Must be some very deep pockets behind some of Pattaya's bars/restaurants ..

[ToddinChonburi]

Sounds like Pattaya is burning, time to get some popcorn and a cold drink . Pattaya is a mess, outdated roads, flooding, crime, A big city on the water and they have no idea how to take advantage of this. Walking street on the ocean side should be all open air bars and restaurants with huge patios to enjoy the ocean breeze and moonlit sky.

How about changing the traffic flow on beach road and second road, knock some buildings down so Jomtein second road and beach road Pattaya come together at some point and second road Pattaya joins smoothly into Jomtein second road. If you had some Engineering vision you could see this easily. No more sharp curve at walking street and of course getting rid of all the crap parked on beach road.

Seeing this will never happen Pattaya will slowly get worse. Instead of building something like a bypass or over pass the are going to build a short little tunnel which will not to anything to relieve traffic congestion.

[Woody1]

It seems to be the perfect storm at the moment, low currency's, martial law, high prices. It's not the bargain it once was. There simply aren't enough tourists to support the businesses. How many bars and restaurants Gogos etc can withstand this downturn??? I do my rounds of the Gogos and with the few customers frequenting these establishments, many are wondering how many are legitimate?( money laundering)???? And p4 p prices are now cheaper in Europe and elsewhere. But people continue to say that a gal is justified in asking a weeks wages for an hours work??(gogo) and the weekly beatings, mugging s, killings, etc dont do tourism any favour s.

No easy fixes here, but another low season will. Spell disaster for many many businesses.

I suspect there is also a large downturn in the numbers of offshore guys visiting. Layoffs everywhere at the moment and those still with a job will be saving their pennies if they are smart.

Yeah, these offshore guys visiting represent at least, roughly guessed, 0.1-0.2% of population here. And those who were laid off now are here 100% of their time instead of just 50%

Figures pulled straight out of thin air with abolutley no basis / proof.

Ever thought of a career with Pattaya City Hall as a planner or estimator? Seem ideally qualified.

There are a huge number of offshore (and overseas onshore) guys visiting and living here on rotational leave, have been for years and still are.

Not to mention the guys who are positioned here semi permanent / permanently directly in the oil and gas industry, or indirectly via service companies supporting the oil and gas industry in Laem Chabang, Bangkok, Maptaphut, Sriracha, Rayong, and Ban Chang.

Coupled with that a great deal of them probably earn more a day than some of the "two week millionaires" bring for their holidays, meaning they will be able to spend more in these establishments should they wish. Some of these guys may well have interests in businesses here, in fact I know of quite a few that do.

Apologies, I'm unable to provide figures, only mere facts.

[phycokiller]

Songkran must be a disaster for bars/restaurants. Many people (like me) who would normally go out to eat/drink have to hibernate for a week.

The bars are full of people during songkran. It is one of the biggest parties of the year.

I havent noticed that, most bars look empty, and thats because even at night you cant get to them without getting saturated. most people dont enjoy sitting in a bar or restaurant when they are soaking wet

[MrWorldwide]

Sounds like Pattaya is burning, time to get some popcorn and a cold drink . Pattaya is a mess, outdated roads, flooding, crime, A big city on the water and they have no idea how to take advantage of this. Walking street on the ocean side should be all open air bars and restaurants with huge patios to enjoy the ocean breeze and moonlit sky.

How about changing the traffic flow on beach road and second road, knock some buildings down so Jomtein second road and beach road Pattaya come together at some point and second road Pattaya joins smoothly into Jomtein second road. If you had some Engineering vision you could see this easily. No more sharp curve at walking street and of course getting rid of all the crap parked on beach road.

Seeing this will never happen Pattaya will slowly get worse. Instead of building something like a bypass or over pass the are going to build a short little tunnel which will not to anything to relieve traffic congestion.

You're asking for a LKY to emerge from the ranks of Thai politicians - a man with vision and the power to make that vision a reality : if you can find anyone like that, please let us know. I get the distinct impression here that it's every man for himself. As for Pattaya 'burning', thats a little dramatic - its more like a whimper than a bang. I have some photos that I took around 2:30pm yesterday afternoon and you could be forgiven for thinking Second Road near Central Festival was just another sleepy Thai thoroughfare out in the boonies. Also took some photos to show how utterly dead the front of Central Festival was. I showed these to some Thais and the response was 'too early !' : that wasnt my experience on previous trips and it hasnt been my experience May-Nov 2014, arguably one of the lowest of low seasons. Still, in the interests of fairness, I'll get some more photos later this afternoon and post them. Unfortunately, my iPad has no flash and my 'real' camera takes such woeful night shots that I cant even be bothered - also not sure how many people want someone taking photos of them at night in certain parts of this city.

(in a moment I couldnt have scripted during yesterday's stroll back from Soi 13/2 down Second Road, an Aussie in front of me turned to his partner and said 'Next time we'll just go straight to the Phillipines'. Interesting times ahead)

Photo from Soi 7 near Pig&Whistle looking back toward Aussie Bar at roughly 3pm, Thursday April 9 2015:

There were a few more in those bars when I wound my way back to Soi Made in Thailand at around 6pm but it still didnt look anything like high season to me - hopefully the weekend will see an explosion in the lead-up to Songkran, if only for the future prospects of the employers in this town.

[MrWorldwide]

Another shot looking down Soi 7 toward Beach Road - note how few motorbikes are anywhere in evidence and the absence of delivery vehicles etc - normally a major annoyance for pedestrians on Sois 7 and 8 during the day. The sign advertising 'Happiness Corner Bar' in the centre of the photo refers to a venue which was a go-go right up until about 3 weeks ago - they tore down the walls and removed the front door to turn it back into a bar. How they survived the low season is a complete mystery to me - in the course of far too many hours spent in a nearby bar I didnt see a single customer go into the go-go or come out from May 2014 till it became a bar sometime in late March 2015, but admittedly I didnt spend my nights with my eyes trained on the front door of the place.

[Norman Stanley Fletcher]

Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?

[canman]

It seems to be the perfect storm at the moment, low currency's, martial law, high prices. It's not the bargain it once was. There simply aren't enough tourists to support the businesses. How many bars and restaurants Gogos etc can withstand this downturn??? I do my rounds of the Gogos and with the few customers frequenting these establishments, many are wondering how many are legitimate?( money laundering)???? And p4 p prices are now cheaper in Europe and elsewhere. But people continue to say that a gal is justified in asking a weeks wages for an hours work??(gogo) and the weekly beatings, mugging s, killings, etc dont do tourism any favour s.

No easy fixes here, but another low season will. Spell disaster for many many businesses.

I suspect there is also a large downturn in the numbers of offshore guys visiting. Layoffs everywhere at the moment and those still with a job will be saving their pennies if they are smart.

Yeah, these offshore guys visiting represent at least, roughly guessed, 0.1-0.2% of population here. And those who were laid off now are here 100% of their time instead of just 50%

You have no idea what your talking about mate. Don't know what the actual numbers are, we are not talking here of a population percentage we are talking about those who are out and about in the bars and how those bars are surving the down turn.

[konying]

Sounds like Pattaya is burning, time to get some popcorn and a cold drink . Pattaya is a mess, outdated roads, flooding, crime, A big city on the water and they have no idea how to take advantage of this. Walking street on the ocean side should be all open air bars and restaurants with huge patios to enjoy the ocean breeze and moonlit sky.

How about changing the traffic flow on beach road and second road, knock some buildings down so Jomtein second road and beach road Pattaya come together at some point and second road Pattaya joins smoothly into Jomtein second road. If you had some Engineering vision you could see this easily. No more sharp curve at walking street and of course getting rid of all the crap parked on beach road.

Seeing this will never happen Pattaya will slowly get worse. Instead of building something like a bypass or over pass the are going to build a short little tunnel which will not to anything to relieve traffic congestion.

Bangkok is no different,

Was there over the long weekend, In Nana go go's, i visited 6 at around 10 pm, there were 2-3 customers in each.

Patpong was totally dead.

Pratunam Markets, you could actually easily walk

[MrWorldwide]

Sounds like Pattaya is burning, time to get some popcorn and a cold drink . Pattaya is a mess, outdated roads, flooding, crime, A big city on the water and they have no idea how to take advantage of this. Walking street on the ocean side should be all open air bars and restaurants with huge patios to enjoy the ocean breeze and moonlit sky.

How about changing the traffic flow on beach road and second road, knock some buildings down so Jomtein second road and beach road Pattaya come together at some point and second road Pattaya joins smoothly into Jomtein second road. If you had some Engineering vision you could see this easily. No more sharp curve at walking street and of course getting rid of all the crap parked on beach road.

Seeing this will never happen Pattaya will slowly get worse. Instead of building something like a bypass or over pass the are going to build a short little tunnel which will not to anything to relieve traffic congestion.

Bangkok is no different,

Was there over the long weekend, In Nana go go's, i visited 6 at around 10 pm, there were 2-3 customers in each.

Patpong was totally dead.

Pratunam Markets, you could actually easily walk

I believe there were similar murmurings of discontent emanating from Phuket a while back, but then one of the guesthouse owners reported that he was booked out till the end of May - not sure what's going on down there but overall its not looking good for what remains of this 'high' season.

[gk10002000]

I think some farang owners just look at the money loss as a cost of doing business and keeping their Visas. That and of course there is frequently a change in ownership as a bar is sold, and new money comes in. The cycle repeats when the new owner decides he has lost enough and sells to another new person.

[gk10002000]

Thanks to those that posted recent photos of Soi 7 and Soi 8. It kind of reminds me of what low season used to be a few years ago before the place seemed to get very crowded as more foreigners started hanging out year round and traffic really increased. I remember actually being able to walk across second road.

[craigt3365]

I just spent 2 days in Bangkok. From lower Suk to Thong Lor. Dead, dead, dead. One of our favorite wine bars in Thong Lor had only 3 people at 1 table. We normally see that place packed, especially in the early evening. The brew pub nearby was also almost empty.

Went for live music and normally it's tough finding a table. Got there at 8pm and the place was empty. Filled up a bit by midnight, but definitely not like before.

Walked around lower Suk and was amazed at how many bars had NO customers. Popped into one for a nam soda and the waitress said it was very slow.

Reasons? Poor global economy, less Russians, military rule, poor value for the money now...?????

[Weblo]

I just spent 2 days in Bangkok. From lower Suk to Thong Lor. Dead, dead, dead. One of our favorite wine bars in Thong Lor had only 3 people at 1 table. We normally see that place packed, especially in the early evening. The brew pub nearby was also almost empty.

Went for live music and normally it's tough finding a table. Got there at 8pm and the place was empty. Filled up a bit by midnight, but definitely not like before.

Walked around lower Suk and was amazed at how many bars had NO customers. Popped into one for a nam soda and the waitress said it was very slow.

Reasons? Poor global economy, less Russians, military rule, poor value for the money now...?????

It's just not good value for the money as it once was. Cambodia was slammed this year. Poor attitudes, military rule, beatings killings, bombings, why wouldn't people come to Thailand? Hehehe

They need a wake up call.

Good for them? They have had it too good for too long.

Bring it on!!!!

My hometown in the west is now cheaper than bangkok, as far as drinking and dining on western food goes.

Why would I spend time there?

It looks like others feel the Same way!

Edited April 11, 2015 by Weblo

[Bernard Flint]

Great, the sooner these beer/whore bars are closed the better and make way for decent businesses.

All markets fluctuate in the course of the business cycle. Happily, Pattaya remains well-poised for the next upturn in the market for good old-fashioned indecency. That should be facilitated by leaving all them sleazy ho's, pimps, creepy beer belly sexpats, beer bars, go-go bars, & nekkid wimmen alone. In fact, further deregulation, tax reduction or elimination, and clear legalization is greatly needed in all indecency areas to help end corruption and to bring prices down. For example, how come the go-gos on Soi Lenkee can't open in the afternoon as they did before the coup? They were doing well. I miss stopping by Crystal for a cold one when I'm out during the day.

In the meantime, the so-called decent businesses have great room for improvement. Maybe this is in fact the real problem here. Take fish & chips, pizza, or Mexican food--seems there still isn't any to please the exquisite tastes of our forum members. And there are just countless charges of indecency against Pattaya's real estate agents!

Sarasota, FLA, USA, still has plenty of room for decent businesses, not to worry. Or how about Bang Saen? I do suspect that as roads improve (the tunnel) and traffic from Bangkok and surrounding areas increases that we'll eventually have--another shopping mall just chock full o' decency.

Sir

I think you had better get your facts right, soi lengkee for go-go bars?????, maybe you mean lk metro????

[konying]

Sounds like Pattaya is burning, time to get some popcorn and a cold drink . Pattaya is a mess, outdated roads, flooding, crime, A big city on the water and they have no idea how to take advantage of this. Walking street on the ocean side should be all open air bars and restaurants with huge patios to enjoy the ocean breeze and moonlit sky.

How about changing the traffic flow on beach road and second road, knock some buildings down so Jomtein second road and beach road Pattaya come together at some point and second road Pattaya joins smoothly into Jomtein second road. If you had some Engineering vision you could see this easily. No more sharp curve at walking street and of course getting rid of all the crap parked on beach road.

Seeing this will never happen Pattaya will slowly get worse. Instead of building something like a bypass or over pass the are going to build a short little tunnel which will not to anything to relieve traffic congestion.

Bangkok is no different,

Was there over the long weekend, In Nana go go's, i visited 6 at around 10 pm, there were 2-3 customers in each.

Patpong was totally dead.

Pratunam Markets, you could actually easily walk

I believe there were similar murmurings of discontent emanating from Phuket a while back, but then one of the guesthouse owners reported that he was booked out till the end of May - not sure what's going on down there but overall its not looking good for what remains of this 'high' season.

Patpong not patong:)

[sojourner007]

Pattaya is dead as a dodo. It was quiet even at Xmas and New Year compared to previous years but it is really dead now.

I don't see much changing in the near future.

A strong thai baht and weaker euro the crash of the rouble and the aussie dollar all mean less tourists coming.

Sex tourists are probably going elsewhere as Pattaya famous for its sex scene is no longer cheap in fact it is damn expensive so punters are going elsewhere like Cambodia, Phillipines.

Unfortunately it's just as expensive in the Phillipines and without all the comforts and conveniences one gets in LOS.

[craigt3365]

I was just in Big C South Pattaya. All the tables that use to sell souvenirs near the food court are gone. So is the booth selling wine. Not enough tourists???

Can't post a link, but take a look at the article in the Bangkok Post today: Teflon Thailand starts to flake

Interesting comment from the lady working in the car dealership.

[luk AJ]

Pataya was fun but unfortunately these days are long gone. Walking street still seems busy but that's just an impression. Bars are empty and the street full of Chinese tourists who added this in their tour program but they don't enter bars. No idea where this is going ....

[Anthony5]

Was at my Embassy earlier this year, and they told me, we don't know how this gonna end but all the figures about export,tourism and whatever that happy dude announces they are all made up.

I assume those people know a little more than us.

[MrWorldwide]

I was just in Big C South Pattaya. All the tables that use to sell souvenirs near the food court are gone. So is the booth selling wine. Not enough tourists???

Can't post a link, but take a look at the article in the Bangkok Post today: Teflon Thailand starts to flake

Interesting comment from the lady working in the car dealership.

Thanks Craig - I'll chase up a copy when I go to get my morning (!) coffee. I suspect that alarm bells are ringing in various quarters - the General sounded as defensive as any elected politician I've ever heard in his last televised address - but its the people at the bottom of the pyramid who are going to really feel the pain when the myth of full employment really starts to unravel. Interesting times ahead.

[MrWorldwide]

Was at my Embassy earlier this year, and they told me, we don't know how this gonna end but all the figures about export,tourism and whatever that happy dude announces they are all made up.

I assume those people know a little more than us.

When they can give me a reliable estimate of the size of the cash economy in this country, and show me the methodology used in arriving at that figure, I'll take the stats more seriously. That said, I believe exported goods and passenger arrivals can both be reliably counted : whether we're presented with the actual data is a question for the people at the top in Bangkok. Markets respond to those numbers, regardless of their authenticity, so I guess there is a case for continuing to present a sunny-side-up picture of the economy.

[loppylugs1]

These girls are not for taking any less,perhaps starvation will change their whatever somewhat

[Anthony5]

Was at my Embassy earlier this year, and they told me, we don't know how this gonna end but all the figures about export,tourism and whatever that happy dude announces they are all made up.

I assume those people know a little more than us.

When they can give me a reliable estimate of the size of the cash economy in this country, and show me the methodology used in arriving at that figure, I'll take the stats more seriously. That said, I believe exported goods and passenger arrivals can both be reliably counted : whether we're presented with the actual data is a question for the people at the top in Bangkok. Markets respond to those numbers, regardless of their authenticity, so I guess there is a case for continuing to present a sunny-side-up picture of the economy.

If you mean with markets you and me, you'll be correct, but foreign governments and institutional investors have some other resources to check if the numbers are believable or not.

What keeps the Baht high is the money outflow out of western bank accounts and markets, when ( and if) this comes to a halt because of recovery and higher interest rates, the Skydive will not be measurable.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

For me, it's the big hit in the exchange rate that is making me weigh the options. I am going back home to Canada tomorrow and won't be back for 2 months, maybe more. I usually only go back for 10 days to 2 weeks. If I come back here this summer, I will return to Canada again in the fall for 1-2 months, at least. There are many reasons but the overall poor value for money is a biggie. It seems every month prices for groceries go up.

On my last trip in September, I went around and priced the things I buy in Thailand. Nearly all the grocery products were cheaper by big amounts. The big difference back home is rent, which is very high compared to here. I regret a little bit selling my condo 3 years ago.

My offshore oil friends, which is a lot of people, are not having their contracts renewed, despite years of service. They are all based in Thailand, except one from France. They are not hopeful of getting another contract. Another friend not in oil is being courted by a US company and he may just leave after 10 years here, with a solid relationship, for the same reasons of high costs and frankly, the complete loss of the sanuk factor. I was just talking with him last night here in BKK, in a completely empty bar on soi 22

Last, I live on the Darkside of Pattaya. With no supermarket on this side and the horrendously long, costly and risky moto ride to the bright side and back, my fate was sealed and I will leave. The big questions is, where to go. I'm returning home to contemplate the options. The home country is looking better and better. BTW, I do not participate in the night life so that won't be missed.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[Anthony5]

For me, it's the big hit in the exchange rate that is making me weigh the options. I am going back home to Canada tomorrow and won't be back for 2 months, maybe more. I usually only go back for 10 days to 2 weeks. If I come back here this summer, I will return to Canada again in the fall for 1-2 months, at least. There are many reasons but the overall poor value for money is a biggie. It seems every month prices for groceries go up.

On my last trip in September, I went around and priced the things I buy in Thailand. Nearly all the grocery products were cheaper by big amounts. The big difference back home is rent, which is very high compared to here. I regret a little bit selling my condo 3 years ago.

My offshore oil friends, which is a lot of people, are not having their contracts renewed, despite years of service. They are all based in Thailand, except one from France. They are not hopeful of getting another contract. Another friend not in oil is being courted by a US company and he may just leave after 10 years here, with a solid relationship, for the same reasons of high costs and frankly, the complete loss of the sanuk factor. I was just talking with him last night here in BKK, in a completely empty bar on soi 22

Last, I live on the Darkside of Pattaya. With no supermarket on this side and the horrendously long, costly and risky moto ride to the bright side and back, my fate was sealed and I will leave. The big questions is, where to go. I'm returning home to contemplate the options. The home country is looking better and better. BTW, I do not participate in the night life so that won't be missed.

So you leave Thailand because there is no supermarket on the east side of Sukhumvit?

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

For me, it's the big hit in the exchange rate that is making me weigh the options. I am going back home to Canada tomorrow and won't be back for 2 months, maybe more. I usually only go back for 10 days to 2 weeks. If I come back here this summer, I will return to Canada again in the fall for 1-2 months, at least. There are many reasons but the overall poor value for money is a biggie. It seems every month prices for groceries go up.

On my last trip in September, I went around and priced the things I buy in Thailand. Nearly all the grocery products were cheaper by big amounts. The big difference back home is rent, which is very high compared to here. I regret a little bit selling my condo 3 years ago.

My offshore oil friends, which is a lot of people, are not having their contracts renewed, despite years of service. They are all based in Thailand, except one from France. They are not hopeful of getting another contract. Another friend not in oil is being courted by a US company and he may just leave after 10 years here, with a solid relationship, for the same reasons of high costs and frankly, the complete loss of the sanuk factor. I was just talking with him last night here in BKK, in a completely empty bar on soi 22

Last, I live on the Darkside of Pattaya. With no supermarket on this side and the horrendously long, costly and risky moto ride to the bright side and back, my fate was sealed and I will leave. The big questions is, where to go. I'm returning home to contemplate the options. The home country is looking better and better. BTW, I do not participate in the night life so that won't be missed.

So you leave Thailand because there is no supermarket on the east side of Sukhumvit?

Hardly. Nothing is ever that simple. I should have added ". . . fate was sealed and I will leave Pattaya." The isolation of the Darkside by the Sukhumvit construction was the final reason in a long list of negatives about Pattaya (and Thailand) that is leading me to weigh all other options. The unpredictable nature of exchange rates is clouding everything though. What I do know is that I've lost 12,000 baht in cash-in-hand since late last fall. And many others are experiencing the same, of course.

[Pheat123]

Sounds like Pattaya is burning, time to get some popcorn and a cold drink . Pattaya is a mess, outdated roads, flooding, crime, A big city on the water and they have no idea how to take advantage of this. Walking street on the ocean side should be all open air bars and restaurants with huge patios to enjoy the ocean breeze and moonlit sky.

How about changing the traffic flow on beach road and second road, knock some buildings down so Jomtein second road and beach road Pattaya come together at some point and second road Pattaya joins smoothly into Jomtein second road. If you had some Engineering vision you could see this easily. No more sharp curve at walking street and of course getting rid of all the crap parked on beach road.

Seeing this will never happen Pattaya will slowly get worse. Instead of building something like a bypass or over pass the are going to build a short little tunnel which will not to anything to relieve traffic congestion.

Bangkok is no different,

Was there over the long weekend, In Nana go go's, i visited 6 at around 10 pm, there were 2-3 customers in each.

Patpong was totally dead.

Pratunam Markets, you could actually easily walk

Not strictly true

I am in Nana now

A lot of the bars are packed out even during the day

Spankys/rainbow 4 gogo bars were packed out last night

Loads of tourists about

[emilymat]

For me, it's the big hit in the exchange rate that is making me weigh the options. I am going back home to Canada tomorrow and won't be back for 2 months, maybe more. I usually only go back for 10 days to 2 weeks. If I come back here this summer, I will return to Canada again in the fall for 1-2 months, at least. There are many reasons but the overall poor value for money is a biggie. It seems every month prices for groceries go up.

On my last trip in September, I went around and priced the things I buy in Thailand. Nearly all the grocery products were cheaper by big amounts. The big difference back home is rent, which is very high compared to here. I regret a little bit selling my condo 3 years ago.

My offshore oil friends, which is a lot of people, are not having their contracts renewed, despite years of service. They are all based in Thailand, except one from France. They are not hopeful of getting another contract. Another friend not in oil is being courted by a US company and he may just leave after 10 years here, with a solid relationship, for the same reasons of high costs and frankly, the complete loss of the sanuk factor. I was just talking with him last night here in BKK, in a completely empty bar on soi 22

Last, I live on the Darkside of Pattaya. With no supermarket on this side and the horrendously long, costly and risky moto ride to the bright side and back, my fate was sealed and I will leave. The big questions is, where to go. I'm returning home to contemplate the options. The home country is looking better and better. BTW, I do not participate in the night life so that won't be missed.

So you leave Thailand because there is no supermarket on the east side of Sukhumvit?

Hardly. Nothing is ever that simple. I should have added ". . . fate was sealed and I will leave Pattaya." The isolation of the Darkside by the Sukhumvit construction was the final reason in a long list of negatives about Pattaya (and Thailand) that is leading me to weigh all other options. The unpredictable nature of exchange rates is clouding everything though. What I do know is that I've lost 12,000 baht in cash-in-hand since late last fall. And many others are experiencing the same, of course.

I totally agree and could have written the same post. When I raised these 'problems' of exchange rates in the local rag I was told that only those people who could afford to stand fluctuations in exchange rates should live in Thailand.

I thought that was rather arrogant, but it leads me to the conclusion there are obviously three types of farangs living here.

There are those who have investment incomes, properties abroad and possibly several million in a Thai bank. I suspect my responder is one. I have friends here who are of the same ilk and I have no envy at all.

Then there are the 'middle' farangs like myself and possibly the author of this post. We have a fixed income which we budget for and expect to live quietly and comfortably. On my 'fixed' income I had a Thai income of 100,000 per month in 2007 when I came here. I don't think that can be regarded as an irresponsible decision, as currency swings of 1-2% either way are to be expected.

But that is now down to around 67,000, just above the requirement for a retirement visa. It's not just me, as I suspect many people did not foresee the financial collapse n the west that followed. Anyway, we sweated it out and things began to look a bit more promising last autumn. Pound at 55. But since then it's dropped to 47 - for no reason I can fathom. That's a 14% drop!.

I think that is what the poster is referring to - even though I assume it's Canadian dollar's in his case. In any event, these are not minor fluctuations as one would expect. It's like a currency roller-coaster, which those in my first group above can well ride out, but my second group, like me, do not need to have the daily worry that surrounds this problem.

My third group are those that manage on a shoe string.

It's just the reality that forces some people to say enough is enough. I'll try things elsewhere. No-one is looking for sympathy, just exercising some pragmatism.

Finally, the poster refers to the dark-side and lack of supermarkets etc. and travel into Pattaya, dodging the road works and buses. It is getting horrendous, but you have to go occasionally simply to pay bills and do a weekly shop.

[MrWorldwide]

Might be time to restate the central point I tried to make in my OP:

Songkran will need to be a complete turnaround for many of the bars and restaurants in this town to keep their doors open beyond May 2015 IMO.

Whether the root cause of that downturn is currency fluctuations or rising prices - or a combination of the two - my point was that I just dont grasp how many of these businesses have lasted this long. Even last night, when I thought there were a few more punters around, if I took photos of the people in the bars in central Pattaya and photoshopped out the Thais working there, they would have been very sparsely populated. I understand that the town has changed and no-one is immune from inflation, but the impact of a very strong baht in the wake of the greenback's resurgence seems to have reined in a lot of our 'disposable' income. I guess those still here in May can either laugh or grimace at this post - assuming it isnt simply another long forgotten prediction to add to the thousands made for Pattaya's future over the years

[Anthony5]

Another indication how quiet it is in Pattaya can be had in Big C extra, specifically in the refrigerator where they place the western food items that near expiry date and are sold with 50% reduction.

Where there would normally a few items every day, now the fridge is overflowing, and restocked 2-3 times a day.

I've seen that the guy who stocks it had so many items tha he had to take half of it back to the warehouse.

Where there would normally 5 piece of Camembert, there will now be 25 inside that fridge.

I don't think that Big C has increased the number they import though.