SPICE! Featuring Pattaya
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Pattaya Bay
Our feature city this issue is Pattaya, the home of Asia’s largest and oldest gay magazine. First published in 1998 as Thai Guys it later changed to Sticky Rice then Spice! In 2009 it was acquired by local businessmen and renamed Thailand Spice! because it is now distributed in 24 other countries.
Our feature city this issue is Pattaya, the home of Asia’s largest and oldest gay magazine. First published in 1998 as Thai Guys it later changed to Sticky Rice then Spice! In 2009 it was acquired by local businessmen and renamed Thailand Spice! because it is now distributed in 24 other countries. Thailand Spice! became the first and only gay publication to receive a Thailand publishing license and is an essential guide to ravel within Thailand for gay men as well as a great mainstream magazine for Metrosexuals and anyone who likes value for money and adventure.
As the home of Thailand Spice!, Pattaya boasts the largest full-time population of foreigners in any city in Asia and with Boyztown, Jomtien Complex, Sunee Plaza and Day Night offering great restaurants, hotels, bars and gogos for a upper-scale gay clientele.
Pattaya, located off the Gulf of Thailand, is approximately 145 km south of the city of Bangkok, surrounded by Banglamung District and is the largest beach resort in all of Asia. Only Bangkok gets more visitors per year than Pattaya which is one-tenth its size.
Pattaya’s name evolved from the march of Phraya Tak (later King Taksin) and his army from Ayutthaya to Chanthaburi. This took place before the fall of the former capital to the Burmese invaders in 1767.
When his army arrived at the vicinity of what is now Pattaya, he encountered the troops of Nai Klom, who tried to intercept him. When the two leaders met face to face, Nai Klom was awed by Phraya Tak’s dignified manner and his army’s strict discipline. He then surrendered without a fight. The place the two armies confronted each other was called Thap Phraya, which means the Army of the Phraya. This was later changed to Phatthaya, which happens to mean the wind blowing from the southwest to the northeast at the beginning of the rainy season. Today the city is officially known as Pattaya.
For centuries, Pattaya was a small fishing village. But a change occurred on April 26, 1961, when the first group of about 100 American servicemen who were fighting in the Vietnam War arrived in Pattaya for relaxation. From this beginning, Pattaya became a popular beach resort which now attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. Fishermen’s huts along the beach were replaced by resort hotel and shopping malls. Fishing vessels were adapted to become tourist boats.
The city (Mueang) had 154,788 registered inhabitants in 2009. But like Bangkok Metropolis, that figure excludes the large number of people who work in Pattaya but remain registered in their hometowns, and many long-term expatriate visitors. When population figures account for non-registered residents, of Thais the population pushes up the population numbers of Thais to around 500,000 at any given time. When expats are included add another 500,000. This means the real population of Pattaya on any given day is just under one million people.
Seven years ago Pattaya City which included Central Pattaya, Naklua and East Pattaya to the railroad tracks acquired Jomtien including the gay beach area of Dongtan Beach. Boyztown backed by the great support of the former Pattaya Gay Festival now called Pattaya Pride was developed with Jim Lunsford, Richard Burk and other investors who saw the magic of Pattaya and made the area between Beach and Second Roads next to Pattayaland
As the home of Thailand Spice!, Pattaya boasts the largest full-time population of foreigners in any city in Asia and with Boyztown, Jomtien Complex, Sunee Plaza and Day Night offering great restaurants, hotels, bars and gogos for a upper-scale gay clientele.
Pattaya, located off the Gulf of Thailand, is approximately 145 km south of the city of Bangkok, surrounded by Banglamung District and is the largest beach resort in all of Asia. Only Bangkok gets more visitors per year than Pattaya which is one-tenth its size.
Pattaya’s name evolved from the march of Phraya Tak (later King Taksin) and his army from Ayutthaya to Chanthaburi. This took place before the fall of the former capital to the Burmese invaders in 1767.
When his army arrived at the vicinity of what is now Pattaya, he encountered the troops of Nai Klom, who tried to intercept him. When the two leaders met face to face, Nai Klom was awed by Phraya Tak’s dignified manner and his army’s strict discipline. He then surrendered without a fight. The place the two armies confronted each other was called Thap Phraya, which means the Army of the Phraya. This was later changed to Phatthaya, which happens to mean the wind blowing from the southwest to the northeast at the beginning of the rainy season. Today the city is officially known as Pattaya.
For centuries, Pattaya was a small fishing village. But a change occurred on April 26, 1961, when the first group of about 100 American servicemen who were fighting in the Vietnam War arrived in Pattaya for relaxation. From this beginning, Pattaya became a popular beach resort which now attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. Fishermen’s huts along the beach were replaced by resort hotel and shopping malls. Fishing vessels were adapted to become tourist boats.
The city (Mueang) had 154,788 registered inhabitants in 2009. But like Bangkok Metropolis, that figure excludes the large number of people who work in Pattaya but remain registered in their hometowns, and many long-term expatriate visitors. When population figures account for non-registered residents, of Thais the population pushes up the population numbers of Thais to around 500,000 at any given time. When expats are included add another 500,000. This means the real population of Pattaya on any given day is just under one million people.
Seven years ago Pattaya City which included Central Pattaya, Naklua and East Pattaya to the railroad tracks acquired Jomtien including the gay beach area of Dongtan Beach. Boyztown backed by the great support of the former Pattaya Gay Festival now called Pattaya Pride was developed with Jim Lunsford, Richard Burk and other investors who saw the magic of Pattaya and made the area between Beach and Second Roads next to Pattayaland