I spent 6 months living in Thailand, mostly in Koh Samui, and the last few days in Pattaya (since it's only 1.5 hours from BKK). Walking Soi is an eye-opener alright.. I went there with a group of male friends/colleagues who live there full time and of course we got all the tours of the girly bars... all as you'd expect. Apparently there's a decent crowd of couples who frequent them too, to pick up a girl to share for the night - my friend picked up a bargirl early on, and because I was sitting right there, and was nice to her and talking to her, she presumed it was for "Mr Rob and you wife!" As far as the bargirl scene is concerned, every single man going to Thailand should make it his mission to read "Private Dancer" - it's not a particularly great book, but it does hit the nail on the head as regards certain perceptions of relationships held by Thais and Westerners, and show you where they fail to converge. Pattaya is the extreme end of the spectrum though, the rest of Thailand is not like that, and even the seedy areas are quite tame compared to the Walking Soi.
I liked the people. I made some good friends there, and I miss them still. One of my Thai friends , on my leaving night, told me that she had never liked farang girls, that farang girls always look down their nose at you and think you all prostitutes, and that she was surprised to find a farang girl who was nice and normal. She's quite a spiky creature, and she's had her fair share of farang guys hit on her much to the discontent of their girlfriends, so I was touched by that sentiment! I miss her crazy laugh, and I miss my other Thai friend's gentle manner.. these two people I would actually call friends rather than acquaintances. And I like the food. Extra chilli with everything, phet-phet makmak, khob khuun krap. Oh yeah!
There are seedy sides to everywhere, but Thailand is a very live-and-let-live country... unless you get into a scrape with the law. All across Thailand I saw the Sandra Gregory Story on sale in 7-11, and I do know of a couple of tourists who were stitched up by the local police planting stuff in their baggage, but it serves as a warning to farangs not to cross law enforcement... that side of the country is sadly very corrupt. People have mentioned for example that Koh Samui is very seedy - well, yes, there is a seedy element to the bars of Chaweng and Lamai, but on the other side of the island, Lipa Noi beach is very beautiful and peaceful without the hullabaloo of Chaweng by night. Or the stink... sewage ain't great!
Before I went to Thailand, I'd never heard anyone say a bad word about it. People always raved about the food, the countryside, the people, the warmth of the Land of Smiles... and after travelling around there on my own as a single farang female for 6 months, I can see the downsides of course but I still love the country and would go back in a heartbeat.
Samadhi, you will have a wonderful honeymoon! The big 5-star honeymoon hotels are the Centara Grand, Anantara, Kadaburi and Amari Reef in Chaweng, these are very plush. Whether you go to one of these or to one of the smaller hotels, you will no doubt be very well looked after and made to feel like you are on the most special getaway ever! One thing if you do go for a smaller hotel - don't go to World Resort in Mae Nam, whatever you do.. the pool there is disgusting! Stay near the beaches in Chaweng (for central area), Lamai (second most nightlife) , Bophut (and the Fisherman's Village) or Lipa Noi (quiet and serene). I love Samui, there's plenty to do, although my liver will never be the same again..
(Ironically, I later took up Gemmology for a hobby and going through lengthy discussions of whether this emerald is really American or whether it is out of the recent yucky Belo Horizonte Brazilian batch - what? Paraiba Brazilian? But you just finished telling me that it is an Emerald, not a Tourmaline! - was usually enough to weed out all the scammers 
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
. So unless i wanna sleep in the bathtub i really can't go visit now lol.
