My wife and I boarded a flight from Mumbai and flew to Kuala Lumpur. From there we boarded another
flight and reached our destination – BANGKOK. It was almost midnight as we came
out of the airport and climbed into our taxi which would take us to Pattaya.
Our cabbie probably had a very complicated Thai name, so he preferred a short
name. The guy who waited for us at the airport and further helped us with
contact numbers of co-ordinators in Thailand, he had a short name. His name was
Pek. We were amused by that name but what really hit us was our cabbie’s short
name. He was simply called A. Yes. Mr. A.
The drive from Bangkok to Pattaya is quite long, around 150 km. But the roads in Thailand are excellent. At times I saw Mr. A hit speeds of over 120 kmph. Most of the time, he kept the car running at over a 100 kmph. So after around 2 hours we checked into Hotel Hill Fresco in Pattaya. It was almost 2:30 AM as we went to sleep. The tiredness had taken its toll. Within no time, it was 7:30 AM and we got a call on our room phone. The woman at the other end told us to be ready by 8 AM. I was half asleep and I wondered why we had to do it. Then I called one of the numbers that Pek had given us. Jeejy, our female trip co-ordinator answered the call and told me that we cannot be late because there is a group tour planned. So with that we indeed started our Thailand trip.
Day 1 – Our morning started with a trip to Nong Nooch village garden. For a few hours we saw a lot of animals, the best of which was a tiger, which was chained - Thankfully. Oh how magnificent does a tiger look! Wow.
The drive from Bangkok to Pattaya is quite long, around 150 km. But the roads in Thailand are excellent. At times I saw Mr. A hit speeds of over 120 kmph. Most of the time, he kept the car running at over a 100 kmph. So after around 2 hours we checked into Hotel Hill Fresco in Pattaya. It was almost 2:30 AM as we went to sleep. The tiredness had taken its toll. Within no time, it was 7:30 AM and we got a call on our room phone. The woman at the other end told us to be ready by 8 AM. I was half asleep and I wondered why we had to do it. Then I called one of the numbers that Pek had given us. Jeejy, our female trip co-ordinator answered the call and told me that we cannot be late because there is a group tour planned. So with that we indeed started our Thailand trip.
Day 1 – Our morning started with a trip to Nong Nooch village garden. For a few hours we saw a lot of animals, the best of which was a tiger, which was chained - Thankfully. Oh how magnificent does a tiger look! Wow.
There was also a Thai
cultural show. It consisted of dances, a dramatized kick boxing match, percussion
play and at the end an elephant show. The evening was even
better where we went to watch the ALCAZAR show. The show comprised of dances,
where the performers – in excellent and very colourful clothing – danced to
world tunes. When the hindi song, AAJA NACHLE NACHLE MERI JAAN started the
entire auditorium erupted with joy. So many Indians had turned up to watch and
the atmosphere went electric. It’s at moments like these when you feel more Indian. After the show, we went to
the Pattaya beach and strolled around the Pattaya walking street. After that we
bought from an Indian restaurant and carried the parceled food to our hotel.
Day 2 – It was time to check out from the wonderful Hill Fresco hotel. Our next stop was GEMS discovery. We took a mini tour inside the building. In a small open train! For around 15 minutes we were shown the various steps in the process of discovering precious and semi-precious gems. After that we were taken to a store were all those gems were lined up. FOR SALE! Once out of there, we were transported to a Buddhist temple. Here we witnessed the Reclining Buddha and the beautiful architecture of the Pagodas. With that ended our stay in Pattaya and we were on our way back to Bangkok. By evening we had checked into Hotel IBIS, Nana. After freshening up we went to JATUJAK market in Mo chit. From Nana to Mo chit we went by a SKY TRAIN. It was a first for me and it felt superb.
Day 3 – This had to be the best day of our trip. In the morning we went to Safari world. We visited a sanctuary and saw a lot of wild animals in the open. For the first time in my life I saw a herd of tigers enjoying in the open. Truly unforgettable sight! After an hour long Safari, we were taken to an area which seemed like an amusement park, minus the rides. However the animal shows we witnessed there were unbelievable. I was awestruck by the way they were trained to entertain. We saw the Orangutan show, sea-lion show and best of the lot – Dolphin show. After that we had Indian lunch and then took a stroll inside Safari world. Crocodiles that we saw there almost seemed like statues, until they moved. The day ended with a wonderful tour to Bangkok’s very own Madame Tussauds. We clicked a lot of pictures with wax figures of celebrities.
Day 2 – It was time to check out from the wonderful Hill Fresco hotel. Our next stop was GEMS discovery. We took a mini tour inside the building. In a small open train! For around 15 minutes we were shown the various steps in the process of discovering precious and semi-precious gems. After that we were taken to a store were all those gems were lined up. FOR SALE! Once out of there, we were transported to a Buddhist temple. Here we witnessed the Reclining Buddha and the beautiful architecture of the Pagodas. With that ended our stay in Pattaya and we were on our way back to Bangkok. By evening we had checked into Hotel IBIS, Nana. After freshening up we went to JATUJAK market in Mo chit. From Nana to Mo chit we went by a SKY TRAIN. It was a first for me and it felt superb.
Day 3 – This had to be the best day of our trip. In the morning we went to Safari world. We visited a sanctuary and saw a lot of wild animals in the open. For the first time in my life I saw a herd of tigers enjoying in the open. Truly unforgettable sight! After an hour long Safari, we were taken to an area which seemed like an amusement park, minus the rides. However the animal shows we witnessed there were unbelievable. I was awestruck by the way they were trained to entertain. We saw the Orangutan show, sea-lion show and best of the lot – Dolphin show. After that we had Indian lunch and then took a stroll inside Safari world. Crocodiles that we saw there almost seemed like statues, until they moved. The day ended with a wonderful tour to Bangkok’s very own Madame Tussauds. We clicked a lot of pictures with wax figures of celebrities.
Day 4 – Siam center a very large mall in Bangkok houses the Oceanworld sealife. It definitely has to be the largest aquarium I ever saw. Just a few inches of glass separated us and sharks. For more than an hour we saw many species of sea life. Sea horses look really cute, I must say. The evening was exhausting. Jatujak market is huge and we shopped just enough to warrant a massage. So we went ahead and took it. My first experience with a THAI foot massage was heavenly. The legs were rejuvenated and we shopped for an hour more. It was very late in the night when we went to sleep in our IBIS room. We were all packed for the next day.
Day 5 – We hired a cab that took us to the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, from where we flew to KL Malaysia and then to Mumbai and finally reached Pune. The sight to remember that day was our Bangkok cab overtaking a LAMBORGHINI.
