https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/...s-covid-crisis
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Wow, the video with that article is scary. Businesses, and workers are suffering alike.
Although even with all the closures I still think I'd rather be there than the UK just now if I'd a choice perhaps !
No offence, but the UK is a very bleak place to be in ....as is most of Europe regarding Covid-19....but added into the mix the UK has Brexit charging towards it, the effects of which will certainly be negative economically.
I too would like to visit Pattaya even though I live in Perth WA, where life is practically Covid-19 free.
Just wait until we come back! :-)
and from Pattaya Mail today:
Pattaya Boyztown: end of an era?
https://www.pattayamail.com/featured...-an-era-331380
In case some readers are not aware, Barry Kenyon is a long term observer of Pattaya having been the Honorary British Consul there for 14 years from about 1996. He knows what he is talking about. But then it merely echoes what some of us have been saying here for months. Unless there is a flood of western gay tourists by the high season about to start, Boyztown will join Sunee as mere memories of happier fun times.
This line in the Thaiger article struck me the most:
"......the sleazier side of Pattaya has continued to grow, with a growing number of proprietors trying to glean an income out of a slowly declining western patronage".
I felt some time ago that this would almost have to happen, because the farther the economy falls downhill - the closer Pattaya will get to its roots.
"Sleazy" is the bedrock of Pattaya, It was spawned from "Sleaze".
The Barry Kenyan article (Pattayamail) linked to this post by dab69, is centered on the future of Boyztown, but fell short of capturing what's going on in "Gay Pattaya" in general in my opinion.
Gay venues in Pattaya started migrating to one centralized location several years ago - well before the covid-19 pandemic. As we all know, that location is Jomtien Complex (now dubbed Supertown). Over the past 9 months, when so many businesses have closed and the economy has plunged to its lowest level in 50 years, Supertown has actually increased the number of gay venues in operation. Based on reports from expats who regularly visit Supertown, businesses are slow and customers are limited, but the lights are on, boys are lined up in mass wearing their best smiles, and there's no immediate indication that things are going to change anytime soon.
We've known for many years that Boyztown and Sunee Plaza were going downhill, for the mere fact that the number of gay tourists coming to Pattaya was declining exponentially. Plain and simple. Maybe this will change in the future - maybe it won't, but one thing that appears to be clear (at least to me), is that the gay venues, i.e., host bars, gogo's, cabarets, massage parlors, etc., will always be alive in Pattaya, although the demographics will certainly continue to change.
The Chinese, who seem slated as the first tourists to return to Pattaya in 2021, seem to prefer show bars, cabarets, and other venues which offer some sort of visual entertainment, versus host bars, which are more popular with western gay tourists. I imagine places like BBB and Copa in Boyztown, and The Venue and M2M in Supertown are well aware of this.
Yes, I agree, the sleazier side of Pattaya will continue to grow. Areas where busy shopping malls once attracted a steady flow of customers may be turned into slums with more stray dogs roaming the sois than food vendors, but the gay venues, which have flourished in sleazy environments since the beginning of time, will continue flying their rainbow banners.
"Areas where busy shopping malls once attracted a steady flow of customers may be turned into slums with more stray dogs roaming the sois than food vendors,"
Yes. Pattaya will become a no go area. Police will travel around rarely and then only in armoured cars. Nightfall will see gangs prowling the streets looking for anyone stupid enough to be out after dark. Crime lords will control the streets selling hard drugs to a largely wasted population. Food will be hard to come by with residents and expats making do with whatever they can scavenge. Rumours of hijacked food lorries will lead to armed gangs of the citizenry gathering eh masse to ensure they get to control it. Petrol stations will have military protection and only those with special permits will be allowed to buy fuel. Gunfights and armed raids will become a regular feature outside these depots. The huge shiny apartments blocks will crumble and decay and only tbe most desperate will live there behind heavily barricaded doors. Vicious dogs will be their chosen method of protection. Bars will only open during daylight hours and only behind locked doors with a guy holding a shotgun at the entrance. The atmosphere will be one of fear and suspicion as battle scarred punters drink homemade hooch distilled out of rotting vegetables. I can see it all now.
arsenal, why not tell us something of your time spent currently in China it might be a pleasant change from the usual Covid inspired hum drum?
BTW...Deli Diner is no more.
I cannot see any way the gay sleaze will return. It had its day.
It grew relatively quickly and I don't think the authorities cared much about it other than underage bars and the cash it all brought it. The cash is not going to return. Asian tourists don't want sleaze as the western tourists did. And with an absence of at least 18 months or more before tourists from western countries are able to return in any numbers, gay tourists will soon realise that Pattaya without the volume of bars and the sleaze of yesteryear is not what they expected. They may come once. But returning as regulars? I can't see it.
Besides, none of us have any clue yet how much air tickets will be in the new normal. Cheaper tickets may still be available but probably (as a guess) they will be limited to a couple of rows at the back of the plane. Average ticket prices have to rise considerably given the disastrous economic situation all are going through and will continue to go through for goodness knws how long. Airlines have to make back their losses ,if only from having been forced to keep vast billions of $$ of hardware sitting all over the world earning nothing.
To play devils advocate: The BIB have to be running around penniless due to the reduction of tea money which flowed the heaviest from the sleazy parts of town. If they were ever to take control of the streets in Pattaya again, and with the current political unrest that's entirely possible, no one would want the "sleazy venues" up and running again more than they (and their superiors) would.
As far as the inevitable change in demographics, the Chinese and other Asians are the ones who truly invented "sleaze". My earliest experiences were in girl and boy bars in downtown Seoul Korea and Ginza Japan many years ago. Both places had predominantly Asian clientele and they both reminded me of Sunee Plaza.
Who knows where this will take us, but, in short, I agree with Barry Kenyan on this. The "sleaze" has already started to creep in.
They had to rebuild the whole place and still recovered quickly. All we gotta do is get an injection..
https://www.thestar.com.my/travel/as...from-disaster/
Possibly, but some, maybe many of us, have reached the stage in our lives where our health cannot be taken for granted so far ahead.
You are comparing apples with turnips. The tsunami affected only a certain part of Thailand. It did not come anywhere near Pattaya. It may have interrupted tourism for a while, but those were the days when western tourists still flocked to Pattaya. They returned. Will they once the pandemic plays out? A trickle perhaps.
I was thinking along similar lines Oliver2, especially with 20,000+ new Covid-19 cases a day here in the UK.
Totally agree gerefan2, that’s it, the death knell has sounded. For some, it will be the end of civilisation as we know it. ;)
MFAS wrote.
"arsenal, why not tell us something of your time spent currently in China it might be a pleasant change from the usual Covid inspired hum drum?
BTW...Deli Diner is no more."
Life here is pretty much as per. Everything is open and functioning normally. A few people are wearing.madks but not many and only one mall is bothering to temperature check. Nightclubs are heaving with hot Chinese boys drinking too much and getting friendly. Hot baths are open and great places to watch naked student age Chinese boys bathing.
Hotels, trains and planes require you to scan your alipay health code which takes a minute or two but other than that everything is as it was before.
My thoughts entirely....the best I can hope for here in London (pre or post Covid) is the sight of sixty-year-olds in the showers at a local sauna. Thailand must seem very tame after all that bare flesh.
Or perhaps it's a sort of retreat from sensual overload?
Surely all that is irrelevant as you repeat ad nausea that Chinese cocks when erect are barely the size of acorns so you HAVE to travel to Pattaya to get satisfaction. The scenes you portray in this post suggest that your solo turn in the Forum Christmas pantomime should be “I’m just a girl who can’t say no”.
Oliver and Dodger.I like a change of pace and scenery.
Steviewonders. Some of us can get satisfaction without bending over and being fucked like a bitch but if that's your thing then enjoy. And therefore I'm casting you as the arse bit of the pantomime horse.
Nirish wrote.
"Well thank god for THAT as I've been keeping my head down for days until that role was cast ! :-)"
Dunno. Picture your favourite Thai boy being the front. The opportunities are endless. Imagine fondling his nobby's nuts to the sound of a raucous 'shall I boys and girls?' or somesuch. Fair makes the mouth water.
On that note I'm off to find some innocent Chinese boy's nobby's nuts at a club.
TTFN.
Another casualty:
The loss of Maggs is unfortunate. I've dined there a couple of times, finding the food and the service to be excellent.
However, even during the busy period near the New Year, they were not particularly busy.
So I would imagine surviving on expat revenue alone would be too difficult.
"Whenever I think of you"
How kind.
arsenal, still waiting for China pics?
I've posted photos of boys in clubs before. What photos do you want?
On some of the internet sites there are videos of boys in the naked KTV clubs in China. Not sure how many there are around the country but certainly a few in the main cities. I am only aware of this because someone wrote a university thesis about them which is still available on the internet. I've posted it below. I found it interesting because it has interviews not only with the boys but also the mamasans and the owners.
These clubs seem mostly for wealthier Chinese who drop a lot of cash on booze and tips before sometimes taking boys off. The surprise for me is the full nudity in China! Presumably oodles of cash is transferred to the Chinese equivalent of the BIB.
Perhaps one of the mods can advise me if I am allowed to post links showing inside the Clubs. They do contain full nudity.
https://edepot.wur.nl/403488