It sounds like your whole group isn't loving it, so why did they choose this place?
two members of our group are getting retirement visas to Thailand and while there are agencies that offer the streamlining of this service all over Thailand there is one in Pattaya that is known for being the most efficient and cheapest. That was our only real motivation for going there since all of us kind of already knew what I just experienced, we just hadn't seen it with our own eyes.
Ah, okay. That makes sense. I guess it isn't surprising that something like that might be in that part of town.