FROM ONE BAY TO ANOTHER

Born and lived most of my life in the shores of Bay of Bengal, sea always fascinated me. It was no surprise that my first overseas vacation about thirteen years back was unanimously decided to begin from the Pattaya Bay!

The First love, the First kiss, the First job will always live fresh in one’s memory-so is the First trip abroad. Those were the days not much information were available at the touch of a button-we were in the primitive stage of technology brilliance then, What we knew about Thailand in print, videos and hear-say versions were that, it is a beautiful country run by monarchy, brimming with natural sceneries and charming people and where our currency had a great buying power! A ready-made destination for a “Desi” becoming a short time “Videshi”.

The excitement started the day I got my Visa stamped and from then on, I was waiting for the maiden moment to set my foot in a “foreign” land. And that happened on a bright afternoon in mid-June at Suvarnabhoomi International Airport in Bangkok. After the meet and greet with our tour facilitator at the lounge we looked forward to reach our first destination of stay abroad-PATTAYA.

Throughout the 90 minute ride, I was literally awe-struck on seeing the br…o…ad roads with bright-colored  vehicles ,as if fresh from Thailand’s  toy land, plying incessantly ,sky line in the horizon-contrary to my thinking that I will be travelling in a country with poor infrastructure-here they are in front of me-proving me wrong.

There it was: the entrance arch to Pattaya city, the dusk dawned!!Our car waded through the crowded street, sans any blaring horns, studded with Beer bars, glittering neon lights, massage parlors, go-go clubs, charming well-clad (!??!!!!) ladies luring foreigners-suddenly we were in a different world. My mother in her mid-seventies was enjoying these scenes, the whole place was swarming with enormous groups hurrying through the town in an almost constant stream as if there is no tomorrow. We checked-in at Champ Pattaya in the eighth floor, overseeing the Gulf of Thailand. A pretty long schedule awaited us for the next few days.

The timekeeping precision by the tour felicitator was admirable. We were ready at 8am; he was there at 8am; we started at 8am! We were taken to the seashore, where our speed boat was waiting for us.

We waded through knee-deep water with waves wetting us further. We were half drenched by then. Nobody had cautioned us about the dress code(!)I am convinced why hot pants and shorts were the lengthiest(!!) dresses preferred there.  With the boat sailing at an enormous speed towards the mid sea, I left everything to God-the boat skipper was the angel incarnation at that point in time. The speed was such, the clothes had almost dried. The first stop over was a small dough yacht. With pounding heart, we got transferred to it from our boat-just visualize the scene when almost all our family members along with my septuagenarian mother were there in the deep water with none of us knowing serious swimming venturing out on an adventure in the sea. I shudder the feeling now. That was the designated place for ‘underwater walk’. You guessed it right-I did not venture in that. My daughter and nephew clad in armor-like vest, oxygen cylinder tied to their backs narrated what a lovely experience the snorkeling was with shoal of fish of different sizes around them, how they walked, how they saw the sun’s rays piercing through water. Fear was predominant in me and my excitement took a back seat!

The transfer process begun in the reverse order-from the yacht to the speed boat- Hey! I was getting accustomed to this!! The next stop- over was a huge offshore platform-a site for Parasailing. From a distance, I could see parachute-like objects flying high, getting dipped in water (being a Brooke Bonder I always was fond of our yesteryears Taj Mahal tea bags advertisement which goes by the lyrics “dip dip   dip, add the sugar and milk and ready to sip, do you want it stronger, dip a little longer….”) and again flying and after a while not visible. It really did not make any sense to me. Here, again we are to move from the boat to the parasailing base…ha….I did it confidently.

Climbing the fleet of stairs, we reached the top deck-which was a huge open space. The salty wind from the sea engulfed us. From there I could understand what parasailing was! It is a 3-in-1 adventure sport-flying, parachuting and sailing through the wind-a guaranteed activity which would pump adrenaline in one’s stream as never before. A person is securely tied with life vests and a long rope, the other end of which is tied to a jet boat. One other long rope connected to the vest and a canopy akin to a parachute. When the boat accelerates, the chute climbs and with that the person tied to it starts flying up in the air. The speeder it goes, the higher the parachute climbs and so also the rider-something to do with Newton’s law of motion I suppose! I was thoroughly determined not to venture into this unnecessary adventure and would not allow my family also to partake in the activity. What I next saw was hard to believe. My mom and daughter were all decked up to fly- the ‘umbilical cord’ was already tied, my wife, older sister and nephew were there in the queue. Me and my elder sister with bated breath were witnessing the horror show. At the blow of a whistle, with a little thrust from the back, there my mom was lifting up and in a matter of seconds she was sailing a hundred meters high with nothing but the vast sky above and deep sea below her – at one point of time we lost sight of her as the jet boat was making a steep turn to return to the base.

My elder sister was telling the crowd about our mother-her age, will power, positive attitude, determination and adventurous nature. Meanwhile the rest of the clan also vanished from the deck one by one .In a couple of minutes we could hear the humming of the engine and could see her a small speck, getting larger by the second and yes-could see the  brimming smile like a child on her face. No sooner she set her foot down was there a huge round of applause by the scores of people on the platform. They cheered her for the grit she showed-no lady in that age of 77 had dared to do that feat.

With all my other adventurists landing safely with a glee I their faces, I swallowed back my heart which was in my mouth all the time!

The next destination coral beach offered us great relaxation, sipping mammoth tender coconuts, gazing at the blue and green dirt-free seawater dotted with banana boats and jet skis. We saw multitudes of coral reefs from a special boat which had a glass bottom. Slowly we could feel the sea getting rough by the minute. We were hastened to get back to the city-the transfer to the speed boat was never as simple as that!! Ride back to the Pattaya Bay was a very bumpy one. It was getting dark and the glittering lights of the fun city was reflecting in the water. The driver appeared promptly in the shore to take us back to the hotel for a deserving night’s sleep…

The first overseas trip over the seas are ever fresh in our memories!

Till I lace up for the next…

J.Ram