Where To Live In Pattaya Or Nearby Area?

[patrickinpattaya]

hi there, we brought a house at foresta 4 about 5 minutes from laem chabang just of the suk' road, 3 bedrooms en suite, decent sized garden, comm pool and gym, ice cream parlour/coffee shop, park and 24 hours security, really nice family enviroment, 20 minute drive to beach road, 10 minutes to si ratcha. Theres a couple of houses for rent at present for around 15000 baht per month. We chose this location because of the kids, theres plenty of places to eat and drink near by and plenty of buses/taxis etc to get to either pattaya or si ratcha.

Pat

[guzzi850m2]

I left some 5 year's ago for precisely that reason. Yes utter nonsense.

And here you are, still lurking around the Pats forum. 5 years out of date.

He probably miss it very much, sitting in a small village in the middle of nowhere, bored as hel_l.

When we go to my wife's village up North East, I start getting restless after 3 days, max 5 days and we are in the car, going back to good old Patts , where I can go out to my beloved "Junk food" places, Starbucks, hunting for good books etc etc.

[craigt3365]

I left some 5 year's ago for precisely that reason. Yes utter nonsense.

And here you are, still lurking around the Pats forum. 5 years out of date.

He probably miss it very much, sitting in a small village in the middle of nowhere, bored as hel_l.

When we go to my wife's village up North East, I start getting restless after 3 days, max 5 days and we are in the car, going back to good old Patts , where I can go out to my beloved "Junk food" places, Starbucks, hunting for good books etc etc.

To each his own. Some do love the "rural" life, others don't. We lived in Manhattan for several years and lived in Bangkok also. LOVED both. Pattaya seemed a good compromise. Can own a house, have a garden, etc....but still be 10 minutes to whatever you want to do!

Glad everybody doesn't like Pattaya otherwise the property prices would be like Phuket!

[Thunderbird4ever]

Finally up here and checking out the place. So here is my report and what I think of it so far.

Could Ilive here? Yes

Am I going to live here with family and a 4 year old? I am not convinced yet.

Would I (not you) raise a family having teenagers here? Never

One should see this from my perspective and what I like to have nearby and around me. I see absolutely no problem of living 20-30 km outside of Pattaya raising a family if you re ok being around around Thai people only.

Anything that I am reporting that is negative is not about bashing Pattaya in my report below when I am going more detailed into it. I am an experienced Thai-farer and are not the kind of type that are moving to one place where I find my local pub the first day and is held hostile there for as long as I live there. No,

I ve had business here for 10 years and been involved in a many things. Done most things dirtbags do and Hi so's do if you wanna use that term. I also do not need to be explained for or wonder about what the standard things in Thai lives are about when I see them here or what kind of Thai people they are.

When I am doing my checking around and I am doing it organized and analytic. I took our car up here and checked into a hotel down town and from there I have been covering the Pattaya street by street. Also did the whole area at evening time to see the area I liked or preferred at evening time. About villages and no doubt, they are in every part of Pattaya area together with the not so good villages. The higher up you come though towards any of the reservoirs and it seem to be very few cheaper Thai style villages. So discussing villages or where the better ones are located is irrelevant. Many good ones can be found in all areas.

Schools also seem to be ok here. And driving an extra 5 minutes to get to a good one is no problem.

So starting with NONKRABONG – CHAKNORK and I can say that this is not an area that meet my standards and where I would prefer to live. In PATTAYA THANI road or NONGKRABONG road and there is little to find of restaurants and good minimarts etc. In the street where I am going to stay there must be wide selection ofrestaurants, some food stalls, 7 eleven or similar and also closer to a market would be nice.

I like to pop out on the motorbike to a bakery or pick up food all the time and not having to drive 5 minutes. It is also nice if one can walk right outside of the village to the nearest restaurants without thinking about being hit by cars all the time because of too much traffic or the roads too narrow or without a sidewalk. The streets mentioned didn't seem to meet any of my standards.

The roadwork quality up there is enough to get turned off of the area. I never thought roads that close to central Pattaya could be that bad. To have said that and I noticed many other areas that roads are far from good. Its quite many roads in sheit condition here.

The further up I came towards the reservoir and the area is scenic and beautiful no doubt. I think one can say that 10-15 minutes going off of Sukhumwith in that direction and you are in countryside or farmer land to say. Very nice that is. But it is totally lacking the infrastructure there.

KHAOTALO covering KHAOTALO road and WAT BUNYASAMPHAN road and this is the area I found to most meet my standards. The roads are of better standards and they had everything Pattaya Thani and Nongkrabong didn't have. Especially the upper area seemed nice. Nice living uphill it also is. It gets very crowded at the bottom of these two streets but a good thing that is if popping out on motosai to pick some food if tired of the ones higher up as there is plenty to choose from. Also saw some waterholes,massages and many foreigners. Living in an area with foreigners is a must. Not only inside of one village but I would like them to be around in the nearby area as well.

The backside or over the hill area if I can call it that are covering NONPRUE with NATHO NONGKRABORG and its just a long road with many nice villages but with nothing out on the main road of any interest.

The COUNTRYCLUB road and the NERNPLABWAN road and I found the lower area to be too busy and with heavy traffic and also not so nice looking. The Thais definitely is in need of some design lecture and also how to keep it clean around their own walls.

The higher up you come in these roads and it gets very much nicer. But the nicer it gets and the less it gets of restaurants and the other things mentioned. Also it seemed to be very much dust on both sides of the roads that was flying around like a sand storm everywhere. In the lower area of these two roads and I would definitely not like to stay. I am still today amazed why the Thais dont want to make sidewalks for pedestrians and bicycles. The Country road would have been perfect for this as it wide and long.

In general the area between SUKHUMWITH and the RAILWAY road and it didn't look as the best place to stay or where I would have picked.

Yesterday I also had the chance of seeing streets being flooded. At both Khaotalo and Wat Bunyasamphun road a lot of water was coming down the streets and the water just flooding up from the whole drainage system. Gravel stones and garbage was all over. In Sukhumwith road between the two roads and it was 30 centimetres of deep water for some hundred metres. Nern Plabwan road was the same but the lower parts really in trouble in some smaller sois where I saw pumps running and pumping out water through large water hoses. I guess its in need of some clean up today and will go up there and see how they ve dealt with garbage and gravel after this.

I also think its just way too many old guys and old dirtbags living here. I expected to see a lot more people being in their 30-40`s. This was also my friends first opinion about Pattaya when he came here. He is also an experienced Thaifarer in mid 30`s.

What I do like about Pattaya is the much more city feeling you have versus Phuket city. Everything is available here in big scale.The roads are also easy to navigate around in. How close it is to Bangkok is also important and really conveniant for a seaside area. Hua Hin and the sheit way of road to get in and out of Bangkok and it doenst work for me. Coming in on Phetkasem road and then going over to Param 2 to get into downtown Bangkok and it sucks bigtime if not coming in there on the exact right hours of the day. That stretch of 50 kilometer can can be 3 hours alone. Hua Hin is also totally boring so not a choice for me. Nice for an escape to get to a great beach in a boutiqe hotel though.

Living in Pattaya and I think you don't need to go to Hua Hin as you could go to Koh Larn or Koh Samet very easy or to Koh Chang a bit further down south.

I`ll come up with a final report later.

!

Edited October 21, 2010 by Rimmer

[Spoonman]

Yesterday I also had the chance of seeing streets being flooded. At both Khaotalo and Wat Bunyasamphun road a lot of water was coming down the streets and the water just flooding up from the whole drainage system.

I live in/on Watboonsampan (Soi Khao Noi) up the hill not far from the temple, in a 3 bed house in pleasant little "Secure village" that gets a nice breeze coming through in the afternoons.

Dont let the flooding deter you, it does not happen all year round.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Spoonman

[Thunderbird4ever]

Not to concerned about that , just more of being lucky to have experianced it so I know where and what to expect.

[Thunderbird4ever]

Yesterday went up in the hill area between Pattya and Jomtien beach, the cosy beach and down on the stretch where people are fishing facing Pattaya beach and that ends up at the end of walking street.

Woow.. This was a really nice area and the whole area especially from the convention centre and towards Jomtien had a very very mediteranien feel over it. I know its a tourist area with hotels but it really had some style and feel.

Also when driving all the back streets of Jomtien and saw how little of the land that was developed and one thing came to my mind;

If the Thai government really went for it with the goal of making the most modern city and the best city for tourists and expats in Thailand and this would be the place to do it. Brought in the best city developers from around the world and developed the whole area together with all the landowners to meet the highest standard in terms of everything. It wouldnt be many other places that could compete with a place like that; Pattaya over the hill and Bangkok an hour and a half away.

Sadly Thailand doesnt work like that so yeah we all know such a thing would just be dreaming.

Edited October 22, 2010 by Thunderbird4ever

[BB1950]

Pattaya and the areas very close to there do not provide "normal family lives".

Sri Racha and Bang Saen on the other hand do provide that opportunity.

Hogwash! There are many places in Pattaya and surrounding area suitable for rasing a family. Probably more than Sri Racha and Bang Sean.

Glad to see you get out and are well informed about you are taking about.

Edited October 22, 2010 by BB1950

[stat]

Enjoy very much reading this thread as I will be relocating end of this year to Patts. I am however concerned with Dengue Fever and some of you have mentioned lakes and reservoirs and my idea is to be as far away as possible from sweet water areas. Are these lakes salt water based? Bit difficult to judge by just looking at Google maps.

Looking for a quit area where I can ride my MTB and Race bike for 3-5 hours with as little traffic as possible. Seaview and a big pool is a must as it also lowers the risk of dengue fever due to wind. I am a kind of laid back person and do not need to see the city lights but like to do my shopping without driving more than 30 minutes.

Thanks for any advice!

[craigt3365]

thunderbird4ever: You should try some of the villages out our way. A good one is Silk Road. Nice development. Our village is not full of Thai's. We have several farang couples, one with a 6 year old boy (I think they are German). A majority are farang-Thai, many with kids. Silk Road and our development are just far enough away from Pattaya to be out of the hustle and bustle, but only 10-15 minutes by car...and near the sea. So we get some pretty good air.

Another one is Baan Balina 2. Or Baan Balina.

Are you looking for a house or apartment? Rent or buy?

If you have the time, take a drive down here. Stop in at The View, just before the Ambassador Hotel. Have lunch there. Right on the beach and pretty decent food.

[Thunderbird4ever]

I went up CHAIYAPRUK yesterday and I found the area to be quite nice. Lower end of the Street had everything you would need. I didnt see any foreigners down around the restaurants though. I didn't bother going in and ask At Silk Road as it looked very expensive. How much are a house in there?

Also what is that big building a little further up on the opposite side of the road and a couple of hundred metres in?

[LennyW]

I went up CHAIYAPRUK yesterday and I found the area to be quite nice. Lower end of the Street had everything you would need. I didnt see any foreigners down around the restaurants though. I didn't bother going in and ask At Silk Road as it looked very expensive. How much are a house in there?

Also what is that big building a little further up on the opposite side of the road and a couple of hundred metres in?

That would be the Pattaya Indoor Sports Stadium.

[craigt3365]

I went up CHAIYAPRUK yesterday and I found the area to be quite nice. Lower end of the Street had everything you would need. I didnt see any foreigners down around the restaurants though. I didn't bother going in and ask At Silk Road as it looked very expensive. How much are a house in there?

Also what is that big building a little further up on the opposite side of the road and a couple of hundred metres in?

I believe Silk Road is around 12MM and higher. But a nice community. Baan Balina 2 starts around 6MM or so...and I have heard there is a BB 3 coming shortly.

[ace]

How do you travel and where to ? ie. will you be driving / bus-ing to Bangkok / airport on a regular basis?

The obvious place would be up into east pattya / mabprachan somewhere like that, but i don't know what they're like to drive from.

pattya, naklua, jomien you are unlikely to get sufficient space

I would prob go with Mabprachan (no sure on spelling)

[LennyW]

I went up CHAIYAPRUK yesterday and I found the area to be quite nice. Lower end of the Street had everything you would need. I didnt see any foreigners down around the restaurants though. I didn't bother going in and ask At Silk Road as it looked very expensive. How much are a house in there?

Also what is that big building a little further up on the opposite side of the road and a couple of hundred metres in?

I believe Silk Road is around 12MM and higher. But a nice community. Baan Balina 2 starts around 6MM or so...and I have heard there is a BB 3 coming shortly.

I see signs up today - new model of house in Silk Road - from 3.8M.

[craigt3365]

I went up CHAIYAPRUK yesterday and I found the area to be quite nice. Lower end of the Street had everything you would need. I didnt see any foreigners down around the restaurants though. I didn't bother going in and ask At Silk Road as it looked very expensive. How much are a house in there?

Also what is that big building a little further up on the opposite side of the road and a couple of hundred metres in?

I believe Silk Road is around 12MM and higher. But a nice community. Baan Balina 2 starts around 6MM or so...and I have heard there is a BB 3 coming shortly.

I see signs up today - new model of house in Silk Road - from 3.8M.

Must be a different place or some very wrong information. Here is the link for the development:

http://www.silkroadpattaya.com/en/

And here is a link for a place selling one now. Asking Price is 12.1MM.

http://seaboard-properties.com/?page=property&id=1859

I was there a few weeks ago just looking. I got the prices and saw what places were up for sale. The prices on their sales sheet start around 12MM and go up from there. Quite a nice development. Lots of security. One of the better developments I have seen.

[LennyW]

I went up CHAIYAPRUK yesterday and I found the area to be quite nice. Lower end of the Street had everything you would need. I didnt see any foreigners down around the restaurants though. I didn't bother going in and ask At Silk Road as it looked very expensive. How much are a house in there?

Also what is that big building a little further up on the opposite side of the road and a couple of hundred metres in?

I believe Silk Road is around 12MM and higher. But a nice community. Baan Balina 2 starts around 6MM or so...and I have heard there is a BB 3 coming shortly.

I see signs up today - new model of house in Silk Road - from 3.8M.

Must be a different place or some very wrong information. Here is the link for the development:

http://www.silkroadpattaya.com/en/

And here is a link for a place selling one now. Asking Price is 12.1MM.

http://seaboard-prop...roperty&id=1859

I was there a few weeks ago just looking. I got the prices and saw what places were up for sale. The prices on their sales sheet start around 12MM and go up from there. Quite a nice development. Lots of security. One of the better developments I have seen.

The signs just went up at their entrance this morning, or maybe late yesterday, and thats what they say - from 3.8M, It is Silk Road, i pass it 2 or 3 times a day and these signs were definitely not there yesterday morning. Prior to this i believe the starting prices were around 5.2M, certainly not starting at 12M, unless you were maybe looking at re-sales?

Click on the Silk Road link you have provided and read what it says in the top right corner!!

Edited October 23, 2010 by LennyW

[blackadder]

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />I went up CHAIYAPRUK yesterday and I found the area to be quite nice. Lower end of the Street had everything you would need. I didnt see any foreigners down around the restaurants though. I didn't bother going in and ask At Silk Road as it looked very expensive. How much are a house in there?<br /><br />Also what is that big building a little further up on the opposite side of the road and  a couple of hundred metres  in?<br />

<br /><br />I believe Silk Road is around 12MM and higher.  But a nice community.  Baan Balina 2 starts around 6MM or so...and I have heard there is a  BB 3 coming shortly.<br />

<br /><br />I see signs up today - new model of house in Silk Road - from 3.8M.<br />

<br /><br />Must be a different place or some very wrong information.  Here is the link for the development:<br /><a href='http://www.silkroadpattaya.com/en/' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://www.silkroadpattaya.com/en/</a><br /><br /><br />And here is a link for a place selling one now.  Asking Price is 12.1MM.<br /><a href='http://seaboard-properties.com/?page=property&id=1859' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>http://seaboard-prop...roperty&id=1859</a><br /><br />I was there a few weeks ago just looking.  I got the prices and saw what places were up for sale.  The prices on their sales sheet start around 12MM and go up from there.  Quite a nice development.  Lots of security.  One of the better developments I have seen.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

And here is the prislist from the developer: http://www.silkroadpattaya.com/en/index.php/update-price-list

[LennyW]

And here is the prislist from the developer: http://www.silkroadp...date-price-list

WOW - that is nearly 100,000 Baht /year in "fees" if you have the Ivory model on 120Square Wah!!!

[craigt3365]

I believe Silk Road is around 12MM and higher. But a nice community. Baan Balina 2 starts around 6MM or so...and I have heard there is a BB 3 coming shortly.

I see signs up today - new model of house in Silk Road - from 3.8M.

Must be a different place or some very wrong information. Here is the link for the development:

http://www.silkroadpattaya.com/en/

And here is a link for a place selling one now. Asking Price is 12.1MM.

http://seaboard-prop...roperty&id=1859

I was there a few weeks ago just looking. I got the prices and saw what places were up for sale. The prices on their sales sheet start around 12MM and go up from there. Quite a nice development. Lots of security. One of the better developments I have seen.

The signs just went up at their entrance this morning, or maybe late yesterday, and thats what they say - from 3.8M, It is Silk Road, i pass it 2 or 3 times a day and these signs were definitely not there yesterday morning. Prior to this i believe the starting prices were around 5.2M, certainly not starting at 12M, unless you were maybe looking at re-sales?

Click on the Silk Road link you have provided and read what it says in the top right corner!!

These are the prices for phase 2. The homes are about 1/2 the size of the first phase. But a huge difference for sure!!!

Edited October 23, 2010 by craigt3365