What to do in Pattaya, Thailand

Well, we went to Thailand, navigated through Bangkok, rented our scooter and we packed up our belongings and headed to Pattaya. Our plan being to stay at the beach for maybe a week or so- since we hadn't gotten to really enjoy any beach time since we were in the Philippines. From Pattaya we planned to head east towards Cambodia. On our scooter. . .

Now if you know me or if you have been following along you know how much I love the scooter. I want to scoot around everywhere. I have a Pinterest board that's dedicated to cute scooters, but this scooter ride to Pattaya was unlike any scooter ride we had done so far. (I'll make this part quick.)

1.) Thailand (well at least from Bangkok to Bon Churi- a state of Thailand) there are Highways, like in the U.S. - we haven't been on any highways since we were in the U.S., so we haven't traveled at highway speeds. So like 60MPH, with all of our belongings on my back.

2.) Some of these highways don't allow scooters on them and the GPS doesn't differentiate between scooters or cars so sometimes we were on the "wrong" highway which is only scary because I did see a sign saying you could be fined or go to jail or both.

3.) Just the sheer discomfort of it. It was about the same distance as our trip to Lovina, but this time we had all of our things. Some packed in the scooter and some in my Travel Pack which I was wearing on my back. So it got heavy after 3 hours.

We got to Pattaya, was some lunch and then started looking for a place to stay. We found a great deal on a hotel room with a pool. It was just down the road a bit in the Jomtien beach area so a little quieter then the Pattaya area. We unpacked and then started looking for things to do in the area. This is when we discovered Pattaya's reputation . . . for being a mecca for sex tourism- "A Bachelors Paradise" and "Sin City" oh boy! We wondered what to do in Pattaya for an entire week?

1.) The Sanctuary of Truth- The largest wood carved palace in the world. It started construction in 1981 and is still under construction. It is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Each hall has ornately beautiful woodcarvings depicting the seven truths of life

2.) Thai Massage- We got a couple really good massages. Thai massage starts with a ceremonial foot bath followed by a full body massage combining pressured kneading (like you expect from a massage) and assisted stretching. It was great after that tense scooter ride we needed it. Afterward we enjoyed a nice cup of Thai tea.

3.) The Floating Market- Built on a dock system on the canal Vendors sell everything from tasty food (we tried ostrich meat and crocodile meat!) and drinks to beauty products, clothes and various trinkets. Floating Markets are pretty big in Thailand from what I've gathered so I was really happy to get to experience this piece of the culture.

4.) The Million Year Stone Park and Crocodile Farm- again it was built in 1981 and is a beautiful park with impressive and large stones. There are a bazillion crocodiles in their caged areas and they also had a lot of other animals. We got to feed some giraffes and elephants, but this was not the same zoo experience we had in Bali. These elephants had chains on their legs to keep them in the feeding area. As we walked through the park we found a whole bunch of tigers in these small cell like enclosures sometimes 2 or 3 in not a very big space. There was a spot where you can get your picture taken with a tiger. Which sounds cool at first, but when you do your research you realize these animals are being sedated for human entertainment to boost the tourism economy and that mistreatment doesn't sit right with us. There was also a Crocodile show which involves a man running around playing with crocodiles and a humorous (I assume, but don't know since it was all in Thai.) commentator with a slew of sound effects.

5.) The Night Market- This is really cool it's a pretty common thing in lots of asian cultures and we went there for dinner almost every night. It's just vendor after vendor after vendor of so many different dishes and for really good prices. We tried out some donuts, a couple of interesting doughy desserts and of course had some pad Thai, fried rice, and a really good spicy basil and ground beef dish. Restaurants in the area are more like bars- they make their money on alcohol so the quality of food falls by the way side. (I know what that's like- I've worked at some places like that.) At the night market though, these people are just selling their food and it's how they make their living so it's got to be good, the quality is better and there is such a variety we got to try a lot of different things.

6.) The Mall- Holy Crap you guys- this mall was 6 stories tall! It was so overwhelming, but we enjoyed looking at all the different fashions and being in the air conditioning. They also had some wild balloon displays!

Basically we avoided the "walking street" and looked for family friendly activities to fill our time.

We discussed our plans of driving the scooter to Cambodia and decided it was too risky so we needed to reevaluate. We underestimated getting around Thailand as a whole and we overestimated ourselves when it came to transportation so we booked a flight back to Bali! We were feeling really excited at the thought of going back and knew it was the right decision for us. So after a week in Pattaya we went back to Bangkok for 2 days before flying out.