Maybe Pattaya needs a second (and third) look

 
View from the sidewalk on Beach Road, Pattaya, looking almost northward.

I was visiting Pattaya this week. I cannot believe that I stayed five nights after setting a two-night limit. That’s three extra nights and four more than I stayed in 2008 when  I couldn’t wait to leave.

  There’s just too much of everything, especially the beer bars, go-go bars, restaurants, taxis, traffic, mobile and stationary hawkers, and an eye-bleeding forest of signs, many of them in English, and now Russian. There’s a small fruit market on Second Road (a north-south arterial) that has signs solely in Russian -- no English and no Thai!

  There can never be enough Thai girls but Pattaya somehow manages to get more than its share of stunners as well as the ordinarily beautiful. As for expat residents, I think there are more decidedly porky, old, misshapen, unshaven, tattooed expats than would be normal in any statistical analysis. (And before you snow me with emails, I expect some day a blogger will say the same thing about me, if they haven’t already.)

But the past notwithstanding, I wanted to go Pattaya. It happens to be where Talen, author of the very popular and entertaining Thailand, Land of Smiles blog, hangs his walking shorts. We’ve exchanged emails and comments on each others’ blogs in the past two-plus years and promised to get together some day. We did it and had a great time together. This was due in large part to Talen’s generosity in time and effort to show me what's new in the big town. He’s a sharp observer, as reflected in his blog,  energetic, outgoing and yet down-to-earth. In short, a great guide. (I had to say this because he has a picture of me!)

A frequent sight is the Englishman who dresses himself and his bicycle in the finest accessories and  conducts his daily colourful parade on the streets of Pattaya.

I also wanted to catch up with a fellow Canadian who I met through my Bangkok/Toronto pal Mike. Bill, with a long history in the Canadian bar and restaurant  industry, quickly got the measure of Pattaya and was a great help in introducing me to the cheaper part of the town, which is saying something. How about Sang Som (Thai whisky or rum) and Coke for 25 baht? Or small Leo’s for 35? Or a glass of Johnnie Walker Black for 75 baht? Compared to Bangkok (low end prices: 70/50/100 baht), Pattaya does indeed offer cheaper booze. But 95 baht cigarettes will be 95 baht cigarettes everywhere in Thailand. (I have recently heard from nearly half a dozen friends and acquaintances who are seriously considering leaving expensive Bangkok for cheaper Pattaya, if not permanently then part-time.)

  

Just some of the hundreds of beer bars in Pattaya, first photo. The Canadian flag hangs in one of the soi Diana beer bars in Pattaya.

There was a third reason for going to Pattaya, which was actually the first reason. I wanted to meet up with a girl I met online. She and her sister have been running a car rental agency in Pattaya. Seems like they have been pretty successful. The divorced 35-year-old  turned out to be a hard working businesswoman and yet was a very pleasing companion, as in a very Thai girl. Whether there’s more to report, only time will reveal.

I am coming around to liking Pattaya. But first, what I remember of the negatives last time  was: dense and chaotic traffic on all the main roads and many bar streets in Central Pattaya in particular; in full view were the poor clothing choices and bareback tattoo displays of the double-X-large expat residents who fill their days with girls, booze and grease-sodden food;  constant though low-key hawkers who ply the bar soi’s with oversize lighters, pirate DVD movies and tribal trinkets; the din of high-amp sound systems pumping out everything from 50s rock and roll to hip hop and disco electronica.

This time all of the above remains. Traffic on arterial Central Pattaya Road going from Beach Road, on the Gulf of Thailand, to Sukhumvit Road (yes, the same road out of Bangkok) is six to eight lanes of diesel buses, baht buses, trucks, moto couriers and service trucks crowding for the same privilege to get somewhere. Ugly, just as is Sukhumvit.

Expat residents for some reason or another all seem to come from the same school where everyone graduated with bulging bellies, the need for tattoos, the neckless look and an insatiable thirst for beer. I’ve seen guys walking around talking to some ghosts in their heads, some strut down the street like they own the world, some manage to break important cultural rule such that they will eventually meet a Thai who will set them straight -- into a hospital; some who have had way too many cigarettes, beer and sessions in front of the football/rugby/cricket TV superchannels. You’ll know what I mean when you’re shaken awake by the sight of a straight-backed, clean-cut, fit, casually and tastefully dressed man. Rare as a bar without hookers.

The hawkers are still there -- one night I was hit on two to three times per five-minute periods over a 1.5 hour period in a beer bar complex. And the sound systems can still knock your back teeth out.

Yet a tour of some soi’s off Second Road shows Pattaya can be quiet and the walking life unfettered. Another great thing is the availability of good western food. Now it sounds like I do not know Thailand. I enjoyed the fact I could get a Chicken Donner (50 or 60 baht) or hamburger (75) or spaghetti (don’t remember the price because I never bought  any, for reasons I might not have to explain) or pizza slice (55) or even English breakfast at 2, 3, or 5 in the morning (85 to 110 baht). I did indulge in a delicious Donner one morning and twice I raided the pizza place at soi LK Metro and Diana. It’s a nice change from the daytime diet of Thai soups, omelettes, fried rice, and som tam (spicy papaya salad). Somehow, a westerner’s palate will only be satisfied after a number of beers by a greasy Donner or slice.

Another sign of change in the Pattaya lifestyle is the growing appearance of the big European and American hotel chains, top shelf jewellers and clothing lines, massive swank Central Festival mall, expensively designed shops and even fast-food outlets. There’s also the growing appearance of shoppers from Russia, India, China as well  Korea and Japan. And families are showing up in Sin City. Plus the area is reputed to  have some outstanding golf courses. Which means price tags will start to creep up, which could be good for Thais but not so good for those of us on a budget.

I think though the key outstanding memory is the friendliness of the girls. It seems like they still have the country girl shyness, easy going nature, the ready smile that life in Bangkok seems to sand away over time. I think the Isaan girls who tend to populate the bars  in Bangkok distinctly dislike being in the big hot, steamy, crowded, noisy city, whereas Pattaya is just a big town (city, actually) and feels more like home. The girls tend to be more relaxed and undemanding. Not once in my five nights there was I ever asked to buy a lady drink.  I did of course, but I dislike the badgering you get in BKK bars. I certainly felt more relaxed there. So maybe it’s a combination of both: relaxed visitor, relaxed worker.

And too, I can never get over looking toward the palm framed and green waters of the Gulf of Thailand when walking down the soi’s toward Beach Road. It just feels so right. Maybe I need to move to the beach, although Pattaya’s beach is hardly first class. Jomtien, south and next door, is reputed to have a much nicer beach front.

I think I will need to confirm my  initial positive feelings about Pattaya. Yeah, maybe in a couple of weeks.

PHOTOS: Two favourite night time eateries (Kiss and Nongjai); fruit stalls on Second Road with Russian-only signs; expats show their colours; Thai riders prepare to rumble on their custom choppers from the back of Mike Shopping Centre; a VW booze van at The Avenue Pattaya shopping centre; a view down soi 13/x looking from Second Road; forest of signs on soi LK Metro where my hotel resides; and an actual  pedestrian crossing on Second Road  guarded by an officer and with traffic signal!

    

   

   

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Siam.Rick]

1.

Frankly, Martyn, I can credit/blame you for this trip ;) I think you're right that I had to give the place another peek and I'm glad I did. Watching whiskered, liquored old guys squire around 20-year-olds was getting too much for me. They don't even have the decency to get groomed and dressed. Many of them have absolutely no class. I know for a fact the girls would prefer to be with someone at least looking a peg or two up. BUT, and stop me if you've heard this before, it's ATM.

Thanks to Talen and another Cdn resident, I got to see the far less seedy side of the place. I'm sure there's more and I will seek it out this coming week when I return (see what you've done!).

[Siam.Rick]

2.

Thanks Mike! It was great meeting Tim. Dare I say it, he's a bit like his blog. But then, I think it's a compliment ;-)

[Boonie]

3.

Interesting to see you beating the well-worn expat trail.

Good luck, Boonie

[Martyn]

4.

Rick I'm really pleased you have seen the good side of Pattaya and also noticed how cheap a place it can be if you know where to hangout. The city has so much to offer if you can skirt around the seedier side of it. That's difficult, but if your glasses are rose tinted enough even that side of life can be viewed as a entertainment of sorts.

It's nice to read as well that the dating site has started to produce fruit, best of luck with that one.

Good post with an excellent overview and honest look at Thailand's sin city. Yet there's still so much you haven't seen and have to still explore. Happy days.

[Mike]

5.

Rick a great and informative post which puts things nicely in perspective.

Will I be going to Pattaya soon, not a chance. You include quite a few of the reasons why I will steer clear,particularly relating to expats,or should that have an s in front of it?

However I am glad you enjoyed it and got a chance to meet Tim.

[fontok69]

6.

I like Pattaya, too. You've captured the enigma of its spirit quite well in this post. For all its craziness, Pattaya can be a lot of fun. And, a certain pretty lady from Mukdahan has captured my heart (for the time being, at least). Here's some of my recent Pattaya photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seua_yai/sets/72157625174741092/

Chok dee! matt

[Siam.Rick]

7.

Oh, that teddy bear! Please send me your pertinent bank account details. But I don't see why you need the money, Talen. Because once that jar is (soon) filled, you will only need cash for beer and food ;-)

[Talen]

8.

Rick, Excellent read and good to see Pattaya through your eyes as well.

I expect payment in baht by the first of the month or the teddy bear pic gets published?

I am heading out after I write this to one of your favorite Pattaya haunts...jar in hand just in case :P

See you when you come back...next week was it?

[Siam.Rick]

9.

Well, you would know, Glenn, being an Old Hand in the beer bar wars. Maybe when you arrive in the new year, you might find some of that good old Pattaya in the new areas. I'm sure there's more we can discover with a little desire and a few 10-baht coins!

See you in about 5 weeks!

[glenn]

10.

Rick, I remember the Pattaya of the early nineties. The bar Sois around 7&8 you describe as having disliked were once the best areas. More and more beer bars filled in the gaps in the neighbourhood until it was too much of a good thing. The beauty lost. I'm glad to see you venturing out where some new "old Pattaya" can be discovered. Enjoy, and good luck with the language lessons.