We don’t usually wake up early when on trips. Gone were the days when I’d dutifully set my alarm off an hour before sunrise; dragging my feet, my heavy camera, and my still heavier tripod to the nearest body of water to shoot the first light of the day. Now, those times only surface when I find a really, really, really nice location for a sunrise shoot. And during our two-day stint in Pattaya Beach, I didn’t feel the need to wake up early at all.

PATTAYA CITY’S HOLLYWOOD-ESQUE LANDMARK

We were staying at the Bayview Pattaya Hotel, which was a few minutes away by foot from the beach, so we took our sweet time having our bacons and hotdogs before heading out. We’ve seen what the beach looked like yesterday, before we went to Mini Siam, and let’s just say that we’re really not that excited about it.

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The moon was shining brightly across the evening sky of Thailand. I trained my camera at the massive stupas and intricate temples of Wat Phra Kaeo, catching the faint rays of the moon reflecting over their smooth, golden surfaces. I crouched, and crouched some more, trying to level with the complex.

INTRICATE TEMPLE DETAIL

But everything wasn’t what it seemed. The moon wasn’t really a moon, but a lamp post a few feet away. The stupa and temples weren’t soaring above me, they were less than half my height. And I wasn’t really in Bangkok, I was at the Mini Siam in Pattaya. A park dedicated to nothing but replicas of famous temples and structures around Thailand.

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We were lounging on a beach recliner, our bare feet digging in at the cream-colored sand of Pattaya Beach, sipping on coconut juice straight from its husk. Our main reason for going to this resort town was mainly due to the fact that it was the nearest beach to the megalopolis that is Bangkok. And well, alright I’ll be honest, it was also because I saw it on one of the Starbucks Icon mugs that I have been collecting.

FROM BANGKOK TO PATTAYA VIA TRAIN, BUS AND SONGTHAEW

Coming from the beautiful country of Nepal and spending a single night at Bangkok’s posh Chatrium Hotel Riverside, we met with two more travel mates at the Suvarnabhumi Airport—which I could not pronounce correctly if my life depended on it. From there, we quickly hopped on a bus that sent us straight to Pattaya City.

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Flying from Nepal to Thailand, we dropped our backpacks in Bangkok and headed to the resort town of Pattaya.

I was looking forward to the warmth of the sea after days of seeing nothing but the crazy-crowded urban cities and the misty mountains of Nepal. I was really looking forward to plunging into the waters of Pattaya and rinsing myself of the grime of the city. But alas, what greeted us on Pattaya Beach instead was a beach over-crowded with umbrellas and a very uninviting sea.

Oh well, it’s still definitely better than nothing. :)