having come thus far. Harshitha showed interest too, not knowing what it is. It was Bala's turn first. He wore the life jackets and the hooks were tied to the parachute and there he started sailing. It was a 3 minute sail and he landed safely.
It was Harshitha's turn now. She was the youngest to go on that day, it seems. We made sure that a life guard went with her. She wore her jackets and until the moment she took off, no one went with her. I got scared thinking if the child would be terrified. Before I knew, immediately after she took off, the life guard came from nowhere and hoped onto her parachute. She went up in the air and did 3 minutes of sailing and landed safely. She came down crying saying she was afraid of the water. We were proud of her for the brave act and all the onlookers (it was a crowded queue) cheered her with claps.
It was my turn next. The child herself finished it, so I had to try my turn. I was a little nervous until I went to the top but enjoyed the next 2-3 minutes while up in the air. I owned the world for those minutes. Beautiful deep blue sea beneath you, the world around you and everyone looking up to you (as I was flying high) literally. I came down and found Pradyun to be crying unconsolably. I wondered if he thought I may not be back and started crying and that is when I realized that he wanted to fly too. Being really small, he was not allowed. But he would'nt agree. We finally agreed to get him a hat (the cowboy types) and made him normal.
We got onto the speed boat again and now went to the Coral island. The boat trip was quite back breaking. At the island, we went around on the water scooter (not sure what is the technical name for that). Bala went with Pradyun and I went with Harshitha. When Bala went, he came back and told us that Pradyun went into the middle of the gaming area and switched off the scooter !! Thankfully, the guard was with them throughout and helped them switch on again and finish their ride. Then it was me and Harshitha, We told the guard to drive himself and we just sat on the scooter. It was a fun ride.
Then came the free time to play on the shore. Kids were already in their beachwear and enjoyed playing with water, so much that they refused to come back. We played for an hour and a half. I had a tender coconut and Bala had a fresh lime soda at the island. It costed 50 THB each. Bathrooms and showers were to be paid for. So the kids changed in the open itself. There were huge retracting easy chairs in the open, which were free of cost,thankfully. The guide watched over our belongings while we were playing in the water. We came back and got onto the speed boat again. In the middle of the sea, we hopped onto a glass bottomed boat. This was a normal small boat which had a transparent bottom through which we could see fish swimming and coral leaves and other sea beings.
Back on the speed boat, we reached the shore, Pattaya city. Lunch at an Indian restaurant was included as part of the package. The kids had yogurt and we had normal food. Came back to the hotel room and had a warm shower and could not resist what came next - siesta.
We woke up and decided to go somewhere. We quickly called up our guide Pimmi and she recommended Ripley's museum for us. Before we set out for the evening, I went for a nice and refreshing Thai massage - that was right opposite to our hotel. Without oil, the massage costed 200 THB. Came back to the hotel by when the kids woke up from their nap. They had packaged choco drink and we had coffee in the room ( a bitter one :( ). The city was so expensive- an Indian tea costed about 120 THB which translated to roughly Rs. 300. Not having the mind to spend so much, we settled for our own coffee and tea made in the room. Refreshed enough, we went to Ripley's museum. We saw a 4D movie, a couple of laser shows and just roamed around the mall where the museum was located.
We went to 'Ali Baba' restaurant again in the same taxi as described in the beginning, to meet my friend, Sunil and his family. We had a great dinner and spent time with him and his family. His daughter was turning two the next day and he treated us with that dinner. The kids came back to the room to have their usual dinner - rasam saadham. We retired for the day but Bala went for the massage (the massage centers were open till 12 in the night). He chose an oil massage that costed 300 THB.
Day 3 :
We had the complimentary breakfast, gave kids some rice and checked out of the hotel. Thank God for the Indian food at the breakfast table, I had ample number of puris and sabjis which kept me going for the day. We travelled to Bangkok from Pattaya on our big taxi. We reached and checked into Avani Atrium, at around 11 30 AM where we were picked up by our guide - Ms. Chandi.She took us to the Golden Budhdha temple, which was an hour's drive in the heavy traffic. She took us through the city on the way to the temple talking about the Ministries, famous parks and other details.The golden temple was a treat to watch. Budhdha is by himself a calm and composed sight. The golden armor kept the royalty alive. Just that the heat was unbearable. We bought a couple of souvenirs from the temple and headed to the marble temple from there. The main deity area was closed as there was a cermony going on there. Each family decides to do some kind of ritual in the main deity area, based on which, it is closed for public viewing. We went around the temple, seeing various forms of Budhdha and enjoyed the serene surroundings. We made our way out through the city traffic to another Gem stone store (Thailand government gives a complimentary tour to anyone visiting the place). We sat through a presentation of gem mining and went through the store and we were dropped at our hotel by the Gem stone guys (complimentary drop off)
We decided to take rest in the evening. Slept well and went to a nearby Indian restaurant (just a few yards away) from our hotel where we got to eat nice phulkas and some gravy. Kids ate at our room - the inhouse cooked rice and rasam, as usual, We retired for the day.
Day 4 :
We cooked, fed the kids, had our breakfast and were ready to go to Safari ride and Marine park.We had a driver promptly waiting for us to take us to the safari. We reached about 45 minutes later and he helped us with the tickets and put us onto a guide inside the Marine Park.
The park had an orangutan show to begin with. The kids enjoyed this show a lot. It was a hilarious light boxing show. We saw giraffes, zebras, a lot of birds, white tigers etc. We then went onto see a sealion show...followed by a cowboy stunt show..then came lunch. It was a buffet inside the park with a nice spread of rotis, subzis, rice and yogurt. After lunch was a river safari (which was not included in our package - we paid additionally for this one). It was a boat on an artificial river like going through animal like dolls. With sound and effects, the artificial animals looked more real than real. After this, we watched a dolphin show, sitting with a bowl of poccorn (the way Pradyun pronounces it :) )...We had seen a similar show once in Dubai and once in Baltimore. This was the best with 6 dolphins syncing with one another for diving in and out of water. It was a treat to watch.
We were dropped at Platuna mall - we were told it is a wholesale shopping area.The prices were exorbitant. We found a couple of character slippers for the kids and roamed around the mall. We also bought a calm and composed Budhdha statue to carry back home in fond memory of the beautiful place we visited. We had some fries at McDonald's and headed back home on an open taxi that charged us 100THB (our guide, Mr. Naan, had told us not to pay more for a regular taxi...we later learnt that the open taxis were expensive but we were adamant on paying only 100 THB to the guy who brought us to the hotel room). We later went to another Indian restaurant nearby after feeding the kids. Tired enough, we crashed early.
Day 5 :
This was a free day, we had to check out. We bought additional time from the hotel authorities to check out around 1 PM (as against 12 noon). We spoke to our travel guides and found out the nearby places to look around. Bala was very particular to see something instead of sitting in the hotel room. We decided to go to Under water sea world. The hotel had a free shuttle to the place at 1 PM. We booked that. In the meanwhile, we had breakfast at the hotel, cooked for the kids, packed our bags, took a quick nap and checked out of the hotel, stuffed our bags at the complimentary cloak room, took the shuttle and left to see the underwater world.
Luckily, we were the only ones in the shuttle, that made it look like a private taxi. The driver used his personal agency card to book tickets for us that helped us save some 600 THB, lower charges for agency guys and local Thais. We enjoyed the place for two hours seeing different kind of fish and sharks and playing at a small play area there.
We later visited the various shops upstairs, all part of the same SIAM PARAGON MALL. I took interest in a couple of cosmetics (as usual !! ) and roamed around the place to kill time till 5. We had to be back in the hotel for our airport pick up at 6 and we left the mall just in time to reach hotel and pick up our bags and leave. The drop at airport was a part of our package and we had the driver waiting at the hotel sharp at 6 PM. The drive to the airport closely resembled Bangalore city drive with cars all around and the heavy traffic. We reached the airport at 7 PM and had some dinner at the airport and caught our flight to head back home. We reached home at 1 30 AM on 18th Nov.
Some facts :
- Thailand also has right hand driving just like ours
- Thai people also do regular pooja and visit temples, just like us
- Thai guides and drivers and waiters NEVER expected tips from us and were overly grateful even when we handed over 10 THB (Rs. 20 equivalent)
- The guides and drivers were extremely well co-ordinated. The pick up and drop guys were waiting for us at the venue at the EXACT times agreed upon. We did not have any kind of uncertainty at any point on the arrival or not of any guide/driver.
- Thai people were extremely hospitable in the hotels. Only a couple of girls, presumably not traditional Thais, showed their colors. Largely, a country developed for the tourists.
- Everything was so expensive. A coffee at Starbucks would cost about Rs. 180, in the US and Rs. 150 in India but costs Rs. 300 in Thailand.
Truly, a trip to remember and for the back of our brains...
Cheers !!
We landed in Thailand at about 6 15 AM (local time). Visa was on arrival. The fast track lane was longer than the normal lane. We took the normal lane. Visa was not required for Pradyun as he holds a US passport;. We paid for myself, Bala and Harshitha and came out of the airport. At the entrance, the tour organizer had arranged for a pick up. There was a lady waiting for us who gave us local sim cards and put us onto the taxi driver who drove us to our hotel, A-one cruise hotel, in Pattaya. It was a two hour drive. The roads were broad and nice and it was quite sunny - as in Chennai. We reached the hotel at 10 45 AM by which time the breakfast counter was closed and we were also a little early for the check in (regular time being 12 noon). So we went around hunting for breakfast, not having had milk or anything else from the early morning hours. We found an Indian restaurant which served all breakfast dishes. There was a taxi which ferried on the main road from anywhere to anywhere for 10 THB. You just have to stop a taxi and get in and ring the bell when you have to get down. We came back to the hotel after the breakfast and there we found Pimmi, our guide for the touring of Pattaya city. We finalized the program for the next 2 days and checked in.
In the evening, we went on a complimentary tour to gem show.Pick up was sponsored by the gem store - complimentary. The government is trying to rope in a lot of visitors for their promotional campaign. Bangkok is world's largest producer of rubies and corals, they say. There was a small tour around the gem store which had miniatures explaining how mining is done to dig out the precious stones. There were men working on cutting and polishing of the stones. There was also one large showroom of jewellery made out of these stones. We had a good time learning about all the jewellery making. There was free pick up from the hotel and we were later dropped at the ALCAZAR show from there. The pick up and drop is included in the show tickets itself. The show is a cabaret which had beautiful models and handsome men dancing to music from all parts of Asia and lasted for an hour and ten minutes.
The hotel was a 5 minute walk away and we reached and cooked our dinner. We had carried some rice, rasam paste, a small rice cooker and a few utensils. We purchased yogurt and milk and we had a decent dinner.
Day 2 :
We were to leave for Coral island tour on a speed boat by 8 30 AM. We boiled milk in the cooker, cooked rasam and fed kids for breakfast and left for the complimentary breakfast spread and left at around 9 AM. Our guide for the trip was Amy who was very amicable and friendly with the kids too.
The beach was a few yards away from the hotel. We walked over to the beach and took the speed boat. The ride was nothing short of an adventure as there were forceful tides and the speed boat kept going up and down. We had our life jackets on and our first stop was at the parasailing point.
I was in two minds on whether to do it or not. Bala coaxed me into it saying I must try it having come thus far. Harshitha showed interest too, not knowing what it is. It was Bala's turn first. He wore the life jackets and the hooks were tied to the parachute and there he started sailing. It was a 3 minute sail and he landed safely.
It was Harshitha's turn now. She was the youngest to go on that day, it seems. We made sure that a life guard went with her. She wore her jackets and until the moment she took off, no one went with her. I got scared thinking if the child would be terrified. Before I knew, immediately after she took off, the life guard came from nowhere and hoped onto her parachute. She went up in the air and did 3 minutes of sailing and landed safely. She came down crying saying she was afraid of the water. We were proud of her for the brave act and all the onlookers (it was a crowded queue) cheered her with claps.
It was my turn next. The child herself finished it, so I had to try my turn. I was a little nervous until I went to the top but enjoyed the next 2-3 minutes while up in the air. I owned the world for those minutes. Beautiful deep blue sea beneath you, the world around you and everyone looking up to you (as I was flying high) literally. I came down and found Pradyun to be crying unconsolably. I wondered if he thought I may not be back and started crying and that is when I realized that he wanted to fly too. Being really small, he was not allowed. But he would'nt agree. We finally agreed to get him a hat (the cowboy types) and made him normal.
We got onto the speed boat again and now went to the Coral island. The boat trip was quite back breaking. At the island, we went around on the water scooter (not sure what is the technical name for that). Bala went with Pradyun and I went with Harshitha. When Bala went, he came back and told us that Pradyun went into the middle of the gaming area and switched off the scooter !! Thankfully, the guard was with them throughout and helped them switch on again and finish their ride. Then it was me and Harshitha, We told the guard to drive himself and we just sat on the scooter. It was a fun ride.
Then came the free time to play on the shore. Kids were already in their beachwear and enjoyed playing with water, so much that they refused to come back. We played for an hour and a half. I had a tender coconut and Bala had a fresh lime soda at the island. It costed 50 THB each. Bathrooms and showers were to be paid for. So the kids changed in the open itself. There were huge retracting easy chairs in the open, which were free of cost,thankfully. The guide watched over our belongings while we were playing in the water. We came back and got onto the speed boat again. In the middle of the sea, we hopped onto a glass bottomed boat. This was a normal small boat which had a transparent bottom through which we could see fish swimming and coral leaves and other sea beings.
Back on the speed boat, we reached the shore, Pattaya city. Lunch at an Indian restaurant was included as part of the package. The kids had yogurt and we had normal food. Came back to the hotel room and had a warm shower and could not resist what came next - siesta.
We woke up and decided to go somewhere. We quickly called up our guide Pimmi and she recommended Ripley's museum for us. Before we set out for the evening, I went for a nice and refreshing Thai massage - that was right opposite to our hotel. Without oil, the massage costed 200 THB. Came back to the hotel by when the kids woke up from their nap. They had packaged choco drink and we had coffee in the room ( a bitter one :( ). The city was so expensive- an Indian tea costed about 120 THB which translated to roughly Rs. 300. Not having the mind to spend so much, we settled for our own coffee and tea made in the room. Refreshed enough, we went to Ripley's museum. We saw a 4D movie, a couple of laser shows and just roamed around the mall where the museum was located.
We went to 'Ali Baba' restaurant again in the same taxi as described in the beginning, to meet my friend, Sunil and his family. We had a great dinner and spent time with him and his family. His daughter was turning two the next day and he treated us with that dinner. The kids came back to the room to have their usual dinner - rasam saadham. We retired for the day but Bala went for the massage (the massage centers were open till 12 in the night). He chose an oil massage that costed 300 THB.
Day 3 :
We had the complimentary breakfast, gave kids some rice and checked out of the hotel. Thank God for the Indian food at the breakfast table, I had ample number of puris and sabjis which kept me going for the day. We travelled to Bangkok from Pattaya on our big taxi. We reached and checked into Avani Atrium, at around 11 30 AM where we were picked up by our guide - Ms. Chandi.She took us to the Golden Budhdha temple, which was an hour's drive in the heavy traffic. She took us through the city on the way to the temple talking about the Ministries, famous parks and other details.The golden temple was a treat to watch. Budhdha is by himself a calm and composed sight. The golden armor kept the royalty alive. Just that the heat was unbearable. We bought a couple of souvenirs from the temple and headed to the marble temple from there. The main deity area was closed as there was a cermony going on there. Each family decides to do some kind of ritual in the main deity area, based on which, it is closed for public viewing. We went around the temple, seeing various forms of Budhdha and enjoyed the serene surroundings. We made our way out through the city traffic to another Gem stone store (Thailand government gives a complimentary tour to anyone visiting the place). We sat through a presentation of gem mining and went through the store and we were dropped at our hotel by the Gem stone guys (complimentary drop off)
We decided to take rest in the evening. Slept well and went to a nearby Indian restaurant (just a few yards away) from our hotel where we got to eat nice phulkas and some gravy. Kids ate at our room - the inhouse cooked rice and rasam, as usual, We retired for the day.
Day 4 :
We cooked, fed the kids, had our breakfast and were ready to go to Safari ride and Marine park.We had a driver promptly waiting for us to take us to the safari. We reached about 45 minutes later and he helped us with the tickets and put us onto a guide inside the Marine Park.
The park had an orangutan show to begin with. The kids enjoyed this show a lot. It was a hilarious light boxing show. We saw giraffes, zebras, a lot of birds, white tigers etc. We then went onto see a sealion show...followed by a cowboy stunt show..then came lunch. It was a buffet inside the park with a nice spread of rotis, subzis, rice and yogurt. After lunch was a river safari (which was not included in our package - we paid additionally for this one). It was a boat on an artificial river like going through animal like dolls. With sound and effects, the artificial animals looked more real than real. After this, we watched a dolphin show, sitting with a bowl of poccorn (the way Pradyun pronounces it :) )...We had seen a similar show once in Dubai and once in Baltimore. This was the best with 6 dolphins syncing with one another for diving in and out of water. It was a treat to watch.
We were dropped at Platuna mall - we were told it is a wholesale shopping area.The prices were exorbitant. We found a couple of character slippers for the kids and roamed around the mall. We also bought a calm and composed Budhdha statue to carry back home in fond memory of the beautiful place we visited. We had some fries at McDonald's and headed back home on an open taxi that charged us 100THB (our guide, Mr. Naan, had told us not to pay more for a regular taxi...we later learnt that the open taxis were expensive but we were adamant on paying only 100 THB to the guy who brought us to the hotel room). We later went to another Indian restaurant nearby after feeding the kids. Tired enough, we crashed early.
Day 5 :
This was a free day, we had to check out. We bought additional time from the hotel authorities to check out around 1 PM (as against 12 noon). We spoke to our travel guides and found out the nearby places to look around. Bala was very particular to see something instead of sitting in the hotel room. We decided to go to Under water sea world. The hotel had a free shuttle to the place at 1 PM. We booked that. In the meanwhile, we had breakfast at the hotel, cooked for the kids, packed our bags, took a quick nap and checked out of the hotel, stuffed our bags at the complimentary cloak room, took the shuttle and left to see the underwater world.
Luckily, we were the only ones in the shuttle, that made it look like a private taxi. The driver used his personal agency card to book tickets for us that helped us save some 600 THB, lower charges for agency guys and local Thais. We enjoyed the place for two hours seeing different kind of fish and sharks and playing at a small play area there.
We later visited the various shops upstairs, all part of the same SIAM PARAGON MALL. I took interest in a couple of cosmetics (as usual !! ) and roamed around the place to kill time till 5. We had to be back in the hotel for our airport pick up at 6 and we left the mall just in time to reach hotel and pick up our bags and leave. The drop at airport was a part of our package and we had the driver waiting at the hotel sharp at 6 PM. The drive to the airport closely resembled Bangalore city drive with cars all around and the heavy traffic. We reached the airport at 7 PM and had some dinner at the airport and caught our flight to head back home. We reached home at 1 30 AM on 18th Nov.
Some facts :
- Thailand also has right hand driving just like ours
- Thai people also do regular pooja and visit temples, just like us
- Thai guides and drivers and waiters NEVER expected tips from us and were overly grateful even when we handed over 10 THB (Rs. 20 equivalent)
- The guides and drivers were extremely well co-ordinated. The pick up and drop guys were waiting for us at the venue at the EXACT times agreed upon. We did not have any kind of uncertainty at any point on the arrival or not of any guide/driver.
- Thai people were extremely hospitable in the hotels. Only a couple of girls, presumably not traditional Thais, showed their colors. Largely, a country developed for the tourists.
- Everything was so expensive. A coffee at Starbucks would cost about Rs. 180, in the US and Rs. 150 in India but costs Rs. 300 in Thailand.
Truly, a trip to remember and for the back of our brains...
Cheers !!
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