Пансионат советских времен Boarding house of Soviet times

First time in Thailand. The choice fell on Thailand, because they flew in December, and they wanted a warm sea, as well as numerous rave reviews about this country from friends and acquaintances did their job. We planned to visit Phuket for almost the whole year, but before December prices rose significantly there, and the travel agency offered Pattaya with the Pinnacle Hotel, which lowered prices for that period of time. I agreed, because I looked at this hotel earlier, and seemed to be satisfied with the reviews. Before that, we traveled a lot to other countries, the hotels were mostly 4 *. We flew with Pegasus: me, my husband and a 3-year-old son. We arrived at the hotel around 08:00 am. First, when we got to Thai soil, there was a shock from a strong stuffiness, stuffiness, when it seemed that there was not enough air, oxygen. After a 6-hour flight from Irkutsk, and after almost a 2-hour drive from Bangkok airport, when they got to the reception, they heard that there would be no check-in yet, you can only count on 10 am. I tried to explain with gestures how to solve this issue and speed up the process, since we have a small child with us, who did not sleep and was very tired, but this secretly put a sign in front of my nose that, in general, check-in from 14 o'clock. I could not disagree - this is true according to all international tourism standards. Okay. We left our suitcases at the reception, pulled out a cap from one of our sons, took a bag with documents and money with them, and went to wander around the territory. Our view was sour, we didn’t notice the beauty of the greenery and the blueness of the sky, there were only thoughts in my head: how to survive these two hours before checking in, because before we got to the hotel we hadn’t slept for almost a day (it took another 12 hours to get to Irkutsk by car from 4 o'clock in the morning). We went out to the street along the hotel, came across the first fruit stand we came across, bought a coconut to get drunk, watermelon, pineapple, and so on, to at least please an empty stomach. We went out to the sea, rolled up our jeans, wandered along the sea with a sour look, and “turned over” until 10.00. Yes, I almost forgot, to my question: is it possible to eat, the answer was negative, because. they say the check-in begins at 14.00 hours officially, which means that our payment for the hotel, respectively, from 14.00 hours, and at this time breakfast is already over, that is, it is not allowed. Here, of course, I was in shock, where we had previously rested, always upon arrival (the time of arrival at the hotel did not matter) we were fed. Well, okay, we survived, but doubts about the choice of the hotel and the country began to overcome. They settled us, as promised, at 10.00 o'clock (we must, of course, pay tribute and say thanks to them for this). Settled in a seven-story building next to the reception. The room is large, everything functioned, a safe in the room, an electric kettle. A set for tea and coffee, two mugs, two glasses, two bottles of water (please note - there were three of us, and paid for three). In the bathroom / toilet room, towels for TWO persons, liquid soap / shampoo, disposable toothbrushes with toothpaste, shower caps - also for two persons. OK. There is no time to disassemble, faster in the shower, and on the beds! Yes, and a sign outside the door, so as not to be disturbed. I think it’s not worth writing about the fact that the dream was strong and deep. . Suddenly, through my dream, I hear screams, a strong knock, somehow I force myself out of sleep, I hear that it is a knock on the door of the room and screams from there. Somehow I get up and open the door. In front of me are three or four Thai women who are shouting something to me (they are screaming). I somehow forgot to learn Thai before the trip. By their gestures I understand that they want to give me towels, I try to explain with gestures what is not necessary, everything is in the room, it was just removed for our settlement. The answer is the same. So that they, loud-voiced, do not wake up my sleeping son, I silently pick up towels, point my finger at the sign that do not disturb, and close the door. Waking up already when it got dark (and this is exactly about 18 hours), we go out onto the balcony, and again the feeling that after opening the door on the face, we get into the sauna. We find a swimming pool through the windows of our balcony, and my mood rises from the thought that now I will finally swim, and finally come to my senses from the flight, sleep, and heat. We're going down. As a friendly family, we stuff our stupid bodies into the pool, which is suspiciously empty. We splash, satisfied, the son squeaks with delight. . . And around, as in the well-known film ". . . silence.... " and I want to continue the phrase further. At the moment of our delight from swimming, a Thai comes running and starts shouting something to us. We pretend to understand and keep swimming. And then - lo and behold, he utters a phrase in Russian: "It is impossible", to our question: "Why? ", he defiantly points to his watch. We, as law-abiding citizens of our state (and even more so of a foreign one), leave the pool, trying to explain to our son the reason for leaving, who cannot understand why he cannot swim. Later, everything became clear: you can’t swim in the pools after 19 hours. Brad, and only. It's about time. In the morning, normal people swim in the sea, in the afternoon, who sleeps, who goes on excursions, who goes to shops, who goes where in general. In the evening, mostly people come to the hotel, since you can’t wander much in the center of Pattaya, it’s far from the hotel and returning back late in the evening is problematic (well, if not by taxi for 600 baht / rub. ) Naturally, after a day in the heat, everyone wants to swim, not everyone dares to go to the sea after sunset, but in the pool - that's it! And here you see, they have chlorination of the type, and for the sake of our safety (apparently they are afraid that drunk Russians, who are almost 90% in the hotel, will start diving and turn their heads off). Although drunken Russians, as the practice of our 18-day stay there, constantly dived, and spat on their rules. It was funny to watch from the balcony how ours would dive, swim for a minute or two (I spotted it on purpose), go already to the room, the Thais come running, but no, guys, a hallucination, there is no one. This is how our brethren trained the Thais from time to time. In general, we also didn’t like the ban on swimming after 19.00 and even infuriated, again, I repeat: where we were before, we didn’t see anything like this anywhere. It also froze the fact that we had to carry coupons with us for breakfast to the restaurant, according to which we were fed, and the bags were left with the Thai girl in front of the entrance. Apparently, they are afraid that the visitors of the restaurant will not take out food with them for the rest of the day, for them there are losses, what losses! For example, in Egypt, where everything, as you know, is included, and you can eat all day and go around in circles, special containers were provided for taking food out in restaurants, our son, for example, didn’t eat anything, we took food with us for him , endured, no one said a word, only smiled, and they strove to impose bananas on him. And others have not seen tons of food taken out, and hotels there do not go bankrupt from this. . . A trifle, of course, a niggle with the hotel, you say, but the sediment was unpleasant. Oh, by the way, I almost forgot about the sets in the room for TWO persons. The next day, I turned to the Pegasus guide, explaining that we only had two bottles of water and towels for only two (I didn’t talk about toothbrushes-pastes and similar rubbish, they didn’t use them anyway, and these are absolutely trifles), and to my remarks the maid showed with gestures that it was not allowed to three. To this, the representative of Pegasus, we must pay tribute to him, quickly said something in English to the hotel worker, he called somewhere, and before I had time to go up to the room, a full set of towels and water was in place, and so on until the end of the holiday . Thank you for this Pegasus! Further. Cleaning. Yeah, a housekeeper like a maid who cleaned our room would not last a day with me. When I cleaned the room was as follows. The door opened, there were three or four Thais. One - to the bathroom (I didn’t see how she cleaned it - I won’t lie), the second swept the room with a broom, the third for the second drove (just drove) like a mop with a wet shaggy rag thing on the floor, moreover, under the bed, under the table and chairs like mop did not start. I removed my toiletries from the table in front of the mirror, and showed them that it was necessary to wipe it there, in silence, it was done. She pointed out that it would not hurt to wash on the balcony, it was also silently performed, but not washed, but swept with a broom without sweeping under the sunbeds and the table, under which, in fact, the main crumbs from food accumulated. Cleaning took about 5 minutes, no more, after which the secrets with smiles on their faces (from the fact that they touched the white-skinned boy, for some reason they all strove to touch their son by the cheek, by the hands) left. The remaining period of rest time I myself had to wipe on the dressing table, on the balcony and take out the garbage, since I no longer got to the time of their cleaning in the room. Let me explain. Soaps and rubbish were taken out on the balcony for the following reasons. When you eat something (I advise you to do it on the balcony), the crumbs will still remain, and even more food garbage. Note: even 5 minutes will not pass, as small red ants will run around the crumbs, stick around it, the rest from the surrounding balconies will run to them with joy - in short, the sight is not fun. So that's why, in order to pity my eyes, after eating, we put everything in a bag and took it out to the trash cans at the reception, and on the balcony I brushed it off with a damp cloth, which served as a floor towel (there was no other option). And this is again from the category of minuses of the hotel. . We paid 130 thousand for the ticket, and we had to take out the garbage, wash the floor on the balcony and partly in the room ourselves. That's it! This, of course, I was just furious, nowhere was this with us, especially for that kind of money! In general, price and quality do not match. In the evening, the music in the hotel is only near the restaurant. Near our building, deathly silence. During the day on the territory of the hotel, the beach - there is also no music, although it would be much livelier with it. The hotel resembles in the evening (and during the day, in principle, too) a Soviet boarding house. On the one hand, this is a plus, on the other, a minus. Liveliness is somehow not enough for the hotel, at least during the day. Breakfasts. In principle, normal, you can eat tightly, albeit monotonous. But at home, we also do not prepare a special variety every day. In principle, as elsewhere in other hotels and countries. I didn't have any comments here. The beach is good, but booking sun loungers is just nonsense. How many times we have traveled before - we have not seen anything like this anywhere, no matter how many people there were in the hotel. I think this is an artificial problem. . Moreover, one evening, we wandered onto the beach, and saw a picture of a beach worker taking away sun loungers from the beach in an unknown direction, and whole, not broken ones ! ! And in the morning, when they came to the beach, half of them were not there, and, accordingly, there was a problem of a lack of sun loungers. People who didn't book sun loungers (including us) were driven off by those who did. Although before that we had already rested for a week and occupied sun loungers without any problems without any reservation. The next morning, the sun loungers mysteriously returned to their places, and again there were enough places for everyone: both those who booked them and those who did not. Although the beach area allows you to put a couple of dozen sun loungers in order to resolve the issue of canceling the reservation altogether. Sea. They told me that the sea there is dirty - I was ready for this. They said that in the center of Pattaya it is generally dirty, but in Jomtien (where the hotel is located) it can still be said to be clean. In practice. If it is clean in the hotel, it is even scary to imagine what it is in the center. It’s not even about the turbidity of the water, I understand everything, they stir up the bottom, the color is muddy, therefore, etc. . BUT, when you swim with bags, plastic plates, bottles, fish heads, just dead fish and octopuses (or jellyfish - they didn’t understand who it was), and, sorry, tampax (yes, yes, and my son is like that caught), then the color of the muddy sea before that just seems emerald. When, at low tide, my son and my husband, armed with a flashlight, went to see what was there, at the place where we swim, in order to collect interesting shells, then on my return, my husband admitted to me that it was good that I was not there. Only on the last day before leaving, he said that it was better for me not to see what they saw, otherwise I would not swim in the sea anymore. What they saw, he did not specify, so as not to injure my psyche. But she was injured so on our last day, when a black snake was thrown ashore, as it turned out next to which my son and I swam. The snake was discovered by my husband, went ashore, shouted to me about it. When I saw a snake at all, not knowing whether it was poisonous or not, I grabbed my son by the hand - and ran out of the water, because I am a priori terrified of snakes, no matter if it is poisonous or not. Coming ashore, I went up to this writhing muck, at the same moment, suddenly, out of nowhere, a beach worker came running with a stick, which is leveling the sand, and let's gouge this snake, somehow nailed it. And until he killed her, he didn’t take her in his hands, and in general, while she was alive, she made attempts to crawl in his direction, he jumped. From all the gestures of this worker, we realized that the snake was poisonous, otherwise the Thai would probably have taken it by the tail and carried it away (what, isn’t it just a poisonous snake for a Thai - what a curiosity? ). Well, after that I didn’t even come close to the sea, and my last farewell swim in the sea before leaving was over, we went to the pool. Well, I thought to myself, that I saw this picture on the last day, I would have seen it in the first days - in general I would never have entered the sea. And in general, when we went to the islands, then, driving through the sea, there was an impression that a couple of three dump trucks with various garbage were stupidly unloaded there. Just horror. I haven't seen this anywhere either. I immediately remembered the beauty and purity of the Red Sea. . . The last thing that finished this hotel off was the gala dinner for Catholic Christmas 24.12. 2012, for which we paid 7000 rubles for two (thank God they didn’t take anything from the child). So, when buying a tour, it was impossible to refuse this dinner, that is, if we already fell into the period with the specified date, then please, lay out the money, is it your holiday or not, do you want it or not. Well, I thought so, cool, dinner, a holiday, some kind of show will be there, etc. At the hotel, no one warned us that tables for this fun holiday should also be booked, I only learned from Russian speakers on the beach. I ran to the representative of the hotel, Svetlana, who sits near the library and speaks Russian. She told me yes, yes, it is, book with me, an announcement about this at the reception and somewhere else hangs. Yeah, I have nothing else to do but walk around the hotel to read the ads to look for, the only ad that I was interested in was the check-out information. Okay, booked. Svetlana warned that there would be no alcohol there, you can’t bring it with you, you can only buy alcohol at a holiday. If they see alcohol brought with them, they will include it in the bill at the price of the one they will sell at the holiday. Good. Day X has come. Beginning at 18.30 hours. Came to the restaurant. Dark people. They distribute alcohol: we didn’t find beer, we didn’t find cocktails, we didn’t find wine, rum, whiskey either (we could have distributed it, but we didn’t rush into their specialized searches, we took what came across on the waiters’ tray, but only beer came across). For 10 minutes this so-called welcome cocktail, then Santa Claus arrived on an elephant, and for 10 minutes he shouted the same phrase like a broken record: "Happy Christmas, Ha, ha, ha" and rang the bell. He handed out gifts to the children. Well done too - positively, children - great joy, and the crush - this is the people themselves, climbed like a buffet with one penny. My son got a drawing board - both we and my son liked it. Later, Russian acquaintances said that their 7-year-old son got a gift - FEN! It should be clarified that all the wrappers on the gifts were signed according to age criteria, for example: "2-4", "5-7", etc. In general, the beginning is good, everyone is in a great mood! We pass further to the lawn, to the tables. We sit down. AND. . oh miracle! Not a single glass, glass, wine glass or the like, nothing to drink from. No drinks at all on the tables, not even water! Welcoming speech for 10 minutes with a sentimental poem in German, the same thing - in Russian. An invitation to a meal. And poper people, again like a buffet. . . Our dad also rushed into battle, my son and I stayed at the table to wait for our earner. The son pointed out the problem that he wanted to drink, to which I shrugged my shoulders and promised that dad would get a sip of water now. We sit for 10 minutes, we sit for 15 minutes, the neighbors at the table have already forced the whole table with dishes. They are invited to join them. Oh, finally! Our dad with booty! Approaching - a formidable and dissatisfied look, in the hands of two large plates. On the plates I see mashed potatoes of a strange color with dark patches, shrimp (which I can’t stand), on the second - mussels, fish, white rice (Oh, it’s already better, you can eat, especially since everyone is hungry, horror). I indicate to our dad the problem that they say he wants to drink his son, our dad, saying that the battle of the titans is at the tables, and after how long he will return, he doesn’t know, he leaves. At this time, I shove my son a spoonful of mashed potatoes, he changes in his face, and spits everything straight onto a plate. I let him scold him for behaving as indecently as he is, all the more so at a table with people. He screams that it won’t be, it’s not tasty, I try the mashed potatoes, and with difficulty I force myself not to repeat the mistakes of the sons. With the words: "I understand you, son, there are no more questions for you, " I force myself to swallow what is called mashed potatoes. Let's move on to rice with fish. I shove a spoonful of rice into my son's mouth, stepping on the same rake - without first checking it for myself (but the rice is white, without sauces, as you can see by eye, without my suspicions, respectively). Take two, only with a roar, the son's open mouth and waving hands over his mouth. I taste the rice like a bullet - oh my God! Yes, he's fiery!!! ! Out of habit, I stretch out my hand for a glass of water / juice, etc. - and their bye bye. Thank you, the neighbors on the table managed to snatch pieces of watermelon - we save ourselves with them, instead of drinking. It seems to be easier. The son refused to eat the rest, I tried the fish - it turned out to be edible, I ate exactly one small piece. At this time, our earner came, brought Coca-Cola, strawberries, cake and something else. I told him a terrible story about food, and he told me about the prices of alcohol and drinks in general. . So, a small bottle of Coca-Cola cost 150 baht (count rubles), champagne.....hold on guys.... 6000!!!!! ! baht (apparently delivering it directly from the best wine cellars in Paris), white wine from 1700 baht and above, a glass! juice 150-200 baht. In general, my son picked the cake, said it was tasteless (I didn’t try it myself, I can’t confirm it), I ate three pieces of strawberries, after all my appetite disappeared by itself. There were two ways out: either buy your drinks and periodically run out to the room (well, or bury this treasure somewhere on the beach, next to which the feast took place), or buy it there (but, sorry, I paid 7000 rubles anyway, and eat nothing to drink, as it turns out), the son demanded a drink. In the first case, we would be like teenagers smoking in the school toilet / drinking in the school toilet, which, for my age and morality, is by no means suitable, I didn’t want to buy alcohol from the hotel out of principle. In general, without salty slurping, we left the holiday of soul and body.... Meanwhile, the whole holiday was accompanied by dances of Thai girls and transvestites (including one transvestite hotel worker who gives out beach towels) and a German singer who sang everything in German, of course, and to one tune. After leaving the holiday, we met a clown who made different figures from balloons for the children (well, as long as sausages), there were many children who wanted to. My son and I waited an honest 10 minutes, letting the girls go ahead. And when there were four people who wanted to, a Thai approached the clown spinning the dog, said something, the clown, without finishing the dog, waved his hand to the children, taking the unfinished masterpiece with him, and retired in an unknown direction forever. The children, after standing for about 5 minutes, and realizing that they had been thrown, trudged along in all directions, hanging their little noses. In general, my son is usually a very talkative boy, he suddenly fell silent, and walked in such shock to the very room. I was even more furious. Later, after talking with the Russians of the hotel, it was found out that everyone, without exception, was simply dissatisfied with this so-called holiday, to put it mildly, and everyone agreed that God bless him - with alcohol for adults, for children, at least water could be put on tables!! ! I’m even silent about the juice, I understand, ruin for the hotel. In general, I did not like the organization of the holiday, nor the amount that I paid for participating in it. We ate 50 rubles for the whole family, and paid 7000. As I understood later from conversations with the Russians who were present at this holiday, they remained of the same opinion. What is most interesting, 2 days before our departure (and this is December 29), posters appeared in the hotel inviting to celebrate the New Year, for table reservations, with the image of the same German singer with the same dancers and transvist dancers. I assume that the holiday will be identical. In order not to be unfounded, my husband filmed a price list with prices for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks on video, but I don’t know how to upload a video here. Get it - upload it. In general, we did not like the hotel. This is not to mention its remoteness from the center and the central road Sukhumvit, from which you can go to the center and to which, in the heat, another 10-15 minutes to stomp. (You can, of course, take a taxi for 200-300 baht one way and take a hotel minibus for 80 baht per person including children one way). I've seen better hotels for less money. Although, as I was told, this is one of the best hotels for Patya. And, indeed, when we were taken to hotels at the airport on the way back, I saw enough of the hotels in Jomtien and in the center - it’s generally creepy there, there’s not even a beach, only a narrow strip of sand with a bunch of people (even an apple has nowhere to fall), and nearby -road (right very close - and this is called "across the road"). So I realized at that moment that our hotel was really good by Thai standards. But only in Thai. Those who have been in decent hotels (not necessarily 5 *) will understand when they get to Pinnacle that the price for it is not justified. And in general, like the rest of the rest in Pattaya. With this money in Egypt, Turkey, the Dominican Republic, you can relax much cheaper and more worthy. After visiting Thailand, my husband and I decided for ourselves: we don’t go here anymore. Dirt, stench, price-quality discrepancy, inability and, most importantly, unwillingness to speak at least somehow in Russian, unsanitary conditions. The only plus in December is the warm sea, hot weather, delicious and fresh fruits. Well, that's all, perhaps, what I liked about Thailand. I would not recommend this hotel to my friends, better Botany Beach, Ravindrat - my friends were there, and upon arrival we exchanged impressions. They said that this was not the case in their hotels (I mean pools that close at 19 o'clock, which were cleaned 2 times in 18 days, permanent dry leaves on the territory of the hotel that were swept with a broom in front of your nose, and all of the above). It is a pity that I did not listen to their opinion earlier, and did not choose these hotels, but went to Pinnacle.