Retracing some very old steps ... in Pattaya

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Hi folks, it's been a while! So, here we are again in Thailand, for another round of Summer School English teaching for the students from the Sem Pringpuangkeo Foundation. But there is a minor difference this year. My visit is being bookended (is that the right terminology?) by a brief stay at Pattaya at the start, and a visit to Burma at the end. The former is to participate in an executive meeting of the Foundation, especially arranged to coincide with my visit, so I can offer a ‘Western’ view on their activities. The latter trip has two objectives - to retrace some of the travels that Bob and I undertook when we backpacked Asia in 1974, especially the activities associated with the River Irrawaddy; and also to check out a potential future teaching stint at a large orphanage in Mandalay. But more on that in a future blog. Now I’m also retracing some past travels, since I have not had the opportunity to return to Pattaya since ’74.

When I was in Pattaya all those years ago, there were two distinct differences from now - Pattaya was THE upmarket tourist resort in Thailand, and I was just a little younger, but certainly a whole lot more naïve on the ways of the world. At that time, Pattaya seemed to primarily gear itself as a short term R&R location for American servicemen to do ‘you know what’ after maybe months in service away from female company. I remember at that time being somewhat stunned at the price at which they were able to book some ‘company’ from the local girls, and also the age (in many cases below that of consent) of their ‘escorts’. Now, some 35 years later, Pattaya is no longer the prime tourist location, and in fact struck me as looking a little tired, and the main people that now appeared to be looking for company, or in many cases already walking hand in hand with it, were no longer the servicemen but guys my age. Come to think of it, many of them might just be those same R&R guys!

So what else does Pattaya really offer these days? It’s beaches remind me very much of Kuta (with fewer hawkers) and other Asian resort beaches, with rows and rows of deck chairs and umbrellas, although the latter were not being of much value to the primarily older Europeans, who seem to have a need to fry alive and become lobster-coloured, so all their friends back home will know they’ve been on hols. Early morning (in my view, this is by far the best time to get around, as there are few tourists around then and its much cooler), there are rows and rows of power boats on the shore, all equipped with twin Yamaha V6 200s, ready to take the group tours out to the islands for the day. Later in the day, these all but disappear, to be replaced with huge numbers of paragliders and jetskiers, doing their best to cross each other’s paths.

Off the beach, there are the traditional tourist shops, supplemented by hundreds of market stalls at night, heaps of restaurants, massage parlours, and did I mention the girlie bars …. And this particular weekend was the Pattaya International Music Festival. I went down to see if I could track what stage Pink Floyd and Led Zep were performing on, but most bands seemed to have a strangely Thai appearance. OK guys, so I’m getting old and cranky these days, but I think I’ve finally become a bit saturated on this environment. Of interest, I hired a brand new motor bike for the day (at $6 a day, was I ripped off?), and ventured both north and south to the newer resort areas of Nuklua and Jomtien respectively. At each of these, I found it much less congested, both on the beaches and the roads, with pleasant looking restaurants fronting onto the beach, and would suggest for those that are past their prime like me, or still in their prime but travelling with children, that they check out these as an alternative location to central Pattaya. And yes, you hoteliers, you know where to forward the commission for those hundreds of travellers that will be influenced by my writings and transfer their business to your area!

Well that’s it for my R&R, folks. I’m about to fly out to Chiang Mai to start a week of teaching up there. Stay tuned.

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Comments

[Jill Fitzhenry]

Neil Hi, thanks for the update on your travels - always interesting, always informative. Just as an update, Julanne, (3 Feb) Yvonne (31 March) and myself (30 April) - all taking voluntary redundancy as we close the door behind us at QSL. It is all good though. Cheers JIll