Pattaya: If only they'd listened to the Japanese it might not be in this mess!

[webfact]

Picture: Thai Rath

 

Thai Rath published a long feature about Pattaya past and present and it contained a warning tale about not listening to foreigners. 

 

Waxing lyrical they took the reader back to 1974 when "Pattaya was an infant just learning to walk".

 

When the tourism promotion board - forerunner to today's TAT - was eying up the golden sands of the "cresent shaped beach" - and seeing dollar signs.

 

Around this time, so their report continued, investment from the Japanese government including access to experts in city development and infrastructure materialized.

 

The Japanese experts were immediately dispatched to Pattaya to come up with a coherent development plan to ensure the future of what could be a big city given all its geographical advantages.

 

They made a number of clear decisions:

 

No hotels within 100 meters of the tideline. 

 

No hotels to be bigger than the top of the pine trees (like Bali).

 

Development of flood mitigation measures and sewage plants. 

 

Creation of a full drainage plan.

 

Then the jewel in the crown of the Japanese vision - a 2.7 kilometer pedestrian only area on the beach "Walking Street".

 

Nearly half a century later it is clear that the proposals were knocked back or only half-heartedly accepted. 

 

A shining or perhaps dim example depending on your viewpoint, is what Walking Street eventually became. 

 

A seedy street with bars, entertainment, nightclubs and restaurants. 

 

The rest of the beach became a free-for-all as successive city planners did anything but plan. 

 

And prostitutes moved in and became known as "phee maphrao" - ghosts of the coconuts. 

 

Then came the pandemic and 70,000 cases in Chonburi, 500 deaths.

 

18 million tourist visitors a year went to almost zero overnight and despite some resurgences has remained a shadow of its former self for the best part of two years. 

 

Pattaya should be the "hub" of the EEC (eastern economic corridor) plans and its mayor is putting a brave face on its future.

 

But exactly what shape that future will take is up to many factors.

 

These are interesting times for Pattaya and its residents with the pandemic increasingly looking like a watershed for the future. 

 

-- © Copyright  ASEAN NOW 2021-09-28

 

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[steven100]

maybe you should have listened to the Japanese .....  oh !   wait,  TIT .. that's right, they won't take advice from outsiders.    Lol.

 

RIP Pattaya. die pls

[HeijoshinCool]

.

Avg. IQ for Japanese is 105, and the, er, uhm....

 

I think I'll stop there.

[ezzra]

Listen to someone else how to run their country? Thai people don't do that, listen to others in a national matters,way too proud to do that...

[Elkski]

20 minutes ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.

Avg. IQ for Japanese is 105, and the, er, uhm....

 

I think I'll stop there.

I don't believe this .   Their engineers are quite good and incredibly thorough and documentation is top shelf.   Fukushima aside!!

It sounds like they had a good plan for pats

[thaibeachlovers]

I take exception to calling Walking Street "seedy". Compared to actual seedy places I have visited it's not at all seedy, but quite sedate and moderate in tone.

[VocalNeal]

42 minutes ago, webfact said:

A seedy street with bars, entertainment, nightclubs and restaurants. 

As opposed to a boring street with shops selling shoes and handbags?

 

Oops sorry for got wooden frogs with a stick.

[Joe Farang]

Plans are cheap. Implementing them is expensive.

[smedly]

24 minutes ago, Joe Farang said:

Plans are cheap. Implementing them is expensive.

 30 years later when the cluster has already happened and is impossible to do anything about - yes expensive

[guzzi850m2]

Part of the charm of living here is the chaos.

 

If no chaos it's getting boring pretty quickly, might as well move home then.

[khunPer]

In the always unbearable crystal bright light of hindsight...????

[Guderian]

Most of the Japanese in this area live in Sri Racha, and I can't say I've noticed things being much better up there.

[hotchilli]

If you can stand the confusion it's paradise.

[ChipButty]

It's all part of the charm, 

[Deli]

Now they don't only listen to the Chinese commies, they obey.

[Tropposurfer]

Fascinating history of The World Class Resort'. I visited there in 1979 and it was like the rest of Thailand ... a total wild west show (todays got zero on how wild it was then). I was young, dumb, untravelled and was lucky I upon didn't die there, in Bangkok or in Chiang Mai for that matter actually. 

[MrJ2U]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

A seedy street with bars, entertainment, nightclubs and restaurants. 

Probably the reason Pattaya pre COVID was one of the most visited places on earth.

 

It's not close to being perfect and that's the way I like it.

[pomchop]

Good Luck not allowing high rises.  How many hotel rooms could you have and what would a room cost?  

[HeijoshinCool]

8 hours ago, Elkski said:

8 hours ago, HeijoshinCool said:

.

Avg. IQ for Japanese is 105, and the, er, uhm....

 

I think I'll stop there.

I don't believe this .   Their engineers are quite good and incredibly thorough and documentation is top shelf.   Fukushima aside!!

It sounds like they had a good plan for pats

.

 

Thank you for your reply.....

 

Now everyone on this site has insight into your I.Q., too. ???? 

[HeijoshinCool]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I take exception to calling Walking Street "seedy". Compared to actual seedy places I have visited it's not at all seedy, but quite sedate and moderate in tone.

.

 

Well, after dark, use a UV (black light) flashlight on the street, tables, chairs, door knobs, and beer glasses....

 

you'll probably be fine calling the place seedy. ????

[jacko45k]

10 hours ago, pomchop said:

Good Luck not allowing high rises.  How many hotel rooms could you have and what would a room cost?  

Seems to work in Bali.... not too expensive there. 

[Maha Sarakham]

11 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

Probably the reason Pattaya pre COVID was one of the most visited places on earth.

Exactly.  No one will be flying half-way around the world for anything less than what was on offer before.  It was the promise of ladies, beer, and a general sense of freedom in a warm climate that brought so many here before.  Now, the only thing that remains is the climate... not looking so good for Pattaya.

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, Maha Sarakham said:

Now, the only thing that remains is the climate... not looking so good for Pattaya.

Well to be honest it has done little but rain for a while now, so even that is lacking!

[elgenon]

But maybe they took the Japanese advice on vaccinations. The % is very low in japan.

[newnative]

1 hour ago, Maha Sarakham said:

Exactly.  No one will be flying half-way around the world for anything less than what was on offer before.  It was the promise of ladies, beer, and a general sense of freedom in a warm climate that brought so many here before.  Now, the only thing that remains is the climate... not looking so good for Pattaya.

     Just a reminder that the majority of the visitors to Pattaya in 2019 did not fly 'half-way around the world' to visit.  They took shorter plane rides from China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and other Asian countries.  And, a large number, domestic visitors, took no plane ride at all.   It will be interesting to see how things go once Thailand and Pattaya fully open up.  

[sanuk711]

16 hours ago, Deli said:

Now they don't only listen to the Chinese commies, they obey

You must be scared to go to bed at night Deli....in case the Reds are underneath it. 

Mad statements like that--Sort of takes me back to the 1950s

 

Of course your have a long list of Orders that the Chinese Goverment  ordered the Thais to implement. .......or else........

 

Look forward to reading them...................

[bobandyson]

14 hours ago, MrJ2U said:

It's not close to being perfect and that's the way I like it.

I don't particularly like Pattaya, but I like it as it is too.

A least it has it's own identity and doesn't look just like most other Thai towns that look like the next town that looks just like another town that looks more or less like the town 100kms away that looks exactly like. . . . . . .

 

????

[mikebell]

23 hours ago, ezzra said:

Listen to someone else how to run their country? Thai people don't do that, listen to others in a national matters,way too proud to do that...

And they mock their neighbours in a smug superior way.  Thais view Laos as its inferior despite them having vaccinated more % of their population.  Myanmar is where their slaves come from.  And farangs are merely 'dirty'.

[MrJ2U]

3 hours ago, bobandyson said:

I don't particularly like Pattaya, but I like it as it is too.

A least it has it's own identity and doesn't look just like most other Thai towns that look like the next town that looks just like another town that looks more or less like the town 100kms away that looks exactly like. . . . . . .

 

????

I agree.

 

My wife and I visited recently.

 

It doesn't look like Pattaya.

 

It looks like an exotic beach local.

 

Nobody around.

 

These were taken before the beach washed away during the recent storms.

 

[Deli]

6 hours ago, sanuk711 said:

You must be scared to go to bed at night Deli....in case the Reds are underneath it. 

Mad statements like that--Sort of takes me back to the 1950s

 

Of course your have  long list of Orders that the Chinese Goverment  ordered the Thais to implement. .......or else........

 

Look forward to reading them...................

Won't waste my time one you and others who follow blindfolded the dear leader.