Day 5: 28 May 2022, Saturday
Rise and shine! Waking up to a beautiful and sunny Saturday morning, we went for our breakfast at 7:10am. As we were somewhat creatures of habit, we sat at the same table as yesterday while enjoying the lovely buffet spread. After filling our tummies, we went to the swimming pool to take some photos and soak up the gorgeous view of the Hilton Pattaya infinity pool and the deep blue sea for one last time.
At 8:50am, we checked out of our hotel and booked a Grab car to take us to the North Pattaya bus terminal. The fare was 100 baht (S$4.15) and the ride took only seven minutes, and we arrived at 9:06am. En route, I noticed that the traffic light system in Pattaya had countdown timers for both the red and green lights. After the countdown timer for the green light reached zero, the amber light flashed before turning red.
I have seen this system in other countries like Malaysia and Vietnam and I think it is an effective way to reduce instances of vehicles beating the red light. This is because the countdown timer lets you know how much time remains before it turns red, which allows you to make a more informed decision whether to accelerate or come to a stop. I wonder why Singapore has not implemented a similar countdown system. It will definitely make our roads safer.
The Pattaya bus terminal offers air-conditioned bus services from Pattaya to two destinations in Bangkok – Ekkamai and Morchit, which is near Chatuchak. We went to Counter 1 and bought our tickets to Ekkamai bus terminal, which cost 119 baht (S$4.94) per person. Luckily for us, the next departure was at 9:20am so we didn’t have to wait long.
Before boarding, Dad went to use the toilet so Mum and I went up the bus first. We initially sat at the wrong row because the seat numbers were not very clearly indicated. However, we stayed put because there were many people boarding at the time. When dad came up shortly after, he sat at an empty seat (with the correct seat number) beside a Caucasian man. Once the aisle was clear of other passengers, we swapped places and took up our correct seats.
Dad went to sit with mum while I took the seat beside the Caucasian man, the seat that dad just vacated. I was rather taken aback when the Caucasian man muttered to me: “I’ll rather have you sit beside me. At least you’re young and healthy.” I don’t think he knew that the person he just referred to as ‘not young and healthy’ was my dad. He might have meant it as small talk or a friendly joke, but I felt it was rather rude and uncalled for. I decided that the best way to deal with such people was to ignore them and not give them the attention they sought. I quickly put on my sunglasses and AirPods, sending a strong signal that I was in no mood to indulge him.
During the ride, he made a phone call and talked quite loudly. Everyone seated around him could hear his conversation loud and clear. After the call, he kept mumbling to himself, obviously hoping that I would reciprocate and talk to him. When I showed no signs of engaging him, he talked to another guy who was sitting across the aisle (he was sitting by the window while I had the aisle seat). I could tell that the other guy was not very interested to talk to him either.
After we arrived in Bangkok and alighted from the bus, dad told me that the Caucasian man had earlier offered me some lozenges during the ride. Apparently, he appeared offended when I didn’t react to his offer. I honestly didn’t see his gesture as I kept my eyes closed while resting (he wouldn’t know because I was wearing sunglasses), but even if I did, I would have rejected him.
Maybe he was just friendly and had a different sense of humour, or he was just lonely and needed someone to talk to. Normally, I am very friendly and I will usually chat with fellow travellers, unless I am very tired. But unfortunately for him, it got off the wrong foot with his opening remark. It wasn’t the most enjoyable of bus rides, but thankfully it lasted only two hours, and we arrived at Ekkamai (Eastern Bus Terminal) in Bangkok at 11:25am.
Compared to our previous journey from Bangkok to Pattaya on minivan, I would say that the bus was the better option. I thought that the bus journey would be longer because it was bigger and would therefore move slower, but surprisingly, the bus ride was faster – only 2 hours, compared to 2 hour 25 minutes on minivan. More importantly, the bus ride was more comfortable and safer too. Cost wise, even after factoring in the Grab ride from the Pattaya bus terminal to the hotel, it was still slightly cheaper to travel by bus than by minivan (the 160 baht/S$6.64 fare for minivan includes doorstep drop-off at your Pattaya hotel). In conclusion, it is better to travel between Bangkok and Pattaya by bus.
From Ekkamai, we took the BTS Skytrain to Chit Lom station and walked to our Grande Centre Point Ratchadamri hotel, arriving at 12:06pm. It was a well-established routine because we had stayed at the same hotel three days ago. As we were too early for check-in, we deposited our luggage at the concierge before heading out again for lunch at centralwOrld, a behemoth of a shopping mall. It was especially crowded because it was Saturday, and scores of locals were out in full force to enjoy the weekend. We settled on Pepper Lunch, simply because there were seats available.
After lunch, we strolled back to the hotel to check in to our room. Despite booking the same room type (Grand Suite) as three days ago, we had a smaller sized suite with a different layout today because it was along a corridor, whereas our previous suite was a corner unit. Nevertheless, it was still acceptable and large enough for our needs.
After downloading our luggage and freshening up, we headed out again at 2:40pm. It was a free-and-easy afternoon as I went to Fortune Town mall to visit some record stores, while mum and dad went to Platinum Fashion Mall for shopping. From Chit Lom, I took the BTS Skytrain to Asok, and transferred to Sukhumvit on the blue MRT line to Phra Ram 9 station, only two stops away (19 baht/S$0.79).
Fortune Town is a large shopping mall specialising in IT products and audio-visual equipment, like our Singapore version of Sim Lim Square and Adelphi rolled into one. The IT products are mostly found on the second floor while the audio-visual equipment and record stores are on the third floor. I spent a good 2½ hours browsing through the racks of several stores – Cap Music, Nik Studio, Vinyllica, Hall of Fame Records, Minilop, MP Audio, and P&P Audio & Vinyl. I managed to unearth some gems, many of which were Japanese pressings of CD albums.
For my fellow music lovers, here are pictures of the music/record stores at Fortune Town mall for you to check out and do some crate digging!
Feeling satisfied with my haul, I took the MRT back to Sukhumvit/Asok to meet mum and dad at 7:20pm, before bringing them back to Phra Ram 9 station. Instead of Fortune Town, we went to Centralplaza Grand Rama 9 mall, which is the gateway to Jodd Fairs night market. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some night markets in Bangkok had closed down in the past two years.
Jodd Fairs is the new version of the popular Ratchada Train Night Market, but smaller and without the trademark colourful roof tents. Open from 11am to midnight daily, Jodd Fairs consists of many food stalls, clothing stalls and even a stall offering barber service. There is also a large open-air area for visitors to sit and enjoy live music.
Unsurprisingly, most people seemed to be there for the food, with the options aplenty. As we were not very adventurous, we chose a simple meal of crab seafood fried rice, prawn fried rice, morning glory veggies and tom yum soup and a bottle of Leo beer, costing 729 baht (S$30) altogether.
By 9:05pm, we were done and left Jodd Fairs market for our hotel. It was a short visit as our intention was more to experience the buzz of the night market, and not the shopping or food. After two unsuccessful attempts at booking a Grab car (the traffic was heavy and the cars were not moving), we hailed a taxi off the street. The final meter fare was only 71 baht (S$2.95), compared to 165 baht on Grab. From this, we learned that street-hail taxis are much cheaper and faster, because we don’t have to wait for the Grab car to drive to our pickup location. We arrived our hotel at 9:55pm and called it a night.