After a few days in the central countryside I was informed that we were off on a road trip to Pattaya.

An overnight trip to the seaside is some sort of family tradition at this time of year. So in the early afternoon we piled three adults and four children into the pickup and set off. The children were kept amused by the DVD/VCD player. And the old American cartoons were even funnier in Thai than English. When we got sick of Daffy Duck and Loony Tunes there were other cheap options available at the convenience stores.

Ok..we just got back from Thailand after spent 3 weeks over the X'mas and new year. Guess what?, we chose to stayed at some condo in Jomtien beach area for entire 3 weeks, and never once set foot in Pattaya! We had booked the condo over the internet a few month before with the taxi pick-up service of $1200 from the airport. Our flight was supposed to land around 11:00pm but didn't actually land until 2:00am! Our driver's pretty cool about it. Then..off we went and slept pretty much the whole trip to Jomtien beach. We had so much fun over there! You'll be amazed at what we did during our time there....which's nothing much!

I was telling you the other day about a recent trip I went on to Pattaya. As it is the main beach resort for people living in Bangkok I have been there many times. Some people go there as a day trip but really it is best to stay at least one night. On long holiday weekends, it can take you 2-3 hours to go there. Our nearest beach is at Bangsaen which I have talked about before. This is only just over an hour away. Pattaya has more of a nightlife and most people don't see it as a place to soak up some culture during a break from sunbathing. However, this is what we tried to do last weekend.

I have mentioned before that Pattaya is not exactly my favourite beachside resort. Apart from the sleaziness, the beaches are not my idea of tropical white sand and palm trees. Better to head further south to Koh Samet and Koh Chang. However, there are some locations in Pattaya which have a more of a cultural flavour. So, at the weekend, I was determined to fill my day with some alternatives to sitting on the beach.