Dodgers Trip Report

[Manforallseasons]

In my opinion, your friends are right and Francois and arsenal are wrong. Don't bother with Pattaya. Visit Bangkok, Chaing Mai and Phuket for more fun.

I don't think anyone is right or wrong, it is all a matter of personal preference, I like Pattaya, enjoy BKK for no more than 3 days at a time, used to like Chaing Mai till gay scene fizzeled out, been to Phuket 1 time would not return....Up 2 U, Up 2 Me.

[arsenal]

Minimee wrote:
"In my opinion, your friends are right and Francois and arsenal are wrong. Don't bother with Pattaya. Visit Bangkok, Chaing Mai and Phuket for more fun."

I haven't been to Bangkok for over a decade but I've always found it rather tiresome and my one visit to Chaing Mai was so long ago that I can't remember anything about the place. Phuket has quite limited nightlife but is wonderful to ride around on a motorbike. For me Pattaya has everything I want in buckets. However Sglad is only 24 so he can probably find all the fun he wants anywhere.

[francois]

In my opinion, your friends are right and Francois and arsenal are wrong. Don't bother with Pattaya. Visit Bangkok, Chaing Mai and Phuket for more fun.

Chiang Mai and Phuket fun? If I were a 24 yo student, again, I wouldn't miss the chance to visit Pattaya for some real fun. Bangkok too expensive.

[sglad]

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. I hope I have derailed Dodger's thread in a positive way.

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer as to whether I should visit Pattaya. If I were to go, it'd be for three nights max and the worst that could happen is that I'd hate it and never visit again or I'd like it and go often or like most places I'd find it to be a mixed bag of goods. I'm well aware of Pattaya's reputation and like most visitors to the city will be going there to visit the temples. I'm not sure but I think some Thai people can get very defensive about Pattaya even though they haven't visited it themselves. In that same vein, I have expressed interest to Thai friends from Isaan in visiting Udon, Nong Khai and Khon Khaen but they would rather lead the way to the latest steel and glass malls of Bangkok. Nothing could interest me less as I come from a city of shopping malls and we have some of the best in the world. But that's for another discussion.

[sglad]

Air Asia flies to Pattaya from Chiang Mai for less than 1,500Bt one way if booked well in advance. That's really cheap.

[francois]

I'm well aware of Pattaya's reputation and like most visitors to the city will be going there to visit the temples.

Good for you, there are many temples of love for you to visit.

[Dodger]

I like Phuket, Chiang Mai and Bangkok for short visits but Pattaya has always been where it's happening for me. One of the reasons I chose Bang Saray as my retirement home is because it is a short 30 minute motorbike ride around the bay to Pattaya, and Utapao Airport (which is 15 minutes from my place) provides low cost direct flights to Phuket and Chiang Mai when I feel the urge for a short trip.

The traffic alone in Bangkok is enough to keep my visits short, Phuket has too many tourists and too expensive for long-term living and Pattaya has imploded with a gay scene that's dwindling at the speed-of-light. Before my priorities were always centered on "Where the Boys are"...but since they've all relocated to cyber space all you need is a smart phone and a few cruising apps to find them.

[arsenal]

sglad wrote:
"Air Asia flies to Pattaya from Chiang Mai for less than 1,500Bt one way if booked well in advance. That's really cheap."

That's cheaper than the Pattaya-Hua Hin ferry of misery.

[fountainhall]

I'm well aware of Pattaya's reputation and like most visitors to the city will be going there to visit the temples. I'm not sure but I think some Thai people can get very defensive about Pattaya even though they haven't visited it themselves

Pattaya has LOTS of temples – as well as lousy traffic, too many tourists and a poor beach. Sure, there is plenty of sex and sin, and I have nothing against the sex part. But is there much that is different from that offered in Adam's Apple in Chiang Mai - apart from volume and, in my limited experience, from the frolicking at Eros and the fact the boys are more Thai (or Cambodian and Vietnamese down Jomtien way) than from Myanmar? Mind you, would a 24 yo student be that interested in a bunch of lads not much younger than himself offering themselves to an audience made up almost exclusively of men considerably over double his age – and increasingly Chinese? I'm not sure what the discos are like in Pattaya but I can't believe they are more interesting for a young guy than those around Thonglor and elsewhere in Bangkok. IMHO Pattaya is a place where older guys feel more at home. I have had young gay friends from Taipei visiting Bangkok this week-end and the go-go bars and discos were the last places they wanted to visit!

It’s a pity sglad will not be here during the summer when there is so much of the more traditional Thailand to see, as for example the Candle Festival in Ubon Ratchanthani –

Ubon_Candle_Festival9.jpg

- and the country’s main Ghost Festival in Dansai in Loei Province -

Dansai_Ghost_Festival4.jpg

- or later in the year the loveliest Thai Festival of Loi Krathong.

[sglad]

I hear you fountainhall and thanks for the suggestions of alternative places to visit and the gorgeous pics. Loei is definitely on the cards (class trip) as well as Pai (with friends) and Chiang Rai (with family). As for Pattaya it's all tentative at the moment and I have no concrete plans to visit. I might, I might not. All I'm saying is that I wouldn't automatically write it off without seeing it myself and it's small enough to cover in a couple of days. My classmates and I went to a couple of the go-go bars in Patpong last year and it was fun/sexy/shocking/crowded/expensive - at least now I can say that I've been there, done that! Yeah there were a lot of mainland Chinese customers (I'm Chinese) but I don't remember them being particularly old - 20s and 30s maybe? Even if there were older customers it wouldn't have made a difference to me as I was there to see the shows and have fun as were they. I'm going to be in Thailand for at least four months and there's room for a bit of everything including sleaze!

Good night.