Pattaya is, however, a surprisingly inoffensive haven for the
love-dispossessed - wrinklies, plug uglies & handicapped mix it with
arabs, military personnel & stressed love refugees who have three
things in common: they have money to spend, they are hot for sleek young
Asians & they have all the fashion sense of a third-degree burn.
Interestingly Thai men mostly don't seem bothered that many of their
prettiest girls/boys are running around with butt-ugly foreigners. The
hired hands too appear relaxed & tolerant & often spend a couple
of weeks travelling around Thailand - especially to proper beach
resorts - with men who treat them like princesses & pay them enough
to support their families for a year. Love & /or marriage are not
uncommon results of these liaisons.
With its murky sea, streets packed with
highrise hotels, & touts on every corner, PATTAYA is the epitome of
exploitative tourism gone mad. The town swarms with male & female
prostitutes, & plane-loads of Western men flock here to enjoy their
services in the rash of go-go bars for which "Patpong-on-Sea" is
notorious. Yet watersports facilities here are among the best in the
country, & it's not a bad place to learn to dive, though the reefs
off the Andaman Coast are more spectacular.
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