Pattaya is such a dump

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I arrived in Pattaya after a 2+ hours bus ride from Bangkok. The town itself is very sleazy. It seems to be full of bars and bar girls. You see all these fat old European men with these young petite Thai girls all over the place. It gets disgusting after awhile. What makes all these young Thai girls into prostitutes? I can't believe it is all due to the lack of other opportunities.



The beach here is very poor. Only a small sliver of sand before you get to the road. Hardly worth it. I went jogging on the paved path next to the water this morning and that was very nice. There is supposed to be a nicer beach south of here a short distance but I haven't gone there yet. Don't know if I will since I don't like this place at all.



The Pattaya Center Hotel I am staying at is a real dump. I tried to call my travel agent to get me out of here but being it was new years eve i didn't get a hold of her. So I am stuck here for another night before going off to Koh Samet. The hotel looks like it hasn't seen a coat of new paint for about 20 years. The furniture is the same vintage. Very disappointing. The hotel charged a mandatory fee of about $25 to go to their New Year's Eve party. What a ripoff. You got about $3 worth of food and not very good at that. I am getting back to my theme that it seems that the Thai people cheap you every chance they get. I am beginning to understand why there are very few Americans here. It gets very frustrating after awhile. You get to the point that you don't want to buy anything here because you feel you are always being ripped off. I think this petty thievery hurts the Thais in the long run since I am sure others come to feel the same way as me.



The weather this morning is warm and humid. Not at all like the cool mountain air of Chiang Mai. I think if I were to ever spend an appreciable length of time in Thailand it would be in Chiang Mai rather than any of the other places I have been. I have heard good things about Koh Samet where I am headed tomorrow and also Koh Chang. Maybe I will check out Koh Chang next trip. Re Koh Samet, there is some risk there of getting malaria. I have started taking doxycycline (an antibiotic) and bought some bug spray. Hopefully that will be enough protection.



I haven't taken any pics recently since there is not much I want to remember about this place.



That's it for now.

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Comments

[Scott]

What did you expect?
Much as I agree with you that Pattaya is not a great place for a holiday, I think that it would not have taken much research before your holiday to discover what kind of place it is and the atmosphere that prevails there. Having lived in Thailand for 8 years, I would suggest going off the beaten track to avoid feeling that everyone is out to take advantage of you. Thai people are very friendly on the whole and make many more concessions to foreign visitors than people in many other countries. Enjoy your trip.