Bangkok

This was the most impromptu overseas trip I might have ever planned. There was some discussion about the long weekend and then one thing led to the other. Finally we decided we should go to Bangkok in 1 week if the tickets are not so costly. It’s the Christmas time and we didn't expect the tickets to be cheap. So ‘not so costly’ was all we could wish. As it turned out, our wish was granted and the tickets were booked by the next day. (Thanks to LCC!)

The moment we arrived in Bangkok we whisked straight away to Pattaya. The plan was to stay 3 nights in Pattaya and 1 night in Bangkok. It turned out to be just fine. Bangkok doesn't offer much and one night is what it takes to see most of the tourist spots in Bangkok.

For the beginners Pattaya layout may be little confusing. But one day is all you need to figure out the routes. It’s very easy to navigate through all the soi’s (lanes). We covered most of the Pattaya on foot and didn't even need to hire a taxi or tuk-tuk.

On the first day we went to the ‘Flight of the Gibbon’ which was quite different and I have never done that anywhere before. It was in the forest where we need to use the cables to move from one treetop to the other.

On the second, we went to Mini Siam. As the name says it has the size down versions of all the important monuments in the world. From there we headed to Tiger Zoo where we had tamed Tigers, Elephants and Crocs. We finished the day with the Tiffany show, a dance show by the transgenders (who look like women). The dance for the song in Devdas ‘doola re doola’ was simply awesome.

Pattaya is all about night life. There are some soi’s which are overindulged in calmness and some soi’s partying all night. And if that is not sufficient there is the ‘walking street’ which caters to all needs till the wee hours.

From Pattaya we headed back to Bangkok on the third day. We visited some temples such as Wat Po and Wat Arun. We took the Chao Praya boat line and did some street shopping. We could not visit the floating market as we ran out of money and time.

It could be quite a long time before I could go for an overseas holiday trip. All I can say is I covered most of the South East Asian countries. Time to change holiday zone :) Overall I recommend Pattaya but not Bangkok. Bangkok is not only expensive but also boring. Of course both Pattaya and Bangkok are no where near to Phuket. Go to Pattaya only if have seen Phuket.