10 April 2014
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First Trip to Pattaya
After having lived in Bangkok more than eight years, I am greeted by expressions of surprise when I tell people that I have never been to Pattaya, the famous beach resort town just a two hour drive southeast of the Thai capital city. Well, I can no longer truthfully earn those expressions of surprise because I finally made my first trip to Pattaya last month.
Why didn’t I ever visit Pattaya? Well, there was an image I held in my head of a city that was a sleazy and crowded tourist trap with a nice beach, questionable water quality, and even more questionable businesses operating until the wee hours of the night.
It turns out, that image was pretty accurate. Sure, there might be corners of Pattaya that are reasonably nice (someone told me Jomtien Beach), but the main section of town where I was staying for work was exactly as I had expected it.
The hotel I stayed in, the Hilton, was gorgeous, with an infinity pool and lounge that offers a breathtaking view of the sunset. But even up on the 29th floor with very heavy balcony doors with thick triple-pane glass, I could hear the music amplified from the surrounding entertainment venues and it didn’t take long until I had reached my fill of seeing bright red rotund foreigners accompanied by barely legal (or maybe not legal at all) tiny brown girls or boys a quarter of their age and a fifth of their size.
The work experience was lovely – a two-day leadership development workshop for a multinational company – but I am comfortable that I can check Pattaya off the “to-visit” list and add it to the “no need to return” list instead.
Comments (8)
Sounds like a “cesspool.” And that ” bright red rotund foreigners accompanied by barely legal (or maybe not legal at all) tiny brown girls or boys a quarter of their age and a fifth of their size,” says it all….
Don’t blame you for not wanting to go back…I wouldn’t either…..
Doesn’t it, though? =D
I think this is the first really bad review I’ve read of yours. It sounds as if there’s nothing to recommend this place except perhaps the hotel, and one can find good hotels in nice places!
Yes, sadly it is on my “no redeeming qualities” list…
I can cross out this place for any future visits.
Surely you have already been on one of your many trips to Thailand?
Too bad. What a shame to have such disappointment. You of course were aware of it. Your report of the place here will alert others to avoid the place like plague!
Please do avoid it! Instead, come to my place for brunch. =D