To the casual observer, the evening of December 31 in Pattaya was a traditional fairy tale with crowds, fireworks, booze and a party spirit. The hub of the activity was Bali Hai where, after two nights of semi-desertion, the pier area was crowded to near-capacity with Korean bands the principal attraction for many. Obediently, at one o’clock in the morning, 5,000 cars streamed onto the Third Road with gigantic traffic jams persisting until well after 3 am. It was far, far too busy even to think of flashing red lights and roadside breath tests.
Police declared themselves well-satisfied with public behavior with scarcely any reports of street crime or arrests. The local authorities did make an attempt to health-test the madding crowds at some entrances, whilst there was a late proclamation declaring that staff serving meals and booze should be fully vaccinated and have had a rapid antigen test within 72 hours. One Australian tourist did ask to see the certificate of a waiter in Walking Street who sneezed into his mask, but was politely advised to mind his own business.
Elsewhere in the city, the mood was also relaxed and cheerful. Sexy Soi Six in north Pattaya was mostly open for booze without food and female welcomers without inhibitions. One or two go-go bars did risk lighting up their bar areas, but were careful to keep the chrome pole stages in complete darkness. Soi Buakhao, now the main cruising area of the heterosexual budget traveller, was busy until well after one o’clock with the massage parlors ready to offer a foot rub to those still able to stand up.
Boyztown, commonly mistaken for a war memorial in recent months, was firmly back in business. The nightclubs found their way round the legal ban by noisy street shows performed by experienced transvestite artistes with excellent miming skills. The tills were ringing merrily all night and the whole area was transformed into a “restaurant” as sausage rolls and chicken sticks were handed out liberally to meat eaters and vegans alike.
Whether New Year’s Eve is the beginning of a new Pattaya era, or a reminder of what the city used to be like, is a moot point. Concerns about the spreading Omicron remain paramount. General Supot Malaniyon, spokesman for the government’s top health committee, said on January 1 that there would be no national lockdown whatever the virus decided to do next. Of course, that does not rule out all sorts of provincial restrictions for which individual governors do not require national approval.
Pattaya in late December was like a city suddenly relieved from a starvation siege lasting nearly two years. She is overjoyed to be able to fling open her gates at long last. Recognizing that reality, law enforcement agencies with a nod and a wink from superiors in Bangkok, played a very low profile indeed and restricted their supervision to directing traffic and escorting the occasional ambulance through the melee. Can it last? As one farang bar owner confided, “The Greeks have certainly left Troy, but we wonder if they have left behind a wooden horse.”
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