Siam. Defeated?

First, I’d like to say how much I appreciate those of you who’ve told me how much you’re enjoying my posts. I’m happy to know that my attempt at writing a travel journal is going down well with you. It might not make you feel you’re here alongside me, but hopefully you’re engaged with my subjective view of the journey.

I’m aware that you’ve had nothing to engage with over the last few days since that post about the Khmer Rouge. The reason is simple. I’d hoped to get my beach time In Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s up-and-coming but apparently laid-back resort hub on the south coast. But that’s 4 hours from Phnom Penh and the logistics of getting the bus there and back, then flying home via a stop in Bangkok in the time remaining weren’t encouraging. So instead I hit the beach by flying to Bangkok and then doing the 1.5 hr bus down to one of Thailand’s premier resorts, Pattaya.

And it left me completely uninspired.

Pattaya is a big city in its own right, with one million inhabitants, but the resort is a huge party town. Which is fortunate because the beach isn’t up to much and you wouldn’t want to swim here even if you were a fish. It’s popular with Chinese tour groups, Indian lads, Russians, and elderly middle-aged men who sit in British themed bars and stroll around town with their Thai lady of choice – a deal having been concluded, and the goods now in supply chain. Thailand has tried cleaning it up a little and now encourages more families to visit, but there’s some way to go.

The resort is totally full-on, in many ways, all types of tourists converging on the notorious party-central Walking Street, where everything is available, loudly and doused in neon. I suppose people are free to do what they want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves on the street and in the various bars (I had a look and checked – for the purposes of this blog of course), but if you imagine picking up Oxford Street and central Amsterdam and plonking them on a not-great Caribbean beach, then you’ve got the idea. And it didn’t appeal to me.

Pattaya is fine if you like that sort of thing, but Siem Reap and Phnom Penh both had more genuine warmth and raw charm to them and they both felt like more relaxed places.

The name Siem Reap is thought to refer to battles from the Angkorian era. It means “Siam Defeated”. Sorry Thailand – modern Siam – but I think Cambodia’s got another win so far on this trip. But I’m now in Bangkok for the last two nights. And if there’s one place in the world where anything can still happen, it’s here!