The Splendor of Nong Nooch Tropical Garden

        
     Splendid! It is the most beautiful place I have ever been when talking about nature, and the first time for me to  be in a vast botanical garden. When I visited the majestic Grand Palace (the number 1 must-see place in Bangkok) I admired it as such I uttered it was the nicest tourist place I had ever seen. However, when I was in the grounds of Nong Nooch Garden, I had the best time touring, my eyes feasting on the colorful surroundings, every moment admiring the landscape and scenery. My favorite was the French garden which held me breathless and in awe as I tried to take pictures in every angle. It is really a beautiful place worth visiting! Though we stayed overnight, still I think we were able to tour only about one-third of the approximately 600 acres (1500 rais).

       Approximately 155 kilometers from Bangkok, I got to know Nong Nooch Garden Resort when I saw one photo of it in an online Filipino Community in Thailand, the Siam Pinoy. From then on I had the strong desire to visit the place and included it in my list of places to visit. Opportunity came when there was a three day weekend vacation in July 2011 in celebration of Buddhist lent.  Three of my friends planned to go to Underwater World in Pattaya but I convinced them to go to Nong Nooch instead. Anyway, the garden is also in Pattaya.  One in the desire to go out of Bangkok City and have fun, six of us went for the tour.  But beforehand I had made inquiries and reservation at Nong Nooch. It is best to always plan and organize things ahead to make the tour enjoyable, hassle free and successful.

     
       When I called the office for inquiries the lady I talked to asked for my email address and sent the location map. Overall I found the staff very accommodating and friendly. The entrance fee for foreigners is 500 baht per person and 100 or 200 baht for Thais which includes touring around the approximately 600 acres area, entrance to the Thai Cultural show and Elephant show.  For Thais, the entrance fee of 100 baht does not include the cultural and elephant show.

     As I had inquired on details, I arrived to a conclusion that for foreigners it is more than worth the cost to stay overnight than just going for a day tour most specially if done by group of two or more. Why is it so? It is like this... if one stays overnight, the entrance fee is waived and one has to pay only for the room. They  offer different type of accommodations from the luxurious one to backpackers standard room. So far cheapest rate of a room good for two is 1,200 baht per night and it already includes buffet breakfast for two. I was with five of my friends and we rented a room for 5 at a rate of 3,000 baht plus 350 baht for an extra bed since we were six. Each of us only paid approximately 560 baht for an overnight stay. With the 560 baht each, for almost two days, we had more time touring the very big area, taking pictures with different poses with very nice backgrounds, dining in two of their restaurants, watch the Thai cultural and Elephant show.  We did not have a car to go around the place but it was not a problem at all because we just made a call at the reception area for pick up and after few minutes the shuttle service comes in whatever part of the resort we are waiting.

         There are so much things to see, different types of accommodations to choose from, exquisite gardens, restaurants, aquarium, activities to do such as biking, and two-storey building showcasing special cars, as such it is really advisable and wise to stay at least a night to explore the approximately 600 acres area. Nevertheless, if one wants to have a quick tour, there is a tourist bus inside the compound that goes around the area. The passenger have to pay 100 baht only for a round trip. The cultural show is very entertaining and so the elephant show. The elephant show so far is the best I have seen. Two of my friends had their pictures taken sitting in between the trunks of two elephants for a fee of 50 baht per person. I wanted it also but I was not ready with the bad smell from the elephant that might stick on my clothes. After picture taking with the elephants, four of them had pictures taken with a young tiger for a fee of 60 baht per person. 

          
       How did we go there? From Bangkok, we took a bus bound to Pattaya at the Ekkamai Bus Terminal. The bus trip took two hours. When the bus reached Pattaya bus terminal, we could have taken or rented a "taxi" (songtaew) straight to Nong Nooch but we decided to have lunch at the center of Pattaya at Festival Mall. From there we rented a songtaew to bring us to the garden. We had a bit of a guilty feeling as the songtaew driver gave as an initial price of 1,000 baht but we had hard bargaining and it ended up to a price of 200 baht. No one among us six had the idea how far we had to go, we only focused on the amount to be paid for the songtaew. Only to realize and have a guilty feeling when we were on the road as the driver traversed the Sukhumivit road to the garden, the longer we traveled than expected, we realized that the 200 baht is very unreasonable price and not enough for the driver to earn enough for the trip. After some sort of "deliberation" we finally decided to pay the driver 75% more. Maybe income was not good that time so he heeded to our very low price instead of having no income at all. Although as foreigners, it is always best to bargain at the lowest price one can think of to avoid getting ripped off.

        

          There are many tourist places that can be visited in Pattaya or Chonburi province but among all the places I had visited, Nong Nooch Tropical Garden is the best place I had ever been so far and I enjoyed every moment being there. Just imagine, we had almost a thousand of pictures taken! See for yourself then...

          When we left the place, we dropped by and had lunch at Pattaya Floating Market. Another good place to visit.