Jomtien Complex

A lift?

All you "decrepit cripples" will be going upwards soon enough!

Except for those who will be descending, of couse.


:evil4:

[gregvc]

coming in April. Is the sauna in Jomtien Complex a real sauna (where you can enjoy meeting others like Sansuk, Babylon) or just an add on for a massage shop purchase?

[newalaan]

Seems like Jomtien Complex would be a good alternative to the likes Sunee if your get bored of going to the same place night after night

Couldn't agree more. It was an excellent alternative for me on my recent visit to Pattaya. I went to Jomtien Beach a few afternoons which is not something i normally do when in Pattaya, but the sea breeze was a nice way to keep cool in the extreme heat. After the beach I dropped in by Bondi for a chilled beer and strolled along to Dicks Cafe for a lite bite and again this soi has a nice early evening breeze. Also had a drink at Festival bar one of the nights and caught up with the former Solid, Bkk mamasan who works there now. Also some nice waiting staff. But mostly enjoyed the bar complex up from The Venue. Question Mark, Two Faces, Dolce Vita and L&N as well as Ganymede.

Between these bars there was plenty of very cute, nice waiting staff very keen to chat and interact. One night i spent a while at L&N who have snooker/pool tables and had some fun and a few games of pool with the waiters there. The next night Dolce Vita had a brithday party for the german owner and quite a number of his friends turned up during the evening,there was music all evening with a show in the form of the arrival during the evening of dressed up queens mincing around in over-the-top costumes, very entertaining as they took themselves ever so seriously! Another night I sat at Question Mark with a couple of very cute, (one stunning) waiters and enjoyed yet another Dolce Vita party night (can't remember the theme), this time they had a stage with live singer to backing music singing western hits and classics as well as some well known Thai songs, then we (the customers in the bars around Dolce Vita) were treated to a 30 minute show by dancers from one of the showbar troupes, and very good it was too. Question Mark was quite full and it is a big outdoor bar, also Two faces and L&N had a good amount of customers while Dolce Vita was as packed as it was two nights before for the birthday party. Easily as enjoyable as the host/beerbars of Sunee and more enjoyable than Boyztown on the nights i visited.

There is now an "atmosphere" you can actually feel when you enter the area. For me there is no need for Sunnee Plaza or Boystown.

I agree there is a very nice atmosphere there, but I would never disregard Sunee and Boyztown for Jomtien exclusively, but the four evenings i spent in Jomtien Complex i really enjoyed, even staying on one night at the Ganymede karaoke till 2am. It was nice for a change from the sunee and boyztown areas.

The best addition, made several years ago was The Venue.

I enjoyed the area without setting foot inside The Venue, there is plenty of accomodation all round Jomtien if you need it, and The Venue would only be a boost for those who particularly like the show bar music and shows, of which I am not a great fan, so for me The Venue would not be classified the 'best' addition, but i'm sure for many others it might be.

The overall laid back enjoyable aspect of Jomtien is definitely down to the great attitude and non-pushy demenour of the staff in the bars there. There are a few gems of guys in the cluster of bars as mentioned above and Ganymede. I dont know if February is particularly busier than the rest of the year but there were plenty of customers in all the bars from 6-9pm as was the time I was there each evening, except the karaoke night which i stayed till 2am.

Also no problem with Songtaews coming back to south pattaya at any time of night, even at 2am, Ok you have to squeeze into the songtaews along with 13 or so Russians getting there from south pattaya, as the Songtaews do not depart south pattaya with less than 12 on board, most demanding 12 seated and two standing at the rear before they would take off. To be honest it only takes 10 minutes on the songtaew and if it picks up a bit of speed there is a nice breeze as you drive along.

[christianpfc]

I went to Themae sauna (Ganymede complex) in january. It is a real sauna, considerably smaller than Sansuk, but it has sauna, pool, cabins, no labyrinth, a bar, an area where you can sit and watch porn. I was there on a weekday afternoon, there were few other customers, for a while I had the entire area for myself (apart from the staff).

more here: http://www.nickysgaypattaya.com/gay-pattaya/themae/

[donald1]

All the Ganymede is lacking for us old decrepit cripples is a lift !

There is a lift in the new section. I stayed in the new section the first 3 days then moved over to the other section and the 2 sets of stairs
were very tollerable especially with the nice a/c waiting for me in the room.

The Sauna section is the real deal on a small scale. I saw many guys (Thai & Farang) going in while I was on the laptop at one of the tables near the entrance. It's all there for the taking.

My regular beach-front guest house having been fully booked this past week, I was eager to try out Ganymede. I was less impressed than some of the other commenters in this thread.

The hotel, mind you, is extremely well planned, lovely in its modern clean design, and the room I got was rather nice, if a bit overpriced. But.... there was something lacking - some "intangible" asset that differentiates one nice place from another.

There was just no charm, no warmth, no feeling of being welcome there. (And it's not like the place was too busy to give me some sort of attention... I did not actually see anyone else staying there!)

It's a pity. I tried so much to like the place - and I ALWAYS go into a new place wanting to really like it. But this one did not happen. At all.

(And I was surprised to see in a previous post something about free access to Thermae... if that is true, the staff at Ganymede is keeping it a secret from their guests!)

Bottom line: I will not be going back.

[newalaan]

There was just no charm, no warmth, no feeling of being welcome there. (And it's not like the place was too busy to give me some sort of attention... I did not actually see anyone else staying there!)It's a pity. I tried so much to like the place - and I ALWAYS go into a new place wanting to really like it. But this one did not happen. At all.

I feel the same about a new place, i always try to like it and it is so disappointing when that experience turns out to be a bit of a negative as yours was. There are a couple of words i find apply to many of the staff in Thai businesses esp the bars, restaurants and hotels.......they are apathy and complacency. So many suffer from this. Sometimes there is an inherent laziness with staff. How many times do you visit a bar, restaurant or hotel where the staff spend as much time talking amongst themselves and looking at their mobiles as they do taking care of the valuable customers.

Your decision not to return is deserved if a place does not do all they can to make your stay enjoyable. With all the competition for business and the difficult trading environment staff should be on their toes, but unfortunately in Thailand many of the staff simply don't 'get it' in terms of understanding customer satisfaction. A great many of the service industry rely on tips to make up a good wage, however so many of them take it for granted nowadays that there will be a Bt20 note left in the folder, while in many instances doing virtually nothing to earn it.

Two Patong guesthouses are a good examples of a comparison in attitude, a couple of times in the past I stayed at Rendezvous, the French owner had a 'couldn't care less' approach unless you were French, and it rubbed off on his staff, whom you felt you were interupting their private time to ask for something. I gave it a second chance just to see if it was a 'one off' but it wasn't so have never gone back. On my last visit I stayed at Sundowners in Patong. It was my first stay there, but the staff were excellent. Offering help and going out of their way to make sure my stay was enjoyable. Simple things, like acknowledging your existance when you passed, and on opening a bottle of whisky in the lounge as soon as I appeared someone would be over in an instant to ask if i was staying for a drink first and if i wanted ice, and mixers. The manager/mamasan had his eyes everywhere to make sure no customers were left waiting for drinks or their bar tabs.

I contributed a post in this thread mentioning Ganymede and while I enjoyed my visit to their bar-lounge and Karaoke I wasn't staying there so couldn't tell the overall vibe of the place. On saying that, when i did visit the karaoke there was a table of 4 employees sitting outside on the terrace eating/drinking/chatting they must have seen me go in, as i looked about outside a bit first, but none came over to give any info, you got the feeling they just couldn't be bothered, i had to wander around inside before I found a member of staff interested enough to offer some service, however the waiter who did that and the DJ were first class in their attention during our time there.

[luvthai-2]

I like the idea of a condo in Jomtiem Comples and very much liked the one I had that had a private entrance into the unit. Now it seems most are being incorporated into a multi unit place with just one entrance thru a check in desk. With the private entrance in a unit one could go out onto the deck and make use of chairs and tables there and enjoy the mornings or cooler evenings.