Before and after - artist's impression of the future of Walking Street!

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

As i told this forum long ago.... It will become Lil Singapore! 

[Blackheart1916]

Beautifully sanitized.  How boring.

[JHolmesJr]

i reckon property values at soi buakhao are gonna go thru the roof after this….it will be the new nucleus of whoring.

[Homburg]

Pattaya seems to have a plan to turn itself into a "family friendly" resort.  I do not see that they have thought this through properly by asking the first question: Why will people come here?

 

Currently the plan looks to be to present Pattaya as a western style city, providing an "upmarket" shopping experience.

 

BUT why would people fly thousands of miles to come to Pattaya to visit THE SAME SHOPS THEY HAVE AT HOME?  

 

Quite apart from the cost, it is a real challenge for families to travel long-haul with children and it is far easier for people to travel to resorts closer to their homes and so perhaps Pattaya needs to re-work what it offers to potential tourists or re-think its strategy.

 

Tourists are not going to be drawn to Pattaya for the effluent filled sea and beach, or the traffic, or for the infamous jet-ski scam, nor to "Study Thai culture & Buddhism" (as we all used to put on our visa forms).

 

Once the bars are closed and the nightlife gone (as is clearly the plan), as a holiday destination what can Pattaya offer?

 

There is no need to waste money on "artists' impressions", if Pattaya's strategy does not change, here is a more likely depiction of walking street (and much of the rest of Pattaya) in the very near future:

 

[joebrown]

2 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Many on WS now spend no money.  Or very little.  Kinda like the red light district in Amsterdam.  Many walk by, few partake.

 

If they did it properly, it could be very successful.  I quit going to WS several years ago.  Just not my cup of tea.  I know many others who feel the same way.

 

Here's Bang Saray's walking street.  No go go bars.

https://www.mypattayacondo.com/bangsaray-walking-street/

 

And Chiang Mai's market.  Always busy with tourists.

http://www.embark.org/thailand/chiang-mai/culture/sunday-market

Until about 18 months ago I lived about 5km from Bang Saray and remember Walking Street which is a short section of the beach road with archways at each end. Maybe it's become a major tourist attraction since I left, but my recollection is that it was only as busy as shown on the photo about 5 times a year for occasions such as Loy-Kratong. The rest of the time the road was open 24/7 to all traffic. Walking Street Pattaya and Chiang Mai are IMO totally different retail/entertainment venues.

 

[holy cow cm]

Zero dollar tour street. Only ones who will be led there are the Chinese. And Thailand continues to lose more zest and appeal. Why don't they clean up the poo poo and garbage in the water along with the beaches. Be really constructive.

[garvon]

2 hours ago, mark01 said:

Hate walking street, so the quicker the change, the better.

Knock it all down and start again.

Why on earth did you come here then if you hate it so furiously? Your reply will be interesting.

[Chris Lawrence]

It'll all be happening in the back alley or it will move to another area. Alternate to this is legalise it and put it in windows like Amsterdam?

[jesimps]

3 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

Many on WS now spend no money.  Or very little.  Kinda like the red light district in Amsterdam.  Many walk by, few partake.

 

If they did it properly, it could be very successful.  I quit going to WS several years ago.  Just not my cup of tea.  I know many others who feel the same way.

 

Here's Bang Saray's walking street.  No go go bars.

https://www.mypattayacondo.com/bangsaray-walking-street/

 

And Chiang Mai's market.  Always busy with tourists.

http://www.embark.org/thailand/chiang-mai/culture/sunday-market

Bang Saray and Chiang Mai, good places to go to have the aris bored off of you.

 

[natway09]

Sterile, clean, , sexless .with no atmosphere..............empty 

Kill the goose that was laying the golden egg

And they scratch their collective heads & wonder why their tenants cannot afford to pay the rent

Stupidity

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

" It has been transformed into a place of calm and order where families would be at home."

 

I guess there has to be one street that is calm and orderly in all of Thailand.

 

 

 

Alas if this comes to fruition then Pattaya will just re-locate to another location...
unfortunately for you I believe this is your neck-of-the-woods...
look-out west coast the trash is coming

[heybuz]

3 hours ago, yellowboat said:

What a waste of time, and just shows the lack of priorities this country has.   This is only a problem for the stuffy Thai elite.  Why don't they look at stopping the dumping of raw sewage into the sea first.  The sex trade harms far less people than outright, unmitigated pollution.  

i counted 5 condoms floating down the klong in bang kapi on my daily stroll to the mall.there was a bloke fishing and i wonder how many he caught.

[Xaos]

End of Pattaya

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[Lucky mike]

Looks like it was designed by an accountant!

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

The government should remember what happened in Singapore when they tore Boogie Street down, the powers that be in Singapore realised it was a mistake and rebuilt Boogie Street but it was never the same.....There is a lesson there!!!

Did that include the toilet block? A visit to Bugis always including walking through a half inch of pee.

Many a night I spent down there till the dawn. Even saw the famous dance of the flaming a holes. Happy days.

B***** pantywaist wowsers always destroy anything people enjoy.

Now it's just another crappy shopping/ restaurant street.

 

Don't expect the authorities to learn anything. They keep on making the same mistakes, over and over.

I wonder if that pic of the "new" became reality, would they admit their mistake. I think not.

[thaibeachlovers]

43 minutes ago, garvon said:

Why on earth did you come here then if you hate it so furiously? Your reply will be interesting.

That's a strange thing to say. W S is entirely missable if one prefers golf.

I lived there for a year and rarely went, though now I wish I had gone more often.

In fact, unless one wants to go there, the entire strip is invisible to one living even not far away. It is possible to walk from the north end to the Royal Garden mall and never see a bar or gogo unless looking for one.

[bikerbri]

4 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

The government should remember what happened in Singapore when they tore Boogie Street down, the powers that be in Singapore realised it was a mistake and rebuilt Boogie Street but it was never the same.....There is a lesson there!!!

I remember it well. Next to Wanchai in Hong Kong one of the best runs ashore in South East Asia.

Edited September 14, 2017 by bikerbri

[Mark mark]

Tragic !!!

[Yann55]

 

 

Sadly, the 'after' rendition is in the same spirit as the newly 'renovated' part of Dongtan Beach, ie NO SPIRIT at all.

 

It is cold, ugly, and soulless. An Orwellian world of depressing concrete  fit only for hubots (this is a reference to a Swedish series called Real Humans, which features robots that look exactlly like humans, brrrrrr).

 

It gives me the creeps. What on earth is the matter with the Pattaya authorities these days ? Have they lost their senses ?

 

And it's not like they never had any, because there were other projects, in the past, which were okay : what was done on Pratumnak hill several years ago wasn't half bad, and the first remodelling of Dongtan Beach was rather nice too. Of course, in both cases, there never was the least bit of maintenance after completion, so that both places quickly started to disintegrate, due to the extraordinary propensity of Thais to savagely deface public property in record time (a subconscious statement against all the corruption involved, I guess).

 

What these punks don't destroy is quickly ruined by monsoon rains ... the actual construction being done at minimal cost, so that a long string of middlemen can line their pockets. Which, of course, is the first and foremost purpose of all these projects, anyway.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2017 by Yann55

[dunroaming]

2 hours ago, SGD said:

You don't need to destroy Walking Street just to have another street with a market selling crap and tourist tat do you ?

Chiang Mai night market is part of the listed attractions of the city.  Draws a lot of tourists in the high season.  Plenty of tat there, mainly fake labels but it is there for people who want to buy that sort of thing.  Walking Street is for different punters but does attract some tourist voyeurs along with the sex punters.  A bit like Patpong in Bangkok.  However I still think that in Thailand it is horses for courses and in Pattaya sleaze is the big draw as much as fake labels are a draw in Chiang Mai. 

[morrobay]

11 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

 

 

Don't expect the authorities to learn anything. They keep on making the same mistakes, over and over.

I wonder if that pic of the "new" became reality, would they admit their mistake. I think not.

As long as the Chinese and Thais  keep coming "they" are happy with their mistakes: Pattaya Beach walk/rd, Jomtien/Dongtan mess. And the fact that the non Asians complain and criticize is most likely a plus as far as "they" are concerned. The transforming will result in fewer non Asians by design

 

[Tarteso]

And the girls of the future? 

They All married?

[thaibeachlovers]

15 minutes ago, Tarteso said:

And the girls of the future? 

They All married?

Only to "male" sex robots. Men will all have girl sex robots- hoorah. Pity I'll miss it.

 

[Thechook]

The after looks much better are far more inviting for quality tourists

[Thechook]

26 minutes ago, Tarteso said:

And the girls of the future? 

They All married?

They may have to get a job

[Suetape]

The Good old days before the Walking Street existed!  

[sawadee1947]

I like the ideas. Finally it will be a street where to meet each other and have some fish and chips with vinegar and a pint of fresh milk.

[alwaysrainsinUK]

I like it much better the way it is .........  last thing i want to see is anything that looks like back in UK #Boring

[wvavin]

Brilliant idea by this government so please go ahead with this plan. We could not wait to see this transformation.

[johnny49r]

Before: 

Crowds of tourists, good revenue for locals.

 

After:

Where is everybody? No more bling bling for the locals.

 

It may be sleazy but it is why the majority of tourists flock here.