I agree that I totally prefer arriving late night. Then I can just go pretty much straight to bed when I get to my accommodations and wake up with my clock more or less reset.

It is very easy to get to Pattaya as noted above that time of night there's usually not much traffic so you can get there in 90 minutes or so. I've done that trip a couple of times. Obviously you arrive late at night but that shouldn't be a problem with most places. The town stays up late anyway but traffic is a little better late night than other times of day once you arrive.