Nong Nooch Village: A Tourist's Delight Near Pattaya
Written: Jan 07 '01 (Updated Mar 24 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful tropical gardens, cultural show, elephant show, zoo
Cons: Animals paraded around to sell photos with tourists
The Bottom Line: A gorgeous estate with something to offer almost everyone, Nong Nooch Village is worth a visit!
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While the city of Pattaya has been documented as a foreign tourist’s decadent escape in terms of the beaches, the nightlife, and the sex shows, there is one very good reason to leave Bangkok and visit a place close to Pattaya (just a 20 minute drive)—-the Nong Nooch Village.
Note, I use the word tourist rather than traveler because this place seems geared to tourists. Almost everyone there, including myself, appeared to be part of an organized tour group. The center of the massive estate is set back several miles from the freeway so I don’t think the place is likely to attract any solo travelers.
Nong Nooch Village was just one of several stops on my recent organized tour of Thailand. The brief blurb in the travel brochure mentioned a tropical garden and a cultural show, but this amazing place is unlike any other zoo, cultural center, or botanical garden I have ever visited. I truly don’t think I can do justice to the place since I really only spent a few hours there and did not take ample notes. But, in my eagerness to share my delight, I will try to paint a vivid picture of the place.
First and foremost, I think “village” is hardly adequate to describe this sprawling estate that houses an impressive tropical garden, a zoo, an outdoor arena for the elephant show, a cluster of buildings devoted to the cultural show and souvenir shops, and residences for the numerous employees who maintain the estate. The estate encompasses several hundred acres but I’m not sure of the exact figure because my tour was given in Chinese (in addition to limited comprehension of Chinese, I also don’t know how to convert to our American measuring units). Surfing through travel agent web sites, I found claims vary from 500 to 900 acres.
Since this place is geared towards tourists, one must be prepared for the accompanying conditions of tourism—-crowds, an unexpected cleanliness akin to Disneyland or any other theme park, overpriced souvenirs, and exploitation (in this case, of the animals). Yet, there are so many other factors that compensate for these drawbacks.
While swarms of people were crowded into the indoor amphitheater where a cultural show was held as well as the outdoor arena where the elephant show was performed, the rest of the estate was remarkably tranquil. Of course, the most scenic spots in the gardens were full of couples and families posing for photos, but there were many opportunities to sit and reflect in solitude, while surrounded by gorgeous tropical plants like orchids and palm trees (there were so many species beyond those I generally see in California). One of my favorite places was next to a long reflecting pool/fountain that was bordered by a topiary garden.
Judging from the crowds, most tourists seem to watch both the cultural show and the elephant show. The cultural show requires an additional ticket for admission and includes Thai dances, Thai kick-boxing, sword-fighting, and even a mock battle between warriors atop two elephants.
The elephant show follows immediately after the cultural show ends in the arena behind the amphitheater. Here, elephants demonstrate their agility and intelligence by stepping over volunteers lying on the ground, playing basketball, painting, walking only on their hind feet, and more amazing tricks.
Plus, tourists can even purchase a bunch of relatively overpriced (but still under U.S. $1) bananas to feed an elephant as it strolls by. The elephants greedily snap up bananas and shove the whole bunch into their mouths even while reaching for someone else's bunch. I saw one drop a few in his eagerness to grab another bunch before a different elephant approached! The photo my brother took of me feeding one is priceless--I've never had a more candid photo taken, as the look of shock on my face is hilarious!
Note: per the comment in my comments section below, there apparently have been at least two documented animal attacks on tourists, one of which resulted in a woman's death. Given this information, I now strongly suggest tourists who visit stick to just the botanical gardens and avoid the wild animals who are paraded around like showpieces.
The rest of the day is spent as one wishes-—strolling through the miniature zoo (an impressive selection of the more exotic animals like tropical birds, monkeys, emus, and tigers), admiring the tropical garden with its lush plant life and gorgeous scenery, or finding the various exotic animals available for personal photos.
For 30 baht (which, at this point in time is less than one U.S. dollar), I sat next to and posed with a tiger! There are also huge snakes (either a boa constrictor or some sort of python), leopards, baby tigers, monkeys, and elephants available as personal photo subjects. The handlers aggressively solicit tourists to pose with the animals, and many took them up on the offer.
Of course, I was very reluctant to pose with a wild animal, but my better sense was lost amidst the excitement of posing with a tiger. I felt somewhat reassured after watching hordes of people posing with this particular tiger, and even a small toddler who yanked on the tiger a little! Convinced of the tiger's relative boredom/safety, I stepped up to take my photo. In the end, even my mother decided to pose with the tiger! Afterwards, I remembered having read of a woman who was bitten by a tiger at the Marine World theme park here in California after she had stepped on its tail. Yikes!
After that excitement, I enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the gardens. My brother snapped a dozen photos or more of the lush greenery and the scenic sunset over the hills. The botany may be overshadowed by the animals and the cultural show, but according to one website, the botanical world is indeed equally enamored of the place for its expansive collection of plant life.
All in all, it was definitely a place I can highly recommend provided you be wary of any interactions with the animals. The place was enjoyable and offered different aspects for families to enjoy together. And the animals seemed to be well-treated, even if they are exploited for tourists' pleasure. Quite honestly, I don't know how to respond to animal rights' activists who would most certainly be appalled by the practices of the village. And I'm a little embarrassed to have participated. But after hearing of a statistic, which may be somewhat exaggerated, that there are 10,000 unemployed (and starving) elephants in Thailand, this practice of posing with tourists sounds better than starving.
In any event, it's also better than being taken to the busy, congested streets of Bangkok to sell overpriced bananas to foreign tourists who then feed the elephants. As my tour guide sadly explained, no matter how many times city officials escort the elephants and their handlers back to the rural areas, the handlers will return again since they can make a small profit in selling bananas and also ensure that their elephants eat.
Nong Nooch is located at 163 Sukhumvit Highway, Sarrahip, Chonburi 20250, Thailand. Phone: (38) 238-160, Fax: (38) 435-976 (This information may not be accurate, as it was taken from a website two years old.)
Recommended:
Yes
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