Chonburi province contains many places of interest for visitors. Particularly well known throughout the world is the seaside town of Pattaya, while the town Si Racha is famous throughout Thailand for its spicy chilli sauce.

Particularly of interest in the area is the picturesque island of Ko Si Chang, which was made popular when King Rama IV, Rama V and Rama VI visited the island for some much deserved rest and relaxation. King Rama V initiated the construction the first palace for royal home-stay in the summer, and the idea proved popular with subsequent rulers and people of note.

There are many beautiful beaches and other places of interest on Ko Si Chang. The meditation caves at the Tham Yai Phrik Vipassana Monastery are a good place to get in touch with nature while learning the art of meditation.

There are plenty of great places on the island to swim, such as the picturesque Hat Tham Phang (Fallen Cave Beach), Hat Sai Kaew and Hat Tha Wang Palace, which is a great picnic spot.

The San Jao Phaw Khao Yai Chinese Temple is located high on a cliff top overlooking the sea and offers spectacular views over the ocean, and the limestone cave of Tham Saowapha is definitely worth a visit, although don’t forget to take a torch.

There are a number of small islands located around Ko Si Chang such as Ko Khaam Noi, Ko Ran Dok Mai and Ko Prong. A good way to explore them is to rent a sea kayak, go scuba diving or go on a snorkeling trip to the nearby Ko Khaang Khaow (Bat Island).
Ko Si Chang is a great place to sample the abundant local seafood, and what could be better than eating fresh barbecued seafood on the beach whilst you drink and cold beer and watch the sun slowly set.

One of the best things about this zoo is that the animals have plenty of space to roam about in. More like an animal sanctuary than an actual zoo, Khao Kheo covers an area of 5,000 rai and is home to more than 300 different species of animals, including rare white tigers. In fact, the zoo is famed for its successful breeding of endangered animals and projects include the breeding of the rare Clouded Leopard.

Other endangered animals that can be seen here include the Asian Wild Dog, Malayan Tapir and tiger, while endangered bird species include the Black Necked Stork and White Crested Laughing Thrush.

Many of the animals here are kept in extremely natural looking environments and a good example of this is the walk-though aviary, which has been built on a mountain slope. The children’s zoo also gives people the chance to interact with animals and learn all about them.

Another exciting feature is the night safari, which begins with a dinner buffet of delicious Thai cuisine. Next, visitors are taken on a guided 45-minute tram ride through natural habitats.
Khao Kheow Open Zoo is just a 45-minute drive from Pattaya and can be found at 235 Moo 7, Tumbom Bang Phra, Umphur Sri Racha in Chonburi Province. Open from 08:00 until 18:00 each day, tickets cost just 50 baht for adults.

One of the highlights is the crocodile show, which lasts for 25 minutes. The floor is constantly slick with water, and the young man makes a show of slipping over as he wrestles with the crocodiles.

Nearby is the scorpion cave, where visitors are greeted by the sight of hundreds of luminous scorpions glowing in the gloom. Also impressive is the crocodile pond, where more than a thousand crocodiles lay sunbathing. They lay so still that visitors often think they are fake.

Walk cautiously across an aerial bridge over the pond to find the tiger tunnel, where around a hundred tigers relax in a fairly natural environment. In this spacious enclosure are several caves for tigers to retreat from the heat, rocky ledges and muddy puddles. The tigers seem pretty content as they stretch their legs or bath. The enclosure is designed so that visitors can admire the tigers without intruding.

The elephant show is another highlight and is held several times a day. Music blares as a group of enormous elephants lumber into the stage area. During this show the elephants stand on their hind legs, do handstands, walk a tightrope and even play basketball.

Sri Racha is said to be the most successful tiger-breeding centre in the world. The zoo could, potentially, play an important role in the future of these highly endangered animals.

Information
Tours to Sri Racha from Pattaya are available, or you can get a bus to Si Racha and a songheaw from there. The entire journey takes just 1 hour.

The admission fee is 300B for adults, 150B for children. Opening times are 08:00 to 17:30 daily and you need at least four hours to see everything.

Pattaya Visa Run:

If you are staying in Pattaya and your visa about to expire, you can make an extension at the immigration office on Jomtein Beach Road, Soi 5 or you can make a visa trip with one of the many Pattaya’s visa run agencies to the neighboring countries from Thailand.

 From Pattaya, the nearest borders that you can go to are Aranyaprathet- Poipet and Koh-Kong where you can make a visa run. There are daily Pattaya visa runs, leaving Pattaya to the borders, they leave at 7.00 am and you can expect to be back between 4.00pm to 6.00 pm depending on how busy the immigrations offices at the border are.

 Prices are from 1800 Baht to 2600 Baht depending on the agency you are traveling with.

Please remember to leave early, don’t forget your passport, 2 passport photos and enough money.

 Overstay:

Don’t over stay your visa in Pattaya or in the kingdom of Thailand. The over stay fee is 500Baht per day with a maximum of 20,000 Baht. If you have money and think it doesn’t matter, you can afford to pay 20,000 thousand, make sure you are not involved in any incident that involves the police which will cost a lot of money at the police station because you are staying illegally in Thailand and in Pattaya, the immigration officers that the police will hand over to after you have spent a lot of money, are worse than in any part of Thailand, they will deport you after having locked up for sometime and then you will be blacklisted.

If you love Pattaya, be wise; don’t over stay your visa because you never know when trouble is going to come your way, even if you haven’t looked for it.

If you prefer more elegant dining, you will find excellent local restaurants with both Thai and international cuisines at all popular areas and of course at the better hotels. Sample a variety of food from across the world such as excellent Cantonese cuisine, mouthwatering Indian cuisine, Mucho Bueno Mexican food, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, Scandinavian and many more, they all compete for your palate, at very reasonable prices.

As regards to what to eat, I would definitely say seafood, since a vast variety of choices are available just about everywhere. You can have it BBQ style or with popular Thai food at most of the international restaurants which are mainly run by expatriates.

While in Pattaya, you have a good opportunity to try something new and different. Some examples are Greek, Russian, Lebanese and Scandinavian cuisines, the likes of which aren’t even easy to find in Bangkok.

Local street food comes highly recommended because it is too cheap, delicious and it is available everywhere, at anytime of day or night. Enjoy the local style at an outdoor; dishes like Chinese noodles, chicken with rice, “Pad Thai” and many more. Plastic chairs and fold tables appear from nowhere along both sides of Second road and in Nakua area. Fresh seafood at many restaurants facing Pattaya beach, in Walking Street and at high end resorts and hotels.

To sum up, I would say that if you love to eat, Pattaya is the best place to be because of the variety of food from the Local Thai to International cuisines which you would even find in Bangkok, from the cheap food from the street vendors to the more romantic and private restaurants of kind along Jomtein beach and some even come with complimentary guitar or Piano to accompany your meal.

1. CABARET SHOWS: Pattaya is well known for the beautiful lady boys and the two                                                   main cabaret shows by lady boys are.

-       Tiffany: great shows from this old establishment, usually shows are available

3 times a day at 7.00pm, 8.30pm and 10.30pm. For more information,

You can call (038)421 700-5, 429 642.

-       ALCAZAR: Beautiful shows in a huge hall. Shows are available 3 times a day

At 6.30pm, 8.00pm and 9.30pm and an extra show on Saturdays

At 11.00pm. For more information, you can call (038) 410 225-7

2. RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT: It is located inside the Royal garden plaza on beach road. Here are more than 300of extraordinary items from all over the world that are guaranteed to amaze you.

3. MINI SIAM: located on the outskirt of Pattaya in Sukhumvit road. Here you can find many small creations (mock up model) of famous places like various temples in Thailand, statue of liberty, Eiffel tower and many more.

4. BOTTLES MUSEUM: My guess, this is the only bottle museum in the world. It is located in Sukhumvit 6.  Here you will find miniature artwork such as, Thai temples, palaces, both in Thai and foreign artwork in bottles.

5. NONG NOOCH (pronounced Nong Noot) GARDEN: This is a garden for seeing scenery of the tropical garden. It has an artificial waterfall and a lake, you can go canoeing. It is a good place for relaxing; you can watch bird species, animals, cock fighting and many more. The garden has accommodation facilities for over stays.

6 SRI RACHA TIGER ZOO: is a small zoo located about 30 minutes drive from Pattaya. You will find lots of wild animals, mainly tigers. It is open from 9.30am -6.00pm every day.

7. WANASIN FARM: which exhibits traditional Thai handcraft and art together with museums and a floating market.

8. MILLION YEARS STONE PARK- CROCODILE FARM: The place has both a park (rock garden) and a zoo. You can watch Thai martial arts, magical shows, and elephant riding and also have your picture taken with a tamed tiger, lion or even a bear. Monkey training and cobra shows.

9. ELEPHANT VILLAGE: Mainly for those who are interested in feeding the elephants and riding them.

10. Last but not least, the beaches in Pattaya are also a major attraction mainly the Pattaya beach, Naklua beach and Jomtein beach.

The festival, which will run from the 10th to the 17th of March, has been established in order to celebrate the ancient art of Muay Thai boxing. I’ve been to see a few Muay Thai fights during my time in Thailand, and although I was aware that it was a very popular sport here, I didn’t realised that it crossed borders to any larger extent than the odd western bloke giving it a go on his holidays. This, of course, was a very naive attitude and I have since learned that Muay Thai is now one of the world’s most popular martial arts.

So for anyone who really does know what they’re talking about when it comes to Muay Thai, the Ayutthaya Stadium will be the venue for the festival, where traditional ceremonies will be performed before a bout of matches and tournaments. There will even be training workshops on offer to the novices, so maybe I should give it a go and see what all the fuss is about.

The now annual event attracted petrol heads from all over Thailand and the world, and plenty of rubber has been burnt on the streets of Pattaya over the last few days.

Festivities started with the bikers’ parade around the city before a good, old-fashioned knees-up at the Hardrock Hotel.

The after-party was held at the stadium in Soi Chaiyapruek, and although many did, I’m not sure anyone was in a fit state to ride home afterwards.

Continuous shows and drinks flowed throughout the night and the festival atmosphere was helped along by the vast amounts of visitors choosing to camp out around the stadium for the night.

I’ve never ridden more than the most modest scooters myself, but I must admit that even I feel a surge of adrenaline when I hear those big motors roaring.

But while I will always be a little envious of the guys and gals who ride these monsters with such style, I just don’t think I could handle the leathers in this heat!

It happend in broad daylight at around 3pm. It is thought that the man’s head came into contact with high-voltage power lines while he was working high up installing a sign.

Officers attended the scene in Soi Mab Bon and found 33-year-old Nikom Unnamthieng unconscious and with blood coming out of his nose.

He was only wearing fragments of clothing and had suffered severe burns.

He is currently in the burns department at Chon Buri Hospital after being transferred from the local facility.

The incident is a shocking one, but surely one that could have been avoided if someone was supervising the project’s safety.

I can’t imagine how horrific it was for anyone unlucky enough to have witnessed the accident and, of course, for the injured man and his family.

After the success and the frivolity of this week’s annual Pattaya Bed Race, it comes as a bit of a shocking blow to hear about the body of an unknown man which was found floating just off the coast of Sattahip yesterday.

The body was found by a fisherman at around 5.30am while on his way back to Prateung fishing pier. The man had deep cuts in his neck and his leg and is believed to have been in dead for as long as four days.

The nationality of the man, who was wearing black shorts and a red T-shirt, is not yet known, but he is suspected to be Thai. He is thought to have been around 30-years-old and he has a tattoo on his left arm of the number 83.

A murder and attempted cover up has not been confirmed but is strongly suspected and an investigation is currently underway.

 What a horrible way to end the week.