Feb 11, 2004 -- Pattaya, Thailand... Sex in the City. Billed both as an "International Resort Destination" (restaurant menus in Thai, German, Russian, Greek..., plethora of choices, shops, sports, bars... everything) and the sleeze capital of the world ("You want lady?", STD clinics, "Viagra! Erectile Disfunction specialists!", "No Child Sex!" posters, prostitutes, transvestites, tranvestite prostitutes...) Pattaya seems to have a bit of identity crisis. Tourism authorities are trying to redefine it as a family resort (it has a way to go) -- but money interests favor keeping it largely the way it is -- and money talks especially loudly here.

The closest "resort city" to Bangkok, it is extremely easy, and cheap (by Western standards) to get here, and also inexpensive (again, relatively) to stay. It seems to attract some of the stranger tourists we've seen in our travels, like they came here after the Vietnam war (Pattaya got its start as an "R&R" (rest & recreation) center) and never left. It is full of Germans, Brits & Aussies, plus an apparent community of Arabs (sections of South Pattaya are labeled in Arabic), and the aforementioned Russians and

There's also a fairly large gay section to South Pattaya (Pattaya is split up sort of into North, Central and South, even though it isn't that big), and we're staying right smack in the middle of it -- an area called, appropriately, "Boyztown". Why here? You could say it's the whole reason we're in Pattaya -- Pattaya isn't a place either of us would go out of our way to get to:

Peter & Vincent, a wonderful gay couple we met on our last cruise (they live in Vancouver, BC and Scott may end up renting their apartment if he goes to Culinary Arts school there this spring) are, as we write, on the Cunard QE II "World Cruise", headed for Laem Chabang, a port city about 25km north of here. We "negotiated" with them about their coming up to Bangkok to meet us there, but they decided (wisely, I think) to come down to Pattaya to check out the entertainment -- their time in port is limited (they arrive tomorrow at 8:00am and depart the next day at 7pm). Peter recommended the hotel we're at (Le Cafe Royale). We checked it out on the internet -- "way Gay but OK". Kathy was a little concerned that "her kind", err, gender, might be disconcerting to the other customers, so we sent the hotel an email with out tentative reservation and received a prompt and quite affirmative reply: "Thank you for the consideration but there will be no problems whatsoever. Our staff will be more than happy and our other guests will accept you without any problem whatsoever." With that, we hired a taxi to drive is from Hua Hin to Pattaya (about 5 1/2 hours; about $50 + tip) and... voila'! we're in Boyztown.

Kathy seemed a bit "off balance" at first. After Scott pointed out that a girl probably could not be in a safer place, and that she would be surrounded by hot young Thai boys in very short pants... she relaxed, and now kind of likes the place. Scott is worrying about the competition, though. "What have they got that I haven't got?" he thinks. Youth. Hair. Twenty-eight inch waists.

We went to a couple of local shows, one sort of "skinny-boys-doing-acrobatics-underwater"; one drag show. Both pretty tame. Kathy scoped out the boys, while the boys scoped out Scott. Kind of surreal. We also had dinner nearby and the Proprietor, had recommended these shows and said "You know, probably 80% of the "Bar Boys" are straight -- they'll be the ones checking you (Kathy) out when you come in". And so it was. "Workin' Nine to Five (that's 9pm to 5am" -- what a way to make a livin'" --with apologies to Dolly Parton.

Last night (Thursday, if you're keeping score) we stayed up way past our middle-aged bedtimes, to take in a Drag Show that started at 12:30 in the morning (so OK, I suppose it was actually Friday if you're really keeping score). The show part was really fun -- song-and-dance routines with hunky men and quite attractive transvestites (i.e. these are "all boy" shows, but some of the boys are more ladylike than others. Not to disparage the female sex, but in Scott's experience [which is "look, don't touch, by the way], if a girl looks perfect -- s/he's probably a guy. Bodies just don't turn out that svelte without help.

It is hot here -- mid 90s with humidity that just clings in the air. Going out "into the noon day sun" is pretty taxing, so we've tried to limit our outdoor activities to "gentler" times of the day/night. That having been said, Scott went out walking around noon today for about 3 hours. Go figure.

Visiting with Peter & Vincent

We connect with Peter and Vincent around 11am (we're just having breakfast, having been up till 2am the previous night) at the cafe just outside our hotel (the hotel is called Le Cafe Royale, after all...). Peter's got definite ideas about how to spend their limited time: he wants to visit local gardens ("Nong Nooch") and a professional drag show at a venue called "Alcazar". Scott's not so keen on the garden visit but would like to enjoy the show. This complicates the day a bit but gives Scott another opportunity to bake his brain the sun -- and take care of the logistics for Pitsanulok, our destination for Friday afternoon when we leave Pattaya.

Kathy, P & V enjoy the gardens, and we rendezvous at Alcazar. Its an elaborate and very well done show; sort of Broadway-meets-Thailand with transvestites, and worth the $15 or so the tickets cost.

Photo highlights (some "point" to larger versions):

Kathy poses by Chez Nous, Le Cafe Royale

Scott's a pushover for a good sunset

Business Transaction in progress

Representative Tourist, alas

Some good looking boys....really

Next: Pitsanulok & Sukothai
Also: An Evening around the Commercial Sex Trade