The Thai air flight was at a late hour (11:55 PM) from Rajiv Gandhi International airport, Hyderabad (An International airport by all standards) and was scheduled to reach Bangkok at an unearthly hour. Checkin, immigration, boarding process was long but hassle free. Space was at a premium in Air bus A330 but w
ho cares for a 3 hour flight anyway. The flight was pleasant and exciting (my first international trip.. yippee). I have missed the bus for so many places (Geneva... Rome... London... America); I was beginning to think I would never leave Mother India. But finally on 12th Feb after some 'interrogation' from the immigration officer I had a stamp on my 'near expiry' passport. Strange fact is in India they very concerned if you are going out of the country and least bothered whether who/what is coming in. I thought it was supposed to be the other way round considering we share such cordial relations with our neighbors.
We reached Swarnabhumi international airport in the wee hours of the morning.(The local time is ahead by 1:30 hours). Even in the morning the air was sultry and hot. Compared to 'cool and dry' Hyderabad we were entering a sauna. We were taken to our hotel thankfully in an A/C tourist bus. Corrolla Altis, a status symbol in India was taxi (in rainbow colors to boot... orange, yellow, pink, green ).. talk about culture shock. They are decently prized at 35baht minimum.The roads were made as if they already had a couple of rounds of National Highway development program, with 3 layers of roads very common.
Tuk-Tuk Bangkok
Amari Watergate, situated quite in the centre of the city, is by all standards a 
business class five star hotel. Two things that pamper me in a five star hotel; the bathroom (huge ones with 2 washbasins, bathtub, hot shower, 4-5 different towels etc... ) and complementary breakfast (Fresh fruits, Bacon, sausages, croissants, juices... mmmmmm). I slept through the breakfast on the first day but thankfully woke up in time for the conference. The conference went off beautifully with us defining future expectations from the C&FA while we received quality feedback from the C&FAs. We changed for the gala dinner which included a cultural dance program followed by a DJ night and also (by initiative) a great Jugalbandhi. 
We went to two temples on the 2nd day. The first was ok, but the second was truly impressive. A huge
sleeping Buddha with fine inscription on the feet and beautiful paintings on the 
walls around. The inner sanctum contained a prayer room (locals were stunned to see us posing in front of the altar for photos.. ). The temple had so much work/statues (well preserved also). We took snaps like crazy (we are tourists right?).After our temple trip we experienced a typical Bangkok style traffic jam.
A cruise cum dinner was scheduled for the evening. Our private party had a Thai singer did some Punjabi/Hindi numbers (which 
were hilarious) in addition to her usual gig. The singing was fun and the way she involved everybody was even more fun :). We were also treated to a personalized display of fireworks culminating with Dr Reddy's name getting lighted up. BTW Each person had his photo taken with a Thai lady (in traditional wear) before the cruise. At the end of the trip lo behold a photo (with great background) and can be purchased for 100 baht.
Good Guys go to heaven, Bad guys go to Pattaya!
After our brief sojourn in bangkok were on a three hour bus ride to Pattaya city. The scenery was beautiful (like kerala)with monasteries dotting the landscape (somehow the Buddhist have a fascination of having gold like colour to the structures.We checked into the Amari Orchid and proceeded to Noong Noch village. The village was fun, specially seeing the 'whites' running around e
lephants, clicking their photo from every direction. As in 'haathi mera saathi' is so common in India. There was also a thai cultural show in the village: More elephants, variety of instruments and strange dances. (As
in except for the last one the other dances were as if it were stuck in 'slow play forward'). Another star attraction was a chance of a photo shoot with a tiger (Going at 50baht for 3 pics). I went for the Elephant one (The pachyderm happily pulls you off the ground and leaves you hanging around..). Otherwise the village has has huge stretches of landscaped gardens recreating a tropical paradise. Good to roam around and kill time.
We were free in the evening (after an Indian 
Dinner) and we chose to stroll from the hotel to 'walking street'. The night life is great in Pattaya (Aerobics happens on the beach at 7:00 in the evening)with the streets quite packed, shops buzzling with activities, street hawkers selling fruits and lot of ISUZU share taxis plying on the road.
The air was sultry and the night was warm, we were quite soaked by the time we reached 'walking street' but the sight was 'not of this world (India)'. I will save that for another post.
Our trip to coral Island started early in the morning (by
Pattaya standards), also included a stop over for some parasailing fun. The 'pull' of the boat is really awesome. I had a 'dip' trip, so the motorboat happily slowed down during the middle of the round and I splash right into the water, only to get pulled again. They take great photos at 100baht for a pair.
Coral Island sadly had no corals. There was of course a man made coral patch recreated for an 'underwat
er' walk, other than that natural 'snorkelable' corals are nowhere in sight. (Havelot Island, Andamans rock) But the place is completely commercialized with a variety of options (water scooter, swimming, shopping) but most importantly beer on the beach. Enjoyed the boat ride back for the place with twin Yamaha engines pumping enough power to make the 30 min ride really enjoyable.
Strange!
There seems to be something fundamentally wrong when the hallmark industry of a country is an Industry you wouldn't want to be part of (Ok..Not all people who join Wipro/TCS prefer to do so.. but still). During macro economics our professor had explained that if free trade is permitted each country will specialize in thing that it can do the best and rest will be imported. Don't know about Thailand (something has 'to give').Like a friend said wherever the Americans go to culture ka 'chunna lag jata hai'.
Another disappointing thing was, inspite of receiving millions of foreign tourists the usage/proficiency in English was poor (more like pathetic). Much much less compared to India. As in shop signs, big banner advertisements...all in Thai. The only shop signs invariably in English were 'Go-go bars'. :)
Shopping
The best thing to do is to take a huge empty bag to Thailand!! Shopping can be done for any budget whether its clothes, accessories, souveniors or material (thai silk) etc. There are a variety of opitons Big C(big bazaar type), street shops (fashion street, mumbai) or boutiques.
Some recommended buys are:
1) Cool pair of shorts/half shirts
2) Thailand T shirts for gifting at home.
3) Accessories like cloth handbags, wooden bags, fake watches (80 Baht)
4) Souvenors like Buddha statue/ Wooden hand Fan/ Wood Umbrella etc
5) Precious stones like Jade emerald etc
Things to Do
1) Foot massage (150-250 Baht Per hour) is real nice after a couple of days of walking all over the place.
2) Parasailing (Pattaya)
3) Walk down walking street. (Adults only)
4) Giant Sleeping buddha.
5) Beer on the Beach.
6) Ride behind an Isuzu share taxi (10 baht per trip)
7) Alcazar Show (BTW missed it.. Too many culture shocks already)
8) Bargaining@ beach road.
Return
Return journey was relaxed considering that we spent a good 3 hours going from Pattaya to Airport (slept all the way). We did our group check in and started off again with some last minute photo sessions at the airport. Duty free shopping was fun with Baileys, Sheringham and JD's getting added to my luggage. Watched a movie on the flight back home. Indian immigration was least bothered about what we are bringing in. We said our good byes at the airport and proceeded back home.
