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Well, I haven't actually seen all that much of Pattaya itself, but what I have seen I didn't like. Pattaya is so incredibly scummy! It is there almost purely for the sex industry. Although, that is probably because Pattaya is actually a port town, so I guess the sailors needed to be entertained/satisfied in some way! There is one street in town called Walking Street, which is closed off to cars and is totally full of go-go bars. It's really sad. You get heckled so much walking down the road, especially young guys. I've heard a few stories from the other gappies including Dave's close encounter with a frog, produced from unmentionable places! I've spent one night in Pattaya, when we went to the senior formal in May. The formal was held at the Hard Rock hotel, which was great fun and the best food! After the formal we headed into Walking Street with a few teachers, but it was such a dampener on an otherwise graet night, because it was so disgusting! It's really quite sad. Pattaya is also quite expensive, because it is seen as a tourist town, mainly due to all the old fat european men that come here to buy a thai wife. We have to pay 250 baht to get from the school into town in a taxi, and it's only 15km. About the only thing I have really seen in Pattaya was Tesco Lotus, which is a big supermarket, just like Woolworths, Coles, Bi-Lo, Big W, K-Mart and Target all rolled in to one! You can get just about anything in Tesco!
Pattaya school is really pretty, a pleasant change from Pattaya town! The school is about 15km out of town and is on the highway on a huge piece of land. There are even gum trees nearby! The school is quite big and has really nice looking building. There's a clock tower that you can see from ages away on the highway! But all the buildings are about three or four stories high, so there are heaps of stairs, and they're all really steep! I haven't done all that much work here, so I can't really say what it's like. The teachers are great though, especially since many of them live on campus (Pattaya campus is big on boarding). It has a big community feel because we see each other all the time!
My room here is a lot smaller than the one I had in Bangkok, although I've used my space well! I have a single bed, small dresser and wardrobe. The room is about 2m by 3m (maybe a little bigger... not sure!) and my window looks out over the courtyard that is surrounded by the four main boys boarding buildings. There are 8 rooms in our gappie apartment, plus a kitchen area and tv room. The common room areas are quite big, but we only have one three person couch for six of us, so we have a spare mattress on the floor at the moment! We also have a bathroom that's like a caravan park toilet with stalls! But, it's not too bad. My room is very homely, with photos and pictures everywhere. And of course my Aussie flag taking pride of place! |
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