Pattaya, soul and sense

PATTAYA, Thailand – But for the beach, it’s Angeles City’s Fields Avenue, down to its Walking Street of gaudy bars and red-lit clubs.

So is this city in Chonburi province, 165 kilometers southeast of Bangkok, instantly imaged.

As it’s not all decadence at Fields, so it’s not all debauchery in Pattaya too. Where prostitution thrives, piety can well reside. 

Monumentally majestic, there’s no missing out – along the main road to the city – the giant Buddha etched in gold out of the face of a cliff, some 130 meters high.

Beholding the largest Buddha image in the world triggers some spiritual awakening, okay, in the context of the milieu, the mind assuming metta bhavana – the cultivation of loving kindness.

Below the mountain is a well-tended garden, a sprawl of trees and rocks, perfect  for meditation, which started me going om ah hum vajra guru padma siddhi hum…

The stirrings of the soul burst forth at the Sanctuary of Truth, an all-wood  temple which exterior – up to its roof, down to its walls – and interiors lavishly and exquisitely carved with the deities, images, and events in the sacred texts of the great eastern religions – think Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads and the Vedas, the Dhammapada too. A showcase of ancient knowledge finding manifest in the present.

There, on the shore of Rachvate Cape opens heaven’s very gate, presaging the ultimate liberation of the soul from the illusion and suffering of an endless cycle of reincarnation, finding reunion with the spirit of the Universe. Moksha, mukti or Nirvana, however it is called, it spells the total awakening of the soul. Om ah hum…

Abruptly, from the spiritual to the cultural – originally, if not uniquely, Thai is the floating market. Somewhat somnolent though, Pattaya’s man-made version falls short of the better known Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, in authenticity, in vibrancy, in popularity. Where the latter is a destination unto itself, the former is no more than an add-on to Pattaya’s myriad tourism spots. Still, some good finds there.

No Thai, not even Asian, is the totally different world of Silverlake, the first and only vineyard in Pattaya.

It is Tuscany in its rows upon rows of trellised grapevines, its orange-hued villas, its gazebos, and the hills at a distance.

It is Amsterdam in its bed of multi-colored blooms frontyarding a windmill by a silvery lake.

Still, it can only be Thailand, with the nearby Khao Chee Chan Buddha image making its majestic presence felt from its mountain perch. 

So what’s Pattaya without the beach? A lot more.

No dip in the sea? No feeling of deprivation. The nearest we got to the shore was for sumptuous lunches, seafood, but of course – at The View on our first day, at The Glass House on our second, and last, day. More than enough to make any by-the-sea day.

There’s no escaping the sea in Pattaya, really.

Up the verdant cliffs where home-for-a-night, Sheraton Pattaya, roosts, wafts the sea’s calming presence. The very orientation of the resort-hotel is to the sea – its every room with a balcony, its restaurants, even its lagoon swimming pools all looking out to the sea. A morning view of serene blue, a whiff of the salty air, a Sheraton breakfast to die, er, to always crave, for.

Nearer the shore is Hilton Pattaya, stylish with its clean lines and earth tones, its Flare resto serves the best buffet seafood dinner in Pattaya, arguably; its Drift bar, the largest Margarita drink in the world, unarguably.

Pattaya’s nightscape is best viewed from Hilton too.

Capping the Pattaya night terrific is the sensational Tiffany’s Show, a transgender cabaret show. Music, dance, costumes and the unbelievably beautiful “all-woman” performers make it truly spectacular. It’s just stupendous, take my word for it. And I am far from being s homophile.

And then there’s Nong Nooch Garden, a microcosm of all that is Thailand – from exotic orchids, rare palms and trees to pagodas and shrines, from traditional dances to muay thai matches, from playful elephants to terrifying tigers.

Prized photograph: Me leaning on the back of a man-eater, right palm on its head. Aye, one more item in the bucket list scratched. Such thrill, the fear factor be damned.

Soul nourished. The senses filled. CebPac, Tourism Authority of Thailand, wai.  Pattaya, I will be back. – traveloggers: features&fotos