thailien8

I would like to start an informal table tennis / ping pong group in a decent place to play.
I hope to rent a condo in a complex with a ping pong table in a playable space, starting in October.
The best one I've found is Lumpini Ville,  on the baht bus line in Naklua.
There is another in Cosy Beach, but off the bus line.

As a condo resident, I could hopefully invite my table tennis friends to come over and enjoy free hits with me and other players.

Anyone interested?

Used eatigo in Pattaya many times, seldom a problem.  Good way to try new restaurants.  Recommend

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

11 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

These lights are bloody dangerous.

Unexperienced travelers from civilized countries get a false feeling of security.

Tear down and install a series of real rough speed bumpers properly colored and no way around for the little motorcycle artists.

It's the only method to slow down a Thai racer.

 

What do they expect in a country where pedestrians and bicyclists don't exist in license test/education?

Here in the village they honk at children walking to school (no footpath).

 

 

There are speed humps designed to allow cars to drive over them at or below the speed limit without inconvenience, but really bump drivers going too fast. I'd love to see those installed and the speeders flying through the air before crashing, or breaking their suspension. That would certainly instill some sensible speeds into drivers.

This is the only practical solution.

3 hours ago, stevenl said:

Sad trying to ridicule others when the intention of the post is very clear.

Thanks stevenl, I tried to keep the post short, but some didn't understand.  My point is that since the Beach Road crossing lights have been (mostly) functional for nearly a year, and Pattaya drivers have had time to get used to them, more of them are now stopping as they should.  When the lights were off, of course nobody stopped.  

When they first got turned back on, they were mostly ignored.  

Not so now.

I use the pedestrian lights every day, and would say more drivers are stopping now, as they get used to the novel idea of pedestrian crossings.  Now if only the cops would show up.

6 hours ago, AbeSurd said:

I think I saw Walee's Place the other day. Yes, where it's shown on the maps above. So it's still 2 minutes walk from those condo blocks I think you're talking about. I think your directions need changing a bit...

 

"If you are standing in the back entrance [of Big C Extra] , outside the parking , then walk past the car wash , then walk past Navin Mansion 2 (on your left), and then just before 3rd road , turn right , and almost immediately turn right again. Walk up the gradient about 150 metres, and take the first right, and then almost immediately the first left. Walee's Place is on this soi."

 

I think!

Thanks Abe and JT, I found it.  Walked north on 3rd road to soi 6/1 on the right; then first left and first right at Five Bells pub. Then up the rise to the first right in front of the closed souvenir store, then first left.  The restaurant is on the right side.  However it was closed at lunch time today, with no sign showing opening hours.  I guess it's open for dinner only.  Will try again.

On 3/15/2018 at 10:15 AM, balo said:

On 3/13/2018 at 10:15 PM, kdrayong said:

Following here up the comments from the 'Where to buy good pizzas' thread about 'Bei Gerhard' , Naklua Soi 31.
 
Gerhard sold the business some months ago. Since then the quality of food dropped a lot IMO. The service always used to be a mess there.

 

Now, Gerhard himself moved to a new place, called 'Das Wirtshaus' close to BigC Extra. Hopefully with new service staff.
Gerhard is a well known chef. Especially his sauces and soups are delicious IMO. Even in the Swabian region in Germany, where he has his roots, a comparable dish of  'Maultaschen' will be hard to find.
 
Until now he hasn't received his work permit, but rumours say, that he might open this Friday.
 
The new location is the former Walee's place.

Thank you for this information. I will not visit Bei Gerhard again , when the chef leaves we all know what happens. But will look out for his new place near Big C.

I walked all around Big C Extra on Klang and soi Yume, but failed to find Gerhard's new restaurant.  Could someone be more specific as to the location?

Be glad you don't live in Chiang Mai, where air pollution is now as bad as in Beijing or New Delhi.  

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30340583

Jomtien's sea breeze should be able to stave off the tour buses' exhaust fumes for a while yet.

On 2/24/2018 at 11:34 PM, Jingthing said:

Interesting to hear the Chinese angle. 

Are there commercial ping pong playing venues in China?

Yes there are.  This is a good one.

http://shanghaihurricane.com/

Disappointed to see that Easy Health had closed after only a few months, but today noticed that it has only changed location, and is open on the other (west) side of Third Road, in a smaller venue.  No change in the interesting menu.  It's now directly across from Buffalo Bar.

I know that Thais are not good at helpful signs, but still find it somewhat amazing that there is no helpful sign, in any language, at the boarding place for baht buses to Jomtien, from Pattaya, at the school on Second Road.  

How are are tourists supposed to know?

Found two ping pong tables today. 

One is poolside at the Mercure hotel behind The Avenue on 2nd Road soi 15.  They put it in a bad place.  One player would have to stand on loose decorative stones that would destroy footwork and maybe sprain an ankle.  

Another is is near the pool at Avani hotel at Royal Garden mall.  

Here I got lucky.  Two Chinese tourists were having a hit, so I stopped to watch.  Within five minutes, they were inviting me to play.  

Cheap house paddles and wet floor, but we enjoyed a hit for half an hour until it got too dark to see.  Good exercise and good fun.

But not good conditions.  No backstops, no ball girls, lots of ball chasing into some awkward places.  But it was free.

16 hours ago, marinediscoking said:

I have seen 3 places come and go in Pattaya for table tennis. First was in the lobby of a hotel that had 2 tables but the Hop's brew house sits in its place now. 2nd was in central hotel near the mikes shopping which had a table. 3rd was a noodle shop on central road that had 5 or 6 tables in the back "high five apartments occupies that now. I stopped playing about 2004 so I have no idea where a place is to play now. About 50% of the players were Thai so they would support it.

 

Many places like these are hobby businesses and are set up by people with a shared interest and will support it as long as it doesn't cost them too much or becomes a burden. 

Hong Kong used to have some nice table tennis clubs.

Glad Marine Disco has not yet gone.  

Did some dirty dancing there in the 90s.

This could be a hobby business if people show interest.  

Checked out an empty shophouse space on soi Regional Land, next door to Tigglebitties.  Owner was eager to rent for 10k a month.   Enough space for two tables and a robot in the back room.

My fantasy is of a brightly-lit 3rd-floor ping pong center overlooking the beach, in The Bay currently struggling shopping mall at soi 6.

Their website and email contact are not happening.  Not sure how much rent they want for such a prime location.

Then there is SPiN, in USA, at $29 and $49 an hour.  

That's 900 and 1500 baht.  Guess I can't get by just charging 100.

https://sanfrancisco.wearespin.com/

On 2/20/2018 at 3:43 AM, FarangFB said:

The main obstacle I see for this business to work is that there won't be many sources of income and the expenses would kill it.

 

In a pool hall is not just the table income, you have lots of people drinking alcohol (expensive), sometimes ordering food, watching sports (while buying loads of drinks).

 

Table tennis is a sport, I don't think most players will be interested in buying any drinks apart from water. If you sell the water too cheap (~20-30b) you don't make money, if you sell it too expensive customers will avoid the place or will try to bring their own 7/11 water, if you prevent them from doing that you're a greedy evil bastard and there will be people ruining your reputation.

 

Rent (need lots of space) and electricity (aircon all day) will make this place very expensive to run. I'm assuming the running costs will be over 100k baht per month. Let's say you have 4 tables being used 8h/day each (very optimistic, unreal to be honest) - you'd get 3200b per day from the tables - barely enough to cover the operational costs. 

 

My conclusion is that this investment would be too risky for too little profit. Speaking as a customer it would be a great place to play no doubt, but it would need prohibitive prices on tables and drinks to pay for its bills. 

 

In order for it to exist, you need a multi millionaire with a passion for table tennis and a big heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FB, thanks for your  post.  I tend to agree.

Maybe a good-hearted millionaire funded this place in Toronto, an inspiration for my OP.  This is beyond my wildest dreams for Pattaya.

http://smashpingpong.ca/

On 2/17/2018 at 11:44 PM, Jingthing said:

I like the idea but I don't think many people would pay large amounts of money to play ping pong. Compared to full on tennis where people do often pay high fees. 

JT, thanks for damning me with faint praise.  But no worries sir.  I'm a fan of your hit 'n' run thread.

Tennis in Pattaya is indeed more expensive than 100 baht an hour.  And access to tennis courts is controlled by big hotels, no free public courts here like there are in USA.  

Pool, snooker and bowling are more than 100/hour.  Don't get me started on golf.  I am not understanding why you think this is "large amounts of money".

Maybe your body is getting used to the heat.  

10 hours ago, billybog said:

hard to figure out what is really going on...at first was thinking this would be fun once a week or so...but maybe I am just not up with the satire these days...just dont know.

billy, what is really going on with this thread is that I have been trying to do as norrska, in his infinite wisdom, suggested in post 39, in which he so wisely asks "Have you done a survey?"  

I started this thread as an attempt at a survey.  I wrote the OP as I did because I wanted to see if anyone would think this venue was already open and operating, and show interest in possibly being a customer.

Some did.  I would have.

17 hours ago, norrska said:

Why would Chinese tourists who can watch some of the best table tennis in the world in their own country, want to watch a bunch of drunkards playing table tennis while on vacation.  Why would anybody want to watch?  Sorry, but this just doesn't make sense.

As the self-proclaimed former table tennis champion of Bobby's basement, why would you fail to understand that of the many Chinese tourists here in Pattaya, some would be interested in PLAYING their sport while on holiday, NOT  in watching.  Your silly post just doesn't make sense.

4 minutes ago, JAZZDOG said:

Somewhat perhaps, but most of that I don't buy into, at least yet.

Big Corporations love it when we give them our money to pay  for their advertised products that we don't need.  Then they use our money against us., buying politicians cheaply to give them tax advantages.

1 hour ago, JAZZDOG said:

Lived in Costa Rica 15 years, great when I arrived, shithole when I left for all the same reason banana republics turned tourist magnets self destruct. Always starts out LOS, more or less sincere, visions of $$$ signs dancing in their heads. Things are good, the locals selling property for crazy prices having to move farther and farther into the mountains. The beaches get covered up by resorts/gated communities. Meanwhile the locals get fat/lazy/pissing money away. The ugly farang with the US$100 bill glued to his forehead have most all the attractive young girls attention. Fast forward 15 years, the Chinese move in and trade 250 Cop cars and a beautiful soccer stadium that the local government will never be able to afford to maintain in exchange the Chinese receive exclusive offshore fishing rights killing everything 24/7/365, what a great deal! Now you have it. The locals have sold their land for a fraction of what it is currently worth and now live broke so far back in the mountains it takes all day to go shopping, their pissed. The Government got bent over, ruined the sport fishing as well as the ocean, their pissed. The younger male generation has to settle for the fat and ugly Ticas no farang will pay for, they are really pissed. But it is still all LOS because now tourism, working in bars, hotels and restaurants is a bigger % of the economy than bananas, rice and mangoes combined. They have no choice, they outsourced agro jobs to the Nicas. Difference now is the locals who never own responsibility for anything get to rob, rape and pillage with impunity offered up by a government who sees itself a victim of all things external. Fair weather friends all.

Today the farang get no breaks, pay through the nose, can't come close to selling those vacation homes/condos for anything close to what they paid. Trapped they're subjected to government regulations slanted towards making them go away. Ticos are clueless to what becomes of their country once tourism and the ecology go away. They don't care, they're going to auger in pissed, clueless but with a smile on their faces.

Sound familiar?

Yes it does, and thanks for a great post.  For background on what JAZZ is talking about, read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.

On 2/11/2018 at 2:29 AM, jerry921 said:

If you do it, make sure your tables have sufficient space for the players to drop back away from the table. Five meters is good, and that doesn't include space where non-players would be walking.

 

You should probably force players to buy the balls from you rather than expect to loan them like a pool hall, except for the robot table.

 

Seating for non-players would make it a family attraction.

 

Ball girls will mostly be in the way. Maybe you only want them there certain hours.
 

 

jerry, good comments;  Yes enough space to play is critical.  The empty shops on top floor of The Bay look good for that.  The floor seems usable as is.  

Disagree about making customers buy balls.  I would run it on the pool hall model, pay for table time and drinks only.  Two qualities of balls would be available:  cheap ping pong balls for the hit 'n' gigglers, and quality table tennis balls for the good players.  

Good seating is is important for those who like to watch the action.

With enough space, the ball girls would not be in the way.  They would help the quality of customers' table time by collecting the loose balls and putting them in the basket by the table.  

The many Chinese tourists here could be interested.

46 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Khunthong Thai Restaurant

(no English sign)

Pattaya Klang, north side of street

Just past Big C Extra towards Sukhumwit, next to the 7-11 on the corner

 

Most of us are spoiled for access to Thai food here in ... Thailand. So "basic" Thai food is usually available close to home, or wherever we happen to be around town. People don't usually go out of their way for such food. 

 

Khunthong might be one of those more special Thai restaurants worth a special trip. I'm not fully convinced after one visit, but I think it will probably be so for me. As I don't get to that area all that often, I'm not sure how long it's been open, but I think it's relatively new-ish. 

 

They have many menu items you don't see at the "basic" places with an emphasis on fish and seafood dishes. 

 

The menu itself is clear with English and pictures. The staff is quirky, charming, super friendly and welcoming. Thai smiles are still happening in Pattaya. Who knew? 

 

I tried pea sprouts fried with garlic in a Thai style bean sauce (120), spicy fried pork balls salad (130), and a clear broth mackerel soup rather Chinese style with lettuce in it (70). Rice and drinks for non-tourist prices. 

 

I was very impressed with the food and looking forward to trying other items on their menu.

 

 

In my neighbourhood, thanks.  Will try soon.  My Thai comparison food is green chicken curry.  Sure hope they have a good version.

On 2/12/2018 at 8:26 AM, norrska said:

You just used it!

Congrats norrska, you have successfully killed this thread.  

Enjoy your win.

22 minutes ago, FarangFB said:

Interesting concept, where is this place?

Thanks for your positive post.  norrska was getting me down.

This place is currently operating in NYC and Toronto.  These venues looked good and profitable.  And they didn't even have cute Thai girls in colourful uniforms running around.

Never been to China, but in Taipei there is a small club with a ping pong robot.  The hotshots were playing each other.  I was no match for them, but did get to enjoy an hour practicing my backhand with the robot.

I would like to tell you to take the lift up to the third floor of The Bay, Pattaya's slowly-developing mall on Beach Road just north of soi 6.

There you would find my fantasy Planet Ping Pong, open and inviting.

For now, it's just an empty shop space.  Ceiling is high enough.

My OP was to learn if any others share my fantasy of table tennis in good conditions in Pattaya.