Pattaya, a haven for men who thought romance began with “How much is it?” and ended with the glittering idea of a cheap flight to the sun.
Welcome to the playground of sex tourists who believe they have hit the jackpot in this country, not with a pot of gold, but with a pot of illusions. Love is for sale here, but without the complicated accessories of loyalty, respect or any form of mutual interest. Because why would you? After all, it is only about one thing.
It’s almost tragicomic. These men, the lost souls, the escaped house husbands, the eternal bachelors with their bald spots and beer bellies, think they’ve found some kind of heaven on earth here. Because nothing says romance like a neon-lit bar, a slightly too-big shirt over a sunburned shoulder and a glass of Singha that they raise just a little too loudly. And then there are the ladies of the night, the women who fit into the Pattaya decor like plants in a plastic garden. For a thousand baht you can imagine yourself king for a moment, not of a kingdom, but of a fantasy that is even thinner than the plastic straw in their cocktail.
The idea that “love” is found here is itself a joke that should echo through the walls of the city. Because let’s face it, no one comes here for deep connections, intellectual conversations, or to find a soulmate. They want a package deal: fun without the strings attached, company without the awkward questions, and a woman who laughs at their jokes without realizing that the only truly funny thing about the situation is their illusion of control.
Pattaya is a theatre, a neon-lit stage, where sex tourism shamelessly parades as the latest adventure for the man who thinks he’s seen it all. Here, norms and values are left at home and replaced by a cheap bottle of gin and a handful of currency. Because nothing screams self-assurance like paying for a woman who pretends to like you. And that’s perhaps the best part: these men see themselves as indispensable heroes in their own tropical story, while the women merely play a part in the endless series of their lonely, purchased nights.
And the irony? The men who think they can escape their rut here, their empty marriages, their day jobs, are the ones who have trapped themselves the most. They are trapped in an illusion of cheap love, a shadow play that leads them back to the very same emptiness they thought they were escaping. Pattaya, the city of smiles, but who laughs the loudest here? The women who sell them their dreams without feeling guilty, knowing that they will always go and someone else will come? Or the men who keep telling themselves that they really find something here, while they do not realize that they have already paid the real price?
Pattaya is not paradise; it is a hall of mirrors where every smile has a price tag and every look is a calculation. And who are we to take that dream away?
About this blogger
- The Expat (66) has been living in Pattaya for 17 years and enjoys every day in the land of milk and honey! Previously employed in road and hydraulic engineering, but fled the capricious weather in the Netherlands. Lives here with his Thai girlfriend and two dogs just outside Pattaya, a 3-minute walk from the beach. Hobbies: enjoying life, going out, sports and philosophizing with friends about football, Formula 1 and politics.
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You should go to Pattaya to enjoy yourself, nothing more or less. No emotions, no commitments, no promises, only superficialities and rent everything. Stay businesslike and keep your feet on the ground. But I think most men with some Pattaya experience have realized that for a long time.
Because that Expat writes interesting columns!! With a laugh and a tear!! I hope he will write many more columns here!
What I once told an Augsburger: Pattaya = COMMERCIAL service. And what service is (often) provided? Renting a “wife”, for a day, a week, or longer. Here there are ladies as honest as 24 carat gold or as dishonest as radioactive rat poison and everything in between.
He got his dream woman from there in 1994. And I still miss Suthida (Oy) Thippibool, 15 Feb 1965, from Udon Thani.