We woke up, got our things packed and headed straight for the train. We are off to the beach for a few days!
The nearest beach is Pattaya about 2 hours drive from Bangkok. We however, took the train which took 4 hours! But, it cost less than half at around 60p. The journey passed through some nice rural areas with plenty to see.
When we arrived we searched for a cheap hotel. Each place we asked was at least 4 times what we had paid in the rest of Thailand! Eventually we found a reasonably priced and clean place, but it took 2 hours of trudging the back streets. The whole area is bars, hotels,restaurants and souvenir shops to relieve the tourists of their cash. Construction continues ...
There are loads of tourists from Russia, loads of tourists from China, many British and a few Thais in Pattaya! It is an 'interesting' place that many package tourists visit. Even the Thais we have met behave very differently towards us. The friendly 'land of smiles' image the Thai people are well known for certainly didn't originate here. Of course, this is a rather sweeping statement and many are still wonderful, we just haven't met them.
We weaved our way from the hotel to the beach through the tiny lanes and we both commented, 'we'll never find our way back!'
Darryl decided to have his hair cut. We found a cheap barber in the centre. It all started fairly well but after the 'unwanted hair washing' afterwards, too fast to really prevent, and, the attempt at ear cleaning which was easier to prevent, the price doubled to an unrealistic and undeserved amount! Darryl refused to pay for the uninvited add-ons. However Christine noticed the man before us parted with at least 4 times his original amount! Scam lesson 1, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. From what we have seen of Pattaya so far , this 'scamming' seems fairly common practice, unseen in the other beautiful parts of Thailand we have visited.
We checked out Walking Street which was a total contrast to the one in Sangkhlaburi. Sangkhlaburi was a truly wonderful experience, Pattaya was, let's say, rather different and packed with tourist groups following tour guide flags.
We headed home thinking to ourselves that if you visited on a short holiday here, you would not have seen any of the wonders of Thailand but only every disadvantage that mass tourism appears to bring!
Our journey home continued and we asked directions many times, each time pointed in a different direction. It seemed no one really knew where the hotel was. We had the address of the hotel on a card and even a small map, but do you think we could find it in the dark!
A little later than expected we arrived at the hotel after a fun but 'different to the usual', day.
The nearest beach is Pattaya about 2 hours drive from Bangkok. We however, took the train which took 4 hours! But, it cost less than half at around 60p. The journey passed through some nice rural areas with plenty to see.
When we arrived we searched for a cheap hotel. Each place we asked was at least 4 times what we had paid in the rest of Thailand! Eventually we found a reasonably priced and clean place, but it took 2 hours of trudging the back streets. The whole area is bars, hotels,restaurants and souvenir shops to relieve the tourists of their cash. Construction continues ...
There are loads of tourists from Russia, loads of tourists from China, many British and a few Thais in Pattaya! It is an 'interesting' place that many package tourists visit. Even the Thais we have met behave very differently towards us. The friendly 'land of smiles' image the Thai people are well known for certainly didn't originate here. Of course, this is a rather sweeping statement and many are still wonderful, we just haven't met them.
We weaved our way from the hotel to the beach through the tiny lanes and we both commented, 'we'll never find our way back!'
Darryl decided to have his hair cut. We found a cheap barber in the centre. It all started fairly well but after the 'unwanted hair washing' afterwards, too fast to really prevent, and, the attempt at ear cleaning which was easier to prevent, the price doubled to an unrealistic and undeserved amount! Darryl refused to pay for the uninvited add-ons. However Christine noticed the man before us parted with at least 4 times his original amount! Scam lesson 1, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. From what we have seen of Pattaya so far , this 'scamming' seems fairly common practice, unseen in the other beautiful parts of Thailand we have visited.
We checked out Walking Street which was a total contrast to the one in Sangkhlaburi. Sangkhlaburi was a truly wonderful experience, Pattaya was, let's say, rather different and packed with tourist groups following tour guide flags.
We headed home thinking to ourselves that if you visited on a short holiday here, you would not have seen any of the wonders of Thailand but only every disadvantage that mass tourism appears to bring!
Our journey home continued and we asked directions many times, each time pointed in a different direction. It seemed no one really knew where the hotel was. We had the address of the hotel on a card and even a small map, but do you think we could find it in the dark!
A little later than expected we arrived at the hotel after a fun but 'different to the usual', day.
