26 JAN Afternoon

Our flight from Phuket landed in Bangkok at 4:40 PM. Our transport to Pattaya was scheduled at 6 PM. Disembarking and claiming our luggage was smooth and without any undue delay. At the arrival hall there were maps and travel brochures for Bangkok. We had quite some time, so we gathered some of these and sat down. Around 5:45 PM we exited the arrival hall and went to the gate where the airport representative of Thai Vision Holidays was to meet us. The representative turned out to be a Thai lady who spoke English well and could mutter a few Hindi words too. She informed us that due to some traffic related problem our transport would arrive a little late and apologized profusely. The little late became quite late and finally the van pulled up at the gate. There was another family from India. They had come from Gangtok, Sikkim which is in my opinion the most scenic place high on the mountains. The residents have Mongolian features. We boarded the van around 7 PM and the Thai lady spoke rapidly to the driver and to our benefit shouted “Fast fast”

The van pulled out of the airport. The traffic was smooth. Soon we hit the toll road and the driver gunned the throttle and we were cruising at 180 KMPH. There were very few vehicles on the toll road at that time. The toll road has many bridges over canals. It took us around 50 minutes or so to reach Pattaya. From the semi dark highway we entered the brightly lit town. The van arrived at A One Royal Cruise Hotel where our accommodation had been arranged.

This hotel has mixed reviews on the travel forums with some travelers describing it as great place and some condemning the hotel as the worst. The hotel consists of two blocks. The rooms may be different in the two blocks I can’t say. The room offered to us was really huge with a very big bed and an equally huge LCD TV which my daughters made good use of at night. The wardrobe had a musty smell and guests are told to smoke on the balcony only. We were feeling somewhat tired by the time we checked in and decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. A decision to be regretted later. After a few drinks we went down to eat. There was a dinner buffet. The spread looked ok and the price very reasonable so instead of A la carte we opted for the buffet. The food was absolutely mediocre and proved to be the worst meal of our entire trip. Another thing I noted in the hotels in Thailand. They supply just two bags of tea, two packs of coffee, two pouches of sugar and whiteners. That means you can only make two cups of beverage !!!!

After dinner my family went up to the rooms and I went out for a stroll. The street next to the hotel was lined on one side with bars, one next to another. The bars were all full and I was greeted with raucous cries of come on from bar girls sitting alone. I returned the greetings with folded hands and moved on. After the row of bars I found a massage parlour and walked in for foot massage. This time a very nice young Thai lady massaged my feet and she was quite talkative. She spoke quite good English. So soon I learnt a bit about life in Pattaya, things like the rent of a two bed room apartment, cost of living, and job opportunities and so on. I also learnt where the bulk of the money earned by her goes, about her current boy friend. It was pretty late when I came out and walked back to my hotel. I passed the same bars but I didn’t invoke that kind of reaction from the girls.