newnative

My thought, too--a lot of BS. Thai retirement visa hasn't changed for me in 10 years except I now need health insurance, which I have anyway. The dual pricing thing supposedly being a big issue is a total joke--I can't remember the last time I paid more for something than a Thai, and it certainly would not factor in when I was thinking where I want to live. Ridiculous--oh, dear, I have to pay an extra 100 baht to visit the park! How dare they! I'm outta here! And, as others have mentioned, the article conveniently left out the fact that Vietnam has no retirement visa. Umm, that's sort of important to retirees.

Right, and walkable streets with lots of interesting shops along the street is not one of Pattaya's strong points. Spouse and I could have done more walking than we did when we lived at Centric Sea and Northshore--but we ended up driving most of the time when we were going somewhere as we were usually buying stuff--and it's hot! Let's not forget that! We did walk to Festival and T21 a number of times, and sometimes we'd walk the promenade in the evening around sunset, but we do like our comfortable car with AC.

Nailed it. You can easily live a very good life in Pattaya without ever setting foot on any of the streets you mentioned, which are also such a small part of greater Pattaya. In 15 years, I walked on Walking Street once, never on Soi 6--although we did cut through it a few times by car to get to Beach Road when we lived at Centric Sea. Went to Soi Buakhao a few times years ago to go to the Canterbury used book store, now I download all the books I want to read for free so no need to ever go back to that street.

Everyone says the Indian problem is nothing because the Indian problem is nothing, at least for year-round residents here living their normal lives. As I said in another post, a resident year-round lifestyle is normally quite different from what a short-time visiting tourist would be doing--and where. The last time I can remember my spouse and I having any interaction with any Indian was when we bought fabric maybe 6 or 8 months ago at the fabric store near Tukcom, run by Indians. Sure, you see them, and lots of other nationalities, when you're walking around the mall or at one of the big grocery stores near the tourist areas but that's to be expected when you live in a city popular with tourists. Yes, we see them out on the streets doing their 3 and 4 abreast walking if we are driving in the south Pattaya area. No big deal--we're in a tourist area. We also see them, and tourists from other countries, when we are out and about in Bangkok when we are at our Bangkok condo, and also have no interaction with them there, either. Again, no big deal. Ditto for Russians, Chinese, and the occasional blue Martian.

From your post, it seems you are still experiencing Pattaya as a tourist, rather than as someone who lives here year-round. As residents living on the Darkside, spouse and I are living normal, non-tourist lives, doing normal, non-tourist everyday things. Our resident lifestyle never brings us into much interaction with tourists, other than the ones we see walking around in the malls, big box stores, hospital, restaurants, etc. Being residents, we go in our car to Terminal 21, Central Festival, Home Pro, Index, Boonthavorn, Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, Lotus's, Big C, car dealership, etc., as needed and we park in the parking garages, go into the mall, store, hospital, etc., do what we came for, get back in the car, and either go back home or go somewhere else and do the same thing--perhaps we'll stop at a freestanding restaurant, or so on. We're not walking around outside of Festival or T21 in the heat gawking at the ocean and we're not interacting with the tourists hanging around outside those areas. This, I might add, is pretty much what we did in the US. Get in the car, drive to the mall, do shopping, see a movie, eat at a restaurant, get back in the car, and go home. This is also exactly what we did when we lived in town, whether it was at Lumpini Park Beach condo in south Jomtien, Garden Cliff condo in Wongamat in the north, or Northshore condo right on Pattaya Beach. We did occasionally walk the beach promenade when we lived at Northshore and never had any problems with anyone--but the north part of the beach walking north is nicer than the part close to Festival and further south--at least it was when we lived there several years ago. As a resident, you learn these things. On the Darkside, we take walks around our housing project and there's the big trail around Mabprachan Lake, and also another park nearby for us to use. Spouse goes to a local badminton facility. We also have our home gym and pool to help us keep fit. When we meet friends to socialize we'll meet at their house or ours or we'll arrange to meet at a restaurant somewhere, either at one of the malls or a freestanding restaurant like View Ang. Again, not a lot of interaction with the tourists, other than those that might also be dining if we are at a restaurant. Checked my phone and from my house on the Darkside Google tells me it's 1 hour and 20 minutes to Suvarnabhumi at this time of the day. Not bad, I think, and not a single traffic light along the way. You didn't mention what private schools you checked but I doubt all the 18 Pattaya has are massive, although we don't have kids and I admit I don't know that much about them. I did check that Rugby has 1200 students--but that does cover kindergarten thru high school, so I don't think each grade would be super large. Just my take as a resident on some of your observations. And now on to my day. Good luck wherever you end up.

Actually, the 'sex capital aspect' was one of the reasons why we hesitated to choose Pattaya in the first place, in December 2009. We thought we'd steer clear. Instead, we lived in Rayong for about a year when we first moved to Thailand. You're correct that you can get some of the 'stuff' in other places in Thailand. Rayong checked some of our wants and needs boxes, but, ultimately, fell short. Chiang Mai would also check a number of boxes, and we have visited a number of times. But, we have a box to check marked 'beaches', not mountains, and we wouldn't want the pollution problem certain months of the year. Plus, far from Bangkok. Ditto for Phuket checking some of our boxes but spouse and I didn't like it that much when we visited and we want to be closer to Bangkok, where spouse's family lives. Speaking of Bangkok, we like it enough to have a getaway condo there but don't see ourselves living there full-time. Visiting for short periods works better for us--and we like that it's less than a 2-hour drive from Pattaya to center city. Housing is one of our biggest boxes to check and I think it would be difficult to find a big, sprawling 4-bedroom house with pool all on one level in Bangkok to match what we have here--and certainly the price would be much more, and the selection much less. Pattaya checks that box easily, Bangkok doesn't. The Bangkok relatives, all fairly wealthy, live in 2-story cookie cutter boxes in the suburbs, on tiny land plots with no pool--but lots of traffic congestion worse than Pattaya. Not for us. Not mentioned in my earlier post is we also like the large and diverse expat community that Pattaya has, likely one of the biggest in the country. An important box to check for us, perhaps not as important to others. And, that's how it is. When looking for a place to live, everyone will have their list of boxes to be checked off; we have ours. Likely the lists will have some of the same things, but many others that are different. Nothing wrong with that. Whatever floats your boat. For us, and our list, Pattaya simply checks more of our boxes than any other place in Thailand, even though some of those other places have, as you say, some of the same 'stuff'.

Over here, guy. Yep, guilty as charged. My reasons for living here have absolutely nothing to do with the 'girls or nightlife'. And, there are others like me. I live in Pattaya, and chose Pattaya, because I can live here in much the same way as I lived in the USA, doing much the same activities I liked there, but a lot cheaper, with better year-round weather, and in a much nicer living space. In the US, I was living in a 65 sqm 1 bedroom/1 bath condo, now worth about 7.5MB. For not too much more than that, spouse and I built a beautiful 4 bedroom/5 bath pool villa here. Really night and day, the difference, right there. Pattaya has one of the best selections of housing in Thailand, at all price points, both for rent and sale. In the US, I was close to a major city. Ditto here. Close to a major international airport for travel anywhere. Ditto here. Had movie theaters to go to, as I like the movies. Ditto here. Very good shopping in my US town, or nearby. Ditto here, actually even better. Fairly good selection of restaurants in my US town. Again, even better selection here, and much more reasonably priced. Good general health care, eye care, and dental care in my US town. Just as good here in Pattaya, much cheaper, and easier to access. Actually my eye and dental care has been much better here. My US town has a pretty expensive home owners fee--about $900 a year--but it does allow you to swim in the town's pools in the summer months. No town HOA fee here. I have my own pool here, open 24 hours a day year-round, and the charge is just 1500 baht a month for 3 times a week pool service. Bargain! My US town was supposedly fairly safe--but there were neighborhoods I would avoid, especially at night. Of the two towns, I actually feel safer in Pattaya. My US town had some biking and walking trails. When I want to do the same here, I have the paved walking and bike trail around Lake Mabprachan. There was a golf course in my US town. Pattaya has a number of them, too, including one that hosts an LPGA event. Other recreation is fairly similar, although snorkeling around the islands is available here, not in my US town. And, so on, down the lengthy list. Pattaya checks the boxes, for me and many others--which is why it is booming. To make your comment that 'the surrounding area has pretty much nothing' really shows more than anything that you have no idea what you are talking about, as the above poster, Chakatee, has also pointed out. I would throw in some envy, as well.

Absolutely.

I'll go with my take. Note the following from Vixio: One of the most notable aspects of Thailand’s proposed casino regulations is imposing an entry fee for Thai citizens. This entry levy, capped at 5,000 baht (approximately $140) per visit, aims to regulate domestic participation in gambling activities and deter frequent gambling among locals. Foreign visitors, however, are exempt from this fee as the bill prioritizes revenue generation from international tourism. The entry levy for locals aligns with strategies used in countries like Singapore, where locals are required to pay to access casinos, a policy that has proven effective in moderating gambling behavior among residents. (vixio.com)

So, maybe a 30-50% drop on a market that is only 7% of the Middle Eastern market, which also isn't that large. No big deal.

The way I read that, the 5000 baht entrance fee would be for Thais, not foreigners, as part of the 'controlled local access'.

Both of those are good ideas, I think.

Just more endless talk, talk, talk.

Several years ago, spouse and I represented an owner at a Pattaya condo project and attended several AGM meetings for her. The project was having a big problem with delinquent owners and the board, along with a new management company, decided to finally get tough. They first sent a strong letter to the delinquent owners stating they would be taken to court if they did not pay their delinquent fees. Surprisingly, this resulted in a majority of these owners paying up. With the remainder, the project did, indeed, take them to court. If I remember correctly, they filed the cases a few at a time and they did win the cases, although it took some time. We are no longer attending the meetings, but I imagine it is an on-going process, as there are always some delinquent owners. Your project might try something similar, along with the other suggestions regarding shutting off services, keycard access, etc.

It's all just this week's nonsense. TAT's this week's 'Look, Ma, I'm working!'. Anybody with a working brain knows that a huge tourism market like Thailand needs a wide variety of tourists at ALL economic levels to fill all of those tourist rooms that range from 0 stars to 5 stars.

What's it take to actually get fired??? Disgusting he is still drawing a salary.

"Consistency". Uhh, oh.

Very bad idea to expand the entertainment zone. And no, changing the uniforms is not a 'major makeover' for public transportation any way you look at it. The usual teeny tiny thinking from city hall, rather than the bold ideas that are needed to work on the traffic mess. Where are the epanded roads, the added traffic lanes, the intersection overpasses, the public parking garages, the expanded public transportation, etc., etc?

Me, too, never an incident in 15 years.

There's another thread running fairly close to your topic called "Moving a family to Pattaya from Bangkok". I would check the comments there, paying attention to those from posters who actually live in Pattaya and know what they are talking about, as opposed to all the others who are, basically, totally clueless. Paattaya is a large city with many different neighborhoods to choose from. I live here year-round and have no problem--or interaction--with Indians, rowdy tourists, or the nightlife. It's very easy to avoid them.

Translation: I need all those billion dollar government contracts keeping me afloat.

Keep kicking that can down the road.

Very bad idea and I hope it gets shot down, as it should. Total crock that any of the 'license fees'--even if they would ever be collected, very unlikely--would go to benefit the community. They should be going in the other direction--making sure the short-term tourists stay only in hotel-licensed facilities, and not in condo projects, which are registered as condos and not hotels.

Absolute rubbish. You likely have not even encountered the vast majority of the expat population, most of whom are out of sight living in the non-tourist areas, which are both large and many.

Nothing swift about any of this. It's all glacially slow.