A tourist was detained by police over a naked rampage at an intersection in Thailand.

The holidaymaker sparked alarm when he removed all of his clothes and stood in the middle of the busy junction in 'Sin City' Pattaya on Monday morning.

CCTV footage shows him facing the sun with arms outstretched as baffled drivers rolled by while looking on in bemusement.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Phanuphong Nimsuwan said officers were alerted to the naked foreigner at 9 am local time.

They found the man, aged around 40, allegedly chasing cars and trying to hit them.

He was detained and taken to the Pattaya Bhattamakun Hospital. Authorities said he appeared intoxicated and kept rambling during interrogation.

Motorcycle taxi rider Chatchai Yaiyat, 51, said: 'This morning, I saw the tourist looking frantic while walking naked along South Pattaya Road.

'He stopped at the red light, started chasing and hitting cars, and even prayed. We called the police and tried to hold him until they arrived and took him to the hospital.'

Former fishing village Pattaya became popular with American troops on 'rest and relaxation' breaks in the 1950s and 1960s when the U.S. military had bases in Thailand while fighting Communism in Vietnam. Rural families are said to have even dressed their sons as women to cash in on the gold rush.

The handful of bars in the coastal town quickly grew and it is now the world's biggest sex holiday destination, with round-the-clock prostitution and drugs - a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah rife with crime and debauchery.

Government chiefs have attempted to clean up the city but regular violence, depravity and claims of corruption continue to blight its reputation.