Is this area still alive and jumping? Beach Rd just past the Shopping Mall and well before Walking St.

No it looked pretty empty on Friday and now only has a handful of bars Sad really coz I used to like it in there

Yeah. Used to be a great place when the boxing ring was there. But I guess that can be said of a lot of places in Patts these days.

Last time I was in Pattaya (beginning of March), Best Friend was fairly quiet.

I think the downfall began when the naughty GoGo bar ("Blue lagoon"?) in the back of the area closed.

Edited March 29, 201511 yr by KhunBENQ

Not sure about the complex in question, but I did the 'circuit' from Soi 13 down to Soi Pattayaland 2 a few weeks ago, working my way up and down various sois (Yamato, Post Office etc) to get a feel for the number of punters down there and it was a train wreck. My Thai associates were more than happy to retreat to Soi Diana with me - a coupe of those sois are really bar precincts but it all looked dark and uninviting compared to Diana/LK and Made in Thailand. I'm told that things are dire on Soi 6 atm, but that's a strip I have no particular desire to revisit since it was invaded by the katoeys from 6/1 and their cousins from Laos.

As with anything in Pattaya, the sois in question may well spring to life after midnight - we were down there at about 10pm and the above might not be an entirely accurate reflection of the amount of business they're doing. Stickman was notorious for being back in his hotel room at midnight on his visits to Pattaya - happy to hear that I've completely misread the vibe in that part of central Pattaya.

I dont know what they're doing upstairs at Billabong Bar on LK, but they seem to have plenty of customers every time I go past.