Pattaya: Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady...boy

Twenty five minutes (and about 70 cents) after flagging down any southbound bus on Sukhumvit Road, we find ourselves in that little piece of Thailand most associate with words like "temptation", "bar girls", "Sin City" and "ping-pong show." To be fair, these words were offered up by the farang men we share an office with and who don't give much credit to the beaches, temples and other activities Pattaya has to offer beyond the pavement of Walking Street. However, for us Pattaya has taken on an entirely different meaning because we have discovered the one word that no one in the office cared to volunteer- BoysTown (yeah, it's one word.)
In one month of being here (five weekends), we have made the short trip to Pattaya three times. Our friends, Christopher and Niddy, own a restaurant in the area so we are never without company and the trip is worth it just for the two-hour long, 200 baht Thai massage. Boystown offers a refreshing atmosphere of sanuk, and keeps us away from the monotony of Walking Street where tourists gawk at the alternative lifestyle choices so openly embraced by Thai culture. Plus, in Boystown we can flirt ruthlessly with gay men, knowing at the end of the night their interests lay elsewhere… all puns intended. The last two trips to Pattaya have been occasions for celebration- once to attend the one year in business anniversary for Niddy’s Nook, and the second (and most recent) for the fifth annual Pattaya Gay Festival, an event which raises money for AIDS treatment in Thailand. We've made friends in high places, and often enjoy VIP status as a result of all the old queens clamoring for the company of the token females in attendance. We tried going into detail about the festival night specifically but the webmaster contacted us, threatening to shut down our blog if we ever posted stories like that again (and that was after five hours of censoring and editing.) It would be a lot funnier if it weren’t so true. Instead we’ve posted the following pictures to tell our story, and we’ll leave the details to your imaginations...








Check out more pictures at http://coloradocollege.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010056&l=1ad89&id=30001168