newnative

At this point in my life, continued good health and vitality.

Unhinged.

Daniel Burnham: "Make no little plans . . ."

Yaa

You keep quoting this decline in western tourists over and over again any time this subject comes up and it is simply not true, and certainly not for a 'decade'. From 2015 to 2019, the only 'western' country that had a very slight decline in tourists to Thailand was Australia. All the other western countries tracked, including the UK, were up in numbers during that period. Some slightly, some more. UK was up about 5% for that period. The western tourist numbers likely are way down for the past few years as countries are still recovering from covid, but pre-covid, not the case. https://www.thaiwebsites.com/tourists-nationalities-Thailand.asp

That whole area is being redeveloped. The new Akara Hotel just opened. Close by to it a 2-building highrise project will be going up--Once Wongamat, a second project to the first, Once Pattaya. All the one-story older stuff from there to the circle and around past the old Best has been boarded up and some of it has started to be torn down. Will be interesting to see what else new will be going into those spaces. Closer to the beach, Centre Point 3 is slated for a huge tract of land in front of Cape Dara and Wyndham Grand, another big highrise project, is planned for just down the street. Both joining Arom Wongamat, nearing completion. Centara Grand Resort has started what looks to be extensive renovations.

Spouse and I have lived in both. Of the two, we liked Wongamat more, but Jomtien checks a lot of boxes, too. We liked Wongamat for being close to T21, Central Festival, Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, Big C at Marina, Home Pro, Index, and Boonthavorn, among other stores. We're in a house on the Darkside now near Lake Mabprachan and we're liking it the best of all.

Yaa!

Anybody who could possibly think the world was safer when Trump was in charge goes into the 'dumb' column.

You can't possibly be that naive. As others have said, it won't matter how individual jurors voted; they will all be targeted if a guilty verdict is rendered. Trump and his followers have shown far too many times that they have no respect for laws.

Can we have an actual gag in his mouth? Pretty please, pretty please.

Hate to say it but . . . dumb blonde. Surprised she was ever considered PM material and even more surprised she lasted a whole 50 days.

He's right. No matter what happens in court, the movement, with whatever name, will just get stronger.

Must have rounded them up and dropped them off in Pattaya.

Yes, of course, if foreign quota is still available a condo held in Thai name can be purchased in foreign quota. I think you will find, though, that in places like Pattaya with high concentrations of foreigners, a number of the most desirable condo projects popular with foreigners no longer have foreign quota available. So, the 'scenario' comes into play fairly often here. The situation can be different in other areas, including Bangkok. When my spouse and I bought our Bangkok condo it was in a very desirable center city project steps away from an MRT station. But, its location and quality also appealed to plenty of Thai buyers, as well, and when we bought the re-sale in 2019 there was lots of foreign quota still available. Since the project opened in 2013 and there was still FQ available in abundance in 2019, this project will likely not run out of FQ anytime soon.

Totally agree. It drags on way too long. In my opinion, it should be confined to designated streets, for designated times of the day. Those who aren't interested have the option of avoiding those streets during those hours.

The advantage, as others have said, is a foreign quota condo can be easier to sell down the road than one in Thai or company name, if foreign quota is full in the condo project. This is more of a factor in places in Thailand, such as Pattaya, with higher concentrations of foreigners. Many foreign buyers want to buy a condo only in foreign quota as it allows them to have the condo title in their name. Speaking from experience, my Thai spouse and I have owned two condos at different projects that were bought in Thai name when foreign quota was full. One would have sold much faster when we went to sell it had it been in foreign quota--we had a number of buyers who told us they would have bought the condo if it was in foreign quota. The other condo was in such a sought-after project that we were able to sell it more easily to a Thai/farang couple who kept the condo in Thai name.

Supposedly, one of the reasons for having the foreign quota limited to 49% was to keep Thai owners in control of a condo project. However, there is no requirement that a project's governing condo board must have a majority of Thai owners. At the last condo project that I owned at, the condo board had a majority of foreign board members; if I remember correctly, there were only one or two Thais on the board. So, the foreign owners were in charge at that project.

And, the correct view, in my opinion.

I chose Nitan because it is different from any other coffee shop I have been to in Pattaya. I should add that my spouse and I don't go to coffee shops that often. We will sometimes grab coffee on the run at 7-11, Amazon, or small counter coffee places at the mall, etc., but we don't normally seek out a coffee shop to hang out at. What makes Nitan different is, first, it's huge. The free-standing building is quite large and the coffee shop covers two floors, with a large open air double height space in the center. There's a space for live musical entertainment. It looked like a lot of thought went into the design. A variety of beverages and food available, including bakery and dessert items. Nitan would, in my opinion, rank as a destination spot--a place offering something so different from the ordinary that you specifically choose to go there. A not-very-good photo showing just part of the large, interesting interior but it might give you some idea of why I chose it.

Nitan on Sukhumvit.

Should be deported immediately, if not sooner. On the plus side, not Pattaya.

Totally missed my point. I was referring to large numbers of people believing Trump's lies, especially his Big Lie that the 2020 election was 'stolen' from him, rather than accepting the truth.

How would you know it's the highest? With the horrible smog it likely disappeared after a few feet.

Lived 30 years too long. Good riddance. How any thinking person could ever think he was innocent of the double murders is beyond me. Seeing the same thing with Trump.