The Walking Street of Pattaya is like the “Amsterdam of Asia.” It’s tagged the “World’s Sex Capital,” yet it’s also a family resort destination. There are a wide variety of things to do for everyone at this destination. This bustling city electrifies the Gulf of Thailand with its Beach Road, as the main artery from which this city’s heart beats.
The Walking Street Lights Up at Dusk
At dusk, on the oceanside of Beach Road, young Thai women line up. They stand about every 8 feet to wait, with obvious intentions. Many dress the part, looking stereotypically promiscuous, however, some are in their sweats or jeans looking grumpy. Most people walk by not paying much attention, like they are just regular beach gals. Some men chat it up, making their prospects. It all blends in with the culture here, like a Thai Restaurant or massage parlor. As you walk to the end of the Beach Road, you reach the Walking Street, an erotic, circus-like pedestrian street with no cars.
Surreal Nights on the Walking Street of Pattaya
A large part of Thailand’s tourist economy includes the sex tourism and thousands of these sex workers are in Pattaya. Like Amsterdam, Pattaya has its analogy of the Red-Light District, flamboyantly played out on the Walking Street. Walking through this at night is surreal among a cacophony of neon lights, dancing girls, gogo bars, massage parlors, loud music thumping in your chest, ping-pong shows, street performances, boxing, cabarets, and erotic show solicitors. Sure, all of this is surreal enough.
But what struck me the most about all of this, was the families that show up to walk the street. To see a 4-year-old on her dad’s shoulders, watching a woman in lingerie dancing in a glass cage struck me as a bit unusual. But who am I to judge? I never had any children of my own and each family and culture has its own set of values.
For perspective, I walk this street a couple times and marvel at all the people watching opportunities…at the skeleton man on stilts, the polar bear in the ice bar, the Turkish ice cream server dancing with his customers, dancing Russian Girls, Mandarin Girls in their colorful, silk shirts, pole dancing, brothels, and a woman in lingerie dangling from pink nets doing erotic, circus-like acrobatics midair beside a woman dancing in a glass cage. I was most impressed with the woman doing aerial acrobatics, as she was very good.
Truth Stranger than Fiction
It is in Pattaya that I learn from others, that all those things heard about women and ping pong balls is true. Friends of mine saw the shows, conveying those women inserted numerous balls in their vaginas and even paraphernalia like blades. I didn’t see this, so I will spare details, but can only assume they have protective devices inserted to protect themselves from sharp objects. Truth can be stranger than fiction. I could have never made this up.
It is said in Thailand: “Good guys go to heaven. Bad guys go to Pattaya.” I witnessed many random couples in town with wider age gaps than usual. It’s common to see a man in his 70’s with a petite, Thai woman in her 20’s together as a couple out and about town. The biggest issue from this community is that it’s a cesspool for illegal activities, such as, prostitution, drugs, trafficking, sexually transmitted diseases and female exploitation.
In Pattaya, there is a massage parlor on each block. As it is widely known, “Happy Endings” are offered at many of these sites throughout Thailand and unacknowledged by authorities. I received a very therapeutic, professional 2-hour Thai massage at Let’s Relax Spa on Beach Road for just $30. My “Happy Ending” in Pattaya was always the food, either green curry chicken or pad thai. More, more, more I love you!!
Overall…
I intend to convey compassion for the female prostitutes in Pattaya, not pious judgement. My aim is to question the objectification of women and how this environment supports it. Many of these women come from impoverished Northeast Thailand, seeking prostitution as a way out of poverty. I can’t imagine that many of these women deep in their hearts truly want to be doing this exploitative work.
What does all of this say about women prostitutes in Pattaya? Why is it just women (or men dressing as women) exploiting themselves here? I leave with questions, knowing none of this is going to change anytime soon and an eerie feeling, that if I returned in 10 years, it would be a surreal deja vu into the same neon void.
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