Quick Trip Around The Block Part 2 – Pattaya (19 – 22 April)
19 April (Friday)
Took another quick trip this past weekend to Pattaya from Singapore to experience Songkran. Arrived in Bangkok around 5 PM and grabbed an AOT taxi to the condo I was renting in Central Pattaya. Usually a 90 minute drive but when the driver reached the left turn to get onto Pattaya Klang it was a 90 minute drive from there to Central Pattaya, about 5 km. I did think ahead and packed only a backpack, putting my clothes and valuables in a garbage bag to make it waterproof, and ended up getting out of the taxi and grabbing a motorcye the rest of the way. Still took me 20 minutes and by the time I go to the condo, I was drenched and muddied. Changed clothes and walked over to Beach Road for the festivities. Unbeknownst to me, as I thought Songkran was going from the 19th – 21st, I found that my dates were off and I was a bit late. I caught the last 3 – 4 hours of fun. For those that have never experienced Songkran in Pattaya (this is my 4th or 5th time) I suggest you go. I’m not sure there is anything better than being surrounded by beautiful Thai woman in all kind of dress soaking wet from head-to-toe. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it down to Soi 6, which in my opinion is the best place to hang out during Songkran but I still had a great time. No real issues except a few pushing matches by foreigners that were quelled quickly. I did read that tons of tourists got robbed by the Thai gangs operating in the area (money, passports, wallets, etc.). Got to Walking Street and the chaos continued. I was starving as I haven’t eaten yet and found that I-Bar opened a restaurant next door, food was decent and reasonable. I didn’t venture into any bars, but some were open with plastic covering the door ways. I ended up walking around a bit more, enjoying the view and the excitement of the event and headed home for the night.
20 April (Saturday).
Did some mundane things the next day, breakfast, massage (no happy ending), got my nails cut (self-love), went to Central Mall and bummed around. Later in the evening, with Stickman’s column in mind, I headed out around 9 PM to Walking Street. The following reviews / thoughts are my own, understanding that some might not agree or think this bar is better than that one, but I hope this gives a bit of insight to how things are going.
[910 PM] Pin Up: Decent number of girls on stage, probably around 40. Girls mostly doing the Thai bored shuffle. There was a split in lookers and non-lookers, most were in bikinis. Ignored me all together, 90% of the customers were Asian.
[930 PM] Peppermint: About 10 girls on stage, some topless, some not. Girls themselves had a bit more energy, dancing away. Crowd was mostly MAWMs (Middle-aged White Males), but wasn’t very crowded. Happy hour ended right after I ordered so it goes till at least 930 PM. It didn’t have many lookers so I left shortly after.
[950 PM] Baccara: Similar to Pin Up, mostly Asian customers. When I sat down, I swear one of the girls was white (Russian maybe) but I was told she was Thai. I’m not sure though. Pretty face but looked like she breast fed a few kids before. Girls on stage were decent, I would give it a 50/50 rating, some lovely, some not so much.
[1020 PM] Moon: I was 1 of 5 customers in this place. Girls were very outgoing and fun. Even had a few real lookers here. Bought a drink or 3 here. Decent place to get some attention if you’re a white male.
[1048 PM] Sensations: Mix crowd of Asians and Indians, club was maybe half-full. Another 50/50 rating in terms of girls looks.
[1106 PM] Iron: Asians were the predominant customer here. Variety of dressed girls. A few diamonds in the rough. Probably around 70 – 75% capacity.
[1120 PM] XS: I see why this go-go is #1 in Pattaya. 90% capacity, 85% Asian. Asian customers were spending like crazy here. Very little chance to be noticed as a white male unless you’re also willing to drop some serious baht. When I checked this place out I had Billboards in mind for comparison, I definitely would give XS the nod for Pattaya but for overall best go-go in Thailand it has to be Billboard.
[1151 PM] Sky Lounge: My last go-go. This place had a solid line up and would say the majority of the girls looked good. Surprisingly mostly white farangs in this place so I got a lot of attention and ended up staying for a while talking to a few young ladies.
[1230am – 2am] As you can imagine, by this time I was pretty liquored up. Went to Candy Shop to do a few laps to check out the free-lancers and listen to the band, had a few more drinks and ended up in 808 upstairs. Walked around for a while and headed home.
Altogether a decent night. I feel the free-lance scene has changed on Walking Street a bit. Didn’t seem there was a lot of girls looking, maybe they just weren’t looking for me. I was once a Bangkok only fan back in the late 90s but since 2007 I switched to Pattaya. After this trip I am once again leaning towards Bangkok for a better place to have fun.
21 April (Sunday). Again, didn’t do anything exciting enough to write about and just relaxed most of the day.
22 April (Monday) I had an early flight to Singapore and when I landed, I went straight to work for the remainder of the day. Note: Bangkok Airport started using the automatic immigration machines for foreign passengers, quicker line. Unfortunately, I think there is still a few bugs being worked out as 50% of the people using it had to go into the regular immigration lines after it failed to read their passports.
Take care –
Jon
Next Trip: Bangkok, Phuket, or Bali. I haven’t decided yet, but it will be at the end of May.
