2 hours ago, onemorechang said:

 

You never mentioned your family until the last two posts.

That's twisting it

Your the one that has come from afar to  bag  Pattaya.

You did not leave pattaya because you felt unsafe.

That's a pork pie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok I'll come out of the closet I didn't leave Patts because I felt unsafe.

I left because of people like you who are know it all's and cant be wrong.

Happy now.

Enjoy your safe life there.

 

8 minutes ago, fredob43 said:

Ok I'll come out of the closet I didn't leave Patts because I felt unsafe.

I left because of people like you who are know it all's and cant be wrong.

Happy now.

Enjoy your safe life there.

 

 

Yes i do,    for 5 years as a tourist and 15 years as  my home

We can all be wrong,    but its a shame when we cant put our hand up.

but instead we just invent reasons not to.

Good luck in    wherethefuckaburi.

Party town / Sex town  wont miss you.

Threads like this are almost impossible to reply to as it's is all subjective to the individual poster and their experiences.

I once had a lousy fortnight in Chiang Mai and can't stomach the place at any cost as a result. The reasons probably totally irrational to those who swear by CM so much, still that is my subjective reasoning in effect. 

Sure, I don't think anywhere 'improves' when we compare it to some 'golden ideal' time from our own pasts.

For example, I have my happiest memories from a time in the late eighties when I was still fresh to Thailand, I had pals at every turn, I'd just started work in Thailand on a pretty sweet package, with a nice 'enticement' hardship payment nesting in my bank, as well as my salary plopping into my bank monthly. I was newly married, my wife was busy building a home for us up in BKK, I was given plenty of free time to 'settle in' so I spent a lot of time in Pattaya with pals, living it up, as the saying goes.

During our early years of marriage my wife and I would often treat ourselves to weekends  of pampering in nice hotels, more so when the kids came along.

Now, when I think of, or visit Pattaya, it is those 'golden days' which spring to mind though most of my pals have moved on to pastures new, some have sadly passed away, one or two remain with whom I meet up with for nostalgia trips every now and again. I'm sure that there are those whose time in Pattaya hasn't been as pleasant as my own have been, who look at the place with askance.

One pal of mine who used to love the place got stung blind by a lass he met there over a period of years, eventually finding out the 'cousin' his lass saw so much of, was nothing of the sort, and getting fleeced in the meantime, as well as having a series of health problems during that time, now even though he is happily settled in BKK, can't bear mention of the place. 

Though such ideal times are entirely a subjective personal perception, maybe from the first time we visited or during some particularly special time in one's life in Thailand.

Pattaya has improved for us personally. It represents way better value than can be found in Bangkok. I/we can have a good night out in Pattaya for a fraction of what we'd be paying in BKK. The car/taxi is full of all manner of goodies when we return home which one simply can't get in BKK at any of the import supermarkets. We can still find a top end, child-friendly hotel at a good rate, plenty around town to keep the kids occupied at a reasonable rate, so we still enjoy our visits there even if my own 'golden past' there has now faded to 'whispers on the wind' if you will. Superficials I know, but as I said, such posts are only really open to personal experience and objectivity.

 

16 hours ago, Merylhighground said:

Threads like this are almost impossible to reply to as it's is all subjective to the individual poster and their experiences.

 

 

Quote culled for brevity

 

You speak the truth. Had my marriage gone sour in Pattaya I probably wouldn't want to go back there. Luckily it happened in an obscure, rather grotty Thai town, where no tourists tread, and I haven't wanted to come back here for years, even when things were great.

I agree that my love of Pattaya stems from the 90s, when it had it's golden age, but unless I am really out of date I'm sure there will be something to love, still, though it definitely won't be the walkway.

 

Very much so TBL^.

I once had a very rough year in Saraburi early in my time in Thailand.

I was sent there for work reasons, as it was only meant to be a four - six month long project they didn't make provision for my wife and family to come with me, so I was pretty much dumped in a totally strange town (it warranted only a paragraph or two in the Lonely Planet guide at the time - and only got that due to it's proximity to Khao Yai and Khao Sam Lan NPs) where I knew no one, my language skills then only just enough to 'get by on', I was dumped in a fairly basic hotel to live in, my only local point of contact was my driver who seemed not to give a rat's backside about my well-being, or the job in hand, who was the reason the job ran to almost a year.

While Saraburi is no doubt a charming town in many ways in it's own right, back then in the mid 1990s there was little of interest, entertainment value or benefit to offer the young Westerner (especially a married one), no (or few) friendly fellow Westerners to point out the local places of interest, no Western food or entertainment and so on.

I spent almost every evening/night of the first month huddled over a succession of  beer bottles in a small restaurant near the hotel, reading one of the few books I'd thrown in my bag, listening to music. My walk back to the hotel every night went over a small stretch of high ground from where I could see the orange glow of BKK in the distance, teasing me, wishing I was under that glow which I felt I could almost touch, and every now and then a BKK bound train would rattle close by the restaurant mocking me with it's proximity that all I had to do was to get on, sit down and then a few hours later I'd be back in paradise surrounded by pals and sleeping next to my wife...

Now I can't stand even going through the place on the train, car or bus when all the memories come back, unless I can see the BKK bound platform/bus station where I would be stood in anticipation every Friday looking forward to a weekend in civilization with pals and the family.

I'm sure there are folks who have, and do, live very happy lives in Saraburi who could write pages singing her praises but the thought of the place, even on a chilly September morning in the UK, makes me shudder.