Lonely Planet Thailand Claims Jomtien Is Two Decades Away From Being Retro

[DiNiro]

Didn't crime wreck Miami?

That is the stage Pattaya/Jomtien is in now.

Agreed?

[Chao Lao Beach]

There seems to be anew edition out too.

[Payboy]

Lonely Planet Thailand Claims Jomtien Is Two Decades Away From Being Retro

It's possible they meant to say dickheads.

[Jingthing]

Lonely Planet Thailand Claims Jomtien Is Two Decades Away From Being Retro

It's possible they meant to say dickheads.

Cute, but I doubt it. You can spit in Jomtien and hit AT LEAST two dickheads!

[Payboy]

Lonely Planet Thailand Claims Jomtien Is Two Decades Away From Being Retro

It's possible they meant to say dickheads.

Cute, but I doubt it. You can spit in Jomtien and hit AT LEAST two dickheads!

Not enough, probably.

[Morakot]

Lonely Planet Thailand Claims Jomtien Is Two Decades Away From Being Retro

It's possible they meant to say dickheads.

Cute, but I doubt it. You can spit in Jomtien and hit AT LEAST two dickheads!

Not enough, probably.

Doubt it as well. Jomtien doesn't strike me as the hub of iconoclasm dismantling the last bastion of compulsory heteronormativity...

[taichiplanet]

my guess is that it means the place is run-down and shabby; which it is. Of course it will never be Retro, as it will be an eternal 20 year wait to be so!

i agree with thaicbr, ask LP.

[orang37]

I think Khun Morakot is on the right track when she uses the phrase "reinvented pastiche" to describe the possible meaning of "retro" in the context of Lonely Planet description of those running-sewers disguised as tourist-nirvanas, such as Pattaya.

"Retro," used as both adjective, and noun, can mean a deliberate imitation of a former style in aesthetics (art, fashion, etc.). The "craze" in America, in the 1980's, for items in the visual style of 1950's "atomic-era" design tropes ... chrome, vinyl, formica, fiberglass, organically shaped, curved, pressed, laminated, wood furniture, the famous Eames chair, toasters that looked like atomic-bombs ... is a good example of that usage.

One could wonder if the use of "retro" here might be an allusion to retrograde amnesia, in which memory of the recent past is lost, usually as a result of brain trauma, but I think that to assume that is to postulate a degree of awareness, and sophistication, that Lonely Planet writers, ipso facto, do not possess.

~o:37;

[DoctorG]

20-30 years ago they used to say that Miami Beach was retro. Somehow I don't think Jomtien measures up!

Yes, South Beach in Miami was the first thing I thought about when they said "Retro".

Maybe Venice Beach in the LA area, used to be Retro back in the day.

Huntington Beach used to be Retro with all the surfers also back in the day.

Jomtien, I have my doubts it was ever "Retro". maybe.

South Beach was my first thought too.