Thailand - A Land of Surprises
I went to Thailand with 2 of my friends in Jan this year, a 4 night 5 day get away from the v busy work life. At the planning and budgeting stage, I got inundated with loads of offers / quotations from the travel agents, however finally I made my own itinerary after researching for 2 months. End result: I saw more than double the number of things to see at half the cost!!
Honestly there is nothing much to see in Bangkok itself, its a big city like any other modern city. Few things which one must not miss: One - is the Ancient Siam tour (entry fee 350 Baht). It is a huge area within the main city, which has preserved the ancient culture of Thailand and is adorned with countless number of Buddhist temples, statues and gives a great insight into the way of life in Ancient Siam (old name of Thailand). There are loads of photo opportunities, the only negative in the entire tour is that the tram tour guide speaks in Thai only (dont ask me why)!! Second, recommend to avail of a fantastic traditional Thai massage at this quality place called Arbora, off Soi 24, Sukhumvit Road (for 300 Baht). Don't go in for the cheaper massages at any cheap salon - as they may leave you in pain!! If in BKK, live in or around Sukhumvit Road. There are 3 famous temples, we only went to Wat Pho, and gave the other two a miss. Thirdly, visit to the Safari World is a must, its better that a whole day is spent there so that even Marine world is covered. We missed Marine World but the animals we saw from close distance during our safari was awesome. Plenty to photograph - storks, giraffe, rhinos, tigers, lions, reindeer .... !
Pattaya was an absolute treat! We stayed for 2 nights and wished we could extend our stay. We lived in a hotel 2 mins walk from the Pattaya Main Beach Road, between Soi 7 and 8 so had no regrets at all. Before you book a hotel, make sure you google up and check the location of your hotel.
Day 1 in Pattaya, we hired a cabbie and went to Nong Nooch Village (entry fee: 500 Baht), which is worth a visit. It has some cultural shows and in general, lovely gardens and a tiger cub which you can pet and pose with! Check out my snap. Some colourful Parakeets are also for free view, apart from the elephants. Then we went to the Underworld Aquarium which is quite good, considering that I have never been in one ever. Very good photography opportunities here. The same cabbie then dropped us to Tiffany's show (entry fee: 800 Baht), which is something one MUST NOT miss in Pattaya. This is a famous stage show of singing and dancing put up boy-girls but they are so pretty that you would not want to accept that they are males. Photography is not allowed while the show is going on, but I managed to click a few. The next whole day in Pattaya we spent at Koh Larn Island beach (Coral Island). Please dont get duped into booking expensive tickets for this, best is to go directly at the pier and get tickets for 150 Baht each only. One important tip, for all the sightseeing places, if a Thai national purchases tickets, you get a discount, so we got our cabbie driver to buy the tickets wherever we went and in return, the cabbie got a free soft drink from the counter.
Thai food is available everywhere, and for shopping in Patpong (evening market), Bangkok, bargain to your heart's content and you wont be disappointed. Actually bargain wherever you can in Thailand. See more from Namrata's visit to Thailand in her album "Thailand, Jan 2011".
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