Kostya (left) showing the weight training
equipment made by Andrey (right).
Warunya Thongrod
It’s hardly California’s Muscle Beach, but a stretch of Jomtien
Beach has served as an ideal weightlifting and exercise park for a pair
of Russian expats.
Kostya Maryenko and his friend Andrey say they’ve been jogging and
pushing iron in front of the Pattaya public relations office for nearly
a decade. The city long ago installed benches and weights, but the two
men say the public equipment has begun to show its age, discouraging
many from using it.
“My friend and I like to exercise on Jomtien Beach because it is clean
and exercising outdoors makes us feel good,” Andrey said. “But because
the equipment provided by Pattaya has become old, it’s no longer ideal,
so we’ve started using sand-filled fuel bottles as weights. I hope,
though, that the city would renovate the weight-training area here.”
The weight-bench area is just part of a larger park on Jomtien Beach
where sports aficionados can enjoy everything from jogging, windsurfing
and volleyball.
