Pattaya: City unveils ambitious plans to transform Bali Hai as 7 million more tourists expected soon

[off road pat]

On 6/13/2020 at 5:04 AM, johng said:

Plant lots of trees instead of the  huge slabs of blue concrete !!!!! ( laughably they call it a public park)

Sadly enough,....there is no money in planting trees !...And money is the thing for them !!! everything is decided according to the money they can make,..Legal or Under the table.

[DrTuner]

Just put it back to what it was, a nice park. 

[dpcjsr]

This could mean boom times ahead for Phuket as Pataya fades into to entertainment sunset. Maybe...

[ukrules]

Does anyone know when walking street become a walking street full of bars?

 

I first came to Thailand in July 1995 and the whole country was nothing like it is now.

 

In Bangkok I went to cowboy which was a sleepy backwater compared to what it is now

 

I then went down to Pattaya for a few days and don't remember going to a walking street full of gogo bars but there was a short period of national mourning at that point and many places were closed.

 

[Destiny1990]

The occupants of these buildings will not agree with it !

[luckyluke]

I suppose the Thai government, with its special powers, can expropriate the all Walking Street, if they really should want it.

I believe for the BTS in Bangkok, they already did it, in one way or another.

[smudger1951]

And how much did the City Council pay for this feasibilty study by architects who have drawn their inspiration from Tomorrowland. I really do think planners should ask visitors to Thailand what they want and expect from a so-called tropical paradise steeped in beauty and tradition.  

[NightSky]

build it and they will come..

 

[wazzupnow]

do not toch the sleezy area's please that is what makes the city

we want a city that lives not an extended hybrid of supermall and hospital

[Burma Bill]

6 hours ago, steven100 said:

so where are the ladyboys going to sit ...

where cruise ships dock where Bali Hai Pier is now.

"hello sailor"

 

 

[CGW]

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

Does anyone know when walking street become a walking street full of bars?

If I recall it was Dec 97, there were bars there already.........

I remember thinking what a stupid idea, will never catch on!  

 

Yes - it was about then, from Pattaya mail Dec 97:-

"Transforming Pattaya’s famous Strip sounded like a formidable vision. But that’s what appeared to happen last Friday when the ‘Walking Street’, as it is now known, launched its Food & Beer Festival sponsored by Singha. With the aim of improving the image, atmosphere and trade of the Strip, tables, chairs and umbrellas will line the road every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night through the holiday season."

Edited June 14, 2020 by CGW

[Kerryd]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

Does anyone know when walking street become a walking street full of bars?

 

I first came to Thailand in July 1995 and the whole country was nothing like it is now.

 

In Bangkok I went to cowboy which was a sleepy backwater compared to what it is now

 

I then went down to Pattaya for a few days and don't remember going to a walking street full of gogo bars but there was a short period of national mourning at that point and many places were closed.

 

My first trip to Thailand was 1993. Spent the first 3 days in Bangkok. Went to one go-go bar (boring as h3ll) and one "soapy".

3 days later I was in Pattaya at a hotel around Soi 2 on Beach road. First night I walked all the way down to Walking Street. Got to around the "Big Buddha Tree" and didn't see much of interest past that so I walked back to the Marine Bar.
Back then they had a Muay Thai ring and in between "bouts" they'd have things like snake shows and women doing traditional Thai dancing in costume. There were a few other beer bars on Walking Street (like the Lucky Stars bars across from the Marine Bar) including a couple more that also had "Muay Thai" shows.

Not sure if Pattaya had any "a-go-gos" back then. If they did, there wasn't too many of them. I'd heard some bad stories about go-go bars in Bangkok and had seen some shady places in Budapest, so I stayed away from them in Pattaya for years, hanging out in beer bars instead.

Happy A-Go-Go is one of the oldest in Pattaya, having opened in 1995. The Tahitian Queen opened in 1978 (apparently a friend of mine was the first owner of that bar back then - or at least it was the first bar he'd owned). Don't think it was a "go-go" bar though.

Club Electric Blue was the first a-go-go I ventured into in Pattaya, just in time to take part in a "balloon popping" show. I think that was around 1998. There were only 3-4 go-go bars on Walking Street back then.

By 2004 though there were enough go-gos on the strip that it would have been quite the drunken "crawl" to try and have a drink at each one in a single night. I think I managed to stop in everyone at least once for at least one drink over a 3 day span.

But within a couple of years, more started cropping up. A bunch on soi 16 at the corner of Walking Street, some on the little sois between #2 Road and Walking Street (sois 14/15) and around 2007 or 2008 go-gos started opening in places away from Walking Street like the Blue Lagoon (which then became the Wet 'n Wild A-go-go) in the Center Condo complex and We are the World on the Beach Road end of soi 7.

We used to ride down there to "support" them when they first opened. (PITA parking Harleys around there though.) It seems they ended up moving to soi 8 and then closing down some time ago.
Some more popped up here and there, like across from the Penthouse Hotel (which had it's own go-go bar as well). Some even opened in Jomtien.

I think by 2014 there were in the neighbourhood of 75 actual a-go-go bars in the Pattaya/Jomtien area. Pretty much every year a few would close only to reopen under a new name a few months later.
The period of 2004-2014 was a gold rush for go-go bars. Tiny little Soi Diamond had small restaurants and bars on the "East" end of the soi while the "West" end, bordering on Walking Street, was wall to wall go-go bars. Then a few started opening on the "West" end as well. I think there was what, 15(+) go-go bars just on (and above) Soi Diamond by itself at one point.

My (Thai) buddy had 3 go-gos and 4 beer bars (3 in the same location and 1 at a different spot) at one point. His sister is a part of the group that now "owns" a number of go-gos on Walking Street (you can tell which ones they are by noticing they have similar decor inside and the menus are pretty much identical in each place). 
(I say "owns" because most of the actual property down there is leased from the people who actually own it. Years ago I was told that there were 7 "families" that pretty much owned all the land on the East side of Walking Street.
So by "owns" I mean rents/leases/manages the establishments on that land.)

And I'm guessing they've probably owned it since there was first any land to "own" in the area, and have probably made a few fortunes off of it in the interim. As I said before, it would take some very, very deep pockets to buy them all out and build a shopping mall in that area.

Until that happens, those owners, and the people paying big money to lease those properties, are probably going to want things to stay pretty much as they are for as long as possible.

[ukrules]

11 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

3 days later I was in Pattaya at a hotel around Soi 2 on Beach road. First night I walked all the way down to Walking Street. Got to around the "Big Buddha Tree" and didn't see much of interest past that so I walked back to the Marine Bar.

 

I figured as much, when I first went there I don't remember the whole walking street bar area because it didn't exist as a bar area.

 

Much like Cowboy seemed to be a semi normal street made up of houses and shophouses with a few bars scattered around.

 

I didn't return to Thailand until a few years after they built the skytrain and I've only returned to Pattaya a couple of times since the 90's.

 

[WillyPlatt]

34 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

My first trip to Thailand was 1993. Spent the first 3 days in Bangkok. Went to one go-go bar (boring as h3ll) and one "soapy".

3 days later I was in Pattaya at a hotel around Soi 2 on Beach road. First night I walked all the way down to Walking Street. Got to around the "Big Buddha Tree" and didn't see much of interest past that so I walked back to the Marine Bar.
Back then they had a Muay Thai ring and in between "bouts" they'd have things like snake shows and women doing traditional Thai dancing in costume. There were a few other beer bars on Walking Street (like the Lucky Stars bars across from the Marine Bar) including a couple more that also had "Muay Thai" shows.

Not sure if Pattaya had any "a-go-gos" back then. If they did, there wasn't too many of them. I'd heard some bad stories about go-go bars in Bangkok and had seen some shady places in Budapest, so I stayed away from them in Pattaya for years, hanging out in beer bars instead.

Happy A-Go-Go is one of the oldest in Pattaya, having opened in 1995. The Tahitian Queen opened in 1978 (apparently a friend of mine was the first owner of that bar back then - or at least it was the first bar he'd owned). Don't think it was a "go-go" bar though.

Club Electric Blue was the first a-go-go I ventured into in Pattaya, just in time to take part in a "balloon popping" show. I think that was around 1998. There were only 3-4 go-go bars on Walking Street back then.

By 2004 though there were enough go-gos on the strip that it would have been quite the drunken "crawl" to try and have a drink at each one in a single night. I think I managed to stop in everyone at least once for at least one drink over a 3 day span.

But within a couple of years, more started cropping up. A bunch on soi 16 at the corner of Walking Street, some on the little sois between #2 Road and Walking Street (sois 14/15) and around 2007 or 2008 go-gos started opening in places away from Walking Street like the Blue Lagoon (which then became the Wet 'n Wild A-go-go) in the Center Condo complex and We are the World on the Beach Road end of soi 7.

We used to ride down there to "support" them when they first opened. (PITA parking Harleys around there though.) It seems they ended up moving to soi 8 and then closing down some time ago.
Some more popped up here and there, like across from the Penthouse Hotel (which had it's own go-go bar as well). Some even opened in Jomtien.

I think by 2014 there were in the neighbourhood of 75 actual a-go-go bars in the Pattaya/Jomtien area. Pretty much every year a few would close only to reopen under a new name a few months later.
The period of 2004-2014 was a gold rush for go-go bars. Tiny little Soi Diamond had small restaurants and bars on the "East" end of the soi while the "West" end, bordering on Walking Street, was wall to wall go-go bars. Then a few started opening on the "West" end as well. I think there was what, 15(+) go-go bars just on (and above) Soi Diamond by itself at one point.

My (Thai) buddy had 3 go-gos and 4 beer bars (3 in the same location and 1 at a different spot) at one point. His sister is a part of the group that now "owns" a number of go-gos on Walking Street (you can tell which ones they are by noticing they have similar decor inside and the menus are pretty much identical in each place). 
(I say "owns" because most of the actual property down there is leased from the people who actually own it. Years ago I was told that there were 7 "families" that pretty much owned all the land on the East side of Walking Street.
So by "owns" I mean rents/leases/manages the establishments on that land.)

And I'm guessing they've probably owned it since there was first any land to "own" in the area, and have probably made a few fortunes off of it in the interim. As I said before, it would take some very, very deep pockets to buy them all out and build a shopping mall in that area.

Until that happens, those owners, and the people paying big money to lease those properties, are probably going to want things to stay pretty much as they are for as long as possible.

Thanks for this. Can understand the Thai love of property when you hear these stories.

Location, location, location.

Sikh Indians own a lot of lower Sukhumvit in Bangkok. Fascinating how history develops.

Remember sitting beside a well known restaurant on Soi Lengkee last December and seeing an elderly Thai lady parking a 4 x 4 in front of it, blocking all access. Got out shouting.

Obviously, rent hadn't been paid.

Ruthless.

[nausea]

Good stuff. Maybe now they'll realise the reality of the situation. Pattaya's never gonna be a family friendly destination, maybe in your dreams. Why guys come here and expect the whole place to change cos they have a a real relationship is beyond me. 

[sprq]

4 hours ago, ukrules said:

Does anyone know when walking street become a walking street full of bars?

 

I first came to Thailand in July 1995 and the whole country was nothing like it is now.

 

In Bangkok I went to cowboy which was a sleepy backwater compared to what it is now

 

I then went down to Pattaya for a few days and don't remember going to a walking street full of gogo bars but there was a short period of national mourning at that point and many places were closed.

 

In the 1970s, actually, and traffic still went through.

[ericthai]

On 6/13/2020 at 3:37 AM, GlassWayOverHalfFull said:

You could offer the members of thai visa free gold and they'd still find a way to moan. I have no idea how they go through life with such a cynical attitude. People often ask me what I don't like about Pattaya and it's generally just the people moaning about how things are changing, how the bar fines have gone up and they are being ignored by bar girls looking at their phones.  

 

If you drive around Bali hai in the evening there are some spectacular sunsets, and great views across to Wongamat. With the right planning fingers crossed it brings in high end tourists and prices out the two bit retirees whose sole aim in life is to find beer 5 baht cheaper, moaning in their stupid vests. 

yeah, not gold, it's too heavy, hard to carry around, cant you give cash!

[ericthai]

On 6/13/2020 at 3:40 AM, GlassWayOverHalfFull said:

Hmm - 3 doors down from me on Cosy Beach there is a nice new lambourghini parked in the drive. In the garage of my condo a Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Merc 63 AMG. 

 

No idea where in Pattaya you live I'm guessing Nirun condo, that's if you even live here at all?

When I first moved to Thailand I couldn't believe how many high end cars around. 

 

On 6/13/2020 at 4:52 AM, Walker88 said:

The world is riddled with ocean resorts with great sunsets aimed at high end visitors. It hardly needs another one. Also, the likelihood the water will ever be clean and not just a dumping ground for waste and refuse of the 25 million who live in the Rayong to Bangkok corridor is slim to none. Nobody is going to pay top dollar for a beach resort where one is likely to pick up some nasty parasites from the water.

 

They would do better to think small and go after a much poorer target market, because that way they might possibly turn a profit. Their niche market is likely the $15-20K/year Chinese or Russian factory worker, who takes one vacation a year, or the expat retiree who gets a pension of maybe $4K/month. Pattaya is a 50 baht t-shirt kind of retail venue, not a place to sell $700 Stefano Ricci shirts. High end dining in Patts is McDonalds or Rasputin, not The French Laundry. If they think it's going to be all Ferrari drivers who normally stay at the Oriental or Pebble Beach Lodge or the Savoy, they'd better apply now for a bailout and save time, because it's a guaranteed failure.

 

They may not like the current image and reputation of Pattaya, but it draws a more affluent crowd on average than if it was just another polluted beach resort with no naughty nightlife. Right now they are somewhat unique, even if they wish they were known for something other than carnal pursuits.

The government doesn't care if this project is good or works, they just want to do projects to get money in their pockets, provide favors for others to give them more power etc.

 

They dream of high end tourists, but that is a limited market with unlimited choices around the world.

 

Note: Bangkok-Rayong corridor (Rayong, Chonburi, Chachoengsao, Samut Prakan) population is around 5 million

[asiasurfer]

How about cleaner sea water??

[Paiman]

I wish I knew what they smoke. That must be fantastic stuff.

[Tony125]

YANKS FOR NOTHING 

British holidaymakers will be banned from US for MONTHS and maybe until vaccine ready, top coronavirus official warns.

 

https://www.the-sun.com/news/980633/brit-holidaymakers-banned-america-months-fauci/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly

 

So tourists may not be returning to Thailand anytime soon.

[WillyPlatt]

6 minutes ago, Tony125 said:

YANKS FOR NOTHING 

British holidaymakers will be banned from US for MONTHS and maybe until vaccine ready, top coronavirus official warns.

 

https://www.the-sun.com/news/980633/brit-holidaymakers-banned-america-months-fauci/?utm_medium=browser_notifications&utm_source=pushly

 

So tourists may not be returning to Thailand anytime soon.

Hypocrites.

36 deaths in the UK today. The UK numbers are going down steadily.

The US is still on the way up in certain areas.

A lot of Europe is opening up its borders to all, no quarantine, and is hoping to salvage some of the tourist season.

Economic pragmatism is now taking over.

[SunsetT]

On 6/13/2020 at 4:01 AM, brucec64 said:

They still haven't completed the first Bali Hai marina fiasco - what makes them think they can pull this off?

Because they are experts at pulling it off....(The wainking emoji seems to have disappeared)

Edited June 14, 2020 by SunsetT

[thaibeachlovers]

On 6/13/2020 at 5:39 PM, twocatsmac said:

“It ain’t gonna happen” add a casino to the mix and the Chinese will build it. 

That would be a game changer. Add a high speed train from China and Pattaya will develop like gangbusters.

However, it will just send farangs elsewhere- perhaps Cha Am or Hua Hin will benefit. At least they have a better train service.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 6/13/2020 at 7:37 PM, GlassWayOverHalfFull said:

With the right planning fingers crossed it brings in high end tourists and prices out the two bit retirees whose sole aim in life is to find beer 5 baht cheaper, moaning in their stupid vests. 

You do realise that you are talking about Pattaya, don't you? They haven't planned anything right in 30 years and that ain't gonna change any time soon.

[overherebc]

On 6/13/2020 at 10:49 AM, redwood1 said:

They seem to hate trees,shrubs,grass anything green....They also seem to dislike fountains.........They also dislike any kind of sitting areas or areas where people can congregate like open grassy areas.....

 

They seem to like that sterile barren stark concrete look...

Trees are bad. They drop leaves everywhere.

[Kerryd]

9 hours ago, ericthai said:

Note: Bangkok-Rayong corridor (Rayong, Chonburi, Chachoengsao, Samut Prakan) population is around 5 million

Officially it's actually less than that. Roughly around 4.4 million. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_Thailand

Add Pattaya's population (not sure if it is counted in Chon Buri's stats) and that only adds another 120,000 to the total. (Though I've heard it said that over 500,000 people "live" in the city.)

Note - that is the "official" population, meaning people who are registered (on Tabien Baans for example) as being "resident" in those areas. It doesn't count all the workers from the rest of the country who may live in those areas, but are still considered residents of their home provinces. I remember a few years ago when it was announced that Chiang Mai was Thailand's second largest city and all the "experts" on TV scoffed because they knew that Pattaya was bigger. 
Pattaya may have had more people in total, but didn't have as many "official residents" which is what counted when they do the stats.

That is why when there are things like national elections you'll see an exodus of people returning to their home villages to vote (they have to vote where they are "resident", not where they are "living").
If you take the total number of people living and working in that Bangkok-Rayong corridor, then the total numbers may be 2-3 times the official population number (so maybe 9-12 million) when you think about all those factories in Rayong, the port and associated businesses in Laem Chabang, the industrial estates seeded all along that "corridor", as well as all the people in the "hospitality" industries (hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions) and then add in all the "foreign" labour like the Cambodians/Burmese/Lao workers.

I don't think the totals would be close to 5 times the official numbers though. Still, it's a lot of people.

I guess the gov't has to be "optimistic" about projected tourism numbers. Makes them look good and to the people (who don't know any better) it sounds like everything is sunshine and lollipops.

They don't have to actually see facts and figures proving anything, so long as it sounds like everything is progressing. That's the way it is with sheeple these days. And the more poorly educated (and technologically challenged) they are, the better.
Far easier (and safer) to pull the wool over the sheep's eyes than the wolf's. 

If they downplayed the numbers, they wouldn't get any support for things like mono-rail projects and new toll highway extensions (amongst other projects). 
Of course, a high speed rail connection directly to China is probably what they are really aiming for.

Especially if the Chinese build it. And operate it. And want it for reasons other than what is publicly stated. Just like the secret agreement they made with Cambodia for the naval port and the airport they (the Chinese) built nearby (which is supposed to be for passenger planes but built to handle the largest aircraft in the Chinese air force).

Dark clouds gathering on the horizons. Some TV members sound (and look) like they were around in the early 1900s so they might recognize what is happening in the world today as it seems quite similar to what went on in Europe in those days leading up to the "War to End All Wars".
 

[Darkside Gray]

On 6/13/2020 at 11:32 AM, Thaiwrath said:

T.A.T. man must have come out of Covid-19 self isolation, and now his proposed figures are even more propesterous ! 

Is that 7 million more than the 0 they have now?

[pattayadude]

On 6/13/2020 at 10:51 AM, rooster59 said:

The artist impressions show wide open boulevards with Ferraris and well dressed people walking without a care in the world.

 

There are marinas and ocean walkways and everything is landscaped to perfection.

 

A brand new transport system whisks tourists to their destination as they wonder at the new look, innovative and environmentally friendly marvel of the eastern seaboard. 

 

There is even a ferris wheel that could  become known as the Pattaya Eye like the one in London.

then he woke up!

 

[longball53098]

this will never happen I am 75 and I bet many posting here are over 35,,,,,,,,,,,no one will be around to see this happen if it ever does.