AIDA Southeast Asia 2014 · Page 2

Day 2 / 28 degrees

The ship stayed in port overnight. On day 2 we had booked LCH07, "Stroll through Pattaya", through AIDA. So our first night on the ship was a short one, as the trip started at 7.45 a.m.

We had set our alarm for 7.30 a.m. and wanted to get up slowly. Now some of you will think that 15 minutes to get up, wash, get dressed and go to the meeting point isn't much – and you're right. We had booked all the AIDA tours online from home in advance, and the meeting time there was 8.30 a.m., so that's what we had planned for. When we got up at 7.30 a.m. and looked at the tickets, we saw the change of time. So quickly into our clothes and off we went. So remember: check the excursion times on the tickets, as they may have changed.

After a short time at the meeting point, we set off. The typical Thai buses were already waiting for us – not only colourful on the outside, but the whole interior too.

The 30-minute drive passed very quickly. Our guide was a Thai woman who only spoke English, but she spoke it very well, so we could understand everything without any problems.

Our first stop was a jewellery factory in Pattaya. We thought: do we really have to go to a sales event? But it was worth it after all. This jewellery factory is something very special: inside there is a dark ride. The train takes you through various eras of gemstone mining. It was really great to see. At the end of the ride we looked over the shoulders of the staff as they worked the gemstones. Of course at the end of the tour there was a sales room with lots of salespeople, and here too every visitor had their own personal adviser. We simply called our saleswoman "Shadow" – she was always close by, but didn't bother us once. At the exit there was coffee and other drinks, and our first stop was over.

We continued on our bus. Suddenly there was a different voice on the microphone, in German. Our AIDA scout had changed buses and wanted to hear how we had liked the factory. Most people had liked it, but we didn't exactly jump up from our seats clapping. Our AIDA scout then said very drily: "The people on bus 12 liked it a lot, you obviously didn't, but never mind." At first we thought we had misheard, but no, we hadn't. That remark didn't go down well with the AIDA guests on bus 13 (our bus). At the next stop our AIDA scout disappeared back onto bus 12.

Our bus stopped in a car park below a hill, and we climbed up on foot. At the top we had the perfect view of Pattaya. The individual prayer houses are picturesquely laid out.

After a short bus ride we reached the big Buddha on Buddha Hill. This statue is over 12 metres tall and towers over Pattaya. Then we went to the shopping centre right on the beach. When we got there, we first changed money at one of the countless banks on the 4th floor and then explored the huge centre.

In the basement, lots of food stalls and numerous massage parlours line up next to each other.

On all the upper floors there are lots of well-known fashion brands. The prices in the fashion shops are about the same as in Germany. Only the big Asian market and a large fashion market in the basement caught our attention, and we quickly found and bought some inexpensive clothes.

The massage offers are simply a dream: 11 euros for a 1-hour facial treatment with massage. Quickly booked and in we went. Unfortunately Michael hadn't read every point of the treatment and so had overlooked the pore cleansing. That hurt quite a bit, but the massage afterwards soothed everything again.

After a short stop at the beach (which really isn't recommendable, as it's only 3 metres wide and 2.8 metres of it are packed with loungers and umbrellas), we went exploring in the little side streets.

Here too there are massage offers everywhere at even lower prices. We didn't notice any harassment from touts at all and could stroll through Pattaya at our leisure.

Any German master electrician would probably have a heart attack at the sight of this electrical wiring.

After 3 hours of shopping we took the bus back to the ship. We could easily have done this excursion on our own – there are plenty of taxis waiting for guests at the ship.

We watched AIDA's first departure right at the front of deck 11 – a great view of the port, and the holiday feeling really set in.

We spent the evening comfortably in the AIDA Bar (again). Sabine and Hajo were now on board too after their overnight stay in Bangkok. It got late again, and the cocktails tasted good.