So, I asked one of the locals what the quickest way would be to make my way to Pattaya, and he suggested I head over to the Ekamai bus terminal. So, off I went and took the BTS to the Ekamai station since I was coming from Saphan Taksin down by where the water taxis are. The public transportation is good along the available routes. When I came out of the BTS, the bus terminal was basically across the street which made it easy to find. You can take the minibus (a van) or a bus to various locations from the terminal. As you enter the terminal there are men that ask you where you want to go and point you to the correct bus or taxi.
I asked the guy in the minibus to take me to Pattaya which he agreed to do but he failed to mention one thing and I didn’t think to ask. The bus (which is actually a van), drops you at the first bus stop in Pattaya, not the actual bus terminal. So, I had to find my way into Pattaya with no Thai language skills. If I had taken the full sized bus it would have dropped me off at the bus terminal which was actually what I was looking for. Live and learn I guess. The language barrier, my assumptions and probably the commission the guy at Ekamai earns, led me to be dropped off at the wrong place.
I called the guy I was to rent a place from and tried to describe to him where I was but he had no idea as everything basically looked the same. Try and describe where you are if you can’t read the language and the entire city is basically a repetitive pattern – restaurant, gift shop, gift shop, 7-11, gift shop, gift shop, 7-11…. Well you get the idea. Thankfully, there was a motorbike taxi I was able to flag down and he understood the words “Big C Extra” which is near where my room was. With that, I was on my way to a point of reference. After that I was able to make my way to my intended destination but it took a bit. I had a cellphone and there were a few people standing at the stop that spoke just enough English to be helpful. I will probably learn a bit of the language here in the near future as it would have helped a great deal. But, since this was my first trip I had to just go with it.
