[JASMEET MATTOO]

Year - 2011
(Sorry for being late as I was not on Team BHP then , this was such an amazing journey that I couldn't stop myself from sharing.)
Month - October

What a feeling it is to travel abroad and that too at your employer's cost!!!

There was a contest in the office and me and my team won it and the prize from the company's side was a Leisure trip to Bangkok / Pattaya. Though this was the second prize, the first being a leisure trip to Singapore which we obviously would have loved to go.

Still no regrets as this was going to be my first international trip and I was already drooling to have a stamp on my passport which had been blank for the past ten years.

Well the D - day arrived and all of us were supposed to gather outside the IGI Airport and the SOTC guy would be coordinating everything in batches. As people came, he started sending us in batches of 5-6 and the process started. At this point I started to realise that actually we were going to fly in a few minutes.

First look at the International Airport and it was hard to believe that it was an Indian Airport. It was a pleasure to see the huge size of the airport full of all kinds of international facilities. Finally after all the checks we were inside the waiting area. Roaming around and checking out the duty free shops, we clicked pictures and built on the excitement. In a few minutes the flight was announced and we were on board.

The flight was smooth except for the service of the Kingfisher staff which we could see were getting into verbal spats on and off with various passangers. For the first time in my life I saw Airlines crew behaving so rudely with the passengers. Just to avoid any embarassment, we stuck to yes and no with the hostesses and had a peacefull flight.

It was 0600 hours in the morning when we reached at Bangkok airport and again gathered there under the instructions of the SOTC guy and boarded a bus. Thanks to the size of our group of about 20 odd people, we had an exclusive bus for us. We were introduced to our guide. She immediately offered us local prepaid SIM cards at very nominal prices. We readily bought one each so that we could be in touch with our families.

Directly we were transported to our resort in Pattaya.

First Day there were not many activities planned, so we enjoyed the day at the resort, roaming around the poolside, checking out the fitness centre and looking at the big sized buffet. The resort where we stayed was Amari.

In then noon time, we were taken to the Waterworld checked out the fishes there and then we were scheduled to enjoy the Alcazar show. Now this was the most grand thing I have ever seen in my life. It is basically a Cabaret show with the most elaborate sets and most wonderfully cordinated dancers. It was an entertaining show. The performers were mostly performing on English songs but to my suprise and to everybody else's utter disbelief, there was a performance on a Hindi Bollywood song. Pardon me to forget the song but it was a Madhri Dixit song from Aaja Nachle. The whole Indian Crowd in the auditorium suddenly connected and even though Indians were less in number than the other communities, we dominated the auditorium with our whistles, claps and shouts.

We were surprised and everything that we were seeing seemed to be so surreal. There were comic performances as well, and the performers ensured that they keep the attention of the audience completely bound.

From Alcazar show, we went to an Indian Restaurant to have food. This guy served fantastic Indian food, and we were literally licking our fingers. Thereon we were back to the hotel rooms and took rest as we were supposed to reach the coral island the next morning.

Here are a few pictures.

TO BE CONTINUED :

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Pictures from Alcazar Show :

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Some more pictures from the Alcazar Show :

To be continued:

[saket77]

Nice report there. Come out with more so that we can enjoy along with you. Which part of Pattaya did you guys stay at and which beaches did you visit?

[BUXX]

Thanks , good pics!
@jasmeet: I do hope you realize that these were not ladies in Alcazar !

[hothatchaway]

Your pics brought back memories of a road trip we had done last year from BKK - Kanchanaburi - Pattaya - BKK - <http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/137447-hot-wheels-big-grins-land-smiles-thailand-motored.html>

Keep the pics coming and wrt the post above on the show, yes thats the mother of all googlies!!

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Originally Posted by saket77

Nice report there. Come out with more so that we can enjoy along with you. Which part of Pattaya did you guys stay at and which beaches did you visit?

Thanks Saket. We stayed at Amari Orchid which is located on the Pattaya Beach road. The beach is just 100 metres away from the hotel premises.

Originally Posted by BUXX

Thanks , good pics!
@jasmeet: I do hope you realize that these were not ladies in Alcazar !

Yes my friend and that is the reason I have mentioned the word "Performers" and not mentioned any gender

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Contd.

Day 2 : We were scheduled to start the day with Coral Island with some adventure activities in the first half followed by a more relaxed stay at the beach.
Maily there are two activities - Parasailing and Underwater view of corals/ fishes. Since I am a little claustrophobic and a non swimmer, going underwater was a scary thought to me. But i am always open to fly in the sky so parasailing was the option for me.

Some pictures :

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Now the beach on the coral island was the cleanest beach I have ever seen in my whole life. One thing that surprised me was that I was in the water till my chest and still I could see my feet. Now that was something.

A few pics :

[JASMEET MATTOO]

View in the evening on our way back, captured very nicely by my friend Mr. Avtar.

[JASMEET MATTOO]

The evening was mostly roaming around in the city. All of us went to the massage parlour for oil massage and it really helped us relax. Then the evening was spent withnessing the famous russian show, followed by dinner and then a walk at the walking street.

It was really surprising though that the night life of this country was really fantastic. It never felt like it is post 2200 hours. The markets were open, clubs were open, music was all around, and the streets were crowded.

After about an hours roaminig around in the city, we thought of calling it a day.

Sharing some pics clicked in the hotel premises clicked by my friend Varun Jasra :

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Day 3 :

Checked out from the Pattaya resort and moved towards the resort in Bangkok. On the way there is a very famous Gems Museum where they literally take you through a virtual tour of Gems extraction and the whole process till it reaches the shop for sale. They have their own sale point as well which is said to be considerably cheaper than retail.

We were really not interested in visiting this one as we thought maybe the ladies would be more interested. It would have been a good idea if we were with our families. Still we thought there is no harm in checking it out. Ended up buying three items, earings, bracelet and a neckpiece not very costly though but I thought it would make a nice gift for the ladies of the family.

The highlight of the day was Bangkok vintage car show and the cruise at river Chao. Checked in the hotel in Bangkok, took a nice short nap. One mistake that I did that day was that I forgot to charge my camera cells and so did my friend and my roommate Mr. Avtar. We both were without camera for rest of the evening.

Some pictures clicked from our cell phones and some from others cameras. Please pardon me for the low clarity in some pics clicked through phones :

P.S. : Sorry for blocking the lovely view of some of the cars

[gabrielthomas]

Congratulations on your first International travel!! :-) Good pictures. Hope you post more of these.

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Cruise on the River Chao was a two hours round across the river but all in all it was an awesome party. It had all the components - Music, dance, good food, good drinks. I just had a couple of drinks really fast and had some really delicious snacks at the first as I knew once you reach the dance floor you dont feel like going back. However it was a good experience listening to a thai singer singing a hindi song (though she could improve a bit on her accent )

[JASMEET MATTOO]

Day 4 :

This was our last day. After visiting a few temples across the city, we went to shopping in Siam. There are a few market complexes, some open markets and some malls where you can shop.

While we did some shopping, some clothes, some accessories, some gadgets, a whole lot of people were running to buy LED's. Apparantely LED's are pretty much cheaper in Bangkok as compared to India. I however was not very much inclined towards it as the warranty that was being given was applicable only in Thailand. Am a little conservative in this sense.

Finally it was time to say Goodbye to Thailand!!! It was indeed a good time !!