Pattaya: Rebranded "24 hour Walking Street" opens its arms to Thais - and one way traffic!

[kingofthemountain]

RIP Walking street

 

well i was here yesterday evening (Saturday night fever lol)

i get the idea, putting some make up on the global sinking and trying to show a busy street

but the result is not so nice, the street is dark, congested with multiples taxis

and bathbus trying to get a customer (imo allowing the 4 wheels vehicles was a mistake)

even with a lot of street food stalls on the 2 sides of the street, they can't hide the closed

venues and it's a little bit sad to see. Of course the smiles are not here, very few customer

and very little money, so not a big success.

The only positive thing is i can now run my scooter to the Ibar\insomnia and park it at few meters

there are a lot of place available.

The second part of WS, from Hot Tuna bar to Bali Hai pier is totally dead with everything closed.

[Pattaya Spotter]

5 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

RIP Walking street

 

well i was here yesterday evening (Saturday night fever lol)

i get the idea, putting some make up on the global sinking and trying to show a busy street

but the result is not so nice, the street is dark, congested with multiples taxis

and bathbus trying to get a customer (imo allowing the 4 wheels vehicles was a mistake)

even with a lot of street food stalls on the 2 sides of the street, they can't hide the closed

venues and it's a little bit sad to see. Of course the smiles are not here, very few customer

and very little money, so not a big success.

The only positive thing is i can now run my scooter to the Ibar\insomnia and park it at few meters

there are a lot of place available.

The second part of WS, from Hot Tuna bar to Bali Hai pier is totally dead with everything closed.

Pretty much describes the whole town. Sad and depressing at the moment.

[steven100]

well they did want to change Pattay's image and they wanted walking street to be more family orientated ....  well now they can have it in all it's ' ghost town '  look   !!  

[redwood1]

7 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

RIP Walking street

 

well i was here yesterday evening (Saturday night fever lol)

i get the idea, putting some make up on the global sinking and trying to show a busy street

but the result is not so nice, the street is dark, congested with multiples taxis

and bathbus trying to get a customer (imo allowing the 4 wheels vehicles was a mistake)

even with a lot of street food stalls on the 2 sides of the street, they can't hide the closed

venues and it's a little bit sad to see. Of course the smiles are not here, very few customer

and very little money, so not a big success.

The only positive thing is i can now run my scooter to the Ibar\insomnia and park it at few meters

there are a lot of place available.

The second part of WS, from Hot Tuna bar to Bali Hai pier is totally dead with everything closed.

The taxis have been desperate for ages and now the baht buses are living on starvation wages.....So opening walking street to traffic you just knew the taxis would be all over that like flies to honey.........But the VAST VAST majority of people will just walk up to 2nd road or get baht bus for 10 baht or a moto-cy like they have always done.......

[jacko45k]

22 hours ago, Longchop said:

Well I suppose that when the chinese return it will be handy for them to just gawk out the tour bus window as it chugs along WS instead of having to walk behind the flag

A good way to stop them escaping and spending their money at places not in the 'loop'..... wonder how many pedestrians will get hurt.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/8/2020 at 7:28 PM, CapeTown said:

And how will they switch back?

What makes this walking st any different?

It was already on it's last legs last time I visited- not enough farangs renting girls. Chinese "crocodiles' don't bring any money to the businesses on it at all.

[essox essox]

On 8/8/2020 at 11:52 AM, Surelynot said:

Another way would be to turn it into a pedestrian only street.....they could call it......let me think?

"people only street" but does not quite sound a good name DOES IT???

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

The second part of WS, from Hot Tuna bar to Bali Hai pier is totally dead with everything closed.

When Walking Street first opened ( I was there ) that end wasn't part of it, and even when it did get included it never became as popular as the original end.

At the beginning it was more a beer garden experience with tables in the street. The gogos and the hookers came later.

[essox essox]

big question.......WHICH WAY WILL IT BE one way??

B H to beach road.....or BR to bali hai ???

[thaibeachlovers]

If they want to save W S they could take a cue from Singapore's makeover of Bugis Street, which is quite popular, even sans kyties.

[Pilotman]

21 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If they want to save W S they could take a cue from Singapore's makeover of Bugis Street, which is quite popular, even sans kyties.

I've got to say, I think that the Bugis Street re development was a mistake and has just become an Indian dominated tourist trap.  It's too down market for what Singapore has become.  Also, unlike WS, its not right by the sea. The Thais can do much better if they plan properly, but they won't, because for some reason they can't.    

[jacko45k]

42 minutes ago, essox essox said:

"people only street" but does not quite sound a good name DOES IT???

Dodging St?

[kingofthemountain]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

When Walking Street first opened ( I was there ) that end wasn't part of it, and even when it did get included it never became as popular as the original end.

At the beginning it was more a beer garden experience with tables in the street. The gogos and the hookers came later.

Yes i remember the beer bar stalls in the street at the begining

the main attractions were Tony's and Marine disco

 

[kingofthemountain]

2 hours ago, essox essox said:

big question.......WHICH WAY WILL IT BE one way??

B H to beach road.....or BR to bali hai ???

It's one way from Beach road to Bali hai

with the cars and motorbikes parked on the 2 sides of the street

and the street food stalls, there is no place for more than 1 vehicle

in one way, and of course most of the vehicles are taxi and bahtbus 

looking at an hypothetical customer, creating traffic jams.

However i have noticed few motorbike taxi runing at high speed

in the wrong way, as usual everywhere in Thailand

[jacko45k]

16 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

Yes i remember the beer bar stalls in the street at the begining

the main attractions were Tony's and Marine disco

 

Tonys doesn't relly go all that far back.... one could hardly miss his arrival. Marine disco has been around long time.

[essox essox]

On 8/8/2020 at 11:56 AM, Oldie said:

Now you can pick up the girls by car and motorbike. Great new development. 

like a drive in macdonalds.......order what one wants then get the hell out of the street....with ones goodies !!!

[Rimmer]

Off topic / libelous post removed

[jmccarty]

To change a street.  I was there in Sg when Bugis Street was shut down in the late 80's, then torn apart and re-opened as a family friendly Bugis Street.  You can now buy. I "heart" Sg T-shirts and dozens of cheap handicrafts made in China and local hawker food. They did have a small success with a comedy club on the edge of the property.  Not what people remembered about the iconic locale. 

[Cranky]

Thailand has been presented with a unique opportunity, particularly Pattaya, to follow examples set by many forward thinking organisations and re-invent itself while the place is deserted. Bulldoze walking street beach-side, bury the wires, fix the roads and sewers, install trams, fence off the beach, fix the pier etc. etc.  Simply recognise where they are, what they've got and what is needed and stop sticking band-aids on everything. This could be turned round to be the best thing that happened to the country, it might take 5 years (about as long as it took to build an underpass) but would be worth it.

 

Borrow loads of cheap dosh, get the millions of unemployed Thais working on infrastructure in place of serving the tourist trade and be ready for a magnificent 're-start' in a year or so. Bloke called Keynes tried it about 50 years ago, quite effective apparently. 

 

But, TIT....so no kin chance

[Longchop]

On 8/11/2020 at 4:31 PM, Cranky said:

Thailand has been presented with a unique opportunity, particularly Pattaya, to follow examples set by many forward thinking organisations and re-invent itself while the place is deserted. Bulldoze walking street beach-side, bury the wires, fix the roads and sewers, install trams, fence off the beach, fix the pier etc. etc.  Simply recognise where they are, what they've got and what is needed and stop sticking band-aids on everything. This could be turned round to be the best thing that happened to the country, it might take 5 years (about as long as it took to build an underpass) but would be worth it.

 

Borrow loads of cheap dosh, get the millions of unemployed Thais working on infrastructure in place of serving the tourist trade and be ready for a magnificent 're-start' in a year or so. Bloke called Keynes tried it about 50 years ago, quite effective apparently. 

 

But, TIT....so no kin chance

Up to now for good or bad pattaya has had a unique reputation, some came to partake in the fun and games others just to look and wonder, walking street is it's biggest attraction but some people think better to bulldoze what made you famous and wealthy. As a businessman I would not bulldoze anything on walking street until I had developed the adjacent mile of beach road to these top quality exacting standards and it is packed with the quality family tourists that you think the bulldozing of walking street will bring.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/10/2020 at 5:44 PM, Pilotman said:

I've got to say, I think that the Bugis Street re development was a mistake and has just become an Indian dominated tourist trap.  It's too down market for what Singapore has become.  Also, unlike WS, its not right by the sea. The Thais can do much better if they plan properly, but they won't, because for some reason they can't.    

LOL. All of the city part of Singapore is, IMO, a tourist trap.

 

The demise of "old" Bugis Street was inevitable once the government eliminated the last sliver of "fun" from the fun devoid country, so either they reinvented it or let it just be another street. They chose to reinvent it.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/11/2020 at 9:31 PM, Cranky said:

But, TIT....so no kin chance

The only thing in your post I agree with.

 

Worth it for whom? No rich people will ever make Pattaya a destination, and it's likely fate is for the horde to take over entirely.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/10/2020 at 7:57 PM, kingofthemountain said:

Yes i remember the beer bar stalls in the street at the begining

the main attractions were Tony's and Marine disco

 

Happy days back then. I'd go to Marine Disco till near dawn when it closed, and then across the road to a night club/ disco behind Lucky Star bars which went on till well past dawn.

Tried Tony's once but the music was far too loud so never went back.

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, Longchop said:

As a businessman I would not bulldoze anything on walking street until I had developed the adjacent mile of beach road to these top quality exacting standards

top quality exacting standards

Thanks for the laff.

[Leaver]

14 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

No rich people will ever make Pattaya a destination, and it's likely fate is for the horde to take over entirely.

Think Sihanoukville, but without the casinos.  

[BernieOnTour]

It only shows -again and again- that City Hall has no <deleted>..in idea, how to run this city in a proper way:

 

During the lockdown, when it was not necessary, they blocked Walking Street.

 

During the lockdown, Khunpluem visited WS with great fanfare and announced a renovation (not that b.s. study with the monorail...) - nothing happened.

 

Seems, the journalist visited Pattaya only on Saturday for a company paid weekend and went to WS at 3am: There are a lot of clubs and agogos open, with their neon lights on, and imagine, who is visiting during the week: Farangs. The Thai are coming only Friday/Saturday - some are also in the discos, but the majority are of the cheap Charly sort. The only thing missing in comparison to the zero-baht-tours of the Chinese are the guides with the flag to keep their herd together 555. The majority of Thai tourists visit the venues on 3rd Road and in North Pattaya, like The Living, Differ, TheBone, etc.  That club shown on the photo, Nashaa, is a relatively new club, which doesn’t manage to attract the Farang and freelancer crowds, so they are now trying to „welcome“ Thais....

 

It was crazy already before, with all the girls, the motorbike taxis and the young digital nomads parking their bikes on WS and then driving like crazy Now with that wonderful idea, the Bangkok guys are parking their cars on WS, where they deem it appropriate ...just to save 100 baht for the parking area (paeng maak 555) or, as mentioned before, walk more than 10m. The result is an absolute chaos from midnight onwards ... including some Bangkokians assuming, after consuming their bottle of Whiskey (paeng maak 555) and driving a „HiSo“-car ????, they have the right of way.

 

Streetfood: Yes! However, as someone remarked before, due to the small pavements, they park their Rot Khen on the street - preferably on both sides, leaving ~3m for the traffic. And in the early night, nearly no food carts are to be seen.- Miraculously the street food vendors seem to know, when the BiB close the venues and show up 20 minutes before. So: the customers aren’t the Thai tourists, but the freelancing and agogo gurls and some Farang ... 

 

In essence: City Hall is again f.cking everything up based on hopes/assumptions, instead of making an assessment based on facts and due diligence.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/13/2020 at 11:57 PM, Leaver said:

Think Sihanoukville, but without the casinos.  

Never been there so I can't agree or disagree. Never saw the point of going to another polluted beach with a badly designed concrete infrastructure when all that was in Pattaya.

[Rimmer]

A post with a disguised profanity has been removed

[Leaver]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Never been there so I can't agree or disagree. Never saw the point of going to another polluted beach with a badly designed concrete infrastructure when all that was in Pattaya.

It's obvious you have never been there.

 

Not so long ago, it really was just a laid back seaside town, rather than a city.  I'm talking, only about 3 years ago.  Now, it's like Macau.  Such is the rate of Chinese development there.

 

The water was clean, traffic was lite, air was fresh.  That's all changed now.    

[jacko45k]

21 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Never been there so I can't agree or disagree. Never saw the point of going to another polluted beach with a badly designed concrete infrastructure when all that was in Pattaya.

It wasn't like that at all, when I went it was rather underdeveloped and basic if anything. As was Pattaya if one goes back far enough. Had some merit....