Back in Pattaya

Saturday, 10 October, 2004 – Pattaya

Awoke with the rising sun this morning, in spite of the fact that I am in Pattaya; the land of endless beer and go-go bars and according to government statistics, 75,000 “working girls”. Having come in from Cambodia a week or so ago (who is counting days) for a bit of R& R from Cambodia, it has been wonderful to experience a bit of “civilization” from the never ending chaos, turmoil and dirt that is today’s Cambodia.

Yesterday was an easy day, having taken my time getting out of my door at the Diana Golf Resort and after a short 10 baht ride in the back of a pickup truck referred to here by foreigners as a “baht bus”, made my way to Dolphin Circle where I still was able to find Ms. Lek renting her stable of motorcycles.

She recognized me immediately even though it has been nearly a year since I used one of her bikes and after an exchange of pleasantries, a 1,000 baht deposit and a 200 baht rental charge, I was soon headed down beach road to one of my favorite places for breakfast, the Heaven on Soi 13.

The Heaven is probably one of the better places to chill from Pattaya’s entertainment and action. It is a small out of the way place, with only a handful of rooms surrounding a pool and a rather large and homey feeling restaurant with large screen TV and all the regional newspapers you could possibly want.

After spending an hour or so reading the news and seeing that the king of Cambodia has finally made good on his many months of threats to abdicate, I wonder about what is in store for me with my return to what will obviously be more high drama in the continuing saga of what one might call “Cambodian politics” (I call it gangsters and thugs).

Having spent many years in Thailand, it was in 2003 that I finally made the leap across the border to seek out my “fame and fortune” as Thailand had become far to complicated to either work or live for any extended period of time.

Although Thailand for many years has been my adopted home, even when I have had to leave for extended periods of time, recent policies with the government of Thaskin Shinawatra made it abundantly clear that unless you are very wealthy and/or Asian, you were no longer welcome.

As many resident ex-pats have recently found, life and working in Thailand has gotten far more difficult than it has ever been. From resident visas, to work permits, border crossings and immigration hassles to banking laws, there is no doubt to anyone, that Thailand wants to make it as tough as possible to claim Thailand as your home.

That is terribly sad as Thailand and its common people are truly wonderful. For so many years I have not felt more at home while living in such exotic places as Bangkok, Phuket and along the Eastern Seaboard including Pattaya, Nakula and Bang Chang. I look back through the thousands of photos taken from those years and they are always filled with smiling faces and happy people, having fun and letting the trials and tribulations of western existence wash away.

The thing about Pattaya which keeps bringing me back is it acts as a “anchor” to my living in and around Asia. I know it and its locals intimately, acting as a surrogate family to a man who has none. If you want the “noise” of the night life and the erotica venues of go-go bars, it is there but if you also need the peace of the gulf waters and a fishing pole on a quiet stretch of sand, that can be found as well.

Even after all these years and its hyper growth over the past decade, it is still ridiculously cheap. Even as I type these notes, I am doing so from a decent hotel room costing me only 3,100 baht a month or about $75 USD.

You might think that this has to be a real hole in the wall, but it isn’t as this particular “apartment” has cable TV, hot water, sink, balcony, fan, frig and is large and decently furnished. Combine that with the pool and driving range and its closeness to the air-con bus station on Sukumvit (Main/High Street) and Pattaya Nua (North Road) to Bangkok, it makes life quite pleasant for either living or visiting the area.

Although things seem to change and construction is everywhere, nothing really does. Buildings come down and buildings go up. Relationships end and relationships begin but in all this, it seems to be the same perpetual cast of characters.

If you walk into the infamous TQ (Tahitiquian Queen) on Beach Road for an afternoon happy hour which goes from 5-6 PM, you will see someone you know from before, either socially or in business. Pictures of locals smile down from you on the wall while some dancer, who you happened to have a bought a drink for from 2 years before will immediately come over to you and snuggle next to you, knowing just like a cat, if she purrs the right noise, she will get her fur stroked and hopefully that ever important drink ticket that she will quickly stick into the top of her ever present go-go boot. The game never changes, only the faces.

You could go and visit another bar you once hung out at and will most probably find the Thai girlfriend or wife and her ex-pat lover have broken apart, with him either headed back to his homeland, licking his wounds, far lighter in his wallet (if there still is one) or maybe having had the ability to somehow break away and start his own bar with another Thai “business partner”. She most probably will still have the bar he paid for and is now set for life, as was the plan from the beginning. Cynical? Yes. Reality? Very real.

There are so many men who come to Thailand for the first time and Pattaya in particular, who thing they have found their nirvana on earth. In some ways they are right as many if not most are misfits from their own cultures and societies, which is not a bad thing for in Thailand even though you won’t fit in, you don’t stick out.

You can be armless, legless, fat, bald, short, ugly, old or young, it makes no difference. It does however makes all the difference in the world if you are poor. It also makes a difference in the color of your skin as Thai’s view dark as bad. That is the reason they always make efforts to protect themselves from the sun, go fully clothed swimming and skin whitening products are everywhere. I won’t say they are racist but they are definitely more predisposed to individuals with fair skin and hair. That is just a fact.