After arriving in Pattaya yesterday, we got ready in the morning and went down for breakfast. As usual, even this hotel had a great breakfast spread. We were scheduled to take the Coral Island (Ko Laan) tour today.
A tuk-tuk arrived to take us to the beach. We reached there and had to wade through the water to reach the speedboat which was going to take us to Coral Island. There were about 20-25 people with us. Our first stop was parasailing. We had to climb aboard a floating platform where parasailing could be done at extra cost. We were, of course, more than willing. We watched in awe at the precision and timing with which the people were handling the activities. As soon as a person came in for a landing, a group of people would attack him/her and get the harness off, one person would lead the person who has just landed away, while another group would attach the harness to the next person waiting in line who would be lifted off his/her feet almost instantaneously. And all this within a time frame of 5-10 seconds while the boat pulling the harness and parachute is still moving ahead in the water. Soon it was my turn and before I knew it I was in the air being led by the boat for a loop round; it was like flying really.
Our next stop was the underwater sea walk but no one from our group seemed interested in that so we headed for Coral Island. The speed boat ride was amazing – with bumps and turns, it was almost as good as a roller coaster. Coral Island had a nice white sand beach and clear blue water. I went for a swim in the sea and then we sat on the beach to unwind. After returning to Pattaya, we were taken to a restaurant for an Indian lunch buffet. We went back to the hotel in the afternoon to relax before our tour to see Mini Siam which features miniature replicas of iconic structures from Thailand and all over the world.
It was nice to see smaller scale versions of many Thai temples and also sites from around the world.
We also saw the model for Bangkok Hualampong railway station where we arrived into Bangkok and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport from where we would be leaving in a few days.
After returning from there we walked along the road next to Pattaya beach to shop for souvenirs, etc. We saw an Iranian restaurant on our way back to the hotel and picked grilled chicken for dinner. This was our last night in Pattaya and we would be heading back to Bangkok the next day.