Waterparks and Indian Food

One of the things the kids and us were excited about was the waterparks around Pattaya, especially after living on Guam.  Guam had waterparks but their size and rides were limited, as it is a small island with a small population.  Prior to Guam we lived in Virginia and enjoyed several large waterparks, sometimes even driving a few hours to try different ones.

Two weeks ago we finally visited Ramayana Water Park and it definitely lived up to our expectations.  They offer an annual pass instead of a season pass, they are open 365 days a year.  The two adult and three children's passes set us back in total 7,000 Baht ($230 USD).  Jeremiah did not need a pass since he is under the age of four.  You had to show you are living in Thailand to purchase an annual pass, since we now have drivers’ licenses, that was sufficient proof.  Many places in Thailand have dual pricing, the Thai price and the foreigner price.  Showing a driver’s license will sometimes get you the Thai price but not always.  If you get the Thai price consider yourself lucky, if you don't, expect it, then you will never be disappointed.  After all, we are not Thai.

Getting the passes took a bit of paperwork and after the pictures and about 45 minutes we were issued wristbands and allowed entry.  The entire park is money free, at the locker rentals you put money on your wristband for the day.  They scan your wristband for all your purchases and at the end of the day when you turn your locker in you get the balance back in baht.  Even the lockers used a scanner.  You scan your wristband and the locker pops open.  It made things very simple.

The park is huge, they have the largest kids’ area we have ever seen, Jeremiah especially had a blast on all the waterslides.  Zachary is 1 inch away from being able to experience all the large slides, for now he has to stay in the children area with Sofia and Jeremiah.  He didn't mind at all though, as the slides in the kid’s area are pretty intense. 

Ayden and I did a couple of the larger slides, we had a great time on the Aquaconda and Aqua-coasters slides.  The lazy river even has an optional slide entry, a spiraling slide that you go down on with your inner tube!

Around 1500 Zachary somehow cut his toe.  The cut was underneath his right foot along one of the joints on his second toe.  It looked pretty deep, so I asked a lifeguard where the first aid station was.  He jumped into action, radioed some back up, grabbed his first aid kit, and started cleaning Zachary's wound.  Several other lifeguards showed up and they decided to take Zachary back to the first aid station to see the nurse.  The first aid station resembled a small clinic, the nurse, I am guessing she was a nurse, might have been a Dr. for all I know.  She took great care of Zachary, cleaned the wound again, put some betadine iodine one it and wrapped up his toe.  She said he could go swimming again in 10 minutes, but we decided to call it a day at that point.

On our way out we stopped by the pass office to get your annual passes.  We were told they would be ready that day.  Guess someone forgot to make them because they could not find them.  We were told on our next visit they would be ready for us.

On Tuesday the following week we went back to the park and took Richard this time.  We went to the office and, you guessed it, they could not find the passes.  It took some phone calls and 15 minutes and finally someone showed up that knew where our passes were.  Richard then did the same process to get his annual pass, he received the old person discount.  Of course, it was not ready when we left.  Guess next time we will be doing the same process of waiting for them to find Richards pass.  Haha!

Our second visit to the park was better than the first.  We hit up more rides this time, even found a big slide that Zachary could ride, the mat racer.  This is different than other mat racers, this one had four different enclosed tubes, that did a 360-degree spiral and then you went racing down to the bottom.  Zachary and I did this one about 6 times in a row.  Climbing all the stairs over and over really got the old ticker pumping.  I finally decided, I did not want to have a heart attack that day and suggested we go find Ayden so the two of them could return and race each other.  Christina, Richard,  and Ayden rode some more waterslides after Zachary rode the mat racer with them a couple of times.  They went on the Aquaconda too, but they also rode some of the slides I did not get a chance to ride yet.  They went on the Boomerango, Python, Spiral, and Serpentine.  

We stayed this time until closing, we brought a change of clothes this time since we now know they had hot showers and soap in the locker rooms.  They even had blow driers so I could fluff up Jeremiah's beautiful curls.

On our way home we decided to stop by our favorite restaurant in Pattaya, Lasania Rania Indian and European Restaurant.  The owner/chef Hasan and his family, are quickly becoming our friends.  The kids love the place, they run inside to a sofa where there is a TV to watch and Netflix shows.  They get to eat on the sofa while they watch TV and Hasan plays with them a bit.  A lot of the restaurants entertain/play/watch our kids while we eat.  The attitude towards children in restaurants is much appreciated compared to most places in the United States.  Of course, we have had wait staff interact with our kids in the United States, but they have never actually played with them.  Even though we enjoy Hasan's hospitality, the real reason we eat at his restaurant is the food!!!  This is the best Indian food we have ever eaten anywhere in the world.  We keep trying something different every time, the food just seems to get better and better.

Now that we are settled, I hope to write more about our experiences and less about how we did this and that.  We look forward to hearing from you, and of course if you enjoy our blog please like and share it.

Motorbikes and Licenses

Since we plan to be here more than 30 days, we needed to obtain driving licenses.  From what I understand Thailand will only recognize an international driving permit for 30 days.  Motorcycle and passenger vehicles are separate licenses which is different from the United States where you have a passenger vehicle license and receive different endorsements such as motorcycle.  Richard arrived with an international driving permit for a passenger vehicle, Christina did not have an international permit, and I had an international permit for passenger vehicle and motorcycle.

Our options were: Go to the Department of Land Transportation and figure out the process, hire a concierge company to walk us through the process, or attend a driving school that is certified to administer the driving tests (5,500 Baht).  We needed a motorcycle licenses first since we wanted to all buy motorbikes.  Buying a vehicle to fit all 6/7 of us was more than we were ready to pay right now, around 790,000 baht.

Since Christina had never operated a motorcycle, she opted to attend the driving school and Richard  decided to attend with her.  The other advantage to the school is they handled all the paperwork, so once the course was completed all you had to do was go to the Department of Land Transportation and obtain the license.  Sounds pretty simple, ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

So, here is what happened:  

On a Thursday at 0700 Christina and Richard arrived via a Grab car (Uber/Lift) at the driving school. Class was supposed to start at 0700 but nothing started until about 1030.  The first thing they did was watch videos in Thai with no English subtitles for a few hours, took the color (red, green, yellow) recognition test, gas/brake reaction test, depth perception test, and then they drove around a course on some decrepit motorbikes for the rest of the day.  Oh, and they took a practice written test which they failed miserably, because all the training was in Thai.  

The next morning, they returned at 0700, to of course wait around.  This day started a little earlier at 0830, more practice tests, and after the third test they finally passed, and then some more driving on the course followed by 2 1/2 hours of sitting around until 1800.  The driving school course consisted of 15 hours (5 hours first day and 10 hours second day) at the school so the school was not going to let you leave till you had been there exactly 15 hours.  At this point they should have been done but we had not yet obtained residency permits so what they thought was the official license test was not.

             

 

To obtain a residency permit we needed to rent a place to live and have the landlord register us at the Immigration Bureau.  Once we were registered by the landlord then we could go to the Immigration Bureau and get the residency permit.  We moved into our house on that Saturday and Richard moved into his condo on Sunday.  Both landlords registered us on Monday, and we received the registration receipts that day.

On Tuesday we got dressed up, government offices in Thailand have a dress code, no shorts, no tank tops, revealing clothing, you get the idea, and we called a Grab SUV to take all seven of us to the Immigration Bureau.  We arrived and went next door to an agency that fills all the paperwork out for you, takes the photos, and provides all the copies, of course for a modest fee.  Since we didn't know what we were doing at this point we used the agency, they provided everything we needed for our visa extension, which we also needed, but when we inquired about residency permit they said the receipt that the landlords gave us was our permit.  We headed over the Immigration Bureau and inquired about the residency permit and again were told that our receipts were the permit.

This was our first time at the Immigration Bureau, and I was a little nervous because I had read nightmare stories online about the Immigration Officers.  Our experience could not have been more different from the stories.  The Officers were very friendly, and they had fun sneaking our kids candy while we pretended to not be looking.  Maybe having cute kids is the key to a great experience at the Immigration Bureau.  It only took about an hour to get our visa extensions.  Anyway, since Christina and Richard already had their residency permits, or so we thought, they headed back to the driving school on Wednesday morning to take their test. 

Once they arrived at the school via a Grab car, they were promptly told that the receipt from the landlord was not a residency permit.  They provided a copy of what a residency permit looked like, so another Grab car and back to the agency next to the Immigration Bureau.  They showed the example and they quickly whipped up the required documents and photo to take to the immigration bureau.  I also went with them since I needed a residency permit to later obtain my licenses.  Immigration provided the certificate within an hour and we returned home.  The next morning which was Friday, Christina and Richard arrived at the driving school, provided their residency permit and health certificate and they were allowed to take the official driving test.  Of course, at this point they had taken at least four practice tests, so they passed it the first time.  The health certificate was nothing more than going to a local clinic, paying between 100 to 200 Baht, having your blood pressure, weight and height recorded and they give you an official certificate of health. 

Now off to the Department of Land Transportation.  Since the school prepared and provided everything they needed to get the license this process was easy.  They went, paid the fee of 105 Baht, had their picture taken, waited 15 minutes, and they had their motorcycle license which is valid for 2 years.  By 1400 they were at the Honda dealership where I purchased my Honda Click 125i.  Christina chose a pink and black Honda Scoopi Club 12 Edition, and Richard purchased a Blue Click 125i.  Finally, we all have transportation and no longer have to use Grab.  We really like Grab, but it does add up quickly, they spent around 3,000 Baht getting to and from the house, driving school, Immigration Bureau, and Department of Land Transportation.

The whole process sounds like a real pain in the rear, but if you compare it to getting a license in the United States it was not bad at all.  If we were Thai's moving to the USA, I doubt we would have a license in a week.  And then it probably would cost at least 10x what it cost us. 

Now for my license, I already had a motorcycle endorsement and an international permit. Last week Richard and I went to the Land Transportation Department to get our passenger vehicle license and for me to get my motorcycle license.  All we had to do was show up with our Passport with visa, international permit, and residency permit (x2 for me since I was getting both licenses). We were told to come back two hours later, where we, along with about 15 others showed up and had to do the color (red, green, yellow) recognition test and gas/brake reaction test.  Then we paid the fees (105 baht for motorcycle and 205 baht for passenger vehicle), had our picture taken, waited 15 minutes and we were done.  Time spent at the Land Transportation Department was just over an hour, not bad.

The licenses are considered temporary and are good for two years.  If we renew them in two years, then we will receive a permanent license which is issued for five years.  Christina does not have a Thai passenger vehicle license; next time we are in the states she will pick up an international permit and then come back and get her passenger vehicle license.  The process is simple if you have the international permit. Well, that is all on getting our licenses and motorbikes, if you are enjoying our blogs please like and share. Thanks for reading!!