I agree Pattaya has the potential to be a great city. But right now it needs some serious visionaries in the area of PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.

Totally agree!

I think Pattaya has something for everybody and focussing too much on the stereotypes does not do right to the diversity. I like visiting now and then, walking in the evening the seaside boulevard, eating something on the beach. Unlike some others I find the bahtbus transportationsystem very convenient and cheap. Also a good point is that there is less discrimination of older or handicaped people, who in the civilized western world are dumped as useless. As far as the sex/sin side is concerned Pattaya may be a little less hypocrite then many other places.

There was a time when sex was a sacred practice, when (human) nature was sacred. This was the time when the femenin aspect was highly appreciated, when there were female goddesses and priestesses, when there were temple prostitutes who functioned as representatives, prostitutes of goddesses and by the practice of sex with them you could become one with the divine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_prostitution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra

But times have changed. Nature, the femenin, sex and especially prostitution are desecrated. Patriarchal morals have taken over. Sex is associated with sin and ugliness. Pattaya has become an ugly place by these morals and certainly no family destination.

Edited February 3, 201511 yr by dutchguest

During the day, the city is slightly less seedy as the beach gets crowded out and jet skis and speed boats bounce across the waves. A fair few Thais, too, have adopted Pattaya as a weekend getaway, drawn by the excellent seafood and lower prices than elsewhere on the eastern seaboard. But not even the most enthusiatic Pattaya promoter could claim that the city has changed too much from its original incarnation as an anything-goes sin city for GIs on R & R from the Vietnam War.

BS. At night you can't see the broken infrastructure and it looks more attractive than by day. The beach is crap and has been since early 90s. The jet skis are horrible, not an attraction.

As for the bit about not changing since the 70s, pure rubbish. It's completely built up since then. Just read anything by people that were there when it first started as a farang destination.

According to one account by a US serviceman that was at U Tapao, the bar scene was around the base, not at Pattaya.

Well what year was this book published ? Lonely planet was started by backpack travelers. I think the original people are gone so much of the info they now receive is from just normal people traveling. Well if you go to these areas after dark I can see what they are talking about. Just read the daily news from the crap that is happening during the night. Lady boys and hooker on the beach from walking street to Pattaya Klang. girls calling out at you as you walk down the soi's and it does not matter that I have my girl with me. I just call it entertainment but others may have a different view. And yes what am I doing there ? enjoying the entertainment.

others may have a different view

If people don't like it they can PO to some hole like Hua Hin which may be more to their liking, being lacking in a bar scene. ( I know there are a few bars- but they amount to not much at all ).

The fact that the article mentions jet skis without mentioning the jet ski scam is an easy giveaway condemnation that the author is not on the ball. Lonely Planet, like the backpacker crowd overall think they are a little bit superior, but actually are just another bunch of prim and propers only this time a younger set in boots and flip-flops. No wonder most of them either don't set foot in Pattaya or run away screaming after a couple of days failing to find 'the' cool cafe where they can all gather round and bore each other to death with interminable tables of where else they have been.

A bit wordy, yet doesn't say all that much. I live in Jomtien. When folks ask me how it is over here, i usually say "Like the film "Sin City" except in that film there were rules".

I think they mean retro in a good sense ... like Art deco Miami Beach.

You can't mention Jomtien without mentioning the Russian flavor, still even after the crash.

Shouldn't that be South Beach ?

I think Pattaya has something for everybody and focussing too much on the stereotypes does not do right to the diversity. I like visiting now and then, walking in the evening the seaside boulevard, eating something on the beach. Unlike some others I find the bahtbus transportationsystem very convenient and cheap. Also a good point is that there is less discrimination of older or handicaped people, who in the civilized western world are dumped as useless. As far as the sex/sin side is concerned Pattaya may be a little less hypocrite then many other places.

There was a time when sex was a sacred practice, when (human) nature was sacred. This was the time when the femenin aspect was highly appreciated, when there were female goddesses and priestesses, when there were temple prostitutes who functioned as representatives, prostitutes of goddesses and by the practice of sex with them you could become one with the divine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_prostitution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra

But times have changed. Nature, the femenin, sex and especially prostitution are desecrated. Patriarchal morals have taken over. Sex is associated with sin and ugliness. Pattaya has become an ugly place by these morals and certainly no family destination.

One sees an increasing number of families out and about and in particular Western couples who are using the place as a base to venture forth.