Why Venture Into The Pattaya Forum...

[Ted]

Hey Pattaya forum posters,

As a very occasional visitor to this forum (as a very occasional visitor to Pattaya) one thing about this forum I can't get my head around - why bother making your way to this forum if you really don't like the place?! Reading some of the back posts a good portion are slamming Pattaya. This doesn't seem to happen to nearly the same extent on the other TV local forums.

'If you don't like it in Pattaya why do so many of you want to spend time reading and writing about it?'

Edited May 9, 2006 by Ted

[britmaveric]

Good point - perhaps they really do like Pattaya and just don't want to admit it?

[davethailand]

Well i love Pattaya so i'm allowed to post here.

[Mobi]

Hey Pattaya forum posters,

As a very occasional visitor to this forum (as a very occasional visitor to Pattaya) one thing about this forum I can't get my head around - why bother making your way to this forum if you really don't like the place?! Reading some of the back posts a good portion are slamming Pattaya. This doesn't seem to happen to nearly the same extent on the other TV local forums.

'If you don't like it in Pattaya why do so many of you want to spend time reading and writing about it?'

Well....apart from a few we have uncovered who seem to have a personal grudge against the place due to something unpleasant that happened to them here....

..... I have no idea

[ray23]

You know some of it I think some people just like to complain, if it wasn't this aspect of the forum it would be somewhere else. But the area is well known and becomes an easy target. I don't live there a personal choice, Udon just fits my lifestyle better, But when it comes time for a change of pace, it's the first place to hit my mind.

[pepsi666]

I love the place,

I dont know why some people slate the place, but as been noted, some people justt like complaining and moaning

Pattaya has everything you could want (and some you dont)

There are lots of regular posters here who live in Pattaya, they defend it to the hilt, but as some posters who slate the place just prattle on, it gets ignored and the thread just dies

I would think some expats had a choice of living there, there are lots pf places in LOS they could have picked from, so there must be something there that attracts them

Edited May 9, 2006 by pepsi666

[CGW]

I choose to live in Pattaya, I have lived here Fast approaching 20 years, I could live any where I wanted within reason.

Pattaya has changed 100%, there have been many changes I HATE - traffic being the first, Noisy, anti social trucks, posers on Motorcycles etc.

This is a forum where I can express my true feeling - within reason?

There is a hel_l of a lot wrong with Pattaya -

I still choose to live here

[pepsi666]

I choose to live in Pattaya, I have lived here Fast approaching 20 years, I could live any where I wanted within reason.

Pattaya has changed 100%, there have been many changes I HATE - traffic being the first, Noisy, anti social trucks, posers on Motorcycles etc.

This is a forum where I can express my true feeling - within reason?

There is a hel_l of a lot wrong with Pattaya -

I still choose to live here

That about sums it up, seems strange to slate your choice of home though

[Mighty Mouse]

It ain't Thailand without Pattaya.

[limbos]

Hey Pattaya forum posters,

As a very occasional visitor to this forum (as a very occasional visitor to Pattaya) one thing about this forum I can't get my head around - why bother making your way to this forum if you really don't like the place?! Reading some of the back posts a good portion are slamming Pattaya. This doesn't seem to happen to nearly the same extent on the other TV local forums.

'If you don't like it in Pattaya why do so many of you want to spend time reading and writing about it?'

Same happens in the Samui forum.

Beats me too.

As another poster said, nothing everything in PTY or Samui smells like roses, but no reason to trash the place(s) constantly.

[chonabot]

It remains , and always will be, my 2nd favourite place in the world.

And I have travelled extensively. I first went there as a 23 year old back in 1988........hubba hubba

[jdinasia]

oh c'mon ... Patters is one of the nastiest edgy places in Thailand ! It doesn't resemble the REAL Thailand in any way .....

This is of course why so many folks live there!

It smells ... it is dangerous .. there are more scams per square meter than anywhere else in Thailand ....

oh yeah ... but it is FUN!

<did anyone notice that it is fun?>

[Mighty Mouse]

It smells ... it is dangerous .. there are more scams per square meter than anywhere else in Thailand

So many gorgeous females walking around wearing exotic and erotic perfumes. Smells great.

If you don't live your life daringly or dangerously you will die of boredom.

Victims of scams usually have themselves to blame. They are Farangs too stupid for their own good. These Farangs usually live in Bangkok and come to Pattaya just to be ripped off.

Where do you live Jdinasia ?

[Mobi]

It smells ... it is dangerous .. there are more scams per square meter than anywhere else in Thailand

So many gorgeous females walking around wearing exotic and erotic perfumes. Smells great.

If you don't live your life daringly or dangerously you will die of boredom.

Victims of scams usually have themselves to blame. They are Farangs too stupid for their own good. These Farangs usually live in Bangkok and come to Pattaya just to be ripped off.

Where do you live Jdinasia ?

As I said above, I don't really have any idea why anyone would waste so much time rubbishing a place - if they don't like Pattaya, you'd think they'd have more fun things to do than spend their spare time bashing it.

We could probably debate the pros and cons of Pattaya vs other places in the LOS till the cows come home, and never agree with each other. However, just a couple of points to keep the debate going. (as if it needed them!)

Many complain about the traffic in Pattaya. Well I lived in Bangkok for several years, and believe me, Pattaya is a thousand times better than most roads in BKK. In Bangkok it can take half an hour or more to go 1/2 kilometer, and any time I wanted to go out from my home in central Bangkok, it would take me a minimum of 1/2 hour to go to the shops, the cinema, etc, which were all within a couple of kms of my house. In Pattaya, I can get from my home in Mabprachan - (some 12 kms from Sukhumvit) to Pattaya Nua in 15 mins, to Klang in about 18 mins, and to Jomtien in about 20 minutes. My wife and I travel to Pattaya most days, and although there is often heavy traffic, it keeps moving and is not a problem. Beach Road at peak evening time or on long weekends may be a bit of a nightmare, but frankly I rarely go there, and if I do, I park and take the Baht buses.

Ever tried the traffic lately in London, or almost any major English City? I used to live in rural Northamptonshire, and we frequently had horrendous jams just outside my village trying to get to Peterborough or Northampton. Traffic is a problem the world over, and in my book Pattaya barely appears on the radar screen.

Bangkok, that wonderful city - free of vice and sex and violence! I'll bet there's more bars and girls in Bangkok than there is in Pattaya. It's just that they're spread around in an enormous great city, so there're not so visible. Have you ever looked at the huge massage parlours on Petchburi Road and other areas of Bangkok recently? Some of them are 4 or 5 story buildings! - to say nothing of the hundreds (or maybe thousands) of kareoke bars and short time motels. Of course a majority of the vice business in Bangkok is exclusively for Thais - so that's OK. If the Thais are paying and screwing their way through thousands of Issan women, it doesn't count - it's not slease. It's only when the farangs do it in Pattaya that it becomes dirty and sordid and we get all these jumped up hyprocitical farangs in Bangkok pontificating on what a disgusting place Pattaya is. At least many of the women in Pattaya get a decent return from their labours and are often able to lift themselves and their families out of poverty, which is more than you can say for a majority of the girls who service the Thai men in Bangkok, (and in other massage parlours and brothels across the length and breadth of Thailand for that matter).

No doubt I'll be shitted on from a great height by the combined membership of the "Pattaya Bashers Society", but that's Ok. This is an open forum and everyone is entitled to their views.

Bash away guys.

Edited May 10, 2006 by Mobi D'Ark

[Kerryd]

I think it boils down to jealousy and envy.

Many of the bashers, whether they live here or not, can't enjoy the same lifestyle that others can. They are resentful of those who seem to be able to "whoop it up" on a more regular basis, often with a new "delight" on their arm each time.

I think a lot of those "bashers" would have a serious change of tune if they were able to live here and enjoy a better lifestyle.

Yes, Pattaya does have some problems, especially if you compare to whatever village you so fondly remember from your faded youth.

Traffic is a nightmare, if you compare it to North American/European standards. However, when compared to other areas of the world, it's not that bad, especially if you make the attempt to understand how things work here.

Crime ? As I've mentioned in other threads, if you look at the big picture, it's no where near as bad as it seems to be. The limited coverage and the narrow focus of that coverage, makes it seem much worse than it is.

Corruption ? Well, there is little doubt that there is corruption aplenty here. Most of it has absolutely no effect on the lives of the people who like to bash this place so much. These people also tend to ignore the corruption that takes place in their home countries, as though those places are the models of ethical government.

Prostitution ? I've heard that it is available here Yes, it is wide spread, and a major source of revenue for the city and the country. Hey, guess what ? It also exists in the homelands of all those bashers !!!! It also tends to be much seedier, dirtier and rife with drug-addicts and criminals (i.e. pimps and pushers). In many western cities, the "trade" is controlled by criminals and the women are forced into it, and very few ever get out if it, unlike here.

I could go on for ages about the problems with prostitution in western countries.

I've lived in a village with a population of 90 people (in North America). I've lived in cities that have millions of residents. I've lived in North America, Europe and Thailand (and a couple years in Afghanistan ).

So far, I haven't found anywhere else I'd rather be. I'd rather be here and feel alive, than be stuck somewhere else wishing I was dead.

[ProfessorFart]

I love it and will be there this weekend on the sauce!!

The knockers who visit these pages and slag Pattaya only do so to try and make themselves look like more seasoned 'Asia Hands'

I'll wager that ALL of them learnt the ropes in Pattaya before heading off to BKK to marry a 'non bar girl' Thai (probably met her at Novotel disco or similar! ahem!) and then sitting in Washington Square criticising the bar scene before heading off to Nana for a grope.

[jdinasia]

LOL ... well I certainly don't hit any of the last three posts ....

afterall I LIKE ging down to Patters on occassion ...

Didn't hit Patters for a LONG time after living in Thailand ... <and never did as a tourist> I started in Hua Hin ... now BKK ... thinking next will be the islands somewhere!

Sorry PF and guys ... first there is no TG in my life <oh shit I'm Gay!> and the TB in my life is an engineer! (yeppers ... he has more cash than I do!)

Mobi ... there are more "Pros" in BKK than Pattaya? (a city of 10+ million vs a city of 150k people?) Great comparison there! Traffic? As long as you don't have to use 2nd road or Suk ... sure you can get around ....

But c'mon ... the smells from the gutters? <worse than the smells from the Khlongs in bkk!!> The fact that you can't walk safely along beach road ... or anywhere else really late at night?

Now ... you KNOW that if someone didn't respond to this thread it would just be you guys that are so insecure about being thought of as sex-pats and nothing more just slapping each other on the back and whistling like a child afraid of the dark!

<did I mention I think Pattaya is Fun?>

[ProfessorFart]

So your BF is an engineer now but have you ever been to Pattaya for a bit of slap and tickle in the past JD?

I think that being refered to as a sexpat comes with the territory JD.

I bet as soon as you mention to people in the west that you live in Thailand they jump to the same conclusion about you.

As for being a Pattaya 'knocker' well you don't seem to be JD, as you can actually see Pattaya for what it is. Fun.

The people who come down heavy on Pattaya yet seem to know it quite well fit into the characherisation I gave above.

Their opening line in a conversation tends to be 'I haven't been to that sh*thole for years.......apart from the odd weekend with a mate every now and again'

There is no justification in posting negative thoughts on a place unless you are going to offer good reasoning behind it.

The usual cr*p such as 'its not real Thailand' (whatever that is supposed to meant as Pattaya was actually IN Thailand last time I looked and it was certainly real enough last time I was there) and 'its full of sex tourists' or 'its a dangerous place' etc are just regurgitated throwaway comments which no one seems willing or able to quantify ever.

I said in a similar thread recently that if you think Pattaya is dangerous, try Benidorm, Maggaluf, and any of the other resorts on the Med which are clogged with battling Euros night in night out and then compare them to Pattaya.

[jdinasia]

I can qualify "it's not the Real Thailand" pretty well if you want ....

<I would include Patong, Patpong, Lower Suk and Soi Twilight in that too!>

Pattaya is a playground! it is missing components that every other place I have been in Thailand has! Deeply religious/spritual/cultural areas ... community involvement ... and the feeling of being "at ease" ... c'mon even the motto "City of Excess". The whole scene of Pattaya is WAY over the top "In Your Face" .... What soi can you go down in town that doesn't have beer bars etc on it?

As for dangerous ... it aint Jo'bhurg ... but it aint Hua Hin either ... and for random acts of violence against farang ... it is the highest in Thailand I would guess .... <though Samui seems to be as bad or worse particularly for ex-pats>

The real answer is .... "So What! It's fun!" When I get to be ancient and need a walker ... Pattaya is where I want to be! Even if the viagra won't work at that point at least I'll be able to afford someone pretty and nice to change my Depends!

[taxexile]

limbos

Same happens in the Samui forum.

Beats me too.

and me !

[Mobi]

LOL ... well I certainly don't hit any of the last three posts ....

afterall I LIKE ging down to Patters on occassion ...

Didn't hit Patters for a LONG time after living in Thailand ... <and never did as a tourist> I started in Hua Hin ... now BKK ... thinking next will be the islands somewhere!

Sorry PF and guys ... first there is no TG in my life <oh shit I'm Gay!> and the TB in my life is an engineer! (yeppers ... he has more cash than I do!)

Mobi ... there are more "Pros" in BKK than Pattaya? (a city of 10+ million vs a city of 150k people?) Great comparison there! Traffic? As long as you don't have to use 2nd road or Suk ... sure you can get around ....

But c'mon ... the smells from the gutters? <worse than the smells from the Khlongs in bkk!!> The fact that you can't walk safely along beach road ... or anywhere else really late at night?

Now ... you KNOW that if someone didn't respond to this thread it would just be you guys that are so insecure about being thought of as sex-pats and nothing more just slapping each other on the back and whistling like a child afraid of the dark!

<did I mention I think Pattaya is Fun?>

there are more "Pros" in BKK than Pattaya? (a city of 10+ million vs a city of 150k people?) Great comparison there!

You miss the point jd. All I'm saying to those hypocritical Bangkokians is there's a heck of a lot going on in your own backyard, so don't be bloody 'holier than thou!'

Traffic? As long as you don't have to use 2nd road or Suk

I beg to disagree. Both roads are pretty much OK for a majority of the time. The only time I have ever had probs on Suk is late Friday afternoon/ evening and Sunday afternoon/evening when all the Pattaya bashers come down to get their weekly fix of venom.

2nd Road? Peak evenings maybe, but otherwise a tolerable level of congestion. People who live here, which I think is what we''re talking about, get about just fine - which is more than you can say for people living in BKK

the smells from the gutters? <worse than the smells from the Khlongs in bkk!!>

Well, without a smellometer we'll never know, but there used to be some pretty putrid smells in the BKK sois when I lived there - especially in the dry season.

The fact that you can't walk safely along beach road ... or anywhere else really late at night?

Well, there must be literally thousands of sois in BKK I wouldn't feel safe walking down late at night.

Next basher please, I've got my gloves all ready to do a bit of stumping.

[DUMPSTER]

Pattaya, imo, is a cesspit, with too many white turds floating around the place causing many problems and mix that with the Thai turds and, well you have a lovely recipe, don’t you.

Unfortunately what is wrong with Pattaya is that it attracts these turds and what could be a great holiday and retirement destination, is in fact a cesspit of a place. Badly managed, badly corrupt, and unsafe to name but a few problems.

Now I am not going to compare it with other places with similar qualities because it’s not the point. How many of you would like to see it improved? I would think all of you. That is why people bitch and complain because it isn’t what it could be.

For those of you who accept the cesspit as it is and love it, then good on you, and those who complain are entitled to say something if the don’t like it, and because they do that doesn’t mean they have to move if they do hate some aspect of the place.

Why not try and create some positive change. Unfortunately too many of the Pattaya ex-pats complain and do nothing. Too many on the one hand say, TIT and you should accept it and then bitch like hel_l when say a fire destroys a club and the exit doors are locked and people die. But hey, when it suits you say TIT but then when it doesn’t, it’s a bloody disgrace what those Thais get away with doing. So you all have your little bitch about the place but throw in the odd “my condolences to the victims” and that protects your decent image! Two faced comes to mind.

After all, what kind of person actually likes living in Pattaya?

Open your eyes and take a look, then accept you are the same as those you walk amongst, and try not to kid yourself that you are different.

[jdinasia]

Nah ... I didn't miss the point Mobi .... the percentage of BKK in the entertainment industry ..... vs Patters ... gotta be off by a factor of 10 at least!

I've been there when traffic sucked often ... have been stuck in Jomtien at random hours and in Pattaya Tai as well ... and Suk can screw up ANY time.

Luckily in BKK the only really nasty smells are on the khlongs for the most part ... (hence I don't do water taxis upthe khlongs anymore) But Man ... walking around second road/beach rd/ walking street ... those gutters.storm drains can make you vomit year round!

I haven't felt unsafe in BKK ever ... and CERTAINLY not on the main roads through the tourist sections. <ok I lied ... once I felt unsafe in a taxi ... then it crashed at high-speed and I lived with only scratches ....>

again I like heading to the adult amusement park <Pattaya> but please ... comparing it to BKK? not the same! Let's just take the forum for an example ... 1 jumper/suicide in BKK .... how many in Pattaya? Murders? ummm 2004 we had a floater? Major attacks? etc etc?

[Noel]

There are doubtless many reasons compelling the Pattaya Bashers to spew out their scorn and vent their spleens with such predictable regularity.

As a whole, the Pattaya Bashers are little more than a sad bunch of people who are clearly unhappy with their lot.

No doubt some of them have been badly burned after having been taken for a ride in more ways than one by a bar girl they met in Pattaya. Slagging off Pattaya at every available opportunity obviously gives them comfort as they momentarily blot out the reality of their demise caused by their own stupidity.

These are especially pitiful specimens as there is nothing that can be done to turn back the clock.

Then we have the wannabes who would dearly love to live in Pattaya, but cannot as they do not have a pot to piss in.

Some of these sad souls are destined to the unenviable existence of an impecunious peasant in Baan Bumfu*ck Nowhere. Their bitterness shows as they extol the virtues of their sorry existence in the ‘real’ Thailand as they pour their invective on Pattaya visitors and residents alike.

Many of these protagonists still live in their home country with Mum as they add to the profits of tissue manufacturers: they have never been to Thailand, let alone Pattaya, and never will.

And then of course we have the holier than thou pious pontificating prats who base their ‘knowledge’ of Pattaya on poorly written, ill-informed, sensationalised and often fictional articles published in the gutter press in both Thailand and overseas.

There are doubtless further categories swelling the ranks of the pathetic Pattaya Bashers, the Bangkokian hypocrites being one, but as they are also not worth a wank (illegal in LOS btw), I will leave it there.

Yes, perhaps we should pity the Pattaya Bashers rather than mock them for being as they are, but there again why should we?

The inadequates have made their beds, so let them lie in them…

[DUMPSTER]

Is that another white turd floating by?

Some people will see what they want to see no matter what. I see nothing wrong with pointing out the flaws that some evidently cant see or are unwilling to accept exist. That is not bashing.

Edited May 10, 2006 by DUMPSTER

[ProfessorFart]

Dumpster, seeing as you seem quite the expert on Pattaya's social ills, could you please highlight the problems caused by all of these white turds floating around in Pattaya? Or is your post just more nonsensical ill informed tosh?

[melonf]

Is that another white turd floating by?

Some people will see what they want to see no matter what. I see nothing wrong with pointing out the flaws that some evidently cant see or are unwilling to accept exist. That is not bashing.

Dumpster, From one turd to another,

Do I assume correectly that you may be of a religious persuasion?

I have observed in life that those that occupy the moral highground and berate the chosen life of others, tend to inflict their intolerant views with gleeful intimidation in their heart. Presumably fired by some nonsense religious fervour.

Those that are happy to enjoy life and make their own decisions tend to be truely tolerant of others that do the same.

Enjoying life in Pattaya...

melonf

[DUMPSTER]

So all the the Westerners are living innocently and all the problems in Pattaya are Thai related?

[Chopper]

We could probably debate the pros and cons of Pattaya vs other places in the LOS till the cows come home, and never agree with each other. However, just a couple of points to keep the debate going. (as if it needed them!)

Someone once asked me the question: What are the pros and cons of Pattaya?

My reply was: You have just summed it up it.

[yarpy]

Whilst I too question why they bother I would rather have an open forum with a frank exchange of views than something like the Laddies forum on this board where the resident moderator nazis just sqush anything that doesn't fit their agenda.

Regards,

A white turd.