suiging

Come on guys.........news........I have to leave the office soon and get on the old brown source. the suspense is killing me !!!

Maybe a point could be made for a channel to show the biggest sporting event in the world for those tourists in the land of smiles who wish to see it while they spend some of the billions they bring into the country which hopefully, in the fullness of time, will improve local healthcare, education etal. Kings achievements, outstanding, and all Thais and folk who choose to live here, should be justly proud. However, I'm sure His Royal Highness would wish to see tourists catered for during their stay, hospitality being a treasured national trait.

Must admit I have to agree with Mick. A Pattaya basher I will never be, however, the local MIB's beat coverage does leave a little to be desired. Saw some poor fellow accosted on Pattaya beach side the other week ( yes, out far to late should have been in bed ), looked like he had turned down some lady (?) in perhaps a none too polite manner and was paying for his choice by afore mentioned cow, now with friends, screaming at him at the top of her/their collective voices in a most threatening way.

Same as Mick's point, not a copper to be seen anywhere near this likely assault ( luckily for him he ran ), yet 100 yards down the street, at the entrance to Walking Street, half the cavalry were sat basking in their collective glory. Whoever on here, who may have the ear of the Old Bill, may like to drop the odd comment that the beach side boulevards, our supposid tourist havens, are fast becoming a tad wild much like certain areas of Iraq.

Great news, any idea on your beer prices yet ?

Don't you all think this is thread has gone awry.

First the real driver of Pattaya is the phenomenal growth of industry here, both manufacturing and tourist. Please also note that the tourists that count aren't European at all but Asian and you wont see them in Soi 8 or the like or at Jomtien beach. They are out shopping up a storm and the local economy with it.

Pattaya is now a city of over 1million and growing fast in my estimation. I guess 5000 a year more or less of European residents hardly effects anything but the very top end, which is, in the scale of things, minute.

The long term prospects for the Eastern Seaboard are very, very good.

As for the company ownership brouhaha, we all know it will pass and besides there are ways around it if you choose such as a lease, a company with all Thai shareholders where the alien holds blank signed share transfers and so on.

Calm down and realise that the market has levelled off a bit, that there is a lot of ill-built crap on the market which will never move, good times or bad, but otherwise this is a very attractive market for a long term buyer of good property.

Excellent post. Long term prospects will be enhanced if, fingers crossed, this has the " Cowboys" on the run and driven out of the market. A return to growth through natural demand from industry/tourism, can not be a bad thing for us all. The fundamentals for Pattaya/Thailand have not changed, nor has the law. If panic sets in, it will be self generated. Those who wish to invest and live by the rules ( which have not changed and as we speak, there are new ways to " live '" within them ) will be allowed to do so. TIT. This is political, aimed at a perceived rape of natural assets by " devil farang speculators ", not Joe Bloggs from Chonburi, who employs local workers, spending his hard earned retirement pennies in the land of Smiles rather than Bradford. It will blow over, and if a few of the troglodytes who are overcharging for breeze block <deleted> are hounded out, so much the better.

I have been informed that the current play is party politics and protection of " national assets " in the lull between genuine government. Not sure, but certainly has a wiff of truth. The perceived protection in the company purchase was " If they are going to do Joe Bloggs..then they will have to do the Chairman of Shell, Swedish royalty etc etc ", and to a degree that still holds.

There are a considerable number of extremely powerful leaders of industry ( and powerful politicians ) who hold their holiday homes this way. They are the same folk who decide on the level of overseas investment they or their country will spend in the land of smiles and I would guess they and their legal representatives, would cause considerable embarrassement to the powers that be for some time to come, if screwed over in the long term. At the end of the day, property markets have collapsed triggering full scale economic collapse for less cause than this. Not saying the present set of you know what's in BK are not capable of shooting themselves and the entire economy in the foot, but I doubt when they wake up and see the potential consequences of their actions, they will like what they see.

Hasn't some old, ex-popstar, been turned over by a woman with one leg recently ?

Could the two stories be conected ?

Trust me on this one, having been inside a Chineses jail ( visitor only honest ) if their Govt pay for the ticket they will get their pound of flesh on return. I know Thai jails are no hotels but at least they feed the prisoners !!! One I went to in China, either relatives bring the food in or they are allowed to culltivate a small patch of the parade ground. Heavy rain or crop failure, insta nt membership of waitwatchers.

Thanks to all. I have a feeling it will not be easy but we will see. I have made some good Thai friends who have offered to come with me to add support, nice people indeed.

You are right Mobi and I apologise for the above. Bad hair day and always a tad upset when we turn on our own.

Ladies & Gents, Let me let you into a little secret, it works for me and I reckon there's plenty to go round.Study the Pattaya Trader, pick out half a dozen places that interest you for whatever reason and monitor them, if there still advertised 6-9 months later then find out where they are exactly and go visit, NOT through the estate agent.I've found best ones are those priced at 4.5 - 5 mil.Speak to the owner inform him you have money available right away for quick completion and if he wanted a sale within the week drop his price, infact make him an offer.Offer 3 mil.He will of course say no.Tell him fine, here's my details if you change your mind.You'll find that more than 50% will contact you again.Get the property cheap stick 750k - 1 mil on your price and resell it.The seller has got shot of his property, sold for less..yes , but it makes him feel better he's not had to pay Estate Agent fees, and he's free to move on.

EPG.

Interesting theory.

However, if they were around for that long, they were in all probability overpriced ( or crap ) in the first place and what makes you think you can sell the pap on, at, or near to, the original price if the original owner was stuck for that long ? Me thinks stuck with either naff, or a property which you have in fact paid market rates for, in an area that may make it difficult to turn a fast buck. Rule of thumb in Asia, " If it looks to good to be true...........it is ".

Gents, fresh from the Pattaya Forum a plea for advise on retirement with a dependant. I have owned a house for a couple of years now ( well, the company has) and I am in the process of building another. My wife (Chinese) and I hope to retire to Thailand after I am fifty. We will be able to meet all the financial requirements, but have a problem. Our son is autistic (however, good natured and a great kid) and will sadly in all honesty not be able to leave the old family nest. As he will be over eighteen when I retire, I was wondering if anyone could share any experiences in getting a foreign dependant a visa to stay with his family post eighteenth birthday. The Consulate in HK say in is purely at the discretion of the Immigration Officer on the day, so any views on a good office to start the process??

Thanks again to all. It will be a couple of years yet before full time golf, bowls ( lawn ) and buckets of Chang, but I get down every month or so, thus a trip to Jomtien to path the way seems on the cards.

Many thanks.

When joy of joys I finally get to hang up the boots in Pong, I will be bringing wife, mit boy in tow. Over fifty with the correct dosh in place , wife not a problem, but son is autistic ( however, not aggressive in any way and is a true blessing ) and sadly will never be able to make his own way.

I have been told by the lovely Mrs WONG in the Thai Consulate in HK that the bestowing of dependant visas is purely discretionary, ( what side of the bed......etc etc ) and down to the whim on the day. Simple question, opinions sought on what you guys think would be the best spot to get the ball rolling, BK or this new office ?

Not much help with major work I'm afraid, but have a tale of general dentistry which may be of help to this threads casual readers. My father on a recent trip lost a tooth off a plate. He popped in to the Dentist located right outside of the Dusit's main gates ( sorry in HK at present and can not remember the name , but it is easy to find ). No waiting, friendly efficent service, and a tempory plate that in fact lasted him a year and when replaced in the UK received nothing but praise on the quality of the work from a senior UK tooth mechanic. Top it all, reasonable price.

Add it to the "Dead Drug Dealer", list. which with any luck will one day surpass the UK Illegal Immigrant tally which has more noughts than Bill Gates's current account.

Cheers mate. I will be back in my little white house on Moo 9 Pong at the end of the month. Sadly minus wife for a couple of days, so beer will be the nutrient of choice. I was in hope of a recommendation I could take back to HK to get in her good books, and pretend I had actually eaten solids !!! Not sure I will have the time to look myself Chorttle Chorttle.

Recommendations sort for good Thai owned ( or any with ###### good Thai chefs ) restaurants out around the mabprachan area. KJ's is not up to the mark and my wife is nagging/moaning that since the mug left the Fisherman's after his staff all left him, her fix of spice in reasonable surroundings is extremely difficult to come by. Pllllleeeaaase help !

As I've said on other threads, the bit about the mudslinging that's going on here from both sides of the argument that gets on my tits, is the liberal usage of " here", or " there " when describing Pattaya.

All sides in reality, are harping on about walking street and the other bits and bobs down the town which have made Pattaya quiet rightly famous. For once it would be nice for the supporters to highlight and for the bashers to ackowledge, the existance of the many fine golf courses, schools, where expat kids can receive a good education, whilst unlike fhucket or the back of beyond basher ville, can play sport with a good range of other schools, be they local or in BK, to round of their development. Add to this, access to the new airport to whisk us all away when we need to don our winter woolies occasionally, and good medical facilites to recover from frostbite when we return, this is not a bad place to be.

There are good, clean beaches within easy driving distance, and a plethora of restaurants of all persuasions to cater for every taste without ever setting foot in the seedy parts of town. Now do not get me wrong I F@#^&in love the ladies and all the fun of the fair ( well nearly all ). It's just that I choose to use that part of town on very rare occasions, often at the insistance of visitors ( including, I hasten to add Pattaya bashers, who seem to be the most insistant, enjoy themselves the most whilst there, and later prove what tw@#$ts they really are by their holier than thou speeches ).

I currently for my sins, spend most of my time waiting for the happy Pattya retirement in Hong Kong. I live on Hong Kong Island surrounded by the worst types ( snobs ) of Pattaya bashers imaginable.

" Why on earth did you by a place there?..Oh our vialla in Fhucket has gone up by..........Pattaya is a whore house etc etc."

I take great delight in pointing out that Mong Kok is about the same distance from the Peak as Walking Street is from Mabprachan. The relevance? the snobs think HK Island is wonderful a world apart fromdirty Pattaya, whilst in reality, if you think South Pattaya is bad, try Mong Kok. At least in Pattaya there is a sense of fun, Mong Kok is business, pure sordid business, without even half a smile to ease your day.

The Pattaya knocking shops and the money they generate in short pay for the golf, hospitals etc, andall the other bits I love about Pattaya. However, there is life outside of them, so supporters and bashers, please, please, less sweeping generalizations about our fair city.

Totally agree with the oversupply posters, but would add that the oversupply is a result of lack of regulations, or the will to inforce the regulations that exist in building codes and town planning. Sit in the Peacock any day of the week and you will overhear some cockney carsalesman or ex-yorkie milkman discussing their next building project. All for free enterprise etc, but lads get a life!! You are not builders and the scars on our beautiful landscape which you guys are trying to pass off as desirable residences, brings the whole region into disrepute. There are some fine builders in town ( not many ) and you can find homes here to rival anything Fhucket has to offer, but boy do you have to look hard amongst the stack of <deleted> that exists to find them. City Hall should pull the proverbial out and enforce codes that require builders to be bloody builders. They should then further extract the didgit and get the infra-structure sorted to support these well built properties, then the fear of collapse in the mrket will be a distant memory. Granted these wishes are from cloud cukoo land, but we can all help by only buying quality ( in no matter what price range ) gaffs built by qulified fellows of whatever race or creed. Starve out the chavs who are bringing us all down to their level.

Humpf...I feel better now. PS I can recommend an outstanding local builder who is totally honest, does not cut cornors and is simply a pleasure to know. These diamonds exist even here

Gents, simple fact of life, if you enjoy a place and are half human others will follow. When the others come they build. When they build the infra-structure grows to support their coming, hence pattaya. Schools , hospitals , golf courses, multi-screen flicks in huge shopping mals are the result of people coming to the area. Not all the folk who come are nice, not all of them are the rat bags the Pattaya bashers make them out to be. What is true is they all need somewhere to rest their weary head, so they or the money grabbing developers build. When they build in Asia ( Asia, same in China, Vietnam etc etc ) they employ men from the sticks who work for peanuts. These guys take a look at the wealth around them in comparison to their mud hut and a proportion turn bad. Same story everywhere and I mean everywhere, where people wish to live. If you wish to live without the Hospitals, schools etc etc, stay where the builders come from and blend in with your own mud hut. On a cheery note, in Asia, when the real money arrives ( as it will, when the casino becomes a reality, Portugal has still not recovered form the loss of the gaming revenue, which formed a fair slice of it's GDP, from Macau's sleeze and tables ) nice men who work for the Government, are empowered to keep the nice tourists with lots of money safe and sound, so nasty men from mud hut land end up in ditches ( or in the case of Macau ordered to fall prostrate in front of the Chinese ruling cadre and simply told end the violence in Macau, which I add, made Pattaya look like a catholic school garden party, or die ). Now the politically correct Pattaya basher, tree huggers in mud hut land, will balk at the senerio.......................but just watch it unfold as the new hotels open and when the money finally gets to be thrown accross three foot of indoor greenary, to land on square 21.

My wife is Chinese bad tempered and generally as miserable as sin. Took me over a year to get her to even step out of the Dusit, which was only achieved after countless trips made up of of me looking for the holiday des res with her moaning about the reputation of the place while spending a bloody fortune in the hotel's spa and my life savings on golf extortionately booked by the front desk. To this day she has still never set foot in Walking Street ( thank God ) but loves the place to death and has encouraged three of her pals to buy property and hopefully take the bitch off my hands during retirement. Admittedly we live out in the sticks and can easily avoid the sleeze ( well she can, I have to get the toaster fixed at regular intervals which takes hours and hours .......tee hee ) but if someone like her ( trust me I am underestimating her bad points ) can learn to the love the place so can anyone with half an open mind if you allow yourself not to be blinkered and venture farther than Soi 6.

Gentlemen, first post so be nice. living in the East for over twenty years, I had visited the fair city on many occasions with the lads for golf and all the bits that go with it. I never dreamed for one second I would invest in the city for all the negative reasons which will take too long to repeat. Instead, being a contract worker, I chanced the arm and invested in the UK and did very nicely thank you out of what some on here would describe as " Shitholes ", not being in the enviable position of having the filthy luca for the London market. To my suprise, a couple of years ago having a beer, being extremely well looked after by the friendly staff of a bar in walking street, I changed my mind.

For the same reasons "The shitholes " in the UK had turned it around, I had another look at Pattaya. The new airport, hospitals, schools, golf, horseriding and the like, coupled with the growth of the port and Chon Buri, got me to look at the prices here and those in the other resorts in this fair country. The percentage difference was much the same as many areas in the UK used to be from the so called hotspots. The prices in these areas have never matched the lucky South East, nor will they, but in percentage terms the gap has narrowed ( Fhuket/Pattaya.......mmmmmm)

To my mind it will take some years ( not too many please) and a complete change in government attitude to turn the place around, however, it will happen. The fundementals remain and as the infra-structure develops, as it undoubtedly will to furnish the airport, Pattaya to my mind is not a bad punt.

In the coming year airline regulations accross Asia are to be revamped. In short, as with Singapore, Hong Kong and the like will soon have budget airlines offering cheap seats into BK at a fraction of today's cost. If any of you have ever seen the number of golfers who thrash their way over the border into Southern China to pay double or triple the price for a round on a regular basis, paying transport fees which often work out more expensive than the existing flights to BK, you will get an idea of what this could potentially mean. Yes, crime and <deleted> remain in the near term, thank goodness they do, else we would all be paying ######et prices as we speak. Crime in Southern China is horrific, yet still the chinese middle classes pour in for their weekly golf fix. In addition you only have to look at what these people spend in Macau to get an idea of the sort of money they could bring here if and hopefully when, the plunge into this market is taken in Pattaya

The market pressure from the well healed Asian golfer/traveller will eventually tell. J Bloggs from his two bedder in town, complaing to the authorities, sadly does not work here ( it should..................but it doesn't ), or for that matter anywhere in Asia. Money talks, the owners of the Shereton Group and the other major chains looking at the city are no mugs and plan for the future. In short be positive, remain calm and look forward to brighter days, which I for one believe are in the medium term a racing certainty, as long as a major political or financial breakdown can be avoided.