Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand For Vacation
Pattaya is a city built for fun on the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand. It is situated in Chonburi Province around 150 kilometres south of Bangkok. In the Sixties, Pattaya was hardly known, but the American soldiers fighting in Vietnam started using it for R&R and it started to boom. Pattaya is most famous for its entertainment and its nightlife, yet in fact it has a lot more than that to give.
As far as just sport goes, Pattaya offers horse riding, swimming, diving, wind surfing, golfing, tennis and jet skiing among others. However, not like most sporting towns or cities, it does not begin to go to sleep when the sun goes down.
The bars, restaurants, discos and strip bars begin to open in profusion at around four o’clock. The bars are of every persuasion to suit every niche market.
There are Welsh bars, American bars, Irish bars, Lady Boy bars and each other type of bar you can think of. Likewise with the restaurants, there are specialized restaurants for every country. There are bush game restaurants, Chinese, Japanese, American, French, German and fish restaurants. In fact there are thousands of restaurants and bars all trying to become unique.
I am certain that you could remain in Pattaya for months without going the same bar or eating the same type of food twice. This is just as well because there are representatives from every country in the world there too. You will hear English, Russian and every European and Asian language spoken in Pattaya on a regular basis.
Pattaya receives over one million visitors a year. Most of these visitors are men, and the local government is trying to do more to attract women and families by relocating the girlie bars back away from the beach.
Despite it being fairly big, you can stay in your favourite part of Pattaya and find nearly everything you want near-by. However, if you do have to travel about, nothing could be simpler. Most individuals just hop on a ‘Baht Bus’. These small open-backed pick-ups can be seen going about the city by fairly predictable routes when you understand the layout of the city.
The ‘fixed fare’ is ten Baht for as far as you want to go on the route, although some drivers will endeavor to trick more out of you if you go a long distance. Thais pay five Baht. If you do not feel confident enough to predict where the bus is going, you could get on one of the thousands of motorcycle taxis.
They are more expensive at about forty to sixty Baht, yet they will go anywhere you like. Ask for a quote before you leave to avoid disappointment on both sides. If you do not want to rent a car, there are other options. You could rent a motorcycle or motorbike. A motorcycle costs around 100 Baht a day at the cheapest, but beware the traffic in Pattaya it can be fairly chaotic.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now involved with Songkran – the old Thai New Year. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Package Holidays to Thailand.
Tags: asia, Destinations, diving, fishing, foodhappiness, golf, other, outdoors, pattaya, recreation, sport, thailand, travel-tips
February 19 2012 08:56 am | Destinations
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