I'm going to warn you though, its very long and it won't be all sweet talk to my countrymen. It's my attempt to deal with facts, so that negative experience don't happen to us again.
Let me get straight to the points...
1. Number 1 thing to remember and do is.. forget about all you have learned ever in school, college, from parents and society about what sex and love is, what Indian cultural is, what concept of karma is etc etc. Never ever relate to what you see in Patts to what you have experienced or taught back in India. Thailand is 100 years ahead in terms of general infrastructure and cleanliness and 1000 years ahead in terms of sex and love. Come with a clean state of mind.
2. DO NOT come in groups, the one thing, that i see and many others have
noticed and commented are, Indians come in groups of 5-10, take one
girl and talk of sharing with all of them. You don't have to show, we
are the second most populated country in the world by been in a group
and showing numbers count. It doesn't, Individuals travelers are gaining
more respect everywhere now a days. The most you get respect and
attention are from girls in Pattaya, it doesn't offend them, they are
more free to approach you. Its really safe to travel alone in Thailand.
You see 99% of Indians who travel to Thailand are in groups. Agree, that
western men and Japanese too travel in groups, but if you notice, they
have folks who travel alone more like 60 to 40 ratio. Try your best to
travel alone or max with a friend. Not more than 2. It spoils for
everyone. Remember, you are representing every other Indian monger who
would travel in future, make a point to leave a good impression.
3. We Indians bath regularly at least once a day, but somehow, it gets lost and everyone says that we Indians smell a lot like curry etc etc. Well, I have news flash for you. Everything, you have heard about Indians been smelly is 100% true, only thing that comes in your way of accepting the truth is your ego and the nationalistic fed media that says Indians are the best and we are special etc etc. We do not have in our culture of using deodorants and perfumes, western men smell sometimes as bad as us, but they cover it up by using deo and perfumes. I don't have scientific facts, may be its due to what we eat... lots of spicy foods or our climate or gene adaptations. The facts is when you sit near a bar girl, they have a dog nose and if you even sweat a drop, they will sense it from far away.
The first thing you do, when you get down at suvernabhumi airport is to buy an expensive deodorant/perfume. Do not buy Indian deo's they are crap.
I have been with girls of almost all east Asian countries and NONE have bad odour and they could sense my bad curry from 10 feet away, until i learned the lessen......as they say, adapt or perish....very true for us.
4. We Indians smile a lot in India, but when we go abroad we show a sorry face, smile around...Thailand is Land of Smiles. Be friendly, show respect...the thing is when you are alone...you naturally do all these things, when in group, we tend to go wild and loose the respect of others. Be charming, decently dressed, learn few words of Thai.
5. Now the Main part. Avoid all bars on walking street, You will not be much entertained there, Go to discos in walking street, you are welcome there.
Avoid going to western owned bars. Most of the bars on walking streets are owned by western expats. I hope western mongers who read this will excuse , but most of the western owned bars/hotels in Pattaya are sometimes discriminatory and does not entertain Indians and Arabs. Thai owned bar are less discriminatory, but they too have bad perception about Indians or let me just say this...what ever bad perceptions the western owned or Thai owned bars have about Indians...is TRUE.....They are not at fault...90% of the Indians who go to Thailand think they are the world and Indian culture is at the center of the universe and everyone thinks and behaves like Indians do. It will take sometime before we change that perception, it all starts with you and me.
Read pattaya-addicts and other forum for couple of months to know which bars welcome Indians, don't just show up. research everything. Go to bars in Soi 6/Soi 7/Soi 8, there are 100's of bars in all threes soi's which will welcome you. Walking street is NOT THE PLACE TO GO....You see a western monger travel 16+ hours and spends 800+ dollar to come into Pattaya. We just need a couple of hours and 200 dollars to come to pattaya...we should be at the forefront of mongering in Pattaya...but we are not, got lot to do with money and cultural issues back home.
6. Do you know why Japanese are more respected in Pattaya than western tourists or Arabs or Chinese or any other race. Not only in pattaya, Japanese tourist are consistently ranked number one, well behaved tourist in all countries and categories. Not to mention the monger classic 3-3-3 > 3 Inch - 3 Min - 3 thousand baht folklore invented by western men to keep their ego in check as some can't digest the fact that Japanese men get more attention to them even when they have bigger d**ck than Japanese and they were taught from an early age that having bigger d**ck is the secret of conquering the world not money, manner and respect... Not in pattaya atleast to their surprise . I'm making this point, cos when you read forums, this point invariably comes up and the main plot gets lost. I personally feel there is lot we can learn from the Japanese tourist and how they earned the respect.
Remember, it was barely 60 years ago, that, the same Japanese occupied most of Asia and did unspeakable crime to east asians...now they get more respect than Indians who never conquered anyone ...yet they are looked down upon...the point is perception could be changed faster than we think. Even Chinese, korean have more respect for the Japanese than Indians....hell, 90% of Thai culture is Indian...yet...what crime did we do...bad smell, cheap charlie anyone Not that bar girls care about world war 2 but even educated ones seems to respect japanese....yeah by gones are by gones...we need to also change this....Indian mongers have been short changed for far far too long than history could remember in pattya
Most folks think Japanese are stupid for spending too much money, if only they read the history books and know how less time they took to win the hearts and minds of Asians they would think otherwise.
Ok...i understand the above para was cheesy in bringing in history and all..but almost every country in east Asia hates indian's when it comes to mongering.
You don't have to splash money as the Japanese do, but atleast, you can buy few more drinks to the girls around, throw in one drink to the bar manager, mamasan....get the crowd into your side. Whenever, I enter a bar, i get the usual cold look , but when i buy a couple of drinks to manager, mamasan and girls, they light up. I got the crowd to my side and It will always be like that the second, third time i visit. In soi 6 bars, I always get a complimentary beer for the fact that, i gave them a drink on my first visit and they remembered and they see me as a potential repeat customer.
You won't be learning anything from the western mongers, they are way way ahead of us in terms of mongering, morality and manners. They have everything set up for them in Patts, all they have to do is put the money and pants down and its ready to go. We are just beginning, learning the tricks to earn respect. It will take time, but it can be done.
We have to go from aaa Indians cold boring smelling when a bar girl looks at us to ...ohhhhh wow..my lucky day god INDIANS hansom man level..it could be achieved.....atleast if some of us does things rightly here...we are already paved a way for better tomorrow.
7. Finally, to conclude, Man up, be brave, travel alone, no body is after you, you are safe in pattaya, show respect, smile around, you hear people say, spend wisely,,,no spend more than a bit than you think its necessary to clear the mess around called Indians are here...money does clear lot of mess. Go to Soi 6,7,8 NOT to walking street. research and learn from other mongers and on and on...be safe, Don't judge bar girls due to their profession......like yoda would say....Respect Soon Earn We Will of Pattaya
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