BigStar

5%? With typical blindness, you're overlooking the vast number of girls working in the malls, restos, hotels, dept stores, convenience stores, real estate, tourism, transportation, supermarkets, condos, schools, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, shops, and various other businesses. It's kind of like our ANF Economists who've never seen a shopper in a Thai mall, because, as only farang have money, and farang won't pay those ripoff prices, they by definition cannot exist. Nor, for the same reason, can Thai domestic tourists. Middle class Thais don't exist because the average ANF poster has never met one, LOL. Good illustration, though, of how brainwashed posters here are about Pattaya, even living here w/o knowing much of anything about it except their coveted bar scene. What, with that vast number of available women you can't see? Easy, except for the typical farang monger, who didn't and wouldn't succeed well w/ the nice, attractive ladies in his home country, either. But in fact I don't enjoy the bar scene and never did. Just nothing more boring than sitting there having an utterly inane conversation with a bar girl trying to get money out of you or listening to blather emanating from the barstool next over. The go-gos were kinda fun back in the 90s when the music was bearable, owing to the visuals. Those were a draw. The TQ still played listenable music long thereafter, so I'd stop in during the day when I'm out anyway. Very retro, with some great characters. But I found it's also changed a bit. I still wish the place well and hope it continues, but haven't been in for over a year. I've been with an educated, middle-class office lady, now business owner, for a couple of decades. Always worked and had her own money. Fluent English, great shape from diet, working out, and yoga. “Why would I settle for hamburger when I have steak at home," as Paul Newman said. Overall, I found Pattaya the most convenient place to live in Thailand, and I think it still is. I enjoy my quiet life here by the beach. You have to consider the total package, as I did, in which the advantages greatly outweigh the disadvantages. And those disadvantages can usually be worked around or minimized, if not eliminated. One can live a pleasant life in Pattaya without ever visiting or even seeing the bar scene.

I'm not convinced. The several models of Sony Walkman don't include built-in speakers. Most of the time, with a portable player, you're listening through earphones or earbuds that you lug along with player. The sound would be preferable to built-in or portable external speakers anyway because vastly superior. Lugging a small portable speaker in your bag or suitcase would hardly be onerous, and the sound would also be much better than that from "mobile phone speakers." You might first hit a gym for strength training.

My thought is that I wouldn't find such a small speaker very useful. If I wanted a speaker, I'd get a quality player w/ added bluetooth and use a portable speaker like a JBL Go (from the JBL store): https://www.lazada.co.th/products/jbl-go3-ip67-5-i1820182940-s5461572583.htm.

You would.. But the OP and other interested parties must consider that despite your vast travels you know nothing more about Pattaya than does any typically ignorant monger. It's rather like Thais who travel to Paris but never really leave Udon Thani. Serious inquirers should listen to long-time residents such as @newnative or @scubascuba3and see whether Pattaya can't fit most lifestyles pretty well. Many members here have stated their preference for Pattaya over Hua Hin, BTW, based on a number of factors.

No. By reading your previous posts, of course. Now you may have learned something from the info I gave you, but seems doubtful.

Could be. After I canceled my Banglamung Cable TV instead of renewing it, they waited 2 years before they actually cut me off.

No.

Retro website still around, too. Pre-mobile, non-responsive, tables vs divs and grid. Gifs🙂 I think the owner asked some questions in recent years in the IT forum. Amazing how that old site must still be pulling in revenue.

See how First Iraqi Bank treats you.

It is.

Including Pattaya. I know some remarkable success stories. Large middle class here and good schools.

Noblesse oblige? If Europe's doing it and the UK is doing it, we got no problem. It's only if Thailand does it.🙂Rest assured the bureaucrats in the EU will also waste the revenue gained from the tourist charge. I prefer the honest corruption of Thailand.

Less banging your head against the headboard will help.

Like this? Travelers will need 'permission' and a fee to visit United Kingdom as part of new digitized system Typical UK style. Ripoff to pay for illegals I guess.

Suggest you look into isometric exercises. I made good use of some during COVID when the gyms were closed, and I still do. Quick definitions: TSC is the way to go. A number of vids here: Lazada sells furniture moving straps. BTW, always keep breathing during isometric or super slow exercise. Don't hold your breath. Reading: https://baye.com/isometrics-static-holds-and-static-contraction-training/ In the worst case you can apply the TSC technique to flexing various muscles. Far better than doing nothing, as you'll see.

Nobody cares if you don't think Pattaya suits you. The topic is about the best place for expats to settle for long-term living. Why not just give your recommendation and be done with it? Yet you absolutely needed to perpetuate superficial stereotypes about Pattaya that merely revealed you don't know much about the place. In the course of which, we discovered your objections didn't make a lot of sense. And so you realized, as is evident by your refusal to answer questions. Meanwhile, you carefully failed to mention the notable disadvantages of living in your chosen paradise. Actually, some of these aren't a matter of mere preference. For older expats, having excellent government hospitals and a variety of good private hospitals nearby and conveniently accessed, as in Pattaya, is a matter of necessity--for those not in denial. It's only matter of public duty to debunk your Pattaya stereotyping, whether you cooperate or not. Losing battle, to be sure.

Yup, just kick back and enjoy the degeneration. I'm hoping exercise will help slow mine.

Not if you're pimping her out. Anything to avoid returning to the UK.

More of a consolidation than expansion.

Obviously. The knife was for use in case a Zionist entered the club. A present-day Real Brit™ only resorts to a slap to admonish offenders. Nor would he/she (depending on preferred pronoun) ever bring dishonour to His Majesty King Charles III by cowardly running away and hiding in a banana grove.🤣

Of what? ALL don't have to be enjoyed for a contented life as an expat in Pattaya. Judicious selection is key, just as it is anywhere. Evidently, you weren't aware of all the other advantages of living in Pattaya. NOT esp. up for clubbing, so @scubascuba3's answer was perfectly reasonable and reassuring. Most expats aren't; been there, did that, now lead settled lives. So you recommended Are YOU not one of those who want to live in Thailand and move here, needing to find a good place for a quiet life? I recommended a number of areas in Pattaya for just that. Local clubs in those areas as well. Then what are you on about? You seem to be becoming more incoherent in the quest to find reasons to justify an irrational dislike of Pattaya. Different topic, but fine beach views exist in ALL the areas I mentioned except for Lake Maprachan, where you could enjoy a lake view. How is the desire to live "central as possible" consistent with "a quiet life" and "not especially up for clubbing?" But two friends of mine have lived quiet lives in nice buildings w/ sea views on Beach Road for many years. Step outside, cross the road to the beach or just hop into a Bolt waiting to take you wherever you wish. Wherein lies the disagreement?

And then there may also be a bit of configuration in the Settings that the old Outlook didn't permit.

Let's see how realistic this labored contention would be w/ regard to your living in Pattaya. What is that you think must be offered for you to live contentedly? What times do you feel an urgency to visit those "areas?" Would you ever tire of them? Where are they located in Pattaya? Plenty of quiet areas in Pattaya, e.g., Wong Amart, Pratamnak, Naklua, Na Jomtien, Lake Mabprachan & the Dark Side, nearby beach towns such as Ban Amphur or Bang Saray. Or even Beach Road. Nobody's ever said, in all these years, "I sure hate living at Markland" or "I can't wait to leave Northshore." The fact that you don't know any of this means you didn't do "the Pattaya" and just believe stereotypes. Whenever I visit an old friend of mine in BKK, I'm happy to leave and return to Pattaya. I'll even make it a day trip sometimes. In Pattaya itself, obviously. Perfect base for travel. But you see Pattaya doesn't have to be paradise more than any other place. That's merely a diminishing exaggeration. It's sufficient to be all considered the best place in Thailand to settle down, and it can be.

We heard that already and it's been answered. Such incidents are dug out and dramatized for page views. The forum is kind of a low Brit tabloid, come down to it. Pattaya's a mid-sized city with a vast number of tourists coming in and workers supported however indirectly by the tourist industry: Ms Urai shared the encouraging news that Pattaya saw a remarkable 9.32% increase in tourist arrivals from January to June 2024 compared to the same period last year. “We welcomed 12.69 million visitors, up from 11.61 million in 2023. This growth includes 7.20 million Thai tourists and 5.49 million international visitors,” she reported. --Pattaya sees 9.32% tourism growth, exciting events coming in 2024 Packed into a small area. So that's very little crime, relatively. (Traffic, yes, but can be worked around.) I never hit bar areas, so like @newnative, in over 2 decades I've never seen any 'fights, stabbings, deaths, drugs, theft, etc.' Nor did I see any in my early days when I was familiar with the bar scene and Brit yobs ran rampant. SO not a worry. Life's good. Yah, the imagined crime wave has ALWAYS been a source of Pattaya bashing from hysterics, doomsters, and hand-wringers, none of whom actually live here, expecting Sarasota, FLA, USA, or champagne on a beer budget. Here it is in 1997. There are two types of articles appearing in the Pattaya Mail with regularity: those where business and political leaders decry the decline in tourism and propose ways to improve the situation; and a steadily increasing number of reports of tourists being insulted, assaulted, drugged, robbed and extorted . . . . Pattaya is being inundated with rude obnoxious thugs who do not care about the city or its visitors. . . . They are driving away the tourists and the income and jobs that they bring. Inevitably, this rabble will win as they reduce everyone to their level of poverty. Meanwhile, tourism to Cambodia is increasing by 50% every six months... [emphasis mine] --Lawrence Neal, "Down on Pattaya," Pattaya Mail, Vol. V No. 5 Friday 31 January 1997 - 6 February 1997 And that hyperbole and dire prophecy proved utter nonsense in the course of time; precisely the opposite happened as the city experienced explosive growth. Turned out that many of the tourists themselves were the rabble.🤣 Pattaya bashers have ever continued the rhetorical tradition, however, and they always will. As I noted earlier, pay no attention and choose your lifestyle in this large diverse area.

Could be another Aussie gangster on 'roids, possibly armed. You remember Sharky: You'd want backup.