We began our discovery of Asia with Thailand and the PATTAYA PARK BEACH RESORT. It was our first trip that we didn’t take on our own but with our friend Dima, who in turn was flying abroad for the first time.
Arrival. A huge airport where it’s easy to lose your way and get lost. Everything was standard until we got to obtaining the visa. It was our second experience of getting a visa, and it was nothing like Egypt. After filling in the immigration card in English, we joined the queue for the officers who issue visas. We stood in the queue for over an hour and handed our documents and immigration cards to the officers. Then we waited another 15–20 minutes for our documents to be returned with the visa stamped in them, and only then could we move on to collect our suitcases. Later on we realised this is a perfectly standard situation for Thais — “sabai-sabai”, so to speak… Then, as usual, we collected our suitcases, loaded into a minibus and drove to the PATTAYA PARK BEACH RESORT. On the way, each hotel room is given a SIM card with no credit; you can top it up later and use the internet. And of course, on the way they’ll tell you that excursions should only be bought from the hotel guide, otherwise you’ll be cheated on the street and sold them for huge sums. In short, business as usual.
Check-in. When we arrived at the hotel, we were quickly checked into the second building, called the Tower Wing. Unlike the main building, it’s a bit calmer there, with fewer people, and it’s a little lower. The rooms are about the same. There are no crowds of tourists heading for the tower; near the entrance, slightly to the left, there are 3 stone tables with benches, where it’s nice to catch your breath, have a snack and rest. Squirrels often run and jump around near these benches.
The room. The room at this hotel is one of the largest of all the countries I’ve been to. The room has a colour TV, which we never turned on, a minibar and a big balcony with heavy metal sun loungers. The bathroom has mini toiletries, a bath mat, two towels per guest and a hairdryer. There was also a kettle in the room that couldn’t reach the socket, so we moved it from the little hallway into the bathroom. The air conditioning makes you feel as if you’re on a plane — it hums terribly, and sleeping with it on is simply impossible. Two single beds, big enough for two people to fit comfortably on one.
Breakfasts. An ordinary European breakfast; entry to the dining room is by vouchers issued at check-in for the number of days.
Service. At check-in they smiled and nodded at all my requests, but later we realised that Thais always do this when they don’t understand. They agree to everything with a smile but do none of what you ask. For example, if you ask for sugar for your tea in a café and they smile and nod, it doesn’t mean they’ll bring you sugar. The room is cleaned not perfectly, but OK. Once they forgot to clean by the door, and sand was left there. They often forget to wipe water off the floor, and the tiles get slippery. Sometimes they forgot to leave the free water. The towels smell, to put it mildly, not great… In the dining room you need to check the plates and cutlery you take, as they’re often dirty.
The beach. We didn’t go to the beach in Pattaya, since at check-in we were told that the beach isn’t very clean and on some days Pattaya discharges waste straight into the sea. We swam in the sea on excursions.
Location. The location is excellent! The PATTAYA PARK BEACH RESORT is at the bottom of the “Russian street”. On the “Russian street” there are lots of cafés, which I’ll tell you about a bit later in the next articles. There’s a 7-Eleven shop; alcohol there is only sold at certain hours, so find out the times in advance. You can also top up your SIM card at 7-Eleven. At the very beginning of the street, by the hotel, there’s a night market where you can buy tasty food, but I don’t advise eating there — I’ll tell you about that later too. Along the same street there are loads of travel agencies; we chose the one opposite 7-Eleven. At the very top of the street there’s a massage parlour called “Moscow” or something like that, with very good massages. You can get to the “Festival” mall by tuk-tuk: walk up the “Russian street” to the main road at the very top and, without crossing the road, get into a tuk-tuk. When you see the “VC” hotel, get ready to get off.
Flying home. We were picked up from the hotel and taken to the airport, where we were kindly informed that our flight was delayed by 10 hours. Why we weren’t left at the hotel for those 10 hours remains an open question for the tour operator. But there was nothing to be done: we received a voucher for free meals worth around 300 baht, I don’t remember exactly. We went through passport control and started wandering around the airport waiting for our flight. Luckily, it’s a huge airport, and even in all that time we couldn’t explore every corner. And back home a full-blown winter was waiting for us…
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