Thai(Pattaya Beach)

Thai's refer to Pattaya as 'the ever popular Pattaya' and that's exactly what it is. The city is popular because it is a mixture of 'East meets West'. We have all the benefits of Thailand but also all the advantages of the Western world. Thai's love it because they can leave Bangkok behind and foreigner's love it because it's summer all year round. In Pattaya they have everything they have back home and more.

The affordable health & dentistry care is far better and so is care for the elderly. Pattaya has an ever expanding infrastructure with medical facilities that are rarely found in the Western world. Living in Pattaya improves ones overall quality of life. This is why an increasing number of retired couples settle in Pattaya to enjoy the life style of sea and sun.

Pattaya is a melting pot of nationalities where English is well understood. Each nationality seems to have started a club of native expats, creating a social circle of people where each can speak his native language. It creates a certain 'home feeling' and because of this, everything people loved in their home country is available in Pattaya - be it food, fashion, even your favourite TV show. In general you can say: "If you can afford it - it's yours".

Pattaya City is located on the Eastern Seaboard which reaches from Bangkok right down to the eastern tip of Thailand.

The Eastern Seaboard is where you find the center of commercial activities, home to many huge industrial estates and the export oriented industries of Thailand. Laem Chabang port plays a key role as it is Thailand largest port for international marine shipping.

The Eastern Seaboard has a diverse economy comprising of emerging tourism, construction, and retail industries. Here the most money is concentrated, generating also a large part of the Thailand's GNP (Gross National Product). Due to the economical importance of this region the infrastructure is excellent. A new railway development has recently been approved. It takes just 2 hours on the 8 lane Chon Buri Bangkok Motorway to get from Bangkok to Pattaya this is the reason why so many Thais have their weekend homes in Pattaya. Pattaya is "far away" from all this busy industrial working life. It is like a tranquil haven in a stormy sea.

Learning Scuba Diving

Learning to scuba dive is often one of the highlights during a backpacker’s trip abroad. Discovering a new country from above the surface of the sea is fantastic, but discovering the world that lies beneathus is a whole different experience. 

SE Asia continues to be one of the most popular places for budget travellers to learn to dive. You can take your pick from a multitude of white, sandy beaches with clear, warm water. There is a fantastic array of accommodation to suit all budgets and a bustling night life that can be as action packed as you please. And if that isn’t enough, the underwater world in SE Asia has some of the richest reefs on earth and is home to 76% of the worlds coral species and 6,000 species of fish.   Most people learn to dive with a 4-day Open Water course from a PADI certified dive school. PADI are world renowned due to their high standards and safety is their first priority.

You will begin in the classroom, learning the necessary theory before you’re taught about your equipment. Your first experiences in the water will be in ‘confined water’ which is usually a swimming pool but can also be done in shallow, calm sea. Breathing underwater for the first time is a fantastic feeling and while you adjust to the strange sensation you will also practice basic skills such as clearing water from your mask without re-surfacing, sharing air with a buddy diver and controlling your buoyancy under the water.

After 5 confined water dives you will be feeling confident and ready to move into ‘open water’. You will finally have the chance to explore what the sea has to offer and also practice the skills that you learnt in the pool. Within 4 dives in the ocean you will be a qualified Open Water Scuba Diver!

Parasailing

Parasailing is an activity in which a person is attached to a boat and glides through the air behind it. It is sometimes referred to as parascending as well. The parascender is lifted off the ground by the acceleration of the boat, and usually they don’t have any control over where they go. The boat controls all movement experienced during the flight. It is necessary to make sure that there isn’t too much wind before starting parasailing. You should also make sure that the landing area is clear so the parasailer can land smoothly. Parasailing is usually done for fun, and not for competition like paragliding is. There is, however, a variation of parasailing in Europe that involves being towed behind a car that is sometimes done in competitions.

Parasailing originally began in 1961, and Pierre-Marcel Lemoigne made the original parasail. He got a license to sell them with the name “parasail” in 1963. Apparently he got the idea after attaching a parachute to his car. However, a man named Mark McCulloh is responsible for the equipment that is needed to successfully parasail. He has invented a Stationary Parasailing Platform, a winch boat, as well as much advancement in safety. The winch boat is by far his most famous invention. It was patented in 1976, and it hit the market in 1980. This invention is now used by almost all commercial parasailing businesses, and it is responsible for the surge in the activity’s popularity.

The Beach

The Beach is a 2000 British adventure drama film directed by Danny Boyle and based on the novel of the same name by Alex Garland, which was adapted for the film by John Hodge. The book was only written/published four years before in 1996. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, and features Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle, Virginie Ledoyen and Guillaume Canet. It was filmed on the Thai island Phuket
Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young American backpacking in Thailand, goes to Southeast Asia with the intention of experiencing something radically different from his familiar life. He meets Daffy (Robert Carlyle), who is crazy and rants on about a beach paradise on a secret island, and the parasites of civilization. Daffy later commits suicide but leaves Richard a map to the island, convincing him that it exists.

Richard meets Françoise (Virginie Ledoyen) and her boyfriend, Étienne (Guillaume Canet), and convinces them to accompany him to the island, partly out of an infatuation for Françoise. They travel from Bangkok to the shores of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, where Richard befriends a pair of American surfers. They talk excitedly about the myth of the beach and how it has an almost unlimited supply of marijuana. Richard does not admit his knowledge, but copies his map and slides it under their door the next morning.

Patong Beach - Phuket Thailand - Januar 2010

Patong Beach refers to a beach on Phuket's west coast, and to the town adjoining it. It is the main tourist resort in Phuket. It also contains an important center of Phuket's nightlife and is the center of inexpensive shopping on the island. The beach became popular with Western tourists, especially Europeans, in the late 1980s. Numerous large hotels and chain hotels are located there.
Patong Beach is as equally famous for its nightlife as also the 3.5-kilometer beach that runs the entire length of Patong’s western side. Nightlife is centered on two main areas Bangla Road and 'Paradise Complex', with Bangla Road being predominantly straight and Paradise Complex being predominantly gay. Both roads are lined with many themed bars, discotheques, and go go bars. Prostitution in Thailand is illegal but tolerated as is the case with Patong Beach, especially on Bangla Road where there are many older Western men drinking with much younger Thai women and transvestites. Most discos in Patong charge a 100 baht admission fee but rather than being a cover charge, this is actually a drink minimum since you get a voucher and most clubs charge 100 baht for almost all drinks.

On December 26, 2004, Patong Beach along with many other areas along the western coast of Phuket and Thailand were struck by a tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The wave caused a great deal of destruction to the waterfront of the beach and immediately inland and  Patong was one of the worst affected areas of Phuket, although the destruction was not nearly as bad as nearby in Khao Lak.

Maya Bay(Phiphi Island)

Boracay Beach

Boracay Beach, Philippines is home to a variety of boracay resorts and Boracay hotels off the north-western tip of Panay Island in the Visayan Region and boracay island is about 300kms south of the Philippines Capitol of Manila. Boracay Beach Philippines has become the number one tourist destination of the Philippines. Travelers from all over the globe come to see the world's most beautiful beach-"White Sands Beach".
Boracay is shaped like a dumb-bell, it is 7 km. long and the narrowest spot is nearly 1 km. wide. Land area is approximately 1, 083 hectares with about 6,000 locals.
Boracay Island has numerous scattered villages interconnected by a maze of locally carved jungle pathways. The Island boasts of having one of the world's finest beaches.