Pattaya Life - Thailand

The Pattaya City is one of Asia's largest beach hotels,resorts and the most visited city in Thailand after Bangkok. This picture overlooks Bali Hai pier and the core of the city.

Pattaya currently integrates the delights of a 1st class beach resort, city-like dining, shopping and night entertainment facilities with more than 300 assorted hotels, thousands of shops, restaurants and bars. In addition, there are an array of sports and recreational activities including beaches, golf courses, tennis courts, go-kart, gyms for working out, weight lifting and Thai-boxing gear. Pattaya offers a broad range of things to do.

The main sweep of the bay area is divided into two principal beach-fronts. "Pattaya Beach" is parallel to city centre, and runs from Pattaya Nuea south to Walking Street. Along Beach Road are restaurants, shopping areas, and night attractions.
Chom Thian Beach in the southern part of the bay area is divided from Pattaya beach by the promontory of Phra Tamnak Hill. It consists of high-rise condominiums, beach-side hotels, bungalow complexes, shops, bars, and restaurants. On weekends, it becomes increasingly crowded, with many Thai visitors coming from Bangkok. It offers of water sport activities such as jet skis, parasailing and small sail boat hire.

During the day, one may enjoy riding elephants or driving humble automatic mini-bikes, monstrous motorcycles, or even monster multicolored convertible Jeeps. Others go for shooting firearms, scuba diving and surfing, deep-sea fishing, speed boats, scooters, water-skiing, parasailing, or aerial sports such as gliding ultra-lights and flying motor-propelled gliders. On the other hand, at night, there are restaurants, bars, theaters, cabaret shows, night clubs, bowling halls, billiard & snooker clubs, discos, sauna & massage parlors, not to cite its absolutely incredible shopping which is available non-stop both day-and-night.

Pattaya Beach
Offshore islands include the "Near Islands", Ko Lan (main island), Ko Sak and Ko Krok located 7 km from the western shores of Pattaya Ko Lan, or "Coral Island", Mu Ko Phai, the "Far Islands", Ko Phai (main island), Ko Man Wichai, Ko Hu Chang and Ko Klueng Badan, located offshore further west of the "Near Islands", and Ko Rin, located offshore to the southwest, south of Mu Ko Phai. Some of the islands in the group are accessible by speedboat in less than 15 minutes and by ferry taking about 45 minutes. The names "Near Islands", "Far Islands" and "Coral Island" are used for touristic purposes only and do not correspond to any naming conventions of the island groups and are not shown on maritime charts published by the Hydrographic Service of the Royal Thai Navy. Many of the islands have public beaches and offer scuba diving activities.

Transportation

Pattaya Road
1. By the Bangkok-Chon Buri-Pattaya Motorway (Highway No.7) The motorway is linked with Bangkok’s Outer Ring Road., (Highway No. 9) and there is also another entrance at Srinagarindra and Rama IX Junction.
2. By Bang Na-Bang Pakong Highway (Highway No. 34) From Bang Na, Bang Phli, across the Bang Pakong River to Chon Buri there is a Chon Buri’s bypass that meets Sukhumvit Road., (Highway No. 3, passing Bang Saen Beach, Bang Phra to Pattaya.


Pattaya Central city roads
* Pattaya 1 Road (Beach Road): runs along the beach.
* Pattaya 2 Road: (Second Road) runs approximately 400 meters parallel to Pattaya 1 Road.
* Pattaya 3 Road: (Third Road) this is Pattaya’s outer-ring road which connects North, South and Central Pattaya.
* Pattaya Tai: (South Pattaya Road) runs from Beach Road to Sukhumvit Highway)
* Pattaya Klang: (Central Pattaya Road) runs from Beach Road to Sukhumvit Highway)
* Pattaya Nuea: (North Pattaya Road) runs from Beach Road to Sukhumvit Highway)
* Thap Phraya Road: connects Pattaya 2 to Chom Thian Beach Road.
* Thep Prasit Road: connects Thap Phraya Road to Sukhumvit Highway.

Pattaya Rail
A daily service operates between Pattaya and Hua Lamphong Station in Bangkok.

Pattaya Bus
Pattaya is served by frequent bus service from Bangkok’s Northern Bus Terminal (Morchit) and the Eastern Bus Terminal (Ekhamai). Buses from a terminal on Sukhumvit Highway near Pattaya Klang connect Pattaya with many destination in the Northeast (Isan).
City and suburban services are mainly provided by Songthaew (public passenger pick-up vehicle), popularly nick-named "baht-buses" or "taxis". A new bus service which connects Pattaya with Suvarnabhumi Airport is located on Tappraya Road near the intersection of Thepprasit Road. The cost is around Bt.110, and features modern air-conditioned buses. It takes around 1½ hours to reach the airport.

Pattaya Taxis
There are some metered taxis, and air-conditioned vans operate for private hire from some hotel car-parks. Popularly nick-named ‘baht-buses’ in Pattaya, songthaews are the most popular mode of public transportation. The cost is 10 baht for any distance on a regular route, but much higher if asked to go to a designated destination. Motorbike taxis generally operate in the town and suburbs, and are mainly used by locals for short distances.

Pattaya Air
Pattaya is about 1½ hours, or 120 km by road from Suvarnabhumi Airport, the Bangkok international hub. By road, it is accessed from Sukhumvit Road and Motorway 7 from Bangkok. Pattaya is also served (very limited) through U-Tapao International Airport which is 45 minutes drive from the city.

Activities
Bungee jump
Bungee jumping is provided in Chom Thian Beach.

Leisure flying
Sport and leisure flying and lessons are available.

Horse riding
There are several facilities that provide training in riding, cross-country jumping and polo.

Motor sports racing
There are facilities which provide a cart circuit with separate lanes for professionals and amateurs. The Asia Cross Country Rally starts in Pattaya on 7 August 2010

Fitness and sports
Artificial cliff climbing, boxing, yoga, squash, tennis court, etc., are offered at several locations.

Massage
Many kinds of massage are available including Thai massage, foot massage, oil massage and reflexology massage.

Diving
A popular destination in Pattaya for diving is the wreck of the Hardeep which was sunk by the allies in the Second World War. The wreck lies on its starboard side at a maximum depth of 26 meters. Other popular dive destinations near Pattaya include the islands of Ko Rin, Ko Larn, Ko Man Wichai, Ko Hu Chang, Ko Khrok, Ko Sak, and the wrecks of HTMS Khram and HTMS Kut.

Food specialities
Local culinary specialities include chaeng lon, a hand molded, charcoal-grilled small bun of coconut on a stick. Hoi cho, a Chinese delicacy, is Chon Buri's famous dish that uses a special kind of sea crab as the main ingredient, and khao lam, a specialty is made with sticky rice, sugar and coconut cream cooked in specially-prepared bamboo tubes. Chon Buri has an abundance of fresh seafood and dried fruits. Due to the large number of residents from Isan, north-eastern dishes such as spicy papaya salad (somtum) and spicy sour chopped pork salad (larb) are widely available.

Nightlife

The city and its suburbs have a very large number of bars and night clubs, and some discotheques. Many major hotels also operate restaurants, cocktail lounges, nightclubs and supper clubs which offer food, drinks, music and international entertainment. The "Walking Street" is a location that is well known to many tourists visiting Thailand, as well as Thai people from many parts of the country. Walking Street runs from the south end of Beach Road to the Bali Hai Pier. A huge sign at the Beach Road entrance was erected in March 2010, and a small arch adorns the Bali Hai entrance. The street is free of vehicles at night from 6:00 pm to 2 am, and car parking is at the Bali Hai end. It is carefully patrolled by tourist police during those hours. It is a pedestrian area south of the beach and a center for nightlife. Boyztown and Sunee Plaza provide locations for the gay community. Muay Thai (Thai boxing) matches aimed at tourists can be seen at several open-air beer bar complexes.
Mime entertaining on Walking Street

Events & festivals
The Pattaya Songkran festival that takes place each year in mid April differs from the rest of Thailand in several aspects. It is several days lonnger and the event includes beauty pageants, musical performances, cultural shows, fireworks, and water sports competition.
Pattaya International Music Festival is held annually in the month of March. It attracts huge crowds to the different stages along Beach Road and Bali Hai Pier, and presents several styles of music performed by Thai and international artists.

Creative arts
Western creative arts include several art galleries. The largest gallery in the Eastern Seaboard, Liam’s Gallery, features original artworks by Thai and international artists. Pattaya Players, a troupe of amateur thespians, produces a variety of theatrical productions.

Property
Driven by its popularity as both a holiday destination, and a location for foreign expatriates, Pattaya is an area of extensive property development, including hotels, condominiums, and housing estates. Steadily rising prices of land and buildings have also led to investment and speculation contributing to the growth in the town's economy.

Health care
Large hospitals in the area include Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, Pattaya International Hospital, Banglamung Hospital, and Pattaya Memorial Hospital. Many foreign tourists have dental and medical care in Pattaya, though Bangkok is far more popular as a medical tourist destination.

Populace
Most of the officially-registered Pattaya residents are of Thai-Chinese ancestry. Due to the tourist industry, many people from the Northeast (known as Isaan, the poorest region of Thailand) have come to work in Pattaya, and are counted for census purposes in their hometown.

There is a fast-growing community of foreign retirees living in Pattaya. Thai immigration has a special visa category for foreigners over age 50 who wish to retire in Thailand. Pattaya is attractive to many retirees from Europe and other Western countries not only because of its climate and exotic, easy lifestyle, but also because living costs are a fraction of those in Europe, a major consideration for people on fixed pensions or incomes. While foreigners are not permitted to own land, they are permitted to hold title to condominium units. Many new condominiums sell out the allotted 49% for foreigners while the buildings are being constructed.

Media and communications
Several local foreign language newspapers and magazines are published either weekly or monthly, especially in English and German. The English newspapers include the Pattaya People Weekly, Pattaya Mail, Pattaya Today, and Pattaya Times. Landline telephones, satellite phones, mobile phone systems, internet access (via ADSL), post offices and parcel services are all available in the city.