Day 26 Laem Chabang, Pattaya, Thailand

Today we have a full day the port of Laem Chabang, the port for Bangkok.  We will disembark the ship tomorrow as it marks the end of this cruise.   We know from experience the drive to Bangkok can take nearly three hours so we chose to visit Pattaya, a one hour drive from this port, instead.

We first tried to call a Grab taxi – once it appeared in the system as a Toyota Yaris – I knew that was way too small to fit three of us in the back seat, so I cancelled the Yaris.  We chose to take a bus shuttle directly from the port.  That round trip cost us $14 US each.  We caught the 8:40 am shuttle and had the choice of return times of noon, 2, 4 or 6 pm.  As we exited the pier area, it became apparent we would have to walk several kilometres to meet the Grab because they are not allowed in the secure area.  So thank heavens we cancelled it right away.  Other taxis were available to book for the whole day to take you to a bunch of sights – but that didn’t appeal to us today.

 

We got dropped off at Mike’s Shopping Mall and walked to see some sights.  We walked on “Walking Street” and felt we should have done more research because this seemed like a seedy section of town – just one block off the beach.  The women all said “Let’s get off this street!”  And so we did.  We found the Bali Hal Pier, where there was also a tourist information booth.

 

 

We caught a Grab taxi to the Pattaya Floating Market.  That was a destination that made me think of Venice.  A person pays 200 Baht entrance (about $10 CAD).  The entrance ticket they try to push on you is by boat – a row boat (800 Baht/person) or a motor boat (950 Baht/person), so we were glad to figure out walking was an option.  We shopped and ate a teeny tiny bit.  Jessica and I had Corn on the cob.  Lynn had a pad thai that she shared with J (both reported it to be bland).  Food was cooked on primitive kind of cooking centres on boats – so we were happy to limit our food consumption.

 

 

Note the colourful 'flowers' in the foreground.  They are made of pop bottles and painted - and found all throughout the Pattaya Floating Market.

We then took another Grab back to Mike’s Shopping mall – now 30 minutes away from where we were.  We walked through a clothing store with lots of options and good prices.  I didn’t bite.

 

Our shuttle bus back to the port was about 50 minutes.  J had bought a King mango that he cut on board and it was delicious!

We had our final supper.  Packing took up an hour or so in the evening.  Tomorrow we disembark.

We are in good health and I am ever so appreciative that we can travel to these destinations I have only ever read about.  I recognize we are very privileged to travel as we do, acutely aware of our good fortune and filled with gratitude to have been able to share these memory building moments with Lynn and Jessica.  :)