Pattaya Halloween: The only scary thing was the complete lack of tourists

[metempsychotic]

7 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

U don’t seem to understand that a negative online vibe from long stayers will stop tourists from visiting as well.

Also most of us got loads of overseas friends and relatives to short time visiting us (TOURISTS) here but since lots of expats have left so now their overseas friends and relatives won’t visit either..furthermore if Thailand expats in this forum are posting  here that Vietnam has very easy visas is cheap and clean beaches etc etc. So any foreigners who are. reading this before booking a flight where do u think they will go to?

Do you think that on a Vietnam forum they are talking how great things are in Thailand?

And you seem to think that thaivisa is an online community that has any credibility with people under 40.

 

What is even more laughable is retirees complaining about exchange rates and the growing price of a Chang and a short time thinking they are members of the expat community. 

 

[BestB]

Just now, metempsychotic said:

And you seem to think that thaivisa is an online community that has any credibility with people under 40.

 

It sure as hell does, within minutes after they get refused in the airport or get visa denied at a consulate. ????

[metempsychotic]

7 minutes ago, sandrew33 said:

Off the hook? It was pretty average and certainly poor compared with years past. But it’s been in steady decline in bkk for years too 

Bangkok is a fairly large city. Clubs bars in restraunts around Soi 11 were packed 

 

But I do agree that the music and club scene in Bangkok has declined in quality if not quantity. 

[SteveK]

Thailand was great when it was cheap and friendly. Now it's not, so many other places are much, much better.

[Nyezhov]

24 minutes ago, metempsychotic said:

What is even more laughable is retirees complaining about exchange rates and the growing price of a Chang and a short time thinking they are members of the expat community. 

Yeah almost as funny as those 20000 baht a month nondegreed teachers, digital nomads, scammers, Bitcoiners and all the other assorted young rifraf that cant cut it in the west who call themselves "expats" and who look down on retirees with 25 year old girlfriends who sleep late and whose net worth is unobtainable to them unless they live to be 120. Hows rush hour treating you?

[metempsychotic]

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

Yeah almost as funny as those 20000 baht a month nondegreed teachers, digital nomads, scammers, Bitcoiners and all the other assorted young rifraf that cant cut it in the west who call themselves "expats" and who look down on retirees with 25 year old girlfriends who sleep late and whose net worth is unobtainable to them unless they live to be 120. Hows rush hour treating you?

Seems I have struck a nerve.

 

25 year old girlfriend? congratulations tiger, I'm sure she earns every penny. 

 

One would have thought someone so well set up would have just chuckled and let the comment pass. 

[skorp13]

15 hours ago, metempsychotic said:

Was off the hook here in Bangkok. 

 

Perhaps pattaya is catering to a dying demographic. 

Not so much that. Pattaya and Thailand chased out the demographic that made the town and made it work. Now the demographic they have been going after is burnt out and going elsewhere as they are pretty much a one time tourist crowd especially in visiting Pattaya.

 

Pattaya is also feeling the impact of the stronger baht along with tougher ex-pat retiree regulations that have chased many off.

[Mikeasq60]

I've got some easy advice, Thailand needs to devalue the baht or things will get worse than no tourists  to celebrate Halloween in Pattaya. 

[mmushr00m]

It is the strong baht.

The Mrs and I skipped a visit to Thailand this year. Did Europe and will taking a beach holiday in the Caribbean instead.

 

[JamJar]

12 hours ago, madmen said:

23 million business people?  but I thought the bar stool economists said the economy is broken , By your account business is SCREAMING

 

You can view the full report here;

 

https://newsroom.mastercard.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GDCI-Global-Report-FINAL-1.pdf

 

An almost disproportionate amount of overnight visitors come from mainland China. Being so dependent on a particular market brings it's own set of issues.

[beautifulthailand99]

11 hours ago, smedly said:

you are talking rubbish, max spend is sub 20k a week, in fact some of them are not coming as often because it cost so much, as already mentioned on this thread - Thailand ain't cheap any more - there are no more 2 week millionaires, guys are coming here and being thrifty many complaining about how expensive it is and the price gouging everywhere - Thailand needs to waken up and smell the cheese, only reason many come here at all is because they know people living here - go figure

 

Don't forget 1000GBP hardly gets much more than 35k baht, add in hotel room and flights and you're looking at a 2-3 week holiday costing 3-4000 GBP - you think that is cheap ???????? - I don't and neither do they and they are not spending anything like that  

If you forget the women you could have a last minute booked  all inclusive (if that's your thing) on a Spanish island for 300 quid in a reasonable hotel and that includes flights. If I didn't have a Thai wife In would long ago have given up on the place and spend my money at home or in Europe. IMHO Spain has the best tourism offer in the world at every level of spend. 

[beautifulthailand99]

10 hours ago, Guderian said:

They're obviously going to have to introduce a serious new crime called "lese tourisme". Anybody saying bad things about the official tourist numbers (up 10% month on month, every month, of course) will face immediate arrest and 20 years in the monkey house without trial. That'll fix things for sure.

And in the past 'lese tourisme' wasn't even needed because people truly loved the place.????

[beautifulthailand99]

10 hours ago, Sujo said:

Not true. I am a genuine tourist and was refused because only allowed 2 land border xings in a year.

 

I went in january and april for about 4 days each time. Tried to go 1 september and refused.

 

Im sure the 3 xings a year rule was not meant to stop people like me but it did. My fault for not knowing that rule but it put me off even flying in, add that to the high baht and junta rule and i will wait until things improve and feel wanted.

I would get ready for a long wait. 

[shy coconut]

18 hours ago, petermik said:

I,ve been living here nearly six years,the exchange rates we cannot control but this juntas attitude to long stayers is more worrying 

You can't control that either. Especially something you cannot quantify.

[Mac98]

14 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The one most responsible for destroying Pattaya is Purachai, and he wasn't in a military government.

It's been a long time coming, but Pattaya's troubles started when he was wreaking havoc on the place.

All that is happening now is as a consequence of his actions.

A lot of comments on the decline of Pattaya's fun factor, but this one nails it. First it was Purachai, then the military. You dampen what a tourist city is known for and every tourist is then disappointed. They certainly didn't come to Pattaya for the best beaches, clearest water, cheapest shopping in the world. And what they came for, to observe if nothing else, is a shadow of itself. You can see more in a Kansas go-go than many Walking Street bars. Most massage shops are not 'happy' at all. What if Colorado banned skiing as too dangerous, then wondered why no one came to observe the snow and drink hot chocolate? Put the fun back in Pattaya and they will come. It used to be the world's 'Field of Dreams'.

[Zack61]

18 hours ago, Creasy said:

Offer the punters sticky rice and mango and they will appear in droves ????

50 tonnes  this time

i can see them queueing already

[jacko45k]

13 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Not to mention there's literally no good club in Thailand and no DJs etc...

I can't speak for the quality of the clubs as I would rather visit a dentist, but I thought Bangkok had quite a few, and DJs were always being promoted for the Pattaya venues, like they were some form of artist superstar, instead of some empty headed record monkey. 

[gk10002000]

13 hours ago, metempsychotic said:

It doesn't matter. The bar scene has been dying for the last 15 years, times have changed, things move on. 

coincidentally my first trip to the LOS was 15 years ago in 2004.  And in my view the place went downhill every year since then.  I was enamored with the place in 2004, went twice that year.  I immediately starting making plans to semi retire there, changed my investment strategy to yield income, i.e. dividends and interest.  That decision has worked out fine so no regrets.  But as far as retiring to Thailand, well that is now very unlikely.  At the moment can only see two 60 day SETVs with one extension each for a total of 180 days give or take in Thailand.  And after each of those first 88 days, a trip to a neighboring country for some tourism that I wanted to do anyway, thereby avoiding the 90 day reports. 

 

The second trip in 2004 we had reservations for Phuket that would have put us there the days of the Tsunami but fortunately my buddy changed our reservations the night before to go to Ko Samet.  So Saturday AM woke up on Ko Samet and saw the news on TV

[beautifulthailand99]

14 minutes ago, gk10002000 said:

coincidentally my first trip to the LOS was 15 years ago in 2004.  And in my view the place went downhill every year since then.  I was enamored with the place in 2004, went twice that year.  I immediately starting making plans to semi retire there, changed my investment strategy to yield income, i.e. dividends and interest.  That decision has worked out fine so no regrets.  But as far as retiring to Thailand, well that is now very unlikely.  At the moment can only see two 60 day SETVs with one extension each for a total of 180 days give or take in Thailand.  And after each of those first 88 days, a trip to a neighboring country for some tourism that I wanted to do anyway, thereby avoiding the 90 day reports. 

 

The second trip in 2004 we had reservations for Phuket that would have put us there the days of the Tsunami but fortunately my buddy changed our reservations the night before to go to Ko Samet.  So Saturday AM woke up on Ko Samet and saw the news on TV

Same here I was with my then gf (now wife) in Pai wondering where to go next I wanted to go to Phuket and book a hotel by the beach my missus used to have a souvenir shop there and said it was the rainy season. We went to Ko Samed instead for Christmas and left the island on boxing day. The text messages from family and friends took hours to come through as we learnt in horror at what had just happened. Unwittingly she saved our lives. You may remember the big bar on White Sands with the all bands it was quite a night and a german baldie being buried in the sand who had brought his 'teerak' from Pattaya. I think it was 70 odd baht to the pound lived like a king....

[thaibeachlovers]

19 hours ago, BestB said:

Even if baht was weaker. Have you seen the prices?

 

Thailand is known as a cheap holiday destination . 290 baht for a plain T-shirt at the markets is hardly cheap even if baht was weaker but at the levels it’s at now its double the price to most western countries .

 

220 baht for a drink , 1500 bsht

bsrfines, 1000 baht for a steak. Just a bread roll is up to 25 baht

 

A night out with a female company can set you back 10000, easily. 

Sorry you had such a bad time, but your experience is unusually expensive. Most of us didn't pay anywhere near that much.

Baht too high, go elsewhere; T shirts too expensive, don't buy them ( they were only cheap because they were made in sweat shops by nearly slave labour ); 220 baht for a drink, buy at 7 11 and drink in the room; 1500 baht barfines and 10,000 baht for the company- they saw you coming ( if it's really costing that much you are looking in the wrong places ); 1,000 baht for a steak, fried rice chicken- 25 baht; bread roll 25 baht- bread is bad for you anyway.

[thaibeachlovers]

53 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I can't speak for the quality of the clubs as I would rather visit a dentist, but I thought Bangkok had quite a few, and DJs were always being promoted for the Pattaya venues, like they were some form of artist superstar, instead of some empty headed record monkey. 

He didn't say there were NO clubs, he said they were no good, and I'd rather have had them cut off with a rusty razor blade than go in one of those rubbish places along walking Street, so I agree with him.

DJs in gogos are pants these days, and probably the reason most of them are nearly empty.

[thaibeachlovers]

30 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

I think it was 70 odd baht to the pound

I had a holiday in Bkk a bit after the crash end of last century. One place was exchanging Sterling at 99 baht to the pound. Sadly, I'd changed all my spare money the previous holiday when the rate had risen about 5 baht, as I didn't think it'd last.

It was amazing back then as inflation had not yet kicked in so it was like a 50% price cut.

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, metempsychotic said:

What is even more laughable is retirees complaining about exchange rates and the growing price of a Chang and a short time thinking they are members of the expat community. 

What expat community?

Where I lived for a while with very few farangs, the ones I did pass by studiously ignored my very existence. Not much community among expats in LOS, apart from organisations like Pattaya expats club and similar in Chiang Mai- I went once and didn't bother again.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, skorp13 said:

Pattaya and Thailand chased out the demographic that made the town and made it work.

Never a truer word spoken. Everything they are doing is alienating the guys that paid large to build Pattaya.

I wonder if it's for some unknown reason, or if they are just a bunch of greedy incompetents with dreams of riches once they get rid of the mongers and build the new Riviera on Pattaya Bay.

However, they first need to work out how to keep the sand on the beach and stop it flooding every time it rains.

 

 

[Isaan sailor]

Hotels now one of the few bargains left in Thailand.  And that’s due to a tremendous oversupply.  But the’ll need a whole lot more than cheap rooms to entice back western tourists.  Meanwhile we’ll just enjoy the solitude at beach areas.

[balo]

Well it's low season , wait until Christmas. Bars in Pattaya been struggling for years already. 

[Nyezhov]

5 hours ago, metempsychotic said:

Seems I have struck a nerve.

 

25 year old girlfriend? congratulations tiger, I'm sure she earns every penny. 

 

One would have thought someone so well set up would have just chuckled and let the comment pass. 

no dude, nothing I read here could possibly bother me. But I do have a need to respond to he propagation of idiocy when I see posts like yours.

 

the girlfriend remark is pretty much uncalled for. But that's okay, because you are happily hiding in the anonymity of the internet. That usually makes one a tougher guy. But, apparently, I hit the nerve didn't I, Teach?

[jacko45k]

38 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

Hotels now one of the few bargains left in Thailand.  And that’s due to a tremendous oversupply.

I just booked one for the International Firework Festival, wasn't no bargain!

[ukrules]

20 hours ago, AussieBob18 said:

I have been told that I am being very negative (other posts) about Thailand and the Baht, but I am certain that I am right, and this post is just another of many examples of what is actually hapenning in Thailand.  The economy is in big trouble, but the 'echo chamber' of the Thai leaders in Bangkok (Junta et al) cannot and will not 'see' it (and some TV posters).

 

Unless they take drastic actions to decrease the Baht, the world economy will take action itself - and it will be big and ugly.  Maybe not as big as in the 1990s  - but it is going to be bad if they dont take action soon.   This is Thailand's net external debt - I will not bother showing charts about how muchg the Baht has increased against ALL foeign currencies - but of note is that those graphs look very similar to this one below.  

 

It is unsustainable - and a correction is inevitable and is coming.  But being the optimist that I actually am, I can see the Junta being thrown out after the correction happens, and a pro-Business and Pro-USA Govt taking their place.  And amongst all the changes that new Govt will make, I reckon the attitude towards Expats will eventually return to what is what in the past - we are good for the economy - please stay/come back. 

No big deal, everything will go to <deleted> and we will all still have our money coming in from abroad.

 

[Paul Henry]

So shall you sow ! So shall you reap! Thailand RIP.