A Fishing Village Called PattayaPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
In Thailand, the name Pattaya is synonymous with beach resorts, a place with fun in the sun. It’s the country’s premier resort and it’s only a two-hour drive from Bangkok.
When old timers talk about Pattaya, however, it’s not a resort they have in mind. They remember it as a fishing village. And they are right, for that’s just what Pattaya was, a sleepy fishing village 30 years ago. In today’s world it may sound inviting, a place you would like to have known? But Pattaya today is far from a sleepy hamlet basking under a tropical sun. Yet, drive down any coast in Thailand and you can find dozens of old Pattayas. The fact is we don't look for fishing villages when we are looking for a place to relax, or to have fun. Old Pattaya 30 years ago was a very boring place. A few old timers did have weekend houses there but, for entertainment, they invited friends for a visit and most parties then were private.
I first went to Pattaya in 1965, and I couldn’t wait until I got back to Bangkok. There was little to do. If I wanted to take a cruise, I had to hire a smelly fishing boat. There were few hotels and no shopping plazas—in fact, hardly any stores. The Nipa Lodge was the main hotel, and the restaurant where everyone went to dine was the Coral Reef, and to the Outrigger to dance and have fun. The beach, even back then before development, was nothing to brag about.
I recently returned to Pattaya after being away for several years. On the way there I picked up a magazine article about Pattaya and read it in the car. How discouraging. It mentioned about the sea being murky, and that the beach was rubbish-strewn, and packed with high-rise hotels. It said that Pattaya was the result of explosive tourism gone mad. It concluded by saying tourists really don't care, that what they are looking for is sex—and Pattaya has plenty of that.
How wrong can a report be? After reading the article, I would have turned around and gone back to Bangkok had I not been to Pattaya before. I am glad I didn’t. The article I read was written by a writer looking for sleaze. He was right in one sense. Pattaya has dazzling highrises and bright lights at night that advertise sex. But Pattaya is more than this.
First of all, which Pattaya was this author talking about? Pattaya is actually three separate bays. At the centre is the four-kilometer Pattaya Beach, the nucleus so to speak. It’s the noisiest and most congested of the resort, crowded with yachts and tour boats pulled up right to the waters edge. Farther out in the bay are two old Hong Kong ferryboats—game restaurants they’re called.
Pattaya Beach Road, the most popular thoroughfare, runs the length of the beach and is connected to the parallel Beach 2 Road by a string of sois or alleys numbered from 1 to 17, north to south. The pulse beat of this block, between sois 6 and 13, is referred to as Central Pattaya. What they say about the place is true, it’s crowded with hotels, tour operators, gem stores, money changers, restaurants, pharmacies, bars, fast-food joints, souvenir shops, clothing stores and tailor shops, one tailor shop after the other; even computer and software stores; and many half-finished condos. During the day this is the busiest part of the resort, but after dark it becomes something else. Most of the streets are closed to traffic. Known as The Strip, this is what Pattaya is all about—but not everything.
To the south of central Pattaya is Jomtien Beach. Twenty years ago it was really no-man’s land; the road was a dirt track and most visitors came by boat for picnics. Boats would drop them off and come back to pick them up in the late afternoon. The Sugar Palm Lodge was a popular beachfront property, and the only one. There literally was nothing else there except empty beach. Today it’s fronted by an endless row of high-rises, many of which are condominiums. In all fairness, however, there are some two-storey structures and many small hotels. Nevertheless, the beach at Jomtien is 14 kilometres long and it's safer and a little cleaner than Pattaya Beach. More important, the beach is considered to be Thailand's Number One windsurfing spot and, like central Pattaya, its beach is lined with sun loungers and parasols for rent. At the end of Jomtien Beach is Ambassador City, the largest hotel in Southeast Asia with 5,000 rooms. Not beds that is but rooms.
Then to the north, around a headland from Pattaya Beach, is Naklua Bay. And would you believe, it has a fishing harbour and the indigenous population there makes a living not from tourism but as it always has—fishing. It’s the quietist of the three bays with few visitors.
Pattaya is not short of fun in the sun. You can try your luck at cable skiing at Lakeland Lagoon, do the go-kart circuit in Jomtien, play a round or two of golf, practice your aim at the shooting range, enjoy the speedway races, play tennis or do some bowling. There are offshore islands to explore, and sailing and yachting. And diving. Scuba diving operators take their clients to the outer islands, to dive on coral reefs and a few wrecks.
Pattaya. It all depends upon what you are looking for.
Next week, when you take your THAI flight to Los Angeles, I am going to take you on a Hollywood walk. You might even see a movie star. QUESTIONS & ANSWERSQ. Dear Mr. Stephens, I am planning on visiting Thailand with my wife this coming April. A friend who visited Thailand ten years ago said I should by-pass Bangkok for with the traffic there getting around is nightmare. We would like to visit Bangkok too. What do you suggest? Jerry Allan, Auckland, New Zealand
A. Dear Jerry, I won’t say that Bangkok doesn’t have a traffic problem, like most big cities around the world. But the situation that existed ten years ago when your friend was here is not the same. Bangkok has a new ultra modern subway system that opened within the last two years. With the combination of this new Metro Subway and the existing Skytrain many tourist spots and destinations can be easily reached in a very short time, without the hassle of fighting traffic, making Bangkok a livable city, and an encouragement to tourism. Commuters can reach their offices, do their shopping, meet with fiends for dinner, go out for an evening of entertainment, or visit many of the city’s tourist sport, all within minutes from one another—with the combination of the two systems. —HS
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
