DIY: Pattaya Thailand

April 23, 2012

We woke up late on our second day. We took the BST to get to the bus station where the bus for Pattaya is. The bus cost 90Baht. We had to wait for 20 minutes since we were late, the next bus to Pattaya was scheduled to leave at 8:30AM.  We were so excited when we saw our bus. When we got on the bus, we asked the driver and conductor to drop us off at the floating market. The ride took us almost 3 hours because we were caught in traffic and the people were getting on and off the bus.

Our bus going to Pattaya

Floating Market:
When we got off the bus, we were greeted by this:

Welcome to the floating market

We were super excited to see the famed Floating Market of Thailand. But we were disappointed to see that the floating market we saw was not the one we see on postcards. We were too late. Most of those selling in their boats were already gone. Sad. But we did not let that ruin our day. It was still the floating market anyways.There was no entrance fee to get inside the floating market. But the lady at the "front desk" gave us a sticker to put on our clothes to indicate that we were foreigners and are entitled to some discounts. There were so many things to buy. From clothes to souvenirs to fooooooooooooooooooooooooood!

"Front Desk"

Yummy shell

One of the few we saw selling from their boats

 

Cheap lunch at the Floating Market

Ripley's Believe it or not
From the floating market, we rode a "taxi", a pick up car, going to Ripley's Believe it or not. The taxi cost 250Baht for the trip. At first we thought it was expensive, but when we saw how far it was, we changed our idea. At Ripley's, we saw lots, and I mean lots, of Caucasians. We wondered where the tourists where and found out that they had been here all along.  There were Caucasians everywhere! I've never seen so many of them in one place. Can't blame me. I'm Asian. :-) This is also the area where they are money changers everywhere! But since this is a tourist spot, the rates are low. Up to the tourist to exchange there or go somewhere else for better rates.

For Ripley's Believe it or not, we took the package that allowed us to see 3 attractions for 890Baht each: Ripley's Museum, Infinity Maze and the Wax Museum. We first went to the museum. As expected, there were displays that showcased the most unbelievable things in this world. The Infinity Maze was lovely. The idea was to have mirrors as the walls and the get to another room, you'd have to find your way out using your hand. They provide gloves for hands and feet as protection. There were rooms with beautiful lighting. Unfortunately, they do not allow pictures to be taken while inside the maze. This was a quick 15 minutes fun. The last attraction we took was the wax museum. We did not know some of the personalities there since they were local celebrities. They had Jacky Chan, Yao Ming, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the entrance. Inside, they had Britney, Princess Diana and her sons, Rain, Obama, and more. When we were done with all three attractions, we got at the back of the building to look for a means of transportation going to Mini Siam, the next attraction in our itinerary. We were lucky to find the "taxi stand". They offered to take us to Mini Siam for 250Baht but we were able to lower that to 220Baht, the difference was not that big but atleast it was a little cheaper. On our way out of the area, we saw s strip of white sand. That explains the number of Caucasians around..... Mini Siam, here we come!

Our taxi going to Mini Siam

 Mini Siam

The mini siam is like the Windows to the World in China, only smaller. Entrance fee for this attraction is 300Baht. The first part of the area focuses on the structures that represents each country. They have the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Eiffel Tower, London Bridge, Coliseum, Cathedral, Singapore Lion Head, and lots of castles & palaces. The other part of the area focused on the structures that can be found in Thailand. Through this, we were able to see the other structures which we missed during our visit to Ayutthaya and Bangkok due to the limited time.

They lend umbrellas to visitors for free since the area is in the open right under the sun.

We were able to see all the structures in about 1.5 hours. It is tiring to roam around the area but it was amazing to see the little structures they made. The structures here can be a basis of the places you want to see in Thailand and in the world.

Thailand

Paris

India

Rome

Thailand

Thailand

England

USA

 

Thailand

Egypt

Bottle Museum

The bottle museum was just across Mini Siam. It was already 5:00PM when we arrived. Their closing time was 5:30 and we were not sure how to get back to Bangkok from there. So before deciding if we'll still enter the museum, we asked for the possible means of getting back to Bangkok after their closing time. The staff there and the owner were so helpful that they even called a mini van heading for Bangkok to pick us up around 6PM. With peace of mind that we have a ride back to Bangkok, we decided to enter the museum. The entrance fee cost 200Baht each while the mini van offered to us cost 100Baht each, not bad. The first part of the tour was an orientation on how the structures inside the bottles are created. They made us watch a recorded video on the steps to create those beautiful items. Making those in the displays were not easy. It takes time and so much patience to complete a masterpiece. After the video, they gave us a little token then escorted us to the first of three exhibit rooms. It was amazing! The displays were so beautiful. And the thought that it takes months to complete one structure inside a bottle made them more special. There were different Asian houses, temples and palaces in the displays; the usual ships and some European structures are also there. My personal favorite were the Philippine houses and palaces. I appreciate every single display because of the details of the structures. Here are some of the displays they have:

Since we we entered the museum at almost closing time, the staff extended their stay until we leave. When we were done, the mini van was not yet there so the owner asked that we stayed at the nearby 7-11 for free aircon. Haha. It was a little past 6 when the mini van arrived. We really appreciate the owner of the bottle museum for her kindness. She didn't leave us until our mini van picked us up. The ride took almost 2 hours and we got out at the van terminal in Victory Station. From there, we rode the BST station to get back to our hostel and called it a night. This trip to Pattaya was so worth it!

DIY: Ayutthaya Thailand

April 22, 2012

Ayutthaya Adventure

From our hostel, we walked to the on-nut station and headed for Hualamphong Station for the train going to Ayutthaya. When we were walking from the BST Station to the train station, someone approached us and offered us a deal: a taxi will take us to Ayutthaya and will be our means of transportation throughout Ayutthaya. At first we did not want to take the deal since it costs 2000Baht. But after realizing that there was no train available that would allow us enough time to travel the area, we yielded to the offer but not after it was agreed that she gave the deal at 1500Baht. It took us around 1 1/2 hour to get to Ayutthaya.

First stop: Elephant Village.
When we arrived at the area, a lady greeted us and showed us the packages they have. When we asked for the price, she said that a 30 minutes ride around the area would cost 1000Baht per person. I was shocked since from what i read, it would cost 1000Baht for two persons and that there was a 10 minutes ride for only 200Baht per person. However, this was not the case. At first, we were contented on taking pictures of the elephant though it was part of our to-dos that we will ride an elephant. When the lady saw how disappointed we were, she agreed to allow us to ride the elephant for 10mins for 250Baht. It was not what we budgeted but atleast it was cheaper than the first offer; we just wanted to ride the elephant and have pictures of us riding them anyways. Our elephant guides were also nice. They allowed us to sit at the back of the elephant and volunteered to take our pictures. At the end of the ride, before we arrived at the "loading/unloading" area, they asked for tips. I think this was usual in Thailand. We expected that the elephant smell would be so nasty. Good thing it was not as bad as we expected.

First elephant we saw

Shot taken by our elephant guide

Since this was already past lunch time, we asked our driver to bring us to a restaurant for a quick lunch before we start with our temple tours. He brought us to the restaurant in front of Wat Ratchaburana. At first we were hesitant to eat there but we had no choice. But when we saw their food and when we tasted the food, we were glad we ate there. The food was authentic Thailand cuisine and it tasted so good. Thumbs up!

See foods

Shrimp

 After eating our lunch, we were ready for our "Temple Hopping" tour.

The first temple we visited was Wat Ratchaburana since it was the nearest from where we ate. The admission cost 50Baht per person. We were so excited since this was the first temple we visited. The temple was a beautiful ruin. We went up the temple for a view of the whole place. It was okay. There was a very steep stairs inside the temple. One of us went there and saw paintings in the wall. That was basically it.

 

 Before heading for the next temple, we asked the driver to take us to the nearest money exchanger since our Baht was almost gone. It was a big mistake not to bring US dollars with us since we expected that it would just be like Hongkong that has money changers everywhere that accepts Philippine peso. So he brought us to Wat Yai Chaimongkhon that has a reclining buddha. Unfortunately for us, the money changer there do not accept Philippine peso. Oh well. Off to the temple after paying 20Baht each. This was my favorite temple from those we visited since there were so many things to see there. We even got the chance to offer our prayers. The admission fee was cheap compared to what the place has to offer.

Reclining Buddha

One of the favorite photo spots of visitors

Shoes off

View from the top

Lighting wicks submerged in oil

Inside of a temple

This wax was so good. It really looked like a real person sitting there

The next temple we visited was Wat Maha That. One ticket costs 50Baht. They were selling key chains at the ticket booth at 10 pcs for 100Baht. It was a bargain. Wat Maha That was also ruins of temples. The tourist attraction here is the head of the Buddha stuck at the trunk of a tree. I was told that flood in 2011 reached the Buddha head. The whole area was beautiful. It was good that Thailand was preserving these temples. Though I wondered how beautiful these places were when they were newly built. It must have been so great!

Part of the ruins of Wat Maha That

The Buddha head

Beautiful Ruins

 After witnessing the Buddha head stuck on a tree, we headed to Phra Mongkhon Bophit.The temple was so beautiful. It was not a ruin too! Inside was one of the largest bronze Buddha in Thailand. But that was it.

Phra Mongkhon Bophit

One of the largest bronze Buddha in Thailand

Before heading back to Bangkok, we tried these ice cream for only 10Baht each. These tasted so delicious after a tiring day.

Yummy ice cream

 When we arrived in Bangkok, we asked the taxi driver to drop us off at the On-nut BST Station. We had dinner at the mall beside the station, bought some groceries for the next days and headed back to the hostel for the free wi-fi and to rest.