Londoner Posted Friday at 05:56 AM Posted Friday at 05:56 AM I'm intrigued by the relatively-recent arrival of Indian tourists; Indian men, that is....how often do we see Indian women or children in South Pattaya? I wonder if their spending-power is a good deal less than that of other nationalities and the visa change perhaps reflects this? We seldom see them in up-market malls like T21 and Central while the many Indian restaurants are invariably empty when we drive past them at night; the guys seem to eat in street-side venues. I assume that they attend the new Indian nightclubs in the Walking Street area but during the daytime there seems to be a great deal of hanging around just outside the hotels. You seldom see an Indian tourist on his own, or even with just one companion. Are they punters in the go go bars? or on the apps? are they beach-lovers? do they take the day trips to the islands and other tourist places like Nong Nooch? why do they all seem to be between the ages of about thirty and fifty? are they long-stayers or is Pattaya enjoyed for weekends and so on? It is, after all, not that far from some parts of India. Many questions, no answers. Ruthrieston and FunFifties 2 Quote
macaroni21 Posted Friday at 12:20 PM Posted Friday at 12:20 PM It so happens that I had a short conversation with four (maybe five) of them a few years ago, and another short conversation with a solo guy in a 7-eleven on my visit earlier this year. I don't claim that what Iearned from just two conversations would be representative, but at least they gave me a bit of insight. But let me share my observations regarding your more general questions first. 7 hours ago, Londoner said: Indian men, that is....how often do we see Indian women or children in South Pattaya? A handful of women perhaps, always sticking close by their husbands, but I don't recall seeing any children. 7 hours ago, Londoner said: I wonder if their spending-power is a good deal less than that of other nationalities and the visa change perhaps reflects this? I don't know about the thinking behind the visa change, but just on objective measures alone, India is really a poor country. I was recently surprised to see, for example, that Vietnam has became nearly twice as rich (in terms of GDP per capita) as India. From: https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-per-capita/?source=imf®ion=asia&year=2026&metric=nominal Thailand: 8,105 USD per capita Indonesia: 5,362 USD per capita Vietnam: 5,115 USD per capita Cambodia: 2,902 USD per capita India: 2,813 USD per capita. Sure, there are middle class Indians, but "middle-class" in any country is often relative to the overall economic standard in that country. So one might say that the middle-class Indians are far poorer than the middle-class Thais. This issue will come up again when I describe the conversation I had with the solo guy in the 7-eleven. I reckon the Indian tourists we see hogging the roadsides in South Pattaya are the middle class of India but it's all relative. 7 hours ago, Londoner said: We seldom see them in up-market malls like T21 and Central while the many Indian restaurants are invariably empty I think it's a combination of a purchasing power problem and a tastebuds problem. Many of what may appear to us as Indian restaurants in South Pattaya are actually Middle-eastern restaurants that grew up to serve the tourists from the much richer Persian Gulf states. Their prices may seem astronomical to Indians. 7 hours ago, Londoner said: during the daytime there seems to be a great deal of hanging around just outside the hotels. You seldom see an Indian tourist on his own, or even with just one companion. I've made the same observation. 7 hours ago, Londoner said: Are they punters in the go go bars? or on the apps? are they beach-lovers? I have never seen these groups in the gay bars, though there may be the occasional upper-middle class Indian arriving solo perhaps but not the South Pattaya lads. The latter may be found on Pattaya beach in the late afternoon and dusk. "Upper" is all relative again, probably equivalent to the spending power of a Western backpacker on Khao San Road. One indelible memory I have is that of a professorial-looking Indian guy so shocked at 500 baht for a drink (this was in a Bangkok bar) he was so at a loss for words, he couldn't speak English anymore. Naturally, neither the waiter nor mamasan understood Hindi (or whatever language he was stuttering). FunFifties, floridarob and vinapu 2 1 Quote
macaroni21 Posted Friday at 12:30 PM Posted Friday at 12:30 PM Some years ago, I was doing a post-prandial stroll along Beach Road promenade whiling away an hour or so before hitting the Boyztown bars when a group of 30-ish Indian men asked me if I could take a group photo of them. There were maybe four or five of them. We got into a bit of a conversation, and I learned that they were on a short company-paid trip. Can't remember how many days but my impression now is that it was a five-day or one-week thing at most. The were all working for the same company and each had won the best salesman award for the previous year in his sales district. So it was a kind of incentive trip. To my surprise, one of them said it was his second trip to Thailand. The earlier trip was when he was with another company and they had sent him to attend a conference in Pattaya (maybe it was Bangkok, memory's a bit hazy) organised by the regional office of some American company. This may explain the demographic profile that Londoner observed (and I agreed with). Men in the 30s and 40s. Travelling alone without wives or family, in all-male groups. (In many industries in India, women are rarely seen doing sales and marketing). As for why they had little else to do in the days they were in Pattaya, I guess they were supposed to make their own tour arrangements (at their own expense) and maybe the "at their own expense" part was too much of a hurdle. FunFifties, vinapu and tm_nyc 3 Quote
Popular Post macaroni21 Posted Friday at 12:40 PM Popular Post Posted Friday at 12:40 PM Then in February this year, while queuing to pay at a 7-eleven along Pattaya Second Road not far from Boyztown, the Indian gent behind me tapped me on the shoulder to ask my opinion whether the bun he was holding (among a basket of other things) was vegetarian. I offered my opinion that it probably was; "Taro bun", the label read (turns out he didn't know what taro was). The queue was slow and we had a chance to talk. I learned that he was vegetarian and for the 4 - 5 days in Thailand, he plaintively said he could find almost nothing to eat. (Come to think of it, it's actually difficult to find vegetarian Thai restaurants!). The difficulty was compounded because he came from North India and said they (or at least he) didn't eat rice. They only ate flatbread as their staple, and it's not something he can easily find in Thailand. I stupidly said "Shawarma stalls would have flat bread", before realising, three milliseconds later, that they're not vegetarian! He didn't fancy trying other cuisines, not knowing what was in them, and anyway, he said, the tastes of Thai and Western food didn't suit him. I was going to challenge him by saying that if he had never tried, how would he know, but then I decided to be diplomatic. I had learned to wait a few milliseconds before speaking my mind. The conversation soon moved on to prices of the things in his basket and the long and short of it was that everything in his basket (from a Thai 7-eleven) cost twice as much as he'd had to pay in India. What was in his basket? I remember seeing yogurt and more bread... and lots of beer. He was surviving on that through his entire trip. vinapu, tm_nyc, Travellerdave and 2 others 4 1 Quote
PeterRS Posted Friday at 02:36 PM Posted Friday at 02:36 PM Lots of Indians to be seen in Bangkok, many in the up-market shopping malls carrying designer goods bags. Recently in Paragon, Em Quartier and even Terminal 21 we have seen many Indians. Most are couples or in small groups. Quote
Olddaddy Posted Saturday at 03:15 AM Posted Saturday at 03:15 AM 21 hours ago, Londoner said: I'm intrigued by the relatively-recent arrival of Indian tourists; Indian men, that is....how often do we see Indian women or children in South Pattaya? I wonder if their spending-power is a good deal less than that of other nationalities and the visa change perhaps reflects this? We seldom see them in up-market malls like T21 and Central while the many Indian restaurants are invariably empty when we drive past them at night; the guys seem to eat in street-side venues. I assume that they attend the new Indian nightclubs in the Walking Street area but during the daytime there seems to be a great deal of hanging around just outside the hotels. You seldom see an Indian tourist on his own, or even with just one companion. Are they punters in the go go bars? or on the apps? are they beach-lovers? do they take the day trips to the islands and other tourist places like Nong Nooch? why do they all seem to be between the ages of about thirty and fifty? are they long-stayers or is Pattaya enjoyed for weekends and so on? It is, after all, not that far from some parts of India. Many questions, no answers. I had 2 Indian🇮🇳 guys ( tourists) early this year ..free...one in Pattaya and one in Bangkok,met them through Grindr Both were closet gays🔓 , the Pattaya Indian guy (24)came to Pattaya for 2 weeks with his friends and was bi sexual , he came to visit me at my Airbnb where he fucked me calling me a whore and bitch ,and slapped my butt cheeks The Bangkok Indian is an guy was older 42yo and came to Bangkok for a visit with his family Discreetly he popped over to ram his cock in my daddy👴 ass 🍑 Mavica and vinapu 2 Quote
vinapu Posted Saturday at 08:39 AM Posted Saturday at 08:39 AM 23 minutes ago, Olddaddy said: I had 2 Indian🇮🇳 guys ( tourists) early this year ..free...one in Pattaya and one in Bangkok,met them through Grindr Both were closet gays🔓 , the Pattaya Indian guy (24)came to Pattaya for 2 weeks with his friends and was bi sexual , he came to visit me at my Airbnb where he fucked me calling me a whore and bitch ,and slapped my butt cheeks The Bangkok Indian is an guy was older 42yo and came to Bangkok for a visit with his family Discreetly he popped over to ram his cock in my daddy👴 ass 🍑 Looks that Pattaya guy knew you already floridarob, Ian here and Olddaddy 3 Quote
floridarob Posted 21 hours ago Posted 21 hours ago On 5/29/2026 at 6:40 AM, macaroni21 said: I was going to challenge him by saying that if he had never tried, how would he know, The normal reasoning I use when a guy says he doesn't like gay sex... Quote
Mavica Posted 9 hours ago Posted 9 hours ago On 5/29/2026 at 11:15 PM, Olddaddy said: ... he came to visit me at my Airbnb where he fucked me calling me a whore and bitch, and slapped my butt cheeks Quote
hank75 Posted 2 hours ago Posted 2 hours ago On 5/29/2026 at 12:56 PM, Londoner said: I'm intrigued by the relatively-recent arrival of Indian tourists; Indian men, that is....how often do we see Indian women or children in South Pattaya? They are all in Phuket, particularly around Patong where cheap accommodation is plentiful, and there are also shops and entertainment. Walking down Patong Beach Road, if not paying close attention, it can feel like being in India - Indian families with small children, strollers, multiple relatives on the same excursion. Moving further afield from Patong, the profile becomes significantly Russian. I am writing this now from Phuket airport where even the official immigration signage is in Russian. Went on a boat trip to the islands several days ago. Knowing that it is rainy season I made some advance preparations (planning the trip as early as possible, ensuring not to be on an overcrowded boat). As I was about to leave the final island, the skies opened. A longtail boat, clearly one of the cheaper rides, packed full of Indians (likely just one single family) arrived, wearing floaties and a mishmash of traditional garb and swimwear. However by then the rain and winds were picking up and the women and children were refusing to disembark, holding up the queue of longtail boats trying to pick up their own passengers. Mind you they were all in swimwear so clearly they had intended to get wet at some point. The Thai crew insisted they alight so the other boats would not get held up, and above the howling of the children and arguing of the adults I heard one crew shout rather sarcastically “Welcome to Thailand!”. The men rushed on to the floating pier and elbowed those of us standing under the small tent shelter into the rain. I had already been swimming so I didn’t mind but the irony of coming out to the islands specifically to not get wet was rather striking. Quote
hank75 Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago On 5/28/2026 at 1:07 PM, bkkmfj2648 said: Yesterday, we went over to Koh Larn - via the ferry and it was full on both the outgoing and return trips - however, the beach that we went to, Tien Beach - was fairly devoid of people and when we took the motorbikes over to the hill that overlooks the Tawaen Beach to look down onto what is usually the most popular beach of Koh Larn - it was mostly empty Interesting to hear. I was on Larn earlier this year during semi-high season and Tawaen was packed with all kinds including the above mentioned Indian male groups travelling sans wife and kids. The ruckus of shouting and jetski engines gave Boy a headache so we had to beat a retreat. On 5/29/2026 at 8:13 AM, PeterRS said: Many Chinese tourists have been put off by what they regard as Thailand's bad reputation for violence and tragedies like ferry boat disasters. Also the much publicised kidnapping of that Chinese actor. I’ve had to explain to Chinese friends more than once that was a result of answering shady job ads, rather than Thailand being unsafe. Similarly the case of the pretty Chinese influencer who vanished in Cambodia and was found begging by the roadside. I discussed this with a Cambodian boy who pointed out that it was a case of “Chinese scamming Chinese” Quote