Accommodation
Budget Accommodation in Bangkok
The main area for budget accommodation in Bangkok is on and around Khao San Road in the Banglamphu district, north central Bangkok. Guest house accommodation there (and in all of Thailand) has a much higher standard than in some neighboring countries (for example the Philippines where it is rather on a South American level) - without being more expensive. Aside from Khao San and the surrounding streets, guest house accommodation can also be found on and around Soi Ngam Duphli off Rama IV Road.
Depending on what one expects, it’s an advantage or a disadvantage that the traveler district around Khao San Road is so stuffed with young Western people, many of the hippie category, that it doesn’t have much of a local atmosphere anymore. The same kind of traveler or hippie enclaves can be found all along the old overland trail from Bali to Istanbul.
There is widespread hypocrisy of a particular kind in traveler enclaves like Khao San Road. For one thing, many people staying there would be offended if they were classified as tourists. They consider themselves travelers (as the designation hippie has become unpopular). To them, the term tourist does not only classify a visitor as coming on a package tour but also that he or she is pretty dull. Many of those considering themselves travelers have the utmost disrespect for those they consider tourists.
Commonly, travelers hold the opinion that tourists are bad for a country as they allegedly destroy the naturalness and originality of a less developed society. Commonly, they believe that travelers have no such effects. This is, of course, highly hypocritical.
First of all, in places from Bali through Boracay (Philippines), Ko Samui (Thailand), Goa (India) and Kathmandu (Nepal), so-called travelers have always served as vanguards of package tour visitors. In northern Thailand, it’s mainly travelers who degrade cultural minorities to a human zoo. By the time, package tour visitors arrive, there isn’t much naturalness left to destroy. The natives have learned the tourism trade already from those who claim not to be tourists themselves - the travelers.
It’s a traveler schizophrenia to be in search of undisturbed destinations and destroying them by going there. For those who believe that tourism is bad for a country, there is only one honest option: stay at home.
Many of those who visit the country on a low budget and consider themselves travelers hold the opinion that traveling on a shoestring actually is a virtue not a short-coming, and they are proud of it. But it’s sickening to hear travelers boast that they have found places where the people still were really friendly, and that they were invited to stay with them free, and that they are not yet after the tourist dollar.
After a few of that kind of visitors, those really friendly natives are going to change their minds, and rightly so.
Greed can be trained two ways: either by giving too little or by giving too much. But while those who get greedy because they are treated too generously can be criticized from a moral standpoint, those who do so because they are taken advantage of cannot be criticized on an ethical line. And while becoming greedy because one gets too little is a logical consequence, it’s merely an option based on a weak character for those who get too much.
As said above, travelers looking out for the last resorts of hospitality because they want to exploit it are always destroying exactly what they came to search for.
It’s generally not as visible as in nightlife districts but there also is prostitution (in the sense that local women enter relationships with the objective of short term financial gains) in traveler streets - obviously because clients can be found. It’s a special kind of women that aims at travelers. They dress in traveler’s fashion, and as many of them have been in business for quite a while, they also speak English fairly well.
Of course, sex for money is so contrary to traveler philosophy that the transactions usually remain hidden behind behavioral conventions. There are no before hand negotiations, and there is no talk about payments. The girls usually get their share by coming up with stories about some ill family members after they have stayed with a traveler-style young Western man for a few days.
To give the woman some money for the special occasion becomes a matter of solidarity between lovers (the young Western man will usually classify their relationship as love). And in cases in which a Western male partner should be hard heartened there is still the possibility to make away with some of his money or property when the chance arises.
For the more practical aspects of accommodation on Khao San Road and other traveler areas (such as names, addresses and prices), please refer to the Bangkok section.
Pattaya Accommodation
Pattaya has an amazing selection of hotel accommodations of any style and price. Actually, that’s what the place mainly consists of - accommodation for tourists. Lots and lots and lots of it.
Pattaya is both, a resort and a city. And it’s both, Thailand and international. There isn’t anything quite like Pattaya anywhere in the world, mainly because elsewhere resort towns don’t reach the size of Pattaya. The single largest hotel in Pattaya calls itself a city - Ambassador City. 2573 rooms it has so far, and it’s still expanding. In late 1992 when construction of five new wings will be completed, the hotel will have the incredible number of 5,000 rooms - the world’s largest hotel. (Not that this would make it the most personal one.)
Certainly, not everyone is impressed by sheer numbers. But those who want more privacy can be satisfied at Pattaya, too. At Jomtien, south of the actual Pattaya, or at Naklua, to the north, or at a further distance, towards Rayong in the east, more quiet beach areas can be found.
The wilder set, and those who do not want to miss an urban infrastructure, will certainly decide for the actual Pattaya. Accommodation ranges from first-class luxury hotels to small pension houses run by foreigners who have settled in Pattaya after marrying Thai women. Accordingly, one can spend for a night anything between 200 US Dollars and 200 Thai Baht.
Traditionally, the large and luxurious hotels are mainly booked through package tours and the visitors stay mostly just one or two weeks. These hotels are often full during the peak season, between December 15 and January 15. Then, many charge a fixed supplement of several hundred Baht per room.
Middle class places, in the actual Pattaya but mainly in Jomtien and Naklua derive their income to a considerable extent from Bangkok expatriates who visit Pattaya over the weekends. Often these hotels offer just as much comfort as the luxury resorts though they might have fewer facilities.
Many Bangkok residents who go to Pattaya for the weekends don’t mind fewer facilities because after all, good middle class resorts have a definite advantage: they cost considerably less than luxury resorts. A good example is the Mermaid’s Resort on Jomtien Beach which has very nice rooms in a pleasant atmosphere of privacy for 700 Baht, less than half of what typically would have to be spent for a room at a luxury high-rise resort.
Pattaya also serves well those who come on their own and want to stay longer than the typical one or two weeks of package tourists. Many middle class and budget hotels offer attractive discounts to those who rent a place for two weeks, a month or even longer. Obviously, those places further away from the beach have lower rates. Off season rates at many places are about 50% lower than peak season rates.
Finally, there are furnished apartments and houses available for six month or yearly contracts. As Pattaya has over-capacities in this area, prices are very attractive. Typically, they are less than half of what a similar accommodation would cost in Bangkok.
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