After the gentleness of Burma, arriving in Pattaya was a culture shock to say the least! I am praying that lovely Ngapali Beach in Burma doesn't take this place as its role model if it ever develops further. I was last here twenty years ago with Kev, and yes, there was a street with girly bars and ladyboys etc., but it seemed quite ok, a bit of a laugh and was contained. No longer. The whole city has exploded in size and is now a complete brothel. No discreet little area where it all goes on, just a complete grubby mess with prostitution obvious everywhere. Walk down the wrong Soi, and there are lots of them and it's really unpleasant. Walk down the road to find somewhere to eat and you realise that's quite hard, most places are beer/pole dancing bars, not food. I think I am quite broadminded and know it goes on in Thailand, but have never seen it so in your face. The beach is a total mess, quite narrow and covered in old fashioned deckchairs from the bars so you can't even see the sand.
Traffic so bad you can't cross the road, even the traffic lights are optional! Drunken Westerner's hand in hand with Thai girls, trying and failing to communicate with words as neither can speak the others' language. Huge tour groups of Chinese hunting in packs with their frilly coaches blocking up the small roads. Reading the brochures and local papers they are trying to make Pattaya appeal to the family market by emphasising the shopping and activities, but I think they are on a losing wicket with that one! Like Phuket, they are targeting the Russian, Chinese and new Indian middle classes, but they are driving away anyone with any sense of style.... But perhaps they have got it right, who knows, we Westerner's are now the poor relations and the Russians, Chinese and Indians are the new global spending power in the world. I found a restaurant run by a Brit and overheard him talking to his mate. He was saying that a few years ago 80% of his business was British and he did a roaring trade with cottage pie etc., but not now. He was glad he realised and since he has added Russian dishes and had his menu translated into Russian, he is doing ok.
But there were good points. I was staying at the Sabai Resort, a real oasis amongst all of the madness. Designed like a little village, all low rise one storey villas and I stayed in the Ruen Thai Villa bit with a lovely swimming pool, right outside my room, sparkly clean.
You could almost imagine yourself somewhere civilised if you could just ignore the parade of prostitutes toing and froing to some of the rooms.... And an easy walk to shopping, an older centre next door and a huge new mall about a ten minute walk away. Lakeside all over again, ladyboys in white stiletto's, full of British brands and an amazing array of good eating places. No wonder the Thai's have grown taller and fatter, the choice of fast food is immense.
And I had a lovely Russian family staying in the villa next door. I was invited to a birthday party where all sorts of Russian delicacies were served. Caviar I could manage very well, but the inch wide strips of pig fat that were offered were a bit more difficult and not my favourite...... And I discover Russian chocolate is very good! They had brought all of this over with them and I had a fun afternoon chatting away via Google translate. They were lovely and very generous, especially with the why why and moved Anglo Russian relationships forward many notches.
And then there was the bin man from Liverpool..... Lived in Anfield and had the thickest scouse accent I have heard in a while. It was about 10am and he had already had a few beers. I heard his life story about a broken relationship, his many kids and how he had come here with his cousin to get over it all. He said how nice the Thai people were, how much poverty there was and how awful it was that some of the girls had to sell their bodies to pay their way. I had him marked as a sensitive Scouser. That was until a few minutes later two sleepy eyed young Thai girls in very little clothing and very high heels came giggling out of his room to say goodbye.....
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