After leaving the Sanctuary of Truth, I rode my rented bike back to the main road.
If you want a quieter side to Pattaya, stay on this side (TSix 5 Hotel)I placed the camera around my neck and would take photos whenever traffic stopped… or whenever I felt like taking a photo, I would stop on the side of the road and clickYou got a lot of major hotel brands on the north Pattaya side, like Amariand Holiday InnThai Airways’ Pattaya office is on the north end as wellI didn’t really stop to take photos on Beach Road, because it’s hella busyI had been to Jomtien Beach in 2010, but I took a songthaew back then
I’m sure this hotel must be run by an Indian (Sun city Hotel)It’s a short 5-minute drive from Beach Road to get to Jomtien BeachJomtien is a much quieter, less seedier side of PattayaDominated by Russians, you still have enough bars and restaurants on this side — just not (m)any seedy clubsI never got far the last time I was hereI wanted to ride until the beach road endedBut this is how the road endedMaybe they’re expanding the road even furtherNo beach hereI parked the bike and decided to walk a bitLike I’ve said many times before in my previous posts, Pattaya’s beaches are quite lame compared to the rest on Thailand’s shorelinesStill, Jomtien at least gives you some space from the deluge of beach beds that take up all of the space on Pattaya BeachYou’ll be hard pressed to find space like this on Pattaya’s main beachThere isn’t much natural beauty in Pattaya, but dig deeper and I guess you’ll find itI rode back up the same road , stopping on the side whenever I felt like taking photos
Awww… hope he/she was alrightA whole bunch of college students were enjoying the water ridesYou have enough water-based activities on this side as wellPlenty of condominiums on this side, a lot of which are owned by RussiansIt was getting darkI decided to leave JomtienI wondered about having dinner at Jomtien itself. But I figured it was safer to give the rental bike back before having a beer.Back in my area, I had dinner parceled from a Greek food joint. Never tried a Greek “shawarma” – a.k.a pita souvlaki. It was okay, the pita bread was bit too thick for the amount of filling
Date: 17th November 2012
I had to head back to Bangkok to meet up with my friend Ramesh who was to land today.
I took a moped taxi to the Pattaya bus terminal from where one can catch buses to Ekamai in Bangkok city (124 baht for one way ride). I got down at Ekamai because the BTS station is right in front of the bus station.
This is where Ramesh and I booked our stay for one night in Bangkok — @Hua Lamphong HostelWe chose this hostel as it is right across from the Hua Lamphong railway stationThe interiors at this hostel are very well doneOur room cost ฿950 per night (Rs. 1800/$30/€23)Our room had all the convenience we neededIt was very clean and well-maintained
Hua Lamphong has an MRT (subway) station very near by– which is another reason why we chose to stay at this hostel.
That’s my friend Ramesh, waiting for the trainWe took the subway to Si Lom interchangeA panorama Ramesh took on his NexusThere’s a bit of walking to do to get to the Sala Daeng BTS station
We went to MBK mall, which was hosting some J-pop dance cover contest outside
We had lunch at the food court at MBK, which is always crowded.
We roamed around, checked out a few stores and left for the next mallSiam Paragon, where besides the food court and the multiplex, everything else is quite expensive!
All we did throughout the day was go mall-hopping, as Ramesh needed to buy some stuff to prepare for the next week of travel.
We walked all the way to Central World mall using the walkwayI. Hate. Bangkok traffic. It’s like this on Sukhumvit Road from 8am to 8pm.This was outside Central WorldI guess this is going to be another mall + office complexRamesh picked up his pure vegetarian dinner from Subway and I had pad thai parceled from a street vendor near our hostel
We went to bed early as both of us were a bit tired. We would have the next morning to go around because our bus to Phuket was only late in the evening.
