Pattaya Holiday

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We decided to have a short holiday before school started and picked Pattaya as not only are there
tourist things that the daughter enjoys we could renew their Thai Passports (and if things did not
work out we knew Buriram would be having a passport week).

We got a condo for a week on Soi 1 about 50 meters from the 2nd road. Fairly convenient
location for both Baht Buses and shopping (Big C right there). It was also easier to get there
using the North Road as opposed to Central or South roads with less traffic.

As anyone that has been to Pattaya in the last 5 years can tell you those tourist buses are a pain. I
was having a cold one at the corner of Soi 4 and the 2nd road about 6 pm and watched over 30 of
them head out from being parked across the street. Plus starting about 7am they are congesting
the Beach Road letting out the tourists for some boat excursions. The amount of speed boats at
Pattaya Beach is amazing until I realized they were there to support the buses.

The Big C near us (2nd Road and Soi 2) had a major makeover. Much better selection of Falang
items.

Beach road construction is minimal, if at all. More to working on the actual beach than the road.
A lot on the North Road coming to the Dolphin Circle, which surely has a lot to do with the
Terminal 21 being constructed. This also means the Dolphin Circle is not really a circle and you
have to head east on the N Road if you don?t exit, the round-about is Blocked coming in from Na
Kluea.

There are also new attractions opening, for example there is an elephant village in addition to
Nong Nooch Garden. There?s a Monster Aquarium in addition to Underwater world. So you
might end up a different attraction than you intended. I will add some attractions we visited in
subsequent postings.

BTW, if you have a Thai Driver?s License, show that and you may get reduced or Thai rates.

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Nong Nooch Garden. They?ve done a lot of work on this place in the past 10 years. They are
currently putting up a dinosaur area along with enhancing their garden. Then main show is now
air conditioned and they have a new elephant show area.

http://www.nongnoochtropicalgarden.com/

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Booking on the hotels2Thailand website gives useful discounts.


Personally, I don?t like the dinosaur theme - IMO it detracts from the natural beauty of the gardens.

I can see the appeal for families and younger visitors.

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I agree with you, when I saw it I thought it was out of place and the daughter was did not really play much.   

But the inside theater was a lot better than the old one with having to look around posts and such.  The seats are assigned, somehow ours were the same as someone elses so we ended up in a better section. 

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Went to Ripley's Believe It or Not in the Royal mall.  There are multiple venues:

-  9D Movie.  Not sure where they get the 9 from except you get water in the face.  The daughter enjoyed it.

-  Ripley Museum.  I've been to several and thought this was not up to par.  Of course the daughter is too young to check out all the displays so we rushed through a lot. 


- Infinity Maze.   It was OK as I really don't remember much about it.

-  Wax Museum.  I think only Mr Bean look realistic, all the rest were poorly done.   

-  Adventure Ride.  Ride a car and shoot a lazar at some lights.  Very poorly done IMHO as could not distinguish targets and daughter did not understand it (she understood a similar type ride at Disneyland last month and had a score, at Ripley's it was Zero).

-  Lazar Maze.  Walk into a mirrored area with lazar light and try to find door to next room.  Got to one room that went totally dark, scared the daughter making her want to quit. 

- Haunted House.  Was not haunted, it was more of a scare and gore place, not suitable at all for the daughter.  Luckily she refused to go there after having been in the maze. 

Overall I was very disappointed and would not recommend.  Maybe the 9D movie, but the rest I found wanting.  Most not for very young children. 


https://www.ripleysthailand.com/Contents/attraction




Funny, Google says it's permanently closed:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ripley's+Believe+It+or+Not!/@12.9285872,100.8763907,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x31029611ef1cb3f9:0x881f1844a7947fa5!4m5!3m4!1s0x310296118e51cca3:0x1599573ddf97f3dd!8m2!3d12.9285872!4d100.8785794

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The single thing that put Pattaya above other tourist places IMHO are the Baht Buses.  Get to a major road and for 10 baht you get carried away.  These especially work good on the Beach road and 2nd Road.  And if you get on the wrong bus, buzz out, pay the 10 baht and get on another one. 

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Don't know how but some time ago we got to speak to the lady who owns Nong Nooch along with her family. One of the things she said was that the development of the gardens would far exceed her lifetime. Considering most Thai people cannot see past the next day that was quite something.

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Before we left Patts today we did the obligatory stop at the Na Kluea Fish Market (aka Old Market Pattaya according to google):

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Old+Market+Pattaya/@12.9744886,100.906131,17z/data=!3m1!5s0x31029611ef1cb3f9:0x881f1844a7947fa5!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x310296118e51cca3:0x1599573ddf97f3dd!2sRipley's+Believe+It+or+Not*21!8m2!3d12.9285872!4d100.8785794!3m4!1s0x0:0x96b60ee41a5535d3!8m2!3d12.9734849!4d100.906692


The now are selling large lobsters, got some almost a kilo.  Several years ago these only went to restaurants.  Now they sell for 1000 to 1500 baht.  Steamed mine tonight.