Do You Hang Around Or Even Live In Tourist Areas?

[cdnvic]

Neeranam, with an average of 6.1 posts per day, I guess you don't really have a lot to do in your Utopian Nirvana. Some of us scum bags and our whores have work to do and after that we have a place to enjoy our hard earnt cash. Sorry if thats not your cup of tea but I guess you'll be busy tapping away on your keyboard while the rest of us are having a jolly old time.

Alright lets calm nown a notch ok?

cv

[Mighty Mouse]

Buy a house out in the back blocks away from any neighbours and/or friends, build a brick wall around the house so that nobody looks in and you can't see out and sit in there every day. Happy???

Live in or near a tourist area and enjoy what is on offer. Lots of businesses, restaurants, bars and yes, girls. I feel sorry for you stuck up guys who don't enjoy looking at or talking to a beautiful female just because of her occupation.

Then there is the excitement of the night life, meeting new friends/acquaintances or just sitting in a bar and watching people being people.

I could never get sick of that. Variety is the spice of life. Having fun keeps you young and alive.

If I lived in Pattaya, I would venture into the night life areas fairly often, watch a movie, have a few drinks with friends, but I think the secret of staying healthy and preserving your money is not to try and live your life as a tourist.

[RamdomChances]

Well I live out in the sticks but can certianly see the appeal of living in a "touristy" area, although I prefer just to visit occasionaly. You have the hustle and busel of Pattaya with its wide range of bars, shops resteraunts and facilities and loads of other falangs (which is either a blessing or a curse depending on your view point ) or the beautiful beaches down south or even busy cities like BKK or Chiang Mai. The thing is you can get everything in the "tourist" areas if you want to, many people would just feel isolated "up-country".

When you think of Pattaya and the girls there, there must be loads of girls just working normal jobs (waitress, maid, office, shop ect) for every one that works a bar same with Phuket ect. I must admit that if I lived in BKK I probably would'nt hang out in Nana or Cowboy ect but they are ok for a fun night out if theres a group of you or if you have some visitors in town.

I chose to live where I am and it suites me, but its not for every one...each to their own and all that.

I still get treated like a tourist when I'm in Pattaya/Phuket because thats what I am when I go there a tourist even though I speak pretty good Thai. I lived in Phuket for a while and was probably treated less like a tourist even though my thai then was'nt so good but people just get to know you.

I must admit that without the farm, I think life here would get pretty boring, idealy the house here, a town house in BKK and an apartment in Phuket would be nice......one day mabye

RC

Edited February 8, 2006 by RamdomChances

[johnh101]

Buy a house out in the back blocks away from any neighbours and/or friends, build a brick wall around the house so that nobody looks in and you can't see out and sit in there every day. Happy???

Live in or near a tourist area and enjoy what is on offer. Lots of businesses, restaurants, bars and yes, girls. I feel sorry for you stuck up guys who don't enjoy looking at or talking to a beautiful female just because of her occupation.

Then there is the excitement of the night life, meeting new friends/acquaintances or just sitting in a bar and watching people being people.

I could never get sick of that. Variety is the spice of life. Having fun keeps you young and alive.

If I lived in Pattaya, I would venture into the night life areas fairly often, watch a movie, have a few drinks with friends, but I think the secret of staying healthy and preserving your money is not to try and live your life as a tourist.

Here Here !

I live here, work here and am married to a Thai.

Pattaya is our choice as it is not to far from my 6 day a week job, and in my little time off I can walk out my front door and have a multitude of bars and restaurants within a short walk.

The suggestions that me and my ilk are sad whoremongers is so far off the mark it is blatantly untrue and I would really start to question the mindset of those individuals who constantly rant and rave like this.

Get yourselves a life and stop crticising everyone elses.

[chanchao]

Patex: [Only morons or sad sickos go there] : Don't be silly. And hookers are people too.

SteveRomagnino: [Pointless conversation in bars] : Learn some Thai, discuss the Ramakien, then report back to us.

HarryHerb [Many tourist areas are NOT red light areas ] : It's not the red light that's the problem, it's the touristyness that's the problem. Reasons I don't want to live there is that I don't like to be seen as / treated as a clueless tourist all the time. Note that's not the Thais fault, a lot of tourists (and foreign residents) actually do behave VERY clueless or sometimes outright obnoxious. Don't realy want that to reflect on me. (And as you probably know, plenty of hookers in non-tourist areas. (Most of them, in fact.))

Davethailand: [Guess your talkin' to me??!] : Agree completely.

Neenaram: [Doesn't the wife mind? Why tourist areas?] : Because girls in tourist areas are far less threatening, as they're mostly as ugly as a moose. I think if I went to a singalong restaurant with the Thai uncles then I'd have a problem. (Come to think of it, I do actually go there but I don't dwell on it.

Neenaram: [Derogatory to whom?] : To individuals employed in the entertainment industry, and casual readers not expecting course language on a mature discussion forum.

Bkkmadness: [isn't this a bargirl discussion?] : No. It's about where people chose to live / hang out.

Meom: [Thais don't really get the distinction between tourists and long term visitor/residents.] : They will once they see how much they got paid.

johnh101: [Get a life, you sex/hooker obsessed keyboard dwellers!] : Hear hear.

Cheers,

Chanchao

[bachismo]

No this will be a vastly unpopular idea on this forum, but the Ko San road area is the best part of the city to go out. Pra Atit has some of the best resturants in Bangkok. Ko San is full of life. Never quite understood the antagonistic attitude toward backpackers. I think it's some weird territorial thing that expats have. Anyway Ko San is probably more Thai than farang anyway

[cdnvic]

Kaosan isn't bad for an occasional foray. Just that some never seem to venture far from it. It's not an expat place its a backpacker place and the two have different outlooks and goals in Thailand. There's no reason for animosity really.

cv

[sbk]

Well, I live on a touristy island, that doesn't make the entire island touristy, just the beachy bits. Does that make me a drunk (since I don't drink that would be difficult) or a loser that frequents girlie bars (since I am a female, that one might be a bit difficult too).

Anyway, I live here because this is where my husband is from. Our livelihood is here. His entire family is here (all 41 first cousins, countless second cousins etc etc) and this is his home. Are you suggesting I should pack up and leave because its touristy? Good luck shifting the husband from his beachside home with instant access to all day fishing

Regardless of where people live, if they make it their home, who are we to judge?

[TheAceFace]

Neeranam, with an average of 6.1 posts per day, I guess you don't really have a lot to do in your Utopian Nirvana. Some of us scum bags and our whores have work to do and after that we have a place to enjoy our hard earnt cash. Sorry if thats not your cup of tea but I guess you'll be busy tapping away on your keyboard while the rest of us are having a jolly old time.

Spot on pal

Neeranam...get a life and enjoy it.

[Noel]

People who like to hang around with whores

I think we can do without these kinds of derogatory comments.

cv

Ooooops I did it again

Couldn't resist, sorry. It's just fun, some of the members are like radios: you press the button and the music plays... try to improve

Patex

Aaah, so you post to intentionally provoke people?

Hmm, sounds like you need to get out more.

I can appreciate that 35km or whatever may be a bit of a trek for you, but you really should visit Pattaya more often.

After all, how can you slag the place and the people off with such authority if you do not keep up to date?

[Patex]

[jbowman1993]

[RamdomChances]

I think I get where Neeranam is coming from, ie that if you want to pick up "whores, bar girls, prostitutes, hookers" ect (whatever you want to call them really I really dont care) that if you know your way around Thailand a bit there are better places to go. Actually I think the originol question was a bit wider than that, but you know how these things end up

As an aside, Nerranam, you say you dont like being treated like a tourist in these areas, what are you actually doing there then, whenever I visit the "tourist" places its usually as a tourist as I dont live there, someone like Davethailand probably does'nt get treated so much like a tourisy as he's fairly well know'n out and about and has a buissenes and lives there.

Oh was that a thai packed of cigarettes or a falang one

and timing your posts will not make anyone think that you actually have a life

[PeaceBlondie]

Pattaya, Pattaya, Pattaya, and maybe even Khao Sahn Road - do the rest of the posters here think those are the only tourist places in Thailand? Most tourists go to crummy, nasty, sleazy BANGKOK. Chiang Mai is a major tourist destination. I live in Hua Hin, a big tourist area. Then there are Phuket, Koh Samui, etc.

And I'm not a drunk, and I don't chase women.

I nicely suggest that we make a distinction between guys who intentionally prefer and enjoy hanging out in bars and girly houses, and those who don't.

Edited February 8, 2006 by PeaceBlondie

[chanchao]

Neenaram, no problem calling a spade a spade, especially as search engines won't punish a site's ranking when they find the word 'spade' 50 times on a page.

Sadly, this is not the case for that other word. And even aside from the search engine issue, it looks a lot more respectful if you'd stick to words you'd also use when talking to those people face to face.

Cheers,

Chanchao

> I nicely suggest that we make a distinction between

> guys who intentionally prefer and enjoy hanging out in

> bars and girly houses, and those who don't.

The thing is though that I DO like visiting a tourist bar occasionally, even the ones with a relatively long payroll of female bar staff.

However I avoid other tourist areas like the plague. I seriously dislike the Night Bazar, and in over 10 year in Thailand I have no urge whatsoever to go visit the Damnoen Saduak floating market, or the beach resorts of Ko Samui.

Khao San though I used to really dislike, but indeed there's loads of cool little places to go out these days. (Also Phra Athit and the sois around)

Cheers,

Chanchao

[Neeranam]

Chanchao, fair enough, I undersatnd. I won't use that word again.

But I took 6 minutes 45 seconds to type that removed response!

Chippie -

QUOTE(chippie @ 2006-02-08 00:24:08)

Neeranam, with an average of 6.1 posts per day, I guess you don't really have a lot to do in your Utopian Nirvana. Some of us scum bags and our whores have work to do and after that we have a place to enjoy our hard earnt cash. Sorry if thats not your cup of tea but I guess you'll be busy tapping away on your keyboard while the rest of us are having a jolly old time.

I never called anyone anything, I don't know what you're going on about! Utopian Nirvana?

I never called anyone a scumbag or a "w***e".

The point is not whether someone uses "w***es" or not. It is why use them in the tourist areas?

I love a good night out in bars in mostly Northern bangkok when there with friends and if I were single, I would use "w****s - I did for many years before marriage.

[chanchao]

> The point is not whether someone uses "w***es" or not. It is why use

> them in the tourist areas?

Ok this is getting very esoteric.. I think I prefer to call a spade a spade no matter if the spade is in a tourist area or not. Nah, seriously, the original question was if people like to hang out or live in tourist areas or not, and why. As you point out yourself, bargirls/sex workers really shouldn't be an issue in this either way, because they're abundant everywhere, not just tourist areas.

But anyway, why associate with them in tourist areas: Because there's much less chance of running into Thai collegues or relatives or friends of the missus there? ("Oh.. Hi dad.. (in law)" ) Because tourist bars are more of a comfort zone where you can be yourself without having to entertain all the Thai uncles eyeing the interesting white diversion that you represent, and be forced to discuss Manchester United even though you're from Boston and wouldn't know who "Rooney" was even if your life depended on it? Because you can drink liquor by the glass instead of having to order by the barrel? Because you prefer Achy Breaky Hart over the latest Grammy-droid? Because you (someone) don't speak Thai that well? Because discos in tourist areas actually have a dance floor instead of having to wiggle about in between 6000 tables and chairs in arctic temperatures and complete darkness? Because you're more likely to meet other foreigners who you can complain about Thailand to? Because you'd much rather just pay bar rather than fart around with flower garlands with 100 baht notes stapled to them? Because you LIKE the type & attitude of the girls, who by and large don't bother to try to act like subservient angle faced fairies who magically turn starfish upon contact with a bed sheet?

Just guessing.

> I love a good night out in bars in mostly Northern bangkok

> when there with friends

Cool.. Whereabouts are those bars? You mean like Suthisan / Saphan Khwai or even more North?

Cheers,

Chanchao

[JimsKnight]

When I was here first I used to hang around Pat Pong and Nana for a couple of years or so, until I found better places to go, could speak the language, realised what the girls were after(money, in case anyone doesn't know), and really saw the people around there for what they are. Nearly all the guys I meet that have been shafted by Thai girls have picked them up in the holiday areas - Pattaya, Samui, Nana etc. I really don't understand why guys who have been here for years still hang out there with these girls who are after the gullible farang. SURELY they know why these girls go there to work and what they think of farang.

Bangkok/Thailand is a huge place and has so much more to offer.

Is it just me or do others get pissed off being treated like a tourist, especially in the tourist areas?

Before I settled down here I found Phuket Patong beach to have some value for money for the night scene and living in general. Sky High prices and attitudes have changed there though. Also as I got a bit older and I saw the numerous, countless falang get screwed over by the thais (mostly by BGs) that I distanced myself from the whole tourist scene to an extent!

Tourist areas (unless your filthy rich) will drain your resources and cash with the exception of falangs who work in them (even then it may still do so dependent on your income), so for very short bursts they aren't a wise place to settle.

I'm hanging and living in the outer district of Bangkok where its a whole different world! You can go for weeks without seeing another falang, its dirt cheap, traffics good (either side of rush hour), the bar scene is much more subtle and subdued its there but nobody makes a big deal and if you go you go and if not then you don't. The women aren't in-your face either. Best of all some of the locals haven't seen falang except on TV so when you go down Tescos etc you can become a novelty eye-piece for people.

I still visit the inner city of Bangkok for business but I'm glad to get out of there. Again the bar scene within it is good for its shock and awe value but it still wears thin within an hour or so!

Too many poor dumb falangs with fools love in them dragging (or being dragged) their rent by the day/week bar girl about! If you tell the bar whores you stay/live/work in Thailand their reactions can show the '######! I can't fleece this one easily!'

The tourist areas are a good thing on one level as they keep most of the falang contained to to certain areas that have become ghettos for falangs! They don't dare travel to the 'unknown territories' that aren't on the sky-train/sub-way/taxi circuit!

Edited February 9, 2006 by JimsKnight

[Neeranam]

Cool.. Whereabouts are those bars? You mean like Suthisan / Saphan Khwai or even more North?

Yeah that's where I mean, and also lots of places in Nontaburi, Ramkamhaeg, Bangkapi.

[jas007]

I think there are several reasons why farangs tend to gravitate to the tourist areas. First, those are probably the areas that they're most familiar with. Second, the local Thais will probably speak some English. Third, there are other farangs around.

So, when I first move to Thailand, I'll probably end up in a "tourist" area, for just those reasons. After a while, though, I may well find a place I like better.

J

[Gary A]

The farang ghettos where the tourists hang around are geared for tourists. It's pretty simple. English is spoken and it is like being in an adult Disneyland day after day. For you better than thou types it's different strokes for different folks. After you spend enough time in the Disneyland for adults you get burned out on it and look for a more normal lifestyle. I for one enjoyed being around the (whores is an UGLY word) working girls and for the most part they are decent people too. It is not a place for bible thumpers or other radical types but for divorced males especially it is a place to forget about the real world. After you become a true expat you do learn from the Thai people that tolerance IS a virtue.

[Ulysses G.]

I know a good number of expats who have been living in "tourist ghettos" for 20+ years because they enjoy the choice of food, the nightlife, easy access to English language libraries, NOT having to rely on dangerous transportation, video shops, etc., etc.

Some people want quiet and solitude. Some people want comfort and convienience. To each his own.

[Deca]

When I was here first I used to hang around Pat Pong and Nana for a couple of years or so, until I found better places to go, could speak the language, realised what the girls were after(money, in case anyone doesn't know), and really saw the people around there for what they are. Nearly all the guys I meet that have been shafted by Thai girls have picked them up in the holiday areas - Pattaya, Samui, Nana etc. I really don't understand why guys who have been here for years still hang out there with these girls who are after the gullible farang. SURELY they know why these girls go there to work and what they think of farang.

Bangkok/Thailand is a huge place and has so much more to offer.

Is it just me or do others get pissed off being treated like a tourist, especially in the tourist areas?

I agree with you completely. I don't care if people drink or go to girls. I only care if they misbehave in public making other farangs look bad. As a single guy who just came to live here, I go to Khaosan Rd also, just because I like meeting someone whom I can speak English with and there are nice little places in the Soi's where you can have a drink and meet nice people.. but for sure there will always be people who think Thailand is whoring and drinking-pussy-paradise. I found out that you can't change the world but the world changes you and if I don't like the scene anymore, I get out of it fast. What I hate is whenever I take a cab or Tuk Tuk they always try to screw you because your white, discussions about the fare or not putting the meter on, so I'm getting used already to wait and wait till some cabdriver stops who just puts his meter on without a discussion because you're white. On the other hand, living in Europe really sucks for me, bad economy, agressive people, lack of respect to the fellow men and the shit weather. There's no such thing as "paradise". Every place has it's pro's and con's, but I know for sure where I am going to be for the coming years.....

[steveromagnino]

SteveRomagnino: [Pointless conversation in bars] : Learn some Thai, discuss the Ramakien, then report back to us.

er, what?

OK, I seem to have Thai good enough for working here in a job that is somewhat reliant on the language and communicating my way around and I have read the Ramakien...hmmm... and the point of asking me to do this is???

[Tywais]

After you spend enough time in the Disneyland for adults you get burned out on it and look for a more normal lifestyle.

Good point. That's pretty much what happened to me. Started getting frustrated at the superficiality of it and slowly started moving further out until I'm now nearly at HangDong. Burned out on the bar girls, drinking, etc and just said 'enough'. However, when I go to Bangkok I do hang out in the 'tourist' areas just for convenience, mingling and FOOD. I don't avoid farangs, just few opportunities now since working most of the time. Occasionaly a farang will come visit our facility and I look forward to talking with them but it feels strange now since nearly all my interactions are with Thais.

[Kerryd]

I live in South Pattaya.

I like the convenience of the area I'm in, which is populated mostly with Thai working people (it seems like every second shop is either a tailor shop or a laundry). I can get around and do pretty much anything I want without having to have a vehicle

If I want to go to a touristy area (bars, restaurants), it's just a short walk away. I might head out there once a week for something different to do (like Dave's party on Saturday), otherwise I hang around with other people in my neighbourhood. Those people often refer to me as "khon Thai", and I remind them that I am very much a farang (which I then prove by trying to speak Thai)

If I go anywhere outside my neighbourhood, I'm not surprised to be treated like a tourist. I'm obviously not a native, and the vast majority of white folks here are tourists.

You do notice a slight change in attitude when the people you are talking to realise that you are living here, but it's not something I expect.

I may change locations one day, and move into the boonies around Mae Hong Son or somewhere in Isaan, or maybe further south around Trat, who knows. It's all a part of the fun of living in a foreign country.

[monochaser]

I'm an expat who nightly hangs around bars and "whores".

Am I an addicted personality or a mouthbreathing nobrainer but an also really intelligent but desperate/depressed soul, sex and drugs/alcohol is my sole remedy?

A bit of a daft generalisation IMO Patex.

Your wife doesn't mind?

Nothing wrong with hanging around bars and "whores" - but why in tourist areas? If you own a bar, which you do I think, fair enough. Owning a bar in Pattaya is what normal people do.

I live in touristy Sukhumvit area in BKK. I do so because it is never boring. I would never ever live the life of Neeranam . I have read his posts for a long while and it is clear that he is an extremely bored person forced to live on the cheap due to lack of funding. Living in the middle of nowhere is not exactly my idea of joy. The nerve cutting down living in the middle of the action. One's boring backwoods life is one's own problem , count me out of it

Edited March 7, 2006 by monochaser

[bendix]

I live in touristy Sukhumvit too. I choose to live there solely for the convenience - getting around town, travelling to work in Silom, a vast array of shopping and eating choices. Cinemas etc.

But the biggest attraction is the vast array of human life that you can sit and watch. There's no better way to kill and hour than to grab a window seat in Starbucks in lower sukhumvit and watch the world go by.

The bar scene. It gets dull after a while. I only ever go to the Nana's and Cowboy's if I have visitors in town, and now tend to congregate to smaller watering holes where I've already done my time, got to know the staff and where they know I'm hooked up with a gf already and, while I'm happy to shoot the breeze and buy a drink or two, am not looking for any harassment.

Works fine for me now, but I know I'll get bored of it in time.

Then I'll be heading for a quiet life in Chiang Mai or Hua Hin.

[monochaser]

I'll second that emotion Sir Bendix. When you live here you have chioces. It's not like you're sitting in a shack somewhere with no options where your only joy in life is writing on a msg bored cutting down how the other half lives.

[Cassandra]

Kaosan isn't bad for an occasional foray. Just that some never seem to venture far from it. It's not an expat place its a backpacker place and the two have different outlooks and goals in Thailand. There's no reason for animosity really.

cv

I don't think there is much of a distinction between packpackers and visa runners, except the former tend to be younger and better educated.An expat is not just someone who spends a lot of time in Thailand.An expat is someone who holds a work permit and/or has a residency certificate.