 Pattaya beer bars along the waterfront Pattaya (Thai พัทยา) is a city of 95,000 habitants (2004) in Thailand, located on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165km southeast of Bangkok in the province of Chonburi. It is one of the biggest centers of tourism in Thailand, with some 1.5 million visitors in 2003.
History
Originally Pattaya was a small fishing village until the rich of Bangkok discovered it as a beach resort in the 1960s. Not much later, American soldiers from the air force base U Ta Pao in the Rayong province began to use the area for "Rest and Recreation" (R&R). The city grew quickly, mostly due to go-go bars and other nightlife. When the Americans left after the end of the Vietnam war the city fell into crisis, but with the rise of mass tourism especially from Europe the tourism buisiness grew again. In 2001 more than 24,000 hotel rooms were available in Pattaya. Even though sex tourism is still quite prominent, the city has recently attempted to present a family friendly image and all-inclusive tourism now makes up the bigger part of tourism.
Administration
The excess tourism business gave Pattaya many unique problems such as water pollution, child prostitution and so on. These were out of the central governments's ability to handle. Thus, in 1976, the Pattaya City Act passed the parliament, and Pattaya became a self-administrating municipality governed by a Council-manager government. However this administration system has some problems such as that the mayor may disagree with the city manager, so critics have suggested to abolish the system.
Crime
Pattaya's sex tourism gives rise to some criminal and mafia activities. The local newspapers announced in June 2004 that the current police chief intended to crack down on all mafia activities, including the extortion of protection money from taxi drivers.
In 1996, a six-member gang was arrested for repeatedly robbing tourists that had been drugged by prostitutes. Some of the tourists died. The police investigated some 150 suspicious deaths of male tourists that occurred in Pattaya hotels from 1994 to 1996.
In 2004, a British national with connections to organized crime was killed in Pattaya, and another British national was arrested as a suspect. This gave rise to worries that the area might serve as a hideaway place for foreign criminals.
Transportation and sights
Pattaya can be reached by aircon coach from Ekamai Bus terminal (Ekamai Skytrain Station) for 90 Baht, from Morchit bus terminal or directly from Bangkok's International Don Muang Airport. The ride is about 2.5 hours and is available every 30 minutes from 06:00 till 23:00. Buses back to Bangkok leave until 20:00. Advance reservation is not necessary. Taxis from Bangkok will often agree to take passengers to Pattaya for a negotiated price of around 1200 Baht. There is also daily rail service, and a number of companies offer inexpensive door-to-door transport via shared minibus or vans.
Within Pattaya pick-up trucks known as songtaew (or alternatively baht busses) serve as the public transportation system. The songtaew drive on several routes throughout the city. On set routes along Beach road and second road area the official price is 5 baht. Foreigners are typically advised to pay 10 baht within town; dual pricing of this sort is not uncommon in Thailand, although some foreigners do choose to pay only the official fare, and it is not clear whether this will sometimes result in difficulties with the driver.
For longer distances the price is 10 baht or 15 baht to go from the centre of town to Jomtien or Naklua. These fares apply only to songtaew operating as bus, which are hailed when moving along set routes. A stopped songtaew will expect passengers to be hiring it as a taxi, with negotiated rates. This can be desireable for expediency, and is necessary for destinations that are not served by the official routes. Taxi fare is negotiated with the driver; this should be within the bounds set by the Pattaya city administration, although drivers sometimes attempt to ask for more. A white and red sticker should be in every songtaew with maximum prices for negotiated fares.
Its entertainment offerings are wide ranged, from the about 4 km long beach and its watersport activities,
over golf, kart racing, shooting, cabaret shows, shopping, elephant riding, and
a close-by country-park to the Phra Tamnak heights. The area in and around Walking Street is home to a majority of the nightlife, which is very much focused on gogo and outdoor beer bars.
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