I've
been searching for years for a weekend getaway from
Bangkok drudgery that wouldn't involve an expensive
round trip air ticket or a grueling road trip. So
far all I've been able to find are semi-adequate alternatives,
like Koh Si Chang and Kanchanaburi. But I think I
hit the jackpot this time.
Cabbages
and Condoms resort on Hu Kwang Bay is located in a
secluded bay in Pattaya, of all places. Pattaya is
known for its sleaze and glitter and can be a lot
of fun if you're in the right mood. But after living
in Bangkok for many years as a jaded resident, the
attractions of Pattaya have not held my interest for
a long time. Instead, I've headed to remote beaches
in the South and other more atmospheric locations.
Pattaya
is like the Wild West. People from all over the world
go there to release their inhibitions and engage in
activities that they can't do in their own countries.
Purveyors of various vices pervade the city and it
is rumored that Mafia organizations and fugitives
from several countries make a home away from home
there, creating a sort of an underworld United Nations,
a multi-lateral hooliganism. The only industry in
Pattaya is tourism, but the place is brimming with
money, suicides and intrigue. The pace of life is
quickened and the bizarre, the greedy and the grotesque
converge on Pattaya like maggots on the corpse of
a twenty-dollar whore, and business is thriving.
So,
I have quite a common stereotype about Pattaya and
generally wouldn't consider a weekend of relaxation
there at all. However, I have just had an awakening
that blasted away my pre-conceived notions.
Cabbages
and Condoms Resort is located on a secluded beach
right outside of Pattaya. Cabbages and Condoms is
the creation of a non-profit organization famous for
its promotion of condom use to control AIDS and for
population control. It has a successful restaurant
in Bangkok and a few other resorts throughout Thailand.
The Pattaya resort carries on the condom theme by
offering free condoms, having decorations and a gift
shop featuring condoms in a variety of shapes and
sizes. It's kitsch to the max, but for me, the condom
theme was rather irrelevant. I went for the beach,
the ambient setting and a good restaurant. That's
what I like about the C&C resort in Hu Kwang Bay.
Basically,
I started my search for a laid-back atmospheric and
secluded place in Pattaya on Google. I plugged in
the keywords, and, as always, it came up with a lot
of the canned sites of mega Internet travel agencies
selling expensive characterless resorts. But I played
around with the key words some more and the Cabbages
and Condoms site came up. Really, what I was looking
for was a place similar in feel to a beachside resort
in Koh Samui or Koh Phangan, in other words, on the
beach, with a good restaurant you could hang out at,
and without the pomp and circumstance and bogus formalities
of traditional hotels.
