How Pattaya Has Changed

[CMTourist]

Didn't really notice many changes from the early 90s to up until about 3 years ago. Yes it got bigger and there was more of everything, but it was basically the same.

I used to enjoy spending a few days at a time in Pattaya. Lots of good, reasonably priced western food and the girls were fun to have around when you went out for a drink, as if they were on vacation as well.

I noticed the vibe really changed after the Financial crisis. It seemed to become much more hard edged and mercenary and felt a lot more dangerous. I put it down to all the yaba addicts paired with a decline in income from incoming tourists. A bad combination. Haven't been for about 3 years because it just doesn't feel safe or happy any more.

And I remember in the mid 90s sitting having a meal at what I think was called Funky Chicken on Soi Post Office when a Western middle aged coupled walked by followed a few paces back by the most miserable and frustrated looking 16 or 17 year old boy I'd ever seen. So there were families coming back then. I just remember this one in particular as I felt so sorry for him. Teenage hormones raging, beautiful women calling out to him, and his parents dragging him along with them.

[TexasRanger]

And I remember in the mid 90s sitting having a meal at what I think was called Funky Chicken on Soi Post Office when a Western middle aged coupled walked by followed a few paces back by the most miserable and frustrated looking 16 or 17 year old boy I'd ever seen. So there were families coming back then. I just remember this one in particular as I felt so sorry for him. Teenage hormones raging, beautiful women calling out to him, and his parents dragging him along with them.

I can't imagine anything worse, poor bugger. Well, maybe trolling round with your western wife waiting for a lightning strike.

[BugJackBaron]

And I remember in the mid 90s sitting having a meal at what I think was called Funky Chicken on Soi Post Office when a Western middle aged coupled walked by followed a few paces back by the most miserable and frustrated looking 16 or 17 year old boy I'd ever seen. So there were families coming back then. I just remember this one in particular as I felt so sorry for him. Teenage hormones raging, beautiful women calling out to him, and his parents dragging him along with them.

I can't imagine anything worse, poor bugger. Well, maybe trolling round with your western wife waiting for a lightning strike.

I'm sure there were some familes - even in Beruit during the war I imagine they got the occasional atypical tourist.

The question is were there any condominiums back then. I'm pretty sure that was a rarity(any at all?) and probably none in Jomtien.

As for the russians...mostly "businessmen". I believe the 90s was the time of the "German wave".

Edited March 21, 2012 by BugJackBaron

[thenervoussurgeon]

CM tourist ,god that just brought back memories ,back in about 1992 this lad was over with his parents and fell madly in love with a girl from soi7 i remember him leaving to go home and she was in tears ,so was he ,she even went to the airport with them ,next night she told me that she was in love with him ,just before we went off to my room.,over the next few days she had a few different guys and he would ring her every night at the bar ,when she would swear to love him always and never go with another man till he came back .i wonder where she is now?

[NormanW]

CM tourist ,god that just brought back memories ,back in about 1992 this lad was over with his parents and fell madly in love with a girl from soi7 i remember him leaving to go home and she was in tears ,so was he ,she even went to the airport with them ,next night she told me that she was in love with him ,just before we went off to my room.,over the next few days she had a few different guys and he would ring her every night at the bar ,when she would swear to love him always and never go with another man till he came back .i wonder where she is now?

Probably moved on/down to Soi 6.

[TexasRanger]

CM tourist ,god that just brought back memories ,back in about 1992 this lad was over with his parents and fell madly in love with a girl from soi7 i remember him leaving to go home and she was in tears ,so was he ,she even went to the airport with them ,next night she told me that she was in love with him ,just before we went off to my room.,over the next few days she had a few different guys and he would ring her every night at the bar ,when she would swear to love him always and never go with another man till he came back .i wonder where she is now?

Best case married to a foreigner and running her own bar, worst case one of those horribe rough looking old birds that hang around the beach Edited March 22, 2012 by Rimmer

[thenervoussurgeon]

I may have mentioned earlier that the first girl that i had a fling with here for some time is now married to a brit and has children ,she is still very attractive and the hight of respectabilaty,you would never dream that as a young woman she worked in a bar.

[marinediscoking]

The first time i saw the ruski's was in about 95 and there were a lot of them coming until 97, when their economy crashed then I did not see any again until about 2001.

I kind of miss the big colorful jeeps that used to rented on beach road. I don't miss almost being landed on by a para-sailer's when walking on the beach, they would come out of nowhere like falling coconuts.

[chops]

I'm missing the good old days before 2008 when their weren't many 'rooskies' plaguing Pattaya. You?

[NormanW]

I'm missing the good old days before 2008 when their weren't many 'rooskies' plaguing Pattaya. You?

1 Ruble = 1 Baht.

[JSixpack]

I'm missing the good old days before 2008 when their weren't many 'rooskies' plaguing Pattaya. You?

No, too many Brits plaguing Pattaya then.

Love those Russian women, too. Mmmmm!

[thenervoussurgeon]

I'm missing the good old days before 2008 when their weren't many 'rooskies' plaguing Pattaya. You?

No, too many Brits plaguing Pattaya then.

Love those Russian women, too. Mmmmm!

And their legs!! they go on for ever,but like Italian women ,as they get older what a differance.

[NormanW]

I'm missing the good old days before 2008 when their weren't many 'rooskies' plaguing Pattaya. You?

No, too many Brits plaguing Pattaya then.

Love those Russian women, too. Mmmmm!

And their legs!! they go on for ever,but like Italian women ,as they get older what a differance.

hahahaha like the majority of women but hey, we aren't getting any younger right?? hehehe.

[thenervoussurgeon]

I may be getting older ,but i am reliably informed that i still have the body of a God ,unfortunatly its Bhudda.

[how241]

They keep building here. Reminds me of Las Vegas 7 years ago with the constant building.

[ARGUSEYE]

I may be getting older ,but i am reliably informed that i still have the body of a God ,unfortunatly its Bhudda.

There is nothing wrong with the figure of the Thai Buddha. But if you mean the Chinese one.... beware of diabetis and heart disease!

[JSixpack]

I'm missing the good old days before 2008 when their weren't many 'rooskies' plaguing Pattaya. You?

No, too many Brits plaguing Pattaya then.

Love those Russian women, too. Mmmmm!

And their legs!! they go on for ever,but like Italian women ,as they get older what a differance.

By that time they may have a beautiful daughter in tow.

[Naam]

I'm missing the good old days before 2008 when their weren't many 'rooskies' plaguing Pattaya. You?

i miss the good old days when there were less people with your kind of attitude in Pattaya

[Naiplan]

There are only a few of us left from the early 60's days when Pattaya was nothing. The bus from Sattahip to Bkk stopped for fried rice twice on the way there and no coke only RC cola, Bierleys fizzy orange, green spot and Thai Danish milk. !961 was a long time ago and some things have changed for sure - not all for the better.

[Briggsy]

I think I have changed.

16 years ago, the place excited me, now it kind of bores me.

[thenervoussurgeon]

Yes i must admit that things have changed ,but then so have we ,when i first came here it was exciting ,but then i went to BKK got married and 18 years later i dont even notice the girls and the bars so much also it takes so much more to get me excited,been there done that and got the t shirt. Edited March 28, 2012 by thenervoussurgeon

[overherebc]

Yep,

Even in Pattaya nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

[TexasRanger]

Yes i must admit that things have changed ,but then so have we ,when i first came here it was exciting ,but then i went to BKK got married and 18 years later i dont even notice the girls and the bars so much also it takes so much more to get me excited,been there done that and got the t shirt.

That's what you tell the Mrs

[yogi100]

I first went to Pattaya in 1984, it stretched from Royal Garden Plaza to about half way down Walking Street. The RGP was the Royal Garden Resort in those days. Second Rd was a dirt road, and all the bars were along the sea front. A Singha was 30bt and Kloster was 40bt, there were no other beers on sale. We got 32 baht to the £ so it was expensive back then. It was also the first time I got in an air con car and I remember water dripping on my feet from the unit.

The road to Bangkok was 2 lanes wide and you hardly saw an undented vehicle and very few had rear lights, it was astonishing to see so many old and battered unroadworthy cars, lorries and motorcycles in use. Bangkok was a mass of corregated iron sheds and I do not remember any skyscrapers. It took a bit of believing that the iron and wooden sheds were the peoples' homes, We only found out when my pal's girl took us to her home and I remember how shocked and embarassed we were on discovering that people lived in such filth and poverty.

The main road into Pattaya from Bangkok was Beach Rd and the side roads (sois) were empty of bars and restaurants. There was not much to Pattaya North of where the Royal Garden Plaza now stands. Walking St was open to traffic and was known as The Strip.

Most of the Western tourists seem to be men who worked in the Far and Middle East in the oil and hotel trades. There was a lot more German influence in the town then and most of the fellows we met were German, Swiss and Austrian. One weekend the American Fleet pulled in and the girls went crazy putting their make up on to look their best. The Yankee sailors did not seem to have the restraints imposed upon them that they have nowadays apart from the 'Shore Patrol' and when the Cobra Gold boys come to town. Perhaps some older Americans could comment on this. There were no such things as what we now refer to as the 'Benidorm Fusiliers' and all the tourists behaved in a civilised manner. I do not remember seeing any policemen and only two ladyboys.

The bars were just like they are now except every bar had a VCR showing the latest Hollywood movie. The barfines were 100 bt and the girls wanted between 300 and 500bt and they all stayed with you till the next day if you wished them to do so. My pal and I had a double room in the Royal Garden Resort and they charged us 300 baht to bring a girl back! Should you wish a girl to give you a BJ she would often inform you that Buddha would not approve.

I spent the last 4 days with the most beautiful girl I'd ever met in my life, her name was Mai Lee but when I left I never kept in touch as traveling to the LOS was expensive then and it was not worth going for 2 weeks which was what most of us got in the way of a holiday. We never heard of any crime whatsoever and everyone was courteous and polite and we had tears in our eyes in the minibus back to Bangkok airport.

I did not go back until 1999 and I had become one of the middle aged/elderly male tourists chasing after younger women who we used to regard with disdain back in 1984. I still go there now but for much longer holidays and in spite of all the negative aspects associated with the place there is still nothing to touch it anywhere in the world. Many of my friends now live there and some are happily married but there are also a lot in their 50s and 60s who will never learn.

Two old sayings are very apt where Pattaya is concerned "A fool and his money are soon parted" and " There's no fool like an old fool".

[petercool]

I am uncertain of just where you looked when you say that Bangkok housing was just wooden or iron shed with no skyscrapers in 1984.

I worked there from 1965in high rise office blocks and lived in a residential area of very normal housing, comparable to today's.

Edited April 3, 2012 by petercool

[yogi100]

I am uncertain of just where you looked when you say that Bangkok housing was just wooden or iron shed with no skyscrapers in 1984.

I worked there from 1965in high rise office blocks and lived in a residential area of very normal housing, comparable to today's.

Do you remember where you looked 30 years ago? I said I do not REMEMER skyscrapers but what struck me about Bangkok was the amount of slum dwellings. Got anything else you want to nit pick about?

[petercool]

Hardly nit-picking. You made comment on an open forum that I replied to on said forum. At least I was polite.

[yogi100]

Hardly nit-picking. You made comment on an open forum that I replied to on said forum. At least I was polite.

I did not make a comment, you did that. I related my memories from my first visit to Pattaya. Picking holes in peoples' threads can hardly be described as being polite. Saying one does not remember something is not saying it did not exist, I did not deny their existence I merely said I do not remember them.

[Rimmer]

Thank you for your very nice stroll down memory lane yogi100, I seem to remember the exchange rate in 1980 being around 55 to the pound would I be wrong on that? Or did it crash later when you referred to 32 to the pound in 1984?

[petercool]

yogi100. I was offering a very different perspective to yours. Simply that.

No intention was there to pick holes in your post and apologies if that was what it seemed like.