Pattaya to close at 1 am

[Mentors]

I know this is old hat in Bangkok, but Pattaya...!!!

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I wrote it two month ago, Pattaya will be next on the list so no surprise for me.

The goverment is planning (since some years) to make Pattaya to a more family friendly holiday destination.

It is the goverments serious nightlife strategy.

And after the start of the BKK nightlife crackdown, it was clear, that Pattaya comes as next soon.

 

[BlazingStarz]

This passport checking is happening, to get into CM2 you need to produce it, also the toilets in Nana Hotel/Disco have signs recommending carrying it. Also if you do not have it on you , then you run the risk of being in a cell until it is brought over, this happens as I know someone it happened too.

 

Last trip in BKK i carried mine with me every night, i hate doing so but would rather not spend an evening in the cells.

 

Looks totally worn now after only 4 excursions in BKK.

 

Ho hum

[torrenova]

stumpdog said:

torrenova said:

Losing your passport is much worse than getting asked for it by some BiB.

 

Do you think so? Those found without their passport risk arrest and jail until they can arrange for someone to bring it to the police for them.

 

Last month a farang was murdered in the Pattaya Police cells.

 

A lost passport requires a trip to BKK to the appropriate embassy.

So you don't reckon that I could just go to my hotel or condo and get it out for them then ?

 

Whilst I have never ever seen or known anyone who has been asked to show his passport, I may make a copy and see whether the BiB in Pattaya can stamp it or something to prove its authenticity. Then perhaps carry that.

[Guest]

Hi Terrenova,

 

Sorry...I've been really busy with work.

 

Have you been given any notice about early closing times? Or have a take on any changes there?

 

HT

[BlazingStarz]

There is an option, u can get immigration at Don Muang or local office to certify/stamp your photocopy passport if you show them the original at the same time.

[Hardy641]

I just wonder that I haven?t read anything about the new Pattaya crackdown and the planned protest of entertainment business owners in the press, neither the Nation nor the Bangkokpost Post mentioned even one of these events. Previous raids or new closing hours were always published and received a lot of comment on newspapers homepage. Though this time, even these are major events not a single word in the press.

 

Anybody has a clue why? Censorship?

[torrenova]

Currently, we have music off by 01:00am but the bars are open until 02:00am. This is in contrast to music off by 02:00 and close when I want.

 

In reality, it is very rare that we go on much past 02:00am anyway. In peak season yes, but maybe we'll get cut some slack for that. Knocking Christmas Eve/Day and New Years Eve/Day short at 02:00am or worse at 01:00am will hit hard I admit but guys will get to grips with it and just have to get pissed earlier.

[Guest]

What about the discos? I couldn't take a steady (not even weekly) diet of it, but when I am in Pattaya I do occassionally like to have a very late night out. Before things changed here in Bangkok, I would do that occassionally here - maybe once every two months or so. I would certainly miss not having the opportunity to do that anywhere in Thailand.

 

What I still don't understand is the relationship between (a) early closing times and ( any vice the government has identified that they want to reduce or eliminate? Even in buttoned down Singapore the bars close much later than Bangkok now. In fact, even in Moslem Kula Lumpur the Hard Rock Cafe doesn't close until 3 am.

 

If this is all about reputation and face, the early closing times haven't changed that. Thailand still has the slease reputation, and early closing times won't affect that in the least. Indeed, the early closing times are doing more damage to the upscale legitimate trendy places - the Club 87s, Q Bars and Club Mystiques - than the raunchy go go bars.

 

The irony here is that the go go bars and prostitution generally will fare much better under the New Social Order's rules than legitimate bars. This should generate a fair amount of sarcasm in the Western press about failed Thai policies.

[zion]

BrownFox77 said:

Well I don't plan to carry my passport but instead will be carrying a copy as I awlays do. So far haven't seen one board member yet who was personally asked for his passport and then report the results of not having it on his person - hopefully I won't be the 1st. I have seen folks report getting Urine tested even in the GoGos but no Passport checks were made that I heard of.

 

In a slightly different context, i was stopped in the street by the police and asked for my passport once. I handed over a piece of paper that was folded in 4. I replied "copy passport" (had my picture page, visa, and entry stamp). One cop checked out the paper for a split second, upside down . He handed it back and said ok. If there was a raid a la Qbar, i have yet to see if the passport copy would be accepted. I am hoping that and possibly a thai drivers licence would suffice.

[torrenova]

If the election was this or next week then I wouldn't worry as we always get a bit of stick at election time. I had expected to close for one or two days for the parliamentary elections and have the police around for a few days before, showing their presence.

 

However, we've never been hassled in over two years. Now we get music off at 1am and people out by 2am. With the election being so far away and this social order campaign going on, we might have turned a corner for the worse.

 

Personally, I don't mind the music off at 1am and lights down at 2am. I will mind if I can't then go and watch an evening football game though.

 

Has anyone ben up to the Buffalo Bar on 3rd Road in Pattaya in the last week and seen what time they are closing down ?