Pattaya's unfair reputation for crime
Pattaya's sex industry causes many problems
Since the first GIs arrived in Pattaya for some R&R during the Vietnam War, the resort has had a less than salubrious reputation. The girls, drugs and drinking have continued unabated until the present day, with more and more ‘troubled’ individuals coming to the town seeking a life of unbridled hedonism.
But this has its consequences, and of the 292 British deaths (the British being the highest proportion of Western visitors to the Kingdom) that occurred in Thailand last year, an inordinately large number took place in Pattaya.
This number does include natural deaths, and with the aging population of retiring expats this is somewhat to be expected. However, there are also around seven murders of British citizens in Thailand every year, and a much higher number of ‘fall suicides’ which one can read about in Pattaya expat newspapers almost daily.
On average, around 50 civilian UK nationals are murdered around the world each year (excluding terrorist attacks). This entails that more than 10 per cent of all murders of Britons outside the UK are committed in Thailand – a stunning figure considering that Thailand makes up less than one per cent of all foreign travel from UK shores.
Figures released by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) last year reveal that Thailand is also the third most common country to lose a passport, and tops the list for UK citizens arrested for drug offences. More on safety.
However, this last point could be putting the cart before the horse. Is it Thailand that is corrupting these otherwise innocent tourists? Are they all being fitted up by bribe-hungry corrupt police? Or could it be that the easy procurement of illegal substances simply attracts a certain kind of visitor to these shores?
Pattaya bar girl gets arrested
Of course, Pattaya is not the only place with a chequered history. In early 2006, a young British backpacker called Katherine Horton was raped and murdered on a deserted Koh Samui beach; and in the preceding 18-month period, a total of nine Britons were murdered across the country.
But there is plenty of anecdotal evidence in the local media to suggest – although getting precise statistics is somewhat troublesome – that more foreign visitors meet a violent death in Pattaya than anywhere else in Thailand. Tens of thousands of bar girls and prostitutes work in the brothels, beer bars, massage parlours and hotels of the city every day. Many of these are abused by their clients, families and fellow workers, and see the rich farang as implicit in this unhappy existence.
The doomed failure of foreigners’ relationships with Thai bar girls in Pattaya is a path so well-trodden that it has become a cliché – Rich white guy finds easy-going Thai temptress who turns into a money-grabbing monster once the hooks are in place. Thai people tend to prize a separate persona between their outward character and their hidden self. Maintaining jai yen (cool heart) in all situations is valued as the proper way to conduct oneself, and to reveal a jai rawn (hot heart) through anger, aggression or confrontational causes Thais to "lose face".
It is this that causes many foreigners who get into relationships with Thai people to become so undone, as they all later claim to have never really known the person they were dealing with in the first place. Suddenly the truth emerges like a slap in the face, as their true nature becomes horribly apparent. Of course, not every acrimonious split results in a bloody end. But the money-hungry atmosphere in places like Pattaya seems to place the stakes much higher. More on living in Pattaya.
And Pattaya remains the haunt of numerous international criminal gangs from Russia, the UK, Germany and China – as well as the swelling ranks of local hoodlums. Other than the drugging of tourists by ladyboys, occasional rapes by tuk-tuk drivers, randy Russians having sex on the beach, overdoses and endless leaping from balconies, there is one even greater threat.
The simple truth is that the most common cause of deaths of foreigner in Thailand involves a motorcycle accident. There are 38 deaths every day in Thailand due to two-wheeled mishaps, and care-free foreigners who are unsure on the road taking indulgence-heavy breaks form an alarmingly-high proportion of these.
Of the 15.8 million visitors to Thailand last year, a tiny percentage were the victims of crime. Of course there are bad apples, but Thai people are almost all friendly and engaging hosts and richly deserve their ‘Thai smile’ reputation.
So Pattaya, and Thailand generally, remains as safe as each visitors makes it themselves. The chance of being victim to a random act of violence is minimal, so those that take some self responsibility should be fine.
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