Hi everyone,
I am new to the Thailand forum i usually post on Goa forum.
Well, wifey and i had booked 1 night in Pattaya at the sunbeam hotel stayed there before and it was superb really central swim up bar in the swimming pool, sauna and a gym, boy was i worried when i saw the gym lol. the night there was good and we left next day and headed for Jontiem beach where we had been told it was better than Pattaya mmmm!!!!!, we had arranged 5 nights stay at Jomtien Grand Palace when we arrived there was a girl in reception picking her teeth in a dirty mirror behind reception went up to the room and the bed was made lovely, we had a a walk around Jomtien not impressed, then went back to the hotel for a nap and shower, i showered first, then the electric in the hotel went off, only OUR hotel we asked reception how long it would be before it would be back on they told us half and hour, so i went out for a drink and the OH was going to ring me and i would go back and collect her, well no phone call i thought she must have decided to stay in as she doesn't drink anyway, i got back at 12.30am all the hotel was lit up when i entered our room it was pitch black my wife had asked for the manager twice and nobody came up so i rang for some food and the manager, when he came up we asked why the electric was only off in our room and why he had not come up beforehand, he said all we had to do was take the key out and put it back in and the lights would have been back on, which he did while he was there, he could not give an answer to why we had not been told to do this, next the food arrived barely cooked and cold, the manager was still there and we said we didn't want it and to take it away, while talking to him we asked him about the cleanliness of the room he assured us they were spotless, so my wife got a clean towel and wipred the shelf, the floor and showed him the filth and a trial of ants, he did not know what to say and did not even offer to move us.
On the next morning we had decided to move out and go back to the Sunbeam hotel in Pattaya, so we said we wanted a written report with his signature on it because we had already paid Asia rooms.com for five nights very reluctant to do this and said he did not have time so we wrote it out and got him to sign it, he sked us if we were solicitors to which my wife replied no but she used to work for one and that's why we wanted it in writing and sign with what had happen there.
I was very disappointed with Jomtiem all of the restaurant on the front were smelling of the sewers and i don't know how anyone could have eaten there.
Back in Pattaya we met up with some old friends and went out with them each night and we really enjoyed the last 4 days, Pattaya is full of life and never short of anything to do, i would recommend the Sunbeam Hotel to anyone very central near 2nd road between soi 7 and soi 8, i will not put the Jomtien grand palace down because other rooms may be different and cleaned properly but the way the management and staff dealt with things was terribile, the staff on reception were actually laughing about our problems.
All in all we ended up having a good time and eventually got our money refunded from Asia rooms.com after they tried to charge us bank charges for moving hotels
We would go back to Thailand but would do the islands and the north next time.
Mike
Bit of a mix then. At least you enjoyed Pattaya in the end. Have to say I've never really felt it was a place I wanted to try. However, I know I would enjoy it if we went. How did you think food and drink prices compared to Goa? Haven't been since the rate plummeted for us. Would have said the hotels were better than in Goa but then you might have a different view.
Good to hear that Asia rooms refunded without a carry on.
Mike - which visa were you able to get?
Iv been to both Goa and Thailand numerous times and highly recommend the Mercure Hotel and the Dusit in Pattaya. The dusit is a beautiful place to stay, i went there with Kuoni Holidays as part of a two centre hol, staying in the Holiday Inn Silom at Bangkok for a week first. The Holiday Inn Bangkok....excellent.
We travelled on family hols 6 times to Pattaya/Bangkok with adults/kids/teens....Love it!
Prices are a bit higher than Goa but hygiene, standards far higher.
American resturants/pizza Hut/Ben & Jerrys as well as the cheap thai eateries. Expect to pay around a pound or two in a thai resturant...maybe up to around 5-6 depending what you have! Less hassle on the street in Pattaya than Goa...in fact no hassle, beggars etc.
I'm 24 and I love Thailand, this is a post I made on the Lonley Planet forums. No disrespect made to anyone here at all.
I had the misfortune of staying in Patya in Thailand for a night (I got stuck there) basically it was hell on earth; fat old bloke (I was joking when relating to India, I'm not now it's just an observation) with 14 y.o. girls on there arms, a beach full of deck chairs and high-rise after high-rise hotel. The place had been totally ****** I want to avoid places like that.
If I went to Goa what would I find? The beach huts, beauty and party atmosphere of Ko Phangan or the hell on earth of Patya?
I don't want to go to Thailand again I just want to find something as good. Is that Goa from what I said I like about Thailand?
What's you view on this?
I doubt very much you saw 14 year old girls with old blokes. What you saw were 5 foot, 40kg adult Thai women with old blokes, that I can believe. They may have looked 14 to you, but they wont have been.
What's you view on this?
My view is don't go to Pattaya!
Never been, never will. 15+ visits to Thailand, last one 3 weeks ago, keep finding wonderful new places.
Last thing I want is to be surrounded by thousands of sweaty sex tourists, tescos and starbucks, on a construction site that is a truly poor representation of a great country.
And it wouldn't surprise me if they were 14 years old either. I support ECPAT's work, and although this is 4 years old, it's worth a read: http://www.ecpat.org.uk/downloads/Thailand05.pdf
Along the entire seafront of Pattaya there is a Holiday Inn just about completed, and a large shopping mall also now open and nearing completion. I'm afraid Pattaya runs well down the list of building sites such as Sydney and Dubai
Whilst Pattaya certainly is'nt everybodies cup of tea, they have recently attempted to clean up their act, and make the place more attractive to the likes of package holidaymakers, but blanket critciism from people who hav'nt even visited is surely not helpful. Alan
Having been to Pattaya I have to say we weren't keen. I guess we did it for a sense of completeness - but actually against the advice of the tour operator who said we probably would not enjoy it given knowledge of our previous stays in the Kingdom. The tour operator was right - we didn't. It was not just the seediness, but the fact it is a city, very busy, very built up with a so so beach, the high emphasis the hotel paid on security which I've not seen before or since in my trips to Thailand (but was probably deemed necessary due to the area). We stuck it out five days but we weren't enjoying it so rather than waste more of our holiday booked a flight to Samui from U Tapao and spent the rest of our time there.
I spent four weeks in Sydney in April, one of Sydneys daily paper carries four pages of adverts for brothels and the like, so presumabley Travelling Sam will be well advised to steer clear of there as well,
Hi Gramps,
It's not the sex industry i'm railing against be it Sydney, London, Atlantic City or Pattaya, it's the oldest industry in the world, and i've no qualms with it.
But unfortunately I have seen evidence of child sex tourism in South East Asia (Thailand, Indonesia and especially the Philippines), which is why Pattaya, renowned as the centre of Thailand's sex industry holds no appeal to me. However, it's good to see the UK & most Asia governments taking a tough stance on such offenders (you'll now see regular coverage in newspapers such as the Bangkok Post reporting on sex offenders being sent home to be charged in their home countries - a weekly e-mail I receive from Bali Discovery yesterday covered 1 Ozzie guy and 1 Brit). Which is why organisations such as ECPAT do such sterling work to bring it to the public's attention.
Pattaya is a massive tourist destination with the vast majority of people staying at fabulous hotels and enjoying the atmosphere, and I don't wish to denigrate that, and I apologise that if it came across that way. The Dusit, Royal Cliff, Amari are all great hotels that attract massive loyalty amongst it's UK clients. Indeed, one very large UK Tour operator counted the Woodlands Resort Pattaya as it's top selling Asian hotel (much to it's surprise when I instigated a room night count!), so I know how popular it is - it's amazing how many long stay guests it attracts from the UK (particularly retired people which is great).
But, it's not for me. Might sound strange having never been though.
Koh Kradon & Similian Islands are on my hit list next...!
As much as we loved the Rabbit (owner Deb the American lady's Thai husband was born in the year of the Rabbit and hence it's name) I cannot see us returning which is a shame really as I'd go back in a heart beat if the hotel was paced elsewhere.
Cheers Geri
Very fair posts Travelling Sam and Sunbear, I was merely trying to point out that in fact it's not only sex tourists that visit Pattaya. Many, such as ourselves, are attracted by the excellent hotels such as "The Dusit" and "Woodlands", the ease to get about, the short transit time from Bangkok, with the new Mall, some first class shopping etc. If one is located in the northern part of Pattaya you are far removed from the "anything goes" southern part such as Walking Street. Alan
With any other location I'd go back to the Rabbit in a flash. We probably will anyway - the golf down there is a steal. Try Phoenix CC or the Thai Royal Navy course (where the green-fee is about EUR 15 on weekdays). If anything can save the Pattaya region from itself, it might just be the lure of the links. It sure as hell isn't the great white 20-storey concrete monsters that make up most of the hotels and condotels along the strip. But then again, if you are IN one of them, I suppose you don't actually have to LOOK at it.
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