Reader Submission: Pattaya and the 'new' tourists
Today, young tourists, many of whom are families, fill the new shopping malls and restaurants along Beach Road or Second Road. The sidewalk along the beach is wider, full of new trees and surprisingly pleasant to walk on. The beach at Beachroad has become a real beach again. Most tourists now come from Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Families with children are everywhere.
In many ways, it's like nightlife doesn't exist unless you specifically look for it, as it does in most cities around the world. If you had never heard of Pattaya you would never know that it was full of Western tourists who came mainly for the bar girls. Even Walking Street, previously famous for its bars and discos, is now more of a night bazar with many dining options than there are so-called girlie bars. Is this industry dying?
Instead of the old entertainment, there are now a series of attractions with huge parking spaces for hundreds of Chinese coaches. For the western traveler or expat, less reason to go?
I personally find it more balanced than before. Maybe because I don't like those girlie bars and I'm more looking forward to other evening entertainment such as nice pubs, restaurants. live music, nice terraces.
The large amount of Chinese tourists is sometimes a bit too much for me. It remains a special culture with often different values and norms. Even for a Thai it is sometimes a bit of a swallow, but they keep smiling and think their own of it.
Submitted by William
Walking street is certainly not a nightbazar but rather a street full of gogo bars and more and more ladyboys. Not really suitable for children.
And it's bursting with people holding up a sign saying "ping pong show?"
Went to Walking Street a few weeks ago and there are indeed hordes of Chinese, who travel in groups. In Walking Street there is indeed a bit more entertainment with street magicians, but in general it is still a street with a lot of gogo bars.
Remains the same as before. Now partially move a block away. Added a lot of “bars” last season. And no "tourist" to be seen. Incidentally, new bars are also being built in soi 7 and 8. Soi bukhao and the side streets are full of new bars. With owners complaining about the declining number of visitors.
Tasty, now the question is of course why the owners are complaining, wouldn't this have to do with the prices and mentality of the people ??
1st a beer a 120-150 Thb (3,35 -4,20 Euro) I personally find a rather high price for a small Leo, Heineken, Tiger or Chang and if you ask why it is so expensive you will get the answer: yes there are few customers so we still have to get our Thb in turnover.
2nd, If you sit down at many bars, often no one sees it because they are too busy playing mobile phones.
3rd, the price they dare to ask for their services is higher than on the red light district in Amsterdam, 1000 Thb or more barfine are no longer exceptions. The services that the girls offer are also often between 2000 and 3500 Thb.
With the current exchange rate of 35, many people will have to be more careful with their holiday money, so a nice evening can easily cost 200 euros. That's almost a monthly salary of a Thai,
Henk, the monthly salary of "a Thai" would be 200 Euro? You certainly mean the minimum wage, for an unskilled worker.
I also think (I don't know) that you pay three times that for the same beer in the same type of establishment in Amsterdam. Here is a site with average beer prices: https://www.biernet.nl/nieuws/bierprijzen-per-wereldstad-in-2018
I myself once drank a beer in New York in a normal pub and it cost me more than 10 dollars. I've been annoyed about it, nothing helped. I'm not a beer drinker, so I thought that was wasted money afterwards.
About the ladies of pleasure… I don't know what it costs, but there are also studies and graphs here:
https://www.daskapital.nl/4082111/dasgrafiek_zo_veel_kost_een_pr/
So all in all, the prices are not too bad, compared to the Netherlands, aren't they? Even compared to the rest of the world, it's still not that expensive. And…. no one forces you to go there, do they?
Well, I have to be careful… I thought it was more the ramparts, the beach not relaxed with all those vendors…. But, I did go to Pattaya once, and still stayed there for 5 days…. Love hate relationship, don't know…. Got to know my wife next Sept 8 Married 10 years so Pattaya is great! Hahaha, no, sounds good if there is more balance now….. Coming October I will just take a look at my wife on my way to Koh Kood…. And the Koh Larn is soooo full, and getting polluted now... I never have to go there again... What a mass of tourism, and also increasingly expensive, no, not my thing anymore.
555. Have you perhaps been to the Pattaya of the future as the gentlemen of Pattaya envision it.
Last week I was in Pattaya, but I don't recognize the sketched image. Still lots of bars, ladies etc. Lots of older white men with young Thai girls/ladies. Beach in a word terrible. Parts of the beach washed away after the rainfall of 2/3 April. Days after almost deserted beach, the first stretch coming from north pattaya road a number of junks / floats. In short, no business card!!
Deserted beach after April 3????
Nothing noticed, within 2 days the beach was already fixed. Those heavy rain showers were expensive for Pattaya (they should finally do something about the sewerage and drainage from the Soi's) but they worked hard on that in the following days. And well…. Wednesday the beach was indeed empty. Strange huh? Every Wednesday it is empty. (no chairs).
I think your story is a wishful dream. The beach here in Jomtien is still a mess.
Furthermore, the rain of last week has not done any good either, because probably all the waste from the sewer is now here on the beach.
Furthermore, the beach in Pattaya, which had just been modified for 400 million, was washed back into the sea for the same amount.
Of course it doesn't help if the sewerage from So1 1 to Soi 13 washes into the sea from the beach road.
Further in Jomtien there are sometimes many Russians. true but only in their vacation time,
In terms of walking street, I see the decline due to the many Arab, Russian and Indian "new" owners. I am afraid that many with the idea of making it too well will go home with 1 million bath in no time. But then they must have started with 1 billion.
Hundreds of Chinese buses? I haven't come across one yet. Not even from other countries. I do see dozens of buses full of Chinese people going to Pattaya every day via 2nd road in Jomtien. Well and that beach of Pattaya is no longer what it was before April 2. No comment on the rest. But the writer is very headstrong.
According to the tourist police on the street, it is a lot less than last year.
Easy to check by standing at the go-kart track (pier) for an hour and counting the buses between 18.00:22.00 and XNUMX:XNUMX.
Near the go-kart track, always park my car on the ramp of the overpass.
It remains a mess with those Russians and Chinese. I am now in Shihanokville, Cambodia, full of Chinese. Rude, I can't find another word for it, hasn't gotten any better with those guys
Sihanoukville has practically been taken over by the Chinese. Casinos, restaurants, hotels, houses, everything has been bought up by the yellow peril. For the original Khmer inhabitants (with the exception of the sporadic few who earn from it) it is a huge disaster. There is no more housing for sale (unaffordable) and food prices are skyrocketing. This thanks to the old Pol Pot leaders who made good use of the annexation of the lands during the regime (title papers of the original owners destroyed just like the owners themselves) and are now filling their pockets enormously.
Have lived here myself for many years, it has now turned into a second Macao. Just be happy with it.
By April 8/11 there are almost no Russians left and I also see very few Chinese. And also very few farangs. It is almost extinct. And the fact that you really have to look for the lady bars is a bit exaggerated. They are everywhere. But there are still (especially during happy hour) almost only retired men.
A good development to promote versatile tourism, but this also brings back the large amount of public seating options on the boulevard, I found those free seating options unique, it was always cozy and you had the choice to make nice contacts. explain with people from all parts of the world, who can tell me how the situation is at the moment? Thank you very much for your response……….
Just got back from pattaya. Walkingstreet is really not a Nightmarket full of eateries.
Walking Street is still Walking Street as it was years ago; full of gogo bars, beer bars, PingPong shows and Lady Boys. The difference is that in recent years there have been more and more guided tours (the flag processions) by Chinese people between 19:00 PM and 22:00 PM, after they have returned from the boat to the harbor as part of their package tour. From the pier they walk through Walking Street, without stopping at a bar of course.
Halfway through Walking Street (seen from Beach Road) it suddenly changes to a Russian version and then Indian/Pakistani version with GoGo Bars with discos, now with the top-of-the-bill “Nashaa” club, where Indians/Pakistanis throw more money than only Farang has ever done in a GoGoBar, so a beer there also easily costs 250 Baht.
The Thai are really not only focused on the Farang anymore. Farang count less and less in terms of income (and Westerners have difficulty with that). Indians, Pakistanis, Russians, Chinese ultimately bring in much more, they focus on that. Although they spend less in the GoGo and Beer bars…. Law of large numbers. Massages in Soi Honey, SabaiSabai, etc., hotels, Thailand yields more. And a Pakistani in Nashaa… throws money. (already ordered elsewhere a Pakistani according to the myth still orders a Cole with 5 straws)
The gogo/beer bars are a bit emptier than before, not because there are fewer tourists, but because there are many more places than just Walking Street; LK Metro, Soi6, BuaKhao, etc etc… The crowd disperses.
What surprises me the most is that especially dark American men “baseball player types” (groups of at least 3) are still favorites at the bars. The cheering when such a group passes by, is amazing. The basis of this idolatrous event will probably be the Vietnam and Cambodia war.