The Dark Side

[Gaybutton]

The "Big House for Rent" thread is starting to talk about "The Dark Side." There really hasn't been much discussion about The Dark Side because few people who frequent the gay Thailand message boards ever venture out to The Dark Side. But since it was brought up, I might as well start a thread about it.

 

I've never been to the Darkside; it's on my to do list.

 

Think GB is spot on re transport. If one would have a car or motorbike anyway, then it opens up a greater geographic range of acceptable housing.

Just in case anyone is not familiar with the term "Dark Side" as applied here, the Dark Side is anywhere on the east side of Sukhumvit Highway in Pattaya.

 

Having lived on the Dark Side for years, I can tell you I'm definitely "spot on re transport." There are plenty of motorcycle taxis, but the further east you go, the less public transportation you'll find. There are baht buses out here as well, but they are few and far between and they run only on Soi Neurnplabwan.

 

Coming from the north, heading south, on Sukhumvit first you come to Soi Siam Country Club. It's clearly marked with an archway and traffic signal. Then you'll pass a large Bangkok Bank branch and the next major soi is Soi Neurnplabwan. Just past Soi Neurnplabwan is the traffic signal for Pattaya Klang (Central Road). Pattaya Klang ends at Sukhumvit and does not extend into the Dark Side.

 

Continuing south on Sukhumvit, then next major intersection is Soi Khaonoi. Then you'll come to the traffic signal at the junction of Sukhumvit and Pattaya Tai (South Road). Pattaya Tai also does not extend into the Dark Side.

 

Still heading south and just before you reach the intersection of Sukhumvit and Tepprasit Road (which also does not extend into the Dark Side) you'll come to the traffic signal for Soi Khaotolo.

 

Soi Siam Country Club, Soi Neurnplabwan, Soi Khaonoi, and Soi Khaotolo are the major sois that lead into the Dark Side. As far as I know, baht bus service, however sporadic, only runs up and down Soi Neurnplabwan. The other sois have motorcycle taxi service, but oddly enough once you get past the railroad tracks on Soi Siam Country Club, finding motorcycle taxis gets more and more difficult. The other sois seem to have plenty of them, just as in town, but there just doesn't seem to be all that much on Soi Siam Country Club, at least not yet.

 

The Dark Side is an up-and-coming area and is quickly growing with brand new residential communities, resorts, excellent restaurants, etc. Also, living out here is far less expensive than living in town. For example, that house Mikegeorg is talking about is quite a bargain. One of my closest friends is renting a beautiful home in a secured community on Soi Khaotolo. The house is fully furnished, is two floors, 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, and even has a small guesthouse, a large yard, gated parking space, and is in mint condition. He pays 25,000 baht per month. There are quite a few bargains like these on the dark side.

 

If you're interested in a straight sauna, the Country Sauna on Soi Siam Country Club is excellent. For 150 baht you get a very large swimming pool, a steam sauna, a dry heat sauna, a cold water jacuzzi, a hot water jacuzzi, an exercise area with exercise equipment, and they also have various massages (sorry, you do have to pay extra for those), and a very good Thai food menu.

 

Of course, if you go out far enough on Soi Siam Country Club you'll eventually come to the country club itself. If you're a country club person, you'll find everything from golf to polo out here.

 

http://www.siamcountryclub.com/home.html

 

http://www.golforient.com/pattaya-courses/siam-country-club

 

 

If you head off to the left, once you get out as far as the road to the country club, you'll be out at the reservoir. There are some beautiful, excellent restaurants and resorts out there.

 

Some of my friends complain that it's often difficult to get me to come in to town to eat. That's because there are plenty of excellent restaurants out here on the Dark Side. My personal favorite is the Sure Park restaurant:

 

http://www.sureparkpattaya.com

 

But that's not the only good restaurant out here. There's a Continental Bakery on Soi Khaonoi. Some of my personal favorites include Ann's Garden, an inexpensive, but very good German restaurant. The Dao Cafe is French owned and serves lunch and dinner by the poolside. They have a reputation for some of the best pizza in the area too. The Ticino Italian restaurant serves gourmet quality Italian food. The Fisherman restaurant serves what in my opinion is the best Indian food in all of Pattaya. They have a real Indian chef and the restaurant has a real Tandoori oven. If you like Korean cooking there's the Gimchi Korean Barbeque. The Deli Bean has some of the best deli style sandwiches you'll find anywhere. The Courtyard is a very nice restaurant and does an excellent Sunday Roast.

 

The Thai Visa forum has a sub-forum that tells you everything you would want to know about the Dark Side restaurants - 31 pages of posts. The most recent posts are on the last page, so you might want to work your way backwards.

 

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Dark-Side-t172786.html

 

For those of you considering living in the Pattaya area, you might want to check out the Dark Side. Some of you might want to try some of the restaurants out here.

 

You might even want to contact me personally. I do have a car, so if you ask, I just may be very happy to bring you out here to the Dark Side for a 'grand tour' and/or help you house hunt if you're interested in the Dark Side area.

[Guest sabaisabai]

GB......as usual, great post...great information. Thank you.

[Guest Astrrro]

Thanks for the info GB! Gotta check it out on my next trip.

 

Do the Soi Neurnplabwan baht buses load up passengers on the west side of Sukhumvit at the end of Pattaya Klang?

[Gaybutton]

Do the Soi Neurnplabwan baht buses load up passengers on the west side of Sukhumvit at the end of Pattaya Klang?

Not that I've ever seen. The baht buses that operate within Pattaya are blue. The ones that operate along Sukhumvit are white. The ones that operate on Soi Neurnplabwan are red. I have seen blue baht buses on the Dark Side many times, but I believe those were either hired from within the city or are simply baht bus drivers going home, going to work, or are out on the Dark Side going somewhere themselves. Sometimes people on the Dark Side make an arrangement for a blue baht bus to pick them up and take them somewhere. I've done that if I'm going to the bus station with too much luggage to carry on a motorcycle taxi if I'm not going to take my car.

 

I've never spotted just where the red buses originate. However, if you intend to explore the Dark Side, I wouldn't plan to rely on catching a red baht bus. Even if you catch one, lord-only-knows how long it will take you to catch another one to take you back. Unlike within the city, out on the Dark Side there are very few red buses. You're much better off using a motorcycle taxi, renting a motorcycle or car, hiring a baht bus for private use for a few hours, or even using Shank's Mare.

 

Or, as I said above, you can also contact me and I'll be glad to take you through myself if I'm available. Given my usual social life, I'll probably be available. However, I will expect anyone who asks me to take him to return the favor by at least putting some fuel in the car.

[Guest irish1972]

Or, as I said above, you can also contact me and I'll be glad to take you through myself if I'm available. Given my usual social life, I'll probably be available. However, I will expect anyone who asks me to take him to return the favor by at least putting some fuel in the car.

 

Hi GB,

 

I might take you up on that offer, I will arrive in a few weeks time for an extended stay and I am looking at renting something long term, maybe 6 months to start with. While my preference would be for Jomtien along the the Baht Bus route, the value there seems to be on "the dark side" might be to much to refuse!

 

Kevin

[Gaybutton]

I might take you up on that offer

All anyone needs to do is send me an Email (gaybutton@gmail.com) or PM about a week before your arrival. Let me know where you intend to stay and how long you will be in Pattaya. If you have a phone number in Thailand, better still. Let me know your intentions. Are you house hunting? Do you simply want a tour of the area? Do you want to go to one of the Dark Side restaurants? Just let me know what you want to do so that I'll have some idea of how much time is required. Assuming I'll be in town myself, we'll probably be able to work out an arrangement.

 

I'll see Email much sooner than I'll see a PM. I can check Email on my mobile phone, but I can't check PMs.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

The thing that would bother me buying/renting a home that is on the dark side, or some distance from the facilities that you will regularly visit, is that the traffic problems of Pattaya are becoming huge, with very slow travel during peak periods. It doesn't appear that it is getting better...but is getting worse.

 

I also would comment on GB's offer to provide an orientation tour when you arrive in Pattaya. Just 2-1/2 years ago I did exactly that. He showed me an amazing amount of territory and a wealth of information in an afternoon...and we enjoyed the last couple of hours at the gay beach. His tour gave me many places to tour and check out during my original visit to Pattaya. It is well worth the time.

[Gaybutton]

The thing that would bother me buying/renting a home that is on the dark side, or some distance from the facilities that you will regularly visit, is that the traffic problems of Pattaya are becoming huge, with very slow travel during peak periods.

It's not nearly as bad as you might think. When you live out here it doesn't take very long to find ways around most of the problems and you quickly get used to the days and times that traffic problems are likely. The good news is that during the times you would normally go to and from the beach and to and from the gay venues there is rarely a traffic problem at all. Rush hour is between about 5:00pm to about 7:00pm. That's when you usually run into serious traffic delays out here, but that happens only intermittently. Mornings, however, are rarely ever backed up. I have no idea why.

 

Personally, I wouldn't object to living in a luxury condo at View Talay, but since that's not affordable for me, I'm perfectly happy right where I am. Unless I could afford a luxury condo at the beach, if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I would still choose to live on the Dark Side. I would not want to live on the Dark Side, however, without my own transportation unless I live relatively close to Sukhumvit, where public transportation is readily available on all the Dark Side sois.

[Guest Astrrro]

Another nice thing about the Darkside is that there's no tourists!

[Gaybutton]

Another nice thing about the Darkside is that there's no tourists!

That's not 100% true. There are resorts out here, mainly along the reservoir.