Ban Chang Expansion.

[Richb2004v2]

There seems to be a lot of activity on the bar strip in Ban Chang. More and more blocks of shop houses are going up as well as the number of bars constantly expanding. I can only assume that there is some ferang investment involved to some extent. Does this mean that the number of ferang in Ban Chang has increased significantly and will it continue to increase? If so I wonder if we can expect more additions such as Tesco to appear over time? Will Ban Chang become more ferang friendly and something of a 'little Pattaya'? I for one think that this might be a good thing in some ways. What do you think? I don't use the bars of Ban Chang so have no idea if I am right or wrong.

[longball53098]

Did you make a typo? Tesco is here already^^^^^maybe you meant Big C or Carrefour? Yes these would be a welcome addition and IMHO this come in time as you are correct the area is growing at a pretty fast pace.

As for farang money? I am not tuned in to the "what's happening scene" but I would guess it's just Thai baht investment. And if you look around it's not only in the area you mentioned but all over. That by-pass road is being worked on to access Maptaput and that road will cause more expansion along it's route. And down by the Namrin beach someone is expanding the main intersection on the beach road.

Maptaput is going strong and more factories and chemical plants going up. If the Thai economy doesn't go into the crapper this area is a boom town.

Interesting side note last night a truck with one of those very loud speakers came thru our village blasting away at about 9 PM. I told my wife what's up with the noise so late? She listened and then ran outside and came back a minute later with an arm full of books and stuff.

She said it was the Banchang mayor and his folks spreading good cheer for the New Year and telling people hello and whatever. Passing out stuff and most likely spreading his political talk about what he is doing to make the place better.

I looked through the book and it had a many page story about him and family. Very clearly in English it shows his educational back ground.

Looks like the mayor was raised primarily in the USA and educated their. He spent a lot of time in the Inglewood area of Los Angeles. Attended Northrop University and has degrees from there according to this write up but I see on Google that the Uni has had it's share of money trouble and the school is closed. Also attended some school called California School of Professional Psychology.

[Soutpeel]

Will Ban Chang become more ferang friendly and something of a 'little Pattaya'? I for one think that this might be a good thing in some ways.

I sincerely hope not, a lot of the farangs (including myself) have chosen to live in Ban Chang as its not like a "little Pattya".....Ban Chang is close enough to Pattaya to do the shopping, but not close enough to have a spill over of all the Pattaya BS that goes on....

As regards the number of Farangs, once the ecomomic slow down really starts to bite, you will find a lot of them leaving as the projects they are working on will be scaled down or shutdown.....similar thing happened in the Asia crisis in 97, lots of Farang working in MPT area, living in Ban Chang, and then the SHTF...

[sparkey]

just remeniscing but I really miss the old market on the Tesco site. Even saw a Ferrang selling burgers there once.The replacement over the road is smaller and not a patch on the old one. Maybe I'm getting old but things seemed better 5 years ago when i first got kidnapped by the missus and moved here from Naklua.Whether it's in the UK or anywhere else in the world i don't think Tesco adds anything to a community.

if it even gets a little towards Patts I'll be moving to avillage I've seen just north of Ban Phe.

just my humble opinion.

sparks

[kerryk]

Take a ride to the beach a couple of miles away and you can see the thousands of deserted hotel and condo rooms that are left over from the 1997 thing.

The bar strip strikes me as much the same as Pattaya right now only more pouds per square foot and a much smaller area. The Thai bar venues are lookikng bleak right now as the shutdowns of GM, Ford and so on are beginning to be felt.

Why is all the new construction going up? Delusions of grandeur, is the only thing I can think of.

That brand new bar that cost millions is almost always empty.

I agree with the above poster who said the Farangs will clear out in 6 months and it will be a ghost town.

The UK economy has been very hard hit and most of the Farangs are UK.

What do the bars and restaurants do in this economic depression? Raise prices, of course!

[Soutpeel]

Why is all the new construction going up? Delusions of grandeur, is the only thing I can think of.

Dont think its been a case of delusions of grandeur, Ban Chang has been going through a bit of a renaissance over the last few years with all the multi-billion dollar projects that have been going on in MPT and suspect new bar owners had seen a gap in the existing "facilities" or at least tried to jump on the band wagon with all the extra farangs around with money burning a hole in their pockets.... of course the economic meltdown has come as a bit of suprise to everyone.....

It is very obvious to me under the current conditions there is a massive oversupply of existing and new entertainment venues on the Ban Chang "strip" and would think over the next 12 months or so we will see quite a few empty shophouses/bars on the strip...

[PattayaParent]

Most of the work in the Map Ta Phut area seems to be Korean companies which don't employ many Farangs so I can't see the expansion of the strip being due to that.

[Richb2004v2]

I drove along the bar strip today and saw yet another new bar. This one looked quite upmarket and well presented with a huge sign above it. I think it was called 'McMillans' or something. It certainly didn't look like a cheap outfitting. Another area seems to have been cleared ready for building on the other side of the road too even though the other new builds are all still empty. There must be some Thais with so much money that they literally don't know what to do with it. However all these little additions do benefit the area, so its all good.

[Soutpeel]

I drove along the bar strip today and saw yet another new bar. This one looked quite upmarket and well presented with a huge sign above it. I think it was called 'McMillans' or something. It certainly didn't look like a cheap outfitting. Another area seems to have been cleared ready for building on the other side of the road too even though the other new builds are all still empty. There must be some Thais with so much money that they literally don't know what to do with it. However all these little additions do benefit the area, so its all good.

Its actually MacAllisters and its been there for years, as long as I can remember, the place has been revamped over the last couple of months...its actually expat owned

[tvaddict]

you're right it's called McAllisters and has been there for many years-

some time back it was a focus point for the golfers after a round though that connection has drifted away i think since the original owner Don McAllister died a year or 2 ago ( it was a regular in the golf pages of the Pattaya Mail)

the new owner has pumped the money in - looks like about 1 million baht to 'modernise' it

over the road the new town house developments are being developed by Eastern Star- a very big national Thai developer responsible for much in Bangkok and here in Ban Chang- the Easter Star Golf Course, the Eastern Star Plaza ( now Tesco Lotus ) another Eastern Star Square ( see the yellow sign on Sukhumvit next to the Car Rent place -- where the food stalls are) and Sinthavee Gardens and Sinthavee Square.

and that's just the developments i know about-- maybe there are more ?

anyway- they build it and then rent/ sell it-

if you think about it the land is all in line with the Eastern Star Square down on Sukhumvit- so perhaps the road down the centre will align and come out onto Sukhumvit just there by the Bakers House coffee shop.

by the way- where did you hear GM and Ford have closed-

i thought GM promised they won't closing other than for a month?

anyone know?

[kerryk]

There are a lot of Korean and Chinese projects. The China GDP is down to 5% which means recession and political turmoil of an unprecedented scale and the KRW has gone from 34 to 26 baht which destroys the Korean spending power here. Although the Koreans did not much go to the Farang venues they did frequent the Thai versions of the same thing on the same street and a couple of others. I have never seen a Chinese guy in any of the bars I doubt if they go.

GM closed for a month and cut salaries by 50% and Ford closed for a week and cut salaries 25% I think. Honda has cancelled plans for the new factory along with a couple of others.

The Falang venues in Ban Chang were a small employer compared to the Thai places. I see the big losers being the Thai Gik’s who were supported by the Thai women working both the Thai and Farang bars. You can see a lot of skinny guys with spiked hair walking around looking depressed. They may actually have to try and get a job but this is a bad time to be looking for one.

The new bar is beautiful on the inside but the glass windows to the street were a funny touch they even left the blinds open for a couple of days - ha ha ha. I never see any customers there but I am not there much late at night. They did not have the rooms finished up stairs when they opened.

[Big Guns]

Where is the brand new bar that cost millions? What is it called?

The only new bar I've seen in Ban Chang is the banana bar.

[tvaddict]

in the strip -- half way up-- big yellow sign that you can't miss

an old bar but with a new re-fit McAlisters

also 2 more though--

Boo Dog night club ( actually 2 years old but now in new premises) out by where the new yet to be opened by pass joins sukhumvit

and

Taxi next to Banana-

on the side -- cocktails at 60 baht!!

Banana by the way is ridiculous deafening hardcore dance-- only enter if you're 17 and want your eardrums popped by the bass

[MAC10]

The way I see it, the more people who lose their jobs, the cheaper things will get and the more desperate people will be for money. This will be good for the piss artist as it will provide cheep beer and more girls. Crime will go up so there will be security issues, not sure how bad it will get concerning that.

[PattayaParent]

The way I see it, the more people who lose their jobs, the cheaper things will get and the more desperate people will be for money. This will be good for the piss artist as it will provide cheep beer and more girls. Crime will go up so there will be security issues, not sure how bad it will get concerning that.

Thai Economics 101 - if business drops then raise your prices

[MAC10]

The way I see it, the more people who lose their jobs, the cheaper things will get and the more desperate people will be for money. This will be good for the piss artist as it will provide cheep beer and more girls. Crime will go up so there will be security issues, not sure how bad it will get concerning that.

Thai Economics 101 - if business drops then raise your prices

Sure the Thai bars will try that but some sneaky farang will drop prices in his bar if he can.

Farang Economics 101 - Provide cheep beer and plenty of girls, add drama

[PattayaParent]

For cheap beer you can go to Banners.

No girls there though.