Pattaya's bad press

[RabC]

I live here and love the place and do not come across what the journalist is writing about, but I am not stupid enough to think it is not happening. I am not some 1 day wonder, I have lived here 12 years, sure things have changed, scratch the surface however and things haven't changed that much, its just no longer so in your face.. Doesn't matter how much lipstick you put on it, a pig is still a pig.

[sms747]

what a laugh, people did not go there first, or live there now for the shopping or the polo clubs and certainly not for the stinking sea which is actually a sewer. We all know what the truth about the place is, if you don't like journalists being honest that's just tough. It's still the biggest sex tourist destination in Thailand and for a long way around.

Edited June 19, 2013 by sms747

[Jingthing]

what a laugh, people did not go there first, or live there now for the shopping or the polo clubs and certainly not for the stinking sea which is actually a sewer. We all know what the truth about the place is, if you don't like journalists being honest that's just tough. It's still the biggest sex tourist destination in Thailand and for a long way around.

Things change.

As said before many great cities started as sin cities

New Orleans

San Francisco

Buenos Aires

Edited June 19, 2013 by Jingthing

[ava15]

What makes Pattaya a great city then, out of interest?

[Spalpeen]

What makes Pattaya a great city then, out of interest?

For one thing, it would be hard to find another city with such a diverse range of nationalities. Impossible in the same size range.

[sms747]

The child has more likely been abducted for begging purposes. A young girl was taken near us in bang plee a couple of years back and was very luckily found being forced to beg- on the streets of Pattaya.

[sms747]

What makes Pattaya a great city then, out of interest?

For one thing, it would be hard to find another city with such a diverse range of nationalities. Impossible in the same size range.

Almost any similar sized 'city' in the UK has a far more diverse population, unfortunately. Thank goodness it's a rarity in Thailand.

[sms747]

. This kind of unfair trashing of an emerging great city is totally despicable!

An emerging 'Great City' is there another Pattaya then? the only one I have been to is a badly developed, dirty open air brothel full of sex tourists and mostly ugly prostitutes, to be fair.

Many great cities started as brothels. I think most of the trashers haven't been here for a long stay in a long time (or ever), haven't been here at all, and certainly don't live here. I didn't say it's a great city NOW. I can see it's heading that way. Yes it may take 50 years. Sure.

I don't think the cities you named were founded on large scale prostitution, although a long time ago there might well have been a large sex industry, that's not the point though, we are not talking about the past or the future. I have been going to Pattaya (rarely) for 20 years and I don't see that it's changed much for the better, if anything there are more prostitutes there now than before. It just got larger so it is not quite so visible as it was . If it's ever going to be a great city they had better start planning the parks, museum and art galleries now then! But we know it will always be a tatty dump of a town. To make anything of it they would have to rip a lot of it down and start again.

[Spalpeen]

What makes Pattaya a great city then, out of interest?

For one thing, it would be hard to find another city with such a diverse range of nationalities. Impossible in the same size range.

Almost any similar sized 'city' in the UK has a far more diverse population, unfortunately. Thank goodness it's a rarity in Thailand.

Pakistani's don't count as diversity. Walk from one end of Walking St to the other any night and I'll guarantee you will have passed at least 50 different nationalities in half a mile. Thais, Cambodians, Burmese, Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, British, Irish, American, Nigerian, Iranian, Israeli, Swedish, Korean, Argentinian. Chinese..........I even met a guy from Kalmykia recently. Name one place in the UK that even comes close.

[Basil B]

The pot calling the kettle black...

And in the week the BBC's Stuart Hall(83) is sent down for 15 months, lets wait until Operation Yew Tree is concluded, to name the place that is the biggest centre of sleaze, my monies on Shepherds Bush.

[GooEng]

What makes Pattaya a great city then, out of interest?

For one thing, it would be hard to find another city with such a diverse range of nationalities. Impossible in the same size range.

Almost any similar sized 'city' in the UK has a far more diverse population, unfortunately. Thank goodness it's a rarity in Thailand.

Pakistani's don't count as diversity. Walk from one end of Walking St to the other any night and I'll guarantee you will have passed at least 50 different nationalities in half a mile. Thais, Cambodians, Burmese, Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, British, Irish, American, Nigerian, Iranian, Israeli, Swedish, Korean, Argentinian. Chinese..........I even met a guy from Kalmykia recently. Name one place in the UK that even comes close.

Citing diversity of population as a sign of greatness in a city is hardly valid when that city is a tourist destination. Of course there are many nationalities there! Try again, what else makes it "great"?

[MZurf]

What makes Pattaya a great city then, out of interest?

Who said that Pattaya is a great city (at present)? IMO it's not. But neither is it the cesspool of vomit that many describe it as. Pattaya has more than its fair share of warts, but it is changing - fast. If you could look 50 years into the future it might have become a great city, while Bangkok has become a mere "wet dream"

[fasteddie]

Seems some posters don't like to hear a spade being called a spade.........

Yes, one really has to question their motives.

[wellred]

I think the BBC is the last organisation that should be writing stories about peados or child exploitation. It's sad this happened but it could have happened anywhere in the world. Don't see how Pattaya specifically should be to blame.

[GooEng]

Yes wellred, you're right, why should the largest concentration of sex for sale on earth be a specific target for that sort of investigation? It's so unfair!

[Loptr]

We expats all know what Pattaya has on offering; good, the bad, and the ugly.

But, warts and all, we still choose to live here. And why ? Because it has so much more to offer than our native countries.

You may like it there. I like it there just fine, warts and all.

But to claim it has more to offer than (just about any country in) Europe or the USA completely ruined the credibility of your comment.

I can find a tiny patch of Galveston, Texas that has just about everything I can find in Pattaya, much less the whole USA. And Galveston is no great shakes in the hierarchy of US beach towns.

And what Pattaya does have that my country doesn't have- is exactly what the article is about...

Yeah, but Galveston is a shithole with a dirty beach and nasty water. Oh wait!

Still, given the choice of the two, I would pick Pattaya every time.

[blackman]

Seems some posters don't like to hear a spade being called a spade.........

steady on man

i never said a word

[Spalpeen]

Citing diversity of population as a sign of greatness in a city is hardly valid when that city is a tourist destination. Of course there are many nationalities there! Try again, what else makes it "great"?

Diversity is always a hallmark of a great city. Beijing is big but it's boring. Only one ethnic group. London or New York are much more interesting.

Second reason - Pattaya has grown from zero to its present size in just 50 years. In another 50 years it will be huge. Very few cities can match that growth rate. Years from now people will look back on these days as the pioneering years of an Asian mega city. Take a trip out to sea and look back at the Pattaya skyline.

[i claudius]

Yes wellred, you're right, why should the largest concentration of sex for sale on earth be a specific target for that sort of investigation? It's so unfair!

You obviously have not traveled much ,if you think Pattaya has the largest concentration of sex in the world

[fasteddie]

LOL

Sent from my LG-P880 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[GooEng]

Yes wellred, you're right, why should the largest concentration of sex for sale on earth be a specific target for that sort of investigation? It's so unfair!

You obviously have not traveled much ,if you think Pattaya has the largest concentration of sex in the world

I've traveled plenty. I wrote "sex for sale".

Where else there a larger concentration of sex for sale?

[wellred]

Yes wellred, you're right, why should the largest concentration of sex for sale on earth be a specific target for that sort of investigation? It's so unfair!

You obviously have not traveled much ,if you think Pattaya has the largest concentration of sex in the world

I've traveled plenty. I wrote "sex for sale".

Where else there a larger concentration of sex for sale?

As far as Europe goes probably Germany. Point is this is not about sex for sale. This is about a possible kidnapping that could well be connected with some sick child exploration. Buts lets be honest here. What factual evidence does this reporter have to suggest sex for sale in Pattaya is at all linked with this incident? About as much evidence as there is Brucey going down the same way as his fellow tv chums. Zilch

This is just an excuse to bash Pattaya.

[GooEng]

My bashing of Pattaya is completely independent of that horrible story and is focused specifically on the sex for sale aspect of it. The thread is about Pattaya's bad press and that press all revolves around the ex industry there - including the mainstream consenting adult type and all the numerous grim sidelines that exist on the back of that.

And are you seriously suggesting that any of the red light districts of Europe compare in scale to Pattaya? Reeperbahn in Hamburg? Amsterdam's red light district??

wellred you clearly love the place, so by all means defend it, but i suggest you avoid untruths, they are detrimental to your argument and you.

Edited June 20, 2013 by GooEng

[PoodMaiDai]

A lot of guys living with their head in the sand. All of that stuff is alive and well in Pattaya, just have a chat with some of the various groups trying to clean it up. Pattaya has a dark underbelly darker than most of you want to imagine. That said, it happens all over the world, but the concentration of it in Thailand, especially Pattaya, is very high. Supply and demand.

[raro]

My bashing of Pattaya is completely independent of that horrible story and is focused specifically on the sex for sale aspect of it. The thread is about Pattaya's bad press and that press all revolves around the ex industry there - including the mainstream consenting adult type and all the numerous grim sidelines that exist on the back of that.

And are you seriously suggesting that any of the red light districts of Europe compare in scale to Pattaya? Reeperbahn in Hamburg? Amsterdam's red light district??

wellred you clearly love the place, so by all means defend it, but i suggest you avoid untruths, they are detrimental to your argument and you.

I've been to both and they are not only as much in the eye as in Pattaya but also far more aggressive.

I can sit in any Pattaya bar with friends enjoying a beer and a chat. Try this at Reeperbahn or Amsterdam or soho. You will be constantly pestered to get involved with a girl.

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[i claudius]

A lot of guys living with their head in the sand. All of that stuff is alive and well in Pattaya, just have a chat with some of the various groups trying to clean it up. Pattaya has a dark underbelly darker than most of you want to imagine. That said, it happens all over the world, but the concentration of it in Thailand, especially Pattaya, is very high. Supply and demand.

I have chatted with some of the people trying to clean it up ,to a man or a woman ,they seem to be "holy rollers" who don't know their a from their e, one when talking about "child prostitutes" was talking about girls 19 years old ,and the number of times you get the old chestnut ,that most of the bar girls in Pattaya "are forced into this way of life" of course they are , why are they never"forced" into getting a job in a factory to earn money?