Dogbreath

In answer to the OP's question, yes it is worth it. It's worth it to those who stand to benefit financially from the construction of the project. There will be lots of money spread around and fortunes will be made. For the citizens of Pattaya and the visitors it will largely be a huge pain in the posterior. Much like the endless construction of Thappraya Rd and by extension, Jomtien Second Rd which took forever to complete and which immediately fell into a state of ongoing disrepair resulting in the continued filling of rice bowls for all parties connected to the project . It;s the Thai way.

And I bet it was too much Viagra. It is hard for a 68 years old chap to keep pace with the young wife and this is the outcome.

Codswallop. Speak for yourself.

Another "quality tourist" comes to grief in Pattaya. Good grief. What next ? /sarc

What a disappointing ending. IMHO society would be favoured if these scum bags "blow" each other away

What I'm disappointed about is that the national police chiefs (over several decades) have not sacked a succession of local police chiefs in Phuket and Pattaya and more for failing to fix this once and for all.

Thirty years at least and still just pussy footing around. Why?

One word. Money.

From the crazy quilt building patterns I have seen, one would get the idea that there is no zoning or planning at all, especially in Pattaya. It seems more a function of who you know that will give you a pass to build whatever you like on your land. There is a gigantic eight story condo project on Thepprasit Soi 9 in Jomtien that has virtually no setback from the road. The first floor balconies look so close to the road that if a resident was to rest his elbow on the railing it may get hit by a passing vehicle.. Also not taken into account is the amount of traffic this project of a few thousand condos and an even larger one just down the road will bring to this soi that is barely 10m wide with no way to widen it. Pure lunacy, but then, it's all about the money, isn't it?

One big thing here is the southern insurgency. I'm not sure how much it contributes to this but it skews the average a lot.

the southern insurgency does not equal one night in south central Los Angeles.

Or Detroit, Chcago, New Orleans, St. Louis or any of the other Democrat run crapholes in the US where gangbangers kill each other and a few white folks just for sport. Those cities have some of the toughest gun control laws in the country, but if you took them out of the statistics from the FBI, the US would be near the bottom in the world for gun deaths. Interestingly enough, the cities and states with concealed carry laws have a gun crime rate of less than half of the jurisdictions with tight gun control.

I have owned firearms for over 60 years and never found it necessary to shoot anyone, nor did any of the many guns I own decide to go out one night and gun somebody down. They are tools and only as dangerous as the person holding them.

It's a cultural problem more than anything. That and a lack of respect for others and contempt for the rule of law. In that respect, Bangkok and other large cities in Thailand are no different than Chicago or East LA.

Judging from the condition of the top of the concrete barrier, the Honda is not the first car over the wall in that location. Bad drivers and dangerous roads make for likely accidents. I have driven over the mountain from Pattaya to Korat and back many times and there is ALWAYS at least one moron who drives as if he is on a racecourse. Darwin's theory gets a good workout on these roads.

The very large Fascino store is on Pattaya Nua between Second Rd and Third Rd on the south side of the road. Large sign. Hard to miss.

There is a second much smaller Fascino on Pattaya Tai near the Wat Chai market close to Second Rd.

Study the classic car market closely. Borrow 300k from the bank and buy two or three cars, For example .... 308/328 Ferrari, E-type Jaguar, Porsche 993 Turbo etc. Pay the bank back the $2000 a month you would save and watch these three cars outstrip any other investment.

While I don't disagree classic cars usually increase in value, the risks are not stated.

1/ Risk of buying a lemon classic.

2/ Risk of lack of diversification.

3/ Risk of the bank calling in the loan with no notice. Yes, it has happened.

Agreed. I have a half dozen or so friends who are experienced long time collectors of automobiles and they have done very well over the years. Their knowledge of cars and the collecting business is encyclopedic. They very rarely ever borrow to buy and if they do, it's in order to turn a quick profit on the right car found in the wrong place. Their nest eggs were in place before they started and they absolutely knew their market. Great hobby, but not an ideal retirement plan if you value any degree of certainty

The consensus is to build a diversified portfolio of stocks over a 15 year period. Absolutely do not forget to put as much of the money as you are allowed into whatever tax deferred or tax free retirement account that you country of origin permits. This is very important. Otherwise the tax man will nibble away at your efforts with an unceasing and ever larger apetitie.

If I were to embark on a program such as this, first I would determine all the avenues I could pursue to avoid taxes while the nest egg is growing. Then I would choose the particular investments to place into these investment vehicles that protect my assets from taxes. In your case, I would start with a highly regarded no-load (no commission) mutual fund with a good track record covering many years. These can be bought directly or through major investment dealers wordwide. The biggest and best fund groups in the US are Vanguard, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price. If you are a US citizen it's a no -brainer to get started.. If you need a more neutral adviser, Charles Schwab & Co can help you pick different funds from different groups at no charge to you.

Feel free to PM me if you would like more information. I am retired with 20 years experience in the investment business and have no axe to grind.

Good luck.

I think that if you choose to ask and take advice for a matter like this on a forum like this then there is little hope for you.

Get some professional advice from outside Thailand.

There is a fair sized population of high net worth expats living in Thailand. They did not get their money by being stupid or careless. Input from any could be quite beneficial. Your snarky post is not helpful to someone seeking help in building a nest egg.

Whatever became of that "crackdown" on crazed mini van drivers trumpeted a few months back?

Like all "crackdowns" in Thailand it's just window dressing. Appearances are everything and reality is to be denied. I believe the Thai phrase is "phut maak tam noi".

This is a windup. Right ? I carefully copied the address in the article onto my browser and got the following message:

HTTP Error 400. The request hostname is invalid.

I don't know what I was expecting. This is, after all, Thailand.

The other amazing attribute of Thai drivers is their lack of spatial awareness. Going down a narrow soi where they have to pass other cars, they will stop halfway through. They have not hit anything on either side, so it's clear they can proceed, but they stop dead in the road and will not move until someone else does despite the fact that there is fully one half to a full meter between them and the nearest object. The only place this does not seem to apply is on the motorway at the toll gates.

Thai driver skills in general are pretty awful. Is this just another example of Thainess ?

My stepson has recently brought home an English text book from school for study. To my great surprise it is written in true English, not American. Americans masquerade by calling very many text books English when they are not written in English at all but American which is a bastardised version of the language much like pigeon English. If Americans want to produce language books please name them for what they are. They are not English but American. Both pronunciation and spelling are different. This is always going to be a problem for people trying to learn the language.

ASEAN have declared their official language to be English. I wonder if it really will be.

Born and educated in North America (USA) I have never had a problem communicating precisely with any native English speaker be they English, Irish, Scotch, Australian, or Canadian. Same goes for any Scandinavian or European, South American or Asian with the possible exception of some Indians, who learned English as a second language. Americans and English speak the same language regional dialects accents and idioms notwithstanding. BTW it's "pidgin English".

More intolerance from the same groups that beat the drums about diversity and tolerance. It's only diverse if they say it is and tolerance is not extended to anyone with a whiff of conservativism about them. These Leftist fools are in for a rude awakening next November.

BANGKOK: -- Promotion of green tea and soft drinks is now eyed by the Department of Health for banning after considering their high levels of sugar that is harmful to health, particularly children and adults.

Another genius lead in from Thai Visa. "harmful to health, particularly children and adults." Is there another category of human that they have not told us about?

Thepprasit Rd. Pattaya 5PM today. Traffic halted or diverted in each direction. Screaming sirens everywhere. The first vehicle is a RTP Camry doing at least 120kph followed by more Camrys and and MC cops then a half dozen big Mercs all hauling ass with those followed by a fleet of RTP Camrys. Cops at the corner of every soi holding up the poor Thai commuters so Chief Assistant Deputy to the Fifth Keeper of the Hounds isn't late for cocktails and happy hour.

No different in the States. Where I used to live, once or twice a year the President or Vice President would come to play golf at one of the area's toney enclaves, stopping traffic and inconveniencing us peasants no end. All so the self-importatnt bastards could play golf and sniff the <deleted> of famous golfers.

It is said that rank hath its privilege, but in Thailand it becomes a circus more often than not. Just another way for the HI-Sos to rub the peasants nose in it some more.

No matter where you go on earth, the upper crust is going to stick it to you as hard and often as they can.

One of the reasons I love living in the country as far away from them as I can.

!00 Baht fine and send him on his way. tThere is very little justice in LOS. Karma? Well, that's another story. This turd has earned a boatload of karma. All bad.

Years ago, I bought a BMW 325i convertible for my wife. It started to run badly and then there was a gasoline smell. Then it died. I took it to my BMW certified mechanic friend who ended up replacing all fuel line components with stainless steel and solvent resistant O rings and washers. My wife was burning gasohol exclusively "because it's better for the environment". I paid that bill with the caution that her next environmental gesture would come from her pocket not mine. Never had a problem again.

My Yamaha Nuovo 135cc runs OK on 91 or 95 gasohol, but runs far better on 95 straight gasoline. No rough idle, starts easier and better mileage which mitigates some of the extra cost. Gasohol is a scam put over on the public by agribusiness and government. One of the reasons food prices have risen so much. 40% of the US corn crop has been diverted to manufacturing ethanol instead of feeding livestock and people and is subsidized by the "greenies" in government. It's all BS, just like global warming and climate change. Us peasants end up paying the freight on these politically motivated boondoggles. Thailand is no different in that it's just following the lead of other greenies as a gesture. LOS ought to start by picking up all the roadside trash and educating the populace about turning a paradise into a trash pit. But that's a discussion for another forum.

Either airport you choose, hop in a cab. In the 1600 baht range from DM. Easy peasy

Last week the cab ride from DM to Pattaya was quoted 2400-2600 by the touts inside the airport. Found a gypsy cab for 1600 including tolls.

A solution has been offered. Call 1111 today and let us know the outcome.

5555555555555555555555555555555555555

" ... and I know the whole neighborhood would be on aboard." You might think so, but if the whole neighborhood felt the same way, why has no one else reported the problem. I'm sure there are MANY who are closer to the nightclub than you, and it would seem logical that the noise is much louder for them.

For one you do not know what others did and may well have complained.

Many Thai simply do not know where to complain or what to do.

Calling city hall is useless , because city hall sends out a car to check it out , who ever comes out gets a " gift" and all forgotten.

Once orders come from Bangkok , 1111 matter gets taken very serious and either club gets shut down or music volume turned down

1111 is a joke. I had with a similar situation where karaoke and beer bars would sprout up in the area and stay open all night with their drunken howling sometimes until 0700 or later. Problem was, the place was owned by a Pattaya cop. No matter who you talked to at City Hall, or 1111 with my farang and Thai neighbors all calling.,nothing was ever done. I finally moved to a quiet fully developed area with no bars or clubs within a mile. Lovely quiet. Cost me a lot of money and sleepless nights but it was worth it. It's a loser any way you slice it. You can give "gifts" to a BIB and you may get a temporary reprieve, but like a cancer, it always comes back. It's all down to who has the most money and influence. We, as visitors here in LOS have negligible influence unless you are married to the sister or daughter of a powerful political figure, forget about it. My Thai wife was never bothered by all the racket and the bass that made our bedroom wall act like a drumhead., so don't expect your Thai neighbors to give a damn about your situation. Take the hit and find a quiet spot without bars or karaoke anywhere near you. My 2c

i thought if you read it on the internet it was correct…..

so stopped to sell the SH150 does that mean that they no longer sell it here or something else

It's all part of the same Thai retail help school training: "Mai mee" "no hap", "Finit". In the more sophisticated shops the use: "stop to sell".

What it means is: "go away farang. I not speak barbarian english" The Thais are going to get their asses kicked when ASEAN becomes a reality. Their English skills rank near the bottom in every study. Thai xenophobia is going to cost them billions.