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this is mainly for newbie guys who have
just discovered this place in the last year or 2; you should have
seen it a while back!
In 1997 I made my first trip to Thailand; I was going
to Vietnam anyway to live my lifelong dream of seeing that trippy
country, and I figured since I was so close, why not shoot over to
thailand for a couple weeks and check it out? I had always heard
good things about the place but what i found shocked and amazed me
and I have been in love with the place ever since.
I had planned to only go to Bangkok, but the Frommers guide I
was using described Pattaya as 'sodom and gomorrah by the sea'
and talked about wild all night parties, hundreds of hookers, go-go
bars, and just basically a place where mardi gras happened every
night of the week. for a 35-year old guy coming off a bad 5-year
marriage and who liked to imbibe as much as possible, it sounded
like heaven, so I went there.
It was even better than i anticipated. girls everywhere [I wasn't
into ladyboys yet], bright lights, go-go and beer bars open 'til all
hours, tourists from all over, freaks and weirdo's trolling the
streets until sunrise; i fit right in there! my favorite bar then
and now, the Tahitian Queen 2 off of walking street, was open until
the last person left and had happy hours at 12, 2, and 4am! Now
they turn on the lights at 145 and the place is closed at 2. You
could hang out on walking street at 4 or 5 AM with a beer in your
hand and it looked the same as it did at Midnight; hundreds of
people milling about, causing trouble and picking up hookers and
getting loaded; for a night owl like me, making it back to the hotel
at sunrise was a major accomplishment, and by then you would have 2
screws under your belt and bringing another one of the cuties home
to sleep with you, and to sleep it all off for the day. Walking
around pattaya in those days was a free-for-all of sex, drugs,
booze, hookers, and very little police presence. There may be a few
after-hours bars now that are paying huge bribes to the cops to stay
open late, but back then EVERY bar stayed open late and it was
fantastic.
It remained that way for a few years. between 97 and 2001 i
had gone back there probably a dozen times and it was still
awesome. when i first discovered ladyboys in 2000, i told
myself "I gotta try that out", and of course, what better place
than here? i went into Limmatquoi one night and grabbed TWO of
them for my first time out [yes, i am a bit greedy LOL], and took
them up to a short-time room for 1500 total, bar fines and room fee
included. Now i was really in heaven; i had found what I had
always wanted, and had found the city I wanted to spend the rest of
my days in.
However, in 2000 things started changing. the guys like myself
who went to Thailand quite often had heard about this new Prime
Minister who was coming into power and who had promised to clean up
the image of the country and rid it of all its bad vices. Of
course no one was worried, it was the same old schtick, but we did
start to notice that the bars were closing earlier and that the cops
had more presence than ever. Pattaya was changing; of course it
was still fun and it still is, but the cops were making it harder
and harder to have fun there, and constant police sweeps of the
hookers on the beach road and walking street, as well as mass
prsence on the streets made you look over your shoulder more and
more.
Fast forward to 2002. For you guys that have just started to
go to Pattaya, i am sure it just seems like a great place, and it
certainly is still better than anything in the west [Amsterdam
perhaps the only exclusion] for fun and wild times. But for me, who
had been going there for 5 years at that point, it was all just a
giant bummer. I spent a week there 9 months ago in December 2002
and it was just all so boring; the cops had their hands in
everything, the ladyboys were less and less visible [believe me,
there were much more in 97 and 98], the bars closing down early,
etc, etc... and when my ladyboy friends and i went to discos like
Xcite or Hollywood, there is always an air of something dangerous
about you, like you are being watched, and having your pockets
turned inside out at the door and being frisked does not help. I
decided then and there that I had no reason to go back to that city
after that; i much prefer Phuket in any case, and to me there is no
where better than BKK in the whole world.
now I read what some people are telling me about Pattaya these days
and i begin to worry and figure maybe i shouldn't go back at
all. Now i am just in limbo; I wanna go and meet some new blood,
but do i want to take the chance of ending up in the Pattaya pokey
in the course of doing it? decisions, decisions....
Sure, Phuket and Bangkok also feel the effects of this new
anti-vice campaign directed by this multi-billionaire communications
arsehole, but it's not as bad. You can still have more fun in both
places IMO, and the heat is felt less in these 2 great places.
Sheer numbers in BKK dictate that it's easier to get away with shit
there and have more fun. Now reading here I think i understand
why; the warnings about that dickless Police chief have brought
things into focus better for me. seems like this piece of shit is
trying to suck up to the PM and make a good name for himself, while
at the same time making it harder for farangs to enjoy themselves.
sorry so long, but i really have strong feelings about this.
Pattaya used to be the best place in Thailand in my opinion; even a
cynical guy like me used to enjoy it there the best of all. But
after seeing it go steadily downhill in recent years, it makes a
veteran of the scene like me doubt whether it's even worth it to
take that 2-hour bus ride from Ekamai.
damn, lets hope this all goes away soon, but i really don't see
that happening anytime soon. and by the way, does anyone agree that
those complete assholes who are volunteering to turn this place
into a ghost town should be lynched?
Jon
just discovered this place in the last year or 2; you should have
seen it a while back!
In 1997 I made my first trip to Thailand; I was going
to Vietnam anyway to live my lifelong dream of seeing that trippy
country, and I figured since I was so close, why not shoot over to
thailand for a couple weeks and check it out? I had always heard
good things about the place but what i found shocked and amazed me
and I have been in love with the place ever since.
I had planned to only go to Bangkok, but the Frommers guide I
was using described Pattaya as 'sodom and gomorrah by the sea'
and talked about wild all night parties, hundreds of hookers, go-go
bars, and just basically a place where mardi gras happened every
night of the week. for a 35-year old guy coming off a bad 5-year
marriage and who liked to imbibe as much as possible, it sounded
like heaven, so I went there.
It was even better than i anticipated. girls everywhere [I wasn't
into ladyboys yet], bright lights, go-go and beer bars open 'til all
hours, tourists from all over, freaks and weirdo's trolling the
streets until sunrise; i fit right in there! my favorite bar then
and now, the Tahitian Queen 2 off of walking street, was open until
the last person left and had happy hours at 12, 2, and 4am! Now
they turn on the lights at 145 and the place is closed at 2. You
could hang out on walking street at 4 or 5 AM with a beer in your
hand and it looked the same as it did at Midnight; hundreds of
people milling about, causing trouble and picking up hookers and
getting loaded; for a night owl like me, making it back to the hotel
at sunrise was a major accomplishment, and by then you would have 2
screws under your belt and bringing another one of the cuties home
to sleep with you, and to sleep it all off for the day. Walking
around pattaya in those days was a free-for-all of sex, drugs,
booze, hookers, and very little police presence. There may be a few
after-hours bars now that are paying huge bribes to the cops to stay
open late, but back then EVERY bar stayed open late and it was
fantastic.
It remained that way for a few years. between 97 and 2001 i
had gone back there probably a dozen times and it was still
awesome. when i first discovered ladyboys in 2000, i told
myself "I gotta try that out", and of course, what better place
than here? i went into Limmatquoi one night and grabbed TWO of
them for my first time out [yes, i am a bit greedy LOL], and took
them up to a short-time room for 1500 total, bar fines and room fee
included. Now i was really in heaven; i had found what I had
always wanted, and had found the city I wanted to spend the rest of
my days in.
However, in 2000 things started changing. the guys like myself
who went to Thailand quite often had heard about this new Prime
Minister who was coming into power and who had promised to clean up
the image of the country and rid it of all its bad vices. Of
course no one was worried, it was the same old schtick, but we did
start to notice that the bars were closing earlier and that the cops
had more presence than ever. Pattaya was changing; of course it
was still fun and it still is, but the cops were making it harder
and harder to have fun there, and constant police sweeps of the
hookers on the beach road and walking street, as well as mass
prsence on the streets made you look over your shoulder more and
more.
Fast forward to 2002. For you guys that have just started to
go to Pattaya, i am sure it just seems like a great place, and it
certainly is still better than anything in the west [Amsterdam
perhaps the only exclusion] for fun and wild times. But for me, who
had been going there for 5 years at that point, it was all just a
giant bummer. I spent a week there 9 months ago in December 2002
and it was just all so boring; the cops had their hands in
everything, the ladyboys were less and less visible [believe me,
there were much more in 97 and 98], the bars closing down early,
etc, etc... and when my ladyboy friends and i went to discos like
Xcite or Hollywood, there is always an air of something dangerous
about you, like you are being watched, and having your pockets
turned inside out at the door and being frisked does not help. I
decided then and there that I had no reason to go back to that city
after that; i much prefer Phuket in any case, and to me there is no
where better than BKK in the whole world.
now I read what some people are telling me about Pattaya these days
and i begin to worry and figure maybe i shouldn't go back at
all. Now i am just in limbo; I wanna go and meet some new blood,
but do i want to take the chance of ending up in the Pattaya pokey
in the course of doing it? decisions, decisions....
Sure, Phuket and Bangkok also feel the effects of this new
anti-vice campaign directed by this multi-billionaire communications
arsehole, but it's not as bad. You can still have more fun in both
places IMO, and the heat is felt less in these 2 great places.
Sheer numbers in BKK dictate that it's easier to get away with shit
there and have more fun. Now reading here I think i understand
why; the warnings about that dickless Police chief have brought
things into focus better for me. seems like this piece of shit is
trying to suck up to the PM and make a good name for himself, while
at the same time making it harder for farangs to enjoy themselves.
sorry so long, but i really have strong feelings about this.
Pattaya used to be the best place in Thailand in my opinion; even a
cynical guy like me used to enjoy it there the best of all. But
after seeing it go steadily downhill in recent years, it makes a
veteran of the scene like me doubt whether it's even worth it to
take that 2-hour bus ride from Ekamai.
damn, lets hope this all goes away soon, but i really don't see
that happening anytime soon. and by the way, does anyone agree that
those complete assholes who are volunteering to turn this place
into a ghost town should be lynched?
Jon
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