After enjoying a sumptuous breakfast, our flight landed at the Bangkok's Swarnabhumi airport at 1230 hrs. As Bangkok is one hour thirty minutes ahead of India, I moved forward my watch by 90 minutes to be in line with local time, i.e. 1400 hrs. The experience of using a floor escalator for the first time in life, left me dumbfounded. The experience of going through the immigration, filling up Thai language form, passport stamping and customs clearance was a new and educative one. We were now officially in Bangkok, Thailand.
                Hereafter, we began our journey to Pattaya by luxury, air-conditioned coach along with our guide Mr. Sam and fellow travellers of the group. On the way to Pattaya we stopped at Mc Donalds and KFC restaurants for light snacks and water. The items on the menu were very different from the ones we generally see at our local outlets in India and the taste though different was delicious. The roads during the journey were very clean and comfortable and offered a beautiful view of the countryside with vast greenery, large trucks, flyovers and markets.
                The first sights of Pattaya were very beautiful. The clean beaches with blue waters, white sands, sunny beaches, crowded markets, colourful vehicles, tall buildings, boats and street food were a totally new experience for me. We checked into Pattaya Garden Hotel and went to our rooms. The rooms were large, air-conditioned and had a Television as well as a wellstocked refrigerator. After having a comforting swim we went to watch the world famous Tiffany's cabaret show. The Tiffany's Show is one of the world's most famous Cabaret Show which was watched by about 500 people who enjoyed its spectacular performances. Tiffany's artists' talent was undeniable and the artists performed on various sets (15 different sets and backdrops), languages and numbers. I especially enjoyed the artists’ beautiful performance on our very own Hindi film song, “Dola re” of Devdas. The show with its star-studded music and dance extravaganza complete with light and sound systems was amazing, spectacular and touched my heart.
                We walked back from the Tiffany's show to our Hotel, enjoying the evening and the cool sea breeze. The roads were full of tourists who were enjoying themselves. On the way back we relished the famous Thai street food and also had ice creams at the omnipresent seven eleven stores.
                The next day morning we woke up early and went for a swim in the Hotel's pool and enjoyed continental buffet breakfast thereafter. At 9 AM our Guide Mr. Sam took us to the Pattaya beach by bus. The beach was very neat and clean with its clear blue waters in the shining sun. Once on the beach we wore life jackets and boarded high speed boat which was to take up to Coral island. The boat with its powerful propellers moved on the South China Sea at such a tremendous speed that all of us were enthralled. The cool morning breeze, striking my hair and cheeks, made the moments unforgettable. In no time we reached our first halt that was a platform on the sea.
                I was scared to see so many people participating in parachute gliding but still wanted to do it. My father purchased the tickets and much against my thoughts, I decided to take the plunge. I wore the life jacket and the parachute with nylon cords and shackles. The cord was tied on one end of the speed boat and as the speed boat started its journey in the sea, it pulled me and in no time I was in the air. It was such a terrifying moment and for once I thought that I am going to fall down and drown in the sea. However, after a few seconds I actually started enjoying the sail in the air. I was like on top of the worlds and from there everything appeared so tiny. The speed boat operator then played a game with me. He suddenly stopped cruising and I yelled and cried since I was rapidly falling and reaching the sea. Within few moments I began to drop in the sea and was fearing for my life and thinking that the sharks in the sea would attack me and eat me up. I sincerely started praying to the God for my safety. The next moment I found that the boat had restarted and was picking up speed. I was once again in the air and started enjoying the natural beauty. After some time, I landed back on the platform safely and in one piece. My God! What a terrifying yet fulfilling experience it was.
                The next halt was on a platform in the middle of sea just near the coral island. People on this platform were enjoying scuba diving along with professional divers. I also wanted to explore the depths of the sea and be amongst the fish and marine vegetation. Though I was slightly anxious, I decided to undertake this scary activity as well. I put on the glove and a glass mask with oxygen supply and went in the sea along with a professional diver to escort me. The sea was about 5 meters deep and the view was unimaginable. I could see large number of fish in all sizes, shapes and colours. I fed some food items to the fish and touched few of them. The fish also touched me all over the body and I felt a strange tickling sensation. The rich vegetation, marine life left me dumbfounded. We walked on the sea floor for some time. A video shoot of our underwater adventure was also taken by the divers. They gave the same to us in the form of a CD. We came out of the sea after about 25 minutes. The experience was completely new and adventurous.
                We finally reached the coral island after travelling on the speed boat. After alighting from the boat I realized that the sand was very white and the sea water crystal clear and I could see fish in the water. We took some rest in the tents and enjoyed boiled corn along with coconut water  which was very tasty. We went for a swim in the clean, cool, comforting waters. I was amazed to see that my body could actually float in the sea water without any difficulty and I realized that the salinity of sea water was high and may be similar to the salt content of Dead Sea which allowed me to float freely. I also did a round of water skiing on the sea and enjoyed it thoroughly.
                The journey back to the shore took about 30 minutes and was rather uneventful. Once ashore, we had very delicious lunch at an Indian restaurant. After lunch, we did some shopping at the local floating market and bought very many handicrafts and mementos. The entire market is situated around water and can be reached by way of wooden bridges. Journey around the market is also possible in boats. I fed bananas and other fruits to a baby elephant at the market. In the evening we went out in the markets and explored the various goodies which were on offer, including gems and jewellery, clothes, leather items etc. It was an altogether new experience for me to go around and shop in a floating market.
                                The next day morning we checked out of the Hotel and went on to our journey to the capital city of Thailand, Bangkok in an AC bus. After about two hours we reached Bangkok. It is a lovely city, distinctly modern and westernized, with tall buildings, good roads, sky trains, flyovers and very polite and disciplined people. Major tourist attractions include glittering Buddhist temples, palaces, canal and river scenes, rich cuisine, classical dance extravaganzas and numerous shopping centres. Before checking in to our Hotel we visited the world famous Buddhist temple Wat Trimit. The large standing Gold statue of Lord Buddha inspired religious feelings in me. We were told that the statue is made of solid gold and weighs 5.5 tonnes. The temple was huge and large number of Thai people were offering prayers.
                At Bangkok we checked in at the Hotel White Orchid which was situated in a busy market place, the Chinatown. It was a good comfortable Hotel but lacked a swimming pool. After taking rest, we went out and did shopping at the MVK Mall and came back to the Hotel in the evening. At the Mall we had snacks at McDonalds as well as KFC. The Mall had a lot of gold jewellery shops, clothes, leather goods and electronics. A large number of Indians were also  shopping at the Mall.
                At night we went out and tasted the ethnic Chinese food being sold by the roadside. Though tasty it was not the same as the Chinese food available in India.
                The next morning, we started our journey to Safari World by a private air-conditioned Van, after enjoying buffet breakfast at the Hotel. The entry to the Safari World was very inspiring and there were a large number of three dimensional, replicas of various wild animals like giraffe, elephants and zebra welcoming us. The park is spread over a large area with animals housed in various enclosures. In between all throughout the day various animal shows are organised. In the Safari World we saw many kinds of birds, tigers, polar bear, crocodiles, elephants, sea lions etc. We also saw fantastic performances by various animals during the 20-30 minutes shows like sea lions, chimpanzees, elephants and dolphins. I really loved the dolphin show as well as the elephant show. The shows evoked enthusiastic clapping by the audience specially a large number of smartly dressed school children from Bangkok. I also remembered about my beloved country India when I realized that Hindi film songs sung by Himesh Reshammiya were playing in the background at the venue.
                The most thrilling moment of the entire trip was the time when I along with my parents and brother held a 5 feet tiger cub in my lap and fed milk to him. Its body was so soft, ferocious looking teeth and claws. It was looking extremely dangerous. Though initially terrified, I could handle it without much problem. I also held another young tiger cub which was very cuddly and hardly 1.5 feet in length. It was all so very exciting and something I may never forget.
                In the evening, we went for a wild safari to protected national park in AC buses. In the park we saw lions, tigers, rhinoceros, various types of deer, giraffe, zebra, bear, birds and many other animals. We could see the animals in their natural habitat away from captivity. It was very interesting to see these ferocious animals roaming about freely without any fear.
                The next day morning we went to see the largest statue of reclining Buddha at the Wat Po temple. The statue was marvelous and the environment in the temple was very peaceful and quite. Large number of tourists and devotees from across the world were visiting the temple. The tourists were also putting a large number of small coins in many vessels kept in the temple.
                Coming back to the Hotel we had lunch and started our return journey to the Bangkok airport. At the airport we did some shopping at the Duty Free shops and killed our time enjoying the large, clean and imposing airport. We took the Cathay Pacific flight from Bangkok to New Delhi and arrived at New Delhi in time.
                Though happy at being home, I would always remember my maiden journey abroad and that too amongst very hospitable, friendly and polite people. I learnt about the culture of Thai people, foods, currency, environment, cleanliness, occupations, natural beauty, wild life, water sports and marine life. I would never forget the thoroughly enjoyable trip to Thailand.