Halloween in Pattaya, 2015

Bangkok 112 Pattaya

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Halloween is one of the nights of the year that the Thai bar staff look forward to the most. Thai people are generally very superstitious, and many believe in spirits and ghosts and anything remotely spooky.

It all comes together on 31st October every year with many bars all across the country having fancy dress nights and covering their bars with extensive Halloween decorations.

 

This year I decided to venture down to Pattaya to see what was happening…

 

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Many bars were elaborately decked out in scary looking fashion. The one above is the long standing Sailor Bar on Soi 8.

 

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Over on Soi 6 the girls at the Ruby Club are in fancy dress, with some going the extra mile with the face painting. On Halloween night many girls from the bars shed their camera shy skin and happily pose for photos for professional photographers and passing tourists alike. It was refreshing to see, and made for a great atmosphere all around.

 

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Walking street was completely packed, with the 2015 Halloween coinciding on a Saturday night it only added to the numbers. What was surprising to me was the many young Thai couples around who had come to soak in the atmosphere and party alongside the expats and tourists.

 

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The Iron Club girls were looking really good. I’m starting to like their bar more and more and a full review will be coming soon.

 

 

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The Baccara girls probably just shaded it for the best face painting on this night. They were also not shy to pose for the camera which was a bonus.

 

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I can’t remember what bar this was. Some of the girls on Walking Street had their zombie pose nailed down (or maybe the middle girl just hated me?).

 

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Full face painting was available for the bargain price of 100 baht. You could opt for subtle, scary or downright over the top and outrageous!

 

 

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Not everyone was in Halloween dress up mode. The face painting must have been a handicap for the girls looking for customers. A couple of Ladyboys avoided dressing for the occasion but were still happy to pose for photos.

 

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This was a good night to just plonk yourself down on the front table of any bar, and just watch the sea of people passing by.

 

 

 

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The amount of selfies taken on Walking Street must have been in the 10s of thousands on this night!

 

 

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Some of the girls were only wearing flashing devil horns as their fancy dress. This girl particularly stood out to me as being unbelievably naturally beautiful. I had some banter with her about her scowling at me in this picture, she was just a bit tired as it was getting late.

 

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She smiled a bit for the next picture, I’m still gawping at those perfect high cheekbones looking back.

 

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2 Ladyboys in classic black dresses were looking good late on. Definitely good enough to fool an unsuspecting intoxicated punter looking for action!

 

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Some of the people went all out with the costumes. This was a Western guy with his Thai girlfriend who stole the show near the Ibar area.

 

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For some of the girls it was just like any other night in Pattaya. I wonder if she was waiting for a text from her special man?

 

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Ibar and Insomnia were packed, there were queues outside and once inside you could barely move.

 

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The stage dancers were giving out lots of freebies. Inside it was decked out with impressive Halloween decorations.

 

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After Insomnia I took a stroll around, and saw this pimped out custom car doing a lap or 2 posing on Walking Street. In the pic above also a homeless Thai man sleeps on the sidewalk. Sometimes, especially in the cities, Thailand can be seen to be a country of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’ Certain members of Thai society have obscene wealth, and others are trapped in a never ending poverty cycle with little to no chance of escape.

 

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Some of the alleyways that lead off Walking Street look to me to be more frightening than all the Halloween costumes put together. This one was eerily quiet and there was no chance I would have ventured up there at 4am.

 

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It’s getting really late. Revellers are tucking into the offerings from the street food vendors that come out at 3am.

 

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A girl stops at a street food stall, and waits patiently for her chosen meat snacks to be cooked. Whist a blurry guy covered in Halloween face paint casually strolls by.

 

 

IMG_8966 copyOverall the night has been a great success, the bars must have done a roaring trade with the street completely packed. The mood was jovial all night and I didn’t see a hint of trouble, even when I scanned the tourist police checkpoints there was zero sign of the usual bar disputes between intoxicated customers and bar staff.

 

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Time to head home, a few stragglers are still milling around, but everyone still seems to be good natured.

 

 

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You know its been a good night when you pass a few monks on the way home! Overall, Halloween in Pattaya was a great evening out, and I heartily recommend going to Pattaya for the next one. Definitely eventful, memorable and a ‘crazy in a good way’ night out!

 

For these photos I was often torn between either recording footage for YouTube, or taking photos for the website. I’m still enjoying photography as a new hobby, but am not putting much time into editing the photos or patiently waiting for the jackpot shots as I should really do. In the near future I could either move completely away from YouTube and focus exclusively on the bangkok112.com website, or scrap the website and stick to YouTube. It’s up in the air at the moment, it will probably come down to views and I’m constantly re-evaluating whether the time invested in either is worthwhile.

 

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