Not Pattaya Bashing

[malcoml]

As a bit of background I lived in Pattaya for about 4 years and left there in 2013 really hating Thailand.

 

Anyway I just got back from a four week holiday in Thailand and we'll I have fallen in love with the place again.

 

Now unlike other trips on this one I spread my time evenly between Pattaya, Bangkok, and Phuket.

 

My Phuket experience was amazing and must say the people of the south are so kind and helpful without expectations. Bangkok was also enjoyable and I met some pretty switched on expats making a go of it.

Now Pattaya is the complete opposite. Expats were rude and did nothing but complain. Also the Thai people were extremely rude and were so money focused.

 

So what is my point? 

 

Well on many forums there is a large group of moaners. Is this group basically people who live in Pattaya. To me it seems everyone I met who lived outside of Pattaya was happy.

[KhunBENQ]

Moved to Pattaya forum (the shark pool ).

 

[saakura]

The economic refugees, mongers & other deviants who have come here and shacked up with local girls from the bottom of the barrel who have ripped them off will moan, irrespective of whether they are in Pattaya or Buriram or Udon.

[champers]

1 hour ago, saakura said:

The economic refugees, mongers & other deviants who have come here and shacked up with local girls from the bottom of the barrel who have ripped them off will moan, irrespective of whether they are in Pattaya or Buriram or Udon.

Which one are you?

[NanLaew]

8 hours ago, malcoml said:

Well on many forums there is a large group of moaners. Is this group basically people who live in Pattaya.

Citation needed much? 

 

Looking at the local forum categories on TV, the Pattaya forum is by far the largest and probably 4th overall across the forum. However, most of the bashers openly confess (like the OP) that they are either former Pattaya denizens who for some reason or another didn't like it which is fair enough, or of an opinion never, ever to set foot in 'Sodom-On-Sea' having never, ever been there in the first place. The latter do seem to cyber-squat on their proverbial bars stool and subscribe to at least one of the tawdry foreign language tabloids where a morbid obsession for the crime pages prevails. The laugh dismissively at Thai on Thai crime but really get their panties in a bunch when a farang gets busted (or worse).

 

My opinion is that most of the more visceral TV moaners are camped out in Chiang Mai; certainly the ones with the most criticism of all things related to Pattaya but I am open to a reasonable discussion on this.

[zorro1]

The only moaners I met in Pattaya were women [emoji16]

[Yahooka]

" My Phuket experience was amazing and must say the people of the south are so kind and helpful without expectations "........................They must have changed their attitude a lot since I left in 2012.Rapidly increasing greed and unpoliteness was my impression after many years there.

 

Welcome back to Pattaya BTW .

[guzzi850m2]

Funny that OP says local people on Phuket are more friendly than the Pattaya ones!

 

I have the exact opposite impression, find the locals generally friendlier here in fun town than Southern Thais. 

 

Yes the worst offenders as NanLaew correctly said is +90% from non/ex Pattaya residents, "forced" by their newfound GF/wife to move up to some small dusty village in Isaan, bored as hell with their new life. 

[i claudius]

We moved to Pattaya many years ago , i find the people very friendly , there are lots of shops and if you want so much to do , ,those that canstantly moan , would do the same if they were rich and living in Mayfair .

mind you my days of sitting in bars listening to stories about guys who have been ripped off are past , i now mix with ordinary happily married guys , the majority i find .

[JSixpack]

Pattaya can be a lot cheaper to visit and live in than Bangkok or Phuket, so naturally it attracts more low income, lower class sorts--along with their Thai counterparts who'll work within their price range. Moaning, bashing, hating, and uttering dire prophecies (often elevating these to globally apocalyptic levels) gives them a sense of importance and empowerment they've always lacked in real life.

 

However, with experience, you learn easily to filter out the undesirables for personal interactions and just enjoy watching the carnival. I very much enjoy laughing at our moaners, haters, bashers, and barstool economists who dominate the Pattaya forum--which is all you can do as logic, reason, and rational perspective are just a waste of keystrokes.

 

That said, Pattaya's got something for everyone, and you can certainly find plenty of all types in this town, including friendly, decent, interesting people. Often it's your own attitude that makes the difference. I've lived in BKK, visited Phuket, but I still enjoy living in Pattaya after many years.

Edited January 28, 2017 by JSixpack

[petermik]

I,ve been happily living here for 3 years and to be honest Pattaya attracts the dregs of society AND some of the happiest people on the planet,go with whichever suits you

I also have a house (ok ok in the GF,s name and not strictly mine) way down south that we visit monthly and gives me the peace and quiet to refresh my batteries.............be glad when the Pattaya holiday tourists bugger off though

[Kwasaki]

OP you remind me of a UK friend who said :-  

" Yeah l've been and seen Thailand l went to Pattaya "     

Edited January 28, 2017 by Kwasaki

[Jack Mountain]

If you want to see Thailand, don't come to Pattaya. If you want to see the world, come.

[zorro1]

The friendliest people on the planet are staying in view talay 2b. Everyone says hello when entering the lift.. It's quite strange as I live in bangkok for 9 months of the year and never see that

[impulse]

15 hours ago, malcoml said:

Now Pattaya is the complete opposite. Expats were rude and did nothing but complain. Also the Thai people were extremely rude and were so money focused.

  Hmmmm.  

 

Cause and effect?  Self feeding downward spiral?

 

Whenever customers are rude, the staff becomes surly, which makes the customers ruder, and the staff gets.....

 

Not unique to Pattaya.  I can point to pockets of misery in just about every city I've ever visited.  I try to avoid them, but...

Edited January 28, 2017 by impulse

[DisainaM]

lets call it,

 

walking on sunshine,

 

if you visit the area only to a time, where friendly people are coming around,

 

you think,

 

... this is Phuket, this in BKK, this is Pattaya,

 

the truth is,

everything is depending on your sunglasses,

to see an half empty glas, or a half filled glas.

[toenail]

Since I work outside of Pattaya, but live in Pattaya ... I am not on the rebound to find a Thai girlfriend or hang out in the bars (have to get up in the morning). Pattaya does attract many retirees that seem to have a lonely life or a negative experience in Thailand. The question I have is, why don't they leave?  There are various social circles here in Pattaya and you pick and choose which one is yours just as you would back in your home country.  I find the locals in Phuket (south Thailand) more rude and angry; yes, the Thais in Pattaya are out to make a dollar off the tourist so you have to be on guard; Bangkok has a nicer mix of Thais and expats.

 

[JHolmesJr]

Pattaya is great

 

for 2 week visits

[beautifulthailand99]

If I was starting out again I wouldn't choose Thailand period , but I'm happily married and need to choose a part retirement family base. Over the past 20 years I've visited just about everywhere in Thailand and have come to the conclusion its Pattaya or bust.

 

My reasons in no particular order.

 

1. 10 baht baht buses - frequent , fair and means you can get around town with littel hassle and so avoid driving or motorbikes. My recent experience of Uber in Chiang Mai was amazing so if they ever get a hold in Pattaya  - there will be little reason to own or drive a car - Phuket is absolute hell in comparison.

 

2. Air quality - the huge lung of the sea ensures that a fresh wind blows and keeps the temperature and pollution down and its feels clean as opposed to CM /Bangkok.

 

3. Great choice of well prepared and fresh food at half the price of BKK and the cleaniness of the establishments across the board from market stalls to shop house restaurants is the best I've experienced in Thaialnd.

 

4. Friendly people - I've had may a friendly smile and hello from strangers here both men and women which makes a great change from the surly downtroddent faces of most Bangkokians. I should add given the nature of the place it makes for a liberal and more open minded place than many other places here.

 

5 If you like a drink now and again then you needn't bust the bank.

 

6. The prom is a great people watching place and a great place to exercise to keep the old bones working. Outside of a gym in Bkk or Lumpini park I wouldn't fancy my chances much .

 

7. Relatively open and fai business environment - no place is ever totally fair but here there are so many newcomers here that for small legal businesses if your smart and hardworking you are more likely to succeed than in Nakorn Nowhere where local entrenched interests and jealousy can get you shut down without the right connections.

 

8. A great range of property to buy and rent at relatively affordable prices - certainly compared with Bangkok.

 

9. A city going places with the rail link coming , the tunnels , and the vote of confidence by the big hotel chains such as Centara and Holiday Inn opening new properties near Soi Bukhao as well as the Sansiri condo project on 2nd road.

 

10.  Flood free if you choose the right locations.

 

11. Drew Noyes no longer lives there.

 

12. A wonderful daily and nightly freak show to astonish the world and if you are broad minded amuse - plus some good bands playing most nights everywhere if you like live music.

 

13. I won't mention the women as I'm happily married going on 15 years and no longer a hansum man......

 

enough for now and sure others and add more - the negatives - I'll leave them as well for now.

Edited January 29, 2017 by beautifulthailand99
typo

[wpcoe]

30 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

If I was starting out again I wouldn't choose Thailand period , but I'm happily married and need to choose a part retirement family base. Over the past 20 years I've visited just about everywhere in Thailand and have come to the conclusion its Pattaya or bust.

 

My reasons in no particular order.  

<snip>

I agree with almost all of the above, with the following exception:

 

Quote

1. 10 baht baht buses - frequent , fair and means you can get around town with littel hassle and so avoid driving or motorbikes. My recent experience of Uber in Chiang Mai was amazing so if they ever get a hold in Pattaya  - there will be little reason to own or drive a car - Phuket is absolute hell in comparison.

As long as you choose a home that is on/near a baht bus line, you'll be fine.  There are lots of places that don't yet have service, though, like Third Road (at least until the government's decreed routes are active, and then Soi Buakao loses service), Pratamnak Hill, and the entire Dark Side.
 
Also, I don't hold much hope for Uber.  Oh, I'm sure they will establish themselves here, but look at Grab Taxi.  When they arrived on the scene it was metered fare + B50 (Bangkok Grab Taxi was metered fare + B25).  That didn't last long.  Now it's a fare calculated on some proprietary formula that changes with the time of day (seriously!) and is usually more than 2x what the old metered fare + B50 was.  It's actually cheaper to use the sawng-taew "taxis" from the parking lot of Tesco and Big C, and a lot quicker, too.

 

And, of course:

Quote

11. Drew Noyes no longer lives there.

 

[beautifulthailand99]

As for my UBER experience in CM - all the drivers were young, competent with nice cars (even had two women drivers) - with 10 30 baht subsidies the fares were absurdly cheap - maybe 50 baht for clean air conditioned comfort for 4 people for a 20 minute journey. The drivers were all new , educated and many I'm sure were students using their own cars  and 'trying it out' but their compensation barely paid for the petrol. Unsustainable in the long run and that's before entrenched interests start torching cars or worse. The model seems to be get as many people to download the app during the grace period and get market penetration. Sad to see switched on Thailand 4.0 youngsters getting a taste of enterprise (albeit UBER will be a monster that destroys all businesses in the end with the declared intent of driverless cars) and then thrown back to the world of pi-nong, rigged markets and endemic corruption. In Pattaya  I would expect it's war if thet ever get off the ground.

[JSixpack]

5 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

If I was starting out again I wouldn't choose Thailand period , but I'm happily married and need to choose a part retirement family base. Over the past 20 years I've visited just about everywhere in Thailand and have come to the conclusion its Pattaya or bust.

 

My reasons in no particular order.

 

1. 10 baht baht buses - frequent , fair and means you can get around town with littel hassle and so avoid driving or motorbikes. My recent experience of Uber in Chiang Mai was amazing so if they ever get a hold in Pattaya  - there will be little reason to own or drive a car - Phuket is absolute hell in comparison.

 

2. Air quality - the huge lung of the sea ensures that a fresh wind blows and keeps the temperature and pollution down and its feels clean as opposed to CM /Bangkok.

 

3. Great choice of well prepared and fresh food at half the price of BKK and the cleaniness of the establishments across the board from market stalls to shop house restaurants is the best I've experienced in Thaialnd.

 

4. Friendly people - I've had may a friendly smile and hello from strangers here both men and women which makes a great change from the surly downtroddent faces of most Bangkokians. I should add given the nature of the place it makes for a liberal and more open minded place than many other places here.

 

5 If you like a drink now and again then you needn't bust the bank.

 

6. The prom is a great people watching place and a great place to exercise to keep the old bones working. Outside of a gym in Bkk or Lumpini park I wouldn't fancy my chances much .

 

7. Relatively open and fai business environment - no place is ever totally fair but here there are so many newcomers here that for small legal businesses if your smart and hardworking you are more likely to succeed than in Nakorn Nowhere where local entrenched interests and jealousy can get you shut down without the right connections.

 

8. A great range of property to buy and rent at relatively affordable prices - certainly compared with Bangkok.

 

9. A city going places with the rail link coming , the tunnels , and the vote of confidence by the big hotel chains such as Centara and Holiday Inn opening new properties near Soi Bukhao as well as the Sansiri condo project on 2nd road.

 

10.  Flood free if you choose the right locations.

 

11. Drew Noyes no longer lives there.

 

12. A wonderful daily and nightly freak show to astonish the world and if you are broad minded amuse - plus some good bands playing most nights everywhere if you like live music.

 

13. I won't mention the women as I'm happily married going on 15 years and no longer a hansum man......

 

enough for now and sure others and add more - the negatives - I'll leave them as well for now.

 

Been good; is good.

 

 Addicted2Pattaya, on 2008-10-13 00:39:08

 

If pattaya did die. where would be the next best place ?

 

Sommaz, on 2008-10-13 10:47:57

 

Heaven of course.

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by JSixpack

[Ulic]

That's why I live in Jomtien when I am in Thailand.

[Suradit69]

On 1/27/2017 at 10:00 PM, malcoml said:

Now Pattaya is the complete opposite. Expats were rude and did nothing but complain. Also the Thai people were extremely rude and were so money focused.

Lots of very nice expats and Thais in Pattaya. Most of either have the sense to avoid touristy areas.

 

After reading TV for a long time, I've come to the conclusion that there are two Thailands ... the actual one and the one that exists in the minds of the chronic moaners. And, as the saying goes, it's the empty barrel that makes the most noise.

 

In the Beach Rd - Walking Street area, most of the foreigners you'd encounter are likely tourists or short-term visitors (rather than expats) and the Thais there have become jaded by prolonged exposure to them. As a long term resident I would say that the atmosphere even in the more pleasant, non-touristy area improves once the high season ends and the tourists are fewer.

 

Been to Phuket a couple of times. Can't say I'd ever want to go back. Like Bangkok, but in small doses. Feel very much at home in Pattaya. So perceptions differ.

[natway09]

Unfortunately I find that a lot  of Pattaya Expats  are the bottom feeders although some are really funny

[dotpoom]

For the life of me I have never understood why any mature person would pay any attention to a moaner. Is it not obvious that a genuine person with a grievence would simply just pack up and move on?

[Peter Pattaya]

On 29/01/2017 at 4:13 PM, JHolmesJr said:

Pattaya is great

 

for 2 week visits

Even better for 8 weeks. Love it. See you soon Pattaya love you long time. Never a dull moment. 

[elgordo38]

Thank you for your Pattaya article. Could you please repeat it every 30 days or so? We in the north are looking for someone just like you to be a Pattaya magnet for newbies draw them in your direction and keep them away from ours. Thanks a bunch. Go south old geezers go south. 

[louse1953]

On 1/28/2017 at 8:12 AM, guzzi850m2 said:

Funny that OP says local people on Phuket are more friendly than the Pattaya ones!

 

I have the exact opposite impression, find the locals generally friendlier here in fun town than Southern Thais. 

 

Yes the worst offenders as NanLaew correctly said is +90% from non/ex Pattaya residents, "forced" by their newfound GF/wife to move up to some small dusty village in Isaan, bored as hell with their new life. 

Not really,we have no distractions up here and therefore can moan all day and be satisfied.

[amjamj]

My Phuket experience was amazing and must say the people of the south are so kind and helpful without expectations.

 

Pattaya is great, but it's sad for you that you still don't understand what dump is Phuket and its people.

You need to try again to hate it.