The next day we were in Pattaya, we continued our trip by visiting Nong Nooch Tropical Garden. Another destination you must visit while you are in Pattaya. I think Nong Nooch Tropical Garden is more like a theme park rather than just a garden. There is a mini petting zoo, a cultural village, resort facilities, a pool, and restaurants. It's even a conference center there.
Nong Nooch Tropical Garden is said the largest tropical garden in Southeast Asia. Lots of plant species that exist there even reach 670 species, ranging from palm plants, succulent, tropical plants, to various flowers. It is all of 500 acres and divided into various zones, displays and gardens according to plant species as well as design themes. There's the Pottery Garden, Orchid Garden, Cactus Garden, French Garden, European Garden, Stonehenge Garden, Butterfly Hill, etc.
We couldn't explore every garden since we had to watched the cultural show that had been scheduled by our tour guide. So we only explored the gardens near the performance hall, which were Cactus & Succulent Garden, Mammoth Garden, and Butterfly Hill.
Knowing the cultural show about to start, we immediately went to the Thai Cultural Hall where it was held. Through the show we could take a peek into the history and culture of Thailand. The performances shown were classical Thai dances, Muay Thai, ancient drum performances, etc. It was a good way to cool down a little bit after strolling around the garden. Lol.
After the cultural show, visitors were directed straight across the entryway to an open arena where the elephant show took place. The elephant show featured elephant football, dart throwing, painting and other tricks. You can also take a picture with the elephants if you want, but with a small charge. To be honest I personally feel very sorry for the elephants, they seemed to have been abused by their handler.
Finished watching the elephant show, we had a buffet lunch at the nearby restaurant. Then afterward we returned to our bus to continue the trip to the next destination. As we went to our bus, we passed the Car Garden. We couldn't miss it so we entered and took some pictures. Well, It's basically a showroom with more than 60 cars displayed. Those are not just replicas but real vehicles that the founder’s grandson collected. If you are into cars then very much worth a look.
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Nong Nooch Tropical Garden
34 Na Chom Thian, Sattahip District, Chon Buri 20250, Thailand
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun, 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM local time.
As I write this blog post, I'm still bummed we didn't have enough time to explore it more. Hopefully one day I can visit it again and explore it further. But after all, it was a fun experience.
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