Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [182]
Other recommendations:
Tampang Beach Resort (0 3821 6179; r from 450B; ) The staff don’t speak much English, but the beachfront location is excellent. Rooms are simple.
Tiewpai-Park Resort (0 3821 6084; tom_tiewpai@hotmail.com; Th Atsadang; r 200-850B; ) Spread throughout a quiet glade, this central option has super-basic rooms with shared bath right up to multi-family digs. It’s close to the pier and good for local information and snorkelling trips.
Eating
The town has several small restaurants, with simply prepared seafood your best bet.
Pan & David Restaurant (0 3821 6629; 167 Mu 3 Th Makham Thaew; dishes 40-260B;breakfast, lunch & dinner, Wed-Mon) With free-range chicken, homemade ice cream (we thoroughly enjoyed the maple-pecan), French-pressed coffee, a wine list and excellent Thai dishes, the menu can’t go wrong. Phoning ahead for a booking is recommended.
Getting There & Away
Boats to Ko Si Chang leave hourly from 7am to 8pm from the Ko Loi jetty in Si Racha (60B). From Ko Si Chang boats shuttle back hourly from 6am to 6pm. Boats leave promptly. A túk-túk to the ferry from Si Racha’s waterfront hotels is 30B.
Getting Around
Ko Si Chang’s túk-túks are big and bad and they’ll take you anywhere for 40B to 60B. Island tours are available for around 300B: you might need to haggle. Motorbikes are available to rent from Tiewpai-Park Resort for 250B per day. You can also rent bicycles for around 120B to 150B per day at several places along Th Atsadang.
PATTAYA
pop 117,000
A sex-crazed and sweaty testament to profitable pleasure-seeking, Pattaya has lured tourists for almost four decades, and it’s showing no sign of slowing down. As past visitors move on to more genteel Thai resorts, first-time travellers from Russia and Eastern Europe now air their new passports with a fling in Asia’s first and foremost Sin City.
The cast may be evolving, but the scenery and soundtrack remain the same. The gorgeous half-moon of Pattaya Bay swoops around the headland to (slightly) more refined Hat Jomtien, and sea breezes whip up a heady cocktail of suntan lotion, fast food and jet-ski fumes. Wide-eyed package tourists jostle with Indian tailors, ruddy-faced middle-aged Western men, and beachfront fruit and seafood vendors. Thumping beats, cruising ‘baht buses’ and the commercial hubbub provide an irresistible symphony. After dark the tourists’ eyes open even wider with a stroll past Pattaya’s infamous go-go bars amid the sex tourism hub of Walking St.
Pattaya’s a stay-up-late kind of town, but wake up earlier than most and there are activities galore to redress your daytime/nighttime balance. Hit the dive shops then head out to explore the city’s offshore reefs and wrecks, or get some fresh air on world-class golf courses. And if you’re here with the family, the kids (and mum and dad) will find plenty to do to make it a real holiday.
The town’s wicked essence remains defiantly intact, but around the fringes it’s softening and becoming more inclusive. If you welcome this town with a dash of confidence and a pinch of adventure, Pattaya’s sun-kissed pursuit of happiness might prove irresistible.
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History
US GIs kick-started Pattaya’s dramatic transformation from quiet fishing village into throbbing tourist mecca when they ventured down the coast in search of fun and frolics from their base in Nakhon Ratchasima. That was 1959. During the Vietnam War, the flow became a flood as troops on leave arrived to soak up Pattaya’s cocktail of sun, sand and sex. Package – and sex – tourists followed, and Southeastern Thailand’s golden goose grew fat on the seemingly bottomless pot of dollars pouring into the local economy.
More recently Pattaya is striving to reposition itself as a ‘family friendly’ destination,