Gay Pattaya

From Pattaya Mail It was a large turnout for the Pattaya City Expats Club meeting on Wednesday, 24 November, for their first meeting since they were suspended last April due to the measures reinstituted to reduce Covid-19 infections due to another outbreak. The speaker was Darren McGarry from Key Visa on a topic of much interest to Expats in Pattaya, “The Latest Visa Challenges and Opportunities in Thailand.” Darren is from the UK and has been a Visa Agent in Thailand for over 17 years. He mentioned that he was the first Visa Agent to open an office in Pattaya and that his experience allows him to help Expats and others with their visa needs whether it be dealin…

Adjacent to Sansuk Sauna is a recently constructed Three Storied Guesthouse with 19 rooms. The Room Rate includes Breakfast and free entry to the Sauna Complex. There are no additions to the room rate - like taxes or service. http://www.sansukpat.../guesthouse.php

From Pattaya Mail t’s all engines go again for Pattaya’s derelict tourism, with sports competitions and spectacle events planned from now until year-end. The Pattaya Music Festival resumes Nov. 12-13 with stages in Jomtien Beach and Nuay Beach on Koh Larn. December 3-4 shows will play out exclusively at Lan Po Public Park. The Dec. 10-11 finale weekend will have only one stage on Beach and Central roads. On Nov. 20-21, a three-on-three street basketball competition will post up at the Terminal 21 shopping mall. A week later will see the Pattaya International Fireworks Competition Nov. 27-28 and, a day later, the Rotary International Walk & Run for …

From Bangkok Post CHON BURI: The Pattaya City Municipality is planning five major events to boost tourism after fully vaccinated visitors from low-risk countries begin to enter the kingdom from Nov 1. Pattaya mayor Sonthaya Khunplome on Tuesday said the reopening of the country to fully vaccinated visitors without quarantine would revitalise the tourism industry, particularly in this beach city where the Covid-19 outbreak has crippled tourism. In responding to the reopening plan, the Pattaya mayor said the end of the quarantine requirement would be be a major driving force to stimulate tourism and draw more international visitors to Pattaya. Pattaya Ci…

From Pattaya Mail The U.S. embassy’s No. 2 official paid a visit to the Pattaya-based transgender support organization to review works supported by previous American donations. Acting Deputy Chief of Mission James Wayman was joined by Pattaya Deputy Mayor Wutisak Rermkitkarn for a tour of the Service Workers in Group Foundation office on Soi 14. SWING Director Surang Janyam welcomed them. SWING’s main mission is to facilitate access to healthcare services for the LGBT community, with a primary focus on HIV and AIDS treatment. The organization does a lot more, however, including assisting transgender entertainment workers during the coronavirus pandemic…

I have used Grab for ages and in Bangkok, I like it. But, in Pattaya, holy shit, the prices are insane. This week, I was going from the Royal Cliff to Salt and Pepper in Soi Day night for lunch. The cost for Grab was 220 baht. My boyfriend pulled out his Bolt application and the cost was 47 baht. That is a huge difference. Now, he sees the same thing in Bangkok as Bolt is the only one he used. I like Grab's SUV feature when I go somewhere so I have stuck to that.

Just had a look at the web-cam in Soi L.K.Metro and tables and chairs are out with a few customers visible. Good news hopefully.

From Pattaya Mail Large swathes of Pattaya’s main districts are being demolished by bulldozers and replaced by high screens and metal walls. New condos, hotels and entertainment parks await only the go ahead from the civic authorities. Runway 88 on Second Road will specialize in street food from various continents. There is already a Pakistani Airlines 747 parked as the main attraction and enough space for 200 eateries, market stalls and kids’ play areas. If you don’t believe that Pattaya is changing fast and preparing for a very different future, here’s the evidence.

From Pattaya News By Goong Nang(GN) The Pattaya Business and Tourism Association (PBTA) plans to focus on Indian and Russian tourists first when the city is open to vaccinated foreign tourists. Mr. Boonanan Pattanasin, the president of the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association, (PBTA) told The Pattaya News yesterday afternoon, September 21st, “Many cities might have postponed the plan to open for foreign tourists. However, Pattaya is ready to open as early as October 1st, if given permission by the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).” “Our largest number of tourists used to be Chinese, however, the Chinese government still has not all…

The former boy bar, Good Boys, has closed and moved just across the darkened Sunee Plaza soi to the former Allofmetoo. Dragon is on two floors, with the action on the second floor. It’s been open a few weeks now. Another new boy bar in Sunee Plaza is opening soon and it adjoins Diamond Bar and has same owner. More on this one later.

Salt and Pepper in Soi Day / Night 2 is amazing. It is reasonable and good food and the owners are friendly and kind. I have eaten there hundreds of times over the years and the food tastes great and always comes with a smile. I ate there just this week and the place was very quiet. And, as always, the food was excellent! They are one place that gays have gathered for many years (maybe 20 or so) and I hope they are around for another 20. https://www.facebook.com/saltandpepperpattaya

From Pattaya Mail One lane of Jomtien beach road near Grand Jomtien Hotel collapsed, pulling palm trees down to the beach and caused traffic chaos. Pattaya awakened on Wednesday morning to what looked like a scene out of a Hollywood disaster movie. All throughout the night the tropical storm wielded its wrath, dumping non-stop heavy rain all over the country and Pattaya was not spared. The rain did not stop at dawn but kept pouring down all morning and through most of the day. Pattaya streets are known to flood even with the slightest of rainfall, but with such a forceful blitz of rain throughout the night, the worst was about to hit the …

From Pattaya Mail The inferno on Pattaya Walking Street, which consumed the entire structure, could be seen from kilometers away, with a towering plume of smoke visible in nearby subdistricts. A ferocious fire destroyed an Indian nightclub on Pattaya’s Walking Street, injuring no one, but taking 10 fire companies to extinguish. Flames broke out at the Nashaa Club around 9:30 p.m. Sept. 12 and spread rapidly through the four-story shophouse and damaging two adjacent structures. Nashaa, along with the rest of Walking Street’s nightlife businesses, have been closed since April and the blaze broke out after Pattaya’s 9 p.m., so the building and the s…

From Pattaya Mail By Warapun Jaikusol Pattaya’s women-of-the-second-category are learning how to stay home and bake cookies. The Sisters Foundation launched its second round of vocational training courses for LGBTQ people who want to be bakers. The project began in April, funded by a 370,000-baht grant from the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations-affiliated group that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. Some of those participating in Sisters’ bakery classes are LGBTQ migrants from neighboring countries. Proje…

From Pattaya Mail The Red Piano, made famous by the Tomb Raider blockbuster, is firmly shuttered. ByBarry Kenyon Tired of staring at the bleak pics of what used to be Pattaya’s Walking Street? Spare a thought for the fate of its Cambodian relative: Pub Street in Siem Reap. Both are still padlocked and undergo an overnight curfew as well as a ban on booze. In their heyday, both catered for entertainment-seeking European and Australian tourists, although Pub Street somehow attracted a younger backpacker crowd compared with the middle-aged and elderly Pattaya devotees. The main difference was that Pub Street had a sense of gi…

I’ve recently been shocked no make that horrified when watching some of the YouTube Videos from Pattaya. There still seem to be people going about their business around the Sois but looking at all the closed down businesses and to let signs is really saddens me that the Pattaya I have loved for the last 30 years is disappearing. I live in that hope things will one day improve and the lovely Thai people who are suffering now can find some solace. I have bought tickets for Manchester Pride 2021 (my home city) it will be the first event for more that 18 months that I have attended where social distancing isn’t enforced. I must admit that whilst I am excited I am also fr…

I don't think that Moses will mind if I reference a thread from Sawatdee Network where one of my favorite Pattaya posters hangs out. Dodger has written well over many years in his tenure as both a tourist and now an expat. There's something authentic about his earthy style of describing his travels and relationships that sets him apart. In a recent post (Pattaya Update: From the Trenches) he talks again about riding his motorbike around Pattaya and reporting on what and who he sees, and how the boys still in town are getting by--some with no place to sleep but the street. One of the homeless guys he's followed in his weekly forays he locates near Dong Tan Beach,…

From Pattaya Mail Pattaya mayor confirms international consortium is funding city’s rejig By Barry Kenyon Faced with criticism that the funds to enhance Pattaya promenade could be better spent on feeding the city’s hungry, local mayor Sonthaya Kunplome explained that the money was not Pattaya’s to move around at will. a multi-million baht EEC (Eastern Economic Corridor) initiative, so the cash is reserved for a particular project. Cancelling the beach improvements would not result in one more meal for the hungry,” he said. In a rare public admission by a politician that many local projects are funded neither by the local authority nor by the Thai govern…

From Pattaya Mail The Pattaya City Council disbanded after half its members resigned in apparent protest over a 200-million-baht contract for closed-circuit TV cameras. Council Chairman Anan Ankanawisan announced the panel’s dissolution on Aug. 11 following the resignations of Wasan Naowniew, Chakorn Kanjawattana, Saksit Yaemsri and Choluek Chotekamjorn who comprised half of the eight remaining members of the council, which originally had 12 members appointed by the previous junta in 2016. With fewer than the six required members, the council was automatically dissolved. Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said he will send a letter to Chonburi’s governor asking for ei…

From Pattaya Mail For the few still holding out hope, it’s now official: Pattaya is not reopening to foreign tourists Sept. 1. In truth, it never was. No matter how much Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome and tourism-industry associations talked up the “Pattaya Move On” plan, Sept. 1 was never a realistic date and the plan was never approved by anyone. The Tourism Authority of Thailand – which, in fact, can’t open a noodle stand on its own, let alone a city – said Aug. 10 there was no way Pattaya could start welcoming fully vaccinated foreigners in three weeks and wouldn’t even predict when Pattaya will be. Pattaya Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome, however, admitted defea…

From Pattaya Mail When Pattaya first shut down at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Alisa Phanthusak Kunpalin thought that the iconic Tiffany’s Show she heads would be closed for at most three months. Sixteen months later, the stage lights remain dark, the seats empty and the feathered headdresses dusty. Alisa, Tiffany’s managing director, now fears it will be that way for some time. “I thought the government could control it,” Alisa said of the coronavirus’ spread. “But unfortunately, there are no signs of recovery.” The Tiffany’s Show, which had run continuously for 46 years until Pattaya shut down in March 2020. In between the three waves…

From Pattaya Mail At least 400 Pattaya-based foreigners have already taken advantage of the Astra Zeneca free inoculation scheme on offer at Bangkok’s Ban Sue Central Station, currently a government-run vaccination center. The scheme invites people of any nationality aged 75 and over to walk-in, without prior registration, any day in office hours until the afternoon of Sunday July 18. Customers can live anywhere in Thailand and need take only their current passport and proof of address, such as their driving licence or house registration paperwork, without any copies being necessary. There is a strict check on age: the walk-in service is not now available to you…

I don't think Gaybutton will mind if I borrow a post from his board. Pattaya cops walked in on a live broadcast involving three Thai guys that was being beamed to China for a select audience. https://gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10704

From Pattaya Mail By Barry Kenyon The 520,000 British pensioners who live abroad, including 30,000 or so in Thailand, are being encouraged to use their newly-endowed power to vote in UK general elections. The idea is to vote only for a political party which guarantees to upgrade their state pensions annually, just like their contemporaries back home. The right to the expat vote in British elections was agreed earlier this year by Boris Johnson’s government and replaced an old rule that the franchise lapsed after 15 or more years abroad. However, there is an elaborate registration procedure in constituencies which may deter all but the most fervent expats.…

From The Thaiger Koh Larn off the coast of Pattaya could be reopening to tourists in the near future. As Thailand prepares to reopen to foreign tourists by October, the Chon Buri island will serve as a pilot project for the area’s reopening. Pattaya Mayor Sontaya Khunpluem says the city is in favour of the Thai government’s 120-day reopening plan, a goal announced by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha earlier this month. No proposed reopening date has been reported, but earlier reports list Pattaya to reopen in September. A vaccination campaign has been launched on the island in an effort to inoculate 70% of people on the island, a requirement for reopening. …