Pattaya

A handful of other Americans in my dorm came to Thailand through a 3^rd party program called Global Links. Through that program they went on a trip to Pattaya, the closest beach to Bangkok (about 2 hours by minibus), for a night and day. A few of us decided to take a day trip over and do some beach time with them. Pattaya was once a small fishing village, but during the Vietnam war, thousands of American soldiers were stationed there, and thus the sex tourism industry began. Pattaya is now known as the sex tourism capital of Thailand, if not Southeast Asia. It is famous for its concentration of brothels, hourly hotels, “massage” parlors, go-go bars and its masses of ladyboys. It is also become a pedophile hotspot for western tourists, mostly German and Russian. The children are typically orphans or young adolescents that need to send money back to their families. It is not uncommon for poor families from small villages to pressure their daughters to enter into the sex industry because they have an opportunity to make more money than they ever would otherwise since they don’t have access to an education.  

When we got there we took a taxi to the water, where we would walk to a pier, meet up with our friends, and take an hour ferry to an island and nice beach. The taxi had a professional and understated advertisement for a brothel, claiming that all the girls were hospital STD/HIV tested, non-photo shopped photos could be bought, and if the client is not satisfied, you got a refund. After we got near the water, we walked about a half an hour through the streets and down the infamous Walking Street, which is particularly famous for its night life. Pattaya is grimy, creepy and smells bad. We saw many a 60+ Russian man holding hands with a Thai girl who looked no older than 20 (but Thai girls look young so they may have actually been older). This is a big tourist destination for Russians. Usually if another language beside Thai is printed on signs or menus it is English, but here is was all in Russian, because they provide so much of the cliental. What confused me is that I saw a lot of older couples and young Russian women- it seemed so unlikely that they were here for the sex tourism- and Thailand has stunning beaches and this beach could nowhere compare to what else is available. However, if you are Russian and don’t speak English and want to come to Southeast Asia, this is where you would come because they cater so much to Russians where the rest of the region does not at all. Also, it’s common for older men to come with their wives and families and then leave at night to indulge in the sex tourism. The Walking Street was stacked with strip clubs, massage parlors, bars that advertised porn for 5 baht, piles of trash, and Russian restaurants.

The beach was on an island off the coast. It was stacked full of tourists- also primarily Russian- but was nice, it was just a really overcast day. I saw so many old hairy Russian men in speedos and their 60-something wives in thong bikinis- it was just a little shock and pretty funny. I don’t blame them though, they have probably been bundled up for the last 3 months and will be for another 3 months that they probably are just happy to not wear clothes and also be warm. It was unfortunate seeing the state of the beach by time we left. Trash was everywhere, as well as bottles and cigarette and cigar buts. Environmental standards are very low here and at this rate, these pristine beaches and dive sites will quickly deteriorate.

The best part of the night by far was the dinner. We went to this open air restaurant where each table got this thing that had was like an elevated in dish with coals in it and placed on top of that was another tin thing that was kind of like an upside bowl, but flat on top where a piece of fat was cooking for flavor and you put raw meat there to cook it and then around the upside bowl was a moat of boiling water, where you could cook noodles and eggs and veggies to make a noodle/soup dish. We picked out whatever meat, sauces, veggies, noodles we wanted and then cooked them on the table- it was so fun! I used what I learned at the thai cooking class to make papaya salad and sauces to marinate my meat in. The food all turned out really good, probably because it was so fresh. I would definitely go back to that restaurant again, or one like it, but I have no desire to ever visit Pattaya again.