Do You Remember Pattaya Years Ago?

[thenervoussurgeon]

I came here on holiday 23 years ago ,didnt have a clue what went on here but was persuaded by my daughters boyfriend who had backpacked in the south, apart from the night life it was so different,most of beach road and second road were unbuilt on ,in the evenings walking along second road(there was no 3rd road) you would find 20 or so people sitting on the pavement outside the tv shop watching tv ,no violence no theives just happy guys and very few tourist groups ,have you any memories of people and places?

[Awohalitsiktoli]

Came here 26 years ago. Virtually everything was better 26 years ago. It was a lot more relaxed and fun, and like you said, no violence (no doubt there had to be some, but not like today). Inexpensive, no traffic jams and the beaches were not crowded. Jomtien Beach, in particular, was almost deserted (hard to believe). I miss those days.

[Tywais]

Some stuff here and an all time favorite here

[SidJames]

If we live long enough we'll probably compare it in the same way in another generation

[BlackPuddingBertha]

Came here 26 years ago. Virtually everything was better 26 years ago. It was a lot more relaxed and fun, and like you said, no violence (no doubt there had to be some, but not like today). Inexpensive, no traffic jams and the beaches were not crowded. Jomtien Beach, in particular, was almost deserted (hard to believe). I miss those days.

Yes. I''ve been coming here for over 35 years. It started going downhill about 20 years ago and the rate of decline increased enormously with the arrival of the mass tourism families.

[meatballs]

Yeah, it's seen better days. I'm sure in 20 years this place will NOT be the place to be and will be rather expensive. BUT I hear Africa is up and coming as a destination for the single man. I'm sure I'll be there enjoying my golden years of retirement(I'm 32 now).

[thenervoussurgeon]

If we live long enough we'll probably compare it in the same way in another generation

Oh i doubt that very much ,in 20 years it will be a nightmare ,the place is congested now ,10 minutes rain and it floods ,i do agree that it was much nicer 20 years ago ,but living here with a familly it is nice to have all the convienences.

[fasteddie]

Some stuff here and an all time favorite here

The poster mark45y featuring on your links is wrong, I served in the R.N. and r&r'd in pattaya in 1966. We were anchored off bang saen and drank in one of five or six bars with gi's and girls in pattaya which was still a little village but definitely somewhere for gi's on r&r.

I was there again in 1988 by which time it was a small town with cheap accommodation and food and plenty of nightlife but the sea was full of turds.

I was there again in 2009 by which time it had grown to a bustling city with still relatively cheap accom and food but by then the turds were everywhere. I hated it and will never go there again as it is now full of all the lowlifes from around the world and am ashamed to be assumed to be one by the locals.

[Tywais]

The poster mark45y featuring on your links is wrong, I served in the R.N. and r&r'd in pattaya in 1966.

If you read all the posts you will see it was more of a debate. I was there also, stationed/worked at Utapao, and lived in a house on the beach at Pattaya in 1968 - 1969. You can see my take on it in that topic here and here and probably further on.

[BlackPuddingBertha]

.... the sea was full of turds.

These days we prefer to call them tourists.

[Bosse137]

"Do you remember Pattaya 20 years ago"? Who can forget it!? Spend my best 2-3 years there 1989-1992 ! Marine disco every night,Jomtien in daytime.Every day was like waking up to Christmas Eve,when you were a kid. But of course,by and by I got a bit fed up with it,and wanted a change in my life.Had the good fortune to meet my GF,and ever since,we have a good life in Isaan.Now and then I have something to attend to in Pattaya,but I do not like it any more:just stay over night...Perhaps it`s not only Pattaya,which has changed,I have grown older and have another take on what is fun...

[farangme]

15 years ago it was developed, but not too crowded. Was a lot of fun and had so many good times. Now so crowded with people and traffic, we stopped going there a few years ago. Phuket is the saddest. Lived there 20 years ago when it was undeveloped and low key. Seemed like paradise. Now so over developed don't even recognise the place. Now prefer the provinces. If want to go to the sea, Hua Hin is the spot.

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[Ulysses G.]

I was there a few times about 25 years ago. It was much dirtier then and young Thais would try to sell you heroin and smuggled Marboro cigarettes when you walked down the street. Pattaya was much seedier than now and the foreign restaurants were pathetic. I'm not sure about violence as I've never had a problem in Pattaya, then or now. IMO, the only things that were better is that it was cheaper and the sex scene was much wilder, but Bangkok was even better still on that front.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[theslime]

23 years ago, 1st timer, blind drunk, lost, empty wallet(drank it empty) 3 days on the piss then down to Trat. In all that time since, Ive been hassled by Thais once and Tourists a couple of times. The police have been very polite and even their grass is far superior than the bars.

[monty]

Most people are very nostalgic about "the old days" and tend to remember the things which were better.

Practically it was not always brilliant back then!

Only cars you could rent were the knock of jeeps, only good in town, outside of Pattaya you got hammered by the cops. And of course the Daihatsu Mira. Not much good if you're over 6ft/1m80 or are a tad claustrophobic.

Electric and water you paid to the collector. If not home you went to the main water and electric offices to pay. Not at a 7/11 round the corner!

To get a fixed phone line would cost you anywhere between 10 and 30k Baht as all the exchanges/cables were full.

Only computershop was on second road (Wattana), stupid prices back then, only alternative was Pantip in Bkk.

I remember the small 14" tv sets being dirt cheap (mass produced/sold for the average Thai household), but the bigger sizes were double what they would cost in the West...

No big superstores, for everything you needed you had to find the respective small shop selling what you needed. First big superstore was Big C North Pattaya, guess it opened around '95 or '96...

Mr T's mobile monopoly saw mobile phones triple the price of what they were in the West....

And not exactly cheap! In the early 90's a beer in a beer bar was 40-50 Baht, in a Soi Diamond gogo it was 90 Baht. Considering you only got 25 Baht to the dollar (pegged until the '97 financial crash).

I remember airfaires being not that much lower then today, my first one I paid 28,000 Baht. Compared to the average salaries of those days this was very expensive.

Petrol was ok though, remember 8 Baht/liter when I came out here, on a moped you usually just filled 20 Baht!

I think the only non night life attractions in the 90's were mini siam, Nong nooch, and the Pattaya park swimmingpool.

For me the only positives of those days was the much more relaxed/less commercial attitude, and much less traffic. Nightlife was more fun. The biggest attraction was being so different from the west. Now it's very much the same...

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[LennyW]

Yeah, people will always remember the "good old days" , but, as a few posters have pointed out - they were not really that good!!

Fine if you were a pot head with not a care in the world (and that probably clouded your memory anyway!!) but for normal people trying to get things done was a nightmare, paying a fortune for overseas calls/faxes, hit or miss taxi services, poor attempts at decent food, extortionate prices for sausages and bacon(to name but a few!!) blaah!!!!

Have to laugh at these people that complain about it being crowded..... go away then, be part of the solution not the problem!!

Thank god things have moved on - as the song says..... "those days are gone now, and in the past they shall remain"!!

[black fox]

i came here 26 yrs ago and fell in love with the place i think it was better in many ways but its certainly easier to buy anything you want now, back then most of the girls were from rayong and i never had a bad one they realy did take good care of you today most girls seem very money orientated. hate allthe tatooed lager louts who just talk football and get into fights.

[thenervoussurgeon]

To the people who complain about how dear sausages were then,well when i first came here same as most guys the cost of sausages and bacon was not what was on our minds ,not many farangs lived here with their familly (i certainly wouldnt have) we came for the fun and the girls ,they were in abundance and not as mercanary as they are now ,then it really was "fun town" as for fares ,i used to pay about 250 quid return ,far less than now.

[farangme]

Yeah, people will always remember the "good old days" , but, as a few posters have pointed out - they were not really that good!!

Fine if you were a pot head with not a care in the world (and that probably clouded your memory anyway!!) but for normal people trying to get things done was a nightmare, paying a fortune for overseas calls/faxes, hit or miss taxi services, poor attempts at decent food, extortionate prices for sausages and bacon(to name but a few!!) blaah!!!!

Have to laugh at these people that complain about it being crowded..... go away then, be part of the solution not the problem!!

Thank god things have moved on - as the song says..... "those days are gone now, and in the past they shall remain"!!

Yes. We have gone away. We had the fortune to enjoy good times. Those days are gone. Enjoy whatever you have now. But they are not the best of times. Everywhere has its day in the sun. Hope your happy. Just don't bash those who came before you. Enjoy the mercs. We've moved on to find the next paradise. Maybe that's why we went there before the masses. Yes, I do remember $800 cell phones in TL as well as the rest of the BS trying to run a business back in the day. Whatever. I moved on. Enjoy your efficiencies....and the new throng of the masses. Maybe you should check out Myanmar and get ahead of the curve this time.

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[Bosse137]

Well,as some of you point out,life is more comfortable now in Pattaya.And is so even in my little Isaan village...But I did not come to Thailand for comfort.My mothercountry has among the highest livingstandars in the world,so I could as well have stayed there, if that were the case.On the contrary,It was the charm of living the simple life in simple surroundings,plus the girls,that attracted me.I didn`t even think of mobils or internet or the many other things some of you seem to have missed.I was happy just to be alive,to go dancing in the disco and flirt with the ladies in the night and then walk along the beach in Jomtien in daytime,where I used to find some spot a km away,where I could sunbath naked.(Crazy thing to do,now I look for shadow and keep my clothes on..) And to me,it WAS a happy time!! But times changes and we with them.Now I am happy for totally different reasons,and even if I am not religious,I thank God almost every day for my life.Sounds like a contradiction,but that`s how I feel.

[DMC1]

Yeah, people will always remember the "good old days" , but, as a few posters have pointed out - they were not really that good!!

Fine if you were a pot head with not a care in the world (and that probably clouded your memory anyway!!) but for normal people trying to get things done was a nightmare, paying a fortune for overseas calls/faxes, hit or miss taxi services, poor attempts at decent food, extortionate prices for sausages and bacon(to name but a few!!) blaah!!!!

Have to laugh at these people that complain about it being crowded..... go away then, be part of the solution not the problem!!

Thank god things have moved on - as the song says..... "those days are gone now, and in the past they shall remain"!!

That's right Lenny - I remember having to go to make international calls up at the telephone exchange. Monty's post sums it up well too. It really wasn't as good back then if you take the old rose tinted specs off. Night life was a bit wilder but that's about it.

[thenervoussurgeon]

If you were younger free and single it was way better then ,who cared about the cost of international calls and where you paid your lecy bill ,didnt have a car ,didnt want one walked most places ,most of us were not familly men . but i admit apart from all the tourists and with a wife a house a car and a boy in uni ,well then now is better.

[KGoldfarang]

I spent many weekends in Pattaya from 1960-64. Barbos was there next to my sailing club (Varuna). One hotel (Nipa). Had north end of Koh Larn all to ourselves. Was invited to spend weekends on Koh Sak by the lease holder. There was an assembly of tin buildings a few blocks east of "downtown" where women could be purchased. Basically an unspoiled paradise. Thoses were the days.

[swissie]

It used to be that when you wanted bread, you went to the baker. If you wanted meat, you went to the butcher, if you wanted night-life you went to Pattaya.

These days, "Night-Life" is pricing itself off the map.

But still Pattaya will survive, having the nicest beaches you can think of, practically no pollution, traffic congestion unknown. Locals that have only the goal to cater to tourists to make them feel truly welcome in the land of smiles.

All of sudden, I feel an urge to buy an overpriced condo in Pattaya.

Cheers.

[meatballs]

Been going downhill and to the dogs since 2008 but people are going out buying condos left and right. Makes NO sense to me at all but maybe they know something I don't. Maybe their idea of a paradise is millions of cheap package tourists about, huge traffic jams, dirty eroding beaches, and high prices. Dunno.

[stailmanki]

I've been coming here since the late 80s and really I think the changes you see here are similar to the changes everywhere else , so it's more crowded , different nationalities, younger peoples attitudes have changed, probably a higher crime rate, bigger shopping malls, etc.

Prices seem about the same to me , the AUD$ has been strong against the Baht of late , we were only getting 21 or so for the $ for ages , but there's more places to spend now & I need more creature comforts now than I did then.

I get my beach fix out of town in Chantaburi & Trat now, or at the far islands.

Back then I was in my 20s & I used to hire a Honda Steed motor bike ( they are still around),,,,,,,,,, and I had hair which used blow in the breeze on my helmetless (brainless) head , the girl on the back was in her 20s

Now I'm in my 50s & I hire cars & buckle my fat balding body in to the drivers seat , but the girl in the passenger seat is Still in her 20s...

[Crazy chef 1]

Yeah, it's seen better days. I'm sure in 20 years this place will NOT be the place to be and will be rather expensive. BUT I hear Africa is up and coming as a destination for the single man. I'm sure I'll be there enjoying my golden years of retirement(I'm 32 now).

I hope you will have a great time in mogadishu,Lagos,burkina fasu,Jo- burg and other retirement heavens in Africa.oh boy still many things left to visit in this world...

[ARGUSEYE]

Stailmanki:

"Back then I was in my 20s & I used to hire a Honda Steed motor bike ( they are still around),,,,,,,,,, and I had hair which used blow in the breeze on my helmetless (brainless) head , the girl on the back was in her 20s Now I'm in my 50s & I hire cars & buckle my fat balding body in to the drivers seat , but the girl in the passenger seat is Still in her 20s... "

Oh well.. I came to Patts first time in '78, remember renting one of these awful two - stroke 80cc Suzukis for a hundred Baht a day. The girl in the back was in her 20's and was 200 Baht a day (I used to get a discount in those days)

Nowadays I am also a lot heavier, have my own little Honda and NO girl in the back... I don't need them around me and am not sure if I could afford them anymore.

Edited January 30, 2013 by Rimmer
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[breadbin]

I travelled Thailand in 1994, chewing on Samui, dirt road and few bars, same everywhere, now, ruined.