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  1. #1
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Major Makeover Proposed For Pattaya's Walking St.

    Major Makeover Proposed For Pattaya's Walking St.-pattaya-1-jpg

    Images on the Facebook page of Pattaya City reveal plans for a major re-imagining and makeover of one of the resort’s most notable, and notorious, landmarks – Walking Street. Gone are the grotty road, broken pavements and lurid signs and frontages, and in their place will be an easy to navigate walking area fit for families.

    Problem is the tourists and traffic Walking Street has attracted in the past are likely not interested in the swish makeover and quite liked the red light atmosphere and the bar girls in hot pants leaning out of the noisy bars.

    But the Thai government has seemed fixated on cleaning up the streets’ reputation for years, with little success. Now, the futuristic design and slick new look make the red light district look like just another shopping street. Online critics are already jumping on the bandwagon saying it will be “just another mall.”

    “There is not a hanging wire – or streetwalker – in sight!” one complained. Where are the tangled coils of telephone and power cables? Where are the neon signs with at least one letter not working? Where will the crusty old expats end up if they’re pushed out of Walking Street?

    The designs were presented by the city’s engineering team to Pattaya’s mayor and his deputies yesterday, to an apparently “lukewarm” reception.

    Major Makeover Proposed For Pattaya's Walking St.-pattaya-2-jpg


    The Mayor remarked that Walking Street has to be "fit for purpose", and that any revamp must not adversely affect livelihoods. Though he seemed to agree that the area must be fit for daytime as well as nightlife use, he stressed that any makeover must ensure that the “special smell and flavour” of Walking Street are maintained. Oh yes, THAT smell.

    “After all, Pattaya is a renowned world class resort. And it must be able to generate revenue, that’s important.”

    He sent the engineers away to revise their designs ahead of the next discussion on the issue.

    Thai and foreign comments on the news were extensive and mixed. Most agreed that it’s time for a makeover, but opinion differed widely over exactly how and how much.

    The reality for the city is that the Walking Street occupies prime real estate and the owners of the land want to maximise the potential value of retail and food and beverage offerings, and would prefer that it had a broader appeal beyond its raunchy nighttime-only activities. It’s inevitable that the red-light district will move into lower-rent areas of the city.

    Major makeover proposed for Pattaya's Walking Street | The Thaiger

  2. #2
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    the high end tourists will flock

    the genticlefication of walking street

  3. #3
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    The walkers certainly look well dressed.

    And very caucasian.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    And very caucasian.
    You missed the entry shot with the sign "No Indians, Pakis or Chocolate People".

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    You missed the entry shot with the sign "No Indians, Pakis or Chocolate People".
    ...or obvious hookers...

  6. #6
    I'm in Jail

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    Lich Alabs OK, you come you come.

  7. #7
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    ^^The only person standing around hoping for cash is playing a guitar.

    A local touch, with someone pushing a plastic bowl along the floor with his nose, would seem more authentic.

  8. #8
    I'm in Jail

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    The trade they are trying to distance themselves from will just move to a cheaper area. They'll still get the tattooed wizened singlet sexpat popping in to show his rental a good time and visit a gold shop or two and the all important food court stop off, just they'll pop in from wongamat for some other suburb.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat armstrong's Avatar
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    You should see Khao San these days. Looks lovely.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by NamPikToot View Post
    The trade they are trying to distance themselves from will just move to a cheaper area. They'll still get the tattooed wizened singlet sexpat popping in to show his rental a good time and visit a gold shop or two and the all important food court stop off, just they'll pop in from wongamat for some other suburb.
    Nah its over for old time Pattaya. Not a chance the old one will come back to any degree at all. Different generation. Tinder now rules. New breed of patrons as well.

  11. #11
    On a walkabout Loy Toy's Avatar
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    ^ I must disagree with your view AO.

    Bangkok is sinking not to mention to relocate the capitol has been a major plan for years and we have seen the relocation of major industrial estates away from Bangkok confirms that plan is well underway.

    The Eastern Seaboard is the place to go and Pattaya, being a city located there, will grow bigger and better but it is going to take some time to shed the negative stigma that it currently has.

    Anyway I am happy to live here and see some exciting developments that will benefit those that have lived through the tough times is very achievable.

    I have been infomed that U-Tapou Airport is another big planned development and the new Survarnabhumi/ Pattaya motorway has just been opened connecting to that location.

    Bangkok was a great place when I first visited there 35 years ago but my opinion these days is the place is a shit hole and I hate the place with a passion.
    Last edited by Loy Toy; 04-06-2020 at 02:27 PM.

  12. #12
    Making people dance. :-)
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    There's obviously a big difference between the people that live and work on the Eastern seaboard, and the droves of sex tourists going there for 2 weeks once or twice a year, and the package tour Indians and Chinese.

    Only the former is going to be there in any number for the next few years.

  13. #13
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    Pattaya had a certain old charm when it was broken and full of piss,

    these days it's all British con artists paradise and their money laundering bars and English breakfast hangouts,

    everytime these places are taken over by farangs, or the typical British "business men" chavs, they turn to shit quickly

    give back Walking Street to the old Thais hand

  14. #14
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    Social media has pretty much made Walking St and other infamous sois (Yodsak eg.) an embarrassment to Thais and their leaders.
    The Covid event will see a lot of real estate go for a song in Pattaya now. Enjoy the memories, that's all that will remain soon.

  15. #15
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    Patts gets a reprieve

    The government is considering measures that would allow the resumption of 12 types of businesses and activities - including pubs and concerts, parlours offering soapy massage, and sports competitions.

    https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1929392/wet-massage-parlours-concert-halls-pubs-to-reopen

  16. #16
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    Well I have always said they should bulldoze that down flat and start all over. Right now is the best time. Make it a beach front Las Vegas. I'd love a couple of top flight Casino's in Thailand. I guarantee you you open up a few casino's that place would be jammed round the clock.

    Quote Originally Posted by Loy Toy View Post
    Bangkok was a great place when I first visited there 35 years ago but my opinion these days is the place is a shit hole and I hate the place with a passion.
    I honestly never saw any charm in BKK or any other big city for that matter. It was a city where you land for business, stay at 5 star hotel for a few weeks and blow out of town. I guess for the old timers going to all those shithole hooker bars was the thing. I personally found it all to be rather boring the few times I went with some colleagues sans watching the drunken foreigners staggering along with a hooker in tow.

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kmart View Post
    Social media has pretty much made Walking St and other infamous sois (Yodsak eg.) an embarrassment to Thais and their leaders.
    ...maybe, but no embarrassment to their bank accounts. Like much else in the swamp, there is the show that the elites may point to...and the blow that generates income. I doubt police, military and political figures will give up honeypot income unless it can be replaced by something even more lucrative and easy, like low-hanging fruit, to pluck. An upgraded airport? More family-oriented venues? Bigger malls, better streets, more efficient services? Sure, but where to go when the good times are ready to roll? Local elites will take care of all that: where there's an itch, there's a service...and a fee.
    Majestically enthroned amid the vulgar herd

  18. #18
    I Amn't In Jail PlanK's Avatar
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    They lost the Ruskies when the Rouble crashed, and the Chinks when Covid hit. Will the Eurotrash chavs be enough to keep the industry going once they get clearance to land?


    Maybe, but I can see it being a slow recovery.

  19. #19
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Loy Toy View Post
    Bangkok is sinking not to mention to relocate the capitol has been a major plan for years and we have seen the relocation of major industrial estates away from Bangkok confirms that plan is well underway.

    The Eastern Seaboard is the place to go and Pattaya, being a city located there, will grow bigger and better but it is going to take some time to shed the negative stigma that it currently has.
    An interesting possibility. Personally I don't see anything much changing in Bangkok being the commercial centre of Thailand. Industrial estates have not been relocated. There's just been more developnment on the Eastern seaboard, and the geograpical reasons for this are obvious, plus the relocation of the airport. So yes, I see the development of the Eastern seaboard continuing.

    What I don't see is...what on earth this has to do with the topic

    Quote Originally Posted by Edmond View Post
    There's obviously a big difference between the people that live and work on the Eastern seaboard, and the droves of sex tourists going there for 2 weeks once or twice a year, and the package tour Indians and Chinese..

    Only the former is going to be there in any number for the next few years.
    Good save there.

    The development on the Eastern seaboard will mean more and more families making Chonburi, Pattaya, Sattahip and Rayong their home, and these are not the kind of people likely to be looking for a gogo bar and a blowie at midnight.

    So walking street will change, but I think it will be gradual, not any grand design. There will be more restaurants, but the girlie bars will only close one by one over a fairly lengthy period of time. Only after a decade or so will we see bulldozers being moved in, and condos and malls replacing the current buildings.

    So the kind of place envisaged in the OP will happen, but only after a fairly lengthy period of stagnation when owners sit tight and developers fail to tempt them with big enough offers.
    Last edited by cyrille; 04-06-2020 at 06:06 PM.

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Imagine the possibilities?

    Building, roadworks, designs, permits.

    That place could be a gold mine for years to come!












    Who cares if it never gets finsihed. Just like the beach front road...

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    An interesting possibility. Personally I don't see anything much changing in Bangkok being the commercial centre of Thailand. Industrial estates have not been relocated. There's just been more developnment on the Eastern seaboard, and the geograpical reasons for this are obvious, plus the relocation of the airport. So yes, I see the development of the Eastern seaboard continuing.

    What I don't see is...what on earth this has to do with the topic



    Good save there.

    The development on the Eastern seaboard will mean more and more families making Chonburi, Pattaya, Sattahip and Rayong their home, and these are not the kind of people likely to be looking for a gogo bar and a blowie at midnight.

    So walking street will change, but I think it will be gradual, not any grand design. There will be more restaurants, but the girlie bars will only close one by one over a fairly lengthy period of time. Only after a decade or so will we see bulldozers being moved in, and condos and malls replacing the current buildings.

    So the kind of place envisaged in the OP will happen, but only after a fairly lengthy period of stagnation when owners sit tight and developers fail to tempt them with big enough offers.
    That is pretty much what happened in Chaweng over the last ten years or so. Soi Green Mango and Soi Reggae have gradually been transformed, and the addition of Central Festival Mall has brought a cleaner face to the place. More family oriented now but no telling if the “quality” tourists have arrived in the required spending numbers.
    Negotiating broken policy pavements/sidewalks for buggy’s is still a complete nightmare. Poor drainage and flooding have continued to fail infrastructure as usual. Half arsed job, bedeviled by corrupt contracting.
    The result is infrequent, half empty bars and restaurants, mostly under local Thai ownership, but fewer attractions for tourists. Same same in Lamai, which managed to offer both kinds of attraction, side by side.
    Then came COVID-19 and sounded the death knell for any kind of visitor dependent business. I’ve not been back for over a year now, but I expect the Taxi mafia are still gouging what few visitors remain.

  22. #22
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by aging one View Post
    Nah its over for old time Pattaya. Not a chance the old one will come back to any degree at all. Different generation. Tinder now rules. New breed of patrons as well.
    This is retarded.

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    Socal is retarded.
    FTFY

    Those clips you posted of Bkk nightlife and Pattaya, could easily be Samui or Phuket.
    The pale faced female porkers you love so dearly are the result of Issan mattress warriors liaisons with western sexpats from 20 years ago. You could be paying to fuck your own daughter.

  24. #24
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Switch View Post
    FTFY

    Those clips you posted of Bkk nightlife and Pattaya, could easily be Samui or Phuket.
    The pale faced female porkers you love so dearly are the result of Issan mattress warriors liaisons with western sexpats from 20 years ago. You could be paying to fuck your own daughter.
    Now Switch has taken his moral crusade to the Pattaya section.

    Btw Switch , I had a phase with the prostitutes. From 23 to 28 . And I enjoyed it for what it was. I haven't been into it for years .
    Last edited by Backspin; 09-08-2020 at 08:04 PM.

  25. #25
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    I haven't been into it for years .
    So what is all this thread about then?

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