Rosie and Bruce at Pattaya
We hadn’t visited Pattaya on any previous trips so Bruce decided to try this beach side town that is only 1 hour from Bangkok. We had been warned that it was a bit sleazy but sometimes it is good to experience these places.
There are many golf courses between Bangkok and Pattaya and around Pattaya so it is worth seeing what else is on offer.
We stayed at the MERCURE PATTAYA which is a relatively cheap hotel two blocks back from the beach. The pool was fantastic and the location was good. The hotel was a bit rundown but for what we paid it was good.
Walking around Pattaya is eye opening. It is mainly single male tourists trying to link up with one of the many available Thai girls. There is nothing subtle about the sex industry in Pattaya. Rosie and I were a bit of an exception, being an established couple.
The restaurants and street food were excellent and we had lots of choice. We also travelled to a couple of the outlying beach towns for a couple of meals and they were very pleasant. We particularly liked the Robin Hood Tavern for breakfast, which was a short walk from our hotel.
We took a couple of day trips, one on the ferry to Koh Larn island, which is a very family friendly beach with banana boats and many other water activities. There is also a fishing village which we didn’t get to see, but it looked more interesting than the beach. The other trip we took was to Nong Nooch Botanical Gardens.
I was hoping that the gardens would be similar to the Botanical Garden in Singapore, but it was completely different, more stylised and touristy. The dinosaur sculptures and other animal sculptures were very good but I really wanted to see more gardens. The bus tour started out poorly but the second two stages through the nurseries were very interesting so the day wasn’t too bad.
The golf courses we played were all in good condition and we thoroughly enjoyed our games. We visited the Golf Links Hotel in Pattaya which was very interesting. You can book to play a round of golf, which they organise for Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s. You then turn up to the hotel before 8:30am and are taken to the course by bus. The food and service were good. Great for a single golfer.
All up, we enjoyed our stay but wouldn’t go back since there are many more quieter less touristy places to visit in Thailand.
