Amazing Thailand! The Conclusion

Yindee Tonrab Soo Krungtep! Welcome to Bangkok!  

We finally reached Bangkok after a two-hour land trip from Pattaya. It was already a little past two in the afternoon and the first stop was the Royal Dragon Restaurant, recognized as the world’s largest restaurant by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1992. Sitting on an 8.35-acre property, the restaurant can accommodate up to 5,000 persons with an efficient staff of 1,000! What can you say? Anyway, having lunch at 2 p.m. is something quite unusual for me. Good thing, Yolly Wong had a pack of crackers which she generously shared during the trip and the chewy and spicy tamarind candies I bought at a convenience store beside our hotel in Pattaya made us forget that it was past my usual lunch time.

Then, we were brought to the hotel where we were billeted for the last days of the tour. It was another five-star Amari property, the Amari Watergate Hotel which is strategically located in the middle of the city, right across one of the biggest shopping malls in the city, the Platinum. Yes, pleasant temptations for Listher and Angie…

After a quick rest and shower, we then proceeded to one of the destinations I was looking forward to, the Siam Niramit for a dinner/show and an hour tour around a replica of a traditional village of the four regions. There, one can truly experience and have a “feel” of an authentic Thai community with inhabitants portraying a typical rural lifestyle demonstrating some crafts including handloom weaving, basketry, pottery, garland making and even cooking some native delicacies with free tasting at least out of curiosity. The dinner buffet was at one of the three dinning rooms serving delectable Thai and western food.

Another pride of Thailand, the Siam Niramit is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as one of the largest stage productions in the world, performed on the gigantic stage with a width of 65 meters, depth of 40 meters and proscenium height of 12 meters with state-of-the-art lighting, sound and projection equipment. One of the points which caught me in awe was the amazing special effects such as the sudden appearance of a river on stage (yes, with water!), the ultra realistic rain, thunder and lightning, angels flying through the air plus a lot more. The backstage crew is composed of a hundred while the actors are a hundred and fifty with 500 elaborate costumes for the 80-minute performance! Whew!

The fourth day of the tour started with a good one and a half hour ride outside of Bangkok to the Rose Garden Riverside. The Rose Garden Riverside boasts off its 70-acre botanical park by the Ta Chine River, which has been in operation for the past 40 years now with culture and tradition preserved through daily practices and performances. The resort has 174 guest rooms, which consists of 83 river view rooms, 77 garden view rooms and six Thai antique houses. 

Part of the property’s attractions are the golf course, the elephant ride, canoeing and other sports and aqua sports activities, daily cultural shows and the village life experience wherein one can experience first-hand Thai art and craft in the Thai village and join the villagers in Thai dancing, pottery, umbrella painting, coconut leaf weaving, fruit carving, garland making plus Thai martial arts and Thai cooking. It is one resort I recommend for families who intend to have a vacation. Even if you stay there for a couple of days, you are assured that each of the family members will have something to do and learn while mommy is out shopping in the city. (Right, Tita Alice Q?)

The next stop is one of my unforgettable moments in Thailand…the Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo. That was where I had my very first elephant ride. For the few times I’ve been to Thailand, I never really had time to try this exciting and scary thing! But I promised myself that this time, I should already try it and have souvenir photos taken that I can share with my nieces and my only nephew both in Cebu and in Florida. My gosh, I was sweating like an ice cream melting under the sun! It was a 30-minute breathtaking experience riding on an elephant and exploring through a lush tropical jungle and passing beneath the Iyara Waterfalls with no seat belts! Listher and I were so lucky the elephant we were riding on was the biggest elephant there and the “star” elephant of the elephant show!

Aside from the elephant riding, we were also treated to another Samphran attraction. The elephant show was complete with dramatic sound effects and narration. So fantastic, we were entertained by demonstrations of elephants at work and play. And not only that, they did a dramatization on how they were used during battles in ancient Siam where elephants were used by Siamese and Burmese armies dressed in full battle gear. They also have a spectacular wrestling show between crocodiles and men. Too bad, we weren’t able to witness it since the show was already finished when we came in.

Day five, the last day of our Thailand tour, started with a quick pass through the Pak Klong Talad “Flower Market” before proceeding to the Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall. It is situated on the east of the Amphorn Satharn Villa. The two-storey Throne Hall with approximately 49.50 meters in width 112.5 meters length and 47.50 meters height was constructed in the Italian Renaissance and Neo Classic inspired architecture. The exterior is decorated with marble from Carrara, Italy.

The construction of the Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall was carried out during the later years of His Majesty King Chulalongkorn’s life to fulfill the late wish of His Majesty King Vajiravudh (Rama VI). He passed away in 1910 and the construction was finally completed in 1915, a total of eight years and with a total budget of 15 million baht. On the interior of the domes are the paintings depicting the history of the Chakri Dynasty, from the first to the sixth reign by Prof. Galileo Chini and Mr. C. Riguli. Now, the Ananda Samakhom Throne Hall is primarily used to hold important royal and state ceremonies.  

Next in the itinerary was the Vimanmek Mansion, the world’s largest golden teakwood mansion built in 1900AD. The three story, 81-room mansion is the largest golden teak building in the world built in an architectural style that reflects European influences. There are two right-angled wings each 60 meters long and 20 meters high. One can’t help but admire the craftsmanship while you travel back in time and get a rare insight of the royalty’s lifestyle. Vimanmek Mansion was built in 1901 by King Chulalongkorn the Great (King Rama V) as a royal residence. It is located behind the National Assembly Building. It was renovated and extensively restored by the order of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit to house awesome priceless treasures and a collection of the late 19th and early 20th century royal memorabilia.

The last part of the itinerary of the five-day tour was the Siam Ocean World, a subsidiary of the Oceanis Australia Group, the world’s leading aquarium operator with more than 15 years experience in the aquarium business. Located at the new and elegant world-class shopping destination, the Siam Paragon, it is the largest aquarium in Southeast Asia. It covers 10,000 square meters, the size of two football pitches with the aquarium capacity of 4 million liters of water, equivalent to three Olympic-size swimming pools. We were amazed to see the “king of the ocean” the ragged-tooth shark, one of the rarest shark species, magnificent rays, sea jellies, adorable penguins and a lot more of rare sea animals.

Siam Ocean World’s other distinctive features include a 270-degree acrylic under ocean tunnel, panoramic oceanarium with 360-degree view through a 10.5 meter diameter fishbowl, 8-meter deep reef tank, rainforest display, over 30,000 marine animals comprising 400 species, interactive database “AquaSearch”; world-class education programs, glass bottom boat and the Sanyo 4D X-venture which we had the chance to experience. 

We were able to come out from the Siam Ocean World at around three in the afternoon. Dave gave us an option whether to do last minute shopping or just go back to the hotel and take a rest before 7:30pm, our schedule to leave the hotel going to the Suvarnabhum Airport to catch our Philippine Airlines PR 733 flight to Manila. I opted to go back to the hotel to recharge having in mind that it’ll be a long night ahead while the others opted to do the shopping rush. The Bangkok – Manila flight was at 11 p.m., arriving Manila at 3:50 at dawn with a connecting flight to Cebu at 7:30 in the morning.

In hindsight, Thailand still remains to be one of the must-visit destinations in the Asian region with Bangkok, an ultra cosmopolitan city with rich culture and heritage still preserved, as the melting pot of the ancient and the modern world. Pattaya, on the other hand, is also a popular tourist destination in Thailand because of its beautiful beaches and other unique must-see tourist attractions.

It was such an enjoyable and worthy trip. The five days was just enough…not too long and not too short. All the places we visited were truly worth it. In fact, I recommend the same itinerary we had to anyone planning a vacation in the very near future and you will definitely have a grand time like we had.   Our flight schedule, which was so “sulit,” brought us there early afternoon. Yes, it’s only Philippine Airlines that offers the first flight out daily to Bangkok and the last flight back to Manila. Just perfect! I wouldn’t mind doing it again and again! SAWADEE KAP!

My sincerest gratitude to Philippine Airlines and to PAL’s mega assets: Mr. Chris Lebumfacil and Ms. Marijo Araneta, Southwind Travel and Tours (my oh-so-charming Tita Alice Queblatin and her dynamic daughter Cookie Queblatin-Chan), Tourism Authority of Thailand (the very hospitable Dave de Jesus), Trikaya Cultural and Academic Travel Services – Thailand through its amiable owner KasemsalBhamornsati who made it a point to be with us at least three times despite his busy schedule and Mr. Barn, our very patient and knowledgeable tour guide. Without these people, that “Amazing Thailand” tour would not have been possible.

God bless and Mabuhay!