For the average BK reader (20-30-something Thais), our parents' fondness for Pattaya is baffling. Don't they see the scum, the slime? Don't they feel the dirt, the danger? To us, "the beach" means Hua Hin, Phuket, Ko Chang and Ko Samui (though less and less so), not "Sodom by the sea." Sure, we get it (we're not prudes), but we don't feel comfortable there — and we're not just talking about the pollution levels in the sea. 

We can't attribute the generation gap to the fact that they haven't actually been there lately. Because few of us have either. The difference is that people like my father remember Pattaya as it was as recently as 20 years ago, when you could swim in Pattaya Bay, seafood dinners were cheap (none of this lobster thermidor nonsense) and "Walking Street" was a road, not a tourist attraction, that ended at the splendid Siam Bayshore hotel and a fisherman's village.

Even further back, our family had a house here (between sois 3 and 5!), and my uncles and aunts spent weekends and school holidays swimming and skiing. So it's understandable why "Pattaya" still conjures up Thailand during the carefree days of their youth, not the seedy stereotype of today. They honestly think, without a trace of irony, "good, clean fun."

Old enough to (barely) recall the quiet stretches of sand and clear blue water (There probably were beer bars in those days, but I don't remember seeing any), I'm also young enough that I wouldn't use adjectives like "good" or "clean" to describe Pattaya. Well, maybe not until now. 

It's a familiar story in the media, and it's nowhere near the family-friendly destination as suggested in some reports, but Pattaya IS changing — dramatically — for the better. This is especially apparent in the north, and it certainly helps if you're 19 floors up looking out the huge bay windows of your sweet suite on the executive floor of the Amari Orchid Resort & Tower.

With the Dusit jutting out into the water on one side and what will eventually be a Holiday Inn shooting up into the sky on the other, the Amari occupies an enviable park-sized plot. At its center is an immaculately groomed garden dotted with palm trees, with two swimming pools and cozy cabanas for two scattered about, including several on a hill that slopes down toward the beach, Henry J. Beans and the Amari group's showcase restaurant and bar, Mantra....

For more on Pattaya, read the Amari's excellent Pattaya Destination Guide

And here's a press release (OK, a bit dated):

Luxury Reaches New Heights in Pattaya