Greg's Kitchen's Favorite Pattaya Links
by Jack Corbett
| The Alcazar Lady Boy Shows, Sanctuary of Truth, Buddha Hill, Central Festival Mall, Ko Larn Island, Pattaya's elephant Village, Nong Nooch Tropical Garden are just a few of Pattaya's undiscovered gems we've uncovered for you below. There is so much to do in the immediate Pattaya area that Joe Average Beer Swiller and Tommy Monger will never discover during their week long hangovers. So read on below and follow the web pages we've linked to and discover Pattaya's other side. |
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| Lady boys are a phenomenon unique to Thailand earning them the distinction of Thailand's third sex. We've seen many newbies in Pattaya go to a bar and proclaim, "The girls sure are good looking here," except the best looking girls aren't girls. Even hardened expats who should know better will sometimes bring one back only to find "She's not really a girl", and we've known more than one of them to "go over the edge". But no matter how one looks at it, Thailand's lady boys are renowned throughout Asia---so much so that at night the tour buses are lined up 2nd Road heading to the Alcazar Lady Boys Shows filled with their Korean, Chinese and Japanese occupants. But if you are staying at Skytop, it's less than a ten minute walk on your way to Big C to the nightly Alcazar Lady Boys Shows. |
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| Budda Hill and Phratamnak Hill along with one other prominent elevation form a plateau that literally rises above it all. The area below is often called Pattaya's Golden Coast because of the expensive and gorgeous hotels, such as the Garden Beach Resort and Sheraton Garden Resort. Buddha Hill has the largest Buddha statue in Pattaya. On the hill next to it is a Chinese temple that should not be missed. All three hills offer unforgettable panoramic views of Pattaya and the Pattaya Bay. This area rising more than two hundred feet above Pattaya is nearly as clean as Singapore where the powers that be sentence those who throw as much as a gum wrapper onto the street to being drawn and quartered. Take a taxi here if you wish, but the only real way to tour this area is to walk it. From Skytop just take the baht taxi to Walking Street, but do it in the daytime. Walk to the end of Walking Street and out past the pier until you almost come to a little light house to your right. You will see a steep flight of steps up the first hill of the three. Climb these steps and begin your tour of a new and very different Pattaya where you can soar far above the bar and night club scene and all the rest of it that makes Pattaya the world's number one Disneyland for adults. Believe it or not less than 1 % of all those visiting or even living full time in Pattaya are going to do this walk, not because it's all that difficult, but just because it's just too much trouble for them to take time off from their bar and go-go club hopping and hangovers. |
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Advertised as Asia's largest beach side shopping mall, the Central Festival Mall is the latest addition to Pattaya's rapidly growing infrastructure that gives expats bragging rights for claiming that Pattaya offers everything under the sun with the exception of mountains, deserts and cold weather. Central Festival consumes an entire city block in length and there's seven levels of it. Inside there's an amazing variety of restaurants comprising over 12 Japanese restaurants alone, several book stores, the Central Department Store, several computer shops, a number of handicrafts shops, etc. To get here from Skytop just walk one block to Beach Road, hop on a baht taxi and get off near the police station near Soi 9. You can't miss it and it's only going to take you fifteen minutes and ten baht to get here. |
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It's a different world at Pattaya's Elephant Village which is just a fifteen minute taxi ride from Skytop. A full forty-five minutes of elephant trekking awaits you where you will encounter monkeys in the wild as you ride through jungle and a shallow creek. In fact you can even have your experience made into a DVD movie at modest cost which you can take back with you to your home country to watch over and over again as you keep telling yourself, "I can't wait to go back." Both the trekking and the movie production are very professionally done. |
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| Is Jack Corbett's deal of the year to the Pattaya visitor which like Nong Nooch Botanical Garden should not be missed. If you want some terrific salt water swimming during your stay in Pattaya, Koh Larn Island's the place to do it, just trust us on this one. Koh Larn Island is just six miles out into the Bay. There's two ways of getting there. The first is walk to the Pattaya Beach from Skytop where you can negotiate with a number of speed boat operators. This is the Korean method used by most Asian tourists who don't know any better. The Jack Corbett method favored by most expats is to take a motorbike or baht bus taxi to the Bali Hai Pier at the far end of Walking Street where you will get on a ferry for just 20 baht. The ferries leave the pier at 10 a.m. and Noon. A forty minute ferry ride takes you to the near side of the island where you can take a baht taxi up a long and very steep hill to the other side of Koh Larn where there's over six beaches to choose from. Jack's preferred way of seeing the island is to rent a Honda Airblade motorbike for 250 baht as soon as he gets off the ferry on the island. Seen from the seat of a motorbike the island's scenery is utterly sensational. And the motorbike offers one the freedom to choose any beach he wants or several of them. There's little traffic on the island which is for the most part quiet and tranquil so cruising Koh Larn by motorbike offers an experience that is both serene and relaxing with some of the best outdoor views you are ever going to get. |
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| Is over 600 acres in size, Nong Nooch Botanical Garden SHOULD NOT BE MISSED. You will not believe that a world class garden of such quality and size exists in Pattaya. And technically it doesn't being listed as part of some other Thailand town or city yet it's less than a half hour away. Here you will find elephants being led by their handlers throughout the entire park, a reproduction of Stonehenge, orangutans and tigers you can be photographed with, and a sensational walkway that often takes you up into the tropical trees. There's an elephant show they'd never allow in such places as the United States that will make you never think of elephants the same way ever again. Book a trip to Nong Nooch early so you won't put it off until the end of your stay in Pattaya. |
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| Currently is being held at the
Hotel Mercure, Soi 15 behind The Avenue which is on Pattaya
2nd Road and Soi 15. Exact location details are: Hotel
Mercure address: 484 Moo 10, Pattaya Second Road Soi 15, 20150. The Pattaya Expats Club meetings provide a rich resource to the expat making Thailand his home. Each Sunday the group meets at 11 a.m. for breakfast. Immediately afterwards is the regular meeting in which guest speakers are introduced on a great variety of subjects from Visa and insurance questions to medical care, legal issues, and entertainment. |
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| Is a palace made entirely of wood looming 300 feet into the air. It will cost you 600 baht to tour the place, but do keep in mind that the entire place is built by hand and that the entire project must be maintained daily by skilled artisans. Throughout the Sanctuary of Truth's interior and exterior are a large number of wooden statues giving the place the character of an Oriental Notre Dame. Your tour begins with a horse driven carriage for two which takes you and your Thai female companion to a narrow trail that meanders a short distance to the sea and the Sanctuary of Truth which juts out past the shoreline like a medieval fortress. For the price of admission there's even a dolphin show as well as the opportunity to ride elephants at extra cost, but save the elephant riding until you can make it to the Elephant Village for the real deal. Have the helpful lady in front of Skytop line up your mini tour to the Sanctuary of Truth because although it's only a ten to fifteen minute taxi ride from Skytop, you are never going to find it alone. |
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| You've no doubt never seen as many tigers or crocodiles as you will see at the Siricha Tiger Zoo. Moreover you will see a Tiger and a Crocodile show replete with a man sticking his head into a crocodile's gaping jaws, baby crocodiles hatching from eggs, tigers sleeping with baby pigs and get to cap the whole thing off in the Tiger Zoo's restaurant where you can feast on Crocodile meat along with a variety of other wholesome food. |
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| Our web site designer is Jack Corbett who retired here in Pattaya, Thailand after writing and shooting pictures as a professional writer and photographer for several magazines in the U.S. Jack's Alpha Productions web site now over 10 years old is enormous. The Skytop Guesthouse is linking to Jack's Looking Glass online magazine since it contains a lot of information you might find of value if you are considering a trip to Thailand. |
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| Is just a fifteen minute walk from Skytop Guesthouse where you can rent 38's, 45 automatics and other guns and target practice in a relaxed indoor air conditioned setting. Bring your Thai girlfriend along. Chances are the last guy never thought about taking her to target practice. |
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| What separates this fine indoor aquarium from so many others is the 100 meter walkway you will be strolling through while being surrounded by sting rays, sharks and other salt water creatures swimming over your head and on both sides as you continue to the end of the glass sided tunnel. |
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| World Thai Gems is just a ten minute taxi ride from Skytop Guesthouse, an amazing store offering precious gemstones and jewelry of such quality and variety you'd expect to find only in Bangkok, Singapore or a Hong Kong . One would never expect to find such a place in Pattaya and yet here it is, only a short jaunt around the corner from your Skytop lodging. World Thai Gems has sister outlets in Bangkok and Chiang Mai but this one alone is world class. |
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