Pattaya Is Finished

[thaimate]

keep seeing these posts about how Pattaya is finished ,full of violent criminals and generally the sort of place you wouldnt want to bring up a familly.well i say what a load of old b-llocks some of you talk .

I will admit that if your going to live in the centre of Pattaya with your familly and go out to the bars every night while the wife/girlfriend stays home then its not ideal and you are going to encounter violent guys and your kids are not going to grow up in the best of enviroments .but the same could be said if you lived and frequented any red light area in the world.

in 20 years i have never encountered violence ,i have been ripped off ,twice in that time never for massive amounts and for the last four years have lived here with my wife and son ,who goes to a good school and has good Thai friends .

So to all you doomsayers ,if you think its so bad ,go somwhere else where you feel safer but stop f---g moaning.

have a nice day.

[kevkev1888]

Amen to that!!!!

[LennyW]

Well said Thaimate!!

[MeetJohnDoe]

Prepare to be closed...didn't "they" just close a thread for being too similar to another

But completely agree with your sentiments...guys that post all that Pattaya being violent and people getting cheated and ripped-off stuff either never get off soi Bua Kaow or have never been to Pattaya or Thailand.

[alant]

keep seeing these posts about how Pattaya is finished ,full of violent criminals and generally the sort of place you wouldnt want to bring up a familly.well i say what a load of old b-llocks some of you talk .

I will admit that if your going to live in the centre of Pattaya with your familly and go out to the bars every night while the wife/girlfriend stays home then its not ideal and you are going to encounter violent guys and your kids are not going to grow up in the best of enviroments .but the same could be said if you lived and frequented any red light area in the world.

in 20 years i have never encountered violence ,i have been ripped off ,twice in that time never for massive amounts and for the last four years have lived here with my wife and son ,who goes to a good school and has good Thai friends .

So to all you doomsayers ,if you think its so bad ,go somwhere else where you feel safer but stop f---g moaning.

have a nice day.

agree, taint all bad, stay away from possible thai on thai bar hassle or their venues and all you tend to get are some pissed up farangs who want to punch each other out... or the occasional bar girl dispute over a bloke. still there is no doubt that compared to 6 or 7 years ago it is incredibly quiet and bars seem to me to be closing en mass so lets hope the resort can maintain what it does best and let us all have a good refresh every now and then

[anothertorres]

i'll turn out the lights when i leave...

[johnbarpic]

I will leave claw marks in the concrete the day I have to leave. I am 3 years in never a day bored still not visited all the local attractions 9999 restaurants still to visit. & recieve visitors from UK regularly & they saty with me on the Dark side & everyone of them have loved it young & old alike well said if your not happy dont stay more space for us who do.

Have a great day in Paradise guys

J B-P

[guzzi850m2]

Agreed Pattaya is not so bad. We see many condo jumpers sadly, but I get the impression that many of those party hard and absolutely has to have a go-go girl as GF even though that they are maybe +60 years old, will always end in tears.

I live with my wife in a house and we often go out on restaurants for lunch/dinner but are normally home again before 2200. I maybe go out for beers with friends 1-2 times a week and are perfectly happy with that, no Thai woman wants a piss head as husband.

Now we are looking for a new house on the dark side, and I am positive surprised by the amount of restaurants over there. We only go on walking street 1-2 times in a month and only to look at "strange people"

Enjoy the pulsing city, there is not quite a place like it

[chiang mai]

The OP maybe right or not, I don't have a view. But it's interesting to note that the five posts following are from fairly new members, those with membership numbers in the high 50,000's and 60,000's. Maybe there's a honeymoon period folks go through before the novelty wears off, not sure, just a an observation.

[thaimate]

The OP maybe right or not, I don't have a view. But it's interesting to note that the five posts following are from fairly new members, those with membership numbers in the high 50,000's and 60,000's. Maybe there's a honeymoon period folks go through before the novelty wears off, not sure, just a an observation.

i havnt quite as many posts as yourself,but ime well past the honymoon period and really i was thinking more about the folk who live here rather than the guys who come over a couple of times a year(not sexpats ,but have never gone past 2nd rd ) most of us have gone that route in the past,but i was thinking about the people with famillys here ,like most of my friends who live a normal life ,just happen to live it in a wonderfull land,sun,sea and u.b.c.

[BSJ]

Finished, I very much doubt it!

In my case I'll be back in LOS when I can get a break and much of that time will be spent in Patters.

It's my kind of town!

[guzzi850m2]

The OP maybe right or not, I don't have a view. But it's interesting to note that the five posts following are from fairly new members, those with membership numbers in the high 50,000's and 60,000's. Maybe there's a honeymoon period folks go through before the novelty wears off, not sure, just a an observation.

i havnt quite as many posts as yourself,but ime well past the honymoon period and really i was thinking more about the folk who live here rather than the guys who come over a couple of times a year(not sexpats ,but have never gone past 2nd rd ) most of us have gone that route in the past,but i was thinking about the people with famillys here ,like most of my friends who live a normal life ,just happen to live it in a wonderfull land,sun,sea and u.b.c.

A high membership number doesn't necessary mean that you are new here in Thailand. I first came here in 1998 and have done all the mistakes many expats do regarding bar girl/gf's and so on I was lucky when it was over that I haven't invested any money here, so I was off the hook relatively cheap.

If you come here with a positive attitude, I think you can still have a very nice life here, but many expats are lacking that and they end up moaning about almost everything and turning their life into hel_l, sad.

[thaibeachlovers]

I'm also no newbie to Pattaya.

Just arrived, and it's certainly quieter than I've ever seen it. However, there have been too many bars for a lot of years now, and they need to get back to a number where those still operating are again profitable. I just feel sorry for the girls, who are the ones suffering.

In some act of insanity, the plod have driven the freelancers off the beach walk, which is now pretty deserted at night. I just hope the plod soon realise that no customers in the bars/ on the beach translates to no tea money for them! At the present, I doubt any bar is making enough to be handing over the usual wads of cash.

As for the new Central- deserted. The Avenues is hanging on by a thread. Went to the movies there. 3 customers! That wouldn't even pay for the electricity.

Away from family tourist areas which are pretty dead, Pattaya is booming. Soi Buakaow is busy as ever. IMO, the mongers/ long term expats have read the writing on the wall, and moved to where they are more welcome.

[grahamhc]

The only bad thing about Pattaya is the time it takes to post on Thai Visa. With ONLY 2 users on line, the "Add Reply" service hung for 5 mins until I logged off and tried again. And having to write posts off-line in case the screen goes blank when you try and upload

Apart from that, the place is great. I have been here 12+ years and I feel safer out at night than I do in my home town in England.

OK, every town has its problems, but Pattaya has no more than many other (civilised) places in the world. Yes, we hear the BG scams, but they are mainy from Newbies, who would get scammed in other countries as well. But if think with your real head, and use ONLY your brian for decision making, things can go smoothly.

OK, my gripe is I would like to BUY ONE house in my name (link it to my passport if they want). I RENT a house similar to the one I would buy, so I would not be not deleting the housing stock, as I already occupy it or similar.

I like the "Vibrant Nightlife" that Pattaya has to offer, but a few Km out, you also have the tanquility of a county life. We have the best of both words.

The only downside is the Tourists, or maybe some residents, who thinks that "F"ing and "Blind"ing is part of the Queens English, as was pointed out by a Thai Girl to me, who said Farangs were not as polite as her Mother told her they were in her day. Such is the change in OUR Society and their values.

[jupiler]

I'm also no newbie to Pattaya.

Just arrived, and it's certainly quieter than I've ever seen it. However, there have been too many bars for a lot of years now, and they need to get back to a number where those still operating are again profitable. I just feel sorry for the girls, who are the ones suffering.

In some act of insanity, the plod have driven the freelancers off the beach walk, which is now pretty deserted at night. I just hope the plod soon realise that no customers in the bars/ on the beach translates to no tea money for them! At the present, I doubt any bar is making enough to be handing over the usual wads of cash.

As for the new Central- deserted. The Avenues is hanging on by a thread. Went to the movies there. 3 customers! That wouldn't even pay for the electricity.

Away from family tourist areas which are pretty dead, Pattaya is booming. Soi Buakaow is busy as ever. IMO, the mongers/ long term expats have read the writing on the wall, and moved to where they are more welcome.

Soi Buakaow is busy?

The place is dead as the rest of Pattaya!

When i walk there at night, i can count the customers in the bars on 1 hand!

[nam-thip]

I was in LK Metro and Soi Buakaow last night and in most parts it was deserted.

I was one of two customers in Champagne ago-go not much before midnight and one of five customers in Oasis around the same time.

I noticed the hel_l Club has re-opened and is now called The Devils Den

I don't visit the area that much but It's the quietest i've ever known it.

I live on the Darkside and its just as quiet there in that many expats who used to frequent the bars around Maprachan Lake and could be seen on a regular basis have mostly gone back to their respective countries.

I see very few of the same expat guys from eighteen months ago.

[junki3korean]

So please Thaimate tell us some positive things that have been happening in Pattaya lately?? I would really like to know.....

...anywhere you go you`ll get ripped off, Ride a big bike you will get fined, go to a bar and end up buying 20 drinks

Tell me some positive I would like to know.......

[Tokay]

in 20 years i have never encountered violence

You get out much?

In the past two weeks alone I have personally watched a younger falang get the piss beat out of him on middle pattaya road by about six Thai guys with sticks and pipes, an older gent take a beating by a few Thai guys on beach road, a group (6 - 8 guys) of young Thai men fighting one Thai man on 3rd road (I will note that the one Thai was oddly holding his own), and a handful of falang fighting in some little bar on soi buakao. I also saw three bar girls beating on a black guy on 2nd road around 4am. This is just in the past two weeks!

I've seen a LOT of violence here over the years but the bulk of it during the past two years.

[Tokay]

Tell me some positive I would like to know.......

- Major Cinema lowered prices to 80b!

- We are living in a tourist town with NO tourists!

- No traffic / Lighter smog!

- Less drunken tourists to deal with!

- The Thais are finally getting their karma for hosing falang for all these years!

I could go on but it's getting late.

[chiang mai]

in 20 years i have never encountered violence

You get out much?

In the past two weeks alone I have personally watched a younger falang get the piss beat out of him on middle pattaya road by about six Thai guys with sticks and pipes, an older gent take a beating by a few Thai guys on beach road, a group (6 - 8 guys) of young Thai men fighting one Thai man on 3rd road (I will note that the one Thai was oddly holding his own), and a handful of falang fighting in some little bar on soi buakao. I also saw three bar girls beating on a black guy on 2nd road around 4am. This is just in the past two weeks!

I've seen a LOT of violence here over the years but the bulk of it during the past two years.

Go to anyplace in the world that has Pattaya's concentration of bars, between midnight and 4.0am and you'll see loads of violence. Me, I prefer to be tucked up in bed between those hours.

[jaapfries]

I was in LK Metro and Soi Buakaow last night and in most parts it was deserted.

I was one of two customers in Champagne ago-go not much before midnight and one of five customers in Oasis around the same time.

I noticed the hel_l Club has re-opened and is now called The Devils Den

I don't visit the area that much but It's the quietest i've ever known it.

I live on the Darkside and its just as quiet there in that many expats who used to frequent the bars around Maprachan Lake and could be seen on a regular basis have mostly gone back to their respective countries.

I see very few of the same expat guys from eighteen months ago.

Been in Pattaya 18 years and I can tell you that itis very normal patterned seasonal behaviour for the town (City) to be "dead". The atual 'tourist-seasons' here are as follows:

December ~ March High-Season

July ~ August Mini High Season

That's dealing with the European Tourist.

In addition, we have (usually) an substantial influx of Asian tourists. These are mostly organized Tours from China, Korea, Taiwan and (believe it or not) increasingly more, from India.

The only problem with this tourism-sector is, that very little revnue stays in Thailand, for obvious reasons.

But to give you some idea, there are tourism venues, right here in Terrific Pattaya, who cater to upwards of 3,500 Asia tourist PER DAY !

And that, my friends, is the stuation in Pattaya: this also means that most Tourism Oriented venues will make big bucks during those 6 odd months.

The people who survive, are those who put away some (overhead) funds earned during the high-season months, in order to get trhough the lean periods.

The thing about why Pattaya is my favorite place is Thailand is that I am a fervent sailor. Chiangmai wold be torture to me; Phuket, where most people walk around with $$-signs in their eyes, would be a living hel_l to me and Bangkok, with it's unbelievable polluted traffic goes beyond my comprehension.

Pattaya:

1. Great Sailing (one can do is own thing, or join clubs like the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Lung-Chart's etc.)

2. Great Shopping-Food (I can buy virtually everything I can buy at home, such as breads, cheeses, rolmops, hck; they even have chocolate hail now !)

3. Great Shopping-All else

4. Unbelievable array of restaurants, most of which do NOT charge inflated prices; just good value for money)

5. Second-Hand Book Shops; there are some 1/2dozen places where one could easily spent a couple of hours discovering little gems

6. Located with super easy access to Bangkok; Airports and the gateway into the great Thai' Hinterland.

Love Thailand; Love Pattaya

JGK

Pattaya

[thaimate]

So please Thaimate tell us some positive things that have been happening in Pattaya lately?? I would really like to know.....

...anywhere you go you`ll get ripped off, Ride a big bike you will get fined, go to a bar and end up buying 20 drinks

Tell me some positive I would like to know.......

Ride a big bike,why would i on crowded roads like in Patters? i am now a familly man (and this piece is dedicated to us ,not bar flies) although there is nothing wrong with that . but posative things ,God the list is so long ,great stores ,cinemas restaurants by the dozen ,great countryside, good schools close by ,near where we live a basketball court and play area ,free for the kids. sun all year round jeepers the list goes on ,ime not being rude but if you dont like it ,just leave /

also i agree with Chiangmai.

if you hang around bar areas anywhere in the world in the early hours you will see the dark side of life.

[Phatcharanan]

in 20 years i have never encountered violence

You get out much?

In the past two weeks alone I have personally watched a younger falang get the piss beat out of him on middle pattaya road by about six Thai guys with sticks and pipes, an older gent take a beating by a few Thai guys on beach road, a group (6 - 8 guys) of young Thai men fighting one Thai man on 3rd road (I will note that the one Thai was oddly holding his own), and a handful of falang fighting in some little bar on soi buakao. I also saw three bar girls beating on a black guy on 2nd road around 4am. This is just in the past two weeks!

Sounds like a typical 30 minutes at some pubs in Liverpool.

[alant]

I was in LK Metro and Soi Buakaow last night and in most parts it was deserted.

I was one of two customers in Champagne ago-go not much before midnight and one of five customers in Oasis around the same time.

I noticed the hel_l Club has re-opened and is now called The Devils Den

I don't visit the area that much but It's the quietest i've ever known it.

I live on the Darkside and its just as quiet there in that many expats who used to frequent the bars around Maprachan Lake and could be seen on a regular basis have mostly gone back to their respective countries.

I see very few of the same expat guys from eighteen months ago.

Been in Pattaya 18 years and I can tell you that itis very normal patterned seasonal behaviour for the town (City) to be "dead". The atual 'tourist-seasons' here are as follows:

December ~ March High-Season

July ~ August Mini High Season

That's dealing with the European Tourist.

In addition, we have (usually) an substantial influx of Asian tourists. These are mostly organized Tours from China, Korea, Taiwan and (believe it or not) increasingly more, from India.

The only problem with this tourism-sector is, that very little revnue stays in Thailand, for obvious reasons.

But to give you some idea, there are tourism venues, right here in Terrific Pattaya, who cater to upwards of 3,500 Asia tourist PER DAY !

And that, my friends, is the stuation in Pattaya: this also means that most Tourism Oriented venues will make big bucks during those 6 odd months.

The people who survive, are those who put away some (overhead) funds earned during the high-season months, in order to get trhough the lean periods.

The thing about why Pattaya is my favorite place is Thailand is that I am a fervent sailor. Chiangmai wold be torture to me; Phuket, where most people walk around with $$-signs in their eyes, would be a living hel_l to me and Bangkok, with it's unbelievable polluted traffic goes beyond my comprehension.

Pattaya:

1. Great Sailing (one can do is own thing, or join clubs like the Royal Varuna Yacht Club, Lung-Chart's etc.)

2. Great Shopping-Food (I can buy virtually everything I can buy at home, such as breads, cheeses, rolmops, hck; they even have chocolate hail now !)

3. Great Shopping-All else

4. Unbelievable array of restaurants, most of which do NOT charge inflated prices; just good value for money)

5. Second-Hand Book Shops; there are some 1/2dozen places where one could easily spent a couple of hours discovering little gems

6. Located with super easy access to Bangkok; Airports and the gateway into the great Thai' Hinterland.

Love Thailand; Love Pattaya

JGK

Pattaya

good one! nice to hear some common sense

[moo9]

I was in LK Metro and Soi Buakaow last night and in most parts it was deserted.

I was one of two customers in Champagne ago-go not much before midnight and one of five customers in Oasis around the same time.

I noticed the hel_l Club has re-opened and is now called The Devils Den

I don't visit the area that much but It's the quietest i've ever known it.

I live on the Darkside and its just as quiet there in that many expats who used to frequent the bars around Maprachan Lake and could be seen on a regular basis have mostly gone back to their respective countries.

I see very few of the same expat guys from eighteen months ago.

I agree the area is not very crowded nowadays. Just like 2 yrs ago it was an adventure to cross Soi Buakaow at night, with all Songthaews and Motorcycs.

Funny to read though that people living in the Maprachan Area are going home. I wonder why, as I thought most of them are retired, so no direct impact of the bad economy for them (except for exchange rates maybe).

Anyway I wonder what many expats are really doing here! Some of them are looking like being 20 yrs away from retirement, but apparently do nothing for life. Either millionairs or their money last 12 -18 months and then back home, without anything. Dreams are over quickly in Pattaya, if you go the wrong way.

Cheers

[jellymeister]

Maybe they should rename the town "Phoenix" as it seems to keep reinventing itself everytime it crashes "forever' and p*sses off some group...

First the GI R&R stops, then the backpackers, then various Euros, then exotic Euros, then Koreans, then Chinese, then Middle Easternersthen Ruskies

The only question is who is next as there seems to be a constant churning of newbies who haven't been stung by this urban scorpion yet!

[CGW]

Maybe they should rename the town "Phoenix" as it seems to keep reinventing itself everytime it crashes "forever' and p*sses off some group...

First the GI R&R stops, then the backpackers, then various Euros, then exotic Euros, then Koreans, then Chinese, then Middle Easternersthen Ruskies

The only question is who is next as there seems to be a constant churning of newbies who haven't been stung by this urban scorpion yet!

Well observed jellymeister, never looked at it like that before, they seem to have exhausted a few nationalities, still a few to go at though

Far easier than trying to improve or change a few things and make people feel welcome, secure and not rip them off

[rolypie]

Piss and moan, piss and moan. Pattaya is what it says on the tin, if ya dont like it go elsewhere, personally i can not fault it been going for years, have a house on the dark side and the only thing i hate about Pattaya is having to leave it from time to time !!!!!!

[MeetJohnDoe]

personally i can not fault it been going for years, have a house on the dark side and the only thing i hate about Pattaya is having to leave it from time to time !!!!!!

Agreed...and I prefer the term "Farside" as there is nothing "dark" to living on the "other side" of Sukhumvit.

[LennyW]

personally i can not fault it been going for years, have a house on the dark side and the only thing i hate about Pattaya is having to leave it from time to time !!!!!!

Agreed...and I prefer the term "Farside" as there is nothing "dark" to living on the "other side" of Sukhumvit.

Well said MeetJohnDoe, i much prefer living on the Farside too!!, and i think there are far "darker" elements at work within central Pattaya city!