July
5, Thursday to July 10, Tuesday
Second week in Pattaya already and I finally decide to venture into Pattaya’s downtown. I’ve seen people stop larger, truck-size, put-puts. The route seems to come to and from Jomtien towards Pattaya’s downtown area, but I haven’t been able to obtain confirmation from anyone. I simply cross the main street in front of my hotel and wait in front of a large hotel for one of the tuk-tuks to come by. Luckily a British couple soon join me and I ask them how the Tuk-tuk works. Only a small amount of Baht compared to the prices in Bangkok and sure enough, the tuk-tuk will bring me downtown on Sai Song Road and Central Pattaya Road. The lady explains to me that the tuk-tuk actually does a circuit and comes back along Pattaya Beach Road before it comes back to Thap Phraya Road and Jomtien Beach. She gives me a few other pointers before they get off near “Walking Street”. If you want to find lots of “lady-boys” or another other type of “ladies of the night” that is the place to be in the evenings ! ! !
I get off the tuk-tuk when we reach Central Festival Mall and get my first look of the busy downtown Pattaya streets. Glad this is NOT where I’m staying.
I wonder through the mall which is brand new... and huge
I make it all the way up to the top levels
and am rewarded with my first view of the Pattaya downtown beach. It looks promising!
I grab some lunch and then make my way out to the beach. Again, I’m disappointed by what I find. No way I would even dip my feet in this water, let alone try to swim in it.
How deceptive photos can be... even my own look great. Too bad the smell doesn't come along with it, or rather.... maybe that's a good thing.
I make my way back to the street level
and follow a beautiful walkway under the palm trees. Unfortunately this only lasts for a few blocks and then I'm back on badly maintained sidewalks.
The streets of downtown Pattaya are busy
and the side streets are quite narrow
One of the "pleasures" to be enjoyed here, apart from massages, sticking your feet in a tank and letting the small fish nibble at the dead skin. I shudder just thinking about it. I'll find another way to get a pedicure.
The downtown streets of Pattaya.... lots of motorbikes everywhere
I walk south along the beach until I reach “Walking Street” where I FINALLY find a tourist information centre, which is closed! At least there are brochures outside, so I pick up a few and put them in my bag.
The end of the beach strrip near some restaurants on the piers.
There is a temple nearby and I walk past where the tuk-tuks would be stopping and go take a quick look.
Wat Chai Mongkhon is a fairly large complex if you include all the parking lots, but consists of 2 main temples
and this beautiful stuppa made of ..... I have NO IDEA.... but it is quite different from anything I've seen so far.
The details on the peak of the second building are quite beautiful as well
My feet are killing me by the time I walk back to get a tuk-tuk. I was wearing flip flops today since I had been expecting to spend the day on the beach; not the best walking shoes. I finally get a passing tuk-tuk to stop and get back off near my hotel. It is still early in the afternoon, but I’m done! I’ve already got my bathing suit underneath my clothes so in no time I’m in the pool, cooling off. It is the only water I will be swimming in, or even wading in, while I’m here.
Near the end of the week I finally looked at the brochures I had picked up, and although there were a few tourist attractions in Pattaya, there was nothing I really wanted to see. I did notice however that the road south from my hotel, along the beach, went on for a few kilometers to Na Jomtien Beach where hotels have private beaches. Maybe the beaches there would have been cleaner, nicer. Well, maybe not, certainly not if there wasn’t a better sewer system. Still couldn’t bare the smells in the streets and along the beach front.
Second week in Pattaya already and I finally decide to venture into Pattaya’s downtown. I’ve seen people stop larger, truck-size, put-puts. The route seems to come to and from Jomtien towards Pattaya’s downtown area, but I haven’t been able to obtain confirmation from anyone. I simply cross the main street in front of my hotel and wait in front of a large hotel for one of the tuk-tuks to come by. Luckily a British couple soon join me and I ask them how the Tuk-tuk works. Only a small amount of Baht compared to the prices in Bangkok and sure enough, the tuk-tuk will bring me downtown on Sai Song Road and Central Pattaya Road. The lady explains to me that the tuk-tuk actually does a circuit and comes back along Pattaya Beach Road before it comes back to Thap Phraya Road and Jomtien Beach. She gives me a few other pointers before they get off near “Walking Street”. If you want to find lots of “lady-boys” or another other type of “ladies of the night” that is the place to be in the evenings ! ! !
I get off the tuk-tuk when we reach Central Festival Mall and get my first look of the busy downtown Pattaya streets. Glad this is NOT where I’m staying.
I wonder through the mall which is brand new... and huge
I make it all the way up to the top levels
and am rewarded with my first view of the Pattaya downtown beach. It looks promising!
I grab some lunch and then make my way out to the beach. Again, I’m disappointed by what I find. No way I would even dip my feet in this water, let alone try to swim in it.
How deceptive photos can be... even my own look great. Too bad the smell doesn't come along with it, or rather.... maybe that's a good thing.
I make my way back to the street level
and follow a beautiful walkway under the palm trees. Unfortunately this only lasts for a few blocks and then I'm back on badly maintained sidewalks.
The streets of downtown Pattaya are busy
and the side streets are quite narrow
One of the "pleasures" to be enjoyed here, apart from massages, sticking your feet in a tank and letting the small fish nibble at the dead skin. I shudder just thinking about it. I'll find another way to get a pedicure.
I walk south along the beach until I reach “Walking Street” where I FINALLY find a tourist information centre, which is closed! At least there are brochures outside, so I pick up a few and put them in my bag.
The end of the beach strrip near some restaurants on the piers.
There is a temple nearby and I walk past where the tuk-tuks would be stopping and go take a quick look.
Wat Chai Mongkhon is a fairly large complex if you include all the parking lots, but consists of 2 main temples
and this beautiful stuppa made of ..... I have NO IDEA.... but it is quite different from anything I've seen so far.
The details on the peak of the second building are quite beautiful as well
My feet are killing me by the time I walk back to get a tuk-tuk. I was wearing flip flops today since I had been expecting to spend the day on the beach; not the best walking shoes. I finally get a passing tuk-tuk to stop and get back off near my hotel. It is still early in the afternoon, but I’m done! I’ve already got my bathing suit underneath my clothes so in no time I’m in the pool, cooling off. It is the only water I will be swimming in, or even wading in, while I’m here.
Near the end of the week I finally looked at the brochures I had picked up, and although there were a few tourist attractions in Pattaya, there was nothing I really wanted to see. I did notice however that the road south from my hotel, along the beach, went on for a few kilometers to Na Jomtien Beach where hotels have private beaches. Maybe the beaches there would have been cleaner, nicer. Well, maybe not, certainly not if there wasn’t a better sewer system. Still couldn’t bare the smells in the streets and along the beach front.
There was a big storm on July 7, strong winds and
torrential downpour. I had been walking around the Jomtien area and stopped at a sidewalk café for an early dinner. I had just been thinking how beautiful the weather had been when I turned around and saw the dark clouds approaching. When the storm hit everything that was on the restaurants verandah started blowing away. I quickly ran inside while the waiters scurried to grab everything and bring it inside. Thankfully I had almost finished my meal so I just waited for the storm to abate before making my way back to the hotel.
The storms kept coming on a regular basis after that day, almost at the same time of day in the late afternoon.
Here is a picture I took from my balcony during one of the monsoon downpours.
I went for a walk afterwards, thinking that the sewer smells on the street would have abated, but no such luck. If anything it was worse. Oh well, I was here to rest while I waited for my passport and that’s exactly what I’ve done. Good thing my 2 weeks are almost over. Hopefully when I get back to Bangkok, I can just pick up my passport and fly south to Malaysia.
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