Is Pattaya really on the bones of it arse at the minute?

[Jip99]

I went into Pattaya Saturday morning to do some shopping, and as I was driving down South Pattaya Road, it struck me just how ugly Pattaya is. I'm not bashing the place, but it really is an amazingly ugly city. The infrastructure is badly decrepit with a jumble of wires, signs and nothing of interest or attractiveness. Not to be insulting to its residents, both long and short term, but I just can't understand why anyone would choose to live there. I'm happy that it has the shopping I want and that I can scoot in to grab what I want then get back out.

Maybe its very run-down appearance and gross overcrowding are contributing a little more each day to keeping people away. Its substantial amount of crime doesn't help, either. Unfortunately, the Pattaya local government has let it go for so long without any planning or improvements that making it an even tolerable place to live for many of us is beyond hope.

A visit from the Whinging Police is in hand for you

I rather think a small medal is in order.

A fairly accurate, and balanced, description.

[waynethor]

I went into Pattaya Saturday morning to do some shopping, and as I was driving down South Pattaya Road, it struck me just how ugly Pattaya is. I'm not bashing the place, but it really is an amazingly ugly city. The infrastructure is badly decrepit with a jumble of wires, signs and nothing of interest or attractiveness. Not to be insulting to its residents, both long and short term, but I just can't understand why anyone would choose to live there. I'm happy that it has the shopping I want and that I can scoot in to grab what I want then get back out.

Maybe its very run-down appearance and gross overcrowding are contributing a little more each day to keeping people away. Its substantial amount of crime doesn't help, either. Unfortunately, the Pattaya local government has let it go for so long without any planning or improvements that making it an even tolerable place to live for many of us is beyond hope.

A visit from the Whinging Police is in hand for you

I rather think a small medal is in order.

A fairly accurate, and balanced, description.

That's alright loppylugs1, I fully expect that people will accuse me of whinging, but thanks for the warning.

It was just an off-the-cuff post saying how much its ugliness hit me. I've known the place for ages and have been going there for shopping just as long. But early on Saturday, it hit me more than ever as being a really ugly city. Perhaps it has just reached that point where a few more wires have been strung and a little more paint has been chipped off the curbs and buildings recently to take it to the breaking point. I'm sure its appearance is much more tolerable at night when the level of its wear isn't so obvious and all the lights and girls make it exciting. Each to their own, but it's not a place I want to call home.

[A1Str8]

No.

[bertty]

I went into Pattaya Saturday morning to do some shopping, and as I was driving down South Pattaya Road, it struck me just how ugly Pattaya is. I'm not bashing the place, but it really is an amazingly ugly city. The infrastructure is badly decrepit with a jumble of wires, signs and nothing of interest or attractiveness. Not to be insulting to its residents, both long and short term, but I just can't understand why anyone would choose to live there. I'm happy that it has the shopping I want and that I can scoot in to grab what I want then get back out.

Maybe its very run-down appearance and gross overcrowding are contributing a little more each day to keeping people away. Its substantial amount of crime doesn't help, either. Unfortunately, the Pattaya local government has let it go for so long without any planning or improvements that making it an even tolerable place to live for many of us is beyond hope.

Have to agree with this. I used to go running on Buddha hill, at the top there is a nice flat seating area which has gone to rack n ruin.

Toilets that are both disgusting and no longer in use. There used to be wooden beams for the flowers to run along, they are all broken and most have been taken away.

The one thing I notice about Pattaya and it's probably the same for the rest of Thailand is... they make things and they can be beautiful but that's as good as it gets. Repairs never seem to get carried out.

[KhunBENQ]

Pattaya quiet in January?

Never!

I wish it were and I could simply drive to by car, walk in to my favourite hotel and get a room without reservation.

Just dreaming

My last visit was in deep low season (last week of September).

"Quiet"? Well I could cross the streets without being overrun

The hotel I stayed (on Soi Buakhao) was almost full, could not get a pool view room. had to take a street view.

No chance to change during a week.

Well there are places that were quiet, but the good spots were busy enough.

Low season divides the good from the bad.

[bartender100]

Someone must be expecting it to get busy at some point, from my window I can see 8 new condo developments going up, a couple of them are massive places

[petercool]

Pattaya bashing post removed.

[Chivas]

Low season quiter than normal but high season will see as always a return of the Tourists

[petermik]

Low season quiter than normal but high season will see as always a return of the Tourists

High season will be a "low high season" this year methinks.............ruskies down in numbers for sure

[KhunBENQ]

High season will be a "low high season" this year methinks.............ruskies down in numbers for sure

Ruskies down? Likely with the Rubel at minus 20 percent (so far).

But who cares if you are on the girlie/bar trail?

[Yahooka]

Don't be put off when people tells you that " Pattaya is dead" or that " low season is slow season ". It's still plenty of places with many punters in and it's actually possible to move around without bumping in to people everywhere.

You will have plenty of fun, guaranteed.

[Tolley]

I am not a fan of high season so low season can stay as long as it likes.

As for bars and how full or empty they are you could get rid off 75percent of the bars and you would still have too many.

[Chivas]

Low season quiter than normal but high season will see as always a return of the Tourists

.............ruskies down in numbers for sure

Perhaps there is God after all..........

[Bellacissa]

Second road was however under construction and getting new blacktop.

I was there at the end of September and riding down second road on the back of a motorbike was excruciating. I hope they have it finished before I get back in January or I might need the name of a good chiropractor.

It wasn't dead when I was there, still plenty going on, but it wasn't as nearly as overrun as it was when I went in February.

[Loptr]

With the economies of the EU, China, Russia and the US all in the toilet, plus the ME up in flames again, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up for a bang-up high season...

[SheungWan]

With the economies of the EU, China, Russia and the US all in the toilet, plus the ME up in flames again, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up for a bang-up high season...

The only thing in the toilet probably is your understanding of economics.

[MZurf]

I went into Pattaya Saturday morning to do some shopping, and as I was driving down South Pattaya Road, it struck me just how ugly Pattaya is. I'm not bashing the place, but it really is an amazingly ugly city. The infrastructure is badly decrepit with a jumble of wires, signs and nothing of interest or attractiveness. Not to be insulting to its residents, both long and short term, but I just can't understand why anyone would choose to live there. I'm happy that it has the shopping I want and that I can scoot in to grab what I want then get back out.

Maybe its very run-down appearance and gross overcrowding are contributing a little more each day to keeping people away. Its substantial amount of crime doesn't help, either. Unfortunately, the Pattaya local government has let it go for so long without any planning or improvements that making it an even tolerable place to live for many of us is beyond hope.

Pattaya is definitively a butt ugly city - but then again, what Thai city is not?

[davetrout]

if not many customers maybe there are some bargains to be had

[BugJackBaron]

I went into Pattaya Saturday morning to do some shopping, and as I was driving down South Pattaya Road, it struck me just how ugly Pattaya is. I'm not bashing the place, but it really is an amazingly ugly city. The infrastructure is badly decrepit with a jumble of wires, signs and nothing of interest or attractiveness. Not to be insulting to its residents, both long and short term, but I just can't understand why anyone would choose to live there. I'm happy that it has the shopping I want and that I can scoot in to grab what I want then get back out.

Maybe its very run-down appearance and gross overcrowding are contributing a little more each day to keeping people away. Its substantial amount of crime doesn't help, either. Unfortunately, the Pattaya local government has let it go for so long without any planning or improvements that making it an even tolerable place to live for many of us is beyond hope.

Have to agree with this. I used to go running on Buddha hill, at the top there is a nice flat seating area which has gone to rack n ruin.

Toilets that are both disgusting and no longer in use. There used to be wooden beams for the flowers to run along, they are all broken and most have been taken away.

The one thing I notice about Pattaya and it's probably the same for the rest of Thailand is... they make things and they can be beautiful but that's as good as it gets. Repairs never seem to get carried out.

Not worth startting a seperate thread but on Sukimvit and Soi BoonChana , the bus shelter in front of Wat Boon collapsed this morning. Anybody under it would have been hurt or killed. No maintenance whatsoever.

Too bad my camera phone wasn't with me.

[MrWorldwide]

I'm flying from the UK to Darwin AUS and was going to stopover in Thailand/Pattaya for a few weeks to break up the trip but if it's as bad as people are saying i maybe just forget about the stopover and get straight to Darwin. I have been in pattaya before when it was pretty dead and it was pretty boring tbh. I just wanted to know if it has picked up any.

I'm guessing you havent spent a whole lot of time in Darwin. You'll soon see a quite night in Pattaya in a whole new light.

[Loptr]

With the economies of the EU, China, Russia and the US all in the toilet, plus the ME up in flames again, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up for a bang-up high season...

The only thing in the toilet probably is your understanding of economics.

You're going to have to do better than that...

18 Signs that the Global Economic Crisis is Accelerating as we Enter the Last Half of 2014

http://www.globalresearch.ca/18-signs-that-the-global-economic-crisis-is-accelerating-as-we-enter-the-last-half-of-2014/5389489

20 Signs That The Global Economic Crisis Is Starting To Catch Fire

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-14/20-signs-global-economic-crisis-starting-catch-fire

[ttthailand]

Pattaya is built on the sex industry and the merchandise being sold today has a lot to be desired. Most is defective or way out of date. Perhaps my standards are a little high but Pattaya sure has declined over the years. I think the best years have come and gone.

[LennyW]

Pattaya is built on the sex industry and the merchandise being sold today has a lot to be desired. Most is defective or way out of date. Perhaps my standards are a little high but Pattaya sure has declined over the years. I think the best years have come and gone.

Yeah, you come to Pattaya to buy sex......your standards are way up there!

[ryro88]

I'm flying from the UK to Darwin AUS and was going to stopover in Thailand/Pattaya for a few weeks to break up the trip but if it's as bad as people are saying i maybe just forget about the stopover and get straight to Darwin. I have been in pattaya before when it was pretty dead and it was pretty boring tbh. I just wanted to know if it has picked up any.

I'm guessing you havent spent a whole lot of time in Darwin. You'll soon see a quite night in Pattaya in a whole new light.

I'm going to darwin to work. I have mentioned already in this post thar I have been to Pattaya quite a lot before both when busy and quiet. When it's quiet I don't enjoy it the same.

[morrobay]

Pattaya is built on the sex industry and the merchandise being sold today has a lot to be desired. Most is defective or way out of date. Perhaps my standards are a little high but Pattaya sure has declined over the years. I think the best years have come and gone.

Thats what it was built on. Then enter all the big commercial developers and big touring business riding piggy back on that. These Asians and Russians and Thais that make up the majority of tourists today seem to be oblivious to the declining quality of the over all environment in Pattaya: Traffic , construction, pollution , garbage thrown all over the place. All the crumbling incompetently constructed infrastructure everywhere.Then all the scams and neck less snatches by local lowlifes.There should be no expectations of the future of Pattaya being anything more than a congested seedy third string seaside town in decline.

[mikeyla]

With the economies of the EU, China, Russia and the US all in the toilet, plus the ME up in flames again, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up for a bang-up high season...

The only thing in the toilet probably is your understanding of economics.

You're going to have to do better than that...

18 Signs that the Global Economic Crisis is Accelerating as we Enter the Last Half of 2014

http://www.globalresearch.ca/18-signs-that-the-global-economic-crisis-is-accelerating-as-we-enter-the-last-half-of-2014/5389489

20 Signs That The Global Economic Crisis Is Starting To Catch Fire

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-14/20-signs-global-economic-crisis-starting-catch-fire

As is my custom, instead of just reading your cited drivel I googled the authors.

Michael T. Snyder is a fundamentalist Christian crank who has started numerous blogs as a testament to his raging insane belief that the world is about to end. He started with The Economic Collapse Blog in 2007, with constant articles stating how the world is going to hell every single day since the meltdown started in 2007. It seems as though Snyder blames the government for every ill in the world, because without it everything would be great.

The second cite is authored by a fictional character from the movie Fight Club. It references the bible thumper from the first cite...so yeah, your understanding of economics remains in the toilet.

To the OP. Yes Pattaya is rather slow, but if you get bored here even during slow season you are doing it wrong.

[petermik]

Pattaya is built on the sex industry and the merchandise being sold today has a lot to be desired. Most is defective or way out of date. Perhaps my standards are a little high but Pattaya sure has declined over the years. I think the best years have come and gone.

Sadly you are correct sir

[petermik]

High season will be a "low high season" this year methinks.............ruskies down in numbers for sure

Ruskies down? Likely with the Rubel at minus 20 percent (so far).

But who cares if you are on the girlie/bar trail?

I,m not on the "girly/bar trail and actually to be pedantic its RUBLE not rubel

[Asiantravel]

With the economies of the EU, China, Russia and the US all in the toilet, plus the ME up in flames again, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up for a bang-up high season...

The only thing in the toilet probably is your understanding of economics.

can you please enlighten us all as to why what Loptr wrote is wrong in your opinion?

Over to you

[tropo]

I enjoy it being busy. Each to their own I suppose.

I've been here for 9 years and there's always quiet bars. You want to know why? They open too many, that's why. There have always been way too many beer bars for the number of punters.

Walking Street is busy every night and it has been since the military took over. Only the Russians are down (but not out), so if that bothers you, stay away.