Playing mini golf in Pattaya

The eastern seaside resort of Pattaya is a popular vacation destination for golfing professionals and enthusiasts. There are around 18 courses within one hour’s drive and these include Siam Country Club Plantation and Khao Kheow. Golf is not every person’s favourite sport and for many a round on a minigolf facility is more than enough. There are quite a few places in Pattaya where visitors can play minigolf. Pattaya Country Club & Resort has one for novice players while the Centara Beach Hotel offers guests another course.

Minigolf Pattaya in the Na Klua district offers a fun course that suits anybody from the age of around 5 to 85. It offers 18 holes with some slightly challenging spots in verdant gardens that offer a modicum of shade from the worst of the tropical sun. Minigolf Pattaya is also well spaced out and players rarely crowd each other. Prices are currently 100 baht a game for adults and half-price for children under 11 years old. There is a promotion at the moment that gives a free second round.

At lunch times, players can enjoy a combined minigolf-buffet lunch package. The onsite restaurant serves cappuccino, espresso and latte coffees as well as Italian ice-cream. The ambient café features a pool table and table football game. Minigolf Pattaya’s website provides a map and full details of prices and promotional offers.

Mike Shopping Mall in Pattaya

The new Mike Shopping Mall is situated on the promenade of Pattaya and at this time of year is a cool place to head for when the midday sun is beating down and temperatures hit 40°C. Feeling the coolness of the air-conditioning as you walk in is like being massaged with cold cream. All the facilities and amenities needed to get through the day are contained within this contemporary multi-storey complex.

The bottom floor is home to a well-stocked supermarket, currency exchange booths, a chemist’s, souvenir and gift shops, and ice-cream parlours. The department store proper spreads over the middle floors and has a great range of clothes and accessories for all age groups. Locally produced articles as well as ones by top designer brands such as Wrangler and Guy Laroche are on sale in the store.

The top floor features a food court with stalls selling beverages and inexpensive Thai specialities such as noodle soup (kuai tiao), fish cakes, sticky rice and fried pork. On the roof, a swimming pool has a shade-giving pavilion. The parapet around the roof offers great sea views. The beer garden at the front of the shopping centre is the perfect place to relax and watch Pattaya people pass by in the evening.

Tasty seafood gems right beside the sea

From the time it opened several years ago, Pattaya’s Mum Aroi Seafood Restaurant has been pulling in gourmands with its delicious gastronomy served at prices that don’t leave a big hole in the wallet. Mum Aroi is located in a fairly peaceful northern district of Pattaya known as Banglamung. Its prime position with views across the bay and gently bobbing wooden fishing boats makes it a very popular destination for Thai visitors at the weekend. It is probably better to visit during the week.

The word aroi translates as delicious and the restaurant’s chefs try to ensure every dish that leaves the kitchen here is just that. The signature Thai sour and spicy tomyam soup comes with prawns, fish or mixed seafood. Steamed crabs, barbecued squid and prawns all come with their own dipping sauces (known as nam chim) to enhance the flavour of specialities that can be enjoyed as appetisers or served with rice as a main meal.

Thai style seafood salads can be seasoned to taste and are absolutely amazing when garnished with succulent squid. Mussels served in their shells with sauce or as a curry are another great Mum Aroi delicacy. The restaurant is open from 11:00 to 23:00 daily and is on Soi 4 off Naklua Road. People taking taxis to the restaurant should ensure the driver understands the destination is the Naklua Mum Aroi and not one with a similar name on Pattaya Third Road.

Riding the ferry to Lan Island

Koh Lan is the biggest of Pattaya’s so called near islands and is around eight kilometres from Bali Hai Pier. Taking a ferry across to Lan Island has to be a highlight of any Pattaya sightseeing odyssey as well as a bargain. The ferry trip costs only 30 Baht each way on the double-decker open-sided vessels that ply the route. This compares favourably with the 1,500 baht to 2,500 Baht quoted by speedboat operators for the same trip.

Boats run at approximately hourly intervals from 07:00 to 04:00 to Koh Lan and dock either at Naban Pier or Tawaen Beach. As the island is small, the two are not far apart and it is possible to walk between them. There are also motorcycle taxis for hire at the pier. The last ferry for the return trip to Pattaya departs at 18:30. The ferries offer stunning views across the translucent waters of this sector of the Gulf of Thailand. As the low-lying Koh Lan comes into view it epitomises a tropical heaven with golden beaches and a stunning crown of verdant rainforest.

Tawaen is on the east coast of Koh Lan and is the busiest beach here. Behind the sands there are a number of beachwear and souvenir shops as well as cafés that serve Thai culinary gems created from freshly caught fish, crabs, prawns and squid. Other Lan beaches are Tonglang, Tien, Naul and Samae. The beaches all have clean sands and face out onto clear waters suitable for swimming and snorkelling. There are parasols for hire and water activities that can be enjoyed include parasailing and riding a banana-boat.

Pattaya gets ready for a late Songkran

Pattaya celebrates the traditional Lanna New Year a few days later than the rest of Thailand. In days of yore, the stars dictated the actual date of Songkran Festival and it used to fall on different dates every year. Pattaya city authorities have used this flexibility as an excuse to start our own celebrations five days later. The city promenade all the way down from Naklua to Jomtien is the venue for three days of water-fights beginning next Wednesday, 18 April.

The water-fights follow pretty much the same pattern as ones in Chiang Mai and Khao San Road in Bangkok. Combatants use water pistols, small buckets or adapted pipes to soak each other. It is all good fun which is enhanced by dabs of scented powder on the face and shouts of sawat dee pee my (happy New Year). People arriving without weapons will find an abundance of vendors more then willing to supply one, for a price.

In beach areas in the environs of Lan Pho Park, visitors can emulate the Thai New Year tradition of building a sand pagoda on the grounds of their local temple by building one on the sand. City authorities also stage parades along Beach Road during the three-day celebration. Colourful floats carrying beauty queens, Buddha statues and traditionally costumed dancers are essential components of the pageant.

Naklua Sunday Market

Before the 1980s Pattaya was little more than a fishing village. Due to its relative modernity, the seaside resort has few historic sites or traditional markets. Naklua Sunday Market was one of the first markets to be set up in Pattaya and is a fairly typical example of a traditional Thai market. As its name implies the Naklua market takes place on Sundays and it is a great location for picking up diverse articles at much cheaper prices than the more up-market Bali Hai Plaza.

Naklua Sunday Market is held on Sawang Fa Road, a route that links Pattaya Naklua Road and Sukhumvit Road, on the north side of Pattaya. Most of the market vendors who trade here lay out their goods on stalls set up below shade giving awnings. A myriad array of articles on sale here includes electronic appliances, clothes, shoes, sandals, bags, knock-off DVDS and CDs, fresh fruit and succulent snacks.

As the market is popular with local residents, vendors mostly carry clothes that fit smaller-bodied Thais. It pays to check articles do actually fit before paying. Stallholders often claim clothing is free size, when in fact it is probably only big enough for a 12-year-old Western body. It is also worth asking for discounts as vendors often tack on an extra few Baht to the price when they see a non-Thai face.

An odyssey below the waves

Since it first opened a decade ago, Underwater World Pattaya has transported millions of visitors on an odyssey to a place populated with thousands of exotic and colourful marine creatures. Tip reef sharks, moray eels, eagle rays and otters are among the 200 species housed in this underwater mecca. One of the highlights is a shark-stingray hybrid, the shovelnose ray.

After entering a structure that resembles a circus big-top, visitors then make their way past beaches and rock pools to the tunnel entrance and their voyage in the footsteps of Jules Verne. The 100 metre long tunnel is inset with windows which give delightful glimpses of the facility’s denizens and brilliantly coloured corals.

At regular intervals throughout Underwater World’s opening hours, staff swim into the various tanks to feed the creatures. Feeding time in the shark tank is high on the lists of most visitors. Divers enter the tanks to provide these voracious beasts with their daily sustenance.

Rock pools in the Touch Zone allow people to get close to coral, turtles and reef fish. Underwater World Pattaya is located on Sukhumvit Road, in Nongprue district. Admission fees are currently 500 Baht for adults and 300 Baht for children. The facility opens from 09:00 to 18:00 every day and details of the different feeding times can be found on Underwater World’s website.

A mecca for lovers of German beer

The Hopf Brew House on Beach Road in South Pattaya is a good night out for those who enjoy nectar-like beers in a location that actually feels as though it was designed specifically with drinkers in mind. The bar and furniture in the pub is mostly made from dark timber and the big copper vats lend an authentic ambience to it.

The Hopf only has two draught beers, a pilsner lager and a wheat beer. The wheat ale, or weissbier to give it its correct name, is a fruity offering which makes a real change from the usual gassy Singha, Heineken and Tiger lagers served in most Thai pubs. The beers come in traditional high German drinking glasses. The pub also serves wood-fired pizzas and German sausages which are a fitting accompaniment to the beers.

In the evenings, there is live music on at the Hopf. The band usually plays a selection of tunes designed to please cosmopolitan audiences. Beer drinkers are just as likely to hear a classic Eagles track as a Russian ballad or a Thai pop song. The Hopf is equally as popular with Thai tourists as it is with foreigners and expats, and can get busy. It is probably better to arrive fairly early in the evening to be sure of getting a table, or a barstool to perch on.

Celebrating St Patrick’s Day in Pattaya

St Patrick’s Day on March 17 commemorates the life and times of Ireland’s patron saint. The day has been traditionally celebrated in Ireland for hundreds of years with festivities and lots of alcoholic beverages. As Irish culture has spread around the world, St Patrick’s Day is now celebrated anywhere where there are expat Irish people and the ubiquitous Irish bars.

Last year, Pattaya city authorities staged the Thai resort’s first St Patrick’s Day parade, which was such a resounding success that it is being repeated again tomorrow. The parade will leave from Alcazar Theater at 14:00 and then head for Beach Road and back to Second Road. Floats will be Irish themed. Irish culinary specialities will be available en route and there will also be Irish culture displays and music.

In the evening, Irish pubs which include Rosie O’Gradys on Soi 6, Jameson’s on Soi Sukrudee, Murphy’s Law on Soi LK Metro and Mulligan’s across from Central Festival Mall are the places to head for to enjoy the craic and traditional Irish stout. While most serve Guinness, in keeping with its name Murphy’s Law has Murphy’s stout on draught. Rosie O’Gradys serves a delicious Stowford Press cider. Revellers wishing to enter into the spirit of the occasion should wear something green.

Shopping for souvenirs in Pattaya

Pattaya, as with most major tourism cities and islands in Thailand, is a real mecca for shoppers. Those looking for traditional Thai souvenirs, something with a Thai logo on it or cheap counterfeit brand-name articles will find that it is all available on Beach Road. Shops and market vendors along the south part of what is in effect the city’s promenade have a dizzying array of sales items that draws most visitors at least once during their holidays.

Wooden products and carved statues, traditional Thai toys, small Buddha amulets, laser lights, daggers, fake DVDs and music CDs, copy Premier League football shirts, imitation Ray-Ban sunglasses and Diesel jeans, beachwear, surfing shorts and brightly coloured cotton sarongs are among the myriad offerings. Vendors usually quote a price higher then the actual value of the article and bargaining is the order of the day. Lot dye my (Can you give me any discount?) is an invaluable phrase to learn.

Many western countries have now clamped down on people returning from holidays abroad laden down with fake copyright products, so it is probably better not to take too much back. The genuine articles are also available in Pattaya. The Avenue Shopping Centre and the Factory Outlet Village on Sukhumvit Road are the best places to pickup Warner Bros, Adidas, Lacoste and Levi products that will not leave customs officers scratching their heads. The latter location has lots of end of season-line articles which stores claim have been discounted by up to 70 per cent.