Drinking and walking around shopping malls...

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I've been here for 18 years so totally know the score, but as I get older I want some civilisation in my life.

Pipe-and-slippers mode & erectile dysfunction now call for your return to the nanny state, sooner rather than later.

Do you watch Sky News? Out in the high streets you see folk just strolling around leisurely, winow shopping, whatever, and quite often on those very wide streets (often cobbled) where cars cannot enter...I would love something like that here, does that make me bad or a whinger? but instead it's a complete unciviilise dirty mess.

That makes you whinger, yes, for wanting the impossible here and something that the vast majority of Pattaya expats would find excruciatingly boring in a week at the outside. In fact, they came to PTY to escape just such humdrum.

You'd probably find it quite boring as well--so what we really have here is merely a little "grass is greener" pipe dream. Probably a cry for attention, as you know you'll reject (as you have) any suggestion of any activity that isn't just "strolling around leisurely, winow shopping, whatever, and quite often on those very wide streets (often cobbled) where cars cannot enter." Which you know doesn't exist in SE Asian countries except to some extent in Singapore. You could live near the Botanical Garden in Penang, but without the required High Street shops very nearby.

What you don't see is folk strolling around leisurely there in the snow. You don't see any sea view, either.

And you don't see them strolling into a go-go bar. Rather than watch Sky News, watch the LK Metro webcam. I'd INFINITELY rather window shop, whatever, maybe arrange a delightful threesome for later, in one of those than in one of your High Street shops! I can't see how strolling is more fun than motorbiking--my own preferred mode of transport.

I do have a friend who lives w/ his young Thai wife in a condo quite near Emporium in BKK. He strolls there, no problem on the sidewalks, and walks around, no traffic. What you'd NEED from a High Street shop that you can't find there, I dunno. Given the relative cost of living near High Street, and with whom you'd likely be living, I'd take his situation any day. Since that's really your thing--and that's all you want--then give it try.

I'm with you JS6, strolling around air conditioned shopping malls, looking at girls in shorts, it never gets boring.

Add the occasional 10bht vanilla cone from KFC for a perfect day out.

[sirchai]

Learn Thai to be able to hear what people actually talk about you, have some decent conversations.not just the usual ."I lav Yuu Tuu Match ones."

.Read good books and start with "private dancer."\

Download movies. programs,etc and see what's best for you.

Write stories about Aliens that have landed in your garden in Buri Ram. Join TFV Isaan, more fun there....

Travel the Isaan and you might not come back to freaking Pattaya.\

But please don't make a new thread that you're on a 19 year+ overstay. Life's too short to not enjoy it. The frozen content of an airplane's lavatory could fall down from the sky, straight on you and kill you instantly,even after winning the lottery.

Walk down the "Walking Street", beach road, etc and ask yourself, if you really like what you see.

Edited June 10, 2014 by sirchai

[Kerryd]

The problem with topics like this is that no matter what you suggest, it will never be good enough. It doesn't matter that you can do pretty much everything you could do back home, some people will never be happy and will always find an excuse for why they don't want to do the same things in Pattaya (or elsewhere).

It should have been readily obvious the first post what kind of topic this was.

[maswov]

Go to a movie

Learn Thai language

Go bowling

Do volunteer work

Go scuba diving

Learn tai chi

Build a hot rod

Play football

etc...

etc....

etc...

.......

[Thai Travel Bug]

When you have worked all of your life, and are surrounded by workmates and routine, you are programmed each day to get up and do the same thing. That was the groundhog day. Alarm going off at 6.15 am, get up, a quick coffee, a smoke or two, Shitley, shower and shave, then get in the car and drive for an hour to get into work just on time or 5 minutes before. Now my man you are free.

Your alternatives now are quite varied, but it is up to you to find them. When you were back home thinking about retiring in Pattaya, what things did you think about. "FREEDOM" after retirement is just a word if you haven't got anything planned. But you have got there my dear friend. FREEDOM AT LAST. But What does freedom mean? Lets try to put some words together.

1. F = Find some new friends. Find a new hobby. Fishing is Fun. Fun in the sun. Fools in love (And all day to do it) Food and Flavours, have you learnt how to cook? Family.

2. R = Relaxation. Reading. Rejuvenating. Rowing a boat. Riding a horse. Researching new trips. revisiting old pleasures. Rediscover yourself and your loves and likes.

3. E = Explore. Excite and reignite. Extreme sports (Preferably on T.V) Encourage (Some volunteer work with the blind kids at Fr. Rays (www.fr-ray.org/ ) Energise your legs and walk.

4. E = Explore some more, Educate (Yourself) Enrol in a club and become an Expat. Essays that you write may become a hobby or a book. Enrich the lives of others with a smile and hello.

5. D = Drive yourself to somewhere you haven't been before. Discover new things about yourself. Devote yourself to a new found passion. Desire to become a better person than you have been

6. O = Organise nights out with your loved one (Date Nights) Offer to lend someone a hand. Oscillate around good people. Original idea's will come to you (Make them yours and make a list)

7. M = Meditation (Bet you've never done that before) Motivate (Yourself and others) Manage to find your inner child. Muck up and fool around (In a good way) Monopoly (Only when bored)

You see my friend, it is not a matter of where you are at, but who you are whilst your there. Pattaya is a wonderful place to settle in and discover all there is on offer in Thailand. Pattaya is much more than a big bar. You can really find yourself and a wonderful life if you just know where to start looking. And one starts by looking at themselves first. The rest comes easy.

[duanebigsby]

What do other retired people do? I've got so many hobbies, I've had to let go of some of them. I paint, draw, photograph and spend hours in photoshop.

I've got a blog I never have time for. I want to dig up my front yard and relandscape it. I love to cook and show my friends my talent for Mexican cuisine, sharing recipes and ideas. I have a ton of model train stuff in a barn back home and resisting the urge to have it shipped out here.

Pattaya Pat isn't looking for ideas as to what to do. He's here to whine.

[canarysun]

I really couldn't handle " sitting in a bar " every day and night! - I would be bored and " twitchy " after 5 minutes! ( also i dont drink ...) also with this lovely weather who would want to sit in a bar all day?

I live in Naklua ( Pattaya ) and get out and about on Thailand's wonderful " Railway " Pattaya 's Train station is only a 20 minute gentle stroll from Pattaya Klang and is great fun! I often catch the afternoon train to Si Racha ( it takes 30 minutes ) and it costs only 6 baht. ( an affordable price for everyone! )

Just an idea!

Farang Jaidee

[AnotherOneAmerican]

But What does freedom mean?

Freedom's just another word for "nothing left to lose."

[UKJASE]

I know Pattaya Pat..... why dont you start taking strong drugs, and you can remove yourself from your reality and walk down those smooth cobbled streets you are talking about and window shop to your heart's content

bl00dy cockneys

[OMGImInPattaya]

Travel around Thailand or neighboring countries for short trips and you will never get bored also you will want to go back to familiar surrounding after all the experience's you had on the road.

I have and I can report back that for the most part, they are over-populated and polluted third world countries teeming with poor people just like Thailand. Their beaches, shopping malls, and what passes for cultural and historical attractions are for the most part are the same as Thailand. Next idea? Edited June 10, 2014 by OMGImInPattaya

[OMGImInPattaya]

PP, it's like everywhere else, and I mean everywhere, it all gets run of the mill after you get used to it day after day.

What did you do in your home country to alleviate the boredom ?

In the Uk there just seems to be more going on, sport, parties, jump on a train and go somewhere easily, it's easier to get to places etc, proper pubs and beer gardens, plus you have more family etc, see your nephews, visit the old dear on a sunday etc...I think the heat here also detracts you from wanting to do things...

There you nailed it...the HEAT! It makes doing just about anything outdoors simply out of the question; and it just generally saps ones energy.

[JSixpack]

The problem with topics like this is that no matter what you suggest, it will never be good enough. It doesn't matter that you can do pretty much everything you could do back home, some people will never be happy and will always find an excuse for why they don't want to do the same things in Pattaya (or elsewhere).

It should have been readily obvious the first post what kind of topic this was.

Exactly. Not to be taken seriously, good for a laugh at best. As I noted, all solutions will be rejected. One of a long series of whines.

OP knows, or thinks he does, what he wants. He knows quite well that Thailand doesn't have it and never will. Hence there's only one inescapable solution (besides a balcony jump). Maybe he's trying to convince himself w/ our help. I suppose the real problem is he just doesn't have the money to move back to his imagined paradise. If so then his post merely falls into the recurring "I want Santa Barbara on a Chang beer budget" whine we hear so often.

Perspective: for every one Pattaya Pat in pipe-and-slippers mode, there're a thousand other Brits in the UK dreaming & scheming of living in Pattaya forever.

Me, I wish each day had another 5 hours. I always find plenty to do here. Heat doesn't bother me; I exercise comfortably at home in the air con. Traffic and parking situation do bother me a bit, but I manage well enough by driving a motorbike.

And I never, ever get tired of looking at pretty girls.

Edited June 10, 2014 by JSixpack

[mdmayes]

It is what it is.

Or

It is what you make it.

[wotamess]

You went to Pattaya & didn't read the brochure!

$install/1: gotochemist

$install/2: getmeds

$install/3: if><inkeys = notresult, move on boot

[raro]

I know what I would do here if I had more time. I'd be certainly fitter and a better guitarist. Probably also rehone my diving skills and do some go kart. If that is still not fulfilling me, I'd start playing golf out of desperation...

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[canarysun]

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PP, it's like everywhere else, and I mean everywhere, it all gets run of the mill after you get used to it day after day.

What did you do in your home country to alleviate the boredom ?

In the Uk there just seems to be more going on, sport, parties, jump on a train and go somewhere easily, it's easier to get to places etc, proper pubs and beer gardens, plus you have more family etc, see your nephews, visit the old dear on a sunday etc...I think the heat here also detracts you from wanting to do things...

There you nailed it...the HEAT! It makes doing just about anything outdoors simply out of the question; and it just generally saps ones energy.

Part of Living in Thailand is the climate and " The Heat " it is a fabulous country offering " an outdoor lifestyle " as mentioned in another thread but if you don't like the heat why would you want to live in Thailand?

[orpheus454]

You could join an internet forum, stay at home and complain about all things Thai every waking hour.

You don't need to stay at home to do this.

Since I bought my tablet, I can do this, drink beer and walk around shopping malls all at the same time...!

Cool, eh...?

[wotamess]

I know what I would do here if I had more time. I'd be certainly fitter and a better guitarist. Probably also rehone my diving skills and do some go kart. If that is still not fulfilling me, I'd start playing golf out of desperation...

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

"You fill up my senses, like a walk in the forest..."

Dude - you can do that in Aspen.

[wotamess]

You could join an internet forum, stay at home and complain about all things Thai every waking hour.

You don't need to stay at home to do this.

Since I bought my tablet, I can do this, drink beer and walk around shopping malls all at the same time...!

Cool, eh...?

Now, that's what I call AmeriCAN!

[slipperylobster]

Dunno mate, thing is what did you move to Pattaya for, the bar scene fades after a while and it gets rather sad and depressing.

for sure.

[Rimmer]

An inflammatory post and the quoted replies have been removed

[slipperylobster]

Learn to sail, windsurf or kitesurf. Play golf. Fly full size or model aircraft. Take up a new hobby (photography worked for me). Volunteer. Learn a new skill. Get fit.

Sailing is fantastic....but if you owned a small, day sailer, like mine, it gets mighty hot. I stopped two years ago...to much sun on the skin... sun lotion or not.... Spent most of my life in the sun windsurfing, surfing kayaks (waveski) and finally a sailboat. Had the best times of my life...but wow, the sun.!!!!

Would love a bigger sailboat with a small cabin and bimini. Out of my range. Now I am leaning towards some nice cool and calm lakewaters in a cooler climate. Not quite the adventurist anymore. So many close calls....

I am sooooo happy I never got trapped for the long run here. I am thinking Ecuador.... two or three years more. Goes fast.

[Yann55]

I'd like to relate something that my dear twin sister said when she was around 4 years old.

She was sitting all curled up in an armchair, looking forlorn, bored and generally angry with the world. Our Mom came over and asked what was wrong with her.

- I'm bored, she said with a pout

- you could read, play outside with your brothers, play the piano... there's plenty for you to do !

- I don't want to do any of this !!

- Well, then, said my ever-patient mother... what is it that you want to do, then ?

My sister considered that for a while and then replied resolutely :

- I want to sit here and be bored.

To this I would like to add a phrase by Tchouang Tse (or Zhuangzi, a contemporary of Lao Tse, around 400 B.C.) :

'To those who complain that they are bored and blame the world around for it, I wish to remind that boredom is inside them, not in the world around them'

Edited June 10, 2014 by Yann55

[slipperylobster]

Boring is as boring does...?

I hate being around bored persons..... makes me sad.

You got to get out and get tired. Fitness center, swimming, a bicycle ride/walking routine...and a few hard hours outside doing yardwork/fixing something. Then you will be happy to sit in a nice, clean aircon room for a few hours and type ideas out/research new ideas on the puter. I save the Buffet for later.

[larsjohnsson]

What would you do at home?...pretty much everything and more here than in most other countries.

I suppose it depends on where you come from, i'm from London so many things to do.

Look I like Pattaya but it's woefully lacking. Back home you can do simple nice things like go for a walk around the shops with your daughter, nice wide pavements, it's clean, it's safe, civilised folk of all ages walking around. but here you can't even do simple pleasures like that. The place stinks, it has no pavements, all and sundry are looking at you like you are from mars and you would be afraid some physcho driver is going to mount the pavement and wipe you out....joke place.

Move to Bangkok. There you can do those things that you like in London and big cities

[jukai888]

There is para-sailing, Bungy jumping in Jomtien Beach, indoor shooting range adjacent to where the Tiffany Show is, Art in Paradice near the Tiffany Show, or even the Tiffant Show which is truly amazing, and then there is Tiger Zoo which has an awesome tiger show and where you can get your photo taken with a 600 pound Bangle Tiger without having to worry about becoming it's dinner, or hand feed a tiger cub, play some of the best golf courses in Thailand, or even a day of racing at the go-cart track. When you sober up and open your eyes past all the girls, there is a lot to do in Pattaya and the surrounding area.

[longstebe]

Try living in the sticks where the nearest 7/11 is 15 miles away.

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[slipperylobster]

There is para-sailing, Bungy jumping in Jomtien Beach, indoor shooting range adjacent to where the Tiffany Show is, Art in Paradice near the Tiffany Show, or even the Tiffant Show which is truly amazing, and then there is Tiger Zoo which has an awesome tiger show and where you can get your photo taken with a 600 pound Bangle Tiger without having to worry about becoming it's dinner, or hand feed a tiger cub, play some of the best golf courses in Thailand, or even a day of racing at the go-cart track. When you sober up and open your eyes past all the girls, there is a lot to do in Pattaya and the surrounding area.

All tourist attractions...good for one or two times. Those attractions will not become hobbies... You need real hobbies, sports, entertainment. I mentioned some earlier. Nobody wants to run down every single day and get a photo of a tiger. The other stuff is good once in a while. The OP needs daily activities, not tourist attractions.

Swimming, Gym, Sailing, Yoga, Cooking Classes, University Classes, jogging, walking, bicycles, growing stuff....etc...

[lucjoker]

try benji jumping with a very thin elastic .

Wont be boring,at least the first 10 seconds.

[wotamess]

Honestly, I didn't think this was a real topic - hence my earlier sarcasm.

However, you came to this paradise for a reason; do you remember it? I know mine, and am sure many others do. This is a big country, and an old one - you could do worse than investigating its rich couture.

Again, if Pattaya (Phucket) doesn't do it for you, jump on a bus & move. Living in a tourist party-town wouldn't do it for me, and it sounds like it doesn't do it for you. Pick up your sticks bro