From shrewd salesmen and tourist guides to breathtaking scenic beauty and para-gliding, Pattaya is an exciting place to visit
AS our airconditioned coach sped, up along the Coastal Highway from Bangkok to Pattaya, the scene outside reminded me of our trip the States.
A clean, wide road with trailers carrying large containers moving in tandem as new cars in shinny bodies overtook them. There were very few trees on either side of the road and one could see fish canning factories and some manufacturing plants here and there along the highway.
Located 147km southeast of Bangkok, it took us about three hours to reach our destination from the capital city. Pattaya was once a sleepy fishing village. But during the Vietnam War, it grew into a city, courtesy US Servicemen who favoured the village as a rest and recreation spot. After the war, tourists replaced the soldiers and from thereon, the place developed into a major tourist hub.
For some time Pattaya was regarded as a ‘city of sin’. However, gradually it was able to change its profile as well as its image. Though it still has a thriving night life in some parts, a large number of families and senior citizens are also attracted by its calm beaches, water spots and transparently clear water in which one can easily gaze at the colourful sub-surface marine life.
Though Pattaya has its own beaches, still many tourists prefer to go farther to one of the several coral islands located a few kilometres away, as the water there is cleaner and more tranquil and away from the commercial atmosphere that the town’s tourist industry invites.
So, as soon as we came out of our coach, we were surrounded by agents of big launches that ply between the Pattaya beach and the coral islands. As we looked around, we could see a number of Indian tourists, families arriving there. One of the agents was quite a jolly fellow. He addressed the visitors by the names of well-known Indian film stars. Taking us to be Indians, he asked Mujeeb “Hey Aamir Khan! I am Rithik Raushan. Won’t you like to go with me to Ko Larn island?”
The big double-decked launch was soon filled to capacity. I looked around and found myself in a global environment. There were people from the West and the East. There was a family from the Indian city of Bangalore, well-known for its IT industry. There was another family from Gwalior in which an elderly lady was dressed, as my wife was, in a saree. She had been looking towards us with curious eyes. As soon as we took our seats on the upper deck, she turned to my wife.
“Aap kahan se aee hain?”
“Pakistan se.” She then became all the more interested in us and kept us asking about so many things.
As we approached the islands, we saw a colourful and exerting scene. People were flying with a parachute tied to their waist. The parachute was fastened with the help of a cable to a very fast moving small motor boat. The person wearing the parachute would take-off from the open deck of a stationary big launch and after taking a round of several minutes in the sky, would land back at the same deck. The kids were greatly excited. It was about this time that ‘Rithik Raushan’ decided to appear on the scene.
“Hey kids! Won’t you like to have a look on our dear earth from the sky above?”
He asked the two lads sitting beside me. He knew that was the right moment to arouse the adventurism in the boys. They looked towards their father who immediately obliged them by booking parachute rides for them.
But the salesman in dear ‘Rithik’ was not yet satisfied. “Won’t you like to enjoy snorkling and scuba diving?” he asked. And the boys were immensely delighted. The father again obliged them. Then ‘Rithik’ remarked, “Nice papa. Boys, you are lucky to have such a caring papa. When I was a kid, my father would always growl a big ‘NO’ to anything that I would ask him to get for me.”
But there was no end to Rithik’s salesmanship. He now tuned to us.
“Aamir Khan,” he addressed Mujeeb in a friendly tone, “Your group can have a submarine ride and you can watch from the portholes God’s underwater creatures!”
As he handed over the tickets to Mujeeb, we had reached close to the big stationary launch, from where the para-gliders took-off and to which they landed back. We along with others, were transferred to that big boat.
When his turn came for para-sailing, the elder of the two boys was a little hesitant. The young woman from Bangalore said, “O, there is nothing to fear. We have this para-sailing in Goa and I enjoyed it a lot when I was a little girl.”
The helpers then fastened the parachute around the boy’s waist and as the tiny motorboat pulled him against the direction of the wind, he went up high above us all. The lad was now flying in the air. The motorboat took an enormous circle around the big launch and that kept him floating in the sky for a few minutes. As the motorboat slowed down, the kid started gliding and in a few moments landed back safely on the deck. Now it was the younger boy’s turn.
This para-sailing was enjoyed by both, the kids who flew and the elders who watched them flying. But the submarine ride turned out to be a fake affair. Actually we were taken to another big launch anchored nearby. The lower part of the launch, like that of all big boats, was submerged. A staircase took us into this lower part which had scores of watertight glass windows on either side from where one could see the fish, mushrooms and the weeds in the sunlit clear sea water. The only thing that had a semblance to a submarine, was the double door of the staircase. Anyway, we consoled ourselves by saying that the underwater view would have been the same, whether seen from the windows of the lower part of a launch or from the portholes of a submarine.
We were now at our destination, the coral island’s beach. It presented a familiar sight like that of any other beach in the West. The only difference was that side-by-side with those in the usual costumes for swimming and sunbathing, there were many men like me, who were in trousers and many women (of course from South Asia) in full formal due, at least two of them in sarees!
It was now lunch time. Mujeeb had ordered an entirely vegetarian meal. The difficulty with me is that I can not remember the names of dishes, even Pakistani dishes. But the food was certainly delicious. After the meal, most of the visitors enjoyed a nap on reclining divans, along the beach. I simply followed suit.
When we got up, it was four in the afternoon, time to go back. And thus ended a memorable day in our lives.
From shrewd salesmen and tourist guides to breathtaking scenic beauty and para-gliding, Pattaya is an exciting place to visit 
