hendrix

Can you list 4-5 please? Some similarities and differences? I went 5 years ago but forget everything because I had my girlfriend as a tour guide there. Your thoughts?

The ready-made sandwiches at Friendship Supermarket (South Pattaya Road) are good. They can be found in the fresh bread section.

I have found them and agree with you on that. I really like smoked salmon bagel and cheese at Au Bon Pain Royal Garden. About 110 Baht.

Didn't Weho start a topic on this?

Try a search.

It might already exist in the archives but the latest news is why I come to Thai Visa.

Not mentioning Subway. Any others?

If you live anywhere north of soi 18 Naklua especially down by the seaside, you would never know of the sleaze of Pattaya. You would know of moderately priced Thai and Western restaurants, good live music venues, a quiet beach, and low prices on accommodations. Seems like quality of life to me.

I am saddened by the absence of men available for a good strong traditional Thai massage. While most women are certainly capable of holding their own to give a good athletic massage, I had yet to find many men up to the job. There are an abundance of strong men at the blind massages on soi 20 Naklua, in the "gay" area around Tuk Com, and more blind on 3rd rd soi 17 but I've either steered clear of the gay massage parlours and the blind massage parlours tend to be noisy. I was quite pleased that a ladyboy has been hired at my local on soi Buakow: Sukkhai Massage School (150 baht/1 hour) a few metres from the Buakow market south Pattaya end. Super clean and quiet.

It's not only here. Pop into any expat local and it's easy to find a few locals yokels pooping on Pattaya but have no intention of leaving the place. Meh.

Pattaya is special. You never know when you will fall in love and it only costs 1000 baht for an entire night !

-The restaurants by the light tower.

-The park by Naklua market on the beach.

-The "park" by the Tourist Police station.

-Nong Nooch.

-Jomtien Beach day or night.

-Koh Larn?

-Mabprachan Lake?

So would 5 of those recommendations actually be OUTSIDE Pattaya ??

With the right company, I could've suggested behind Carrefour by the gravel road .

40,000 Baht per month as a minimum.

I got by on far less for years. Most do and can. Most retirees I speak with get 30,000/month pension and still have some left over at the month's end. At that rate, nobody I've spoken to yet feels constrained. It's about spending wisely and knowing how to have fun doesn't necessarily involve large payments. In a previous life, my monthly rent was 6000 all included, 2400 for bike rent, and then 6000 for eating/entertainment. I had sex every single day with 1-2 girls (only mentioning this for demonstrative purposes) and always had a full stomach and got massages too. So it can be done and there's no feeling of suffering or non inclusion for the most part.

My only complaint is that Lam seems to take the stage right around the time I'm being tucked into bed (midnight?). I know Pattaya is about nightlife but mine kick starts much earlier than most it seems. I would be really happy if Lam went on earlier for his first set for me to enjoy and then again for those who want to stay for his next set or the owls just arriving. If I saw one good Lam set, I would go home satisfied, frequent Blues Factory more often, and then someone else would be happy to have my still warm seat.

Guys not long now till I'm back in Pattaya.

But I have only been to Suavarnabumi once so where do I catch the airconditioned direct bus to Pattaya? Can u be as detailed as poss??

Regards

Big D

For the most accurate info, you should search for Bell Bus Service on this forum which costs 150 baht and will take you to your hotel. What I always do to find the queue for Bell is to face the parking area and then walk as far left as you can go in the airport and then take the lift to the lowest floor you are allowed to get off on. Exiting the lift, you will see toilets on your right, parking on the left, and left again a brilliant cafeteria at Thai prices mostly for staff but open to the public as well. Straight ahead to the first door leading to the parking lot is where all the bus companies have their representatives. Sitting on the benches, you will find usually 2 young women with clipboards and there's a Bell sign that's easy to miss. Best to know the exact name and address of your hotel so they can instruct the driver. Also they often will want to know the flight # you arrived on probably for statistical purposes so have both these details handy. There you go. In my head this is perfectly clear so I hope it's clear to you lot as well.

Guys, thinking of moving to pattaya but wondering how much does it cost to live in the city on average per month? Could you answer some Q's? You cant really compare holiday costs to full time living costs?

How much will an apartment cost and bills?

What about food? Eating in and out?

Going out drinking? Do the local ex pats head to walking street or stick to the outskirts?

If you want to live central like me, your rent for a nice place will be 15k+. I think eating out makes more sense as it's very inexpensive unless you enjoy cooking and choosing your own ingredients. How will you transport yourself? Public or motorbike? The major expense in Pattaya is obviously alcohol and women. I don't drink alcohol but the happy hours offer drafts for 50 baht which is very reasonable and as for women, you can meet nice girls online so that wipes out probably the biggest Pattaya expense which is usually more than your accommodation these days.

If it's any consolation to the weather addicts, it's now raining good and hard, hard and good here in Pattaya.

in my part of Pattaya there was some thunder and a drizzle for five minutes.

I was in the shower and I unscrewed the shower head so it felt like a lot of rain but maybe it was just a drizzle.

If it's any consolation to the weather addicts, it's now raining good and hard, hard and good here in Pattaya.

Pattaya is special. You never know when you will fall in love and it only costs 1000 baht for an entire night !

But seriously folks...I'm always looking for some romantic hot spots for when I have guests from out of town who seriously think I'm here for golf and temples.

-The restaurants by the light tower.

-The park by Naklua market on the beach.

-The "park" by the Tourist Police station.

-Nong Nooch.

-Jomtien Beach day or night.

-Koh Larn?

-Mabprachan Lake?

I could go on and on so maybe you have some romantic ideas assuming you still believe in it.

I'm waiting for some good from this condo. Just once...

http://www.pattayaone.net/news_26_08_51_4.html

Scandals sell newspapers. The media loves to show the bricks rather than the bouquets so we don't always hear/read of the random acts of kindness of strangers. Occasionally a board member writes a snippet like a Thai returning a lost wallet or a pharmacist making them chicken soup, and so on which I find inspiring.

Do you have any heartwarming stories?

Every day I am confused living here, it's part of the attraction I reckon

Agreed!

The tangled electrical wiring. It looks like Spaghetti! How do the electricians ever find the wire they are looking for to restore or cut power? Defies explanation.

What confuses you?

For the action but also comfortable living, soi Buakow keeps getting better and better.

you must be a newby,soi buakow is sewer

Soi Buakhaow is getting better, close to everything, but I would not like to have a permanent residence there, because of traffic, noise, maybe also security concerns.

To me far the best location in Pattaya is Soi Wongamat, despite all the construction going on there now, it is a quiet and upmarket area, with high potential. Not too far from Naklua Road with the Songthaews. Imho it is much nicer than Jomtien. Pratumnak is a nice location as well, but there is too much crime going on.

Coincidentally, I've also lived on Soi Wongamat (Naklua soi 18) for 2 years so I can compare Buakow and Naklua easily. While I thoroughly enjoy Naklua, I don't enjoy the commute from Naklua to Pattaya because the Naklua circle southbound is blocked most of the time which forces drivers to head east and then come back around via Big C. It's a slight detour but enough to put me off. As for Buakow, there are new properties that I have been visiting this week and they all seemed very clean, very secure with 24 hour uniformed security and reception staff manning the main door and cameras everywhere. I was impressed. The day staff spoke perfect English and answered all my questions. There were also 2-3 serviced apartments that were equally impressive on 3rd road near South Pattaya road. Due to privacy concerns, I do not wish to reveal my exact location but it's the best of the bunch that I viewed by a very long shot. The price is due to spike by 3000 baht soon with no additional services being offered so I might jump ship on principle with a few other tenants. All to say, it's very clean, quiet, and secure here as I felt about the other Buakow properties too.

zorro and josky spot on,but why do women get uptight when a guy speaks the truth and thats not bashing farang women whatsoever,they have their needs same as guys do.

the men get so much hassle off the women too,like all men come here for sex with very young women,and we cant get women in our own countries but women dont come here for sex but if it happens its a relationship.Get real,women like sex the same as guys and pay for it sometimes with the bar boys and beach boys/bums.

Actually, I was replying to these two posts.

Hold up. im confused, are you asking for advice because you're a woman or are you wanting to go out and track down western women? Well do your self a favor and leave there if either one is the case.

Good advice!

The reason, why, is because it seems to be assumed that we are all the same i.e. the nagging old bags from back home.

We are not all the same, just as I would never assume that all men are same or have come here for the same reason. In fact, I don't really have too much of an opinion about what guys get up here or anywhere for that matter as long as it suits them and makes them happy. Who am I to judge?

I actually love to see the older guys who have maybe just retired come here and relax in the sun, have a beautiful lady take care of them. They've worked all their lives and now it is time for them to enjoy themselves and good for them, they actually got of their backsides and did something about their quality of life rather than just sit and whinge about it down their local back home.

I am real! I've been here 10 years but have only been with my partner for 3 and yes sex was good freelance since I didn't have to do his cleaning, washing and ironing after. I could just leg it. Great!!!!! Can't say I've ever paid for it though. Maybe, I was just lucky, dunno, but never been with a beach boy or bar boy - too worried about getting AIDS I suppose.

Interesting reply. To swing this in another direction slightly, how does a single unattached woman go about finding Caucasian [or otherwise] companionship [read into that however you wish although not exclusively] here? My own observation is that the Caucasian men make a bee line for the Thai women although I do know of a couple of exceptions.

A membership consists of paying an amount up front to the shop for a specific amount of washed items. The common advert is 500 baht for 80-100 pieces. YMMV.

I joined a shop on soi Buakow which had their terms and conditions in English affixed in the shop. I really didn't have much laundry to give the shop at the time as I own a lot of clothes so I am not required to clean before 3-4 weeks. I went to the shop about a month later and was informed my membership had expired. I looked at the terms and conditions neatly displayed on the wall and there was no mention of this membership expiry date. Why even have an expiry date? The payment is a credit either way, right? I travel a lot so I am sometimes out of Pattaya for a few weeks at a time.

So I asked the young female owner what she does she do with the excess moneys from people who do not return within 1 month? You guessed it, she pockets the difference! My difference would be approx. 420 baht so I felt a little confused but also angry that someone was trying to pull the wool over my eyes. I haggled with her a little and she finally relented and agreed to wash my other clothes but would not be pressing them.

I have used up my credit now and will be changing shops. Looking for advice on a recommended shop and any deals to be had. Thank you.

edit: There is a shop on 3rd road a little north of soi 14 that does all items for 6 baht each with no memberships required. I think that's where I'm headed and I also wanted to promote the place.

For the action but also comfortable living, soi Buakow keeps getting better and better.

you must be a newby,soi buakow is sewer

This is only MY opinion but with the number of hotels, guesthouses, local and foreign restaurants, a market on each end, bars, and high end condos popping up on and around Buakow, I really think the place keeps getting better and better. There's really something to cater to everyone's tastes. Being a 2 way road also makes access to everywhere very quick. I've been living on Buakow for a few months and I am surprised how quiet the street gets in some areas. If you want quiet, it's there. If you want action/noise, it's there too. However, some of my friends who have lived on soi LK Metro (a small area of hotels/bars off Buakow) report that after the bars close, the street is very quiet. Surprised me too.

I would also say Soi Arunothai, its quite yet close to everything but not so close it's in your face and it's this side of the Sukhumvit which is a major bonus if your form of transport is 2 wheels as trying to cross their is like Russian roulette.

The only gripe I suppose but nothing is perfect is the packs of wild dogs on the corners of the winding soi, im sure they know its a farang coming and wait for me as i turn the corner i often get "ran at" by snarling dogs that look more like a pack of Hyenas that then proceed to chase me up the soi. I expect it's quite comical to watch and im sure the dogs do it for that reason!!

I lived on Arunotai soi 2 for the better part of 2 years. The upside is that it's a central location, close to Carrefour, a residential neighborhood with people who actually live in Pattaya (as opposed to only tourists) so there's more neighborhood pride which does affect the image & upkeep of the area. The rental price at 9 Karat condos was only 5000/month + utilities so the price is right to live in the area. Soi Arunotai has improved a lot and continues to improve. Traffic when the elementary school lets out around 4pm is atrocious heading north but the soi is generally quiet and moves well at all other hours. About 3-4 years ago, crafty thieves were placing planks of wood with nails sticking UP so that hapless drivers would inevitably pop their tires and possibly tumble over the handle bars injuring themselves. The thieves would then proceed to rob the fallen drivers. This is not seen today to my knowledge and I am aware of at least 2 police officers who call the area home. If you are looking for a short stay, I would recommend maxxplace hotel on soi Arunotai 2 which is very modern and comfortable (ask for a room in the back). I would pass on Shagwell Mansions because it's next to a market (smelly) but they do have a pool and look after their customers second to none. The upsides outweigh the downsides for sure.