Guest luvthai Posted April 18, 2007 Posted April 18, 2007 Have been here just under 2 weeks and I have never seen the bars so empty.. Very few boys and fewer customers.. I have only seen a couple offs and they have been the couple of real popular boys that have been around a long time. Even the outside beer bars have few customers. I am hopping that after Songkran some of the boys come back to work. Very poor selection of boys available and most seem to be ladyboys. Quote
Guest lectricman11 Posted April 18, 2007 Posted April 18, 2007 Have been here just under 2 weeks and I have never seen the bars so empty.. Very few boys and fewer customers.. I have only seen a couple offs and they have been the couple of real popular boys that have been around a long time. Even the outside beer bars have few customers. I am hopping that after Songkran some of the boys come back to work. Very poor selection of boys available and most seem to be ladyboys. OH Great! My partner and I will be coming to BKK and Pattaya in two weeks for our first visit to LOS. I hope youre right and the boys come back. I have really been excited about this trip and I would hate if the boys were all gone! Quote
Guest JoeM Posted April 18, 2007 Posted April 18, 2007 I have been going to Thailand this time of the year for a number of years now. Never had a problem finding an excess of boys in the bars. Quote
Gaybutton Posted April 18, 2007 Posted April 18, 2007 What was that song from 'Beverly Hills Cop'? Wasn't it 'The Boys Are Back in Town'? They'll be back. Many of the bars have had very few customers in the first place for quite some time, without Songkran being a factor. As far as the boys are concerned, there are plenty of them. Many do return to their homes to celebrate Songkran with their families, but throughout Thailand the main Songkran celebrations take place on different days and Pattaya is usually the last of the celebrations. Most of the boys want to be back in Pattaya for the main Songkran day, which is today. While the big day in Pattaya is precisely what many "farang" want to avoid, it is exactly what most of the boys enjoy more than any other day in the entire year, so most are already back and are going to be out there today. You have nothing to worry about, lectricman11. Two weeks from now, when you get here, there will be more boys than you can handle. Quote
Guest MRSBUCKET Posted April 19, 2007 Posted April 19, 2007 Very few boys and fewer customers.. . Many Boys will be back after Songkran but the Customers will not. Its been quite in Pattaya for weeks now and high season over the Christmas and New Year never happened the way it should. Customers are getting fewer and fewer so the Boys and Girls of Pattaya are not getting the money they were used to. THeifts are common place now bacause of this. Many will not be back until the next high season is due. Property and Businesses in Pattaya are not selling and businesses are having a rough time. Thailand has too many problems and they get worse every day. Now the Bars etc have to have cameras installed before their licenses are renewed. Costs are rising for Bar owners and Customers are low. I think it will soon be said......... "WILL THE LAST PERSON LEAVING THAILAND PLEASE TURN THE LIGHTS OFF" A very bleak future for everyone in Thailand. Thai and Farang. Quote
Guest pete1969 Posted April 19, 2007 Posted April 19, 2007 Now the Bars etc have to have cameras installed before their licenses are renewed. Costs are rising for Bar owners and Customers are low. I guess I missed the news on this. Why are bars being made to put in cameras, and is it now a rule for all bars in LOS? Pete Quote
Guest BKKvisitor Posted April 19, 2007 Posted April 19, 2007 At the risk of stretching the topic a bit, I'm always amazed when I read that a new up-market mall in being built or that an existing shopping center is going up-market. On my last trip to BKK, I was impressed with Siam Paragon overall, but when you walk around the upper floors some of he most high-end stores appear deserted. Same thing in the new Central World. The food courts are doing great and department stores appear busy. But many of the specialty stores seem to have everything but customers. These stores were put there to serve the Thai super rich and new-rich visitors from China (the old money already knows where to go and it's not the LOS). Was this poor planning on the part of developers or does it reflect how would-be visitors are reacting to the Thai political situation and violence in the south? I suppose there's another possibility that's gone pretty much overlooked: are these up-market shops serving as "laundries," converting dirty money gained from illegal activities into squeaky clean profits from businesses that have a phony set of books showing great profits? If so, it's nothing new: the Mafia has been doing for generations in US. Quote
Guest MRSBUCKET Posted April 19, 2007 Posted April 19, 2007 I guess I missed the news on this. Why are bars being made to put in cameras, and is it now a rule for all bars in LOS? Pete Its a new requirement for ALL Bars (and I think Restaraunts) to install cameras. There is so much violence and thefts in Pattaya etc now that the new Police Chief here is causing all sorts of problems for the Bars. So to get a licence renewed (required every year) you have to have camaras outside and inside and a recording must be kept for 2 weeks. Of corse when you get told about the situation by the licence people, they can arrange to get cameras installed for you. You can draw your own conclusions to that !! Again someone is making money out of this. Quote
payless Posted April 19, 2007 Posted April 19, 2007 Its a new requirement for ALL Bars (and I think Restaraunts) to install cameras. There is so much violence and thefts in Pattaya etc now that the new Police Chief here is causing all sorts of problems for the Bars. So to get a licence renewed (required every year) you have to have camaras outside and inside and a recording must be kept for 2 weeks. Of corse when you get told about the situation by the licence people, they can arrange to get cameras installed for you. You can draw your own conclusions to that !! Again someone is making money out of this. Is crime really that bad in Pattaya? How many people have you actually met who have been robbed by someone other than a boy they picked up off the beach or the street and took back to their room? Yes, if you watch or read the dreadful news media here you get the impression that the place is lawless, but in reality most farang will not experience crime firsthand. Cameras are everywhere in most cities in the West, particularly in entertainment areas. Ok the police are making the bars pay and lets hope it will help stop the police harassing bars for bribes, especially the ripoff fines for playing copy writ music which is probably police illegitimately fining bar owners. . Quote
Guest shockdevil Posted April 19, 2007 Posted April 19, 2007 Is crime really that bad in Pattaya? How many people have you actually met who have been robbed by someone other than a boy they picked up off the beach or the street and took back to their room? I recently completed my second trip to the LOS and found it to be quite safe. Of course you have to watch your back anywhere you go in the world, but I found Thailand, particularly Pattaya, to be relatively safe. I have gone out to the 7-11 or Family Mart in the middle of the night for snacks on foot alone and never felt threatened. I dare not do that here. I plan to make my next trip in a few months and staying for 3 months this time. I still plan to make my late night food runs. Quote
Guest MRSBUCKET Posted April 20, 2007 Posted April 20, 2007 Is crime really that bad in Pattaya? How many people have you actually met who have been robbed by someone other than a boy they picked up off the beach or the street and took back to their room? I know of about 6 people that have been robbed in the streets. My boyfriend was on the back on my motorbike in Jomthien when another motorbike cam close to us and snached at his gold chain. We were lucky that the robber dropped the chain as I tried to hit him. There are about 10 robberies like this in Pattaya everyday I have seen some. Gold, Bags anything. If you go out at night on a bike, baht bus or walking its better to leave your gold chains etc at home. The Thai people of Pattaya are feeling the pinch and are trying to survive now in this way. Quote
Gaybutton Posted April 20, 2007 Posted April 20, 2007 The Thai people of Pattaya are feeling the pinch and are trying to survive now in this way. I don't know if I'd go as far as to put it like that. You are making it sound like everyone in town is a thief. Far from it. The vast majority of people are perfectly honest, hard-working, friendly people who have just as much contempt for criminals as we do, whether the victims are Thai, "farang," or anyone else. As long as you use common sense and take proper precautions, as you would likely do in any tourist city in the world, the odds of becoming a crime victim in Pattaya are quite remote. Quote
Guest shockdevil Posted April 20, 2007 Posted April 20, 2007 As long as you use common sense and take proper precautions, as you would likely do in any tourist city in the world, the odds of becoming a crime victim in Pattaya are quite remote. I agree with you GayButton. You have to use common sense and watch your back in any city where tourist can be targeted. Quote
Guest luvthai Posted April 21, 2007 Posted April 21, 2007 Things seemed to pick up last night as Jim Jimmy James had about 30 boys there. Mostly new ones. Still did not notice a lot of offs being made and dispite the late night raid, which most seem unconcerned with, it was a pleasant evening. I'll check out the other bars tonight if I get the chance. Quote
Guest wowpow Posted April 22, 2007 Posted April 22, 2007 Every year there are more go-go bars, beer and host bars, karaoke bars, gay hotels, restaurants and cafes, massage houses, spas, cabaret bars, vast shopping malls, even gay Thailand message boards. I don't know how many of them survive but they do. Also every month of every year someone says "why is it so quiet?" There is little doubt that tourism is down a few percent this year so far due to many adverse events affecting Thailand. I get rather surprised when I go out on a Friday or Saturday night and find the top bars are full. I could not believe the demand on hotels in the high season. It was quite difficult to find a reasonably priced room in Bangkok - once I tried everywhere on Dreadedned's list and they were all full. Thailand does have many problems but it also has many great assets. Though increasingly fragile, the economy is doing well and the baht grows ever stronger. The performance in recent years of the stock exchange and property prices has been phenomenal. I don't worry about Thailand's long term future and find it a delightful place to live. The link between low business levels and commonplace theft is an unkind non sequitur. Quote
