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.
No comments:
Post a Comment