Kim celebrates his 45th year in a pub

The Landlord of Shenanigans Pattaya, not content with having been born in a pub (his mother was just letting a Guinness settle at the time), as well as having worked in pubs all his life, capped this all off by celebrating his birthday in a pub. Shenanigans naturally.

It looks as though the good doctor had to wake up Kim for his interview on the Pattaya Mail Channel

Many friends popped in for a quick pint and to pat the back of the by now “elder statesman” with some bearing suitable gifts, such as Fabian from Thai-Gerline Golf who presented Kim with a beautiful golf club with a large head, to help the Dream Teamer hit the ball occasionally.

Secretly, or perhaps not so secretly, Kim has always wanted to be a rock star

The Pattaya Mail’s Nite Beat crew gave Kim a beautifully wrapped (the paper cost more than the gift) box of Alpo dog biscuits to take home to Mott the Dog, while others gave him even less usable items! People such as Mike Franklin laid open the golfing soul of Kim, while Malcolm Clare just laid open Kim’s other soul - the dark one.

It was another fun evening at Shenanigans, and Kim will be able to look back on his 45th and remember about 33% of it. Happy Birthday, Kim.

Pattaya: Retrospective and Perspective

by Peter Cummins

Pattaya Mail Special Correspondent Peter Cummins is an expatriate domiciled in Bangkok and Pattaya since the early 1970s. He chooses the occasion of the Pattaya Mail’s recent eighth anniversary to look back at the once lovely seaside resort and examine some of the factors which, in just two short decades, turned the erstwhile beauty into a beast.

But now he observes a resurgence, a new pride and a determination of both the public and private sectors to undo the damage wreaked by years of uncontrolled development and its inevitable pejorative side effects.

As with any place, situation or event in our fast-moving world of instant communications, nothing remains the same. Certainly, Pattaya cannot revert to its sleepy fishing village image but, with the massive improvements currently being undertaken and planned, the resort is destined to become one of the world’s most coveted holiday destinations.

Pattaya then...

She was the Queen of Thailand’s East Coast - a sparkling, sun-drenched haven of unrivalled beauty. The pure, clear waters of the Gulf of Thailand lapped against the endless pristine beaches which were white ribbons separating the lush, green foliage from the azure waters of the Gulf, stretching westwards, dotted with emerald islands all the way across to the western shore, some 60 km away into the sunset.

Pattaya Beach in 1965. Photo by Sgt Dan Roe, USAF, ret.

She is called Pattaya, a variant of the Sanskrit word for the prevailing moist southwest wind which blows in from the Gulf, caressing the land from March until October, when the dry, cooler north-easterlies reign supreme.

The winds are still around, but the rest seems like a dream - those halcyon days of the 1950s and 1960s when Pattaya was an unspoiled - yea, even an almost unknown - place, some 150 km southeast of Bangkok, Thailand’s seething, frenetic and polluted capital city. Pattaya was a quiet, gentle seaside village of around 2,000 fisher-folk, some beach huts, a few sea-food stands and only one, lonely hotel.

The beach as it was in front of the Nipa Hut in 1965. Photo by Sgt Dan Roe, USAF, ret.

In the 1960s, it was always a joy to swim in and sail on the translucent sea of the Northern Gulf and Pattaya Bay. Underwater, one could see clearly for a little distance with the naked eye and see one’s own feet when standing in a metre of water. Although, as one acquaintance chided me at the time, “That doesn’t mean much; being very short, your feet are not that far away from your eyes!”

Life on the beach as it was in 1965. Photo by Sgt Dan Roe, USAF, ret.

Fast-forward to the 1990s: what has happened to the beauty of yore? In just three decades, Pattaya had become the target of uncontrolled development, mass tourism, crime, prostitution and the myriad evils which are concomitant therewith. The only way that one could see one’s feet underwater (if that had become a fetish, rather than a benchmark of pollution), was to use a swimming pool as the “viewing platform.”

The press and media have had a bonanza tearing the lady to pieces - inevitably for their OWN gain, rather than to perform a public service. The “five day” wonders flooded in, enjoying their expense accounts to the utmost and aiming their cameras at anything that moved - especially if it happened to be a shapely female gyrating in a go-go bar. This dreary army of hackers and news-hounds would then return to their own inhospitable, frigid climes (curious, most come to Pattaya to do their “research” during the Northern Hemisphere winter) to write first-hand “I was there” accounts for their media masters and the gullible reading public who pay for them.

Since Pattaya’s new wastewater treatment plant became operational, the waters are once again safe for swimming

Back in June, 1998, the Pattaya Mail featured a story titled, “Pattaya: is it too late or can we make a difference?” (Mail, Vol VI, #24, 12 June 1998). Paraphrased in the report were excerpts from various travel magazines, and it would be rather timely to reproduce some here, as a comparison to Pattaya:

“The increasing flood of visitors corrupts the local culture, encourages prostitution, strengthens the drug trade and erodes the environment. With uncontrolled expansion, however, tourism could end up in a trap, destroying exactly what it thrives on: clean beaches, attentive services and friendly people. Art and culture are replaced by cheap imitations.” Pattaya? No, Barbados, British West Indies.

“Along the extensive shorelines, monolithic concrete hotels, high-rises and condos are encroaching on pristine beachfronts and obstructing the view. Vast stretches of the coastline, far in excess of estimated demand, were zoned for tourism and development and controls were largely ignored. It is a total disaster.” Pattaya-Jomtien? No, Cyprus.

“The potential hazards of unplanned development are most apparent. Only two decades ago, this was a small picturesque village on the Eastern Seaboard. Today, little remains of the village except the temple which now overlooks a jumble of hotels, high-rises, condos and beer bars.” Pattaya? No, wrong again, Bali.

Pattaya now...

Has all this negative criticism been justified? Definitely NOT, chorused the contingent from the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) on its annual ‘pilgrimage’ recently to monitor developments at the resort. “There are so many evident signs of a resurgence that we (the foreign media) are able to feature positive stories about Pattaya... and thus counter reports of ‘crazy journalists’ spreading negative - and often unsubstantiated - articles about Pattaya,” said Philippe Decaux, president of the FCCT. “Pattaya now presents again the cleaner, smiling face for which the resort was once famous,” the FCC members concurred.

Sailing – one of the many sporting activities available in Pattaya. Photo Peter Cummins

David Garred, head of the physical fitness centre at the Dusit Resort, would be rather inclined to agree. “The Pattaya that I know is a great place,” David told the Mail last week. “Unfortunately some parts of the town are painted really rather poorly and well out of proportion in the outside press,” he added.

Yet, Pattaya today bears little resemblance to the former beauty queen. There are now some 350 hotels, guest houses and bungalows, offering almost 30,000 rooms, ranging from backpackers’ hostels, to such five-star hotels as the Royal Cliff Hotel and Beach Resort. There are an estimated 500 restaurants offering a range of cuisine from the proverbial “four corners of the globe”. There are upwards of 600 nightclubs and 2,000 bars – these latter, mostly open air. There are 10 kilometers of continuous beachfront, stretching from North Pattaya to South Jomtien.

Pattaya’s citizens have over the past few years become environmentally conscious, and often organise beach cleanups like this one

There is a registered population of 75,000 and an estimated 200,000 temporary, itinerant or otherwise unaccounted-for residents - also from the “four corners”. Many of these came as tourists - or, whatever – liked what they saw and simply ‘dug in’, using every means to avoid returning from whence they came. Perhaps it is this group which is now the best recommendation for a Pattaya rapidly being resurrected.

Having observed the metamorphosis of Pattaya over three decades and as a fervent advocate of the resort who, like legions of other expatriates, expects to live out life here, I am now observing, at first-hand, a resurgence. A closely monitored environmental and eco-friendly campaign has been initiated by the city fathers and is now filtering down through the infrastructure to penetrate all sectors of the fabric of Pattaya life.

The award-winning English-language newspaper of the Eastern Seaboard, the Pattaya Mail is constantly monitoring the changes and the onset of the new sense of pride and appreciation of the unlimited scope of what Pattaya now offers its citizens, its residents and its tourists alike.

Barbos Bar on Pattaya each circa 1965. Photo by Sgt. Dan Roe, USAF, ret.

Probably the most significant development has been the wastewater treatment plant which recently came on line and has already made considerable inroads into the once-deplorable condition of the Gulf water. David Holden, director of marketing and sales at the Royal Cliff Hotel and Beach Resort, is just one of the hoteliers who recognizes that, “Pattaya is well on the way to recovery.” David praised city hall, noting that, “the city fathers and government officials who had the foresight and courage to [push the investment] in the water treatment system will, one day, be regarded as visionaries.”

In fact, a number of recent local press stories report that, due to the installation and operation of the treatment plant, “Pattaya waters are now safe for swimming - for the first time in decades.”

Why Pattaya?

As one of the big contingent of expats living at the resort, to point out the advantages we have here would be worthy of a couple of clich้s: it is like bringing coals to Newcastle or, even worse, preaching to the converted!

But, some of the following is aimed at a larger-reading populace not based along the Eastern Seaboard and, who knows, some of these words of wisdom may help bring in some tourist dollars and sense! With the currency unit, the Thai Baht, exchanging for around 46 for one $US, 23 for one $A, 17 to the $NZ and 65 for the English pound; with air-fares and the cost of charter flights to the Kingdom highly competitive; with a range of excellent accommodation affordable for singles and families alike; with a superb warm and friendly ambience always in place; and, with an unlimited expanse of leisure, sporting, cultural and culinary activities year-round, the answer to “why Pattaya” must be another question: why not?

The latest project in Pattaya is the new tourist pier on Bali High Point

The incredible range and variety of food, restaurants and other culinary delights has been brilliantly covered over several years by the Mail’s dining, food and wine expert, Miss Terry Diner. His (Her?) erudite and witty weekly gourmet column has covered virtually every eatery in the Pattaya Jomtien area, from holes-in-the-walls to such five-star establishments as the Royal Cliff’s Benjarong and Bruno’s. Furthermore, for our mutual benefit, the Pattaya Mail will shortly publish an exhaustive guide to the hundreds of eateries compiled from Miss Terry’s individual sallies into all of them.

As the members of the Pattaya Sports Club and affiliated associations well known, there is an almost unlimited range of sporting and leisure activities, available every day, all year. Pursuits - both marine and land-based - are a brief walk away from your backpackers hostel or your five-star hotel: swimming, snorkelling, water-skiing, motor-boating, sailing, yacht-racing and cruising, parasailing, golf and driving ranges, tennis, bowling, snooker, darts, motorcycling, mountain-biking, go-karting and even sky-diving - are but a sampling of a daily diet of a healthy and invigorating lifestyle.

For the less energetic, there are long walks along the seafront, and then an inviting seaside deck chair to sit in with an ice cold beer and watch the colour of the daytime parade along the beach and out on the water, until the sun sinks, a great red fireball behind Larn Island, 10 km away to the west.

Take an evening stroll along the South Pattaya seaside strip, opened as a “Walking Street” from 19.00 until midnight. It is to enter a microcosm of the world-at-large. For the cost of a beer, one can sit at a roadside bar stool and watch this incredible passing parade - basically un-matched anywhere in the world.

There are so many places to visit within the environs of Pattaya and the contiguous Jomtien Beach areas. Nearby islands, such as Koh Larn and Koh Phi beckon, with just a one-to-two hour boat trip.

Go trekking on an elephant out of the Elephant Village. The children will adore watching the elephants play football! Go and watch the shows and walk in the tranquillity of the Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens. Visit the incredible Buddha image carved out of the sheer rock face of Khao Cheejun and the nearby ornate Chinese Temple, set in beautiful gardens and lakes. All these are just 20 minutes from Pattaya.

Pattaya is ours

As a long-time resident, I was commissioned by the Pattaya Mail to celebrate our eight years of publication with a few reminiscences and a look forward. It has been, basically, a “then and now” story on my beloved Pattaya - AND, I like what I see. I have always taken this lovely resort for granted and this assignment has awoken me to what is here. In fact, in preparing this feature, I must borrow from and distort a little, the famous Churchillian wartime rally to support the British Air Forces. I now see that Pattaya offers so much to so many, for such good value. And, in a short piece like this, I have just “scratched the surface.”

Yes, as the Antipodean countries are in the grip of winter and the Northern Hemisphere soon will be, Pattaya offers year-round warmth, joyful ambience and plain, unsophisticated fun.

There are probably more world-class convention centres per square km in Pattaya than anywhere else in the world. The seaside Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH), which opened just last year at the Royal Cliff Hotel and Beach Resort, with a capacity for 6,000 in theatre-style seating, has already received an “Excellent Service Award” from the Thailand Incentive and Convention Association. Just last month, PEACH was presented with the “Best Service Seminar Award” by the Vanuatu-based International Seminars Limited, in recognition of its world-standard services.

I went swimming recently in Pattaya and, yes, I could see my feet underwater - for the first time in decades.

Updated every Friday
Copyright 2001  Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]

Updated by Chinnaporn Sungwanlek, assisted by Boonsiri Suansuk.
E-Mail: [email protected]