Published by Pattaya Ghost on October 12th, 2008
in Pattaya.
Crackdowns come and crackdowns go. But this week’s move by city officials to shut down afternoon bars on Soi 6 and elsewhere - whether it sticks or not — has served Pattaya whoremongers perhaps their most sobering notice yet that the city’s days as a huge, sprawling open-air sex market are truly numbered.
Following a recent wave of bad publicity overseas, Banglamung district officials swept through sois 6, 7 and 8 Tuesday serving notice to bar owners that, under their entertainment licenses, they could not open before 6 p.m. and stay open later than 2 a.m. Letters informed them that, from that point on, police would strictly enforce the licenses and with violators facing fines of 50,000 baht and 30-day closures. Continue reading ‘The Pattaya Ghost #18 — Is Pattaya Ready to Kiss the Sex Tourists Goodbye?’
Published by Pattaya Ghost on October 7th, 2008
in Pattaya.
Responding to waves of negative publicity created by the release of a new Belgian TV drama on Pattaya, City Hall today made good on last week’s promises to crack down on scantily clad girls and bars soliciting customers from the street by closing all of downtown Pattaya’s afternoon bars.
Shortly after noon, Banglamung district officials swept through the city, ordering all the bars closed until 6 p.m. with no working talent allowed on the street. By 2 p.m., Soi 6 looked like a ghost town, with many bars closed and locked. Others, however, remained open with girls quietly poking their heads outside to alert passers-by that the bars were still open, but that all the girls were inside. Continue reading ‘Pattaya Crackdown Begins; Afternoon Bars Closed’
Published by Pattaya Ghost on October 5th, 2008
in Pattaya.
With what many consider the worst low season in more than a decade coming to a close, the question on the lips of more and more Pattaya business owners is “will there even be a high season?”
The expectation that the winter months would see the return of tourists to Fun Town was a encouraging light at the end of this summer’s long, dark tunnel for owners of many tourist-dependent companies. So they did what they had to do to stay afloat during the past five months, betting that their fortunes would improve in November.
The odds on that bet seemed to improve as oil prices began dropping in late August, leading airlines to lower fuel surcharges. But hopes began to fade anew after an anti-government group took over Bangkok’s Government House, the U.S. financial sector went into meltdown and local and national government officials started talking about bar and alcohol crackdowns. Continue reading ‘The Pattaya Ghost - Issue #17: Will Pattaya Have a High Season?’
Published by Pattaya Ghost on September 28th, 2008
in Pattaya.
Pattaya Channel
Pattaya Ghost
One of the things that has surprised me over the past month is the amount of whining and surprised outrange from Bangkok purveyors of P4P over the price of barfines in Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy. More than a few times I’ve seen comments griping out how barfines have climbed to 600 baht in this place or that.
In Pattaya, I’d happy to take 600 baht any day of the week.
While drinking, shagging go-go girls, eating, sleeping and, well, doing just about anything in Pattaya is less expensive than in the capital, barfines are oddly more expensive.
Continue reading ‘The Pattaya Ghost - Issue #16: Barfine Robbery’
Published by Pattaya Ghost on September 21st, 2008
in Pattaya.
Fashion Club is as out of place in Pattaya as a rose in a bed of poison ivy.
Posh, expensive, sophisticated and stocked full of stunning women you’d never find in any Pattaya go-go bar, Fashion is Fun Town’s only Bangkok-style “G-Club” and, despite a number of failings, a nightclub that has earned a place on The Ghost’s list of favorite places.
Continue reading ‘The Pattaya Ghost - Issue #15: Fashion Club: G-Clubbin’ Pattaya-Style’
Published by Pattaya Ghost on September 14th, 2008
in Pattaya.
All Things Pattaya | The Pattaya Ghost blog
While it almost didn’t happen due to the ongoing shenanigans of Team Commando, the port call from a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and destroyer has lifted all boats during what is traditionally Pattaya’s slowest month.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Russell made port mid-day Friday and by late afternoon thousands of sailors had launched their assault on Pattaya’s bars. Soi 6 was wall-to-wall swabbies by the dinner hour and even lowly beer bars in the middle of Soi Diamond were crammed with crazed bellringers by 5 p.m. But, oddly, Walking Street was still relatively quiet Friday night, a good thing since some Thai in his infinite wisdom decided to schedule an open-air art exhibition on The Street that took up a third of the usable strolling area.
Continue reading ‘The Pattaya Ghost - Issue #14: Navy Boys & Hungry Girls’
Published by Pattaya Ghost on September 7th, 2008
in Pattaya.
After postponements due to The Ghost’s romp through Bangkok and the Big Mango boys’ road trip to Pattaya, I’m back with the promised second half of the Mid-Low Season Report. In Part 1 I covered Walking Street, sois 15, 16 and Marina Plaza. This week we’ll look at Soi Diamond, Soi Happy, sois 7 and 8 and the Soi LK Metro area.
While it’s technically not the middle of low season anymore - high season officially begins in seven weeks - the ongoing conflict between Team Commando and Team Lunatic have made the city feel like it’s again the dead of summer. The head of the local Tourism Authority of Thailand office said Wednesday that, due to the unrest and travel advisories stemming from it, “official figures for Pattaya indicate a drop in tourism by approximately 20 percent from this time last year.” The same official also sounded the first alarm about the upcoming high season, suggesting that Pattaya “will see a significant reduction of tourists regardless of whether a solution to the problems in Bangkok are found or not.”
None of that is good news for the go-go bars on Soi Diamond, perhaps second only to Covent Garden for the number of struggling bars. Here’s the rundown, starting on the ground level from the main strip:
Continue reading ‘The Pattaya Ghost - Issue #13 — Mid-Low Season Report, Part 2′
Published by pmmp on August 28th, 2008
in Main, Pattaya and The Weekly.
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