dcfc2007

Ah right, I get you, I was talking about the Soi Bintabaht area. Its a nice wee soi for a night or two, but not exactly party central and it starts winding down quite early. I did venture into Hua Hins answer to ibar, quite busy but it was only two shophouses. When I was there the town was rammed with Thais. They had an isaan music event in a large square, couldn't get a seat as there were hundreds and hundreds of Thais eating and drinking. I really, really like Hua Hin. It has everything you could possibly need without some of the hassles of Pattaya.

Apparently Hua Hin has been one of the worst hit resorts in Thailand. According to some of the YouTube vlogs I have watched as much as 50% of bars there have closed as a result of covid19. I was there December 2019, I loved Hua Hin, but I couldn't believe how quiet Soi Bintabaht and the surrounding sois were.

https://amp.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3116784/chinese-construction-cambodias-next-tourism-hotspot-kampot It seems the Chinese are turning their attention towards Kampot. This is one reason Cambodia has never really appealed to me as an alternative to Thailand. I really enjoy Phnom Penh and the bar scene there is better value for money than Pattaya for me, and probably more fun as well. However, Cambodia just doesn't have the same infrastructure, comforts and attractions as Thailand. Phnom Penh is great for 5 days to a week, but I couldn't stay there for any longer.

It's not just Sihnakouville. Anyone been to Phnom Penh recently? 30 story skyscrapers but all chinese businesses, Chinese staff, pushing out the local Khmer. My taxi driver showed me where the Chinese had built a palace for Hun Sen, but for whatever Buddhist/spiritual reasons he said it was unlucky, so he built an almost identical one across the road. The Chinese are have also bought a massive chunk of the Cambodian coast where they plan to build a port, an airport and other installations. Cambodia is becoming a de facto Chinese province.

I think that's a pretty decent shot a timeline though I would hope they allow booze sales before March. More countries are imposing restrictions than lifting them which is depressing. The biggest factor in how quickly Thailand and Pattaya opens to tourists is going to be the speed and efficiency of its own vaccination programme. This recent outbreak has brought that forward a few months at least. But it's still difficult to see a scenario in which mainstream tourism resumes on a scale anywhere near like pre-covid levels until 2022.

And how many posts are specifically about new closures and updates? Majority of posts are about the bar industry in general. You don't need to over mod the forum.

How exactly was my post not on the topic of Pattaya bars? 🤔

I'd put money on it that prior to covid 19 there were more bars in Pattaya than ever before. Where some bar areas struggled others got bigger and busier. Soi 7 and 8 were on the decline whereas Soi LK metro and Soi Chaiyapoon were on the up.

I'm a sex pest and bar owners are pimps, just ask Bruce Mangosteen. Stop getting offended so easily ffs. The tourism industry in Thailand hasn't featured on the bar scene for years and years. That reminds me of a sex pest in soi 4 who said that if they closed nana plaza the tourism industry in Bangkok would collapse.... What a statement. 🤣🤣🤣

If Pattaya was so dead then how do you explain the fact that there were more bars opening than ever before. There are more bar areas than ever before. In fact look at the tree town area, 5 years there was pretty much nothing there, now there must be 30 bars in that area and the little side sois. I'm not denying that some bars and some bar areas were struggling, and like I said, the demographics were changing. But many of the bars were doing ok, the may not have been making as much as they were in the glory years, but they were doing ok. You make some very valid points about gentleman's clubs and lady drinks etc. I much prefer gentleman's clubs to gogo bars, and it wouldn't bother me if 95% of the gogo bars shut in Pattaya. I just think it is very premature to say that 'pattaya is finished'. Like I said, the tourism industry in Thailand has come through many disasters before.

It's true that western sex pests were thin on the ground prior to covid, and sois like soi 7 and 8 were already well in demise before covid. However, that doesn't mean tourism in general was down, but the demographics had shifted. The amount of Chinese and Indian tourists were exploding every year. All the big condo developments like Unixx and the Base were full of Chinese and Indian tourists. The number of Thai tourists and even those from other SEA nations was steadily rising as well. However, as you say, these demographics don't visit naughty bars. But there are still plenty of sex pests that do visit, but again the demographic there has changed, those coming are younger than ever before. They are more inclined to party in places like soi 6 and hit the clubs at night than have a day drinking session on Soi New Plaza. The bars and businesses that adapted were thriving and I know many places that were busy, even in the depths of low season. I can think of places like ladylove, ibar, vice city, paradise agogo etc that were heaving almost every night of the week. There's no doubt in my mind that when the vaccination programme across the world is finished, tourists will travel again, countries will fling open their borders, and before we know it this will just be a bad memory. I can remember people saying that Pattaya was finished in 2010 when the red shirts torched much of downtown Bangkok and the country was put under martial law and curfew. The Thai tourism industry has survived coups, tsunamis, floods, and the brink of civil war. No reason it won't survive this in my opinion.

Especially if you can negotiate a deal on the rent. You would need to be prepared to make a loss for at least the first 6 months, possibly up to 12-18 months. But might never get the opportunity to buy in a prime location again. I notice the Thais are continuing to build condo projects, develop tourist sites, they aren't stupid. They know that when this all blows over, the tourists will be back.

Just got my first dose of the vaccine. Breathtaking speed and efficiency at the vaccination centre. If the supply of vaccine keeps up, the UK will rattle through this vaccination in no time. Far from banning UK tourists, third world shitholes will be clambering over the top of one another trying to attract Brits in no time.

They laughed. They sneered. But the UK will be the first large nation to emerge from this catastrophe, and nobody will be more unhappy than remainiacs.

Booked in to get the bill gates vaccine tomorrow morning.

As they say in Phnom Penh, ''boom boom free condom 50 dollars''.

Rich bar probably the cheapest beers on buakhao after Nikom Court?

Is going to pick up a barfine a necessary journey?

GSK is manufacturing and distributing covid vaccine from within UK. The UK has already vaccinated 1m people, and will be the first large nation to vaccine its population. When it comes to the vaccination programme the UK is pissing all over tinpot, shithole countries like your beloved China and the EU.

Some things are more important than money. Look at trumps response when the Chinese tried to blame US soldiers on the coronavirus. That's a real leader. There is no such thing as the 'UK variant', this is the Chinese coronavirus, and about time the British government started reminding people of that.

If the UK was any sort of a country with a decent leader. They would ban the export of covid vaccines to any nation that bans the entrance of UK nationals. But its not, so that will never happen.