Somewhere, over the rainbow...

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Oliver

Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by Oliver »

What has surprised me this visit is the number of elderly, falang couples around. What do they do all day? The beaches are horrid, the shopping malls aimed at younger, more affluent visitors, the bars....well, we know to whom they are aimed. And yet, doing the baht-bus shift from Boyztown to the new (resplendent) Big C, we are invariably accompanied by such couples, most of whom who never go as far as Big C.
My boyfriend and I were in Luang Prabang last week; it was full of the same clientele.But there it made sense and the place is heavily-marketed by sites such as Saga in the UK. Temples, river-trips, cheap markets...ideal for my generation.
But Pattaya? someone please explain.
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Gaybutton
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Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by Gaybutton »

Oliver wrote:What has surprised me this visit is the number of elderly, falang couples around.
Maybe those couples are not married couples.

When my grandparents were close to their 50th wedding anniversary I asked my grandfather if there is anything in particular he would like for his anniversary he said, "Yes. I'd like a holiday. Send me north and her south."

I'm not going to reprint them all, but there are three articles in today's online local news:

http://pattayadailynews.com/pbta-direct ... -sex-city/

http://pattayaone.news/en/clean-pattayas-image/

http://pattayaone.news/en/changing-face-pattaya/

The third article includes:
Sinchai – a chamber of commerce and tourism expert – was talking to the Pattaya News following a story that appeared online in the UK’s Mirror newspaper.
..................

“It is undeniable that stories like this have a detrimental effect on Pattaya,” said Sinchai.”It is especially bad for people who have never been here and those that are weighing up their decisions whether to come or not”.
I think that is utter nonsense. I truly believe he is wrong and the 'sleaze factor' is precisely the reason why a huge proportion of holiday makers do come.

He also says "both the public and private sector are determined to change this image."

Is that so? As I posted earlier, I have never seen any articles, spoken to any Thai locals, or have seen any evidence of public expression of opposition in any way to the 'sleaze factor.' As far as I can tell, they either depend on it or don't care about it.

What it amounts to, in my opinion, is a handful of officials don't like Pattaya's image and are out to try to re-brand Pattaya into something it isn't and nobody even wants except for them.
readerc54

Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by readerc54 »

Here's a novel idea from the Tourist Authority to attract Chinese tourists. Instead of Disneyland, they can experience the thrills of Armyland, a ready-made solution that will divert them from Walking Street so they can inspect vintage tanks and watch the recruits train. Actually, that may not be a bad idea. Getting to know the soldiers. There may be an app for that.

From Bangkok Post

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has come up with an idea to open military facilities to draw tourists from China as part of a campaign to show Thailand's new look, TAT deputy governor Srisuda Wanapinyosak said. She believes warships, firing ranges and others will be exciting for them.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... facilities

But seriously, folks, transforming Pattaya into a family resort would require infrastructure and environmental on a scale pretty much unprecedented for Thailand. The government has better things to spend its money on, like a submarine to patrol the Gulf of Thailand that has an average depth of 58m (195 ft.), making it just about impossible to hide while submerged.
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Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by Dodger »

Regardless of what a few of the TAT officials think or say it has always been, and will always be, Thailand's bar scene that lures most of its tourists, and there's simply too much money at stake to try to change that.

Since the American GI's lit the spark back in the early 60's that evolved into Pattaya being dubbed as "The Extreme City" and the launching of the first Gogo bar in Pattaya (Tahitian Queen), Pattaya has gone on to earn a global reputation for it's exotic nightlife which is what a good majority of visitors are really after. The type of "Exotic" that Pattaya offers can not be found in any other country in the world and people know that, and along with "exotic" comes the sleeze factor. Exotic and Sleeze go together like peanut butter & jelly.
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Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by colmx »

Oliver wrote:What has surprised me this visit is the number of elderly, falang couples around. What do they do all day?
A lot of the elderly farang couples are on a stopover on an Asian cruise
The ship docks in Laem Chabang and they are ferried to the nearest town (Pattaya) during the day for some shopping... at night they are safely ensconced back in their cabins.
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Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by thewayhelooks »

readerc54 wrote:Getting to know the soldiers. There may be an app for that.
I hope so. I love getting men in uniform out of their uniforms.
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Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by Alex »

Many Thai soldiers in uniform can be found on Hornet, at least in Bangkok. There's probably no special app for that. ;)
readerc54

Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by readerc54 »

Here we have another example why Pattaya isn't quite ready to turn itself into a family resort.

Image

From Pattaya One

A Thai man has been arrested after attacking a Japanese tourist with a bottle.

At around 5:00am on February 22nd, Pattaya police were called to a the scene of a random attack in which a Japanese tourist had been struck with a beer bottle.

The incident took place at a Thai BBQ restaurant on South Pattaya road. The victim was enjoying a late night meal with some friends of his, when he was attacked out of the blue by a random stranger. The Thai man struck the victim over the head with a beer bottle before running away from the scene.
http://pattayaone.news/en/man-arrested-bottle-attack/

Perhaps "Happy Zones" will prevent incidents like above?

Happy Zone’s are the answer to a safer Pattaya says top cop

A Crisis meeting was held by Pattaya police recently addressing the growing concern over tourist safety in and around the area. The solution to the problem, Happy Zones.

The “Happy Zone” idea come from the national police HQ, and will slowly be introduced into tourist cities across Thailand in the near future. Pattaya will be the first to take a shot at the new concept, which police hope will be a success.

http://pattayaone.news/en/happy-zone-in ... d-pattaya/
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Re: Somewhere, over the rainbow...

Post by gerefan »

Oliver wrote:What has surprised me this visit is the number of elderly, falang couples around. What do they do all day?
They become nocturnal, rather like bar boys.
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