Archive for January, 2008

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Leisure Activities In Pattaya Thailand

Monday, January 7th, 2008

Besides beaches, shopping centers and night-life, Pattaya also offers a great number of interesting sports and other activities for foreigner, especially those who plan to have a long stay in Pattaya. Here are some of interesting activities.

Water sports such as parasailing, sailing, snorkeling, diving, and swimming.

For parasailing, the boats will pick you up from the Bali Hi Pier and take you out to the pontoons where instruction to novices and experts alike will be given. This pursuit cannot be undertaken on windy days, and safety is a key factor.

Sailing in Pattaya is very popular, where various national and international regattas take place. Many sailors sail over to Koh Lan or one of the smaller islands for the day and return in the afternoon.

Snorkeling is the activity which is popular Diving is a very popular pursuit on the Eastern seaboard and Pattaya has several specialist companies with instructors and supervisors. There are many dive sites around Pattaya, the profusion of coral and fish, a sea temperature of around 28 degrees and cheap prices, this is a favorite venue for many international divers.

Swimming in the sea is very popular with both Thais and Europeans. Don’t be surprised if the Thais go in the sea with their clothed. They are not used to showing in public, and it’s warm enough to dry off very quickly when they get out.

Go-karting at the Pattaya Kart Speedway

One of the tracks is 800 meters long, nicely design with water waiting for the clumsy. Moreover there are a few types of karts to choose from and all of them are very good and well maintained.

Golfing courses in Pattaya

Playing Golf in Pattaya can totally spoil you for returning home. You can play golf at a different course every day of a two week holiday and you still won’t play all the international standard courses within an hour drive of Pattaya.

Many of Pattaya’s courses are Country Clubs and designed by Nicklaus, Faldo, Thompson, Wolderidge, Dye and Trent Jones.

Gyms, spas, and massage

Pattaya has a tropical climate is therefore ideal for the pursuit of outdoor activities. However, for an indoor healthy lifestyle, Pattaya is also among the best. The vast number of 5 star health massage organizations, beauty parlous, spa and fitness centers mean that Pattaya really is the place to improve you overall and look

Other activities in Pattaya

The Pattaya Bridge Club for the more leisurely.

Wandering along Walking Street and its many beer bars, girlie bars, music venues, cabarets, and restaurants.

Day trips to the Tiger Zoo, alligator and elephant farms, sapphire mines, orchid gardens, and culture villages at Mini Siam and Nong Nooch Village; countless other places of interest in the Pattaya area.

Latest Hollywood movies a the Big C and Royal Garden shopping centers; or purchase DVDs at bargain prices from street vendors.

If you’re creative, build a studio to write, paint, or invent things or join a writers group and write about your travels.

Attend an international convention at one of the big hotels.

Numerous places of religious worship: temples, churches, and mosques.

Posted in Recreation & Sports | No Comments »

Living in Bangkok – It’s Easy

Monday, January 7th, 2008

Bangkok is probably the easiest city to live in Southeast Asia. I should know; I have been back in Thailand for the last 17 odd years. I was in the US before that.

First and foremost, Bangkok likes visitors from out-of-town. Here, the government truly promotes tourism in a big way; here, you have The Tourism Authority of Thailand. This means big budget for tourism activities.

You can start with the new airport, Suvarnabhumi; it can take on any other airport in the world. Some touch-ups are required, but for the most part, it’s fine.

Next, you can check out some of Bangkok’s finest accommodations, starting from the Oriental Hotel, one of the best in the world. They claim that the hotel staffs will recognize you by your first name after staying there for a few days. Then you have the Four Seasons, a super luxury hotel on Rachadamri Road; it’ss not far from Lumpini Park. The room decor here is very comfortable; you need to book early.

For a few weeks or a few months stay, you want to park yourself with the top serviced apartments here, like the Centre Point group, Chin House and the Emporiums. These places could make you feel like home away from home.

For a stay longer than that, you would want to check out some apartments and condos. There are tons of them to choose from in Bangkok, from less than 20,000 baht to over 100,000 baht a month.

Next, we want to hit the Loft at Central Chidlom Department Store, my favorite eatery. There you have Italian food, Thai, Singaporean, Vietnamese, Chinese and some Mexicans. It is set up like a high class cafeteria; you are given a food credit card, you pick up what you like, set yourself down at a table, and a waiter will bring you your freshly cooked order. Once you’re done, you can check out the bill registered on the credit card. I just love their Caesar salad.

Some tourist attractions that you might be interested are Bhuddhist temples. There are many Bhuddhist temples in Bangkok; over 95% of the city dwellers are Bhuddhists. These temples have old Thai style architecture; they are very colorful. The temples are also places of worship, so you must have proper attire and manner while you are there.

Rock concert. That’s right, we have rock concert here from time to time. Over 10 years ago I got a chance to see Michael Jackson performs; just before the unfortunate scandal got serious. Michael and his troupe were great. I would never get to see him if I was in the US at the time.

Then last year, I went to see Eric Clapton performance at the Impact Muangtong Tani (something like Madison Square Garden in Manhattan). It was terrific too. At other times, we have the Bolshoi troupe performs at the Cultural Center at Rachadapisek Road. I have not attended that one, but heard rave reviews about it.

Getting around town is pretty easy when you use the SkyTrain or the subway. Using taxi is a little more difficult because of the language barrier, but doable. A hotel’s car service would be a good alternative. A tuk tuk (a tricycle novelty) is something unique when you feel adventurous; you can really feel the wind blowing through you hair when it really takes off.

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Effective Pattaya Travel Guide

Monday, January 7th, 2008

Thailand is the place where many people would love to go to. Due to its warm climate and beautiful natural resource, such as mountaineer geography in the north, and coastal beach in the east and the south. We are going to look at the eastern region, which Pattaya city is located. You may have heard a bit or have been there before if you had a chance to visit Thailand. It is the place where a lot of tourist would like to visit and it has millions of visitors each year. This is due to its beautiful beach and night life which give people endless enjoyable activities.

However, for someone who want to visit Thailand or Pattaya at the first time, they may want to visit some information resource that provide info about Pattaya travel guide and there are a lot of websites provide comprehensive information such as the website of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) or you may want to visit lonelyplanet.com can also be used as a information reference.

Even though Pattaya gain it reputations from its beach and night life but there are also many tourist attractions that tourist could have activity with. For example, there has been an fish aquarium that recently opened and this aquarium is the largest in Southeast Asia region. Apart from that, you can enjoy activities like rock climbing, hiking or even just ordinary relaxing on the beach.

Hotel accommodation in Pattaya also offers excellent service. You can find wide range of hotel types available for all of budget availability. Top luxurious hotels provide very private environment and services so you can be sure that your holiday will not be disturbed. Massage and beauty service in Pattaya are also gain reputation, particularly traditional Thai massage and facial therapy massage in Thai ancient style, which you will experience of using traditional Thai herbs to cure disease through elaborated massage method.

Pattaya is divided into three different parts; North Pattaya, Central Pattaya and South Pattaya. Each area has unique characteristics such as beach and travel attraction. North Pattaya is close to other attractions near by such as Sila Village where produce mortars or if you would like to enjoy city life and beautiful beaches, you have to visit Central Pattaya.

People and environment in Pattaya are also very pleasant. Even though it is a place that has more urban area than suburb area but there still be a good environment and very less of pollution. People are also very friendly and always willing to help all of the tourists.

Even though there are a lot of travel guide for Pattaya available on the internet, some in Thai and some in English language, but you have to compare all the detail with two or three different websites and choose the most update and reliable one. Otherwise you may get the wrong or out of date information. And as a result you may get lost or miss some important information that may lead you to trouble during the visit and you will find that you have to return to this place once again.

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