We decided to go to the beach for the weekend. Our choices from Bangkok were essentially Hua Hin, Koh Samet or Pattaya. Having already been to Koh Samet recently and figuring that Hua Hin was too far away on a busy Friday night, we settled on Pattaya. Well, not Pattaya exactly, but Hat Jomtien - a 'quieter' beach just down the road. We knew Pattaya had a reputation but sometimes your imagination is no where near as vivid as reality. This is sex tourism on a huge scale.
If you're a family, stay at Hat Jomtien. It's not as crowded and is relatively set apart from the happenings on Pattaya beach and Walking Street, which is the main promenade of Pattaya where working girls, erm, work. We stayed at Maggie May's Guest house off the main road which was clean enough but could never find anyone to serve us any food and the bar seems to be exclusive to a select few regulars. The rooms are next to the street so expect to be woken up at 3am by wailing banshees and the low rumble of some retired accountant's Harley. Avoid the DVD sellers as your kids may innocently pick up a DVD with 'actors' as young as them on the cover. Yep.
If you're on a stag do/hen night then you're in your element. Have a proper laugh on Walking Street - you have cheap beer, a huge choice of bars, Elvis plays twice nightly, transvestite cabaret shows are dotted along the street. You can nurse your hangovers on the beach the next day but expect a seller a minute (literally) trying to flog you everything from boiled eggs to t-shirts.
Don't come here to shop - this is farang central and prices are hiked. Farang-fatigue is bad here.
There's tons to do, such as water skiing, jet skiing, paragliding and it does make for a good day out. There are islands off the coast that are good for snorkelling and diving (Koh Larn, Koh Sak, Koh Krok). There are regular trips out there from Pattaya's main beach and it's something we'll try next time we go down there. If ever. We couldn't really ignore the harsh realities behind many of the women here - most of them are from poor farming families who have no other choice but to earn a living this way to support their loved ones back home. If you want a crude example of supply and demand, then Pattaya is it.
Still - as we were here, we still had a laff...
We're off to Chiang Mai this weekend. We're gonna save Cambodia for another time as one week just won't be enough.
Yeah Maggies,we stayed there, good hospitality,nothing too much trouble, the bar/restaurant is only open from noon,and closes at midnight, so, good for a sleep-in.No late nights keeping us awake like in Pattaya.The boss took us in his pick-up,and drove us around for about 3 hours to the more reputable bars and eateries,we had a home away from home stay.We will go back.Eddie&Jean UK
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