Every Picture Tells a Story #4

[webfact]

Every Picture Tells a Story #4
Orlando Barton



Welcome to “Every Picture Tells a Story”; a weekly post about living in Thailand. Each week we’ll post a picture that illustrates some of the little things those of us fortunate enough to live here hold dear.

Bad Reputation
I live in Pattaya. If you look up the phrase “bad reputation” in the dictionary … it says “see Pattaya”. From the time of the Vietnam Conflict right up until now, Pattaya has been known as Thailand’s “brothel-by-the-sea”.

It doesn’t matter how many 5-star resorts and waterfront shopping meccas are erected, people who have never even been here will snicker every time the name “Pattaya” is mentioned. World class golf courses, waterparks, spas, internationally renowned cuisine and shopping galore … Pattaya can out-class countless other holiday destinations and yet it still wears its seedy reputation like a dirty shirt.

But, Pattaya isn’t the only party paradise in this country that gets a bad rap. There’s a place in the Koh Samui group of islands with a bad reputation spawned by its notorious once-a-month party scene.

While the poster child for Pattaya’s dark side is a beer swilling sex tourist; Koh Phangan is recognized worldwide as the home of the world’s wildest drug party. The Full Moon Party is held monthly on Haad Rin Beach and anyone who has witnessed it knows the reputation is well deserved.

Young backpacker types paint their bodies with fluorescent designs, slurp buckets of whatever that stuff is, smoke whatever it is they smoke, and gyrate to the worst music my old ears have ever heard.

But, just like Pattaya’s Walking Street is only about 300 meters long, Haad Rin is the smallest and least attractive beach on Koh Phangan. Those who have ventured out to the rest of the island find an idyllic tropical paradise. It’s like Koh Samui 20 years ago.

Rustic yoga retreats, coconut farms and longtail boats bobbing in the bay come to mind when I think of Koh Phangan. This is the story that this week’s picture tells. It was taken on the north side at a beach called Chaloklum.
No mushrooms, no glowing paint, no DJs spinning electronica. Just Thailand the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

Source: http://www.inspirepattaya.com/lifestyle/every-picture-tells-story-4/


-- Inspire Pattaya 2016-01-26

[daoyai]

What the pic has to do about Pattaya...nothing... point of the "story" is K.P. has other beaches besideds Had Rin.. ....

[asdecas]

What's with the "to... the beach" sign? Is it that hard to find?

[chickenslegs]

What's with the "to... the beach" sign? Is it that hard to find?

Humour.

[Canuk23]

What's with the "to... the beach" sign? Is it that hard to find?

Well there is the longtail boat section then the jet sky section the para sail section then the private beach section and them the beach about 20 meters long.

[TheKnave]

45 seconds, lost forever.

Seriously, who writes this stuff?

Oops, Orlando Barton does...

Edited January 31, 2016 by TheKnave

[robertson468]

I was expecting a whole gala of beautiful photos of Koh Phangan, instead I find a miserly couple of sentences that really tell me nothing! What a disappointment.

[bannork]

I think the point was that even places with bad reputations have their good points and places.

Here's a lovely song about Pattaya from approx 20 years ago although the clip is obviously more recent.

[ableguy]

You cannot change the fact that this town is the largest brothel in Thailand, home to every kind of miscreant on the planet, why idiots try to portray as a family oriented vacation spot can only be answered by the fact that the majority of idiots are blind, dumb and stupid..

[brain1]

As someone else that lives in Pattaya, I enjoyed the post and some of the authors original comments are proved by a number of the responses "people who have never even been here will snicker every time the name “Pattaya” is mentioned"

I wonder if it should be a pre-requisite for those who comment on Pattaya, that they should state where they live in Thailand (I doubt many do) and if they have any first hand and recent knowledge of Pattaya, plus if they ever did visit Pattaya they should state WHY they did so in the first place! Surely they did not all go to Pattaya to save the souls of bar girls?

I only suggest this as too many who comment seem to fall into the definition of 'Trolls' (loved this article on the attributes of a troll as it may well sum up a number of those that may be posting here where they can let their fingers do what their brains are possibly unable to acheive: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/internet-trolls-are-narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists).

You only have to look at the tourist numbers including families who come to Pattaya to appreciate that while it does have its seedy side (as does so many other cities in the Kingdom, along with almost every other major metropolises on the planet) Pattaya is not all about the sex industry