Beautiful Pattaya

The day I was to leave Pattaya, I wanted to spend the morning strolling on the beach. It is one of the things I had dearly wanted to do for a long long time. The temperature was perfect, not more than 26C. The beach was about 200 meters from the hotel. It was easy-peasy to walk down and walk right into the Gulf of Thailand. I walked for a while in the water, feeling the warm, fine sand between my toes. Some parts of the sea are cordoned off using a rope and barrels so the tourists may swim in safety.

Like a blessing from heavens, a light rain began to fall. The blue seas you see in the picture above with dark green trees are from the spot I chose to walk in. It was even more gorgeous when laid out in all its rain drenched glory right in front of my eyes. It was a beautiful moment. I walked all the way to western most end of the beach.There was a cliff at the end with a wall from a resort blocking my way. I walked to the edge of the wall and spotted a secluded beach that the resort probably used as a an exclusive offer to its clients. It was no better or no worse than the public beach that was on offer for me. I raised my eyes to the sky and spotted a perfectly curved rainbow dipping into the sea.

It was a perfect end to a perfect stay in Pattaya. I had arrived there with a bunch of friends just a couple of days ago. We were booked into a hotel right on the Pattaya's beachfront area. We went walking through the unbelievably glittery, glamorous walking street of Pattaya. At the far end, we sat and ate french fries and cold drinks before heading to the view point area. On our way back we stopped at a Punjabi dhaba and tried their delicious food. We got chatting with the owners about places to go and they helped us book a boat ride to Coral Islands and Tawaen Beach right there. Next morning we were picked up with a bunch of other people and taken to a parasailing spot. Some of us tried there. On Coral Island we dropped off another bunch of people who were going underwater. We were then dropped off at Tawaen Beach.

Tawaen Beach

 It was glorious. There was fine white stretch of sand and water so blue that it dazzled our eyes. We were let loose to go banana boating and frolic on the sand. I tried swimming in the sea and got mouthfuls of salt water! It was exhilarating. That evening we were to try another of Pattaya's exotic offerings- the transgender cabaret. It is hard to do justice to this stage show. The color, the fantastic dancing, the music, the lighting, the costumes are so worth the hype.

One of the benchmarks of a good experience is your wanting to do it all over again. Whenever I think of my time in Pattaya, I want to be back there again. There is so much we hear about Thailand, its sex trade, the dangers we were likely to face and how unsavory it could be. We were in Thailand for five days and never once did we feel unsafe. We were walking around late in the night, just a bunch of women. Living in India has taught us to always put our safety first, here we are always watching our backs and trying not to get into a dangerous situation. Maybe that training helped us and we were unscathed.

Now that traveling for fun is put on indefinite hold, it may be a long long time before I am able to return to this lovely beach city. If you are lucky to be there remember: There are plenty of Indian food stores to eat out if you are the kind who cannot do without home food. Try not fall into tourist traps and do your own thing. You can spend a lot of money and do things flamboyantly, on the other hand you can have a budget holiday and enjoy yourselves to the maximum. There are many bloggers who write in detail about how to travel around the cities cheaply. Do try to read up as much as possible while planning your trip.

Pattaya Skyline seen from the steamboat