My first International trip experiance- Bangkok & Pattaya

Hello everyone! writing my first International travel experience which I want to share with you all. I was planning for Thailand trip since I visited Goa last year 2016 and after discussing my plans with my college friends we decided to go on September 27 to 2nd October 2017. So after lots of research on different travel websites like MakeMyTrip, SOTC, Yatra we got the best deal from Yatra and we got the package in 29k INR which includes(Flight tickets, Accommodation, Breakfast, and Sightseeing) will share the details if anyone interested drop your email in comments.

Things to note before trip starts

So we have 2 weeks left before our trip starts below are few points that we did

1. We first changed our currency from https://www.bookmyforex.com/ as its an online currency exchange service also they deliver doorstep service which is very good. I booked 30 thousand INR online and in return get 15k Thai Bhat they charge a nominal amount of 100 for doorstep service. Doing prior currency exchange is good else you have to pay more if you do currency exchange at Airport.
2. You can apply for the visa before your trip start 2 weeks before or it's better you can collect visa on Arrival when you reach Thailand airport. The Visa on arrival fees differs in the different season its 1k in March to August and 2k from September to February.Please download visa on Arrival form from here
3. If you are vegetarian grab whatever eatables you can as it will help you out throughout the trip.
4. Take Bluetooth speaker it will make your journey amazing

Trip Begins

In this trip, I along with my 3 friends are traveling 3 of them are traveling from Mumbai as they have their flight on 27th sept at 8 O'clock early in the morning and I am alone flying from Delhi on 26th sept So I am all set to start my amazing journey. I booked my cab to IGI Airport Terminal 3 but man traffic sucks here in Gurgaon it took me 1.5 hours to reach the Airport. After reaching Airport I took my boarding pass and straight went to Immigration after this I onboard on my flight at 11 PM. 

Travelling on the international plane is have their own experience first time I got free food and of course free Whiskey.

I reached at Swarnbhoomi Airport at Bangkok and immediately went to Visa on Arrival counter. There are two counters which provide visa one with the long queue and one is Fast track visa counter. Only difference between them is normal counter charged 2000 Thai Bhat whereas Fast track counter charged 2200 Thai Bhat so I too fast track counter and immediately got my Visa. After getting Visa I collected my baggage and came out of the Airport and man this is amazing feeling.

Day 1:

At airport exit gate we found our travel agent there are many other Yatra travelers we found who also came in the same package so she took all of them in a traveler bus and took to our Accommodation Sunrise garden resort in Pattaya. As I reached early and as per hotel check-in policy they didn't allow to do check-in before 2PM so I have to wait for my friends to come and do check-in afterward. 

In Evening my friends reached and we all met and went straight to our hotel swimming pool where we took bath and then got ready for an outing.

As we all are hungry we first searched for Indian Restaurant but it's not that easy to find it so we have to walk about a kilometer to reach one restaurant Mumbai Magic they are providing a buffet system. Its heaven for us we were very hungry so we ate a lot. After having food we took Tuk-Tuk for walking street. As we are not much aware of how much does it cost so we paid 100 Bhat for 4Km for 4 persons later we came to know it took only 10 Bhat per person to go there. So it was a learning lesson for us.

After reaching Walking street we took a walk there and I must tell you its an amazing to see such happening life there although it is quite similar to Titos Lane in Goa but this is different.so after spending some time there we went to one club where we enjoyed shows hope you got it :P After parting from there we were very exhausted so we came back to our hotel around 2 O clock as we have to go for Coral Island tour next day.

Day2:

Ohh it's 7:30 AM in the morning and we are still sleeping. We woke up as fast as we can as if we got late we will skip our free breakfast and our coral trip bus. So we straight went to have our breakfast and afterward our tour planner took to Pattaya beach and from there we click some photos and we onboard in a speedboat which took to a parasailing point. There are tour planner offered a water sports activities which include(Parasailing+ Scooba Diving+Jet skiing+banana ride)=2000 Thai Bhat and If you want to do only Scooba diving it will cost you 1600 Thai Bhat. So two of my friends are not intrested as they already did many times so they opted only for scuba diving and I along with one friend took complete watersports package. After doing parasailing speedboat took to a point where Scooba needs to be done. Sharing below pics you can see. After Scooba, we went to Koh Larn island where we did Jet skiing and banana ride and click some beautiful pics.

After coming back from the coral island we took our lunch at the hotel and went for some rest. In the evening we got ready and went to Hilton hotel as my friend suggested we can get an amazing view from the top so we went and captured some beautiful pics there. After that, we again went to Walking street to enjoy some desi clubbing as per my Punjabi friend request. We went in The Nasha club they play pure Hindi and Punjabi mix song so if anyone wants to enjoy Indan clubbing its best among all. After partying we came back again to our hotel.

Day 3:

The third day is our leisure day so after taking breakfast we went to Pattaya floating market its 15km from our sunshine garden resort. So we took a Tuk-Tuk and it cost me 150 Thai Bhat after reaching we came to know that we have to pay a ticket for that to see it. So there is the basic ticket for 200 Thai Bhat per person in which you can walk and see the whole market and one more ticket is of 800 Thai baht which includes a complete tour of floating market in the boat and include some local shows. So we took a basic ticket and went to check out the market. It's amazing to see the whole market is built upon water and local peoples are selling their handicraft clothes and designs. Refer below pics to get a better picture. 

So After coming back from floating market we took dinner and explored the beauty of Pattaya hope you got what I mean :P. So here the end of our Pattaya trip next day we have to leave for Bangkok.

Day4:

After taking breakfast our tour operator took us from our hotel to Bangkok its 2 hours drive from Pattaya to Bangkok so its good that we took our Bluetooth speaker which makes our journey amazing. So after reaching Bangkok our tour operator took us to Golden Buddha Temple for sightseeing and showed Kings Grand palace. After this, they took us back to our Hotel Le Fenixx. 

At the hotel, we have to pay a security deposit before check-in it's hotel policy so its differ hotel to hotel. After check-in, we went to our room and took rest and in the evening we decided to go for shopping so there is very popular local market named Indra Market where one can do shopping at very cheap rates. But we decide not to go Indra Market instead we choose it to MBK mall.

It's a very big mall where one can buy local clothes and branded items.

I did shopping for my mom and brother and returned back to our hotel. Then we explored a Cowboy street in Bangkok which is similar to Pattaya. So in the night we went there and man its amazing street although it's not that big as compared to Pattaya walking street its best in its own way.

Day 5:

So today is the last day of our trip we have already booked our plan for Safari World. We booked it through the hotel itself and it costs us 1200 Thai Bhat per person and I would recommend everyone to go to this place it's worth spending every penny as this tour will include a safari world + lunch+ Zoo. We woke up early in the morning and after taking breakfast we got ready at 8 O Clock. We left for safari world from the hotel at 8:30 and we reached around 10. There are many shows happening inside the safari world like Orang Utan show, Elephant show, Cowboy show etc. so take care of the time and reach according to it.  Please have a look on the below pics

Day 6:

Today was my return and have my flight at 8 O'clock so I was awake and enjoying with my friends whole night at 4 O'clock I have my cab to take me back to Airport so my fellow yatra guys went along with me and my friends have their flight at 2PM so they have gone as per their schedule. After reaching airport done with my onboarding formalities and onboard on my Flight back to Delhi.

Can't explain what those 6 days mean to me it was just an amazing experience which every Bachelor wants to have before marriage especially in India :P and I am happy I made it.

Alvida Bangkok :)

If you like my post do check out my other post also on Hampi - A Complete Travel Guide

Understanding Launch Modes in Android

What is Launch Mode?

Launch mode defines how a new instance of an activity associated with the current task(Task is a collection of activities that users interact to perform the certain job).

Launch Mode with example

Types of Launch Mode

1. Standard (Default launch mode)
   
   <activity android:launchMode="standard"/>

Standard launch mode is the default launch mode for all activities defined in the android manifest file. In this mode each time we call the new activity through startActivity(intent) it will create a new instance of that activity within the current task. So multiple instances of same activity will be created within the current task

Standard Launch Mode

2. SingleTop

<activity android:launchMode="singleTop"/>

         If activity instance already exists on top of the stack then no new instance will be created.New instance only will be created if activity A is called by activity B and no new instance of B is yet created in the task or present at any other position other than the top. Refer below image.

SingleTop Launch Mode

Let's understand with the example there is a login activity and home screen. After login, the home screen will be launched now if the user receives a push notification and on tapping the notification home screen will going to be launched. So now as home screen instance already exists we should not create another instance of it rather declare home screen activity as singletop so no new instance will create if it's present on top of the stack. The user can override onNewIntent() method to perform any action if he wants to perform on opening existing instance from notification.

3. SingleTask

<activity android:launchMode="singleTask"/>

The system creates a new task and pushes the activity at the root of the task. If activity A instance exists in the task stack and if it's called by any other activity lets say D then no new instance of activity A will create rather activities above A will be cleared from task stack and activity A will now be at the top. Refer below image

SingleTask Launch Mode

4. SingleInstance

<activity android:launchMode="singleInstance"/>

It's same as singleTask only difference is no new activity will be pushed to the task holding singleInstance activity.

SingleInstance Launch Mode

Thanks for reading my first article :)