My experience with ladyboys in Thailand was exclusively good and I don't mean that in a dirty way. While I understand they do make up a lot of the ladies of the night sort of thing, I didn't know them like that. I only knew a few of them but they were cool and hung out just like anyone. In these places like Pattaya I think the major issue is that they are actually strong like men and can fight like them also. I have heard rumors that a lot of ladyboys have a background in semi-professional fighting Muay Thai. That could just be a rumor though. The moral of the story here is not to avoid ladyboys, but to maybe avoid those horrible tourst trap ripoff areas or as you say, just avoid Pattaya entirely.