Before: Pattaya never sleeps! After: Everyone in bed by 11 pm: Resort is dead say Thais

[baansgr]

2 hours ago, kevin612 said:

It is no longer affordable.

Its still affordable but just not good value anymore. When it costs $5 or more for a local beer to look at a dirty beach with electrical cables hanging everywhere, breathing in black smog from pick ups and buses plus a nasty smell...you expect to pay a dollar...which it was not so long ago...get that with rudeness and rips from the moment you are off the plane....people are voting with their feet/wallet and going elsewhere...far cleaner, more friendly and cheaper places. This year will be bad but just wait till next year...business  have had the worst 7 month low season, combine that with no one here in high season...lots of traditional Pattaya business will Disappear

[Traubert]

7 hours ago, keith101 said:

And the Chinese are going to Vietnam .

China has a 786 mile border with Vietnam. The Chinese always went to Vietnam.

 

It's not an 'instead' thing.

[Pilotman]

56 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

It is true or it was if as you say it's no longer necessary.

I remember it distinctly. We were informed that it was a legal requirement to carry a passport or a copy, this was about 10 years ago.

 

Very few of us are familiar with Thai law. Few of us can even speak or write the lingo. But we can understand when a cop talks about 5K baht or the monkey house.

 

And the cafe owner was held in the jail till he agreed to pay the plod 30K. If you don't want to believe it then that's up to you.

 

You can't argue the toss with the cops in the LOS like you can in the UK or wherever it is you come from. You go to the ATM or the jail, up to you.

There is a link or two on this forum, on the subject of carrying passports, so read them for yourself.  Mine is locked away and there it stays until I travel, or go to immigration.  A cop has never asked for it and I doubt they ever will. Cops on the road can ask all they like, but until a ticket is issued, I dont believe a word of what they are saying.  Once a ticket is issued, you go to the cop shop and pay it.  Your mate must have screwed up badly to end up in jail and a demand for 30K.  I also make a point of never arguing with the Police, here or anywhere else.  Its a fools game.  

[SteveK]

24 minutes ago, torturedsole said:

80s weekend at Butlin's is cheap and cheerful and doesn't involve an expensive 6k mile flight.  You might even get lucky and catch Kajagoogoo live.  

Butlins is no longer cheap. And definitely not cheerful. It's like saving up all year to take your family to a gulag.

Edited November 29, 2019 by SteveK

[SteveK]

24 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Its still affordable but just not good value anymore. When it costs $5 or more for a local beer to look at a dirty beach with electrical cables hanging everywhere, breathing in black smog from pick ups and buses plus a nasty smell...you expect to pay a dollar...which it was not so long ago...get that with rudeness and rips from the moment you are off the plane

Great comment. When the beer was $1 you could forgive the holes in the pavement, the hundreds of overhanging electrical cables, the rodents and the flying insects. At $5 you would just go somewhere else as it seems everyone with a brain is now doing.

[baansgr]

20 minutes ago, Traubert said:

China has a 786 mile border with Vietnam. The Chinese always went to Vietnam.

 

It's not an 'instead' thing.

Yeah, they tried going over that border back in the late seventies, they weren't welcomed then either

[torturedsole]

5 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

A cop has never asked for it and I doubt they ever will.

Never been asked to produce my passport and I don't subscribe to a Xerox of my passport page as I can't be bothered as not required.  

 

A relaxed attitude, a bit of banter and production of required documentation will see one clear of any further nonsense.  RTP really aren't that bad if you play the game.  I've had more trouble with the old bill in the UK. 

[torturedsole]

6 minutes ago, SteveK said:

Butlins is no longer cheap. And definitely not cheerful. It's like saving up all year to take your family to a gulag.

I don't go personally and don't have big family.  Though, sure it's cheaper than two weeks in LOS particularly with the current exchange rate.  

[Pilotman]

1 minute ago, torturedsole said:

Never been asked to produce my passport and I don't subscribe to a Xerox of my passport page as I can't be bothered as not required.  

 

A relaxed attitude, a bit of banter and production of required documentation will see one clear of any further nonsense.  RTP really aren't that bad if you play the game.  I've had more trouble with the old bill in the UK. 

yep, me too. 

[3NUMBAS]

only way to avoid ladyboy muggers on beach road who are increasingly desperate for titty implants of a bigger size and the funds needed for such silicon

[asiamaster]

Bring back the curfew!

[OZinPattaya]

7 hours ago, darksidedog said:

You have to say that the authorities have brought this upon themselves. In their desperation to save face and stop anything the slightest bit smutty from going on in town, they destroyed exactly what so many people visited for. People wanting a fun week or two away came here because that was what was on offer, and they didn't give a damn for temples and nature beauty spots, a point obviously missed by the folks that have killed the place.

I am sure the average bar or hotel owner would far prefer it to go back to how it was, rather than go broke in a "family friendly" but empty resort.

 

7 hours ago, smedly said:

although I highly respect most of your posts and find them to be a good read - you are way off with this one.

 

Having lived here a very long time I see no evidence of changes of the type you are suggesting.

 

 

What has happened however are three fold

 

- Thailand has become very expensive mostly down to the strength of the baht, people I know that came here on a regular basis are no longer coming.

 

- the authorities decided to treat western tourists with contempt, they are making it harder and harder for tourists from the west to travel and stay here, so why are they doing this - to my 3rd point

 

- they have foolishly overestimated the value that tourists from places like India and China bring here, there may be big numbers arriving but what are they doing when they get here - certainly not spending money because they generally don't have much, I see Indians wondering about in groups just looking, they may spend some time in hanging in massage joints looking for cheap relief but that is about the height of it

 

 

Thai authorities think that big numbers translate to big revenue - well it doesn't, they have alienated the big spenders who are now going elsewhere - to places were they fell welcomed and treated properly

I actually think you both are right and that your assessments aren’t mutually exclusive. The powers that be in Thailand want Pattaya to follow the same trajectory as Las Vegas in America. That worked out very well for Las Vegas, financially, but it took decades for it to become the ultra-lame family-friendly piece of soul-killing banality that it is today. There will always be better beaches, better food, better value elsewhere. Pattaya, for the better or worse, sealed its fate decades ago when it turned from a fishing village into a brothel. The Thai junta and oligarchy would be much better off abandoning Pattaya to its own destiny and focus on other more virginal pastures that they can mold into their own prudish image.   

[NCC1701A]

1 hour ago, sapson said:

Amazing Thailand! what next? maybe they will soon announce their new space program ?

they already did. seriously.

 

https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/whats-in-thailands-new-military-space-center-launch/

 

Edited November 29, 2019 by NCC1701A

[beautifulthailand99]

4 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

A credible Government and Local Authority in this kind of scenario, would now be thinking " Now is the time to inject huge amounts of Money Etc into Pattaya in order to bring it into the present time.

Pattaya is stale, to say the least. It has been on a downturn in many ways for 5 years or more now.

The City is covered in nothing but Concrete, there are no Green spaces, the Infrastructure is at best shoddy, and its controlled mainly by Criminal Gangs.

Time for a  radical rethink on what is Pattaya, and what is needed from the City going into the future.

Or, is it not even worth the effort and expense of saving ?

 

 

Here's the nice gentlemen in charge who have done their bit to earn it's title of world class resort destination. What could go possibly wrong ? And this was the mayor's dad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somchai_Khunpluem

 

Edited November 29, 2019 by beautifulthailand99

[beautifulthailand99]

4 hours ago, Spellforce said:

I was talking about the expats who are living in the dark side.

That population was helping the beers bar to survive in the low season and regular/lower the price.

Grab Taxi DONT work after midnight ! There was a time when police close their eyes on those farangs going home after a few beers but that's no more the case.

Those regular customers have gone as the cheap & happy beer bars.... cf. the topic, Pattaya now looks like a desert after 11PM !

 

But you have still the option of the gogo bars... who have raised their price X2 X3 ... because they only target the tourists !

When the army got their snouts in the cop's trough they realized how much swill was in there and have drunk deeply on it ever since. Which meant the cops have to widen their net to get the same money back for their bosses. It has never been a better time to be a big wig in the Thai army ever. 

[DaRoadrunner]

19 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Here's the nice gentlemen in charge who have done their bit to earn it's title of world class resort destination. What could go possibly wrong ? And this was the mayor's dad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somchai_Khunpluem

 

I am known to read people well... Is it just me that thinks they look like an evil bunch of gangsters?

[torturedsole]

30 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

they already did. seriously.

 

https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/whats-in-thailands-new-military-space-center-launch/

 

That looks like a very elaborate contraceptive.

[vadid]

I live in Bangkok and I used to go to Pattaya about once a month, but once the TM30 kicked in I couldn't be bothered.

[GeorgeCross]

so are these pictures real or 'framed' like the hua hin ones yesterday?

 

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2019 by GeorgeCross

[Traubert]

52 minutes ago, baansgr said:

Yeah, they tried going over that border back in the late seventies, they weren't welcomed then either

Neither were the Americans 20 years earlier.

 

But getting back to tourism...... ????

[DaRoadrunner]

16 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

so are these pictures real or 'framed' like the hua hin ones yesterday?

You just have not been here in Disneyland long enough. Yep, they are REAL!

[Asking for a friend]

Where have all the sexpats gone
Long time passing
Where have all the sexpats gone
Long time ago
Where have all the sexpats gone
Immigration picks on them, every one
Oh, when will they ever learn
Oh, when will they ever learn

Where have all the sexpats gone

*record scratch*
Vietnam

 

[torturedsole]

Just now, Asking for a friend said:

I’ve only now got rid of the itch, no thanks!!

Too shy?

[mmushr00m]

It's because it's expensive and filthy (not in a good way ????)

I'm currently in Cancun and the hotel zone is spotless, no trash at all. The beaches are groomed and again spotless. No plastic waste.bwalked from one end to the other both on the beach and on the road. No litter at all. Lots and of security even in the entertainment zones.

The Thai authorities need to get off their high horses and actually open their minds. 

They talk about "big spending" tourist. Where I am staying in Cancun has 3 luxury malls one after the other. Let me tell you, there won't be 3 of them in a row if there is big spenders.

[Rocking Robert]

4 hours ago, Spellforce said:

Thank you for the info, I've never eared about that new scam !

Another reason for expats to stay at home at night, even in a taxi now you can have problems !?

Bull sh$t

[bkk6060]

I am in bed by 10 so would have no idea about 11.

 

But, all is good as a resident the less people the better.

[yogi100]

1 hour ago, farangchuma said:

This is exactly what I wanted when I wrote an open letter to Thailand. The city of Pattya is a joke known for low quality sexpat farangs' heaven for finding a bride thirty years younger to them. It is an adult Disley land for sexpat farangs. The things they can do in Thailand with a crane operator or a high school educated factory worker's  salary in the West, farangs could never do with their entire family's income in the West. I wanted to remind Thailand why farangs come to Thailand. They don't come to Thailand for its temples, food, arts and cultute. They only come for sex. In my open letter to thailand, I challeged Thailand to name another country where farangs have married to more sex workers than Thailand and also challeged Thailand to name a country that has solved its poverty by pimping nations' daughters to farangs in marrage. In coming months, I'm publishing more open letters to Thailand to expose how not to become a heaven for sexpat farangs and a bride mill for older farangs. 

You'd best keep your nose out of it. You're only gonna make things worse for those still there.

[sapson]

2 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

they already did. seriously.

 

https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/whats-in-thailands-new-military-space-center-launch/

 

Thanks, truly stunned! I suppose they have a nuclear missile program quietly simmering as well!

[beautifulthailand99]

1 minute ago, Asking for a friend said:

Living near bars ???? oh you poor sod no wonder you think Pattaya = All of Thailand

 

Go live in downtown Las Vegas for a month and tell me what living in the U.S. is like. ???? 

I don't have that problem but folk in the block in lower floors near the street side do. So was using it as part of the moaning expat narrative. And it's Jomtien btw not Pattaya - Buddha forbid !

[NCC1701A]

3 minutes ago, sapson said:

Thanks, truly stunned! I suppose they have a nuclear missile program quietly simmering as well!

you don't know about that?