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High season? Seems pertty quiet to me...


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So is it just me or do thigns seem abnormally quiet in Thailand for a high season? It is certainly not how I remember it in past years.

 

I felt this way in Bangkok, where in previious years I remember full bars, tons of white tourists, etc. This year walking around Sukhumvit I might be forvigen for feeling like the last white man in Thailand.

 

And now in Pattaya, much the same. I had trouble finding a hotel room -- all full, so I was told -- but walking around, it's just not the same as I remember in the past. Many bars have no customers, and there's a decidedly different feeling in the air.

 

All in all I feel like the fun has been systematically sucked out of Thailand over the past couple of years and this year's high season seems to reinforce my notions.

 

Anyone have any facts or insights to share?

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>> Anyone have any facts or insights to share? <<

 

No facts or insights, but I share your observations. While in the last years, every bar was really full during the days before christmas, this year seems to be very different. I have no idea, why it happened though, especially with the strong Euro.

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All in all I feel like the fun has been systematically sucked out of Thailand

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this topic will deserve a full thread soon, but just reading the board for 2 years, yes, as far as naughty nightlife is concerned, no one is saying anymore the clamp down was just a stand for police to get better tea money, and soon things will get back to "normal". I must say, to the risk of angering others, a few more moves from the gvnmt and one would have to be a pathetic sex-starved tourist to keep coming back pretending "this is paradise, man!" and give the nightlife the big "Wow!" it once deserved. Of course, Thailand can be more than that, and the optimists, like me, will soon realize women have not been deported anywhere, it's still the same percentage to men....

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I think the 1am closing attempt, if approved, will be a test to see what the reaction, if any, will be. Then, possibly a further push by the government for earlier closing times will be floated about, along with more hardcore regulations put upon nightlife businesses.

 

This looks like an attempt to bring Thailand in line at a faster pace to parallel with the western countries and their way of going about business.

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Touchy times. Some falangs do not like gathering where other falangs gather, especially around holidays. Thailand captured one major terrorist on their own soil this year, so this has made them uneasy. I agree Thailand is becoming more Westernize but I beleive the main reason is to make everybody pay there fair share in taxes, and while doing that, eliminate some of the underground (criminal) activities.

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It may be quieter, but there are still 10,000 women in Pattaya waiting to take my money off me in exchange for a few hours of sanuk,? even if they had to do it before 10pm. As it is I have to disconnect my phone most afternoons to deter my regulars who seem to find me (and/or my wallet ::) attractive.

 

Ironically, if the 1am close happens, it means less farangs who want to party all night coming here, more money hungry girls, cheaper prices for me, less money in the community, more girls driven to prostitution, an increase in the crime rate, more social problems for Thai authorities.

 

As I?ve said before, the only way to end sex tourism is for Thai leaders to raise the standard of living in Thailand, give its citizens a decent education, worthwhile career prospects, just labour laws, a health system, social security net, and end police and government corruption. Banning/curtailing sanuk by law only creates a black market and increases corruption. But TIT.

 

I wouldn?t dream of going to Singapore for sanuk. It was cheap as chips there 30 years ago, but it ain?t no more.

As soon as it starts to hit me "in the wallet", I?m off to Cambodia for my twilight years. It's happened already with the visa extension fee increases. Immigration can shove the 1,900 fee up their arse. I go to Cambodia for a week's sanuk AND make a profit on the trip.

 

The government plans will only make sanuk cheaper for me here. It will be a buyers? market.

:grinyes::beer:

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The government plans will only make sanuk cheaper for me here. It will be a buyers’ market

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Interesting. Of course, Pattaya goes to its own beat, but in general, i think what we have heard these last 2 years is that actually, prices are going up in other places (also joints and bars in Pattaya, as far as drinks) for sanook, which IMO, has to do with eveyone, everything having more rules (even unspoken ones), the tourists tend to believe they are written on marble, no escape, still are coming and will pay the asked price. Certainly, 3000 bahts a pop is not unheard of in BKK.

 

As for Pattaya, less party time has, from what I hear from old hands, professionalized the girls even more. I understand that for many, a jump from 1000 to 1500 is no big difference, but from 0 to 1500 is, and it is just not about the money, as fun used not to be always about showing one's wallet at all times. Reasonably good looking gentlemen like you and me will sort out the good from the bad, but in general, i think most guys will indeed not really call it paradise anymore, just Thailand or Pattaya. Good enough????? ::

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I feel the tug of an undercurrent here, perhaps more powerful than ever noticed before.

 

Drinking after 1am has nothing to do with prostitution or drugs. I get pissed off if I am told I have to stop anything by a government but just for a beer is a joke.

 

In purely economic terms, bars need a certain income to survive. Guys won't start drinking much earlier to compensate for early closing times. Nor will they drink much faster to drink the same volume. Thus, prices will have to rise to protect profitability and there will be some later drinking establishments just as there are now.

 

Higher prices means less punters and so the cycle goes on.

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I couldn't believe it when I saw the sign in Thai put up on my local Sewen Ereben a few weeks ago: 2400 to 0600, no beer and liquor sales.

 

I live in a quiet old neighbourhood far from the nightlife. Not that I am likely to go to my 7-11 at that time a night for a beer, but why the hell can't I if I wanted to?

 

Oh, well. One of these days this govmt is going to shoot themselves in the foot big time and get the voters to turn on them. Remember that Thais live here their whole lives. Deny a Thai their sanuk? Rots o' ruck.

 

 

p.s. A neighbour tells me Nana Plaza was doing fair business. But my experiences with Cowboy show this "high season" to be pretty ordinary. The US$ is in the dumps right now. But with the Euro and sterling so high, I'd expect more folks.

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