A panoramic view of the nightlife in Pattaya, Thailand's red light district and prices

Pattaya, Thailand, not only has sunshine, beaches, beautiful scenery and delicious food, but also has a very rich nightlife. It has always been known as the largest red-light district in Asia. A city that never sleeps with more than 10,000 bars and restaurants, how many mysteries are waiting for 12 million tourists when night falls and the lights come on? There have always been few articles on this topic, and they are not comprehensive. As a Thai real estate professional who has lived in Pattaya for a long time, I can describe to you a comprehensive and objective "paradise for men in the world".

Regarding the scope of the red-light district, there are two areas, narrow and broad. Pattaya Walking Street is the narrow red-light district, and the "central area" of Pattaya on the map is the broad red-light district, among which the narrow rectangular area enclosed by Beach Road 1 and 2 is the most concentrated.

Regarding the scale of the red-light district, there are 30 alleys in the broad red-light district, with thousands of bars scattered around. Each bar has an average of more than 20 hostesses, male dancers and transvestites, plus various strippers and streetwalkers. The number of people working in the sex industry in Pattaya is more than 50,000! In terms of this number, it should be the first in the world at present. In the past, it was the second in the world. Where was the first? Well, you know.



There are several forms of pornography in the red-light district. First, there are self-employed streetwalkers, which are divided into two types: long-term rental and short-term rental. Beach Road 1 is 6 kilometers long. Every night, it will be full of long-term rental streetwalkers, basically one every few meters. These are the most popular "rental wife" markets for European and American men. European and American men land in Pattaya and do three things: rent a house, rent a car, and rent a wife. These "wives" generally come from the poorest areas of Thailand. They are older, generally over 30 years old. According to Chinese aesthetics, they are not very beautiful, short and dark-skinned, but Western men like them very much. They are called "black pearls." Western women are all "big white", so small and exquisite black pearls are rare and expensive. The price of long-term rental women is about 10,000-15,000 baht/month, which is RMB 2,000-2,800. They generally know basic English and can accompany them 24 hours a day, acting as tour guides, nannies (this is very important for Western elderly people), and wives. You should know that it costs at least 2,000 euros to find a nanny who works for 8 hours in Europe. For single retirees, this is basically the entire pension and is completely unaffordable. These white "employers" are also very interesting. They treat their rented wives very well. Each lease period is a few months or a year. They will find the same person next time they come to Thailand. After they develop feelings, they may have children together and then really marry them home. If you go to Europe, you can often see a tall old man holding a "black pearl" who is only half his height and half his age. Most of these long-term rental women also hope to marry Europeans to change the fate of themselves and their children. They know that their looks will not be favored by Asian men, and they will not solicit business from passing Asian faces.



Short-term girlfriends (wives) mainly stand on the narrow red-light district pedestrian street. They are generally Thai-American or Thai-European (by the way, they are the descendants of the previous generation of long-term rental girls). They are very beautiful, and the appearance of Anglebaby is everywhere (this kind of beautiful is generally the second generation of mixed, and why the first generation is not as beautiful as the second generation, this can be opened in another article, haha). The price of short-term rental girls is relatively high, generally 3,000 baht/night, which is more than 500 yuan. Of course, this cost-effectiveness is the highest in the world, but it is higher than that of long-term rental girls. Their target customers are Asian male tourists, mainly from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. These East Asian men are deeply influenced by Confucian culture and implement the concept of "first mess, then abandon", so they are particularly suitable for short-term rental girls who change every night, which fully illustrates the theory that the market determines supply, um. But it should be noted that if you want to bring these short-term rental girls back to the hotel, the more advanced 5-star hotels need to add room fees and register the girls' IDs. It is said that this is for the safety of customers' property. After all, they are "self-employed". Now with the development of mobile Internet, many short-term rental girls have relied on social software to attract business. For example, they also know how to use the "nearby people" in WeChat.

The second type of business is striptease bars, which are called "A GO GO" in Thailand. They are most concentrated on the pedestrian street. Literally, they are slow-rock bars, but in fact they are all striptease slow-rock bars. The music is mainly HIP-HOP, HOUSE, and R&B. Don't expect the level of DJ, but each bar will have more than 40 strippers performing on the stage. Each bar has a different theme, positioning and price, which is a bit similar to the red-light district in Japan. There are aviation-themed ones, which are decorated like cabins, and the dancers and waiters are all dressed as stewardesses; there are nautical-themed ones; there are school-themed ones; there are Russian dancers performing; there are German dancers performing... The consumption prices are very cheap, and a bottle of beer can be seated for a night from 20 to 60 yuan. Generally speaking, the bars where Thai girls perform are cheap, with beer 20-30 yuan; European girls are 50-60 yuan. There are topless hostesses in the bar. Just buy her a drink. The hostesses can speak some English. When you drink, they will ask you where you are from. Generally, just answer Hongkong. Hongkongers are known for being smart and not easy to fool. If the dancer climbs on the guest to dance during the interactive session, you only need to give a 20 baht tip. She will ask for 100, but 20 is enough. Russian and European showgirls will also promote a private dance, which is to dance in a small room next to a guest, dancing on the guest. The price is generally 2000 baht/10 minutes, which is quite expensive. This method is very similar to strip clubs in Europe and the United States, but the price is much lower, only about 1/5 of the price in the United States.



Generally, you can't take white European performers out, but Thais are much more flexible. If a customer wants to take a girl on the stage away, he can ask the waiter to call her down for a drink and negotiate the price. The price is divided into short time (about 2,000 baht) and long time (3,000 baht). Long time means the whole night, and as for short time, you know, uh, uh. In addition, if the beauty is Thai-American, it will be more expensive, but she is really beautiful. The interesting thing about this kind of nightclub is that no matter who the customer likes inside, the dancers, the hostesses, the waiters, and even the boss lady, they can all be taken away, uh. Of course, you can take no one away and just drink and watch the show. In this case, the whole street is only 300 yuan. Thai law stipulates that places with pornographic performances cannot be seen directly from the street, so these "A GO GO" bars have thick door curtains and tall security guards standing at the door, but this does not mean that this is a black shop that rips people off. There are also some male dancer bars and transvestite bars, which are relatively small in number and mainly distributed in Lanes 13/1-13/4. These are prepared for female tourists and gay tourists, and the consumption inside is similar.



The third type of business is ordinary small bars. This type is the largest in number, with thousands of them scattered across the alleys of the broad red-light district. Generally, dozens of small bars gather together to rent a large front. Each small bar has a bar counter surrounded by four sides, which is 15 square meters in size, equipped with a small pole dancing stage, and about 10 hostesses. The consumption is very low, and the hostesses are also relatively old. The hostesses here can be taken away at a very low price, but they are generally patronized by Western old men. A bottle of beer is as low as 6 yuan, and there are performances to watch, such as normal singing and dancing, which are suitable for all ages, so there are generally no curtains or walls to block them, and they can be seen at a glance on the road. There are also some small bar clusters with a large boxing ring, where people will perform Muay Thai fighting on it. To be honest, the level is not very good, far worse than the official competitions that you buy tickets to watch. If you applaud and cheer, the boxers will always ask you for tips, so it is recommended not to watch it.

The fourth type of business is a large bathroom, similar to a sauna. The inventor of this pornographic sauna is Japanese. The red-light district in Japan is still dominated by this, which is called the custom bathing industry. The big bathhouses in Thailand are also of this model, similar to Dongguan before the crackdown on prostitution. They are very large, much larger than those in Japan. As soon as you enter the door, you will see the so-called "goldfish bowl", which has more than 200 people sitting inside. Most of them are Thai women, and there are also many mixed-race women. There are also many "temporary workers" from other countries, such as India, Eastern Europe, Latin America... Many of them are international students or tourists who come to earn some extra money. In short, it is very international. The price is generally 2000-3000 Thai baht. It takes about 1 and a half hours to complete the full set of "health care". The target customers are generally East Asian guests from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia (this model was created by East Asian culture and is most in line with the consumption habits of East Asian guests. The waiters can speak English, Japanese and Chinese. If the guest says he is Taiwanese, he will communicate with you in Chinese.

How does Thailand's law regulate the sex industry? As a country of Theravada Buddhism, Thailand is deeply influenced by Brahmanism. It prohibits gambling but not sex. However, Thai law does not actually allow prostitution, but pornographic performances are legal. Moreover, due to the difficulty of obtaining evidence and the need to develop the tourism industry, there is basically no punishment for prostitution. The streets of the red-light district are full of police, and in order to facilitate language communication, there are many foreign volunteers acting as tourist police. Therefore, the public security in the red-light district is quite good, and there is no phenomenon of overcharging customers. If a nightclub overcharging customers, customers can find the police to complain when they go out. Once verified, the store basically cannot be opened here. Regardless of whether it is black or white, Thailand cannot allow things that damage the reputation of Thai tourism to occur, because Thais are wise. They need to do business with repeat customers, and they are not like some domestic tourist spots that only want to do a one-time deal. Therefore, consumption in Thailand always makes foreign guests feel that they have taken advantage of it and want to come again, so it can become one of the top three countries receiving tourists in the world with a small land area.

The above is all about the red light district in Pattaya. I write this down not to encourage you to go there for consumption, but to let you know how other people in this diverse world live. Only when we understand all the lifestyles in this world can we know whether the one we choose is the most suitable for us and have no regrets in our life. This is also the most important purpose of travel, isn’t it?