Six Hours in the City of Sin

I went out with La Bubbles and Senora Amparo Munoz, as well as the cast of Gossip Girls TS, last Saturday. Because we went home late I opted to sleep at Bubbles' place, not far from the Silom gayborhood, where Senora Amparo also lives (well until yesterday when he was deported back to Las Islas Filipinas).

The girls woke up late on Sunday and the first agenda of the day, at least for Bubbles, was to flirt with the bagets cleaning his air-conditioning unit. Charrring! Well, the real agenda was to get lunch and I was supposed to go back to my riverside shack afterwards.

Anyway, out of the blue, Senora Amparo suggested we go to Pattaya for the day. In a heartbeat, Bubbles and I were up for the Senora's whimsical plan. So within an hour, we were on a two-hour bus ride to Pattaya.

It has been nearly three years ago since I visited Pattaya (see post here) and since then the place never had any appeal to me. Pattaya has a very seedy reputation, you know?

When we arrived there at about 4:30 in the afternoon, the beach was abuzz with weekenders. Since it is Pattaya, there is of course a fair share of gargantuan tourists of the old, balding kind spilling from the beach chairs. And of course the requisite tiny (and most probably) bar girl wrapped around their arms.

As sights like these are not our cup of tea, we went inside the massive Central Mall instead where we watched the sunset. From our seats outside KFC, Pattaya looked very calm and relaxing, a far departure from the debauchery that it is more known for.

An hour later Senora Amparo's friend from Las Islas Filipinas, the charming Miss Chiquita Bonanza, picked us up for some guided tour of Pattaya.We promenaded along the beach-side. The sun had barely set but there were already some ladies (and some ladyboys) lining the walk.

So the packaging de rigueur is black locks all the way to the waist, the tiniest denim shorts, and the most barely-there tank tops. Of course they were perched on their stilettos and a stick of cigarette was clipped between their fingers.

 

We reached Walking Street, perhaps Pattaya's epicenter of hedonism. Unfortunately, we arrived there a bit early, so the bars had just opened and there were hardly any clients.

I remember walking down the same street the last time in Pattaya. I was floored by how blatant sex was sold right there. There were even signs saying "this week many new girls". We were sort of spared of the usual circus in Pattaya this time though, thank god. Instead, we found grilled meat sold on push-carts.

 

From there, Miss Chiquita Bonanza drove us to a restaurant by the sea, quite far from the flashing lights of Pattaya. As mentioned, Senora Amparo was scheduled to go back to Las Islas Filipinas after conquering BKK these past two months, so we had a farewell dinner of sorts for him, which turned out to be a delightful feast of Pattaya's famous sea food.

In as much as we were curious to explore more of Pattaya, we had to go back to Bangkok that night, thus concluding our six-hour visit to the City of Sin.

The Neon Lights of Pattaya

Pattaya is world renowned as a prime destination for its legendary go-go bars and cabaret shows performed by kathoeys (as they call transsexuals in Thailand). Pattaya is trying hard to change its image as a sex paradise to a resort town, which might explain why our board meeting was held there last weekend.

A bit of history I caught in some brochure: the city’s white sand beaches, facing the mesmerizing emerald waters of the Gulf of Thailand, attracted American G.I.s during the Vietnam War who spent their precious R&R in the area. As in the case of Angeles City in the Philippines, prostitution tends to thrive in these types of places, which is no different from the case of Pattaya. Because of its proximity to Bangkok, Pattaya eventually gained a good reputation less for being a resort town and more of a place where one’s sexual fantasies can run wild.

On our first night, after the board meeting, we watched the Alcazar drag show. Hordes of tourists – mostly Koreans, Chinese, and Westerners – were waiting outside the venue, which looks like a large theatre. On that Friday evening, Alcazar had three shows (one hour each show), and judging by the overflowing crowd, it would be an understatement to call the show popular. We soon found ourselves inside the large theatre packed with tourists ready to watch the world-renowned show.

For the next hour we were treated to a dizzying parade of transsexuals donning feathers, overflowing cleavages, and towering legs. They were endlessly lip-synching to a good mix of of Korean, Thai, English, Indian, and Chinese songs, which speaks of the variety of their repertoire. I did not expect that though coz I thought it would be Western musicals galore and some Madonna and Mariah in drag. I was quite disappointed. Hehehehe. I think performing three times a night can take a toll on these “girls”. Some backup dancers looked bored under their feather headdresses.

The lavish sets were astounding though. As in haler, seryoso ang mga lola ko. Theatre kung theatre (how British ang spelling) ang drama! There were even moving ramps, dancers popping out from the floor, Chinese fighters flying in the air (a la Crouching Tiger), video walls, and huge copies of Italian sculptures.

My absolute favourite was the Dreamgirls part. I had an actual orgasm in the freaking theatre. Divine!!!

The next evening we were taken to one of the more popular streets in Pattaya where seafood restaurants sit side by side with go-go bars. It was a dizzying place full of girls standing outside the neon-lit bars advertising their shows inside. Until now I’m not sure how to make sense of the place really. The girls are sold like merchandise. It was sleaze central, a Disneyland for sex. I’m not sure how a city can cope with such a not so ideal image. Besides, Pattaya is a nightmare for its unregulated tourism. Like hotels are practically scrambling over every decent space in the area. Think Puerto Galera and multiply that a thousand times. Horrendous!