Deep ka Blog

Sorry guys, I couldn’t get online from Bangkok as there was no free wifi there.. but frankly speaking, I did not get time too.. I was roaming around the Bangkok most of the time..

Hmm okay, let me start this with the last day at Pattaya.. i.e. Day 4…

The Day 4 was mostly the day to rest but we had Alcazar show at 6 PM.. we went for the show.. nothing great.. not sure why people get so much excited about it.. some of the dances were very good no doubt.. but nothing impressive..

We left for Bangkok on Day 5, I was having high expectations for the hotel but sadly, the hotel was pretty bad, I am not sure why I did not bother researching about the hotel, I simply booked it, thinking if Amari Orchid pattaya is good then Amari Boulevard should be good too.. So, moral of the story… do a proper research before booking the hotels..

The only good part of the hotel was, the area.. 2-3 Indian restaurants at just 2 minutes of walk, BTS Skytrain station just 2 minutes away.. Oh yes.. the public transport.. very important thing about Bangkok.. Bangkok is mostly jammed during the peak hours.. so, get a city map from the hotel or from the airport (Don’t spend money on it, you get it for free) and hunt for the nearest BTS stations.. frankly speaking, firstly, I was very hesitant to use the public transport as I have not had any good experience with the public transport in Mumbai.. but this BTS changed my thinking totally.. it was very convenient and cheap too.. (Tip: If you are planning to travel more than once in a day, you can get daily pass for 120 baht), I think I should stop praising BTS and move on to the other things..

My Day 5, went into relaxing and then going to MBK Center in the evening.. very good place to shop, specially, footwear, leather goods (bags, belts etc..) & clothes.. dirt cheap stuff.. but at the same time very decent quality too.. At the end of the day, we found a very good Indian restaurant called Bukhara near our hotel.. (Just outside BTS station, Naana – E3), great food, very decent pricing.. what more we could have asked..

Day 6, this one was a good one.. we left at 8.30 AM for Safari world.. I was not so keen to go there but the place was totally opposite of what I had in my mind.. I thought, the place will be good only for the kids and adults will get bored.. but no, I was wrong.. we thoroughly enjoyed there.. fantastic, Orangutan boxing, sea lion and dolphin shows.. we also got ourself clicked with the tiger curb.. so overall, it was fun there..

We left from there at around 3 PM and directly moved to this place called Indra Square, this one is a wholesale market for clothes, accessories, electronics and lot more.. cheap stuff mainly.. the place is full of Indians.. (I did not find many thai people there), I went there just for the sake of it.. the things were very very cheap out there.. t-shirts as low as 40 baht per t-shirt etc.. but it did not impress me at all, I found it more like some Indian wholesale market.. we did not spend much time there..  (Tip: Do no expect anything to be original at these cheaply priced goods)

The next day, Day 7.. this was the last day at the Bangkok.. we checked out from our room at 1.30 PM, kept the luggage at the hotel and moved to MBK Center again, as we had to spend time somewhere and we did not want to visit museums and all, bought some stuff from there.. and by 6 PM, left for the airport.. (Our flight was at 1 AM but the travel guy had pickup at 6 PM).. checked in at the airport at 11 PM.. sadly, we had company of Indian crowd with us.. the ones who were travelling by flight for the first time in their life and are used to train travelling.. so they were behaving as if they are in some Indian train with no queue system and cleanliness.. (This require a separate blog post.. will try to post something soon)

So finally, we reached Mumbai at 5 AM in the morning.. as we touched Mumbai airport.. we started getting a different feeling.. the comfort zone was gone.. we started missing Thailand.. the time we spent there.. the polite people.. I will never forget the experience I had there.. this holiday is going to be always special for me…

And this brings an end to the travel diaries of Bangkok and Pattaya.. I hope my experience helps someone in someway.. if you have any kind of questions about these places.. do let me know, I will try my best to help you out..

Sorry guys, missed out to post about Day 2 in a separate post, so I am gonna club Day 2 and 3 together here..

As mentioned in my Day 1 post, Day 2 started with visit to Coral Island.. actually, we went for the parasailing first followed by underwater walking. Paid 350 baht per person for the parasailing.. it was worth trying out.. I personally loved it.. and enjoyed it fully.

Underwater walking sounded pretty interesting in the first, paid 1200 bath per person for it and 600 baht for the underwater photos and video shoot.. frankly speaking, this one was a big let down for me.. I had high expectations for this underwater walk.. but it turned out to be pretty dull.. they just made us walk around a small area.. we posed for some photos.. checked out some different types of fishes etc.. I would never pay for it again.. so moral of the story here, try it just once.. and also I would suggest, don’t bother paying 600 bath extra for the photo shoot… not worth the amount..

After that point, we moved to Coral Island.. amazing place I must say.. but sadly, we got only 1 hour to spend there.. this place had water sports like, speed water bike & banana boat. I couldn’t go for it as we were already tired.. but I would strongly recommend trying out these 2. The beach was very very clean.. the water was blue and clear.. I would suggest, plan accordingly so that you can spend more time here..

We left the place at around 12.30 – 12.45 PM, had lunch (Indian food) at some funny place.. (Lunch was included in the package), we then moved to this placed called Gems Gallery, this one was a marketing attempt by some jewelry company, but it was informative but more than that, their showroom had awesome jewelry.. so, for all those husbands, if you wife loves jewelry, don’t go to this place.. she will fall in love with it and it will leave a big hole in your pocket.. haha But seriously, if you have some cash in hand and don’t mind spending.. buy the stuff from there.. your wife will be the happiest person on the earth..

Apart from jewelry, they had some more items like, show pieces, painting and other Thailand based products for sale.. we bought some show pieces from there.. but while leaving, we found out that, the group we had come with had already left.. (I have no idea how they managed to leave without us..) but the showroom staff was very very friendly and cooperating, they did not let us go and arranged the vehicle for us to drop at the hotel.. (heads up for that…)

And we finally landed at the hotel.. dead tired with no mood to get out of the room.. we ended up ordering some funny pizza.. managed to eat half of it.. we went for a short walk after that.. got back to the room at around 7.30 – 8 PM and went to sleep.. woke up directly in the morning..

It was a nice much needed sleep..

So.. the Day 3..

Had lovely breakfast at the hotel.. followed by a super quick nap and the lunch.. we left for this place called Noong Nooch Village at 1.30 PM (We had paid USD 36 for this to the tour operator – I will list out all the expenses at the end of the trip, so it helps others in planning – ),  the place had very beautiful garden, where we did not get much time to explore.. we then rushed to the shows… 2 shows back to back.. 1st was traditional Thailand culture show – which I did not like much and felt was kind of boring – 2nd one was elephant show, it was far more entertaining.. fantastic show by elephants.. they dance on the songs, they play football, volleyball, ride cycle, give massage to people, paint and what not.. crazy stuff and a must watch.. actually, kids might like the thai traditional show too.. and yeah, make sure you reach before time and get the seats in the front.. if you fail to do that, you might have to run around to get the seats.. (it’s very difficult to get the seats there)

Also, there, you can get yourself clicked by sitting on the elephant or getting wrapped around in his trunk and all.. they charge around 50 – 100 baht for the same.. (this depends upon what you chose). Both the shows are of around 1 hour total..

So, after the show, we returned to the hotel and relaxed.. had dinner at another Indian restaurant called Shahi.. pathetic food.. very oily.. we will try another restaurant tomorrow to see if it’s good or not..

I guess that’s it for the day.. tomorrow will be mostly relaxing day with Alcazar show in the evening..

Oh yes, keep in mind that, when you travel here… the tour operator will definitely push you for the striptease shows or sex shows like Coconut shows etc.. so, go only if you want to.. don’t get into their talks and pay just for the sake of it..

And lastly… if you happen to visit Pattaya with your kids.. make sure you don’t roam around much with them on the streets in the night.. you will find lot of prostitutes around.. and I don’t think you would want your kids to see them..

Oh yes, I headed to Bangkok – Pattaya for my week long holiday.. as mentioned in the previous post.. feels good to be away and almost disconnected from the world..

So, let me start with the diary of this holiday with the Day 1..

Got boarded on the flight from Mumbai at 5.15 AM.. Cathey Pacific… pathetic service, great food, best rates.. so you got what I meant right? If you want to save money, get on to Cathey Pacific..

We landed at Bangkok airport at around 11 AM (Thailand Time 1.30 hours ahead of Indian Time), got immigration and all cleared and landed up in a coach for the Pattaya.. this experience was not very pleasing.. nothing bad at all but from next time, I would prefer to by the car next time.. We landed at the hotel, Amari Orchid (Ocean Wing) at around 12.30 – 1.00 PM (frankly speaking, we didn’t even look at the watch as we were dead tired)..  we were welcomed by super awesome traditional thai welcome drink.. we got into the room within 15 minutes and trust me..  it was heaven.. it was exactly liked what I wanted.. super cozy bed.. a big bathtub, balcony with splendid ocean view.. what more could anyone want.. I strongly recommend this hotel to everyone.. the rates are not that high at all.. (compared to what we pay in India for the five star hotels)..

So.. now what? Food.. food.. food.. Since we both are purely vegetarian, so we were in kind of dilemma about what to order for the food as their menu had mainly non vegetarian items and we were not at all in mood to get out of the room and grab the food at nearby Indian restaurant.. BUT Margherita pizza (Yea, that’s how they spell it) and nachos saved us.. awesome food..  So.. now it’s sleeping time.. we slept like crazy… and woke up directly at 7.30 PM.. headed out of the hotel to roam around.. bought some slippers and shorts for tomorrow’s Corel Island visit (As we will get totally wet there), had food at an Indian restaurant called Deli Haat (Delhi Haat), decent food..

Pattaya looked beautiful in the night.. I can see lot more people in the night than in the day..

Got back to the room.. enjoyed the beautiful weather.. now, watching Music ka Maha Mukabala on Star Plus (Sadly, that’s the only Hindi channel is being aired here).. So the day 1 comes to an end.. so far, very good experience.. really loving it.. bought an hourly net connection pack from the hotel.. so gonna, use it to post this and check the mails.. Tomorrow, have to get up at 6.30 AM and leave for Corel Island by 8.30 AM.. tomorrow is going to be the exciting day.. water sports, a walk in the underwater and much more.. really looking forward to it..

So, I am signing off now.. hopefully there will be one more post tomorrow.. 

Finally.. I am going on a full fledged holiday after 2 years.. Yeah, I had some small trips in between but this one is, just Megha & Me. So it’s gonna be a special one..

Frankly speaking, I needed a break.. for last almost a year.. the work has taken toll on my life.. and now I need sometime off for myself..

Last year, during this time, I had planned to surprise Megha by taking her to Goa.. I booked flight tickets, hotel etc.. but had to cancel at the end time due to some issues..

So this year, I have made sure that, everything is properly planned..

I am kinda bad guy in giving surprises.. but I think I have managed this one quite well.. No one at my place knows where I am going (Including Megha)…

Currently, I have mixed feelings running around in my mind.. I am not sure what are the reasons.. But at the same time, I am equally excited about seeing reactions of Megha..  (When she gets to know about the actual thing..)

I wanted this holiday totally without phone calls & internet but I guess that might just not be possible.. though, I would love to disconnect from the whole world..  let’s see how I succeed in it..

Okay, I am gonna shut my mouth now.. have to leave in next 3 hours..  will post more details about which place I am going etc.. later..

And touch wood.. hope things turn out well this time..

It’s a Sunday afternoon, I should say boring Sunday afternoon.. I really don’t know what I am going to write but started writing this (un)planned post about my experience in Kutch..  and my personal experiences within the span of last one week..

I left for Kutch on last Monday, 6th July, I was pretty much excited as my main purpose of visiting Kutch was to meet my grandparents.. I am kind of fond of them.. clean hearted people.. We see the love in their eyes..

I had decided that I will keep the work on the backseat but then I got stuck in the small issues which eventually were blown out of proportion.. few things left me in deep shock.. basically behavior of few people.. I won’t be able to post much about it now as I have been told myself to keep my mouth shut till the issues are resolved but I would surely like to tell the world whole story about how people try to take you on a joy ride..  (Obviously without playing name games..)

So, 6th and 7th were almost spent on cleaning up the mess.. though the shadows of it still remains..

But on the positive site.. I felt really good meeting my grand parents.. I saw the joy in their eyes..

After taking rest on 7th, as per our plan, we left to explore Kutch on 8th (We had planned for 2 days).. though the plan kept changing till the end..

We first visited a place called Mata nu Madh.. it is basically a temple.. I thought it will be a good place to visit but frankly speaking, it was one of the worst place to visit.. (though my parents like the temple and all..), then we moved to a place called Narayan Sarovar.. this one is another temple but I had decided to go to this place just to enjoy the scenic beauty and hope to get a closer look at the Indian border.. (It’s not so far from there), but I was left disappointed.. It did not have anything what I had in my old childhood rough memories..

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