trip to Thailand

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Thailand Trip

So we flew out to Thailand with about 8 relatives and 10 friends of the family. Really varied group...some from Vietnam, us from the U.S., some from Canada and some from Germany. There were also about 20 other Vietnamese on the tour but none that we knew, just happened to be on the same trip.

Our flight left around 8pm and it's about a 1.5 hour flight. We flew Lufthansa on a 747. I have to say that while the food was good and the flight crew were friendly, the plane sure doesn't have much in the way of entertainment. Our plane was stopping in Bangkok and then continuing on to Germany and other than music, it only had the occasional TV set mounted in the middle of the aisles. I'd sure hate to be on that 10 hour flight...better bring a book or your own dvd player.

Arrived in Bangkok on time, airport was big and looked nice but we didn't see much. The guides met us at the gate and took us to customs/immigration. You don't need a visa for Thailand...you just fill out a form with your name, address, etc. on it and it has a entering/departing form on it. You sign the form and they take your picture, stamp your passport and your done. They staple the "departing" part of the form to your passport and when you leave they take it out.

We got to the hotel late, around midnight, ate at the hotel buffet and crashed for about 4 hours. Got up early, had breakfast and jumped back on the bus to head to Pattaya. The drive down to Pattaya was about 3 hours, got to see lots of the countryside as we drove down. We stopped before going to the hotel and had lunch at a restaurant nearby. Kind of the same deal, multi-course meal but this was Thai based, so it was different food...all good though.

Checked into the hotel a little after noon, Seri Place Hotel, in Pattaya. The guide said the hotel was not as nice as the one in Bangkok, but both Hang and I agreed it was 100% better than the one in Bangkok. The one in Pattaya was an outdoor style, you go through the lobby but the room doors were facing outside (see the pics). However, the room was super clean, the bathroom was big and clean, it had instant hot water taps on the shower so the water was nice and hot quickly, it had a big fridge and a balcony with a view. We both thought it was just about the best hotel we stayed at the entire trip so far. The only thing it lacked was internet, it had a couple of computers you could use for about $1/hr.

After getting unpacked, we headed into town and ate at a place similar was lunch, except this one was downtown Pattaya. There are tons of tourists there...Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, Aussie's, Russian, UK, etc. You can tell Thailand is a tourist destination for EVERYONE...lol...:-)

After supper we toured around downtown Pattaya, went to some clubs, bars, etc. and checked out the local scene. The tour guide said we'd be out late but Hang and I headed back to the room about 11pm, we only had about 4 hours sleep the previous night and we were wore out. We also wanted a chance to ride in one of the converted little pickups that is a taxi...:-) It was pretty fun and the driver was really friendly.

We got up about 7am the next day, ate breakfast at the hotel and jumped on the bus to head out to the beach. The plan was to hit the beach until 2pm and then catch a couple of fancier shows in Pattaya. We headed to downtown Pattaya and at the beach there you jump on a boat that takes you out about 1/4 of a mile out in the ocean where they have multiple covered floating docks setup. On these docks they do parasailing behind speed boats where you take off from the dock, they dip you in the water a couple of times and then you land on the dock again. It cost about $20 for a ride. After everyone that wants to go does, we jump back on a boat and headed out about 15 minutes to one of the many island beaches.

On the beaches they have different setups of chairs/umbrellas and it cost from about .50 cents to $2 depending on how close to the beach and the type of chair. They have a bunch of shops and restaurants on the beaches. Our beach had about 1/2 mile of shops and restaurants. Tons of fresh seafood and lots of grilled chicken/fish/etc. for sale. We hung out on the beach and played in the water until about 2pm, then caught the boat back to Pattaya.

Back at the hotel we had lunch there, cleaned up and relaxed until about 6:00pm. At ]6pm we jumped on the bus and headed out to a place called Nongnoonch Garden and
Resort. It was a weird cross between a resort and a animal park. It had a really good elephant show, lots of gardens, aquariums and parks, all with a hotel/resort. The story was that the owner discovered a large mine of ruby's, saphires, etc. on the property and decided to open up the resort/park. We checked out the elephant show then toured the property for a bit. Then we headed down the road to have dinner at a buffet place and take in a show about the history of Thailand. The show was in a big theater and was really cool. They used live elephants in the theater and they walked right down the aisles.

After that we headed back to downtown Pattaya to catch the last show at Tiffany's. Tiffany's is a drag queen, broadway type of show. Some live singing and some lip syncing stuff. We had about an hour before the show started, so a bunch of us just walked around downtown Pattaya and ate at some of the food stands. The show was all asian drag queens and it was in a smaller theater, about like the Nokia theater in Grand Prairie over by the horse racing track. I'm not really into broadway type shows but the ladies and older people in our group ate it up...:-)

We got back to the hotel pretty late and along the ride back home, one of the guides mentioned that the McDonalds near the hotel delivered. I asked him to order me a cheeseburger combo when we got back. About 20 minutes after we got back a guy knocked on the door and delivered the food. They used a square insulated back, kind of like the pizza guys use nowadays but in a box shape. I hadn't had a burger and fries but once at Hard Rock Cafe in Saigon. The food tasted just like McDonald's everywhere, except for the Coke of course. The combo, with tip for delivery was less than $5, so the food is cheaper.

We got up the next morning to head back to Bangkok. We stopped at a snake show along the way where they have a guy who handles King Cobra's and a python. Of course they also try to sell you pills made from different parts of the snake that are supposed to be cures for everything from asthma to heart problems...:-) We also stopped at a leather shop where they sell everything from crocodile to cowhide.

When we got close to Bangkok, we stopped at the zoo and ate lunch there. We walked around a bit and took in a couple of the shows...dolphins and an action show. They were just okay...nothing like Seaworld though.

After the zoo we drove on into Bangkok and stopped at Robinson. It's kind of like a Macy's and it had a few shops connected to it...a drugstore, a kind of Dollar General place and a bunch of restaurants. It also had a huge food court in the basement of the Robinson store. It was restaurants and fast food but all the places were asian types of food...Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, etc. All the fast food had fresh ingredients that they prepped and cooked fresh for you.

After that we checked back into the same hotel we stayed at the first night we arrived in Thailand. We had dinner at the hotel...hot pot with a buffet line so you could do seafood, beef, or whatever you wanted. Once dinner was over we headed out and I stopped by the Hard Rock cafe in Bangkok, just to say I went and also picked up a couple of t-shirts. Then we headed over to one of the wife's cousins relatives...the cousin has a son that is an IT guy and he works in Bangkok. Him and his fiance live there and they have a 3 bedroom apartment on the 20th floor of a building on the other side of town from our hotel. We took a cab over and walked around his neighborhood. They have a small shopping mall there and there were a lot of college kids out on the sidewalks selling homemade t-shirts, jewelery, etc.

The next morning we got up to hit a couple of tourists spots in Bangkok. We stopped by one of the temples (they call them Wats) close to the hotel then we headed over to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is located next to where the King's palace is situated. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha is really gorgeous and they are strict on the dress code for entering...women must wear full length pants or skirts reaching below the knees. My sister-in-law had on capri pants, which don't go all the way down to the feet and she had to rent a wrap around skirt for $1 before they would let her go into the temple grounds. The buildings are gorgeous and this temple is the personal church for the King of Thailand and his family, so there are no monks living here.

After that we headed back to the airport, ate lunch and caught our flight back to Saigon.

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Photos

7-11
Thailand loves its 7-11's. I saw two on the same corner in one spot...:-)