PATTAYA CITY DIRECTORY

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The fast road to Pattaya
(Phattaya)-and the world's longest elevated express-way - passes trough Chonburi, a charmless provincial capital, Si Racha, noted for locally made chili pepper sauce that bears its name, and Bang Saen, a seaside resort popular with Thai families, before reaching the string of beaches further down the Eastern Seaboard.
Pattaya began attracting visitors from Bangkok in the 1950's, thanks so the ease with which is long white-sand beaches could reached. Accommodation was a few simple bungalows, and the first hotel did not open until 1965. Development accelerated during the Vietnam War, when thousands of American soldiers went there on leave, and by the mid-1979's it had become a major resort, with hotels, restaurants and nightclubs extending the entire length of main beach. The environmental cost of such rapid expansion has been high, and most of Pattaya's natural charms are gone, though the water has improved greatly in recent years. The free-wheeling nightlife has been cleaned up slightly in response to foreign media criticism, and the town's new status as a residential and educational hub for industrializing Easter Seaboard means there are now malls and family attractions too, such as Ripley's Believe It Or Not and Pattaya Aquarium. Many visitors still enjoy its rowdy, laid-back atmosphere, however, and continue to come in large numbers. Those who prefer s quieter atmosphere and more privacy, at least after nightfall, can go further to less developed beaches like Jomtien or to offshore islands such as Koh Larn and Koh Sak. There are several golf courses in the area, as well as shooting ranges and other land-based sports facilities.

PATTAYA JOMTIEN
AND BEACH INFO

It is built along the river, six or seven miles away from the mountains. About one third of the population is composed of Christian Annamites. The rest is mostly composed of Chinese. Their ancestors sailed all the way from Cochin-China hoping to fish in the northern of the Gulf of Siam. Little by little they settled in Chantaburi

KHO SICHANG a paradise island who's name has become a title of a song. Located nearby Chantaburi.

KHO CHANG The second largest island after Phuket lies off the coast of Trat Province, near the Cambodian border. Along with fifty nearby islands, Kho Chang is a beautiful marine national park, with numerous beaches and coral reefs. However, the government has targeted the islands for development, and the subsequent construction now threatens the ecosystem. Ferries leave several times daily for the island from Laem Ngob on the mainland, and an airport at Trat now serves the islands.

Walking Street
Information

Located 147 km from Bangkok about two and a half hours trip, by Bangna / Trat Highway 36 or motorway from Rama 9 Rd. Daily coach service from Bangkok Eastern Bus Terminal.
The old Sukhumvit Road, once the only route to Pattaya and other resorts on the eastern gulf coast, leads trough Samut Prakarn Province and passes a number of popular tourist attractions before joins a newer, more modern highway. The Ancient City "Muang Boran" started by a late art-loving millionaire in the early 1970's, contains numerous buildings and monuments - some replicas, others genuine - from Thailand's past, on a 200-acre site roughly shaped like the country itself. One enters from the far south, passing such attractions as the Phra Mahathat stupa of Nakhon Si Thammarat and another from the Srivijaya city of Chaya,
and then moves upward to the north trough the splendors of Ayutthaya and Sukhotai. The idea might sound contrived, but it is executed with considerable taste, and expert advice from various authorities - among them a former director of the National Museum - which have been consulted throughout to ensure authenticity of detail. The replicas are one-third the original size, but there are also many original buildings. The village stilt-houses around the "floating market, and the so-called "Market of Yesteryear" were once Thai houses that have been completely dismantled and moved to the site and then refurbished with original antiques and objects of everyday use. Two northern buildings of significance, a Lanna-style temple from Chiang Rai
and the Shan-Burmese temple from Ngao, have been salvaged from destruction and carefully restored in the Ancient City.

The man behind Ancient City also created
two other landmarks. The Erawan Museum
in Samut Prakarn town is a 150-ton bronze sculpture of the mythical three-headed elephant Erawan, containing a museum and
a non-denominational chapel. His outlandish carved wooden temple at Naklua Bay north of Pattaya also seeks common ground between faiths, in a structure like no other in the world.

Beyond Pattaya

CHANTABURI Known in old travel accounts as Chantaboon, Chantaburi has been a center of gem-mining since the early 1400's. Mainly sapphires and rubies are mined in privately owned pits in the countryside. Gem trading is concentrated in few blocks of the downtown area, where nearly all the shops are devoted to this, particularly on weekends when traders come from Bangkok to make selections. Chantaburi - or "city of the moon" - is also noted for its tropical fruits.