I live in Thailand for about 4 years now, I would not choose Pattaya as a place to live (I stay on a remote island most of the time), but when I need to be in Bangkok for some reason - I always stay in Pattaya and travel to Bangkok from there. Bangkok is big, crowded, traffic jams, no air to breathe. Pattaya is a city for foreigners build on a sea side - I would not go swim in that water but anyway the air is fresh from the sea breeze, it's full with hotels and guesthouses for any budget, a lot of good and inexpensive restaurants ran by expats - you can eat pizza made by Italian chief, have some in house brewed beer in a German place and so on, including authentic Russian pelmeni. Usually I'm coming there with my girlfriend but nightlife is fun anyway, unique atmosphere of a never ending party.
Sure there are annoyances, mainly in Walking Street at night, but who cares? If you do not want ladyboys attention, children asking for money in imaginative ways, 'ping pong show' invitation popups before your face, loud noises and so on - just do not go to walking street from about 20:00 to 3:00.
Yes form dusk to dawn Pattaya is filled with prostitutes in lady bars of a different kinds. It's fine with me, some of those places are nice for an evening beer while watching woman live or sports channel on tv.
Yes there are a lot of ladyboys. Yes it's possible to get robbed or scammed, and sure tourist traps are set. Yet I consider Pattaya safe place for those who use common sense.
Alternative locations in SEA? In Thailand, Phuket on the south and Chang Mai on the north both have their own different charms, but it's one more flight from Thailand's main airport, while Pattaya is 2 hours by taxi or bus. In other countries - Hong Kong, a major financial center and still somewhat offshore zone (if anybody is interested - it should be another topic), it's a very interesting and alive city. But it will be i guess about 5 times more expensive than Pattaya for everybody, as living and office space is very expensive there. Singapore is boring, too much rules (like it's illegal to import and chew bubblegum, just as an example), warning sings like 'do not seat here as you may fall' and a likes are everywhere, it's a nanny state at the extreme - not a proper place for bitcoin event IMO. Macau could be a good choice - asian Las Vegas with nice old Portugese architecture, 2 hours by ferry from Hong Kong.