Thailand : Experience the Variety

Chonburi, Bangkoks nearest seaside town, is located on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand, only 80 kilometers from Bangkok. The area boasts abundant natural resources, which are highlighted by delightful beaches, local colors, traditions, delicacies and fresh seafood. This is a popular resort among Bangkokians who seek the nearest escape from hectic weekly schedules as Chon Buri has something for everyone. In addition, Chon Buri is the center of the Eastern Seaboard Development Project, with its industrial parks and fishing villages.
Pattaya
Situated just a 2-hour drive from Bangkok, Pattaya is famous as an international playground in the sun. Facing a wide bay and a long sweep of beach, it is a seaside resort with city status, and goes all out to offer a huge variety of sporting and entertainment opportunities both on the water and on land. By day, Pattaya is alive with watersports action, while come nighttime the place is equally active as vacationers flock to the resort’s neon-bars, discos, nightclubs and restaurants.
Pattaya’s non-stop action can be overwhelming, yet the resort aims to offer something for everyone and easily reached surrounding attractions provide plenty of alternatives. Several excellent golf courses, for example, are just a short drive away, while more traditional beach scenes can be found at Bang Saen or the offshore island of Ko Si Chang. There are also plenty of options for family outings, including a cultural village and a tiger zoo.
A wide selection of hotels, from super deluxe to bungalow style, afford every modern comfort, and a stay in Pattaya can be as much a quiet escape lazing by your hotel pool as a fun-packed action holiday.

Rayong
Further along the coast from Pattaya, Rayong is a province that combines a lush interior with a coastline of quiet beaches that are less developed than Pattaya and promise a more tranquil vacation by the sea. Complementing the mainland beaches is the offshore island of Ko Samet. Immortalized by the classical Thai poet Suthon Phu, who set part of his epic Phra Aphaimani on the island, Ko Samet is indeed a picturesque island with some excellent beaches and simple yet way comfortable bungalow style accommodation. On the way to the beach, Rayong town presents a couple of cultural sights in Wat Pa Pradu, which enshrines a large reclining Buddha statue, and the Taksin monument at Wat Lum Mahachai Chumpon, which commemorates the occasion when King Taksin raised an army to expel the Burmese after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767.

Chanthaburi
Southeast of Rayong, Chanthaburi is known as Thailand’s “Garden Province”, being famous for its vegetable and fruit cultivation. Topping the list of fresh produce are three of Thailand’s most exotic fruits- durian, mangosteen and rambutan.
Different fruits of the earth, in the form of rubies and sapphires, were also formerly products of Chanthaburi, and while the local gem mines have now been largely worked out, the provincial capital remains a renowned market for gems from all over Southeast Asia. This lends a buzz of excitement and colors the character of what is a fascinating town, where sight includes a French-style cathedral dating from the 19th century.

Trat
Trat, the far boundary of Thailand’s East coast, has long been pretty much frontier territory, literally as it borders Cambodia and figuratively in the somewhat rough-and-tumble world of its gem mining past. The picture is changing today, however, with the growing popularity of the province’s big attraction, Ko Chang, Thailand’s second largest island.
Lying eight kilometers off the coast, Ko Chang is the main isle in a 52-island archipelago that forms Mu Ko Chang Marine National Park. Mainly because of its isolation, only now are the island’s idyllic beaches being discovered by international travelers. There is a choice of accommodation, although infrastructure development is slight compared to other Thai resorts, and it is still possible to enjoy the thrilling sense of discovering a tropical paradise anew.