newnative

As always, 'satisfied'.

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If outbound Chinese are being tested, how did a plane land in Italy with 52% of the Chinese passengers infected with covid?

I think there is lots of non 'sex businesses' development going on but most of it is not in your area, which makes sense when you think about it. Some of it is quite visible in the north Pattaya Beach area, and the rest scattered around in many places all over greater Pattaya. In recent years we've seen Terminal 21 and a number of nice, new hotels come to town. Centre Point Space is a new, major addition for Pattaya and very family-oriented. Two large new water parks outside of town. Legend Siam. Dolphinarium. Flowerland. Tiger Park. New attractions at Nong Nooch Gardens. New golf courses and some new parks. We sometimes forget the beautiful, family-oriented resorts like Centara tucked away on the beach in Wong Amat. Lots of new condo projects and nice housing estates going in all over. New retail, both large and small, popping up everywhere. Visited the new BYD car dealership a week or so ago. Didn't even know it was there until we happened to drive by. When did that go in, my partner and I asked. Always something new. Pattaya is growing--and thriving. More is on the way with Icon Siam being developed. If it happens, the massive Aquatique, along with a number of new hotels, will be a huge addition to Pattaya Beach. Lots of old and decrepit has recently been leveled--note sometime the huge, now cleared plot next to Marina--in preparation for something new to be built. The new motorway extension is really going to have a big impact on the future development to the south of Pattaya, as we are already seeing. My partner and I have been here since 2010 and have witnessed a lot of this new development. We used to live at Centric Sea and we would go up to the 45th floor, where you can look out in all 4 directions. It was fun to point out so many large projects that were not there when we first arrived. That's new! That wasn't there! That's new! That used to be____. Literally hundreds of new, big projects., in every direction we looked, that didn't exist in 2010. I believe Pattaya is changing in a positive way--except for lots of traffic issues tied to all this growth.

Browsing thru Yahoo this morning and just saw an article stating that almost half of the Chinese passengers on 2 flights from China to Italy tested positive for covid, prompting Italy to impose mandatory covid tests. Thailand may need to re-think its policy and do the same--it's likely to get far more Chinese visitors than Italy.

This is simply incorrect. Read the posts and maybe learn something. Or, back up your statement with actual, hard, verifiable data.

You might be surprised to learn--as I did--that the majority of Chinese tourists in 2019 were traveling independently on their own, staying, eating, and visiting wherever they wanted, and not in tour groups, budget or otherwise. Regardless, whether in a group or not, they were spending more per day in Thailand than tourists from any other country. As previously stated, their individual spending was less--in the 40,000 baht a day range vs. Europeans in the high 60,000 baht range. But, there were far more of them at nearly 11 million. To say 'it won't make much difference whether they come or not' is absurd.

Real plastic.

True, Europe brings in more than the ASEAN countries. But, Asia, including ASEAN but not China, brings in more than China or Europe. Asia, even without China, is number 1, followed by China. When you include China with Asia numbers, the revenue is overwhelming more than Europe--and even with Europe and the Americas combined.

I don't miss winter.

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?