Pattaya on the Gulf of Thailand

Pattaya on the Gulf of Thailand Pattaya is a city made 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, yet the American soldiers fighting in Vietnam started using it for R&R and it began to expand. Pattaya is most famous for its entertainment and its nightlife, but in fact it has a lot more than that to offer.

As far as only sport goes, Pattaya offers horse riding, swimming, scuba diving, wind surfing, golf, tennis and jet skiing among others. However, dissimilar to most sporting towns or cities, it does not begin to go to sleep as the sun goes down.

The bars, restaurants, discos and Go-Go start to open in abundance at about four o'clock. The bars are of each kind to suit every niche market.

There are Welsh bars, American bars, Irish bars, Lady Boy bars and every other sort of bar you can think of. Likewise with the restaurants, there are specialized restaurants for every country in the world. There are bush game restaurants, Chinese, Japanese, American, French, German and fish restaurants. In fact there are thousands of restaurants and bars all attempting to seem unique.

I am certain that you could remain in Pattaya for months without having to visit the same bar or eating the same type of food twice. This is just as well because there are representatives from all the country in the world there as well. You will hear English, Russian and each European and Asian language spoken in Pattaya on a regular basis.

Pattaya gets more than one million visitors a year. Most of these visitors are men, but the local government is attempting to do more to attract women and families by relocating the strip bars back away from the beach.

Despite it being fairly large, you can stay in your favourite part of Pattaya and find nearly everything you want near-by. However, if you do want to get about, nothing could be easier. Most individuals just hop on a 'Baht Bus'. These small open-backed pick-ups can be seen going about the city by quite predictable routes when you understand the layout of the city.

The 'fixed fare' is ten Baht for as far as you like to go on the route, although some drivers will try to get more out of you if you go a long way. Thais pay five Baht. If you do not feel confident enough to forecast where the bus is going, you could hire on one of the thousands of motorbike taxis.

They are more expensive at about forty to sixty Baht, but they will go anywhere you like quickly - weaving in and out of traffic. Ask for a quote before you set off to avoid disappointment on both parties. If you do not want to hire a car, there are other choices. You could hire a motorcycle or motorbike. A motorcycle costs about 100 Baht a day at the cheapest, but beware the traffic in Pattaya it can become pretty chaotic.

Owen Jones has just published his first book which is entitled Behind The Smile: the story of Lek, a Thai bargirl in Pattaya in Thailand.