My first ever trip abroad... Pattaya, Thailand. Review on Pattaya

Hi People,

Hope u all r doing just gr8!! Herez my account of my first ever trip abroad India on duty travel...its almost 2 yrs now but then its still so fresh in my mind n I thought of sharing it with u all...Its more on a personal tone but still u can njoy....

Our heroine leaves delhi to bangkok 3rd Feb 2001 night. Weather n other things pretty cool. Accompanied by one of the Prof, the boss. Flight takes off on time by 00:15 n so the journey begins. Not boring coz itz just 3-1/2 hrs flight. On flight...veggie food, yuk... don't ask....orange juice good enough for me....so some resting, some music, some movies n some reading....lo n behold, arrives Bangkok. Itz morn 5am their time...(1-1/2 hr time difference India-Thai, so u people calculate in ur timezone)...well rcvd at airport but a wait of 2 hrs for one supposed arrival frm Rome, which unfortunately was a miscommunication and was supposed to be coming next day. Anyway, our host made us wait for 2 long hrs n then took us to the Ambassador Hotel, Bangkok.

My impressions of Bangkok: Good weather, somewhat like Chennai but less hotter, clean roads, gr8 flyovers, major tourism, hustle bustle, resemblance to any of our big indian city with difference being nice maintenance. English Communication major probs....even at reception desks of hotels....but somehow u can manage.

Ok, the story continues....so we have some breakfast of bread toast n coffee at the hotel n then r rushed into a hotel bus that will take us to Pattaya. Pattaya is 150km off Bangkok n abt 2-3 hrs drive, bus leaves by 9am. All the buses in Thai r volvo and good conditioned with AC, music, video etc....but still itz a boring journey. We finally arrive at Ambassador Jomtein Hotel, Pattaya. The hotel is few kms off the city limits and is one of the biggest in Thai spread over 40 acres of land n opening into the beach at the rear. So many wings all around, so v had some initial hitchups finding our respective rooms which were spread across all over the place. But I had one of the most enjoyable stay at this hotel which has everything like sportscentre, healthclub, tenniscourt, massage parlours, business centre, conference centre, several swimming pools including a big pool with 8 sub-pools, all country restuarants (except indian), and above all the open beach....wow....but unfortunately I didn't get a room with an ocean view, instead i'd a garden view with swan pools and bird cages....so all the time it was like being in a big nice paradise....ofcourse, with all diff chirps and calls of diff kinda birds.....water splashes, boating views, full moon out, etc.....nice room in all.

The first day goes in resting, some walking around the hotel campus, beach, some shopping in the hotel shopping complex etc....main probs with pattaya is communication, abs no english known to any one including hotel staff....hence all commn mostly thru sign language, esp at shopping places with calculators....it was really funny...

The next day is Monday, where in we r busy checking with all arrangements made for meeting, rcving guests etc....over 50 participants all over globe came over representing their resp countries. Hectic day with Thai organizers. I meet our organization staff frm various regions including Malaysia, China, Italy, Korea etc. To my surprise the senior most Scientist of the project, is a Bangalorean like me n he greets me in the purest Kannada...boy, am I happy to hear my tongue in a foreign land?!!

On Tuesday the actual proceedings begin.... tight schedule...frm 8.30am to 7.30pm...various formalities, presentations, etc..etc...this goes on for the rest of the days...dinner by 9pm...n the rest of the night is urs, if u have any strength left over to seek some adventure....sometimes even that time goes away in preparing for the next day meeting...i was up till 3.30am on 2 nights with my notebook....phew, was it some meeting?! One day break where we go for field visits to orange plantations, mango orchards etc....that was not very pleasant coz once again bus journey of around 300 km n unfortunately v even had a bus break down.

So much for all the official stuff. Ok, now lemmi tell u abt the other activities that I managed. Thanx to that all info chat session I had with a friend earlier , I was rearing to go n seek out some adventure. I checked out all available freak out places in the hotel campus first, hmmm....some nice restuarants, esp the Italian Pasta Pasta & the Atria cafe....then, the sports centre n health clubs...i wasn't much impressed. The best was the nightclub where the karaoke goes on whole night thru.. I usually had some company of some persons attending our meeting...so got a flavour of various country music, their dances etc...I learnt a few steps of Thai dancing too... Although Thai has very well accepted the Western culture, they retained their roots. Then we used to go downtown into the city of Pattaya,...actually Pattaya is more artificial in the way that it exists with only tourist point of view n is designed that way....better than that r Rayong & Chanthaburi province that are rich in scenic and natural beauty... anyway, the town is fascinating in its own way. Caught up with few cabaret shows... the best of which was the world famous Alcazar Cabaret Show, which is a Transvestite show... It is a very regular show in terms of Indian Standards, nothing obscene... but the lightings, technical setup, costumes, performances etc mind blowing. ..wow, it was really good! Did some light shopping tooo after that....

So that summarises everything I did in Pattaya I guess....and then before we knew it was 9th the last day of meeting. Returned to Bangkok in the evening.... next evening flight, so some time left to explore the city....but unfortunately some formalities were pending hence just cud make up to the central plaza, the great shopping mall....did nothing much just glancing out n window shopping....then back to india by 11.30pm IST, Saturday night.

hey, all u people that dozed away, wake up.....that is the end of the long story....all ur comments, suggestions, criticism etc awaited....Sorry cannot sponsor Anacin, so make ur own arrangements in case u end up with something nasty...yeah yeah bad PJ!:-D