It’s funny when U.S. people go to Las Vegas and think they’re really breaking free and partying wild. I mean, it’s cool, and you can have fun, and there are certainly lots of bars and hot women everywhere, but what you don’t realize is that Las Vegas is a big show. It’s performance theater, and when you go, you’re a participating audience member like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, only that you paid a whole lot of money for that privilege. But not to disparage Vegas, but it’s all very orderly, choreographed, and rehearsed, even if it doesn’t appear like that.
Now, let’s make the transition from the craziest weekend in Las Vegas to even one lost night in Pattaya, Thailand (like the Hangover 2!). When it comes to partying like a tiger that’s just been let out of a cage, Pattaya in Thailand is the best spot in the world – or, at least none is better.
What to Know About Walking Street in Pattaya
While I can’t honestly say that Pattaya is completely chaotic and not a bit of an orchestrated performance itself these days in certain areas, the average boring night on a common street there is far more lewd (and fun!) than a wild weekend in Sin City. And the epicenter of Pattaya’s debauchery is definitely Walking Street for tourists.
So what’s so great about Walking Street? Just everything if you’re into a dance party neon sexual circus every night. Walking Street is set up just as that – a pedestrian thoroughfare at night, although during the day they do allow a few supply, garbage, and ice trucks through as well as moto drivers.
For about half a mile, on each side of the straight avenue sit establishments of ill repute – bars, beer bars, massage parlors, discos, and huge “strip” clubs. Populating al lof these places every night are thousands of hot Thai girls.
Within the madness, you’ll find something for everyone. There are clubs that specialize in Russian girls working only, or a few gay clubs around. You can also find clubs that offer shower shows, hot tub shows, foam shows, lesbo shows, and strange other peculiarities. I’m sure there are a few midgets kicking around, too.
But there are also great restaurants set up along Walking Street with food from all around the world, most of them with an open-air front so you can people watch the craziness on the street. There are quite a few sheesha at bars and restos, too.
Add in street performers like break dancing troupes, Chinese acrobats, pickpockets, touts, people trying to sell you Viagra and Cialis, and counterfeit iPhones; mix in to this stew of insanity folks in costumes, fall over drunk foreigners everywhere, and Muay Thai demonstrations; sit at a rotating bar or try your hand challenging these working girls at popular bar games like trying to pound a nail into a huge tree stump; to crowd the scene even more, drop in thousands of Chinese tourists –men and women – in tour groups wandering around snapping photos of everything.
You’re just starting to get a taste of the craziness of Walking Street, which will be open until about 7 am every morning, seven days a week! Have fun in Thailand – or just go to Vegas!
About Norm Schriever
Norm Schriever is a blogger, Amazon best-sellling author, cultural mad scientist, and enemy of the comfort zone. His work appears in the Huffington Post, Business.com, Good Morning America, The Anderson Cooper Show on CNN, NBC, MSN, Yahoo, Hotels.com, and media all around the world.
Norm grew up in Connecticut and graduated from the University of Connecticut, where he was never accused of overstudying. After expatriating to Costa Rica in 2011, he started traveling the world and documenting what he saw. He now lives in Southeast Asia, writing his heart out and working with local charities.
