Pattaya boomtown! Tourists throng Walking Street! But where are the farangs?

[kingdong]

18 hours ago, Beggar said:

I have been living here for more than 20 years and I have to admit that am not a bar goer. But I see more and more bars every year and endless ladies waiting for customers. The military government even has extended the opening times here in Pattaya. So what went wrong? 

 

The exchange rate.

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

It is called "Walking Street" for a reason. Unfortunately the tourists that are currently visiting are taking the name too literally.

 

Might be time for a name change.

I don't care to walk on it myself. I hide indoors and plan my next venue carefully so I can scurry unseen rat like, and not get stuck in a long line of Chinese tourists or behind confused looking Indians unable to make a decision of where to share a beer, anxious to get to my next far over-priced drink and scrounging lady. 

[baansgr]

2 hours ago, craigieboy1973 said:

Pattaya is a hole ... junkies con artist losers why would you waste your time anymore bulldoze the lot and start again nothing too see nothing to do 

Water parks, nong nooch gardens, silverlake, shopping malls, an array of other attractions for day trips, and of course a cosmopolitan nightlife....although its lost its tacky charm as a cheap whore house, it still has a lot to offer for many

[Pravda]

I'm in Canada right now, but I want to thank Thai visa for giving me much needed entertainment every day. 

[tingtong]

19 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

It is called "Walking Street" for a reason. Unfortunately the tourists that are currently visiting are taking the name too literally.

 

Might be time for a name change.

How about: "Museum of modern Thai visual art and human nature"? 

[Rimmer]

Some troll and off topic posts removed

[murraynz]

23 hours ago, metempsychotic said:

Strange indeed, I live in Bangkok on Soi 11.

 

Out running errands yesterday I was quite surprised at the number of "western" tourists around, generally 20 to 35, many female, many couples. 

 

Thai wakepark is chocker with visiting foreign  wakeboarders, and I have more friends through this season than in recent years. 

 

Tourist come, but not for Pattaya it seems

 

I'm sure that many of the comments made about Pattaya, are made by people who seldom or ever go there....

I actually live at cosy beach, go to Pattaya about twice a week. 

The bars and walking street have got much busier over the past couple of weeks... Sure there are lots more Indians and Chinese, these people seldom go to the bars. 

I've also been to Nana plaza, several times over past two weeks.. It's far far busier than a month ago..the bars at Nana, are so so  boring compared to Pattaya, girls dancing with phones, they hardly move.. Very bad attitude by service staff, drinks too expensive.. They are only interested in bar fine, then go to short time room.. 

I get far better value and much more fun in Pattaya. Good variety of gogos and not pushy service staff or mammassan.. 

[Lionrock2312]

On 11/14/2019 at 5:59 AM, GalaxyMan said:

My Thai friends here in Samui who work the Walking Streets around the island say exactly the same thing; lots of looking and picture taking, no buying.

What walking streets in Samui??

Chaweng and Lamai don't have them, I went there enough times

[GalaxyMan]

10 minutes ago, Lionrock2312 said:

What walking streets in Samui??

Chaweng and Lamai don't have them, I went there enough times

You must not have gone to Chaweng on Saturday or Lamai on Sunday.

Maenam is on Thursday, Bophut's Fisherman's Village on Friday.

Edited November 15, 2019 by GalaxyMan

[Lionrock2312]

7 minutes ago, GalaxyMan said:

You must not have gone to Chaweng on Saturday or Lamai on Sunday.

I said what walking streets, I've stayed in Cheweng for 2 weeks twice.

The beach road, Soi reggae and Soi green mango aren't walking streets

Edited November 15, 2019 by Lionrock2312
Typo

[atyclb]

9 hours ago, GoodieAfterDark said:

11 hours ago, atyclb said:

 

thai alphabet definitely has "l" sound consonants, two as i recall. reason most thais pronounce farang as falang is laziness/shortcut pronouncing the "r" consonant in farang

 

the same with . aroy .   usually spoken .   aloy

I seem to hear the opposite. For example, I have heard Thais saying "shopping morr", instead of "shopping mall". For some reason they seem to have a hard time to pronounce syllables with "L".

 

when the "l"consonant is last letter in word.   the thai consonant with the "l" sound . is peculiar in that if it is the final letter of the word it changes and is pronounced as if if it were "n"

 

this is why the common phrase . "check bin" asking for bill in restaurant is spoken as "bin" rather than "bill"  the consonant is lau ling . ล 

Edited November 15, 2019 by atyclb

[Grumpy John]

The ripoffs are what get me,  not just in Pattaya but all over the country.  For example there is a supermarket of sorts in PhiChit where the wife goes for a certain brand of face cream. I wandered into the men's section to check on shave cream.  I had a <deleted> moment when I did the exchange rate calc! That is Au$8+!!! And it's the small size.  Back in Oz I went into Woolworths and lo and behold the large was on special for $2.50. I bought 6 back with me! So you can see the ripoffs are not just confined to Pattaya. Ps: Makro price is 155 baht. 

 

 

[skorp13]

Are you listening Pattaya? Thailand? This is the Walking Street and over all tourist trap Pattaya you created and these are the tourists you wanted, the ones that spend no money! 

[Traubert]

For the n millionth time, the Chinese don't come to Thailand mongering and drinking.

 

They come for temples, shopping and food in that order. Those who do indulge head for the karaokes. If you expect them to act like westerners you will be way wide of the mark.

 

Not that that ever bothered anyone on Thaivisa.

[spidermike007]

They cruise up and down the street, gawking at the ladyboys and the scantily clad women, talking about how depraved the country is, and then walking into a 7/11 to buy a soda and some chips. The real crisis here, is that the TAT failed to see that by luring these low budget tour groups, they would indeed boost the numbers, but it would be of little help to most Thai business owners. Millions are hurting right now, due to the massive ignorance of this administration. Millions. 

[gk10002000]

On 11/14/2019 at 12:59 PM, GoodieAfterDark said:

Before Internet, Thailand and specially Pattaya was a little secret. 

Yes my first visit was in 2004.  I kind of stumbled on to the place actually thanks to the internet.  It was the year I finally got all my finances sorted out, new passport and was ready to visit Asia.  It was heaven, and I went back two times a year every year for the 5 years.  Noticed a change after the Thaksin coup, then a big change as the Russians moved in, then a bigger change after those Bangkok floods.  It was my opinion that anybody that could move did move to a city with any infrastructure such as Pattaya. 

 

I don't think all the bar girls are saying 4,000 baht a night.  That was not what I heard this last August when I was there.  Maybe some of the pricier gogo girls

[balo]

On 11/14/2019 at 5:18 AM, webfact said:

But many Thai posters on the Facebook site asked - Where are the farangs? 

They are back in farangland, just like myself. Exchange rate and visa issues etc etc etc etc.   You asked for it. 

[fhickson]

On 11/14/2019 at 11:57 AM, James Chloe said:

I'm in Pattaya right now. It is unusually dead. There aren't many farangs, and my friends that manage bars on walking street say it is a terrible season and they would only have 1-2 customers a night. But my friend who manages a bar on Soi 6 seems to be happy. There seems to be less girls on Soi 6 though.

 

Walking street seems pretty dead, but has a ton of indians. Previously I would see walking street filled with beautiful thai women, and now it's mostly indian guys. I talked to a couple of my friends who are dancers and they said they don't go with indians because they don't spend money and laughed at me when I told them thailand expects indian/chinese to save the season.

 

Definitely no big inrush of Chinese to the gogos. I think I visited most of the ones near the first half of walking street before the indian part of it.

It's weird because more places are open around pattaya, but they're filled with older tourists who aren't partying at all -- not even sure why they're here tbh.

 

I've also noticed more white girls running around near LK metro, which is strange. 

Honestly I hope things turn around because I really love this city. 

On a side note: One of the managers at a bar on walking street just switched over from selling/managing properties. She said the real estate market is dead. "Nobody is buying or renting." So now she works in a go-go.

thats a prob im having here currently.

 

in soi buakhao seems to be older guys drinking in bars, but not really having fun or partying. they kind of just sit there and stare.

 

the only ones appearing to have a good time are the girls in the bars, but thats the act.

 

i wanted to be somewhere thats fun and makes me feel young again, like vegas would be in the states if you were a high roller, and pattaya has not been that place so far for me. hope that changes come high season.

Edited November 16, 2019 by fhickson

[yogi100]

38 minutes ago, fhickson said:

thats a prob im having here currently.

 

in soi buakhao seems to be older guys drinking in bars, but not really having fun or partying. they kind of just sit there and stare.

 

the only ones appearing to have a good time are the girls in the bars, but thats the act.

 

i wanted to be somewhere thats fun and makes me feel young again, like vegas would be in the states if you were a high roller, and pattaya has not been that place so far for me. hope that changes come high season.

The old guys have considerably less money these days and often can't rise to the occasion any more.

 

Not an ideal recipe for having fun or partying.

 

It normally starts picking up around now in mid November when the younger blokes who are still earning start to arrive. This high season (if there is one) should be interesting.

[Vacuum]

On 11/14/2019 at 8:35 PM, RickoMortis said:

These days the Bar girls are demanding 4,000 Baht, plus a Bar fine

Only idiots pay this kind of money for a 5 minutes pleasure.

[xylophone]

8 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

Only idiots pay this kind of money for a 5 minutes pleasure.

Excuse me..........eight minutes if you don't mind!!!

 

No, only joking as I do not take girls from bars, but I do have bar owner friends and know some of the girls that work in the bars, and there are indeed some "stupid" prices being asked for a "take away".

 

Not only that, if one engages in some sort of "conversation" with one of the bar girls and offers to buy them a drink, then that could end up costing 250 baht per tiny shot, before the bargaining even starts.

 

It seems pretty obvious to those of us who have lived here for quite some time, that if prices are as indicated above, then business is going to fall away (I was going to say drop off, but was being wary of the pun).

 

Many of the bar girls I know and who have been unsuccessful in their nightly interactions with farangs, end up going to a nightclub or two where they will become more readily available for a fraction of the price, up to a point when they get so drunk they couldn't give a <deleted>!!

[fhickson]

17 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Many of the bar girls I know and who have been unsuccessful in their nightly interactions with farangs, end up going to a nightclub or two where they will become more readily available for a fraction of the price, up to a point when they get so drunk they couldn't give a <deleted>!!

or the reluctantly accept lower prices and end up stealing <deleted> in the room...

[fhickson]

On 11/17/2019 at 2:59 AM, yogi100 said:

The old guys have considerably less money these days and often can't rise to the occasion any more.

 

Not an ideal recipe for having fun or partying.

 

It normally starts picking up around now in mid November when the younger blokes who are still earning start to arrive. This high season (if there is one) should be interesting.

one place thats pretty depressing is those bars in front of nirun condos.

 

the same old guys sit there and drink each night. they are kind of out of shape and dont look real vibrant. i guess they are retired and not working. they just seem to sit there and the bar girls pester them for who knows what.

 

not sure what the story is actually, ive known old guys who were broke and drinking regularly who were really outgoing and cool, but there seems to be a depressing element here i cant put my finger on. maybe its satiation when all your needs are met, theres no edge there.

[kingdong]

On 11/14/2019 at 5:28 AM, Beggar said:

I have been living here for more than 20 years and I have to admit that am not a bar goer. But I see more and more bars every year and endless ladies waiting for customers. The military government even has extended the opening times here in Pattaya. So what went wrong? 

 

 

Poontang too expensive?

[kingdong]

On 11/18/2019 at 5:28 PM, fhickson said:

one place thats pretty depressing is those bars in front of nirun condos.

 

the same old guys sit there and drink each night. they are kind of out of shape and dont look real vibrant. i guess they are retired and not working. they just seem to sit there and the bar girls pester them for who knows what.

 

not sure what the story is actually, ive known old guys who were broke and drinking regularly who were really outgoing and cool, but there seems to be a depressing element here i cant put my finger on. maybe its satiation when all your needs are met, theres no edge there.

Perhaps they,'re depressed because they can,t afford beer and boom -boom so just settle for the amber nectar.

[sanemax]

10 minutes ago, kingdong said:

Perhaps they,'re depressed because they can,t afford beer and boom -boom so just settle for the amber nectar.

You seem to have sex on your mind .

Are you feeling horny ?

[sanemax]

On 11/16/2019 at 6:23 PM, gk10002000 said:

Yes my first visit was in 2004.  I kind of stumbled on to the place actually thanks to the internet. 

What did you do a websearch for to come up with Pattaya ?

[sunnyboy2018]

On 11/17/2019 at 3:44 AM, Vacuum said:

Only idiots pay this kind of money for a 5 minutes pleasure.

Its  few hours and its 2k not 4k

[sunnyboy2018]

30 minutes ago, sanemax said:

What did you do a websearch for to come up with Pattaya ?

Girls in Thailand

[Ron jeremy]

11 minutes ago, sunnyboy2018 said:

Its  few hours and its 2k not 4k

Not for a hottie in a gogo with barfine! 4 k is pretty close.more for most.dont go to gogos much now do we?  Never paid it myself.