Have a great weekend and do something great!

*****

Hey Explorers,

We’re going to come right out and say it, you should see the “Thai Extravaganza Show” at the Thai Alangkarn Theater. “What is it,” you may be asking? It’s everything. It’s music, dance, storytelling, arial acrobatics, special effects, pyrotechnics, audience participation and pure magic. It bills itself as “The Extravaganza Show” and it certainly lives up to it’s name.

We saw the show on our first day in Pattaya. Arriving just a few minutes before showtime, we were able to capture a few moments of the festive courtyard and with the permission of the staff at the theater, a few clips of the show.

Let’s start with the theater. It’s huge, having the ability to accommodate 2,000 people per show. Shows are offered nightly at 18:00. While we didn’t sit in every seat, the tiered seating should make for good visibility no matter where you are. The show itself tells the story of Thai culture and history. The dramatic entrance crescendos with a full stage production number with lavish sets, thunderous music and colorful costumes. Due to low light levels in the theater the Alangkarn has generously provided us with these images.

The pace moves quickly from number to number. Just as you’re ready for more the next troupe of performers enters onstage for another, new, cultural piece. Many theater productions separate the audience from the performers, meaning the performers act as if no one was watching them. Quite pleasingly for a spectacle as large as this one, select audience members are picked from their seats and invited onto the stage to perform with the dancers.

As it so happened, we were both brought to the stage along with 1/2 dozen other audience members. We had no idea what was in store for us. We formed a line and learned a traditional Thai dance. Ben and another audience member were brought to center stage to demonstrate the dance to the rest of the theater. Hilarity ensued when he couldn’t quite grasp the motions while the performer/ instructor (a man playing the role of an old, eager-to-find-a-man lady) continued to try to “make the moves” on him.

One of our favorite moments was the elephant battle scene. This was our first exposure to the elephant’s role in Thai history and it’s involvement in fighting your enemy. Elephants played a prominent role in the country’s past. Today elephants are a common sight at many of the attractions we visited. No longer used in war or logging, elephants today are enjoyed for their beauty, intelligence and ability to make us smile.

The Alangkarn Theater also has a restaurant on-site where you can purchase a dinner and show package. We ate at another location after the show so we can’t tell you much about the dinner. Before the lobby doors open the main courtyard is full of entertainers, games, music and merriment. And at the moment before those doors open, a pyrotechnic blast illuminates the sky.

Pattaya offers a lot during the day. For a great evening out, try the Alangkarn Theater. You can view more photos of our night at the show on our Flickr Set here.

Thank you Alangkarn Theater!

|Know Before You Go|

Appeals To: Everyone
Suggested Stay: It’s around a 90-minute show with no intermission
Cost: 1000 Baht Adult/ 700 Baht Child ($33/$21) Show Only. VIP Seats are 200 Baht ($6) extra
Getting There: Easy Breezy. It’s just off the main road, Sukhumvit. Look for the big sign. Plenty of free parking.
Don’t Miss: Arrive early to take advantage of the atmosphere entertainment in the courtyard in front of the theater doors
Visit Online: | web |  facebook |  twitter |
BTW: Following the performance, many of the performers await you in the lobby for a photo opportunity.

*****

VOTING MESSAGE: If you enjoy reading our blog, please vote for us. Click on the link at the top of this page, login and vote. Voting ends January 8th. You can vote everyday and are eligible for prizes too!

Post-Pattaya Post 3 of 26

Check out my facebook fan page. It’s available here.

*****

Pattaya is working hard to change it’s appeal from being an adult-oriented destination to one that appeals to families. Mini Siam narrows this gap with a fun afternoon out for the little ones you brought with you on your vacation.

Mini Siam recreates notable landmarks from around the world in painstaking detail. Set against the backdrop of manicured lawns and gardens, the kids will have fun getting up close with famous sites previously seen only in textbooks and on television. Here’s a YouTube video with our antics at this tiny attraction.

We also used this opportunity at Mini Siam to flex our photography muscles with some silly photos. Take a look.

More photos are also posted on our Flickr Site here.

|Know Before You Go|

Appeals To: Families with children, the budding photographer who wants some zany landscapes, fans of kitsch.
Suggested Stay: 1 hour
Cost: 300 Baht ($10)
Getting There: Directly off the main road, Sukhumvit. It’s near a McDonald’s so you can grab some food for the kids before/after visiting.
Don’t Miss: Taking silly photos for your scrapbook.
Visit Online: | web |
BTW: Mini Siam is open until 10:00 P.M., making it one of the few attractions open late at night.

*****

VOTING MESSAGE: Like Mini Siam, we have a mini amount of votes. Why not vote for us today? Just a thought.

Post-Pattaya Post 7 of 26

Where on earth did I find something like this…?

Singapore.

I was there on business and my host offered to take me out to the Wan Hao Chinese Restaurant at the Singapore Marriott Hotel. I just about had a heart attack when I saw this menu (frequent readers will know about my challenges in eating new foods.)

With an option of going hungry or being polite and gracious, I chose the latter.

About the only thing I enjoyed on the menu was the beef. The almond cream wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t tasty either. But the sea cucumber and jellyfish…I’m content with not having that again. But a funny thing happened that night after dinner. And while I can’t prove it, it’s never happened before and I’ve never had jellyfish before. So they MUST be inextricably linked to each other…

I woke up around 3 A.M. with an urge to go to the bathroom. When I opened my eyes I saw a person standing in my room. I screamed, “Get out of here!” And threw myself to the ground. I started kicking my feet high in the air to defend myself from this intruder. As I got close enough to the light switched I turned it on and the visitor vanished.

Never in my life have I hallucinated. It was bizarre, unreal, realistic, and frightening, all at the same time. Needless to say I was too scared to fall asleep after that. I remained awake until it was time to leave for the airport and board my plane. Never again Jellyfish. Never again.

Have you ever hallucinated or gotten sick from something you ate in a foreign country? Share your experience (but save us the graphic details) by commenting below.

For more videos, photos and stories of travel, become a fan of adventureswithben.com on facebook. You can do so by clicking here.

Oh, so what does Jellyfish taste like? Rubber Bands. Yep, grab a handful of rubber bands put them in your mouth and you’ll have the consistency, and taste of Jellyfish. Bon Appetit!

Your regularly scheduled adventureswithben.com content will resume once I return from my road trip through Canada. For the latest updates, become a fan of adventureswithben.com on facebook here. It’s the easiest and most efficient way to stay connected to all my adventures.

*****

Hey Explorers,

Throughout our entire trip in Thailand we stayed at 5 hotels. Each has their unique charm and appeal, but for the two of us, the Dusit D2 was our hotel. Watch our YouTube video to see why.

As they say in Thailand, this place is “Mint”.

We knew from the moment we walked in that we’d feel right at home. New arrivals are welcomed with a complimentary welcome drink while waiting to get checked in. An escort to our room overlooking the pool below and we were ready to call it a night.

The list of adjectives we could use to describe this hotel could go on longer than the the day is long: hot, chic, trendy, sexy, cool, mint, comfortable, fashionable, fun, fancy, amazing, great location and all at an amazing price! Seriously, we don’t stay at places like this when we travel. They’re usually just out of our budget. Only in our dreams would we ever be able to stay here. But prices in Thailand, when adjusted to the dollar, make this hotel achievable.

Our room had a balcony, flat screen TV, shower with a rain head and a glass wall. The photo above just doesn’t do it justice (plus we didn’t know it was blurry until after checkout.)

The pool stands out among the amenities offered. The crisp, blue water is perfect to splash into after a day at the beach.

Or if you choose to soak up the sun, grab a nearby hammock and sit back with a cool drink.

But if drinks are really what you’re after, head to the rooftop bar.

Rooftop bars are something of a new experience for us, while in Thailand. There are some well-known locations in Bangkok that we weren’t sure if we’d have the chance to visit, so we were glad to have the opportunity for a similar experience in Pattaya. With the sunsetting to our backs, we kicked back on the comfy chairs and indulged in some adult beverages to the sounds of eclectic music thumping in the background; The perfect way to jump start our evening.

By the way, speaking of going out at night, the Dusit D2 is located right in the middle of downtown Pattaya. Accessible by taxi and foot to all the top spots. Plus, you can visit another one of our sponsors, The Avenue shopping center, right next door for food, drinks and shopping (stay tuned for a post about The Avenue very soon).

You should check out our photos from the hotel. Just looking at them makes us ache to go back. They’re all available on our Flickr site here.

Before we left to return to Bangkok, the team from the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Pattaya Office stopped by to wish us well.

We’d like to thank the Dusit D2 for sponsoring the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition. Please support our sponsors and spend a night or two at the Dusit. You won’t regret it.

|Know Before You Go |

Appeals To: The hipster in you. Oh and for all you gay explorers out there…we found your hotel!
Suggested Stay: As long as you stay in Pattaya
Cost: Rates are variable depending on the type of room, but we found one for 3200 Baht (That just under 100 bucks folks! An incredible value. A hotel like this in the United States is at least double!)
Getting There: Located on Pattaya’s 2nd road. It’s a one-way street on the right, just before The Avenue Shopping Center.
Don’t Miss: Relaxing on the rooftop bar. Visit during Happy Hour!
Visit Online: | web | facebook |
BTW: What else do you want us to say about this hotel. It’s the place to stay in downtown Pattaya. Be sure to budget time in your itinerary just to enjoy everything that the hotel offers. Oh, the hotel is also award-winning for it’s design!

*****

VOTING MESSAGE: Just vote for us. There’s only a few days left. Just one time won’t hurt!

Post-Pattaya Post 18 of 26

Today’s post is all about where to go next. What’s in store for adventureswithben.com based on what I learned?

2010 Priorities

There’s a lot on my “to do” list here at adventureswithben.com. Read my post on New Year’s Resolutions for some detail. In no particular order here’s what I need to do…

Twitter – Build my twitter network. The hashtags were incredibly powerful in building a fan base quickly. I also need to tweet more often and throughout the day to build credibility. Look for more retweets about travel stories that interest me.

Facebook - My facebook fan page is up and running. You should become a fan by clicking here. For now I’ve got this site’s RSS feed going to my personal account. That will change once I have a bigger following on facebook. Facebook will soon become the portal to contain all my photos and videos as I reached the limits of a free Flickr account. Facebook also enables people to network and that’s where I need to continue building.

Content - It’s always about content. In the past topics and destinations jumped around day-to-day. Moving forward I’d like to write a series of posts on one location and heavily promote them. My goal is to connect with a network of readers and capture their attention for a few days, and then move on to a new topic and new network with the hopes that everyone else will follow me along. The opportunities to have readers contribute to the post through comments and polls was popular. So you’ll see more of that. In fact, if you look on the right-hand column you’ll see a current poll for a new tagline for this site. Why not vote now?

Promotion – Giving up may be the wrong word, but I have no intentions on partnering with traditional media in the short-term. It’s too tough. Maybe I’ll revisit this in the future. Where I will focus my efforts will be on partnering with other bloggers, getting listed on travel blog sites and contributing to the travel and tourism conversations on the net. I’m looking at what I can do locally as well as far away.

Video Creation - As if I don’t have enough to focus on already, I might experiment with creating video casts on iTunes. I’m not sure yet. I have all the equipment, but I’m not sure on if I have the time to make it all come together. Running your own business is tough stuff.

When it’s all said and done, participating in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition was the best thing that could have happened last year. It turned out to be everything I hoped it would be and more.

******

Unrelated to what I learned in Thailand – but you might be interested in knowing – here are some other action items I have in mind…

• Refresh my Twitter Profile Background
• Figure out how to use Google Wave and how it can help me here
• Build my LinkedIn network
• Take a Photoshop Tutorial
• Add more header photos
• Chart out the editorial calendar for the year
• Secure some advertisers
• Update some of my pages on the site
• Book and plan my trip to Australia!

The Voting and Assignment Periods for Finalists

From December 1st, 2009 until January 8th, 2009 Internet Users from around the world could vote for 1 team out of the 5 finalists (Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Koh Samui and Bangkok). Voters could vote once every 24 hours. The team with the most votes would receive the grand prize, $10,000.

What I Learned

The Voting and Assignment periods for finalists truly combined the skills, talents and network strategies from the application and semi-finalists periods. Sometime around mid-November we were given our blog passwords and could start writing. Our strategy was to simply write the best blog. We wanted to be creative, set the standard and most importantly of all, be engaging and informative. Our thought was, by writing the best blog we’d amass the most votes.

Content – I was so proud of our blog. We received so many comments about how engaging, fun and informative it was. We really wanted to connect with readers. We knew that many of them wanted to be in our shoes, so we felt that it was our responsibility to work hard, and show them Thailand.

In the weeks leading up to our departure, we reached out to readers by hosting polls on our blog. We allowed them to select which optional activities we would visit in Pattaya. We filmed a YouTube video where we had them guess some of the locations on our itinerary (see below). And we also set up a Skype and AIM Account to chat real-time.

In many of our posts we encouraged them to leave their feedback by commenting on the day’s topic. And once we arrived in Thailand, we continued those polls and opportunities to contribute to the conversation. It was the most and the best I’ve ever written.

Virtually every post included a YouTube video and/or a Flickr photo set. They each took about 2 hours to write. Half of that time was editing the video. All the work was worth it when the Tourism Authority of Thailand voted us with the Best Sponsor Promotion Award.

But despite the work, the votes didn’t come. It was clear after the first few days of voting that people weren’t voting based on the quality of the blogs. Two of the teams that were ahead of us had nothing on their blog for at least a week – and had amassed hundreds more votes than us. Then even into the competition, when we were blogging every night with the goings-on for the day, our competition advanced by thousands of votes – without writing a word. It was frustrating.

It was clear that those voting for the other teams were not necessarily voting based on quality of the blog, but because they were friends of the team. And that was something we made a conscious decision not to focus on. Now before you think I’m nuts for what appears to be giving up on 10K, let me explain.

Rallying people to vote for you and writing great blog posts require, what I believe, to be two very different strategies. We entered this competition not to be better vote getters, but to learn how to be better bloggers. Could we beg, plead and promote ourselves to others so that they would vote. Certainly. But what would we learn? And even if we did. Vote-getting is tiring and time consuming. It was selfish in a way to ask our friends for more favors to vote repeatedly everyday. We won the trip to Thailand, wasn’t that enough? When Brian and I decided to just blog, the competition became less stressful and more fun. And that’s what it was all about. I don’t regret the decision one bit. adventureswithben.com is going to be much better for it. I can promise you that.

Traditional Media – We continued our efforts to promote the competition to our local papers and television stations. Like before we sent out press releases. My hometown paper, the Fall River Herald, did a nice article on us. Read it here. We also were published in the Pattaya Mail here and a follow-up here.

New Media – We also reached out to many, many bloggers with some success. We didn’t get the broad coverage that we had hoped, but we got some. We continued with twitter, but really focused our efforts on Facebook. Our posts were sent immediately to our wall and we posted on multiple groups and fan pages. That really helped spread the word.

Speaking of facebook. Why not become a fan of adventureswithben by clicking here.

******

On January 8th the results came in and we finished in 5th place. Considering I didn’t expect to make it to the semi-finals, this was fantastic. We won an award for our blog and a weekend in Phuket too. It was the closest thing to living a dream.

Next week we’ll finish the series with the last installment. What did I learn that can help this site. Where does adventureswithben go from here?

In addition to trying to rally the most votes as part of my assignment in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition, the five finalist teams were also competing for several awards/ titles:

• Best Promotional Blog
• Best Amazing Thailand, Amazing Value Video
• Best Sponsor Promotion

Announced on Friday, Brian and I were honored with “Best Sponsor Promotion”.

The whole purpose of the competition was to promote travel to Thailand. My whole focus throughout the competition was to create engaging content that promoted each location we visited in Pattaya. Being recognized for this hard work is perhaps my proudest accomplishment.

If you visit the blog here, you’ll see a consistent focus on telling the story of each attraction, hotel and restaurant we visited through videos, photos and words. At the end of each post, we included a “Know Before You Go” section with a high-level synopsis and ways to connect with each location through social media. In addition to posting our blog on the official site, we shared links on twitter, facebook groups and fan pages and with prominent travel bloggers. Since December 16th, when page hits were tracked on the blog, we amassed over 2,700 page views. That’s incredibly high for less than a month of writing.

In addition to the title, we received a 2 night’s stay in Phuket – a resort city in the south of Thailand. We’re going to try to combine that stay with our 2010 International Adventure. Where will that be? You’ll have to check back later this week to find out. But here’s a hint…it’s somewhere in the Pacific Region.

Here’s hoping that 2010 will bring even more exciting news…

But it’s back to work and here’s what’s in store for 2010. My resolutions, in no particular order are…

• Earn my first advertising dollar from this site. (You can accelerate this goal immediately by donating. Click on the link on the left. Web hosting isn’t free ya know!)
• Increase my readership by 100%
• Continue to build my fan base and regular readership following
• Land a paid promotional travel gig

Participating in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition was a fantastic way to end 2009, but it also means that I have to set even higher goals this year. There’s no doubt about it, it set the bar high. So what do you think of my resolutions? Are they achievable? Sound exciting? Comment below.

Immediate travel plans for early 2009 include a tour of Canada, Erie Pennsylvania and maybe one more trip to a location TBD. Plus there’s the big trip for the year that I’ll reveal in the near future.

Over the course of the next few months I’ll share some of my original posts from my participation in the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition – in case you missed them. I’ll always let you know with a note in the header. It’s only appropriate that the first post I share is a thank you to all of you readers for making my participation in the competition possible in the first place.

Thank You.

***This post was originally published in December 2009 as part of the Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition.

Well Explorers,

It’s that time.

Today is the last official day of the competition, and the last opportunity we have to blog. For nearly 5 months we’ve worked to bring you along with us on our quest to travel to Pattaya, Thailand. We hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we’ve enjoyed sharing it with you. Today’s our longest post yet. Given that today is the final day, we’ve got a lot to say. We hope you stick with us.

Thank You

We could never have done this without your enduring support. Your votes, promotional efforts and comments on our blog and facebook have meant the world to us. We’d especially like to acknowledge all of these individuals who made our trip possible.

First and foremost, our friends and family: Ben’s mom, dad, brother and his girlfriend Samantha and Brian’s mom, dad, sister and nieces, our friends here in Orlando: Eddie, Erin, Daniel, Wes, Maggi, Rebecca, Melissa, Rosa, Amanda, Steve, Candy and everyone else on Facebook. There are so many of you who have helped spread the word we’ve lost track.

Throughout the semi-finals and finals we had an enormous amount of support from twitter followers, many who started as strangers and became friends: @feelgoodz @goodtugo @bulkmail4u @jeffnoelmidlife @robotspaceship @smithbrad @Valapakip @kriengkrai @RSJustice @traveldudes @thegaytraveler @Pattaya_mail @alangkarnTHAI @brianknits @douglaskarr @BobThailand @meilooTest @Crash905 @hotelprguy @VisitThailand1 @kevinrbutters@shanannon @Pattaya_News@HappyHomeStager @TaaiPhanit @planeurope2

We also need to thank everyone who worked behind the scenes to make this competition (and our trip) possible. The Tourism Authority of Thailand and it’s partner Born Distinction. Chang Beer, Mekhong Whiskey, Bangkok Airways, Thai Airways, HotelThailand.com, Met 107 FM, Mix 88.5 FM, asiawebdirect.com, Weekend Magazine, the President Palace Hotel Bangkok, the Ocean Marina Yacht Club, Dusit D2, PTT Plc, Bupa Health Insurance, Pattaya Memorial Hospital, Grand Pearl Cruise, Easy Corner Pub & Restaurant, Kum Punn Pub, Rimpa Lapin, The Avenue, Advanced Info Service Plc., Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Tiffany’s Show and the Thai Alangkarn Theater

Congratulations

To Aubrey and Parker, we’d like to extend our congratulations on amassing the most votes and becoming true, Ultimate Thailand Explorers. We had so much fun with you in Thailand and look forward to our next adventure together. And to Michael and Jenny, Curtis and Mark and Mathieu and Emilia, congratulations on a job well done. Each of you have brought your unique style and brand that has taught us so much about travel and blogging. We’ve enjoyed learning from you and more importantly, are fortunate that our paths have crossed. Let’s hope they do again.

Press Coverage

We’d also like to thank everyone in the new and traditional media worlds for sharing the news about Pattaya and our adventure. Our biggest mentions are listed below, but we know there were countless other bloggers out there who helped publish our releases and promote our efforts:

Pattaya Mail Article 1

Pattaya Mail Article 2

The Fall River Herald News

Examiner.com

About.com

Sawadee Pattaya TV

Numbers

We calculated all our data and wanted to share it with you since it was more than we could have possibly imagined!

4,107 – Number of photos we took while in Thailand

708 – Number of Twitter Followers

591 – Number of Facebook Friends

253 – Number of Facebook Fans

104 – Number of Facebook Groups or Pages that we’ve uploaded at least 1 Blog Post or Promotional Message to

56 – Number of YouTube Videos Uploaded

55 - Number of Posts on this blog Written

42 – Number of Gigabytes of Raw Video downloaded

1.28 – Number of Gigabytes of Final, Edited, Published Videos

9 – Number of Promotional T-shirts we each came home with

4,878 – Total Number of votes we received during the entire competition; All submitted by YOU!

Keep in Touch

We can’t say it enough, we’ve enjoyed meeting you. We’ll keep all our competition-related social media accounts active. If you plan on traveling to Pattaya, or have just returned, please drop us a line. We’d love to help you plan your trip and would love to hear how it was. While our competition-sponsored trip to Thailand is over, we are avid travelers. Ben writes regularly (at least he’ll return to writing regularly) on his personal blog, adventureswithben.com. If you’ve enjoyed our adventures here, you might enjoy following them there.

One More Question

Now that you’ve seen everything we’ve done. We’d like to ask you one more question. What was your favorite post from Pattaya? Add your comments below. What made you laugh? What made you cringe? What made you want to travel to Thailand?

Thank you for a lifetime of memories. We’ll leave you with our Amazing Thailand, Amazing Value Video, which truly captures our week and the time we spent sharing it with all of you.

We’ll see you out there!

From NOW until January 8th, 2010 you can vote for us at the official Ultimate Thailand Explorers Competition Site. If you’re new to this site, in September I entered a social media travel competition sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Unbelievably I was selected to blog from the city of Pattaya from December 10th – December 15th. Incredible I know. Little ‘ole me was selected to compete in a worldwide social media competition. But I need your help.

Everyday from now until January 8th I need you to vote for Ben and Brian (that’s me and my partner) at the official website here. Voters are eligible for winning prizes. Secondly, please encourage your friends and family to vote for us too. You’ll need to do a quick registration, but after that you can vote every 24 hours. That’s 39 days of voting. We’re just two ordinary guys who are doing something truly extraordinary and we can’t wait to take you along with us. Help us finish the story by voting.

Our official competition blog has all sorts of great videos and stories to keep you entertained. Thank you for your vote!

~Ben~

Need to know the rest of the story? Click Here.

Don’t forget to vote for us from December 1 2009 – January 8 2009. We are competing in the City of Pattaya.