Pattaya's four star Long Beach Hotel was slated to be the Looking Glass's Pattaya landmark of the month, but when I discovered that a group of Koreans were making a movie or television show at the Long Beach Hotel starring a stunning cast of young Korean girls, I headed straight from the Long Beach pool to get my camera equipment. 

With a spectacular view of the Gulf of Thailand, a large beautiful pool  that is actually  two pools with one above the other the two separated by a waterfall, its own private beach, and a health club with its own spa and Sauna, and several restaurants Long Beach has got it all.

If you go to the front desk you will find that Long Beach's rooms start at around 4000 baht a night.  But check the Internet and you will find you can do far better.  The place has over 400 rooms and there's lots of tour buses arriving and leaving the hotel's front entrance, so you can be sure that those signing up on those tours aren't paying anything like these prices.  But whatever one's paying to stay here, Long Beach is a very glamorous resort that offers all the amenities. 

There's a small restaurant in front of the main entrance and there's a couple of more restaurants inside the hotel itself along with a number of shops including a tailor and Internet cafe.  My favorite is the restaurant and bar just off the beach at the far end of Long Beach's swimming pool.  Here one finds terrific views of Pattaya, the Gulf of Thailand and Ko Larn Island in the distance while basking in a cooling ocean breeze.  There is also a cafe in the center of the hotel that offers Sundaes, Banana splits and ice cream cones along with pasties, sandwiches and other things. 

I consider myself very lucky because my condo lies right next to the Long Beach and it's part of the deal I have here as a resident to have  all the amenities of the Long Beach at no charge.  I can swim laps in the pool which is large enough to enable me to get some real mileage in.  I can use the hotel's private beach including its reclining beach chairs at no charge while taking advantage of its private swimming area in the Gulf of Thailand although this doesn't prevent me from swimming as far as I want.  For example, several days ago I swam about half a mile North to a small restaurant as I approached and watched a group of windsurfers trying out the latest equipment.   Next to the restaurant that is between the pool and the beach are a half dozen massage girls busily massaging the bodies of some of the hotel's guests just forty meters from the shoreline. 

The swimming pool is about two cuts above what one might expect.  There are actually two waterfalls.  The first comes right down from the hotel into the upper pool falling ten feet into this upper pool which is surrounded by lush tropical vegetation.  There is even an in the pool bar where one can sit on concrete bar stools that are slightly below the water's surface.  However, it appears no one is actually working the bar and there are no bottles or beer taps set up there.  But no matter, employees of the hotel are always around to bring you what you want whether it's coconut milk served in the coconuts, soft drinks, beer, or cocktails, food--whatever.  Around this upper pool there are a number of boulders, some of them quite large and some of these are actually underneath the water so you could lie on a large flat rock with six to twelve inches of water covering yourself as you drink a beer while contemplating everything around you.  Life doesn't get any better than this.

Impressed?  Well, you should be.  But there's more.  So much more.  A well equipped heath club for one thing where you will find stair climbing machines, computer controlled treadmills, and weight lifting machines and right next to that a fully featured spa with an excellent sauna.  But what makes this health club much better than most is its overlooking the lower and larger of the two swimming pools with its large glass window through which I can watch everyone cavorting in and around the pool as I peel off the miles as I shed calories on a stair climber or treadmill. 

There are usually lots of good looking woman to watch from this health club.  Most of them are either Russian or Korean although I'm sure there's a sprinkling of girls from just about everywhere.  It's like watching a movie.  Think I'm joking?  Because if you do, I'm inviting you to take a look at this picture along with the others on this page and to watch the movie below.  There is a group of Koreans filming either a movie or television show and lots of pretty Korean girls taking part in it.  You will notice that the video equipment is far more sophisticated than most video equipment you have ever seen before.  Also notice the huge crowd that has gathered to watch the filming take place.  But while most of the onlookers were watching while sitting on the boulders overlooking the lower pool or from the opposite side of the swimming pool I was ripping off five miles on a stair climber only a few feet from all of the actresses while having fun waving at one of the prettiest girls as she waved back. 

The entire Long Beach location is worthy of a movie.  For one thing, it's not in Pattaya since it is located at Naklua's Wongamat Beach.  That's a couple of miles from Pattaya which contributes to a vastly different atmosphere.  So you can have your cake and eat it too.  There's lots of good restaurants within half a mile of the Long Beach.  But I'm not about to tell you where most of them are for fear that the Russians will be watching.  You see, a huge percentage of the Long Beach's guests are Russians, and although they do have their favorite places in and near the hotel, I have rarely encountered them more than a quarter of a mile from the hotel.  So my favorite places I will keep a closely guarded secret in order to safeguard  the best spots from being overrun. 

The Korean Movie Video