newnative

Good for CM. What's his plan for the rest of the country?

I agree. I use mine a lot more than I thought I would. My Thai partner insisted I get one and he did all the work. I initially thought it wasn't worth the trouble but I've since changed my mind. It's come in handy quite a lot, especially when I've needed to show identification and didn't have my passport along. Sometimes I've gotten a discount getting into places using it and have also used it instead of a passport checking into hotels. One time I was able to get onto one of the Sattahip military bases when we were doing a boat trip--I think I would have been turned away in that instance with just a passport.

Another day, another idiot.

The Darkside is the area east of Sukhumvit. It's a large area offering many different housing projects, as well as more rural areas. Lots of choice for about whatever you are looking for in an area outside of town. You are right that there are 'lots of good people too'. My spouse and I have been fortunate to meet and become friends with some of them. Pattaya is a big city with a very diverse population, including lots of expats of all economic strata. There are a number of distinct neighborhoods to choose from, each with its own vibe. My partner and I like the Darkside, although we also enjoyed living in Jomtien, Wong Amat, North Pattaya, and several other parts of town. We like being able to afford to live in a nice pool villa in this part of town and getting to the malls, hospitals, big box retail, etc., is an easy drive on the Motorway from the Lake Mabprachan part of the Darkside. Pattaya has been changing quite a bit in the last half dozen or so years. A number of very nice new hotels have been built, along with Terminal 21, and several water parks and other attractions oriented towards families. This development is continuing, with an Icon Siam on the horizon and a number of other new projects getting started. It now attracts a lot of weekenders from Bangkok. We have no interaction with the bar scene, which is just a small part of greater Pattaya. It's there for those who want it, but also very easy to avoid if you don't. It's no problem to live our ordinary lives, doing our everyday things, and not be in those specific parts of town. We like being in a beach town and we hire a boat and do snorkeling every now and then from Sattahip. We like the now easy drive to Bangkok and the international airport being about 1.5 hours away. Worth a look, I think.

It's as it always is with road work in Pattaya--not good. The southbound roadwork on Sukhumvit by the North Pattaya intersection has blocked several lanes near the exit to the Motorway, making a right turn from North Pattaya much slower and more difficult for traffic. Partner and I were on North Pattaya going east early afternoon on Friday and east-bound traffic was backed up probably to T21 or Dolphin Circle--we sat for a long time and we were stopped at the Banchak gas station so I know it backed up a lot behind where we were during all that time we were not moving. I would avoid that area Friday afternoons thru the weekend. Going north on Sukhumvit past the North Pattaya intersection there is also roadwork, in the median area of the road, also blocking a lane. This roadwork isn't as bad for traffic as the above work, at least at the times we have been on it during the day.

Agree. Lots of good options on the Darkside of Pattaya, including a variety of housing choices, at all price points.

Totally agree. I don't know even one retiree who has ever filed a tax return here. I think a big majority of the posters who have filed returns have worked here at some point, even if they now might be retired, a different breed from those of us who came here as retirees from the get-go.

Not to mention that the Seal just looks so much better, both inside and out. Sat in one the other day at the Pattaya BYD dealership. Beautiful car. The Tesla models all look the same to me except for the ugly truck--I couldn't tell a '3' from a 'Y'.

Years ago my spouse and I saw a model at City Hall that showed two other underpasses besides the one that was built. One went under North Pattaya and a longer one went under South Pattaya and Thepprasit. All three should have been built; I don't know why the other two were not, or if they will ever get done, or overpasses, instead.

I see. Thank you.

I don't mean to be facetious but why is this illegal? The bank seems to have a whole process in place for this and it didn't seem like they were doing anythng special or unusual for us to have access to the other's account. We also have a joint savings account with SCB that has both of our names on the account's bank book, my Thai partner's in Thai and mine in English. With that account we actually have 3 bank books, the one I just mentioned and one each with only our individual names. Although I said 'spouse' in my first post we are a gay couple and only legally married in the US, if that makes any difference.

The condo clearly owns and has the responsibility to maintain the exterior walls, roof, balcony railings, etc. of a condo project. This includes painting the exterior of the building when needed. It becomes more of a gray area when the two side walls, floor, and ceiling of a condo's balcony are considered. If you look up at View Talay 3, for example, you will see that some owners have changed the ceilings of their balconies, from the standard white particleboard to brown stained wood. Some have added extra balcony ceiling lights. Over at Jomtien Complex, some owners have glassed in or screened in their balconies, using different kinds of enclosure styles, colors, and patterns. If you look at Metro condo, you will see balcony railings of 2 or 3 different colors--or at least that was the case last time I was there. When my spouse and I owned a condo at Northshore, as part of the renovation we added a custom balcony clothes dryer cabinet, and during the renovation process the 2 balcony side walls were painted white. It was only later, when we were driving on Beach Road and I looked up at the condo, that I realized that the other balcony walls were not white but the tan/mauve color of the building. Whether the owners were within their rights, or not, with the above examples, depends on the condo project's rules and regulations. In the case of the OP, I think he needs to check the condo's bylaws, which, if properly written, should clearly spell out what is allowed, and not allowed, in regard to a condo's balcony, windows, etc.

My spouse and I have several bank accounts that are in our individual names but we can each access the funds in the other's account should one of us die or be incapacitated. The banks have our signatures on file for these accounts.

As long as everything is torn up why not start doing the overpasses over the major intersections like they have been doing to the south on Sukhumvit. Keep going with the project working north.

Hugely embarrassing for the government for the court to step in--if the government was capable of embarrassment. Massive effort needs to be done, but likely won't. Blame will be placed on other countries but here on the Darkside of Pattaya almost every evening I smell smoke from local fires, not adjacent countries.

From the article, some fines for polluters and forming a committee to study the pollution problem. Great, another committee. Didn't see anything that would actually work towards reducing the pollution. Kick that can down the road . . .

Good . . . but not good that the sentence only got increased because of massive bad publicity--which is usually the case, unfortunately.

I'm all for getting rid of them. We have about 6 or more stray dogs near where we live on the Darkside. Thai spouse finally got the municipality on the horn and they agreed to come pick them up, give them shots, neuter them, etc. However, then they said they would return them to our soi! We said NO, we don't want them, nobody owns them, but here they all are back again.

Not only should all the fares be economical but the trains all need extra cars added. They are very over-crowded, sometimes even during non-rush hours. The whole object should be to make public transportation fast, comfortable and affordable. If one has to wait a long period for several trains in order to get onto an expensive, crowded, uncomfortable train, all three objectives have been lost.

Disgusting.

Nonsense--there are plenty of 'those around'. Every seaview condo has low floors--so even if you are facing directly west and are beachfront you will see some beach from the lower floors. Many of the condo projects with seaviews, such as the VTs, Lumpini Park Beach, Ananya, Lumpini Seaview, Copacabana, Northshore, The Edge, Jomtien Beach, Markland, Unixx, Wongamat Tower, The Base, etc., have the majority of the units looking south and north. No matter what floor you are on with these projects, you are not just looking at 'a thin piece of blue way off in the distance with nothing to see.' Instead, you are usually seeing not just the ocean but the beach, shoreline and buildings. There are 1800 units just in Lumpini Park Beach--one project--with many of the units having a seaview looking north or south. Think of all the units at VT3A & 3B, VT5C & 5D, VT7, and VT8. Thousands. Other projects such as Northpoint, Centric Sea, Zire, the Rivieras, Baan Plai Haad, The Palm, Reflection, Cetus, Peak, Aeras, Saranchol, and many others also have lower floor units facing west and other units facing north and south. Having owned 18 seaview condos in Pattaya and two in Rayong I can tell you that none had a 'thin piece of blue way off in the distance'. A few examples.

Blah, blah, blah.

Nice to see the new hotel across from Centre Point Space is being finished after construction was halted for some time.

True, the units are not technically 'sold'--that happens at the Land Office when the chanote is turned over to the buyer from the developer. But, everything Just Curious posted is absolutely correct. The 'booked' units, while not sold, are also not available for other buyers to buy from the developer. As Just Curious said, there's a big churn of these booked units during construction, due to some buyers not being able to obtain a loan, some buyers changing their minds, and other buyers booking the units expressly to be resold at, hopefully, a profit. My spouse and I picked up a bargain at The Base some years ago by buying one of these booked units shortly before The Base was finished. The buyer who had booked the unit needed some quick cash and we paid just 60,000 baht to the buyer to take over the contract. We knew the condo was a 35 sqm unit, with the bigger balcony, and it was on the top condo floor of the 'A' building. This floor was extra special because not only was it the top floor for condos, but it was also single corridor, with units on only one side and windows on the other side of the hall looking out to Pattaya to the north. This floor had only 2 one bedroom units and we didn't know if our unit was at the front of the bulding or the back when we took over the contract. We lucked out and it was at the front, with a much better seaview looking southwest. We rented it out for a year and then sold it at a nice profit. Did somewhat the same thing with Centric Sea, doing nicely there, as well, for a 'clueless expat'.

That's the only one I know of.