Pattaya

I was in Pattaya just after my trip in Samet in july 2000, I have been there totally a couple of time during my five years in Thailand but definitely is not a place where you can live.

The first time obviously I was curios and excited about a city like that but soon you realize its madness and nonsense. There is no much to say about, just an enormous brothel.

Pattaya was just a small fishing village until it was discovered as a beach resort by Bangkok residents in the 60s. Soldiers during the Vietnam war, including the United States Air Force base at U-Tapao in neighbouring Rayong province began using the area for “rest and recreation” (R&R), causing a huge boom in prostitution and of turism later on.

The over-abundance of jet-skis and speedboats and the practice of dumping sewage in the ocean has ruined the Pattaya marine environment.

Pattaya city has been administered under a special autonomous system since 1978. Pattaya has a status comparable to a municipality and is separately administered by the mayor of Pattaya city who is responsible for making policies, organizing public services and supervising all employees of Pattaya city administration. As you can easily understand Pattaya is not Thailand, Pattaya is Pattaya.

Despite the effort (during last years) in cleaning the image of the city, the whole place is dedicated to the sex industry with enormous profits. Condos, hotels, bars, restaurants, massage parlors, discos, this is what the whole city is all about.

The section of beach from Central Road (Pattaya Klang) south to the harbor is adjacent to the core of Pattaya’s abundant nightlife area, and hence is less family-oriented than the North Pattaya, Na Klua and Jomtien beaches.

Posted on December 15, 2000

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