To begin with, Pattaya was chosen in Thailand because of its relative cheapness and for a better acquaintance with the country in terms of more excursions compared to the islands. According to friends, in the so-called "rainy season", and the trip was in October, the sea during this period is dirty both in the center and on the cleanest beach of Pattaya - Jometien, so we chose the Hard Rock Hotel, located in the very center for ease of movement around the city. A tour for $2.500 for two was bought from the tour operator Pan Yukrein (with a direct 10-hour flight from Kyiv with Aerosvit), since, for example, the same two-week tour from Tez Tour cost $650 more (and for 14 days only from Moscow , and from Kyiv for 11 days for $ 3100), although I had a rest in Turkey earlier from Teza.
I won’t tell much about the flight, because after a 17-hour train ride and a 6-hour wait in Boryspil on a Duty Free plane, I had to buy a liter bottle of Whiskey and relax for a good sleep.
Leaving the plane, I was amazed not only by the super modern Bangkok airport, but also by the variety of unknown smells and air humidity, out of habit it seemed as if you were in a Russian bath. After a quick passage through customs and passport control, we were met by the Russian-speaking guide of the host country "Sayama travel", put on a necklace of orchids, gave us a map of Pattaya, a local SIM card (calls are much cheaper both locally and home), and led to a comfortable bus, where a Russian girl was waiting for us, who also turned out to be a guide, but a Russian-speaking Thai met us because in Thailand only Thai citizens can officially work as a guide, therefore, according to her, there will always be two guides on all excursions in the future, since you understand a Russian-speaking Thai on no more than two or three meters apart.
From north to south, the Sukhumvit toll highway passes through all of Thailand, and we covered the 140 km to Pattaya in 1-30 hours with stops for fares (I had not seen the bus travel at a speed of 160 km / h before). Upon entering Pattaya, to be honest, I was mildly stunned by the dirt on the streets, a bunch of wires randomly hanging from poles and car traffic on the roads, by the way, on the left-hand side (later I learned from the guide that drivers in Pattaya practically do not follow the rules, but they drive " on concepts” and very carefully).
As I understand the vast majority of hotels in Pattaya with a small territory, ours turned out to be the same. When we arrived, it was raining, but it rained almost every day for an hour, but literally in half an hour everything dried up, and the weather was fine. We arrived at the hotel at about 7 am, I was pleasantly surprised - a Russian girl worked at the reception (according to acquaintances who had previously visited Thailand, not every hotel had a Russian-speaking or "Russian-understanding" Thai), we were immediately settled at no extra charge, although paid by we were from 12-00. In short, the hotel is positioned as a 4-star hotel by our tour operators, but as the guide explained to us, there are no generally accepted categories of hotels in Thailand, but they consider Hard Rock to be a five-star hotel. In general, the hotel liked excellent breakfasts (due to the high cost of lunches and dinners, as well as the constant presence on excursions, we bought a package only with breakfasts), high-quality daily cleaning with a change of towels and, if necessary, bathrobes, normal furniture, LCD TV, three Russian channels, one of which is local. In Pattaya, only in Hard Rock every Saturday there is a foam disco and there is at least some kind of animation. An excellent SPA center, judging by the advertising, but very expensive, for example, massage costs 4-5 times more than in the salons on the street.
Having rested from the road, we decided to go look at the "dirty" sea, which was located across the road from the hotel, having come, I saw, well, "Azov-Azov", who was, knows. Immediately plunged, the water is not very salty because the Gulf of Thailand. At that time, foreigners were lying on the shore and, looking at us, they smiled strongly, they probably think they are swimming in a puddle. Traders with all sorts of things walk along the beach, they have very tasty boiled shrimp (a dozen large shrimp cost about 15 UAH, you have to bargain everywhere) and crabs, by the way, in Pattaya they cook a lot of grilled seafood, and all fried is prepared without salt and spices, but served with their sauces, be sure to take not spicy - “know spicy”. Before Thailand, I thought that I liked to eat spicy food, there I realized that I was deeply mistaken. Then beach masseuses approached us and offered a Thai massage for 400 baht (100 UAH), we bargained for 200 baht and thought that we were the smartest, as it turned out later, in the salons on the street in normal conditions without sand and wind, they do 180-200 baht per hour, both traditional Thai massage, back and leg massage, body massage did not try. In general, we chose a massage parlor near the fountain, located at the intersection of northern and second streets, but in principle, sometimes they didn’t do massage there either, it all depended on the masseuse, and there were about 20 of them.
We immediately planned our two-week vacation and decided to buy excursions from the operator, although we knew it would be more expensive, but we were afraid that there might be a language problem, as I read in the reviews before, they sometimes unite groups from five different countries, and they tell everything in English, but school and an institute course for a complete understanding is clearly not enough. Our tour package included two free tours: a crocodile farm and Nong Nooch Park with an elephant show. We also bought the River Kwai - $115, sea travel (includes: wild monkey island, desert island and fishing) - $60, Alcazar show front rows - $25, Bangkok (Royal Palace, Wang Po Temple and dinner at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel) - $70 and islands, bought everything in a package with discounts. If the tour is until the evening, then there will definitely be lunch, they feed 4 times on Kwai.
On the first day in the evening, the four of us (they were with their wives, some friends told us that there was nothing to go to Thailand with our samovar) went to the main street of Pattaya - Walking Street. Getting there is easy if you have a map, by local taxi tuk-tuk for 10 baht one way, since they go only one way along beach road - beach street and second street. Walking Street consists almost exclusively of cafes, bars, restaurants and a few shops. There are a lot of local prostitutes on the sidewalks, as well as in bars, if you move 3-4 meters away from your wife, they start screaming, calling, they run up and persuade, though you don’t understand a damn thing, but you feel in your gut that they are talking. There are also Go-Go bars, naked Thai girls from 20 to 50 in each walk around the counter, admission is free, but you must definitely order alcohol, for example, beer costs about 20 UAH there, and sit, see how much you like, if you like someone you call and she starts showing you her charms in order to spend more time with you, 2 hours - 1000 baht, it’s cheaper on the street, but you can get on a lady-boy (a converted man), so you need to carefully choose, they said, that the Adam's apple is visible and they do operations there, you can tell them the hell. They also went to the X-show and bargained for tickets for 200 baht per person, it also included Coca-Cola, if you don’t tell a lot of everything, it’s still vulgar, I want to note that I don’t shoot accurately with a gun like Thai girls with a wind tube on ball in my hand from a distance of 5 meters genitals. I saw a lot of old farts of 70 to 80 years old, I apologize with one foot in the other world, but in an embrace with one or two Thai women, what do they do with them at night?
By the way, they ate both at makashnits (street vendors) and in cafes, they never got poisoned by anything. For example, on the street, 300-400 grams of chicken kebab costs 40 baht, fried catfish weighing 300 grams - 30 baht, five or six grilled chicken hearts 10 baht, a glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice 30 baht. Delicious fried lizards and some bugs, but expensive. Soups, seafood salads in cafes mostly from 40 to 150 baht. The only thing, if you buy a lobster, then the price is indicated for 100 grams, and not per piece. We bought local beer, quite tasty and intoxicating 25-40 baht per bottle of 0.33 liters. You can eat in shopping centers, there are a lot of cafes on the first floors. We also went to the Japanese samurai cafe twice, located on the second street, 2 hours to eat whatever you want (sushi and other Japanese dishes) - 200 baht until 19-00. after 19-0.400 baht, freebie! At the hotel dinner - buffet cost about 800 baht.
The next day we went to the Nong Nooch National Park, there is indescribable beauty, but they give little time to explore this park. From there, orchids are exported all over the world. They also showed a national show and an elephant show, which is included in the Guinness Book of Records. In it, elephants dance, play football, basketball, ride four-wheeled bicycles themselves, and give foot massages to those who wish.
After the garden, we were brought to the Lukdot state store, where all the souvenirs are really cheaper than anywhere else, then I went there two more times myself by tuk-tuk.
On the third day there was a crocodile farm and a museum of stones. There you can take pictures on a crocodile and with a big tiger, you can try various crocodile dishes. You can also feed the elephants there. In the evening we went to the Alcazar show, in which there is not a single woman, and completely converted men perform, living on hormones up to only 35-40 years old. They are no different from women, one man in our group felt such a ladyboy for about 5 minutes and said that he could not have been a man before, he was so handsome and smells like a woman (photos will be below). By the way, the most expensive operation is cutting out the Adam's apple.
I was very impressed by the two-day excursion to the River Kwai. First, riding along the canals, with a swim in the floating market, then a teak factory, there are paintings like in 3 D. Then a snake show, artists caught poisonous snakes with their hands and teeth, there was a fight between a mongoose and a cobra. Then they rode through the jungle on elephants. The most beautiful waterfall in the mountains, which is gorgeous only in the rainy season. In the evening we were brought to a floating hotel on the river, not everyone liked it, so we could spend the night on the shore in another excellent hotel, we dined there the next day. The next day, a walk through the real jungle to the village of Mons, then rafting along the Kwai River in vests, swimming in three Radon springs of different temperatures from 37 to 54 C, if I'm not mistaken.
Probably I will wrap up because there is still a lot to write about Thailand, there are a lot of impressions, the exotic is utter, the brain does not have time to digest everything there. You fully realize where you were and what you saw after a couple of weeks spent at home after the rest.
Therefore, I advise everyone who has the opportunity to relax in Thailand, especially since it is very cheap there during the off-season (from April to October).
If you have any questions ask, I will answer.
I won’t tell much about the flight, because after a 17-hour train ride and a 6-hour wait in Boryspil on a Duty Free plane, I had to buy a liter bottle of Whiskey and relax for a good sleep.
Leaving the plane, I was amazed not only by the super modern Bangkok airport, but also by the variety of unknown smells and air humidity, out of habit it seemed as if you were in a Russian bath. After a quick passage through customs and passport control, we were met by the Russian-speaking guide of the host country "Sayama travel", put on a necklace of orchids, gave us a map of Pattaya, a local SIM card (calls are much cheaper both locally and home), and led to a comfortable bus, where a Russian girl was waiting for us, who also turned out to be a guide, but a Russian-speaking Thai met us because in Thailand only Thai citizens can officially work as a guide, therefore, according to her, there will always be two guides on all excursions in the future, since you understand a Russian-speaking Thai on no more than two or three meters apart.
From north to south, the Sukhumvit toll highway passes through all of Thailand, and we covered the 140 km to Pattaya in 1-30 hours with stops for fares (I had not seen the bus travel at a speed of 160 km / h before). Upon entering Pattaya, to be honest, I was mildly stunned by the dirt on the streets, a bunch of wires randomly hanging from poles and car traffic on the roads, by the way, on the left-hand side (later I learned from the guide that drivers in Pattaya practically do not follow the rules, but they drive " on concepts” and very carefully).
As I understand the vast majority of hotels in Pattaya with a small territory, ours turned out to be the same. When we arrived, it was raining, but it rained almost every day for an hour, but literally in half an hour everything dried up, and the weather was fine. We arrived at the hotel at about 7 am, I was pleasantly surprised - a Russian girl worked at the reception (according to acquaintances who had previously visited Thailand, not every hotel had a Russian-speaking or "Russian-understanding" Thai), we were immediately settled at no extra charge, although paid by we were from 12-00. In short, the hotel is positioned as a 4-star hotel by our tour operators, but as the guide explained to us, there are no generally accepted categories of hotels in Thailand, but they consider Hard Rock to be a five-star hotel. In general, the hotel liked excellent breakfasts (due to the high cost of lunches and dinners, as well as the constant presence on excursions, we bought a package only with breakfasts), high-quality daily cleaning with a change of towels and, if necessary, bathrobes, normal furniture, LCD TV, three Russian channels, one of which is local. In Pattaya, only in Hard Rock every Saturday there is a foam disco and there is at least some kind of animation. An excellent SPA center, judging by the advertising, but very expensive, for example, massage costs 4-5 times more than in the salons on the street.
Having rested from the road, we decided to go look at the "dirty" sea, which was located across the road from the hotel, having come, I saw, well, "Azov-Azov", who was, knows. Immediately plunged, the water is not very salty because the Gulf of Thailand. At that time, foreigners were lying on the shore and, looking at us, they smiled strongly, they probably think they are swimming in a puddle. Traders with all sorts of things walk along the beach, they have very tasty boiled shrimp (a dozen large shrimp cost about 15 UAH, you have to bargain everywhere) and crabs, by the way, in Pattaya they cook a lot of grilled seafood, and all fried is prepared without salt and spices, but served with their sauces, be sure to take not spicy - “know spicy”. Before Thailand, I thought that I liked to eat spicy food, there I realized that I was deeply mistaken. Then beach masseuses approached us and offered a Thai massage for 400 baht (100 UAH), we bargained for 200 baht and thought that we were the smartest, as it turned out later, in the salons on the street in normal conditions without sand and wind, they do 180-200 baht per hour, both traditional Thai massage, back and leg massage, body massage did not try. In general, we chose a massage parlor near the fountain, located at the intersection of northern and second streets, but in principle, sometimes they didn’t do massage there either, it all depended on the masseuse, and there were about 20 of them.
We immediately planned our two-week vacation and decided to buy excursions from the operator, although we knew it would be more expensive, but we were afraid that there might be a language problem, as I read in the reviews before, they sometimes unite groups from five different countries, and they tell everything in English, but school and an institute course for a complete understanding is clearly not enough. Our tour package included two free tours: a crocodile farm and Nong Nooch Park with an elephant show. We also bought the River Kwai - $115, sea travel (includes: wild monkey island, desert island and fishing) - $60, Alcazar show front rows - $25, Bangkok (Royal Palace, Wang Po Temple and dinner at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel) - $70 and islands, bought everything in a package with discounts. If the tour is until the evening, then there will definitely be lunch, they feed 4 times on Kwai.
On the first day in the evening, the four of us (they were with their wives, some friends told us that there was nothing to go to Thailand with our samovar) went to the main street of Pattaya - Walking Street. Getting there is easy if you have a map, by local taxi tuk-tuk for 10 baht one way, since they go only one way along beach road - beach street and second street. Walking Street consists almost exclusively of cafes, bars, restaurants and a few shops. There are a lot of local prostitutes on the sidewalks, as well as in bars, if you move 3-4 meters away from your wife, they start screaming, calling, they run up and persuade, though you don’t understand a damn thing, but you feel in your gut that they are talking. There are also Go-Go bars, naked Thai girls from 20 to 50 in each walk around the counter, admission is free, but you must definitely order alcohol, for example, beer costs about 20 UAH there, and sit, see how much you like, if you like someone you call and she starts showing you her charms in order to spend more time with you, 2 hours - 1000 baht, it’s cheaper on the street, but you can get on a lady-boy (a converted man), so you need to carefully choose, they said, that the Adam's apple is visible and they do operations there, you can tell them the hell. They also went to the X-show and bargained for tickets for 200 baht per person, it also included Coca-Cola, if you don’t tell a lot of everything, it’s still vulgar, I want to note that I don’t shoot accurately with a gun like Thai girls with a wind tube on ball in my hand from a distance of 5 meters genitals. I saw a lot of old farts of 70 to 80 years old, I apologize with one foot in the other world, but in an embrace with one or two Thai women, what do they do with them at night?
By the way, they ate both at makashnits (street vendors) and in cafes, they never got poisoned by anything. For example, on the street, 300-400 grams of chicken kebab costs 40 baht, fried catfish weighing 300 grams - 30 baht, five or six grilled chicken hearts 10 baht, a glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice 30 baht. Delicious fried lizards and some bugs, but expensive. Soups, seafood salads in cafes mostly from 40 to 150 baht. The only thing, if you buy a lobster, then the price is indicated for 100 grams, and not per piece. We bought local beer, quite tasty and intoxicating 25-40 baht per bottle of 0.33 liters. You can eat in shopping centers, there are a lot of cafes on the first floors. We also went to the Japanese samurai cafe twice, located on the second street, 2 hours to eat whatever you want (sushi and other Japanese dishes) - 200 baht until 19-00. after 19-0.400 baht, freebie! At the hotel dinner - buffet cost about 800 baht.
The next day we went to the Nong Nooch National Park, there is indescribable beauty, but they give little time to explore this park. From there, orchids are exported all over the world. They also showed a national show and an elephant show, which is included in the Guinness Book of Records. In it, elephants dance, play football, basketball, ride four-wheeled bicycles themselves, and give foot massages to those who wish.
After the garden, we were brought to the Lukdot state store, where all the souvenirs are really cheaper than anywhere else, then I went there two more times myself by tuk-tuk.
On the third day there was a crocodile farm and a museum of stones. There you can take pictures on a crocodile and with a big tiger, you can try various crocodile dishes. You can also feed the elephants there. In the evening we went to the Alcazar show, in which there is not a single woman, and completely converted men perform, living on hormones up to only 35-40 years old. They are no different from women, one man in our group felt such a ladyboy for about 5 minutes and said that he could not have been a man before, he was so handsome and smells like a woman (photos will be below). By the way, the most expensive operation is cutting out the Adam's apple.
I was very impressed by the two-day excursion to the River Kwai. First, riding along the canals, with a swim in the floating market, then a teak factory, there are paintings like in 3 D. Then a snake show, artists caught poisonous snakes with their hands and teeth, there was a fight between a mongoose and a cobra. Then they rode through the jungle on elephants. The most beautiful waterfall in the mountains, which is gorgeous only in the rainy season. In the evening we were brought to a floating hotel on the river, not everyone liked it, so we could spend the night on the shore in another excellent hotel, we dined there the next day. The next day, a walk through the real jungle to the village of Mons, then rafting along the Kwai River in vests, swimming in three Radon springs of different temperatures from 37 to 54 C, if I'm not mistaken.
Probably I will wrap up because there is still a lot to write about Thailand, there are a lot of impressions, the exotic is utter, the brain does not have time to digest everything there. You fully realize where you were and what you saw after a couple of weeks spent at home after the rest.
Therefore, I advise everyone who has the opportunity to relax in Thailand, especially since it is very cheap there during the off-season (from April to October).
If you have any questions ask, I will answer.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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