MrWorldwide

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What are some good hangout spots for socializing? Are these mostly beer bars or is there an "intellectual" or college district? Thanks for the info!

There is a university in Chonburi and you may find the odd Farang who is on your wavelength, but in the main this is just a provincial Thai town with a sex industry based on the ready availability of poorly educated Thais from the Northeast : hardly what your looking for. Central Bangkok sounds a lot closer to what you're after.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_University

'Not so sure thai police authorities won't be taking crimes against Chinese more seriously than crimes against farangs, because the CHINESE authorities take them more seriously than farang authorities... (One of those "things" thais will be learning about their new best buddies...)

Hmmm ....

- Thailand has lived in China's massive shadow for centuries and you dont have to look far to see the impact on Thai culture

- Thailand's ethnic Chinese population is arguably the best integrated of any Chinese minority in SEA

- Thailand's largest export market : China

- Thailand's largest tourist intake : China

I'm guessing they know more about China than anyone on this board - the good, the bad and the ugly. Whether having so many eggs in China's basket is in their best interests longterm remains to be seen, but I doubt that they are running around in Bangkok looking for guidance on how to deal with the Chinese. Japan might have a larger stake in this country in terms of investment, but when was the last time you saw a bus full of Japanese tourists belting down Third Road ?

I've been in Pattaya since 1990 and since 1990 I've been hearing that Pattaya is on its last legs.

Last legs ? No. Major shakeout of the chronic oversupply of businesses which wouldnt even exist in many other cities ? Yes - at least in my completely naive opinion based purely on what I see at various hours of the day in this lowest of 'high' seasons. I'm not trying to predict the collapse of the condo market - although I think there are some serious question marks there - or anything else on that scale : I'll leave that to our other crystal ballers.

If I'm wrong, and there is still a ready supply of Westerners willing to put up the money so their GF has a business in their absence, so be it - I just dont know how many of the years since your arrival in 1990 have been marked by the combination of a strong baht and continued economic uncertainty in Western economies. As I mentioned earlier, if none of this comes to pass I will just be another in a long line of false prophets. FWIW, I believe we'll begin to see bars and restaurants closing by June/July and many wont magically reappear under new management in December - in most cases, it will just be natural attrition in a Disneyland economy where that rule doesnt seem to have applied for many of those 25 years.

@tropo lets not feed the troll - he's clearly having a lot of fun at our expense.

I would have liked to see Burma, Cambo and Laos included as separate options to 'outside Thailand' - plenty on this board living in those countries, and anything thats only an hour's flight from BKK is little different to Udon or CM in the grand scheme of things, particularly if they live in Vientiane. I wouldnt want to have to walk into town from the border crossing but as the crow flies Nong Khai and VT are 'sister cities'.

Not quite time to pop any champagne just yet .... clearly, getting the box with the Fragile symbol is a complete waste of time for the bozos who load and unload packages - no shortage of viral videos showing them being literally thrown from vans etc.

The headphones arrived earlier today. Unfortunately, they arrived broken: one of the earpieces snapped off the yoke connector.

I'm sure all the ex SAS, paras & special forces live in million dollar pool villas [emoji6]

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Nope - met an ex-SBS (and I spent long enough in the Australian Army to know that he was, at the very least, ex British Army) soldier who was basically stuffed, mentally physically and financially. Sad to see someone who served their country in that state, but I suspect a lot of the damage was done after he arrived in Thailand. Still, easy for me to say - never been shot at and the only mates I lost were in vehicle/aircraft accidents.

My laundry is done for less than 150 baht per week and my Wifi is free....I chose to spend my money on coin operated girlfriends and enjoy the view and the food....lol...?

Not sure which section of the hi-so elite at Coconut Bar has been reduced to taking coins, but you seem to have hit the jackpot.

OK - I'll let myself out.

Thanks CharlieH - as others have pointed out, the 18th may not be the most productive day in the history of Thailand's postal / Customs workers either

As with most things, timing is everything - I guess I'll soon find out how understanding my buyers are on that point.

Unless I totally screwed the 'To' address on this package, it would appear that something has gone very wrong in the leadup to Songkran - had a feeling it was a little too good to be true given the feedback from others.

April 6, 2015
13:25:03 PATTAYA Accept April 6, 2015
13:39:53 PATTAYA Items Into Container April 6, 2015
13:40:47 PATTAYA Dispatch April 6, 2015
22:26:04 SI RACHA MAIL CENTER Container Received April 6, 2015
22:35:22 SI RACHA MAIL CENTER Items Into Container April 6, 2015
22:35:25 SI RACHA MAIL CENTER Dispatch April 7, 2015
10:12:36 BANGKOK MAIL CENTER Container Received April 7, 2015
11:04:30 BANGKOK MAIL CENTER Departure From Outward OE April 10, 2015
12:01:22 BANGKOK MAIL CENTER Items Into Container April 10, 2015
13:17:00 BANGKOK MAIL CENTER Dispatch April 11, 2015
16:49:12 SI RACHA MAIL CENTER Container Received April 11, 2015
18:58:23 SI RACHA MAIL CENTER Items Into Container April 11, 2015
18:58:27 SI RACHA MAIL CENTER Dispatch

OK - color me surprised, to say the least ....

It's looking like the packages I posted just before Songkran will be lucky to reach the US/Europe inside the 3 week mark, but this was a relative success story given that I was quoted '1-2 weeks'. Note that USPS provided the tracking in the US - apparently you wont get anything in some countries. Current status is 'Out for Delivery'. The ISC in New York is allegedly a USPS/Customs black hole according to some of the 'experts' on Google, but a lot of the posts read more like trolling efforts than serious feedback - still not encouraging when the status doesnt change for days on end.

I took a lot of other photos yesterday - 97 in all - but it soon becomes clear that it's just more of the same and many indicated they had no interest in seeing more shirtless Farang attacking people with blue PVC pipes so here we are. I was considering a walk around into Soi 8 with my associate, but she was like an 8-year old kid with a pail and some icewater. Someone accused me in another thread of being a miserable old git, and that's pretty much how I felt after 5 or so hours of this repetitive madness. As JLCrab points out in his FAQ, we either embrace it or avoid it, and today I've opted for the latter - on a blazing hot day, minus the icewater and the cannons, I think this could definitely be a blast : sadly, the appeal had worn very thin by nightfall.

Glad I wasnt in this lot trying to get out of Pattaya down Klang ....

Fortunately, the quality of the company made life bearable despite the icewater

Catch you next time, Buckethead !

Sisters were doin' it for themselves (ok - thats lame - just look at the pics ..)

Truth in advertising ?

Tuesday, April 14, ~2pm, Soi 7 Pattaya

Our good friend, Ms Buckethead, was back in the thick of it, sans Union Jack.

Out of all the Farang TV information channels in Pattaya I see none with warnings for Tourists , they should also have warnings on all the baht buses in English , Russian and Chinesse ect. The Chinese tour guides should also inform there customers, that's if the not in on the scam. Information Information is the key to stop these young thugs.

But I do also like the grenade with the sting attached. All jokes aside a Aussie lady lost her life in Phuket as when they get the stap off they also cut her jugular in the process.

Absolutely no way will any of that happen - the last thing the powers-that-be want to do is put any FUD in the minds of prospective tourists. The industry is committed to one thing only - get them on the plane, on the bus and into the hotel : from there its off to pre-approved destinations (ker-ching) for the duration of their stay. Our friend may have strayed from the flock and I expect that IS something the tour guides would warn them against.

walk down any beach in thailand, any day and u will see western women laying their without their tops on.

I used to stop an explain that here in kamala its a moslem town and that this is NOT accepted but just got tired of the insults given back to me

and here's me living in Central Thailand about 300 Ks from any beach, silly Possum.

Yet here we are in the Pattaya forum - what gives ? If it's rural bliss up there, why ruin your day reading about life in the City of Sin ?

i love it, an uproar over the exposure of a breasts in a city full of whores.

What's a holiday without a little moral outrage, even if I agree with Balo that this looks like a hoax.

Depressing enough for the woman to have to pose for the photo, but to publish her age and the fact that she is still a 'Miss' (and will probably remain so for life) seems unduly harsh for mine. I'm guessing the Chinese dont have the same easygoing attitude to a lost passport that the British Embassy here seems to have for travellers trapped at Swampy sans passport (thank you BBC3 and the scatterbrains who got to the airport and realised they had no passport).

@Pheat123, the right old gits dont throw buckets of icewater into the faces of motorbike riders. Ideally, the only people throwing water would be your 10-year old daughter and her friends, but sadly that isnt the case and I could see things starting to get a lot sillier yesterday. Walking back to the apartment afterwards, soaked to the skin, the looks from those who didnt partake (Thai and foreigner alike) were worse than anything I've ever copped coming home with a skinful or LBFM company. As much fun as that first day undeniably is, to go on with it for over a week is lunacy - I'll be doing everything I can to avoid the madness today.

Quoted 350 baht for one of the blue jobbies yesterday - that's roughly the same as the large 'space' style water guns cost at Big C Extra. No question that people are making a lot of money out of this madness but I'm stuffed if I know what people do with their 3-400 baht toy for the rest of the year, particularly tourists. I guess the local kids can expect to be handed a lot of late Xmas presents.

These are only my personal observations and speculation re the fate of some businesses in Pattaya - for those who've been here for decades, it may simply be the natural order of the universe : the unwary buy into a bar or restaurant, lose their shirt and move on. My understanding is that pattern relied on someone else stepping in to snap up a 'bargain' and the cycle beginning anew, but the question I raised right from the start is whether that 'new money' would continue to flow in from foreigners with the world economy in the state it's currently in. Perhaps it will - I dont have a working crystal ball - but I've made my prediction and it's relatively mild compared to the picture painted by the Bangkok Post for Thailand's economy in 2016 in their article on Monday. I dont know if they have a political axe to grind, but it seemed to put into print a lot of the concerns expressed here and elsewhere over the last 10 months. As with any such doomsaying, Thailand has survived a host of disasters and continues to attract foreign investment, so I'll return you to your regular programming.

Thanks for the piccies. Just reminds me how HAPPY I am not to be in the Thai oven !

OK - assuming you mean you're happy not to be here because this is the hottest time of year. Oddly enough, the afternoons have been mild - too mild for this icewater madness - overcast with a light breeze. A week earlier and I sweated my proverbials off in that same bar but there were lots of shivering Thais, even out in the sun. On a stinking hot day, minus the icewater and the high-pressure cannons, I imagine Songkran (or at least a shorter version than Pattaya is subjected to) makes a lot more sense.

Saw hundreds of people who clearly hadnt been threatened by a single drop in and around Tops Market and things looked completely normal by the time I got back to Third Road, but there was water at the front of every bar I passed. By the second day a lot of the novelty had worn off for me but it was clear that some of the people there just couldnt get enough - not hard to see why another 5 days of this would annoy the living sheeit out of many locals. I wasnt impressed with the fact that several in the bars kept going well after the sun had gone down - supposedly the signal to give it a rest - but I had forewarning courtesy of the FAQ.