Fifty years Pattaya was but a small fishing village too far and too ago provincial for the affluent Bangkokians. Water and electricity were hard to come by There were a few scattered some rich families. bungalows which belonged to The old Pattaya was so quiet that some could their thatch writers even put up huts by the beach. Now the thatch huts are gone The new Pattaya owed part of its growth its short distance from Bangkok. The whole trip from Bangkok to Pattaya can now be taken within two hours. Hua Hin is too far away, even with the new road, and Bangsaen offers nothing much more than rows and rows of identical looking bungalows. It was the nouveaux riches who started Pattaya going. The resort rate of growth was also accelerated by the presence of American residents. servicemen, and other European visitors.