The jokes, jibes and mockery on social media were inevitable when, after 286 days at sea, a United States aircraft carrier filled with 5,000 sailors docked at a city notorious the world over for sex tourism.
asserted
carrier → fill → tourism
It had been the longest modern naval deployment, so American TV teams descended on Pattaya anticipating mayhem as frustrated crew – fresh from a Middle East war zone – encountered the neon-lit go-go bars, massage parlours and beachside prostitutes that throng the pulsating Thai resort.
asserted
that → descend → resort
This is, after all, the simple fishing village that half a century ago was transformed into a notorious hub for prostitution as tens of thousands of US troops fighting in the Vietnam War spent their R&R there.
asserted
thousands → transform → R&R
Today, with 120,000 registered Thai residents and up to 70,000 foreign expats, Pattaya is reputed to host at least 60,000 sex workers.
asserted
Pattaya → register → workers
After almost ten months at sea, conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln had deteriorated.
asserted
conditions → deteriorate → Lincoln
Even its captain, Dan Keeler, admitted his ship ‘looks like a dirty car in a parking lot’.
asserted
ship → admit → lot
Yet, apart from one drunken fight and a few discreet hook-ups, his crew – which included hundreds of women – mostly spent their time on land eating, shopping and enjoying the beach, boosting both the city’s economy and its ongoing efforts to shift its image.
asserted
which → include → image
‘Pattaya has a reputation as a place for nightlife and having sex,’ said its mayor, Poramet ‘Beer’ Ngampichet.
asserted
mayor → have → sex
‘But we try to change the reputation – you can get everything here.
asserted
you → try → everything
Now we can say that this city is also a family destination.’
asserted
city → say → ?
He talked glowingly about Pattaya’s beaches, conventions and sports facilities.
asserted
He → talk → beaches
Yet the first thing I saw upon arrival here as I left my taxi was a scene symbolising its gruesome image: a very portly British pensioner holding hands with two young Thai women.
asserted
I → see → women
‘It makes me uncomfortable too,’ admitted the mayor when I told him.
asserted
I → make → him
Today, with 120,000 registered Thai residents and up to 70,000 foreign expats, Pattaya is reputed to host at least 60,000 sex workers
There was a cosmetic clean-up of the city before the US sailors disembarked, with a few token arrests of sex workers.
asserted
sailors → register → workers
But now the spotlight is falling back on the sleazy side of ‘Sin City’ with looming indictments of two Western farang (foreigners) for murder.
asserted
spotlight → fall → murder
First comes the case of Simon Carman, 45, an Australian accused of strangling an underage prostitute in an argument allegedly over money.
uncertain
case → come → money
He was seen on security cameras holding her hand waiting for a lift in his block of flats just before her death.
asserted
He → see → death
Police believe Carman picked up Tunchanok Donhomla – a 17-year-old who came to the city a week earlier from a poor rural area – by Pattaya’s beach in June.
asserted
who → believe → June
Her naked body was found in a suitcase dumped in long grass by rail tracks.
asserted
body → find → tracks
Days later, a 21-year-old British woman was arrested over the fatal stabbing of her 34-year-old boyfriend – reportedly from Stoke-on-Trent and running a cannabis farm – at a luxury rented villa by the city.
uncertain
woman → arrest → city
She claimed he had committed suicide.
asserted
he → claim → suicide
I have visited more than 100 countries, witnessing many sleazy scenes and dark places as a journalist – but Pattaya’s ‘party’ scene is without parallel.
asserted
scene → visit → parallel
‘When you see the age of some of the girls and how they are presented, it’s just an indictment of humanity,’ says Chris, a retired Australian on a golfing trip with friends.
asserted
Chris → see → friends
‘I like the people, the food, the golf here – but I don’t like all the abuse of females.’
asserted
I → like → females
Men walk alone or in small groups along the most infamous streets filled with bars such as Slutz, Bliss or Little Hole and crowded with women who work in them, pleading for custom dressed as schoolgirls, nurses or in the skimpiest of G-strings.
asserted
who → walk → strings
Some grab men’s arms or grope them, calling them ‘handsome’ and ‘sexy’ even when they are so fat, old or drunk they can barely walk.
asserted
they → grab → them
It is a head-spinning blur of loud music, blinking lights, hustling women – all trying desperately to lure in clients.
asserted
all → spin → clients
I have visited more than 100 countries, witnessing many sleazy scenes and dark places as a journalist – but Pattaya’s ‘party’ scene is without parallel
asserted
scene → visit → parallel
Women sit in wire cages, waiting for men to throw balls at a target so that they tumble into a tank of water below them.
asserted
they → sit → them
Women wearing the uniform of their ‘spa’ sit outside, many middle-aged or older.
asserted
many → wear → spa
They chat, eat or look listlessly at their phones, calling out greetings to try to entice passing men.
‘Of course it is the sex capital of the world, whatever they might say,’ said Paul, 58, a courier from Sussex whom I met leaving a bar on Soi 6, the most notorious street.
uncertain
I → chat → Soi
‘If you want sex with a girl, you can get it anywhere here.
asserted
you → want → it
You only have to look at a girl to get it.’
asserted
You → have → it
He has been visiting the city since he was 21.
asserted
he → visit → city
There are nicer places in Thailand but lots of people come here.
asserted
lots → be → people
When I first came it was half the size, so that must mean it’s popular.
asserted
it → come → ?
There are 22 million visitors a year to this city two hours from the capital Bangkok – but some are less open about their activities.
asserted
some → be → activities
One British man in his 50s sitting with a younger Thai woman told me he was on his ninth trip to Pattaya but knew nothing about its reputation.
asserted
he → sit → reputation
‘I’ve not seen anything like that,’ he said, smirking.
asserted
he → see → that
Later, I met a lorry driver from Birmingham.
asserted
I → meet → Birmingham
…and 70 more, not listed.
The Aporia
