Travel...Pattaya

 A holiday destination for official purposes. A place famous for attracting solo males but travelling with a few thousand colleagues! 

To make the best of whatever I got, out of the many seminars and sessions on "Family Planning" I had to participate or present in, I picked up just additional three things to do. 1. Enjoy the local cuisine. 2. Visit the beach and 3. Check out this amazing wood-carved structure by the beach, which looks like a temple but they call it the "Sanctuary of Truth museum".

What more? Yes, one neat mobile app called "Bolt", which solves almost all local travel problems. Get a ride in a jiffy, is economical, and the best feature, it is bilingual: English for me and Thai for the driver. They speak so little of English there, that initially, it did seem to be a challenge. That was, until Bolt came to my rescue! Another unique feature, I got three lady driven cars out of the dozen or so rides I had.

And here are the pictures:

1. Local cuisine: I tried no fancy restaurant, but went to places packed with local people. This is what I got to taste and relish. I am not describing any, but you get to take a look!











(Crocodile meat! I did not try this one)

2. The beach...barely got a chance to visit the really long and quite a bit colorful beach; popular for go-go bars and massage parlors in certain stretches...





(last picture: entrance to the colorful part of the beach by night)

3. The Sanctuary of Truth museum. Right on the beach, completely wooden and with intricate carved facades expressing a rich story line. Many characters are drawn from Indian epics, Buddhist and Hindu scriptures, including the "Garuda" which seems to be a popular emblem of Thailand. The constant wear and tear, makes the structure appear to be of two colors, the older portions grey and the new renovated portions brown. An entire workshop of wood-smiths are constantly at work, carving newer figures and panels to replace the eroding parts. Take a look...














(the Garuda)

(the workshop)

 Finally a few pictures of the conference itself, to remind me why I was there in the first place!


(The super-man who made condom use popular through parades like this in Thailand, also called the "condom man of Thailand" got a lifetime achievement award. Check his Ted-talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSznVBd37Uo )


(the opening ceremony)


(lining up for coffee in a "coffee and condom stall dedicated to another lifetime achiever)

(and this drink of Coffee and Orange juice combo gave my taste buds a pleasant zing!)

so here I end....so long!




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