newnative

You're both correct. In 2019, Chinese were the number 1 spenders per day by country, but not individually. You are correct that the biggest spenders per head were not the Chinese. Those from the Middle East, if I remember correctly, spent the most per tourist but their tourist numbers were small. If you're Thailand, do you want 10 million Chinese spending 40 some thousand baht each a day or a couple hundred thousand tourists from the Middle East spending 70 some thousand baht each a day? I should think Thailand wants both, but likely has a more enthusiastic wave for the Chinese.

My partner and I used to live at Northshore--probably not a huge distance from wherever you are. Soi 6 was a block down the street. Did that bother us? No. Never went there. Same for Walking Street, Soi Buakhao, or any other party areas. Not our interest, we just avoided them, they never were a problem. Had no problems walking the beach and the promenade--but, not out walking at 2am, either. We were out mornings before it got hot and evenings around sunset. Lots of regular people out and about then, too. Instead of going to Walking Street, we went to Terminal 21, Big C Central Marina, Central Festival, seafood restaurants in Naklua and Wong Amat. And, other restaurants we liked scattered all around the city--some in Jomtien, some in Pratamnak, some in Cosy Beach. Frequent shoppers at Index, Home Pro, Chic Republic, Boonthavorn, etc. Liked to hunt out interesting small shops. Went about our normal lives. We are now living on the Darkside in a pool villa. Pattaya is an easy ride into town on the Motorway--we are enjoying the much less congested traffic. We didn't leave because of the nightlife; we just decided we wanted to try something new--living in a house rather than a condo, something we could not afford in the area of the US where we lived. If you feel you are being overwhelmed by the nightlife where you are, you might try a change of scenery--either in your living place or where you choose to spend your time when you leave your condo.

Yes, turn the heat up on this--way up. Gross incompetence all around from the get-go.

Probably lots of pushback from everywhere. Bad decision to cancel in the first place so close to the event. Very poor judgment. Hope they learned a lesson.

Pattaya is huge. There are many other places to go. Try them, instead.

You're no longer 'clueless'. We've clued you in. Renting condos for less than a month is illegal in Thailand. You're breaking the law. Condo owners living in their condo residences don't want you--as you can see by all the responses you have gotten. So, stay legal and book at a hotel.

Condo rentals of less than 30 days are illegal in Thailand. For good reason. Stay legal at a hotel, instead. Have some respect for owners living in their condos as their residence. They don't want a parade of daily renters moving in and out all the time and often showing no respect or knowledge of condo rules and often demanding hotel services from condo staff, which is not their job.

Yes, it's a big problem for some condo projects, especially many of the newer ones. It drove us out of 2 different new condo projects where we lived. The last condo we owned was in an older project with fewer but much larger units than typically found in the new projects. The illegal daily renters were not much of a problem. Some projects are making efforts. I recently heard that one of the big, newer projects in Pattaya--over-run with daily renters using it as a hotel--was switching to facial recognition for entry into the condo. Done properly, something like that might help stem the problem.

OP, if you have read the responses you'll see there is a wide variety of opinion regarding locations to live in Pattaya--there's a lot of choice in housing types, pricing, and neighborhoods. Your lifestyle will help determine what area might be best for you. Some like to be right where the action is, others prefer quieter areas. So nice there is so much choice here. It's all up to you. In the 12 years my partner and I have lived here, we have hopscotched about all over Pattaya--from South Jomtien to Central Jomtien to Pratamnuk, to South Pattaya to North Pattaya and to Wong Amat. We are now in a pool villa on the Darkside and liking it here. Beachside, I think we liked Wong Amat best for its location not far from Terminal 21, Big C Marina, Central Festival, restaurants, movie theaters, Index, Home Pro, and hospitals. North Pattaya was getting a little too busy and congested for us but it's also a nice area. Hipflat is a good source to search and it allows you to search specific areas, such as Central Pattaya. The project listings give you some information about the condo project, usually with photos. Click on 'Condo Projects', then 'Pattaya'. A list of 'districts' comes up and you can start your search from there. Good luck and welcome to Pattaya.

And condo stays of less than 30 days are illegal in Thailand, as they should be.

Yes, ban him from holding any office in the future. And, jail time would be nice.

And, judging by how busy Pattaya has been it's likely many are finding their way here.

Doesn't look like he's on his death bed to me. On the contrary, looks like he's ready for his next murder.

Get cracking, America!

Totally agree. And, we're only at around 11 million international visitors. What's it going to be like when we get back to 20 million, or 40 million?

Works for me if he's gagged and kept in a straight jacket the whole time.

Yes, and that's not enough in my book for killing so many. He should have died in prison without one day of freedom after ending so many young lives.

Nuttier every day. Maybe he doesn't need the Big House but the Nut House, instead.

My thoughts exactly. Makes absolutely no sense to allow some NYE events and not others and very irresponsible to cancel so close to the event with many people having planned trips to Pattaya and booked hotel rooms.

Where were the actual trained rescue military in all this? Seems the rescue effort by trained rescue military was too little, too late.

And, rightly 'slammed' as the whole sorry mess was a total cock-up--from going out to sea in an un-seaworthy ship, to not managing the ship crisis when it happened, to not notifying rescue vessels soon enough of the crisis, to not getting the sailors off the ship even though there was ample time, to not having enough life jackets, and likely enough life rafts for everyone (but styrofoam boxes on hand, thank goodness), to a very poor and slow effort to rescue the sailors by the other armed services. Army chiming in days later that it was putting itself on 'stand-by' to assist in the rescue. Don't bother; the chance to save the sailors was days ago. Total train wreck, or, I guess I should say ship wreck.

Actually, I think it's hit or miss with the airlines. My partner and I just took 4 international flights this month on our trip to Europe, all with the same airline, Emirates. On 3 of the flights, masks were not mentioned or required. On the 4th flight, masks were handed out to the passengers as we boarded and we were asked to wear them at all times when we were not eating. There were periodic reminders during the flight. In our section it looked like most passengers were complying.

If you want to ride a public transport, you have to obey the transport's rules. It's really as simple as that. If you don't want to wear a mask, hire a private car with a driver who is ok with you not wearing a mask.

Since he likely killed 20 people I think he qualifies. He was only convicted for 2. He should have been tried for at least some of the other murders.

Appalling this horrible monster is being let out of prison after killing many more than just the 2 people he was convicted of killing. Also appalling that a 'life sentence' is only 19 years in Nepal. If that's the case, the judge should have rulds that the sentences be served consecutively.