Pattaya - More than a nightlife

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The third city on my Thailand tour was Pattaya. I had never heard of it, but apparently is a well known area for other Asian countries and especially Russia. Our driver is someone Jamie uses for work and it was a couple of hours spent in a pimped out van (apparently, a usual mode of transportation). With a little difficulty, we reached our hotel, the Rabbit Resort, which is right on the beach. We checked in pretty easily and were given a nice large, private room. After Jamie gave me a few options, I selected this resort as it seemed to have a private, tropical setting where all the rooms have their own entrances with trees all around.

The receptionist set us up with our driver for the next day and so we went to our room and took showers before falling asleep. The next morning we went to the provided breakfast which was lovely and with view of the bay. Our driver arrived promptly at 9:30 and I was treated with another standard mode of transportation - large taxi-like cars are actually pickups with covered backs and benches along either side of the bed of the pickup. I saw many locals using these, including school children. Anyway, there were already two other Americans in the back so we joined them, a ridiculously good looking couple from Minnesota, before stopping to pick up two more girls from another hotel (they were smart and sat in the extended cab). Then it was a twenty minute drive on freeway to our next destination: Splashdown!

Splashdown is "Thailand's first adult themed water park" and something Jamie had researched and was really looking forward to. It is based on the US tv show "Wipeout!" so we watched a few episodes while getting ready that morning to prepare ourselves and pump ourselves up. Jamie was so excited; I was too. We get to the park and it is seriously like crickets. We were the second car there and another couple was in front of us on their own. A father with his two young sons came soon after us, but other than that, there was no one else there for hours! I was also expecting more of a waterpark atmosphere, like pool side lounges, or a pool(!). Instead, it was seriously just an obstacle course, so we changed and got going - everyone is given a life vest, croc-like shoes, and a helmet, with only the helmet being optional.

It was nice actually to be the only people there since we were able to go through all the attractions quickly. The first up was the Super Slide! You climb up an inclined wall holding onto an attached strap while placing your feet on styrofoam steps that are about to come off. Not OSHA approved, I'm sure. The climb was fine so you don't realize how high you are until the very top when you look down. Then you sit and cross your arms and slide off! It was actually fun going down but I got rotated at the bottom so when I splashed into the pool, I landed on my neck. Not a great start. Next up was the Big Red Balls - a constant source of hilarity on the program. It was funny to watch everyone else try, including our pickup-taxi partner Matt, who went all for it and did a couple of fabulous face plants on the sides of the balls. Jamie went first this time and promptly fell. Then me. It didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would, even though I did a spectacular fall that, thankfully, was not on video. Next was the race course which I actually did well on, making it to the fifth of six obstacles before falling in on my second attempt. Then we did another slide which ends halfway down and tosses you into the pool. I did not like this one and my life vest popped open on impact. Yep, I felt safe here! Next was another race type obstacle, similar to the big red balls but only with continuous squares. I did not like this one either as it was high up and I felt like I would fall backwards and hit my head on the very first one. The last one that we tried was what Jamie referred to as "the washing machine." A giant inflated ball was rolled uphill by the staff and the inside filled with a bit of water, before they told us to get in. Sticking your head through the door and into the hot interior made Jamie feel claustrophobic and she declined, so I went in and then she decided to give it a try. Being a bad engineer, I was at first unsure of this whole operation, thinking about water splashing about and our bodies slamming into each other. But no - the water acted as a slick and we linked arms, so it was like a giant rolling slide. I absolutely LOVED it!!! Jamie was able to pull her body through the opening and dumped herself on the carpet exhausted…

We went and rested at the cafe for a few minutes, getting a drink and watching the two boys try to conquer the first racing course. Then we discussed going on our second and final round. I was actually kind of done - we had only been there two hours! But she talked me into going down the big red slide again to get a good picture of me, so I agreed. Then she missed the dang shot! I did not go again! 😊 I took photos of her on the Big Red Balls and the slide and I tried the obstacle course again. By that time a few other people had arrived to try there hand; the guy was like the poster child for the show - posturing, showing off… The other couple was also ready to go and our driver seemed to round up the other two girls to head back to town - I really hope he didn't force them to leave! The park is supposed to provide a free shuttle to your hotel, but there is no set time and we were obviously not a group. I didn't like that. And the safety of the park is in doubt, along with the wear and tear of the equipment and the price is pretty steep (1500 baht), but we had a fantastic time!!!

We got back, took showers, ordered burgers and passed out. Our favorite receptionist set us up for a cabaret show that evening as well arranged for a driver for the next day. The driver for the show picked us up and helped us get our printed tickets - this place, the Colosseum was amazing. We easily got tickets last minute so were not expecting much, but oh no. This place was packed! Lots of giant tour buses. They do three shows a night back to back to back so in between shows, the area is very crowded. We got a drink to pass the time, but there was never any announcement for the show and we got very conflicting information regarding the time. We decided just to head to our VIP seats and as soon as we sat down, the show began. No pictures, of course, but I guess the show is supposed to be all lady men (except for the guys who play guys). I don't know - some of those girls looked like real girls… The leads were definitely lady men - you can always tell as they are just so flamboyant - diva attitude, you know? It was a lot of fun and good hour long show. They had costumes representing each of the southeast asian countries and that was my favorite part. Outside, I was able to take a photo with one of the stars (for 40 baht) and then we headed for dinner.

I cannot recommend Pan Pan Italian Restaurant enough - it was so delicious. We split a salad and bruscetta and I got a spaghetti with clams dish which I loved. The atmosphere was fantastic and we got our gelatos to go. We walked back the path to our hotel and enjoyed our night in Pattaya.

That night, around 4am, a loud noise woke us up and then Jamie screamed. Haha! She was sleeping underneath the A/C and after that horrible noise, it dumped an entire bucket of ice and cold water onto her head!!!! I mean, I shouldn't laugh, but in retrospect it was hilarious. Maintenance came promptly and were able to move us temporarily to the room upstairs to go back to sleep. I slept only ok as the tiniest ants in the world were crawling on the back wall and found their way onto my arm. We got up at 8 the next day but the A/C in our room still did not work and it was super muggy. We called maintenance who return to fix it while we went to breakfast. On the way, a lady stopped us and was very chatty; we were so grumpy by this point and I was remember what Matt the zoolander American guy said about super chatty expats, so we smiled and continued on until she said she was the owner of the resort - another American from southern California. We were still a little crabby, but once we got our breakfast (bacon!), we apologized to her and told her the reason. Honestly, once we had food in our tummies, we weren't that upset. Things happen and maintenance did respond immediately, both times we called. If it were not our last day, we would have happily moved rooms, but didn't want to when we were leaving in a few hours. She understood and managed to knock off some money from our bill.

After breakfast we walked the little way to town and got hour long foot massages. Heaven! And just 200 baht (less than $6). Then we came back, packed and met our driver to the next stop: Rayong

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Photos

Splashdown Water Park
My favorite of Jamie's many wipeouts

Splashdown Water Park
Jamie coming down the slide

Splashdown Water Park
Me trying to leap frog obstacle #2 - harder than it looks!!!

The Colosseum Cabaret Show
lots of buses!