newnative

Pattaya has more than just one beach. The huge Centara Resort, geared to families, is on Wongamat Beach--about as far from Walking Street as you can get. Ditto for the enormous Centre Point 3 Resort now under construction. Many of the large, new condo developments, such as Copacabana and three of the Riviera brand mega projects, are on Jomtien Beach. There's also Cosy Beach, and Dongtan Beach, with the Jomtien Park water park. Just as an aside, my Bangkok relatives have visited many times and they have never actually sat on any of the Pattaya beaches--although we have hired boats a number of times and gone snorkeling.

You must not live in Pattaya. It already is 'an attractive resort town for Bangkok residents and some foreign tourists.' And, I would add, lots of year-round expats living here. Including me. Pattaya is filled with Bangkokians on weekends and long holidays. If you lived here you would know it is very easy to avoid the adult entertainment areas. You would also know that a very large percentage of the new development is being built away from those areas. T21 and Centre Point Space just two examples of many--as far from Walking Street as you can get and still be near Pattaya Beach. The newest, big water park is on the Darkside. The newest go-cart attraction is in Jomtien. The first huge highrise projects built by the large Bangkok developers who came to Pattaya were originally built as weekend getaway condos for Bangkokians and other Thais. I'm referring to Lumpini Park Beach Jomtien and the two projects in Wongamat and Naklua by Lumpini, The Base and Baan Plai Haad by Sansiri, Centric Sea by SC Asset, and Unixx by Raimon Land. The Base's sales brochure was titled "It's the Weekend" and featured yuppy Bangkokians frolicking--with not a single farang pictured in the whole brochure. Fun fact: Sansiri actually built a sales office for The Base in Pattaya but they needn't have bothered. By the time the sales office opened The Base was mostly booked already--by Bangkokians who had booked in Bangkok.

Rubbish. Every day is not a catastrophe. Hold the ridiculous hype. (On the plus side, there might be a job waiting for you at AN.)

Duh.

I doubt farang tourist behavior has changed much. What has changed is social media reporting every incident, with the media then picking up on it and breathlessly blowing it up into something major, when it is, of course, not major at all. Just the other day Pattaya was reported to be, yet again, in 'chaos' over something very minor--an escalator not working.

Agree, regarding the 60 months. Is he supposed to drop dead at the end of month 60? Don't agree regarding 70 being maybe too old to buy. Spouse and I have built two houses since I turned 70 and renovated a third one. Sold two of them with the third now on the market. We are about to buy another house to live in while we build what might be our last house build in Thailand. And, our last move. Or, not. You never know. This next house we are buying will become a rental once the other house is done in maybe 9 or 10 months. Age is just a number, don't let it limit your thinking--or doing.

The very low approval rating shows the worst president in US history has only gotten worse. I'm surprised that 44% of the Kool-Aid drinkers still approve of his wrecking of America.

Lots of other places besides Jomtien in Greater Pattaya. Spouse and I are now enjoying the Darkside. I agree it is good to keep busy in retirement.

'Chaos' again. Calm here on the Darkside. Let's rein in the hype, please.

I don't want to hazard a guess. I'd chat directly with the BOI.

66,000 baht will not rent you a 'mansion'--not in Pattaya, anyway. It will get you a 3 or 4-bedroom pool villa, give or take and depending on age, condition, and furnishings. There's a 6-bedroom, 10 bath villa for rent at Siam Royal View--not sure if that reaches 'mansion' status but it's 500,000 baht a month. You'll also not be going too 'upscale' for 33K a month in Pattaya, unless you're ok with livin' small. 33K will get you a small 1-bedroom at Northpoint or The Palm.

Agree. Plenty of land available, often right off the main road and sometimes right on it--note the huge tract of empty land with the green fence in front of it on North Pattaya. While the parking garages are being built, temporary parking lots could be built on empty land that is either bought or leased from the owners.

Buy the 9MB condo you mentioned in foreign quota, with your name on the Chanote.

The next time you drive Thepprasit going west, keep your eye on the U-Turn spots. You'll see a solid yellow line steering the two lanes of traffic to the left around the cars making a U-Turn. For this maneuver to work, however, the parking lane in the U-Turn area needs to become a thru lane. If you look at the parking lane in the U-Turn area, the city has painted white forward arrows on the parking lane, indicating that this section is NOT parking but, instead, a traffic lane. So far so good--not as good as eliminating parking completely on the road but better than nothing. The city, however, has so far neglected to paint the curb red and white in these areas, so cars continue to park in the designated traffic lane, totally defeating the whole plan of smooth traffic flow around the U-Turn. So, instead, you get to a U-Turn and the traffic gets all jumbled up as you have two lanes reduced to one as the right lane is blocked by cars making a U-Turn and the parking lane that is suppose to be a thru lane is blocked with parked cars. A good idea not working due to the city's poor execution. There are so many examples of incompetence like this--and so many little things that could be done in many areas to improve traffic flow all over the city.

Bangkok, I think. Looks like it might be New Phetchaburi Road. The tallest close-up building in the photo with the inward slanting top looks like it could be Circle Condominium.

I guess I am an outlier; I'm 73 and still shop at IKEA. In fact, I just placed an order for picture frames and a rug pad. There's a lot at IKEA that I've outgrown but I still find IKEA a good source for a number of things, especially here in Thailand. They have a great selection of rugs--I've used the Lohals sisal rug in at least a half dozen condo and house projects. Well-priced, timeless, durable, and it comes in a number of sizes. Ditto for a great selection of housewares, kitchen stuff, lighting, and the already mentioned picture frames. I give most of the furniture a pass but I like their good selection of big ottomans, most with handy storage. They're great when used as a coffee table with a big decorative tray on top. Hard to find similar here in Thailand. They also do a bed chair that I like--we will likely be ordering one for the exercise room of a new house we are doing. Although we usually use a credit card, I don't think it's a good idea to eliminate cash as an option.

I'm terrible with languages, to start with. I greatly admire those who have learned Thai. My Thai spouse speaks excellent English and most Thais I encounter also have some English so I haven't really felt the need to learn Thai. I must say my attempts to speak a bit of Thai are usually not welcomed much by Thais. For example, I'll say something to a waiter in Thai and they'll usually turn to my Thai partner with raised eyebrows--what's he want? So, not much incentive.

I don't know what the big deal is. I have no problem being called a farang. I use the term myself with my spouse and friends. We'll be driving around and we'll notice some farang doing something stupid and I'll say, "Look at that crazy farang doing _________________." Don't sweat the little stuff. And, most stuff is little.

Thanks.

Yes, very much so.

To review, so far we have substandard rebar and the elevator walls reduced in thickness. I suspect more will be found in this perfect storm of greed, corruption, incompetence, and mismanagement.

Never heard of her.

Getting rid of foreign students likely will not make universities cheaper. With many state colleges and universities, there is a 3-tier payment system: in-state students, out-of-state students, and foreign students--who pay the most. That was the system at the state college where I worked. Just one example, Shippensburg University, a state university in Pennsylvania. In-state American students pay $3828 in tuition; out-of-state American students pay $5787, and international students pay $8681--more than double what in-state students pay. International students help keep the fees for American students lower. Plus, they contribute to a diverse student body.

No 'if". You should be saving whether you are moving to Pattaya, to somewhere else, or not moving at all.

Seriously doubt changing the elevator walls to 25 cm from 30 cm caused the collapse. It may have been a contributing factor but likely there were more factors in play.