Now, what do you do on the first night of your 2-week vacation?

Do you pace yourself or go hog wild? Does it matter that you arrived at 3 AM or noon or midnight? Do you take a shower or just go out? Decisions, decisions, decisions.

After your long flight to Bangkok and then the 1 ? hour ride to Pattaya what the heck do you do.

I can tell you what I do.

I schedule my flight to arrive at 4 PM. My other choice is to arrive at midnight. This is a no-brainer. Arriving in Bangkok at 4 PM gets me to Pattaya by 7 PM.

I usually just toss my bags in the room, secure my valuables and maybe change my T-shirt. I am then ready to head out.

First stop will be to have a beer or two with the owner of the guest house. We will catch up with each other and what has happened over the past few months.

Then it is time to head out. I prefer the beer bars over the go-go bars, so I will walk down Soi Buakhao, heading north, and either stop for a quick bite with one of the many street vendors, or go straight to the bars. The bars are in a complex called Night Bazaar ? right next to a night time shopping area.

A couple of beers later and I move out further north. I cross Second Road and make my way to Sois 7 & 8. It doesn't matter which bar(s) I go to. I just look for some cute girls, good music, and a friendly atmosphere.

If I am still alone, I will next head out for the bars in the Soi 2 area. There are about 100 bars here and I will do my best to pick out the best ones.

One more beer bar area to check out on Beach Road called Best Friends. There are about 17 bars here and I will walk around and find one to my liking. The good thing here is you can sit in one and look over the other 16.

If nothing suits my fancy here, it is time to go to Walking Street. Not being a fan of the go-go bars, I will hit the hostess bars and some of the beer bars.

I have quite a few friends in this area that own or manage bars. So I make the rounds and say "Hi" to all of my buddies and see what is going on. I am treated well so it pays to make friends in this town.

If it is your first trip, all I can recommend is that you don't fall in love in the first bar you enter. Take your time, relax, and soak in the ambiance. Pace yourself to an extent. You want to have fun, but you don't want to kill yourself. Keep a cool heart and smile a lot and you will have a great holiday.