PATTAYA — By day, Pattaya is a city of beaches, traffic and tourists. By night, its neon-lit streets come alive with bars, restaurants and entertainment venues stretching inland from the Gulf of Thailand.
This week, thousands of American sailors are getting a taste of it.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, a US Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, arrived off the coast of Pattaya on 2 September, bringing nearly 5,000 service members to Thailand for a few days of rest and relaxation after more than 250 consecutive days at sea.
For the crew, the city offers a chance to step off the ship, eat a proper meal, walk along the beach and enjoy a few days away from life at sea.
But in Pattaya, American servicemen on R&R are hardly a new sight.
Long before the arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln, generations of US military personnel had come to this seaside city to rest, beginning with the Vietnam War era.
In fact, their presence helped transform Pattaya itself.
From a quiet fishing village
It is difficult to imagine today’s Pattaya as the place it once was.
The area was originally a small and relatively unknown fishing village in what is now Na Kluea subdistrict, Chonburi. Located just over 150 kilometers from Bangkok, it had a beautiful bay, a long sandy beach and clear waters suitable for swimming.
Its economy and way of life were closely tied to the sea.
That began to change in the 1950s as Thailand became increasingly involved in the Cold War conflict in Southeast Asia.
Thailand joined the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, or SEATO, in 1954, with the United States playing a leading role in the alliance. The country subsequently became an important base for US military operations connected to the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1954 to 1975.
Pattaya’s location and beaches made it an attractive place for American troops looking for somewhere to unwind.
The first US servicemen reportedly arrived in Pattaya for R&R in April 1959.
Troops completing missions in Vietnam were rotated out while fresh units took their place. Groups of roughly 400 to 500 servicemen could spend about a week in Pattaya before returning to duty.
For the small fishing community, the arrival of hundreds of foreign visitors created a new source of income.
Local residents began providing food, accommodation and other services. Investors from outside Pattaya soon followed, opening restaurants, hotels, bungalows, souvenir shops, entertainment venues and other businesses.
The fishing economy gradually gave way to tourism.
A new city takes shape
The change could be seen in the buildings rising along the coast.
In 1963, Bangkok’s Oriental Hotel invested 25 million baht to build a Pattaya branch, the Nipa Lodge. Opening in December 1964 with 112 rooms, it became Pattaya’s first large hotel built to international standards.
Other hotels soon followed.
The Hyatt Pattaya Palace, with 145 rooms, opened in October 1970. The Ocean View Hotel, with 66 rooms, followed in April 1971.
Pattaya was no longer simply a quiet coastal village receiving American servicemen. It was becoming an international tourist destination.
When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, US forces withdrew from the region. But by then, the transformation was already well underway.
Tourists from overseas were arriving alongside Thai workers and residents drawn by the growing economy. The population and businesses expanded faster than the local administration could handle.
The old Na Kluea sanitation district, established in 1956, was no longer sufficient for the rapidly growing city.
On 29 November 1978, the government formally created Pattaya City as a special form of local administration under the Pattaya City Administration Act, adopting a city-manager model.
The former fishing village had become a city unlike almost anywhere else in Thailand.
The R&R connection lives on
Today, the relationship between Pattaya and the US military continues in a very different era.
US military ships have continued to visit Thailand from time to time, with their personnel spending time in Pattaya during port calls and R&R.
The latest and perhaps most visible example is the USS Abraham Lincoln.
After spending more than 250 consecutive days at sea without a port visit, the carrier arrived in Thailand on 2 September, giving its nearly 5,000 sailors a long-awaited break.
They will remain in Thailand through 6 September.
For sailors stepping into Pattaya’s restaurants and bars, the city is simply a place to relax after a long deployment.
Yet their footsteps echo a much older chapter in Pattaya’s history.
More than six decades ago, American servicemen came to the same coastline looking for a few days of rest. Their arrival helped bring hotels, restaurants, entertainment and investment to a little-known fishing village.
Today, Pattaya is one of Southeast Asia’s best-known tourist cities.
The ships may come and go. The sailors eventually return to sea.
But the connection between Pattaya and the American military remains part of the city’s history — a history that began, in part, with a beach and a need for somewhere to rest.