On one of Pattaya’s uglier beaches, where gray concrete blocks line the promenade and street lamps cast frosty white light on the sand, a meeting takes place every Friday.
At the height of a 49-story residential high-rise, around thirty men and women stand a few meters from the sea, beer mugs and Jacky Cola in their hands. They speak Russian.
The Telegram group “IT встречи Паттайя” (IT Meetup Pattaya) meets here every Friday. According to the group description, it’s about “IT, design, digital topics and beer”, and that’s exactly what it is. Nothing here is reminiscent of the drinking and sex bouts for package tourists that this party town is a two-hour drive south of Bangkok is notorious all over the world. The crowd here wears muted colors, theft-proof shoulder bags, cell phones in old-school leather cases. People speak to each other politely, almost quietly.