Exploring Pataya Beach

I was never fond of going to beaches. In Pakistan, where you can find hundreds of people on weekends walking on the beach in full dress, I would never remove my shoes or get my feet muddy without a reason.

Pataya Beach in Thailand was a different game, and I had an image in my mind of a nice beach, full of people swimming and sunbathing; I had heard a lot about this place. However, when we landed at the beach, there were hardly any people on the beach itself. The guide informed us that the real life in Pataya starts at night, which made us inquisitive as to what type of a life would take place on a beach at night. But before it was even dark, we came to know what the life was like: the action was not on the beach itself but rather in the center of the town on a road called the “walking street” where, as implied the name, you could only walk, no vehicles allowed. The whole street was illuminated like daylight, and there were hundreds of prostitutes standing in middle of the road looking for customers; more could be seen sitting with the tourists in roadside bars, making money from the tourists as well as a commission from the bars. There was no age barrier for the couples, men in their late seventies were roaming with the girls in their teens.