Hi Geri and Kimbo (sorry to hijack your thread Jax),

I keep hearing about the Rabbit Resort as well as all the positive feedback about Pattaya and it's got me intrigued (no, It's not just the cheap Viagra). My question is, What is the beach like at the Rabbit resort ? Is it similar to the beach at Hua-hin...better/worse? It sounds like a good place to stay at to get in some shopping,have a few games of golf and take the kids to some theme parks on route to Koh Chang or Koh Samet but if the beach is not respectable I would struggle to convince Kerry that it was a good idea.

Also, is the main street/market shopping isolated from the main bar area or is it all lumped in together. At least in Patong there is plenty of places where you dont have to subject the kids to the seedier elements. My impression of Pattaya has always been that it was like Nana Plaza on a larger scale with a really lousy beach, hence why we have never had it on the Family holiday Itinery, but reading all the recent comments have made me re-think. Is the Rabbit resort accessible via the Baht buses? If not, are there a few local restaraunts and bars in the immediate vacinity?

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My apologies too for hijacking Jax's thread.
The Rabbit have two pools and one strictly for adults, the other the kids can make as much noise as they like.
I've never been to Hui hin so I can't compare the beaches.
The Rabbit is directly on the beach but separated by a paved road which is closed to traffic from 10:00 to 5:00. I thought the beach was lovely and the Rabbit have their own private section of beach and deck chairs at no extra cost. You can buy drinks from the beach sellers and get a massage and nails done by the girls.
A little further down the beach is a predominately gay beach area.
It's an easy walk down to the police box corner where you can pick up a baht bus. Also after 5:00 the Rabbit runs an electric buggy down to the corner if you don't feel like walking. There are heaps of bars and restaurants on the corner if you want to eat local.
The area near the Rabbit is quite tame (by comparison) and I saw nothing too in your face other than the older men and young girls... but then I wasn't looking through my 'parent' eyes.
There is a waterpark very close to the Rabbit... you could hear the thrill seekers screams when the wind blew in our direction.
There were kids staying at the hotel but mainly European and so I never got to hear their thoughts about taking children to Pattaya.
As lovely as the hotel is... my honest thoughts are that I wouldn't take my children to Pattaya.
Cheers Geri

Hi shanek,
Geri has given a very good rundown of Rabbit Resort and the general area around it.
'Rabbit is actually on the beach in Jomtien - not Pattaya, which is about a ten minute ride by songtaew.
By comparison, Jomtien is much quieter and 'tamer'. On Rabbit's section of the beach, there's a staff member on duty so you can actually order food and drink from him and he goes to the kitchen or bar and brings your order to you - no need for you to move.
A few minutes walk along the beachfront to the corner and there's a 7-11 and a good bookshop (Bookazine I think) internet cafes, hairdressers and massage places - oh, and a laundry or two in the lane just by 7-11.

If you walk along the Beach Road there are lots of stalls and small shops, restaurants etc. In the evenings, there used to be a few stalls selling terrific banana crepes cooked while you wait (as a person who doesn't eat street food, I make the exception for these! YUM!)
The funpark is called Pattaya Park I think and from Rabbit Resort and the beach, you can see a big tower with a cable car type thing. I don't know what else (never been there).

So, by staying at Rabbit, you can spend a lot of time away from Pattaya if you like.
You don't say how old your children are but if teenagers,they'll be gawking in Pattaya. If very young, I don't think they'd notice all that much during the day, except old guys with young women/young men.
It's at night that Pattaya is all action so you could avoid it at night and just stay in Jomtien.

Jomtien has a few bars where the girls call out to passers-by but pretty harmless "WELLLLLLLLLCOMMMMMME" and would probably not do that if kids were in tow as Thais are generally very family-focussed and mindful of kids
.
By day, you could go to the beach, hang around the pools, visit the funpark, or go to Pattaya to shop in the department stores or have lunch, go to the cinema in Royal Garden shopping plaza - you could spend a fair bit of time here, shopping, lunch, cinema. There's a food court on either the 2nd or 3rd level.
There are also other shopping areas out of central Pattaya and these are not seedy at all - just typical commercial/retail areas away from the bar areas.
Further afield you could take a boat trip to Koh Samet and spend time on the beach. That would be an all-day trip.

We've been to Hua Hin a few times (stayed at Takiab Beach area) and we actually prefer Pattaya - much better in terms of getting around, good hotels are much cheaper than at HH and Jomtien Beach is comparable to Hua Hin.

THanks heaps Geri and Kimbo. It sounds like we should give it a go. Our kids will be 7 and 10 (both boys) when we next go to Thailand which will be the older ones 5th trip. We were thinking of doing Ko Samet or Koh Chang both thought that spending a full 2 weeks there may end up too much and we have really done and seen as much of Bangkok as we need to, especially with the kids around. Jomtien sounds like a great option and Pattaya by day should provide us with enough entertainment. The kids actually loved all the attention they got from the bar girls at both Samui and Phuket so I am sure they will be fine. We liked Hua Hin but ran out of things to do with the kids as there were no cinemas or bowling alleys or theme parks when we went and it becomes an ordeal if you want to travel from there to any of the Islands. It sounds like the beach near the Rabbit resort may be nicer than I first thought, Did either of you swim in the water there? We are really beach people and love a daily dip in the sea so ideally would want reasonably clear warm water though I dont expect it to be like Samui or Phi-Phi.

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In 20 years I never went to Pattaya. Like phuket, but that is coming closer and closer to Patttaya in atmosphere.

Now, as a friend wanted to go last year there before going to Phuket, I gave in.....

We stayed in Jomtien in a villa. Villa's were fine, but the beach and the eateries, were nothing to write home about!
But although many girliebars the place was not so terrible as I thought! Walking street was even fun, with some nice restaurants over the water. It is lively, a kind of mini Vegas with girls.

I even visited a Go-go, I liked. th3angelwitch" do their best to give an attractive show, sometimes I even had to do my best to see explecit nude in some acts. The very young "gérante" came sitting nex to us to tell us more about the place. Nice. We went to another go-go another evening, but did not like it that much at all. Not that the act was that vulgar, but just boring.

But something I did like was, that in walking street, Jomtien, other places there are a lot of small venues with band playing Pink Floyd, eric Clapton,etc. Some bad, but some extremely good!

A week was more then enough, this has nothing to do with rural Thailand, but I have to admit, I had some guilty pleasures. Also if you have the courage, rent a bike. I went more to the South -East, and discoverd fishermen villages, nice people, and even a winery near to the buddah on the rock. Also there are hidden beaches, between Jomtien and Pattaya, and also in the North, that are not so bad!



Also complete gallery here:

thailand_november_2007 Photo Gallery by Indieke at pbase.com

Sorry shane, I just noticed you'd asked about the beach at Jomtien. I'm not the best person to ask about such things as I don't generally swim at the beach (I prefer the pool - no skin irritation from the pool!!)
But plenty of people swim at Jomtien (also at Pattaya).

Tintin mentions some things which are in Pattaya, not Jomtien (Walking Street is in Pattaya and also the particular music venues that he mentions)

Jax, what can I say? I've just copied all your reports into a word document, printed it (15 pages - in small font!) and read it with such enormous pleasure. (Am sure my boss is delighted that I am reading it on his time, but it looks like an important document ... and it is! ... so he is none the wiser)

What an amazing trip ... I absolutely adored reading about your adventures. I quite literally laughed out loud at the thought of the rat in the waiter's jacket. Zara and I can TOTALLY relate to wine time at Tesco Lotus, and killing time wandering around aimlessly looking and useless products - once we even got into an argument with the wine clerk there as the cash register said 11:02 am but her watch said 10:58.

Now, the buttery icing birthday cake ... I had one in Bangkok a couple of years ago ... delivered on the stroke of midnight by two room service waiters, complete with lit candles and a very sweet rendition of Happy Birthday to You ... had I not been fast asleep and in considerable pain after a visit to the dentist, it would have been delightful! Now, Zara had her birthday in Samui last year, and she too got a buttery icing cake from the Muang Samui management (which, like you, we smuggled out into the bins over the course of a few days) but this year when I had MY birthday in Samui ... NO CAKE - or any acknowledgement from Muang Samui! I was a bit hurt to be honest! Perhaps you only get cakes when it's high season and you are paying more!

I nearly choked when reading the Viagra story - too, too funny. Thank you for sharing it with us.

I'm sorry we didn't manage to catch up in Samui ... I know you were busy and had friends travelling with you so I wasn't alarmed when we didn't hear from you. Hopefully next time!

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip, and I really hope you both manage to get some work so you can start dreaming of another trip next year.

I do sympathise with the post-holiday-depression syndrome ... I've been suffering since late May! It's so cold and miserable at the moment here in Melbourne and not a day goes by when I don't long to be back in Thailand.

Thank you for the wonderful reports.
DB xx

Thanks for the kind words.
If you think it's cold in Melbourne you want to be here for our "summer". It has been a wash out this year.
most exciting thing that has happened lately is some lad of 14 went in to our caravan on friday night and went through my drawers...........literally. I think when he saw the size he scarpered quickly. We got him. I am glad my lacy jobbies were at the top of the pile and the graying sloggies at the bottom.
Oh that and two hospital appointment..............and then people wonder why I like a drink !!!!!

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God laughs at people who make plans.