Koonel,

I just find it distasteful being surrounded by men in their 60s+ with girls one third of their age. Just not a good look IMHO and not the type of "tourist" that I want to meet and share experiences with.

I can look past some of this if I am in a place of natural beauty, but Pattaya is polluted and dirty.

Just not my idea of a tropical holiday. Just my opinion and I think the OP can learn something from both of our opinions and make his own decision.

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I love Thailand this much

Koonel,

Like Phuket, Pattaya is now completely off my radar for further visitations to Thailand. As Samuel Johnson once remarked "life is too short for continuous disappointments"

I have no problem with that. Many are just making up for a lifetime of disappointment.

I just find men, this age, acting like gap-year brats, annoying.

Koonel,

You are right about one thing! When staying at the Rabbit Resort in Jomtien I was accosted on the first morning by a guy leaning on a fence near the board walk adjacent to the beach.

As I approached him he asked me "you want girl" to which I vigorously shook my head. I continued my walk (it was 5.30 am) to the Seven-11 to get a copy of The Bankok Post.

On my return trip the guy was still loitering. As I approached he took something from his pocket which looked like a long sheet of paper. He said "no like girls eh? Have very sexy boys". I then glanced at what was dangling from his hand and saw about four dozen photos of young boys.

It was too much for me, I lost some of my cool, and told him to move away from me very quickly, in the vernacular if you get my drift.

The following morning he was there again but didn't approach me. When I mentioned this incident some days later to the American lady who runs the resort she told me that a single male walking along that strip of Jomtien in the early hours of morning - unaccompanied - signalled that he was after company -either female or male!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, lovely place Jomtien. Pity about the beach, pity about the pollution, pity about some of the Thai locals and the flotsam and jetsam of Western civilisation that is attracted to this most unattractive area of Thailand.

What a wonderful response, i agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments I had no idea what a maelstrom I created with what seemed a simple request for information on a place I had planned to visit, perhaps I was in part to blame by applying some social morale rather than concentrating on what a holiday is all about, that is enjoying the moment and all the things you mention. in your response.

Sorry not that familiar with the forum, but the response below was for Koonel's remarks. What a wonderful response, i agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments I had no idea what a maelstrom I created with what seemed a simple request for information on a place I had planned to visit, perhaps I was in part to blame by applying some social morale rather than concentrating on what a holiday is all about, that is enjoying the moment and all the things you mention. in your response.

Ten years ago is a long time ago. Visit again, stay in the Pattaya City area this time. See the improvements, become offended again and you are set for another 10 years! Once every 10 years is not a big deal - besides it is much, much cheaper than Phuket!

I have had pimps in London and Boston and other cities all over the world ask me if I wanted a girl just walking around the city at night. Big deal, I am a man I can take it! Didn't scare me off from visiting those cities again!

"I just find men, this age, acting like gap-year brats, annoying."

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Yeah, they should just be in rocking chairs on their porches just waiting for the Grim Reaper! Shame on those guys - why can't they just do nothing exciting at all and roll over and die like other old farts! By the way, there are many women who visit Phuket and Bali and not just for the beaches too!

Is your wife proofreading your post? Absolutely! (Wink-wink, nod-nod!)

Just wanted to make something clear.

I am not making judgement on older guys with younger girls, to each his own, but as I said, when I travel I like to spend time meeting and talking with other like minded tourists. It seemed that most of the tourists in Pattaya, were not of a similar mindset to me. Well not yet anyway.

Koonel, NO my wife does not visit this forum. We actually enjoy visiting beer bars in other areas in Thailand, but the ones we went to in Pattaya seemed far more "business like" even compared to the ones in Patong.

My feeling was that in Pattaya, everything else around it seems to exsist to support the sex industry unlike other areas where it seems to be a seperate part on the landscape. It is just SO MUCH MORE prodigous there than other parts of Thailand. Can you at least conceed that?

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I love Thailand this much