Spring Break In Thailand
Written: Jun 01 '00 (Updated Jun 01 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful country for those who like new cultures
Cons: Not enough time!
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| Sisyphus03's Full Review: Thailand |
After leaving SFO and arriving in Bangkok after 14 hours, I arrived to a light drizzle. Immediately, I was herded onto a bus headed for Pattaya beach. Our tour guide told us that April was the hottest season in Thailand but seeing the rain outside, I half heartedly listened to her tale of a water festival next week where locals would spray water on any person they wished. On the way to Pattaya I noticed two things about Thailand:
1) Traffic lights don't mean a thing. You could wait at a red light anywhere from 10 seconds to 30 minutes.
2) Despite everyone saying this is a poor country, about 1/4 of the cars driven were Mercedes Benz. And there were cars everywhere. I gather the rich own multiple cars and the rich are very very rich.
Because the USD converted to about 37 baht (their local currency) everything was cheap. For example, a full bodied massage was only 400 baht for 2 hours. In Pattaya, there's underwater scuba diving and parachuting using a speed boat. All the locals seemed to gather at the beaches of Pattaya, offering services ranging from umbrella rental, scooter rentals, bathroom rentals (sounds lot like Europe), braiding of hair, and all sorts of delicacies. Also one of the tallest buildings with a rotating tower is located in Pattaya and you have the opportunity to jump off that building's 37th floor onto the ground. Don't ask me how it was, when I got there it was closed :(
At night for those looking other types of fun... There's Pattaya's red light districts. There's bars everywhere and all sorts of women looking for tourists to "befriend". Prostitutes only charge about 1000 baht a night but I warn you that Pattaya is also famous for it's tranvestites... Anyways back to a cleaner subject, one of our last stops was the Golden Palace in Bangkok. After the first day, it got HOT! To make it worse, the palace patrol enforced a strict dress code for all visitors which required them to wear pants and no sandals. Inside the palace there was about 70 soldiers sitting on the grass with nothing to do. The palace is painted with gold paint and colored glass. In the sun it was sparkling all over. I don't really take sentimental pleasure from this part of the trip but I included it in because I know everyone wants to see the palace when they come to Thailand.
Survival Tips I Learned
1. Make sure the person you are talking to speaks English. Many people in Thailand nod their even if they don't understand you.
2. If you like Thai food this is the place. The king's meal is like 7 dishes. I don't really like Thai food and for some reason all they served for fruit was pineapple and watermelon.
3. For Girls: Don't touch a monk. Monks will avoid you but if you touch them they have to atone for impure thoughts and you wouldn't want them to be punished...
4. Oh yea the drug thing. The country has a huge drug problem just don't carry people's luggage. Simple as that.
5. I didn't get to visit that island that Leo DiCaprio was in for The Beach but our tourist says that's a cool cool island so go there. That's where I'd go next time if I went.
6. Don't diss their king. The locals will beat you up if they know what you are talking about. In the Golden Palace or the old king's house if you talk trash, I think the soldiers will arrest you.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Sisyphus03
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Location: Walnut Creek CA
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 1 member
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