GOVINDAS AT THAILAND
by
Murali Murthy
A celebration to remember, a trip to cherish. It was our good friend Srinidhi's 50th Birthday and it had to be celebrated in style.
It was his long time wish to take us all to Thailand and celebrate his Birthday with his favourite people. The doer that he is, put his wish to action and booked flights and a Resort in Pattaya, Thailand.
The excitement of a full scale Govindas trip and a grand celebration awaiting, we all were charged up, and eager to reach Thailand soon.
Maybe our excitement had to be tamed a bit, and many in the group felt "Kisi ki Nazar lag gaya", and the Flight got cancelled due to a technical snag! It was such a disappointing and sad feeling...the drive back home after a long night at Bangalore Airport was painful and with dejected feelings.
Preeti was even like "how can this happen to us"!
Once back home, we gathered ourselves back and started exploring options to move the schedule to next day on the same flight.
It was a Deja vu moment as the entire evening played out again...we getting ready, Goodbyes at home, booking cab to Airport, reach Airport, Security check, Immigration, boarding...the entire process was a strange feeling as if we were stuck in time!
The Flight eventually took off as we were anxious till that time.
And here we were, in Bangkok!
We started out by freshening up and some quick breakfast at Suvarnabhumi Airport, before we headed out to our Day 1 activities that included Emerald Budha and Grand Palace visits.
Though the place was beautiful and we were tirelessly clicking away pictures, since we had 2 sleepless nights, we all were tired.
We managed to end the visit and started our journey towards Ravindra Beach Resort, Pattaya.
We checked in, and quickly assembled back at the Resort's restaurant for Lunch.
After a quick walk on the Beach, we rested for a while..in the evening, we headed out to the Alcazar Show.
It was a dazzling display of dance, showmanship, lights and Sets.
We later headed for Dinner at Beer Hubb. They served some good Indian dishes, which added the "happiness" to our celebrations and made the party more delightful.
Day 2
The agenda for the first half was "The Sanctuary of Truth", supposedly a museum to showcase Thai art built entirely on Wood. It's again a visual spectacle.
We then headed to the Floating Market, a shopper's paradise. The ladies had a good time, shopping away endlessly.
Malgudi Restaurant inside the Floating Market was supposed to be an Indian Restaurant, but did not taste anything Indian, still we were ok to get some Veg items to eat.
We returned back to the Resort, slept well. At a coffee shop in the evening, we launched our Coffee Book table to mark 25 years of our friendship.
Later in the night, went to explore Pattaya's famous night life.
No doubt it is colourful, a unique experience, uncomfortable sometimes, exciting a few other times.
After exploring the Walking Street, we settled down at Boss club for the party scene.
We hopped for a quick visit to a Russian dance club to get another unique experience.
Though it is entertainment at that moment, it feels sad and depressing to see girls shredding self respect and making themselves an object. I understand it's a profession and it's their livelihood, but somewhere it hurts!
Day 3
Since we ended the Walking Street visit early in the morning, we couldn't start the day early. We did some last minute changes to our plans, cancelled our Nong Nooch visit and instead chose to spend some relaxing time at the Resort for the first half.
Some of us chose to spend time at the pool, while the ladies went to the Spa.
We then headed to the highlight of the trip - Yacht ride!
It was yet another unique, exquisite, elitist experience in the waiting.
A 5 hour ride on a Private Yacht was a dreamy affair, food and drink well stocked in the Yacht. We danced, we celebrated, we laughed, we played in the water. But the last segment of the ride back, with some nice romantic songs, sleeping on the Yacht's nose, with the Sun setting in the background were not only picture perfect, but we truly experienced some magical moments.
Back to resort, we explored couple of options to settle down for Dinner, eventually chose Bacco Beach Restaurant, to have some relaxing, calm Dinner by the beach.
Day 4
The last day of the trip, we had to checkout from the Resort at Pattaya..we drove towards Bangkok and stopped at Tiger Topia, to interact with the wild animal that is atleast 6 times more powerful than we humans!
Similar to the experience at the Walking street, it was entertaining at that moment to touch, feel and pose for cameras with the Tigers, it felt bad somewhere that such a wild, ferocious animal was lying helpless, surely drugged and tortured!
The last agenda of the trip was the Chatuchak Market. Since it's a weekend Market, that operates after 06:00 PM, many shops were yet to open. We managed to do some shopping at the JJ Mall nearby, and since we were also running late, we rushed back to Suvarnabhumi Airport, to end our Trip.
It was just a fantastic trip, we partied hard, we celebrated hard, and more than anything, it's etched as a landmark Trip in golden words and created a wonderful memory.
Long Live this group - Govindas! We yearn for many more such good memories to be created!
All thanks to Neena (Mini and Jone Hospitality) and her supplier Hema (DASH group) in Thailand, who were as usual fantastic. Hema was absolutely brilliant and took care of all our requirements and constantly coordinating, making arrangements, ensuring everything went smooth! Kudos to their dedication.
