The next morning, I laze at the hotel health center at the fourth floor. It has a pool, a steam room, and a sauna. There was no one using the facility so I have the whole place for a couple of hours. When fellow guests began to arrive I decided to leave as the place is just too small to share even for few guests. By 11:00 am I was ready for check out, and hid to my next trip destination, to Pattaya.
In going to Pattaya from my hotel, I took the mrt at Lumpinee station and alighted at Sukhumvit interchange station and transferred to BTS skytrain and alighted at Ekkamai station where the Eastern Bus terminal is located. Pattaya is about two hours trip from Bangkok and all the buses that goes to Pattaya are stationed here. I almost being fooled when I arrived at the vicinity of the bus terminal. What happened was I was approached by unsuspected touts asking me to follow them to their bus to Pattaya as it was almost ready to leave and there will be no more bus after that. I was surprised to know because I thought I was in a bus terminal and it was just past lunch and what I know is that the bus leave every hour, but I don't know also if I am in the correct place as I did not see a terminal but only few buses park along the road. Lucky I don't have enough local currency so I need to look for a money changer before I can hop a bus, because when I saw a money changer shop only did I notice the obscure terminal building quite hidden from the main road. And it was then at the money changer that I learned that indeed the bus leave every hour and the one that park along the road will take 3 to 4 hours to arrive in Pattaya as it will frequently stop along the way to pick up passengers. The buses were also stationed behind the terminal building. I took the VIP bus that would bring me to Pattaya nonstop.
I arrived Pattaya Bus Terminal past 4:00 in the afternoon, and took a local mini jeepney that would bring me to my hotel in Jomtien, about 4 km from the city center. The hotel I booked is situated at the beachfront of a secluded beach. I went to Pattaya for the beach and well to experience the nightlife too. Pattaya is a vibrant city and comparable to Bangkok only smaller. While on the way to the hotel I noticed that there are a lot of older Caucasian tourists roaming around the city, it instantly validates what I read that Pattaya is swarmed with older men looking for a good time.
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| the local transpo, a modified pick up turned into a jeepney |
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| main road at central pattaya |
My 2-night stay in Pattaya can be sum up with beach - night out - city tour - beach activities. My first day was spent lazing at the beach until the sun set.There was no beach activity at the beachfront and only beach goers were around so it's practically quiet. If you want a quiet place beach Jomtien beach is the place to go as compared to main beach at the central Pattaya which were quite noisy and crowded. Night time was spent roaming around city's Walking Street and the Beach Road vicinity.
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| the famous Walking Street |
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| the main beach at central pattaya |
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| Jomtien beach at sunset |
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| Jomtien beach in the morning |
Since I woke up late the following morning and find it difficulty coming out of bed, I managed to go out for the city tour only after lunch. And I only managed to explore the Mini Siam and the Sanctuary of Truth. Mini Siam also called a miniature city is like a theme park that contains replicas of sacred places and important historical sites of Thailand on one section, and the replicas of world significant places and structures like Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and Singapore's Merlion on the other section. The construction of the models were scaled 1 is to 25. It takes 2 hours to complete the explore the over a hundred replicas contained in the park. I have noticed that there were spotlight at each of the replicas, that means they were lighted in the evenings. It would have been nice to see them at night when they are all lighted, unfortunately with no other thing to do there waiting was unbearable. Mini Siam is at Km 143 Sukhumvit Road, North Pattaya.
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| the colorful overpass along Sukhumvit Road |
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| Mini Siam section 1contains the world's famous landmarks |
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| Mini Siam Section 2, where the nation's famous landmarks are featured |
The Sanctuary of Truth is a structure made of wood and embellished of solely wood carving. Since I arrived half hour its closing time, I decided not to enter the building for reason because the entrance is expensive and also I don't have time to fully tour the building. So I just admire the building from the platform at the gate entrance.
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| A closer view of the building from the viewdeck platform |
I left Pattaya the following day realizing that I miss out the Elephant Village, Si Racha Tiger Zoo, Hynix of the Sea, the famous Cabaret show, and the Pattaya Floating Market. Oh well these are enough reason for me to come back again to Pattaya.
