Pattaya is the sleaze capital of Thailand - it's worse than a EU stag do destination: this is where old men retire to drink cheap beer and find a young Thai lady. Lots of shaved (or grey) heads, tatoos and sun burns. Oli had more hair than all the other men in Pattaya put together. Our street was awash with beer, pies and chips, all available from the Queen Vic, The Crown, The Fox and Hound, Holland House etc... No risk of finding any remotely Thai food unless you look really hard.
It felt like the result of the base desire and cash had had driven uncontrolled, rampant development for years. That said, the men were by no means all sleazy, the women are certainly not all prostitutes and Thailand seems a much nicer place to retire than rainy Europe. We met a guy on the bus who'd retired to Pattaya, met a Cambodian girl and they'd been married 4 years. He now has a farm in a tiny village in Northern Cambodia where he's the only white man who's ever been there, providing food for her and her family, avoiding the armed militia who want to rob them and enjoying a new chapter in his life. It's a very different relationship from the one he might have at home, but sleazy isn't the word for it. This is not the place for musings about why men leave the west and look for Asian women, or the rights and wrongs of rich foreigners arriving and using money to get what they want, or what will happen in the future as Thai men, Farangs and Thai women continue this strange lap dance.
For us though, Pattaya was about diving. We'd been recommended a place called Mermaids to do our Open Water certificate, and having checked into our hotel, we booked a three day course starting early the next day. They were brilliant. We can't recommend them enough. We were lucky enough to have one-on-one instruction on the dives, Chris and Michael constantly checked we understood everything, made sure we repeated the skills until we'd got them right, taught and re-assured us as we learned to breathe easy under water.
For anyone thinking about the course, here's how ours went:
Day 1: Classroom learning, watching PADI videos, doing some tests and learning and practicing skills in the swimming pool. A late finish as many people split this across two days.
Day 2: Out on the boat, two dives and more skills checks and practice. We saw a turtle!
Day 3: Final two dives, the hardest skills checks (like swimming 6m up breathing out and saying 'Ah' as you go, amazing how long one breath lasts!) Everything came together, and we both left feeling safe and confident in the water.
Exhausted from the diving, we stayed up till 4.30am watching the World Cup Final. We donned our orange tops and found a bar filled with Orange sirts on old Dutch men and surprise surprise no Dutch ladies, only to be part of the crushing disappointment of Spain's extra time goal. Time for a few hours sleep before the morning minibus to Bangkok.
The Atlanta hotel is an Bangkok institution and the complete antithesis to Pattaya. No "sex tourists" are allowed. It's a throwback to the 1930's, with it's film set lobby, oldest swimming pool in Thailand, jazz music and eccentric founder. Emma wanted to smoke cigarettes from long holders and wear a chic Audrey Hepburn outfit and write a novel at the antique writing desk.
The founder was clearly more than a little cantankerous, with hectoring notices setting out acceptable dress and behaviour, informing that prostitutes or illegal activities on the premises will result in the police being called without warning, as well as the newspapers in your home country being notified. One quote from Dr Henn on a coaster sums up his complaints policy: "What do you expect for the little you pay? Go to a luxury hotel and pay 20 times more if you don't like it here. Better still - go to hell!"
Not that we wanted to complain, we loved it! The atmosphere, the food, the hammocks by the pool - it was truly an escape to another time. <ost of it was perfectly maintained and that that wasn't was gloriously faded glamour. Outside the Atlanta, we enjoyed being back in a metropolis, complete with sky train and subway. There's little to tell of the troubles here just a few months ago, some blackened buildings to see and security bag checks everywhere. The best sight for us was Jim Thompson's house. Wonderful teak buildings combining European and Thai architecture, a great collection of Asian curios and lovely story of a man who fell in love with Thailand and re-developed the traditional Thai silk. We also enjoyed the Palace with the glittering Wat Phra Kaew next door, though some might say it was gaudy. The palace is rather dull - although the tickets are linked to Wat Phra Kaew so we had to go. The giant reclining buddha is big and golden, which is probably to be expected.
Other places to note, Cheap Charlies was a street side bar with character and your choice of local restaurant food (they deliver!).
