My Thailand Trip

 

My Thailand Trip.

The end of a year and children’s school vacation certainly meant taking a trip and so everyone packed a bag and was ready! We boarded the 0030 hours Air Asia flight from Kolkata Airport and landed at Don Meaung International Airport in Bangkok at 4.30 am. After completing the immigration formalities, we tried a Thai meal for breakfast in the huge food-court on the first floor of the airport.

After that, we proceeded to the ground floor and bought a Thai SIM card for a 10 day stay and proceeded outside to explore the country. Using the GRAB app, we booked a taxi for Pattaya. A comfortable SUV came and we headed to Pattaya. The children were tired after the flight and slept soundly in the taxi. We reached Pattaya after about 2-3 hours. It was a wonderful ride with smooth roads, gentle traffic and beautiful views. 

We had decided to stay at the Jomtien Beach in the southern part of Pattaya and had already booked a condo in the Atlantis Condo Resorts. We were a group of four-my two sons, my husband and myself. The condo with 2 rooms, a balcony and a small kitchen was the perfect place for our brief stay. It also had a large swimming pool with slides for children which was a big attraction for families with children.

After checking in, we freshened up and came out on a forage for food. There was a ‘Seven Eleven’ just at the entrance to the resort complex and we bought our stock of groceries including fruits, ice-creams and chocolates.

The first day in Pattaya was just spent in settling in. The children loved the meal of noodles and eggs which I prepared. We all rested for a while and in the afternoon came out to see the Jomtien beach. It was just a 10 minutes’ walk from our resort and we strolled along the beach which was clean and quiet. I loved the gentle breeze on my face and the soft sands beneath my feet. After strolling around for some time and seeing the small market on the way back, we came back to our accommodation and decided to stay in for the first night. By now, we wanted Indian food. So, I looked up restaurants in the GRAB app again and found some nice ones. We ordered biryani, butter chicken, fish curry etc. It took a little more than half an hour for the orders to come and we had a nice meal tasting of home…sort of a home away from home. The kids spent the rest of the evening watching TV and my husband and I enjoyed a relaxing coffee in the balcony enjoying the view of the well-lit swimming pool beneath and the cool breeze rustling between the palm leaves.

The next day was a big day. We had booked a trip to ‘Koh Samet’ island. A big white van picked us up from our condo at 8 in the morning and after picking up some other tourists too from various hotels in the city, we reached ‘Nuan Thip’ pier. From there we boarded a speedboat and reached the island in about half an hour. We docked on the edge of the island and the guide took us to a series of jeeps in which we travelled to a beautiful sea beach filled with comfortable deck chairs and beautiful hanging lamps against a backdrop of restaurants and island resorts. The team of tourists we travelled with were assigned to a particular restaurant for lunch and the beach in front of this restaurant was ours for the day.

What to say now…. the view completely took my breath away! The sands on the beach were literally white in colour. It looked so virgin, so unexplored, so clean…not a single litter anywhere despite tourists being present along the whole stretch. Other groups had also arrived and so it was a comfortable ambience…. not overcrowded and not deserted too. The sky had puffs of white clouds teasing us with a mild drizzle sometimes with the blue background dominating. Being December, the sun was comfortable and we spent the day walking up and down the beach, wading in the sea water and trying out barbecued corn, fish, chicken and pork which were sold by the locals at random intervals on the beach. By lunch time, we were all called back to the restaurant and it was a deliciously memorable treat…a portion of Thai rice, soup, chips, a large chunk of fish or meat and vegetable salad followed a plate of fresh fruits.

After lunch we still had a few hours to explore the island and so we ventured on foot to the city. The roads were shaded with trees and there were food stalls at regular intervals. Jeeps carrying tourists plied on the roads which had very light traffic. Two wheelers were also available for hire. My husband and I decided to get these thinking we would carry one child each on our pillions and ride through the city but all had been taken and so had to contend with our stroll and eating ice creams from road side bars.

By evening, it was time to go back and so we boarded the boat followed by the van and slept all the way back to our condo. We ordered a quick dinner and hit the bed early concluding a very satisfying day.

The next day, we took the kids to the ‘Underwater World’ where we walked into an oceanarium with large fish swimming above our heads. This was followed by a trip to ‘The Magical Ice of Siem’ where we entered an artificial world of ice. It was freezing inside and we were provided with heavy jackets and boots. The children enjoyed riding on the sleigh and sliding on the ice. In the afternoon, we headed to Pattaya beach which was a little disappointing. The sands were almost black and full of litter. There were too many people, all so noisy and garrulous. It was so different from Koh Samet. However, we selected a spot and ordered for a variety of sea food and fresh juice. The waitress arranged comfortable deck chairs for us and served us such aesthetically beautiful and appealing food items…a large fried fish for me, a whole chicken for the kids and a large plate of octopus for my husband. Each serving was so large that we could not finish it up at all. The fresh mango juice was so refreshing too.

Nong Nooch Garden was next on the itinerary. What a wonderful experience! 600 acres of man- made wonder.….in fact, an ode to Nature, beautifully laid out on her lap! Giant dinosaurs stood majestically and when my gaze shifted, a group of meerkats seemed to be having a day out…all these appeared to be so real that one was easily deceived. The bus tour inside the vast expanse took us among beautiful gardens of marigolds, azaleas, plants with colourful leaves and cactuses so tall that you had to look up. For a flower lover, it was a total delight. We booked tickets for the show which shown in the theatre there. It was a compilation of the Thai cultural history and the changing trends. The porcelain beauty of the artistes draped in colourful costumes and realistic stage props in the background easily took one to another era. The trip concluded with a sumptuous buffet!!

We moved to Bangkok after that. The kids’ interest was our priority. So, we went to Safari World. It too was a beautiful experience. There were multiple shows of various sea and land animals. There was also a ‘Spy show’ comprising of breath-stopping stunts. We thoroughly enjoyed everything.

One cannot skip the Chao Phraya River cruise and so we booked an evening cruise which we boarded from the pier at Icon Siam. Being New Year’s Eve, there was literally a sea of people but still we could manage to board the cruise on time. It was a lovely evening. While the singers crooned contemporary melodies, we enjoyed another multi cuisine buffet watching the city as we cruised along on the gentle river. The sun set gradually. We were on the upper deck watching the fulfilling conclusion of a lovely family vacation, feeling the softness and warmth of Thailand and her people and softly whispering farewell and a heartfelt gratitude through the breeze brushing our cheeks for giving us a lovely experience!

Memchoubi Phanjoubam.

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