Just been to Pattaya for a visit

[Ace of Pop]

I just Love the place only for a Few Days now. It reminds me of what an Oversexed lot we all were a few years back. Now i just sit on the Balcony at Holiday Inn mustering up the energy to jump the Lift.

[ryro88]

A few days is enough for me too

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[tropo]

So you are justifying the crime, the deplorable infrastructure, the water and air pollution do to 40 year growth? Rediculous

I'm not justifying anything - I'm explaining it. What you see is exactly what you would expect to see of a Thai village turned city in such a short period of time.

From my own selfish point of view I'm happy they're not ripping up every road and soi to add the infrastructure so many forum members hanker for. That would be a nightmare - they can do that after I'm dead and buried because I wouldn't want to live through that. Surely everyone remembers how long it took to re-build the short stretch of road to Jomtien?

The way some people are talking, it's like someone was forcing them to visit Pattaya against their will. The great thing about being an expat is that you can walk away from any place you don't like.

[Fabulousheart]

You must be blind if you do not see all of the holes outside jomtien in most of the sidewalks at least six feet deep and have been opened up for over a year plus now.

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[tropo]

You must be blind if you do not see all of the holes outside jomtien in most of the sidewalks at least six feet deep and have been opened up for over a year plus now.

Why would you presume I live in Jomtien? I hardly ever go there... but that's beside the point. Now that we've established that you're a resident, why did you settle here in the first place? Were there no pot holes in Jomtien when you arrived?.. and even more to the point, why stay?

Edited May 11, 2014 by tropo

[johng]

You must be blind if you do not see all of the holes outside jomtien in most of the sidewalks at least six feet deep and have been opened up for over a year plus now.

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At least they put some railings around the holes.

[Fabulousheart]

Lol one railing and it that have been open holes with rebar forcing pedestrians to walk in the street.

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[MrWorldwide]

Forced to come back to BKK for certain 'no hab' items, including the base model Mac Mini which those a-^^^^ at the various stores in Central refuse to stock because they presumably dont make enough money from each sale, I'm currently enjoying the tender hospitality of the good people of lower Sukhumvit Road. Whilst I have been happy on the Soi 22 side of said thoroughfare, they could bulldoze the other side from Soi 3 to Cowboy and I wouldnt miss any of it. On the plus side, I can get the audio toys I want here, but the crush of humanity and the traffic wear thin very quickly. I'm sure things are a whole lot sweeter from an expensive condo on Upper Suk, but down here in the trenches I just dont enjoy this part of BKK any more. Fortune Town IT Mall was great, the crush at Siam not so much and we're off to the temples today but future visits will be very much in the 'get in, get what you need and get out ASAP' vein. In short, I'm over the Big Mango.

For those who live in Bangkok and love their city, the above will seem like a very myopic view of the place, but isnt that all any casual visitor can hope to leave with ? I still think that judging Pattaya on the basis of a relatively small chunk of the city is equally misguided, but that's showbiz. Enjoy your day - I'm off to get a few happy snaps of architecture from a gentler (!) period in Bangkok's history.

[morrobay]

Was in Bangkok yesterday for some no have items along the Skytrain corridors. And outside of a get in get out ( #7 bus from Hua Lamphong railway station into Chinatown and back )

for large quantity of ginsing . The air in Bangkok is better than in Pattaya - lower percent of cigarette smokers.

Edited May 12, 2014 by morrobay

[JSixpack]

Was in Bangkok yesterday for some no have items along the Skytrain corridors. And outside of a get in get out ( #7 bus from Hua Lamphong railway station into Chinatown and back )

for large quantity of ginsing . The air in Bangkok is better than in Pattaya - lower percent of cigarette smokers.

Just your imagination. Pattya's got the sea breeze. Stats here: http://aqmthai.com/ but nearest stations are at Laemchabang and Rayong. Close 'nuff.

PM another of our knowledgeable members & get the real info:

BKK is a polluted hell hole, check the stats and I don't mean the government ones.

[MrWorldwide]

Was in Bangkok yesterday for some no have items along the Skytrain corridors. And outside of a get in get out ( #7 bus from Hua Lamphong railway station into Chinatown and back )

for large quantity of ginsing . The air in Bangkok is better than in Pattaya - lower percent of cigarette smokers.

OK - I'm not sure what's going on in certain Bangkok venues, but I didnt see a single smoker in either the Saphan Kwai gogo or the notoriously smoky (in earlier years) Thermae - no shortage of them on the streets though, and the ancient buses and trucks continue to belch cubic metres of crap into the atmosphere. I'm convinced that one of the pre-reqs for employment as a moto-taxi driver is that you are a chain-smoker, but I'll admit that I haven't had to endure a single cab that smells like an ashtray from the moment you get in : stark contrast to Jakarta and most of Malaysia.

At the risk of over-generalising, I believe most of the Farang tourists on lower Suk smoke - particularly those from the Middle East - and the shishka seems to be a lot more popular than on previous visits. As a lifetime non-smoker, its not a trend I'm keen to see escalate further.

[noodle]

It would be interested to see how the comments change if all the hoes were taken away:)

[ThaiBob]

They just add numerous new developments with many units with no thought to urban planning. That is clear by the current problems.

Yeah, and it's different anywhere else in the world? It's not bad for a town that was a fishing village in the 70's. Most modern cities were a mess at some time in the past if they're not still a mess now... and it took 100's of years to get it right if they ever did.

Be careful what you wish for. Good infrastructure costs money and someone has to pay for it. That's what council taxes and rates are for, but I bet all the property owners here are paying peanuts compared to back at home.

Some people enjoy the 3rd World feel and prices. The people who don't may as well catch the first plane back home.

You get what you pay for. No property taxes here so funding for infrastructure takes a back seat.

[tropo]

They just add numerous new developments with many units with no thought to urban planning. That is clear by the current problems.

Yeah, and it's different anywhere else in the world? It's not bad for a town that was a fishing village in the 70's. Most modern cities were a mess at some time in the past if they're not still a mess now... and it took 100's of years to get it right if they ever did.

Be careful what you wish for. Good infrastructure costs money and someone has to pay for it. That's what council taxes and rates are for, but I bet all the property owners here are paying peanuts compared to back at home.

Some people enjoy the 3rd World feel and prices. The people who don't may as well catch the first plane back home.

You get what you pay for. No property taxes here so funding for infrastructure takes a back seat.

People also usually know what they're getting when they pay. I'm amazed that people would buy property and then complain about the infrastructure.

Let me leave a warning here to prospective investors. It will be a very long time before proper infrastructure is built in Pattaya. I'm living in one of the more developed areas and I have a septic tank for crap and a seepage pit for grey water. I'd be surprised if proper sewers are laid down this century. A true wonder of Pattaya is the power lines. They're incredible to behold. How long before that goes underground? 200 years?

Come on, seriously, Pattaya is still a jungle with wild (rabid) dogs prowling the streets.

Enjoy it for what it is. If you can't handle it, go back home to your squeaky clean suburbs and die of boredom instead. I know a thing or two about clean, because I spent 20 years on a pristine beach in Australia where they sifted the sand every morning, hosed down the streets and dogs weren't allowed in most public areas and rounded up if not registered and tethered to the owner.

To me, as far as 3rd world cities are concerned Pattaya is a great place to live. I came here after 5 years of living in the Philippines. Some of you may find this hard to believe, but I came here because I thought the infrastructure was great.

[JSixpack]

^Yep, I've often said fussy old ladies shouldn't be living in, or even visiting, PTY. Of course such will come out w/ countless complaints.

If BKK is your thing, stay here. I myself lived in BKK a year and couldn't wait to get back to the beach.

[ryro88]

^Yep, I've often said fussy old ladies shouldn't be living in, or even visiting, PTY. Of course such will come out w/ countless complaints.

If BKK is your thing, stay here. I myself lived in BKK a year and couldn't wait to get back to the beach.

Beach?

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Edited May 12, 2014 by ryro88

[hanno]

^Yep, I've often said fussy old ladies shouldn't be living in, or even visiting, PTY. Of course such will come out w/ countless complaints.

If BKK is your thing, stay here. I myself lived in BKK a year and couldn't wait to get back to the beach.

Beach?

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Indeed. I was there the past weekend and can't say that I saw much of a beach, only deck chairs. I remember running in knee-deep water last year during some seriously heavy rain, the roads coming to beach road looked like rivers and seemed to take most of the beach with them.

I mentioned in an earlier post that after at first hating Pattaya, I have come to like some of its aspects, but the beach is certainly not one of them.

[MrWorldwide]

It would be interested to see how the comments change if all the hoes were taken away:)

FWIW, I am very much looking forward to the next religious holiday that sees the citizens of Isaan rush back to their provinces - might make it harder to get a moto-taxi but that's a price I'm willing to pay.

[JSixpack]

^Yep, I've often said fussy old ladies shouldn't be living in, or even visiting, PTY. Of course such will come out w/ countless complaints.

If BKK is your thing, stay here. I myself lived in BKK a year and couldn't wait to get back to the beach.

Beach?

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Indeed. I was there the past weekend and can't say that I saw much of a beach, only deck chairs. I remember running in knee-deep water last year during some seriously heavy rain, the roads coming to beach road looked like rivers and seemed to take most of the beach with them.

I mentioned in an earlier post that after at first hating Pattaya, I have come to like some of its aspects, but the beach is certainly not one of them.

Beach town (known to my BKK friends as simply The Beach) and sea views. I never actually go onto the beach itself, just because I find sitting or walking on a beach, however "pristine," too boring unless there are a lot of topless women to ogle--which, far as I know, has never been the case in Pattaya. Used to be more of them in certain spots, I believe. When I first arrived in PTY, I'd sit in a beach chair, read my Thai language book and listen to the accompanying tape, and later walk across to a beer bar and practice w/ the ladies. But those days are long gone.

Like most farang tourists, I didn't come to PTY for the beach itself. Hence most of the complaints about it are superfluous, hypocritical, or just trolling. Ko Samet is close by for anyone in NEED.

Plenty of tourists, however, do like the beach, such as it is, and even towards the end of high season it was remarkably crowded. So pretending there's NO beach here is just the usual nonsense.

Edited May 12, 2014 by JSixpack

[JSixpack]

^Yep, I've often said fussy old ladies shouldn't be living in, or even visiting, PTY. Of course such will come out w/ countless complaints.

If BKK is your thing, stay here. I myself lived in BKK a year and couldn't wait to get back to the beach.

Beach?

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Indeed. I was there the past weekend and can't say that I saw much of a beach, only deck chairs. I remember running in knee-deep water last year during some seriously heavy rain, the roads coming to beach road looked like rivers and seemed to take most of the beach with them.

I mentioned in an earlier post that after at first hating Pattaya, I have come to like some of its aspects, but the beach is certainly not one of them.

But at that particular time you wouldn't seen much of Soi Buakhao either.

[hanno]

Indeed. I was there the past weekend and can't say that I saw much of a beach, only deck chairs. I remember running in knee-deep water last year during some seriously heavy rain, the roads coming to beach road looked like rivers and seemed to take most of the beach with them.

I mentioned in an earlier post that after at first hating Pattaya, I have come to like some of its aspects, but the beach is certainly not one of them.

Plenty of tourists, however, do like the beach, such as it is, and even towards the end of high season it was remarkably crowded. So pretending there's NO beach here is just the usual nonsense.

I did not "pretend" there was no beach, just not much. I grew up on a real beach in Kenya and like you have no intention of sitting on any beach. But the Pattaya beach is far from pristine, and the constant stream of people flogging sun glasses, Zippos and what have you is a pain in the .....

[Tolley]

I don't mind sitting on the beach in Pattaya especially when it is hot or after a big night out.

Kinda makes you feel like a tourist.

But I never came for the beaches as being from a beach side suburb in Sydney Pattaya doesn't really rate but it does have other attractions.

[FracturedRabbit]

"...place has gotten worse each time in so many ways lots of bars laying derelict". For many who live here; that's an improvement.

[NoBrainer]

The biggest problem with Pattaya now (and for the past 4 or 5 years) is the massive influx of people from the Middle East. They are not tourists. They move in and they are buying up whole sois and turning them into something that looks like a Mediterranean bazar. You can see shop after shop with only Arabic writing on the signs, and the sidewalks are full of poorly dressed Arab types, smoking hooka pipes and doing nothing. Later on you see many of them staggering around drunk, as they have lived most of their lives without alcohol and don't know how to handle it. This has lead to a whole new wave of crime, like card scanning, and hotel safe thefts etc.

I am hoping that the new Visa rules will make some progress towards slowing down their assault on this once fine city. It's about time the Thais recognize this as being a threat to their very existence. Look at Soi 3/1 in Bangkok, close to the Dis-Grace hotel area. It's too late for that place as most of the property has been bought up with Middle East money already.

Come on Pattaya. Let's put the brakes on this before it's too late.

[JSixpack]

True life is what you make it but Pattaya has numerous open ditches in sidewalks and roads, smog, you walk the beach and your feet are black, garbage everywhere, smelly open drains and crazy drivers. Not to mention baht busses have gotten even crazier and clearly passenger safety is irrelevant. So pattaya has air quality issues, water issue , smelly and garbage everywhere.

All the above is true but I return because of some of the people, restaurants and clubs. Those are diminishing daily as well. Just an honest assessment ....

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Yep, nowadays nobody can walk without falling into an open ditch or drain, avoid breathing, survive w/ black feet, dodge the garbage piled everywhere as well as the crazy drivers, ride a baht bus, and find any people of interest or a decent restaurant or club (which, fortunately, are diminishing daily). It's just INTOLERABLE.

Hence the city's nearly deserted. Last weekend, for example, a major holiday, it looked like a bombed out, abandoned Chernobyl w/ just a few radioactive Russian zombies wandering around.

The Solution

Decided to have lunch at Central yesterday but--how to get there safely? Fortunately, after reading this thread and realizing how truly horrible conditions have become in the cesspool (just in the last six months, though they had been building up), I had purchased my very own hazmat suit.

I can now highly recommend such to all visitors to Pattaya now, such as the OP. Come on back to Pattaya, man!

Finally, I could breathe the toxic Pattaya air safely! It was just like that clean Bangkok air the OP prefers.

On my way, I crawled in and out of the countless open ditches and drains easily, not like before when I always sprained my ankles. The horrific stench over the entire city didn't bother me a bit! I also crawled over and walked around all the mountains of garbage everywhere--on the streets, the sidewalks, the promenade. And the hordes of rats constantly patrolling seemed positively afraid of my bright orange. Similarly the crazy drivers and baht buses could now see me clearly and detoured around--so none of those usual near death experiences. Of course they still had no consideration at all for their passengers. Disgusting!

Just before walking into Central, I walked over to the horrible polluted beach with its sewage floating everywhere and trash piles. No longer was I concerned about getting my feet black, one of the worst things that can happen 'cause it's permanent. Think: there you are with a lovely in Soi 6 and she sees those black feet! Big turnoff. What you gonna say?

Well, I walked into Central and took of the suit in a bathroom and packed it in a carry bag just in case, as predicted by our doomsayers, the building fell down and I needed it to climb out of the rubble or survive until rescue. Bases covered!

If only more would purchase such suits, tourism would at last revive in DYING PATTAYA. You'd see people on the deserted streets once again.

Speaking of people, the most annoying thing is all these fake pics around that purport to show tourists and residents enjoying this city. Amazing what they can do w/ Photoshop these days. Like this last week in the Pattaya Mail:

Can you believe that nonsense? It's like all those CGI warriors swelling the fantasy armies of The Lord Of The Rings. All our wiser-than-thou members know that there's no beach. Nobody can swim. And they've cut-and-pasted in that blue sky and the buildings, as in truth the horrible smog prevents them from ever being seen.

Chant the mantra: there's no reason to come to Pattaya. (The new promenade was the last nail in the coffin.) As I said earlier, that Labor Day weekend, there were only a few radioactive Russian zombies wandering around.

All that TAT propaganda, swelling the Pattaya tourist numbers with Cambodians! SO annoying.

Still, I can somehow continue residing happily in the cesspool now. Doomsayers! Your burdens are eased.

Edited May 17, 2014 by JSixpack

[Bernard Flint]

So you reckon the place has gotten dirtier and the people less friendly since 2011? I'm calling bs on all of that, mainly because I live here full time and don't see that at all. The place wasn't very friendly 3 years ago and still isn't. To be honest, I don't want everyone smiling at me and being too friendly as it makes me feel uncomfortable as I'm also not too friendly myself.

I reckon you probably got dumped by some lady and ran off to Bangkok to get over it.

I agree, but have to say 1 big huge bullshit

Pattaya gets better each year not worse, unless u want 10 x 19 yo in a bar, or u doint like the increase of barfiines in go-go bars. U are a sex monger end of.

[Bernard Flint]

The only downside is all them Thais coming in from Bangkok, how dare they block MY roads

[canarysun]

I think Pattaya is a fab place to live! I have been living here for 3 years now and love it! ( and i don't even drink or go to any bars whatsoever! lol ) it has a great climate most of the year and lovely afternoons spent on the beach! ( Wongamat ) You have everything you need here and cheap accommodation too! ( i have a lovely room with bathroom,balcony,wifi,sat tv the lot all for 4,000 baht a month! ) A good choice of markets for buying fresh food on a daily basis.Also easy to travel to places around Thailand having frequent buses to Bangkok and of course our fabulous " Train Station " ( a cool train experience from Pattaya to Bangkok for only 31 baht ...) I think its an ideal location!

Farang Jaidee.

[canarysun]

Of course one of " The Delights of Pattaya " is the wonderful climate and here is a photo of myself enjoying a leisurely afternoon " in action " on Koh Larn......

Fancy a swim viewers...?

[morrobay]

Of course one of " The Delights of Pattaya " is the wonderful climate and here is a photo of myself enjoying a leisurely afternoon " in action " on Koh Larn......

Fancy a swim viewers...?

Nice water. What Ko Larn beach is this ?