This is my first trip visiting a foreign country and my first time travelling by aeroplane back in 2015. Pattaya and Bangkok are the two places that I spent most of my time on that tour. Even though they are not impressive places but under the eyes of a 25-year-old travelling in a foreign country for the first time, there were a lot of things to learn and see.
When I was working in Ha Noi, Vietnam, I had a group of close friends. We had been travelling around Vietnam together from the first point of Vietnam (Lung Cu Ha Giang) to the last one in Ca Mau. We discussed the possibility of visiting our neighbouring countries, for example, Thailand, Laos or Cambodia. We chose Thailand in the end as we know a friend who works in the tourism industry and we could get a better deal when travelling with them.
Most of us didn't have our passports back then so we booked the tour 4 months in advance to make sure we have enough time to prepare for it. You could guess how excited we were while waiting for the day to come. We chatted and talked every day about destinations we would visit and what we would do there.
On the day, we arrived at the airport early. Because this was our first international flight so we wanted to make sure everything went as planned. Turn out we arrived too early so we had a lot of time for taking group photos in the Noi Bai International Airport.
Taking some photos in Noi Bai International airport
On the way out to find our bus at Suvarnabhumi International Airport
After around 2 hours on the plane, we arrived at Suvarnabhumi International Airport - Bangkok. We had a quick break before taking a bus to Pattaya. The total time on the bus was supposed to be 2 hours, however, we stopped at several locations on the way. I didn't know about it but our tour guide explains that the tour got subsidised by the Thai government.
That's why it was really cheap and one of the conditions to get subsidised was a fixed schedule to visit some big shops or shopping centres along the way. It was my first time in this country so I wouldn't mind at all, it was quite interesting to see the way Thai designs and displays products to sell for tourists.
Tourist attraction stops on the way to Pataya
It was quite late when we arrived in Pattaya so the tour operator decided to take us for dinner first before going back to the hostel. It was a nice treat with both hotpot and BBQ combinations. I remember eating a lot as we didn't have proper lunch on that day.
At 8 pm, we were ready to get in our room, take showers and then stay at the swimming pool to relax after a long day travelling. For the first night, we could go exploring the area on our own, so our group went to a convenience store to get some supplies and later to a walking street that open all night long which is famous for the biggest and busiest party hotspot in the whole of Thailand. I have to be honest, this street was not my liking at all. It was packed with people and somehow I didn't feel safe.
Walking Street in Pattaya at night
For the next morning, our first destination was the beach. It was crowded and not the best beach I've ever seen. Together with the fact that some part of it was operated by "gang" members, I didn't want to go for a swim even though it was quite hot at that time.
Beautiful white sand beach but packed with people
I got told to stay inside the line to be safe
This information is from my tour guide. He told us to stay inside the line as they said there were some "traps" around the area that was set up by "gang members" like a nice boat or a nice chair and when you sit down to take photos, they will come and ask you to pay a lot of money for it. As it is not governed by the government, there is no way the operator can help and we have to pay the hefty fine. So my friends and I just went for a stroll around the "safe zone".
In the afternoon, we visited a beautiful botanical garden named Nong Nooch and also a shopping destination so we can get some local products if we would like to. My friends and I thought it is better to get them from Bangkok so we didn't have to carry them on the way.
Stopping by the Golden Buddha laser carved and inlayed with gold on Khao Chi Chan Cliff, Pattaya
After dinner, we were taken to see a lip-syncing show called Tiffany Show Pattaya performed by LGBT people. We had a chance to listen to song performances from different countries: Thailand, Korea, Laos, Japan, Vietnam and more. Overall, it was a nice experience to see in Pattaya.
Thank you for stopping by and reading my post today. This is the first two days of my trip in Pattaya, Thailand. If I have a chance to visit Pattaya again, I would love to go exploring it myself instead of going on the tour. There are a lot of things to do and see in one place alone, we probably can spend a whole week staying in Pattaya instead of just several days.
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