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!