Perverted Facts

On the 17th June 2010 the Daily Mail published an article by Deborah Davies entitled 'The Perversion of Paradise'. This was an attention grabbing stab at the holiday resort of Pattaya in Thailand. No one would deny that there is a 'sex trade' in Pattaya (and so many other places and countries) but I would hardly describe it as 'vile'. Such a choice of descriptive is sad at best and 'vile' at worst. Pattaya has much more to offer than sex and can be the ideal location for a family holiday. In fact it is the centre of choice for so many. There are British and other European couples and singles of both sexes who will retire and settle here without giving a seconds consideration to sex.

I have said before that 'Pattaya is the laxative cure for constipated morals'. It is too. If a person is so sexually repressed that they cannot deal with people having fun then they should stay at home and not go anywhere. If they are prepared to travel and really open their mind to something different then Pattaya is the very best place to be. Pattaya is happy. 'Big happy'. 99% of people visiting Pattaya are very happy indeed.

The article by Ms Davies is followed by numerous comments by people in that 1% which no doubt includes Daily Mail reporters. Great. Let them stay away.

The definition of pervert in the Free Dictionary is "to interpret incorrectly, misconstrue or distort" and most other dictionaries have a similar interpretation.

I don't know about you but the credibility of any article or book I read is shattered when I read statements which are clearly untrue. It immediately makes me believe that the author has not done their research properly or, in the case of this article ever visited the place they are writing about.

Here it is stated "It starts with the bar fine. The man pays 300 baht -$6- to the bar owner to have a drink with a girl and she earns about 60p for every drink that he buys her."

This is incorrect. The Bar Fine is only paid if the girl is going to leave the bar. You could sit with a girl all night buying her drinks and never pay a Bar Fine.

The article goes on to imply (or else why mention it?) that as Pattaya was visited by the likes of Derrick Bird, Steve Wright and Josef Fritzl that the city is in some way responsible for their actions. I don't doubt that those three probably visited London too so why was London not mentioned?

Deborah Davies states "There are a few attractions other than sex on offer in Pattaya. One of them is a shooting range a few miles out of town."

Actually the shooting range is more or less in the centre of Pattaya and just a few minutes walk from beach road. And as far as "a few attractions" goes. There are dozens of things to do.

Pattaya is Paradise for the lucky few.