I’m not gonna lie, Pattaya is one of the most overrated cities I’ve been to.
After spending five amazing days in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, my family and I said goodbye to our friends and continued on to Thailand. Visiting Thailand has always been a dream of mine. My mom was an ex–tour guide, and Thailand was my mom’s favorite country. So I grew up listening to stories about Thai food, Thai culture, and just how fun Thailand is.
When I was a kid, whenever someone asked, “What’s your dream travel destination?” I always, always, always said Bangkok.
I visited Chiang Mai last year and it I loved everything about the city. This time, I had mighty high expectations for Bangkok and Pattaya.
So with all that anticipation, we boarded the bus to Pattaya… and the bus itself shocked me. Were all buses in Thailand this fancy? If so, I’ve seriously been missing out. The bus we were on, it had some sort of business class bus thing going on, the seats were huge and so comfortable.
The two-hour ride flew by, and honestly, I usually detest bus rides but there’s something about looking out the window of a moving car in a new country that hits differently. You feel like you’re the main character in a movie.
When we arrived, we checked into Grande Centre Point Pattaya, located right next to (actually, connected to) the mall Terminal 21. The hotel was absolutely fan-ta-bu-lous, exactly where you would want to stay in a beach vacation-y place like Pattaya. The rooms are gorgeous and impeccably clean, all the staffs are so nice and helpful, and the location is perfect. I highly recommend anyone who visits Pattaya to stay at Grande Centre Point, it really doesn’t get any better than this! If i ever go back to Pattaya, this is exactly where I’d stay again.
Terminal 21 being connected to the hotel is also really convenient. It’s such a fun mall with so many things to do. And the food court, oh don’t get me started on the food court. The food court in Terminal 21 might be one of my favorite places in all of Pattaya. It’s got such a great variety of food, all for such a good price, and so so delicious.
While being in a shopping mall might not be what you’re looking for on a vacation in a place like Pattaya, having one right next to your room really does make everything more convenient when you just want a place to chill and hang out for the night after a long day at the beach.
I must confess, I’m not much of a beach girly, even less a ocean sports/ water activities girly, which Pattaya is mainly known for. But I’ll give credits where it’s due; the beaches on Pattaya are so beautiful, I can totally imagine myself coming back here just to lie on the beach chair all day reading a book with a martini in my hands.
We visited Koh Larn (Coral Island), which is one of the most visited islands of Pattaya. The boat ride was traumatic, do bring really heavy antiemetics if you’re prone to sea sickness. But the real horror happened when a blonde girl vomited everywhere right as everyone were getting off the boat. And I mean everywhere. Within a 15 meter radius. Getting off a roller coaster boat with fresh puke on my legs was definitely what I had planned for the day.
Even with the awful head start to the day, we had plenty of fun trying ocean sports for the first time. Well, my first time. It was my first time jet skiing and parasailing. It was fun, and quite frankly, a little terrifying. As I flailed around in the sky, I couldn’t help but wonder.. was I becoming an ocean-sports girly after all, or simply parasailing my way into delusion?
Despite the thrill of exploring a new beach everyday, I found the rest of the trip to be very underwhelming. If I’m being completely honest, Pattaya felt overly touristy and commercialized. From the locals selling water activities, to the tourist-catered night markets, to the once-flourishing Pattaya floating market… and don’t even get me started on the elephants, the poor poor elephants. Something about the city just doesn’t feel authentic, like the soul had been sucked out a long time ago to make room for tourism.
I feel like Pattaya is one of the most tourist-saturated places I’ve visited. I would love to return one day to just do nothing on the beach, but this time, it just didn’t have that special charm that I look for when I travel….And it really made me think, what is it that we’re really searching for when we travel?
What is it that you look for when you travel?
Love,
Emily
