How Pattaya got her name

Pattaya has been an official name in Thailand’s record books for over 229 years

In 1769, before Ayuthaya was sacked by the Burmese, King Taksin the Great was the Duke of Kamphaeng Phet. Surrounded by the Burmese, he was almost sure that the small city of Ayuthaya would be lost, he gathered an army of over 500 of his best men, left Wat Pichai Camp and headed for the Southeast.

Photos: Pattaya before (right) and after (below).

Arriving in Chonburi, King Taksin and his army rested at the present Wat Yai Intararam Temple. They then headed for Chantaburi. During this journey, they rested at Ban Nongphai in Naklue, Banglamung District.
History books tell us that, "the next day, this infantry division came to Jomtien and Tung Kai Tia in Sattahip. The army rested at each place for one night. Thevillgaers named this place Thapphraya (which means the "Royal Army" in the Thai language). King Taksin deemed it a good place for his troops to rest because it had a nice ocean wind, called Patthaya, which blew from the southwest to the southeast at the onset of the monsoons. King Taksin named this place "Patthaya Village."
Patthaya later became a fishing village and the Thai orthography was changed to the present day spelling.
From fishing village to resort
Pattaya became a resort town in 1959, with a visit of a group of 500 American soldiers from the military base in Nakorn Ratchasima (Khorat). The soldiers rented houses belonging to Lord Sunthorn and spent their leave at Pattaya. Pattaya gained a reputation and groups of soldiers would arrive regularly in the small fishing village. They spent their one week leave enjoying the sun and then returned to Khorat.
The quiet fishing village became a modern resort.
Gaining "special city" status
In the past, Pattaya was a small part of the Naklua Sanitation District founded in 1956. Pattaya developed very quickly and the Sanitation District model of administration became unsuitable for the village.
The city of Pattaya was founded in 1978 as a 'special city'. A city council governed the city with the mayor as the head of the city council only. The mayor's only other duties were cosmetic, such as presiding at important functions and holiday celebrations.
Back to the future
In a very short time, Pattaya will become a self-governing 'Thesaban Nakorn', or city. This is due to the failure experienced during Pattaya's 20 years as a 'special city'.
The government has seen fit to 'move backward' and make Pattaya a 'Thesaban Nakorn' to which Thai people are accustomed.
Pattaya statistics
Pattaya is 150 kilometers from Bangkok. The city's area is approximately 208.1 sq. kilometers. Of this area, 53.44 sq. kilometers are land and 154.66 are water.
The registered population is approximately 70,000 people, although there are approximately 2,000,000 unregistered residents. The citizens are engaged in multifarious professions, such as commerce and the service industry.
Pattaya consists of 4 divisions called Tambol in the Thai language. These are Na Klua, Nong Prue, parts of Huay Yai, Nong Pla Lai, Larn, Sark and Khrock Islands.
The city has approximately 15 kilometers of non-contiguous beach and is ideal for tourism and water sport.
Moving forward
Pattaya is now changing its old image from that of only a tourist resort to that of a business center.
There are 275 hotels with 24,103 rooms, 34 registered 'bungalows' with 1,670 rooms, and 75 guest houses with 956 rooms. Pattaya also has 14 registered massage parlors, 20 traditional massage establishments, 3 bowling alleys, 20 tennis courts, 160 swimming pools, 78 tour companies, 20 boat tour operators, 450 Jet-Ski water vehicles, 40 water scooter vehicles, 700 'long tail' boats, 500 rental cars, 32 banks, 547 restaurants, 600 nightclubs, 27 petrol stations and 2 telephone exchanges.

Brit caught with his pants down

Another European pederast charged

Robert Joseph Taylor, 34, a supermarket clerk from London, was arrested last Monday, July 20th, from a Pattayaland hotel room after being caught naked in bed with a 15 year old boy from Petchaboon.

An undercover police officer had watched as Taylor made contact with the boy on the third floor of a Beach Road shopping plaza, of late a known rendezvous point for pedophiles.

Photo: Police caught Londoner Robert Joseph Taylor naked in bed with a 15 year old boy.

The officer followed Taylor back to his hotel room and waited for the boy to arrive, then called for back up. As the back up arrived, the officer then asked one of the hotel boys to knock the door. When Taylor opened the door, officers rushed into the room to find both inside were naked.

The two were brought to the office of the Pattaya Tourist Police.

Taylor confessed that he took the boy to his hotel for sex. He told police that he arrived Thailand on the 18th of July, and he has been here several times already. He also said that this was his first time picking up a boy from Royal Garden Plaza, "I usually pick them up from the boys bars in the evening," said Taylor.

The 15 year old boy stated that Taylor offered him 500 Baht for short time. This was his first time seeing Taylor, but his friend used to be his "boy".

Taylor has been charged with attracting a boy over 15 but less than 18 with money for sex abuse, and will be sent to the Pattaya Local Police for further investigation and interrogation before trial.

Guiding students away from drugs

Rehabilitation emphasized instead of arrests

Methamphetamine is the most dangerous of addictive drugs. Statistics show that it is the most widely used drug in Thailand today. The use of this drug is not only among the general public but has spread to the Pattaya Schools. Urine testing on a random group of students from the schools revealed that over 50% of the group had traces of methamphetamine in their urine.

The use of methamphetamine has become a common occurrence in society and the use of this dangerous drug shows signs of constant increase in the Pattaya schools.

The government has instituted several campaigns to fight the use of drugs. The Drug Control Board and the Bureau of Public Education has police surveillance in 22 schools in Bangkok and plans to station more teams in schools throughout the country.

Drug fighter, Police Lt. Colonel Jirat Phichitphai is helping by instituting programs in the schools to help students who use methamphetamine without arresting them. With the help of teachers and advisors, suspicious students are being observed carefully for evidence of drug use. The antidrug program is using a ‘soft’ policy with students and people involved with them. These people include users inviting their friends to try the drug and dealers.

As stated above, of a random group of 60 students whose urine was checked for methamphetamine, over 30 registered positive. These are frightening statistics.

Parents and guardians must keep a careful watch on young people and their use of money.

If a student is found addicted, it is now not necessary to send them to the Ban Poon Sri Rehabilitation Center. The schools are beginning to help the students themselves.

Each group of five addicted students are assigned one teacher as their advisor. A progress assessment is made every month.

The schools have arranged withdrawal residences in which the students may undergo detoxification and rid their bodies of the drug. The students then engage in vigorous exercise and rest.

Colonel Jirat stated, "I do not agree with arresting students addicted to methamphetamine. It is possible for them to stop ‘cold turkey’ and become productive human beings. Arresting them is like stamping them as criminals."

"I believe arrests should be made only in totally unmanageable cases," the Colonel said.

Mr. Surin Aajrit, the Superintendent of the Banglamung schools, said that the Ministry of Education has begun a Clean Schools program. The Ministry has made the Institute of Technology of the Eastern Seaboard the leader of the Clean Schools program. The Ministry has ordered that the schools be rid of three things: drugs, pornography and gambling.

The emphasis is on trust and love between the students, teachers and families.

This is the only way to rid the schools of this problem.

Amazing Pattaya Road Safety Slogan winners announced

At a ceremony presided over by the Mayor of Pattaya City Pairat Suthithamrongsawat, Gerard Lammers of the Ge Laurant Foundation, Peter Nell of Car World Club and office bearers from the Jomtien-Pattaya Rotary Club, several excited winners of the Road Safety Slogan competition were presented with their prizes.

Third place and winner of B5,000 was Aphirat Songsukh of Pattaya School No. 9.

Second prize of B10,000 plus a bicycle went to Kalyaphorn Chaihad of Pattaya, School No. 6.

Major prize winner was Sukhum Namsai from Pong Temple School who was quite overawed when presented with her prize of a new motorcycle plus B20,000.

Part 2 of the competition begins now with students in nine government schools competing by drawing a cartoon comic strip to illustrate the winning slogan. This will be judged in January 1999.

In conjunction with the awards ceremony a free motor cycle safety check was carried out by the Car World Club mechanics. Defective brake linings along with fused electrical bulbs were the major problems discovered by the hard working mechanics. These items were replaced before the happy (and now, safer) riders disappeared in the usual plume of two stroke exhaust fumes!

Local issues pistol whipping

Reasons still unknown

A good citizen reported that a young man was wounded due to being hit with a pistol. Banglamung Police rushed to the scene at Soi 21 Naklua and found Boonlert Chiowcharn, 50, standing holding a pistol. Mr. Phumin Onla, 18, was sitting a few yards away, holding his head in his hands and moaning with pain.

Officers arrested Boonlert and rushed Phumin to the hospital.

Doctors told police that Phumin suffered from wounds inflicted by being struck with a pistol. Twelve sutures were necessary to close the wound.

Phumin told police that he was walking down the road when Boonlert accosted him and struck him on the head with a .38 mm pistol. Running away, Phumin hid in a house until police came.

Boonlert refused to say anything to the police. Officers charged him with causing grievous bodily harm to others and possession of an illegal weapon.

Copyright 1998 Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20260, Thailand 
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596; e-mail: [email protected]
Created by Andy Gombaz, assisted by Chinnaporn Sangwanlek.