New to the scene & coming to Pattaya?

[f0xxee]

(pacman @ Oct. 14 2010,21:00) Living in Pattaya doesn't give anyone special insight into everything that is going on.

NO, but its a very good place to start.


Paccers,

Please don't go accusing me of Paccie bashing (Paki-bashing? Hmmmm. Skin head territory) but I think you are missing the point.

You live in Perth, and love it right? If you were to get a police call sheet from Perth Central, do you think if you read it wiithout knowing or having visited Perth that you might think Perth was a dangerous place? Especially if you had no other term of reference, such as a call sheet from Sydney perhaps?

Its about context: and the context here is: Yes violence does occur in Pattaya. But it is no worse than your home town. The point is in your home town you are not sitting in a bar in the redlight district 24/7.....

Did you know that 4 falangs have been murdered in sleepy old Hua Hin in the last 6 months? The usual suspects too: Greedy wifey who can't wait for the cancer to do in daddy, jealous and pissed off neighbors from Isaan. And while it concerns me I a can generally see the paths these unfortunates have taken that has lead them to their demise. Hua Hin is not however a warzone.

I think my learned and well intentioned friend you have possibly over stated the case while lying on your near-death bed, and things are not as bad as they seem.

If it is the case that you have not ever witnessed a violent beating before, then I can also understand that the pure viciousness, the faces of rage, can be very disturbing the first time encountered. It gets easier with practice. Have worked the doors of bars and managed bars in my yoof, where we had a "Buy one get one free policy" regarding Dark Rum, I think i was exposed early.

[deepthroat]

I've usually found that many crime victims put themselves into peril, either by being too timid (looking at the ground instead of making direct eye-contact is known to signal to muggers that you are easy target) or by being too stupid. Of course there are always going to be a percentage of crime victims that were neither, but the majority will be in either of these two camps.

Oddly, I've heard very little from any other board member on this board or any of the others about being a victim of a crime in Pattaya, unless you count getting fucked without sufficient lube or the constant overcharging and underserving that goes with the territory. Violent crime seems to be almost unknown amongst the folks on the boards, but with the new threat levels you've described I'm sure we'll start hearing reports daily of board members being assaulted....

[Torurot]

Paccie was it the "Howard" of "Big Trouble in Thailand" fame you spoke to from the Tourist Police Volunteers?? The series has recently been on our TV. The violence I've seen in Thailand has been no worse than an average Fri/Sat night piss fuelled bad lands I was brought up in.

There is a class of tourist that I categorise as "clueless and unaware". They would find trouble (or it would find them) in ANY city of the world.

You are doing the newbie's a service because it is not a benign place where you can let your guard down. Most violence I have seen is the result of tourist ignorance, rudeness, arrogance, mixed with liberal doses of clueless & too much alcohol... In other words the same mix that could get you a punch in the head or worse in your own home town. Know that & your half way to not being the next victim.


.

[moe666]

My girlfriend says I never see you drunk, I says and you never will in Thailand unless I know the people I am drinking with and I trust them

Keep safe stay out of trouble donot get blitzed.

[pacman]

(Torurot @ Oct. 15 2010,15:01) Paccie was it the "Howard" of "Big Trouble in Thailand" fame you spoke to from the Tourist Police Volunteers??  The series has recently been on our TV.  

No, he is a Northern English guy who has been with the Tourist Police a long time. I have spoken to him over several years but it was only my last visit where I got to know him.

I struck up a conversation with him in a GoGo on his night off & he told me some stories & what he had to put up with. Then I kept running into him & we had this ongoing chat about who had been attacked, how many they had taken to hospital, that sort of stuff.

There is a class of tourist that I categorise as "clueless and unaware".    They would find trouble (or it would find them) in ANY city of the world.    

And they come to Pattaya as well. But it isn't them I was thinking about when I started the thread. It is the quiet guys & the naive ones who would never go looking for trouble but can find more than they bargained for.

I only started the thread after talking with the policeman, after meeting several first timers to LOS & after seeing the violence myself. And it isn't just the risk of being attacked I was referring to when I wrote "Toughen up or die". It is the fact that the girls can detect a nervous newbie from across the room & SOME of them are none too shy about taking advantage of them.

I am still hearing of threats being made to visitors, the problem remains even if it isn't overtly obvious.

[seamus]

Having just returned from a 12 day stay in LOS , with one night in Pats ( thanks to dad, PD & Lefty for a great night) Things are no different from My first visit 3 years ago, apart from lack of tourists.
If you are dealing with ladies of the night anywhere in the world, you have to be on your guard, pats is no different. Getting pissed in any foreign country is never a great idea & again dealing with bar girls while pissed is just stupidity ( even though I have done it myself )
My view on the LB scene has changed a great deal from 3 years ago, We live We learn, Paccie has just woke up to smell the coffee & doesn't like wot he smells. Me thinks, like Me he was looking through rose tinted glasses, this trip he has seen it for wot it really is !

[Damocles]

I'm new, catching up with old threads and reading through this as a newbie-extreme. However streetwise I may be, I get the following impression:

1. You guys like and respect each other generally, regardless of the spats and opinion differences - nice feel for a forum
2. Pattaya can be (as opposed to 'is') unsafe either physically or monetarily if you don't keep your wits about you, which kinda spoils my desire to get very drunk there, regardless of how good and nice a drunk I am

I'm glad I kept reading for balance, but it does take the shine off it a little - that's life I guess, and no different to most places I've ever been to, with the pros still outweighing the cons.

I've been to Pattaya twice for a few days each time; hardly enough to know shit but what the thread also did was made me realise why I can't seem to get drunk there no matter what I drink as I subconsciously have a cut-off that keeps me aware of whats around me. Hate that!

Interesting read - thanks to all  

Edit: Oh yes...and I mustn't go to Cascades!

[daveduke007]

Pattaya is great and Ive never had any problems      , apart from crossing the road that is   bastard Pick Up Trucks 

[Damocles]

Holy crap dave! That looks bad; but on a plus side you're here to tell the tale!

Serves you right though for not using the new multi-million pedestrain crossings, all of which are of course obeyed correctly and in an orderly manner by everyone

[Bumpa STIKKA]

Welcome to the house of fun, Damocles.

[manarak]

ok, who is the dumbfuck that gave Damocles a rating after 2 posts???

and Damocles: Cascades is currently probably the best ladyboy bar in the world. my opinion.

[pacman]

    I didn't rate him but sometimes you just get lucky...      

Welcome to the forum Damocles & don't mind Manarak, he's really a lovely chap. He just has high principles.

Most of us don't...                 (Smite him with you sword if you like, I like your username, I wonder how many will pick up the reference?)

[El_hefe]

Keeping your wits about you, especially while drinking, is pretty much the way to go anywhere in the world when you aren't on your home turf, imho it separates the pros from the amateurs. Drunk strangers may as well have a bullseye painted on them since they are prey for anyone needing $$ (including cops) or, my bigger fear, a traffic accident far from home.
(On the other hand the "amateurs" probably have more interesting stories to tell when they come to.)

I wouldn't give a second thought about going to Patts, or Cascades, & have a great time.

[guydesavoy]

(manarak @ Jan. 26 2011,08:35) ok, who is the dumbfuck that gave Damocles a rating after 2 posts???

dumbfuck here    

I voted 3 for a good and positive entry to the Board. On my calculations that gives him plenty of scope to rise or fall slowly from that midpoint.  

[johnnydiver]

Guy, you are just a softie under that persona you project!

Welcome to the board Damocles! We are just a band of brothers with all of our squables and rants but we are always looking for another newbie to join our ranks! So welcome and I hope you like it here enough to stay. I did, and believe me this group has been very good to me. God bless them all! Well most of them, ah maybe the one in the back row of the group picture. I understand he really needs our help! Just follow the bouncing minivan with all of the stickers on it! You won't go wrong unless he starts turning left all the time! Just my thoughts at 1:25 AM here in Chicago! Sleep deprived again!