Samui Island Ko Samui or Koh Samui (เกาะสมุย)

Samui Island, Ko Samui or Koh Samui,( เกาะสมุย) is an island off the east coast of the Kra Isthmus in Thailand, close to the mainland Surat Thani town(เมืองสุราษฏร์ธานี). It is Thailand's third largest island, with an area about 228.7 km².
Samui was an isolated self-sufficient community, having little connection with the mainland of Thailand. The island was even without roads until the early 1970s, and the 15km journey from one side of the island to the other involved a whole-day trek through the mountainous central jungles.
Today, Samui has a population of about forty-five thousand, and lives on a successful tourist industry, as well as exports of coconut and rubber. It even has its own international airport, Samui Airport, with flights daily to Bangkok and other major airports in Southeast Asia.

Koh Tao(เกาะเต่า)
Koh Samui Geography
Samui is located in the Gulf of Thailand, about 35km northeast of Surat Thani town. It is surrounded by about sixty other islands, most of which comprise the Ang Thong National Marine Park, but also include other tourist destinations Ko Pha Ngan(เกาะพะงัน), Ko Tao(เกาะเต่า) and Ko Nang Yuan (เกาะนางยวน).

The island is roughly circular in shape, and is about 15km across. The central part of the island is an (almost) uninhabitable mountain jungle and the various lowland areas are connected together by a single road, that covers the circumference of the island.
The old capital is Nathon, on the southwest coast of the island, and remains the major port for fishing and inter-island transportation. Nathon is the seat of the regional government, and the true commercial hub of the Samui locals. It has a charming pace, and is almost small enough to walk everywhere. The old Chinese shop houses along the middle street wisper of an exotic history.Each of Samui's primary beaches is now also nominally considered a town, due to the number of hotels, restaurants and bars that have sprung up in recent years.

Tourist attractions

Big Buddha is a twelve-metre high statue of the Buddha, which lies at the top of ceremonial dragon-steps at the Wat Phra Yai. Samui also has a number of other impressive temples, including Wat Khunaram, where the mummified body of Loung Pordaeng, a monk who died in a meditating position is on display.

The Grandmother and Grandfather rocks on the south end of Lamai beach are an occasional source of amusement for tourists due to their striking similarity to a vagina and penis.
The mountain jungle in the interior of the island is an excellent day out, and is home to a number of impressive gardens built by legendary Samuian farmer Nim Thongsuk, the impressive waterfalls at Na Muang(น้ำตกนาเมือง), real working rubber plantations and the most amazing views over the Ang Thong archipelago. The roads in the jungle are an adventure in themselves, and tourists normally take a tour with an experienced local Samui driver/guide.

Muay Thai boxing(มวยไทย) takes place regularly at the island's stadiums in Chaweng and Lamai.
Numerous animal attractions are dotted around the island, including a crocodile farm, monkey theatre, elephant trekking, a snake farm, an aquarium and a butterfly garden.
Most visitors to the island take a day trip out to the beautiful Ang Thong National Marine Park(อุธยานแห่งชาติ หมู่เกาะอ่างทอง) at least once on their stay in Samui. Boats leave Na Thon several times a day. Ko Pha Ngan has a full-moon party at the appropriate time each lunar month, and tourists in Samui often hop a slow ferry or speedboat to the nearby island to join in the dusk to dawn high energy dancing and drinking marathon.

Ang Thong National Marine Park(อุธยานแห่งชาติ หมู่เกาะอ่างทอง)

Pattaya (พัทยา) Thailand

Pattaya (พัทยา) or Phattaya is a city on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand in the province of Chonburi, distance about 170 km southeast of Bangkok. It is one of the major centers of tourism in Thailand, with several million of visitors visit here for each year. Tourists visit Pattaya for many reasons including luxury hotels, beautiful beaches, attraction activities, friendly people, shopping, reasonable living cost, and a wide variety of nearby tourist attractions. Others come for the world renowned nightlife.

Pattaya Beaches
Thailand has some of the world's most beautiful beaches, Pattaya Beach is situated along the central city in close proximity to shopping, hotels and bars. The over-abundance of jet-skis and speedboats has contributed to the pollution of the water along Pattaya Beach, as has the sewage outlet at the end of the pier. The section of beach from Central Road (Pattaya Klang พัทยากลาง) south to the harbor is adjacent to the core of Pattaya's abundant nightlife area, hence it is less family-oriented than the North Pattaya and Jomtien beaches.
Most sections of the beach are covered by rented deckchairs run by local beverage vendors during daylight hours so finding an available spot of sand is rather difficult and also unadvisable due to the poor condition of the beach. Visitors are advised to avoid the beach after dark. Although the Beach Road itself is busy and brightly lit, some criminal elements find the unlit beach useful as a cover for their activities. The local police have started to target this area in various ongoing clampdowns.

Jomtien Beach
Jomtien Beach is divided from the main part of Pattaya by Pratumnak Hill, just south of the city. In contrast to Pattaya Beach, Jomtien is a popular spot for family vacationers and watersports enthusiasts. Jomtien is essentially a residential area with beachside hotels, bungalow complexes, condominiums and restaurants. A wide array of watersport activities can be found, including jet-skis, para-sailing and scuba diving. Dongtan beach, in Jomtien, is known as the gay beach, and is busy every day of the year.
Jomtien's most visible landmark is the 56-story Pattaya Park tower, part of the Pattaya Park entertainment complex which also features a water park, roller coaster, monorail and children's activities.

This may soon be overshadowed by the proposed 91-floor Ocean 1 Tower construction of which is due to start "in late 2006", with completion scheduled for 2010. With an overall height of 367 meters, it would be the tallest building in Thailand and one of the tallest residential buildings in the world. The Jomtien district is already home to one of the largest resorts in Asia, the 4000+ room Ambassador City Jomtien.