I am not a fan of 'normal Pattaya', pre Covid, but what a pleasure it is just now, to drive into the City, have a leisurely coffee in a fairly quiet mall that is not teaming with Chinese tourists, or any tourists for that matter, no coaches blocking the roads, hardly any Baht busses, beaches near deserted and cleaner.   Okay, so some jobs have gone, I appreciate that, and it's caused a lot of distress among some locals who work in the City and I am sorry for that inevitable impact, but not for the resulting improvement to the environment of the City. It doesn't take away from the fact that it is a much nicer place as it is now.  Pity that it will eventually return to the squalid, congested, polluted, noisy and unpleasant dump it normally is.

 

Go head Pattaya lovers, tear me off a strip, but even you must find it better right now?   

No, it was better under lockdown, very little traffic and few people around. Now the roads are back to being crazy, just minus the big buses. I'm starting a petition to the Mayor to reinstate the checkpoints on Sukhumvit and keep the unwashed out of our fair city, lol!

Great to hear.

I know historically you have made it clear how much you hate the place. In fact one time I believe you said you hated it so much you would never return.

But now, twice in the past few weeks you have made similar posts about your wonderful experience.

Plenty of places available now is a good time to make the move we would welcome you.

Be honest,  deep down you actually love it here.   ????

 

      Glad your visit was a pleasure.  I find it is a pleasure living here year-round--even when there are tourists.  The beach you noticed was looking clean has been clean for sometime now--even when there were tourists.  The mall you enjoyed visiting is here for me year-round--as are several other malls, 3 or 4 hospitals, movie theaters, and about any kind of restaurant you'd want.  I love living in a nice oceanview condo with a good gym and a big pool that I don't have to clean.  Great to just lock the door and take off whenever my partner and I want.

     It's true the traffic can be congested at times--also true for Bangkok, Rayong, Chiang Mai, and about any other big city I have visited in Thailand.  The barrier of the ocean has at least kept Pattaya fairly compact.  If you choose where you live wisely, you can avoid most of the traffic most of the time.  From my condo I can get to the places I go most often in about 5 to 10 minutes by car with no traffic lights at all.  Hope your next visit is also enjoyable.

 

3 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Great to hear.

I know historically you have made it clear how much you hate the place. In fact one time I believe you said you hated it so much you would never return.

But now, twice in the past few weeks you have made similar posts about your wonderful experience.

Plenty of places available now is a good time to make the move we would welcome you.

Be honest,  deep down you actually love it here.   ????

 

Do you know, if it stayed like this I could certainly learn to like it much more, again, as I used to do.  Yesterday's experience was so pleasant that Mrs P and I actually went back today. How about that for a turn around? 

So long as you are happy never mind the tens of thousands of workers struggling to survive. If you don't enjoy Pattaya, don't go there.....simples

2 minutes ago, Patts said:

So long as you are happy never mind the tens of thousands of workers struggling to survive. If you don't enjoy Pattaya, don't go there.....simples

I said that I sympathise with those that have lost their jobs, but it doesn't change the fact that, at least to me, it is a more pleasant place to visit.  Normally, I don't go there, that was the point of my post, which clearly went over your head. Simples 

11 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I said that I sympathise with those that have lost their jobs, but it doesn't change the fact that, at least to me, it is a more pleasant place to visit.  Normally, I don't go there, that was the point of my post, which clearly went over your head. Simples 

Nothing went over my head; You commented:

"Okay, so some jobs have gone, I appreciate that, and it's caused a lot of distress among some locals who work in the City and I am sorry for that inevitable impact, but not for the resulting improvement to the environment of the City"

 

Your comment is so nonchanlant about it, making it sound like it's just a few affected when it is virtually everyone who works in Pattaya who has had no job or income for months. Those who have still managed to work are taking a fraction of their normal income. I know of some food vendors working all day and taking home 100 baht to support there whole family. 

 

I don't like all the cheap Chinese tourists but would even prefer them come over seeing people struggling to afford to eat. 

 

9 minutes ago, Patts said:

Nothing went over my head; You commented:

"Okay, so some jobs have gone, I appreciate that, and it's caused a lot of distress among some locals who work in the City and I am sorry for that inevitable impact, but not for the resulting improvement to the environment of the City"

 

Your comment is so nonchanlant about it, making it sound like it's just a few affected when it is virtually everyone who works in Pattaya who has had no job or income for months. Those who have still managed to work are taking a fraction of their normal income. I know of some food vendors working all day and taking home 100 baht to support there whole family. 

 

I don't like all the cheap Chinese tourists but would even prefer them come over seeing people struggling to afford to eat. 

 

I'm not quite sure what you expect me to write. I feel sorry for them, of course I do; I also like a less busy Patts, as it is now. So, because of the people that are unfortunate enough to have lost their jobs, I can't like Pattaya?   Odd logic. At least I am spending my money in the City, where I don't normally, surly that is a good thing?  As for being nonchalant about the situation, what am I expected to do, weep into my hands?    

32 minutes ago, Patts said:

So long as you are happy never mind the tens of thousands of workers struggling to survive. If you don't enjoy Pattaya, don't go there.....simples

Even when Pattaya was at its busiest there was always “workers” struggling to survive. 

Its overpopulated period.

Girl from the village gets a job in a bar, the boyfriend arrives, then the brother, younger sisters etc looking for easy money without working for it.

Perhaps now an equilibrium can be achieved but many of the “struggling” workers need to return to mamas house if they already haven’t.

@Pilotman I dont think it ever will return to what we've known in the past anyway.

I genuinely think the vast majority have no real imagination as to what the future will be in Pattaya.

 

I'd imagine Bars will be just in the two main areas LK Metro and Walking St with the rest gone completely

54 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Do you know, if it stayed like this I could certainly learn to like it much more, again, as I used to do.  Yesterday's experience was so pleasant that Mrs P and I actually went back today. How about that for a turn around? 

 

So the real reason you hate it is because you want the place for you alone, and can't accept that other people also enjoy the place.

 

I know there is a specific word for that kind of attitude

20 hours ago, Pilotman said:

but even you must find it better right now?   

Yes I do, riding around and getting between places is a breeze. A seat at a place to eat usually available and less pestered by honking baht buses and other hawkers. Bad at weekends though as the Bangkok drivers are rather self centered. 

Whats not seen in Pats, is the reaction up North when the Mama-sans and Bar girls return. Mama is selling her SUV cheap, and the Girls are selling Gold in full view of the Towns folk who know who they are. Locals have no sympathy what so ever.

 

Was the waterfall open?  is it still double price for tourists?  Welcome to the Selfie Zone! Sanook Mak!

16 hours ago, Patts said:

Your comment is so nonchanlant about it, making it sound like it's just a few affected when it is virtually everyone who works in Pattaya who has had no job or income for months. Those who have still managed to work are taking a fraction of their normal income. I know of some food vendors working all day and taking home 100 baht to support there whole family. 

That's the reality of life in LOS. It's not our job to save them. If they want socialism they should have voted for a socialist government.

If someone likes Pattaya without the horde, good for them. If someone wants it to go back to being a congested dirty overcrowded hole, that's not the choice of many of us.

Pattaya was just fine 30 years ago at less than half the population, and if loads of people went there because they thought they'd make more money than planting rice, that was their right, but they don't have the right to expect nothing to change.

Life doesn't come with a guarantee of happiness.

18 hours ago, Susco said:

 

So the real reason you hate it is because you want the place for you alone, and can't accept that other people also enjoy the place.

 

I know there is a specific word for that kind of attitude

your comment doesn't make any sense. How can a City be there just for me, nobody to serve me, deserted streets, no services,  Its not the Day of the Triffids you know. Did I say I don't want others to enjoy the place, I said the opposite ?  You are clearly making it up as you go along.  Not an uncommon feature on TVF. 

1 minute ago, Pilotman said:

your comment doesn't make any sense. How can a City be there just for me, nobody to serve me, deserted streets, no services,  Its not the Day of the Triffids you know. Did I say I don't want others to enjoy the place, I said the opposite ?  You are clearly making it up as you go along.  Not an uncommon feature on TVF. 

 

Your post history doesn't lie about how much you like the other people visiting Pattaya during normal times

 

 

48 minutes ago, Susco said:

 

Your post history doesn't lie about how much you like the other people visiting Pattaya during normal times

 

 

My goodness, you have got a thorn in your ass about all this.   I have never had anyone that interested in what I have to say to bother trawling TVF to find my quotes. I feel quite honoured.  If you read what I say, which as you are such a fan you must do on a daily basis, I confirmed at the start of this subject that I am not, in normal times, a fan of Pattaya, but I am right now.  Save this to quote back at me later.    

4 hours ago, ChakaKhan said:

 

Was the waterfall open?  is it still double price for tourists?  Welcome to the Selfie Zone! Sanook Mak!

That is great photo.

 

I have never seen it in operation but know it pumps often as the erosion is evident along the shore.

4 hours ago, Pilotman said:

Day of the Triffids

Possibly the first book I ever read. ????

42 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

Possibly the first book I ever read. ????

it was good and is still a good read today, if a bit dated. 

7 hours ago, ChakaKhan said:

 

Was the waterfall open?  is it still double price for tourists?  Welcome to the Selfie Zone! Sanook Mak!

Ok... And now be a little honest and tell us how many times a year this is happening... 

And second, tell us if you ever saw that not-after a strong rain who caused overflow in many rain collectors.

 

Sure it's a bad thing than need to be fixed. But that only happen a few times a year after an exceptional deluge. It's certainly not a frequent "waterfall"

On 7/15/2020 at 10:28 AM, Pilotman said:

 Okay, so some jobs have gone,

That's the understatement of the day/month/year. 

5 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

That's the understatement of the day/month/year. 

Reports suggest that some 300 million jobs, Worldwide, will be lost in the next 12 months, as a direct result of the Covid Pandemic and as a result of the various defensive measures taken by Governments' the World over.  Perhaps a bit of perspective is needed for Pattaya's situation? 

On 7/15/2020 at 2:29 PM, Pilotman said:

Do you know, if it stayed like this I could certainly learn to like it much more, again, as I used to do.  Yesterday's experience was so pleasant that Mrs P and I actually went back today. How about that for a turn around? 

If it stayed like this the places you enjoy visiting would possibly go out of business. 

Also, it is neither squalid, polluted nor unpleasant. Occasionally noisy in parts and too often congested. 

I am sure you would be happier elsewhere. 

 

I am not particularly a Pattaya lover though I have lived here off and on for over twenty years, but it is what it is. Has good and bad points but no reason to exaggerate either. 

 

But looks like you will be able to enjoy it for a while longer. 

I was first there in 1974... a dusty lane along a tropical beach w/a few bungalows scattered about... 

 

But now!

 

 

A personal attack and replies have been removed

It was a very pleasant City 15 years ago.

Not now, even after Lockdown, post Lockdown and no Chinese Touroids.

WE just spent 3 nights down at the Saisawan Beach end of Jomtien. Very enjoyable. Not many people. The water was reasonably clean. The beach was clean. Plenty of restaurants open. A good little break from Isan.

 

The local Thai restaurants were very cheap. It always surprises me all the little nooks and crannies you can find around Pattaya/Jomtien.