20 hours ago, sungod said:

 Cool, I had a similar view from my basement

Crikey, you have fireworks in your basement. 

 

Take care mate, that's very dangerous 

6 hours ago, champers said:

Went on Friday and it was a great night. Not as busy as the last couple of years, so got home very quickly on a couple  of motor bike taxis

I've never seen Pattaya traffic as bad as on Saturday night at the end, not even on New Year's Eve. It couldn't have been busier. It was nearly impossible to find sand to sit on in the main stage area.

17 hours ago, SamSpade said:

I don't know about that, but I do remember having a conversation with him about my holiday in Tenerife, turns out he'd been to Elevenerife...

 

Classic. Absolute classic. 

9 hours ago, JensenZ said:

I've never seen Pattaya traffic as bad as on Saturday night at the end, not even on New Year's Eve. It couldn't have been busier. It was nearly impossible to find sand to sit on in the main stage area.

I imagine Saturday is always busier than Friday, when I went.

We were near Soi 3 on deckchairs, which were all filled, 100 Baht each. City Hall charged 10k Baht per pitch on the beach, so 100 chairs to sell to break even. 

22 hours ago, jacko45k said:

The traffic is easily avoided..... I book a room (do it early), drive in mid afternoon and park up and off after breakfast. Crowded, infuriating, bladder pains as toilets hard to  find, then hard to find your spot after. It was cold too! Spectacular fireworks, must have killed thousands of fish. Locals loved it.... yobs on bikes looking for trouble after! Mostly sitting around waiting for the glory! Some guys I knew had booked deck chairs, prepaid, and were asked to turn up at 4pm to reserve. Hence wait for 4 hours for the shows. 

I say it every time, never again!

You do all that to watch colourful fireworks at your age !

Book a hotel room...have to be near toilets to empty your catheter  as your incontinence, then wait for 4 hours for it to start as you dodge the crowds with your walking frame.....get a life !!!

19 hours ago, JensenZ said:

I also hate crowds, but this is one time it's worth the effort. I went on both nights. The hard part is not getting there, but getting away at the end of the night with traffic that rivals New Year's Eve.

Even getting away well after the event is tough. Traffic in Pattaya on Sunday afternoon was horrendous... 3rd Rd tailed back both ways...no police in sight, 

1 hour ago, georgegeorgia said:

You do all that to watch colourful fireworks at your age !

Book a hotel room...have to be near toilets to empty your catheter  as your incontinence, then wait for 4 hours for it to start as you dodge the crowds with your walking frame.....get a life !!!

One has to do the odd thing to please the Mrs, Personally I would not bother. Don't have a catheter, my bladder is what needs emptying, have been known to drink beer like a grown up. I live well out of town, so a nice hotel is a good solution. I didn't wait 4 hours, read my post again without moving your lips, but one does need to get seated quite well ahead of time. 

It is a good photo opportunity on the beach, I guess you were on the mall escalator going up, with your camera as usual?

9 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

One has to do the odd thing to please the Mrs, Personally I would not bother. Don't have a catheter, my bladder is what needs emptying, have been known to drink beer like a grown up. I live well out of town, so a nice hotel is a good solution. I didn't wait 4 hours, read my post again without moving your lips, but one does need to get seated quite well ahead of time. 

It is a good photo opportunity on the beach, I guess you were on the mall escalator with your camera as usual?

what do you do with the fireworks pics ?

Look back on them colourful lights in the sky and say I was there in 2025 and look at that amazing green and red lights in the sky ,wow !

 

Well if fireworks get your old rocks off go for it 

9 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

what do you do with the fireworks pics ?

Look back on them colourful lights in the sky and say I was there in 2025 and look at that amazing green and red lights in the sky ,wow !

 

Well if fireworks get your old rocks off go for it 

Not much, forward a few to the UK. Got some on my phone from the early 2000s even, look pretty much the same. They were actually quite spectacular, I hope in the future drones and lasers can be added. Five show on Friday night, a free spectacle. Pity it was rather cold, perhaps that is what got my bladder going. Not the deal the Mrs got on a load of cans of Heiny. Half the fun was seeing how the locals made a great time of it..... 

I never thought that new beach would become too small. 

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

One has to do the odd thing to please the Mrs, Personally I would not bother. Don't have a catheter, my bladder is what needs emptying, have been known to drink beer like a grown up. I live well out of town, so a nice hotel is a good solution. I didn't wait 4 hours, read my post again without moving your lips, but one does need to get seated quite well ahead of time. 

It is a good photo opportunity on the beach, I guess you were on the mall escalator going up, with your camera as usual?

How far in advance did you book the room?

46 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

How far in advance did you book the room?

Nearly a month, I thought the price reasonable too. 

Looks incredibly boring and tedious.

 

Hope it's a terrible place to take a date.

If you can, from a boat is the best way to watch.  Took my own last year, went on neighbor's large power catamaran this year.  There are a number of charter boats in Ocean Marina that offer packages from ~2000 baht pp on up to silly amounts of baht for the evening.  Another option for probably cheaper is one of the Thai wooden dive boats from a local dive shop.

Downside is Ao Pattaya can be a very rough anchorage, so take your Stugeron or have a strong stomach.  This year was no different, wind stayed out of NNW and swell coming straight into the bay.  A few people praying over the side to Neptune on our boat.

A little bit of a circus heading home afterwards, but it's all part of the fun.

SWMBO and I were lucky enough to be invited to view the whole event from a boat in the bay. We were as near to the launch barge as possible without being bombed by the debris! 

Just as well we don't suffer from mal de mer.

 

 

On 11/29/2025 at 7:46 AM, brian69 said:

Oh great more frigging pollution, just what Thailand needs, why can't the use lasers and drones like the real world.

 

 

 

 

 

Lets go a step further and replace all of humanity with robots . . .

The usual negative AN comments as expected.

 

I was there in the last three or four years and it was always a great event.

This year highlight was the broadcast of music on the beach together with the fireworks choreography.

No, I will never go to Pattaya. I’m afraid of falling off a fifth-story balcony in some rented room there, 

At home in bed with the flu !

On 12/1/2025 at 10:42 AM, n8sail said:

If you can, from a boat is the best way to watch.  Took my own last year, went on neighbor's large power catamaran this year.  There are a number of charter boats in Ocean Marina that offer packages from ~2000 baht pp on up to silly amounts of baht for the evening.  Another option for probably cheaper is one of the Thai wooden dive boats from a local dive shop.

Downside is Ao Pattaya can be a very rough anchorage, so take your Stugeron or have a strong stomach.  This year was no different, wind stayed out of NNW and swell coming straight into the bay.  A few people praying over the side to Neptune on our boat.

A little bit of a circus heading home afterwards, but it's all part of the fun.

It was bad enough say on the beach,  in the cold with people tramping over you, being tossed about in a boat too doesn't sound better! Do the hawkers keep swimming up?