News Forum - Pattaya venue may be closed after repeated drug raids

[Thaiger]

An entertainment venue that has been raided and shut down several times, may now be permanently closed after the latest raid. Pattaya Police did not name the nightclub but reported that the venue was found to be operating illegally and after hours, with drugs found inside, during a routine patrol of the entertainment district of Bang Lamung. Pattaya Police were accompanied by a special operations unit of the Provincial Police Region 2 on patrol of entertainment venues in Pattaya City to prevent crime. Venues should be closed at 2am, and the patrol reported that most of them were, but a few […]

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[ChrisS]

" The recommendation comes after the venue repeatedly defied orders".........I wonder if this sentence should finish with 'to pay more bribe money'

[palooka]

Wish the same sort of leniency was reflected with regards foreigners and some of their misadventures in Thailand.  Sadly, some jailed, treated like criminals etc, for the weirdest transgressions.

 

[HiuMak]

On 11/13/2022 at 7:58 PM, Thaiger said:

An entertainment venue that has been raided and shut down several times, may now be permanently closed after the latest raid.

It's a joke. They will never be closed. One close & A new One sprout. They are like weeds that you never been able to totally eradicate.

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, HiuMak said:

It's a joke. They will never be closed. One close & A new One sprout. They are like weeds that you never been able to totally eradicate.

You say it's a joke(it is)

 

But you chose to live or frequently visit a developing country

 

People move to a developing country and expect it to run like back home 

[Pinetree]

9 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

But you chose to live or frequently visit a developing country

People move to a developing country and expect it to run like back home 

Thailand runs a damn site better than the UK does. Give me LOS every time over basket case UK. 

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, Pinetree said:

Thailand runs a damn site better than the UK does. Give me LOS every time over basket case UK. 

Yeah I was thinking that a bit when wrote that

 

Plenty of stupid and shady going on back in our countries as well

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, Pinetree said:

Thailand runs a damn site better than the UK does. Give me LOS every time over basket case UK. 

The funny thing is I used to be a farang that thought I knew better

 

Then slowly I realized, let the Thais figure it out

And they usually do

Maybe not in the conventional way we think things are done

 

But it always seem to get done

[Soidog]

11 hours ago, Pinetree said:

Thailand runs a damn site better than the UK does. Give me LOS every time over basket case UK. 

Don’t be silly Pinetree. Name one thing that runs better in Thailand than in the U.K. 

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, Soidog said:

Don’t be silly Pinetree. Name one thing that runs better in Thailand than in the U.K. 

Not the UK

 

But compared to US

 

Urban train system

Airports

Many instances, hospitals

 

We just bought a house recently, the whole process could not have been easier

 

But just overall, things work just fine

I know you have joined the negative brigade, but things just work fine in Thailand

They may not do it the way you think it should be done, but people move to a developing country and expect it to work like it does at home

[Pinetree]

2 hours ago, Soidog said:

Don’t be silly Pinetree. Name one thing that runs better in Thailand than in the U.K. 

Haha, how long have you got.  For me:

The internet - faster, more reliable and a lot cheaper

The major road system - excellent

Internal flights and transport generally, - a lot cheaper

Airports - excellent, not at all like all UK ones

Food - cheap and delicious

restaurants generally - cheap and top quality

Entertainment - varied, cheap

The natural environment - stunning. 

The people - enough said, UK, miserable and unfriendly

The weather - naturally

Inflation - lower - cost of living in all areas - lower

this will get you - politicians, more competent 

 

 

 

 

[Marc26]

50 minutes ago, Pinetree said:

 

The weather - naturally

Inflation - lower - cost of living in all areas - lower

 

I strongly disagree with the weather, but that's a matter of opinion. I personally think the weather in Thailand sucks. I hate it being constantly hot and much prefer changing seasons

But again, that is totally each's preference.........no real right or wrong

 

cost of living in all areas - lower

 

I would somewhat disagree 

I think it all depends on your lifestyle

 

I prefer a bit nicer living space and if you are comparing like for like, Bangkok isn't that much cheaper than where I live in Canada and most times, the fittings in Thailand aren't anywhere as nice as a comparably priced apartment in Canada are........

 

Dining out.........I enjoy nice western meals and they aren't any cheaper and many times more expensive than back home

 

Raising a kid.........his day to day expenses weren't that far off as they would be in Canada

 

I think you can do Thailand cheaper and be quite happy doing so, but I find a lot of the costs are just as high in Thailand, if I am not actively trying to lower my costs

[yselmike]

2 hours ago, Marc26 said:

I strongly disagree with the weather, but that's a matter of opinion. I personally think the weather in Thailand sucks. I hate it being constantly hot and much prefer changing seasons

But again, that is totally each's preference.........no real right or wrong

cost of living in all areas - lower

I would somewhat disagree 

I think it all depends on your lifestyle

I prefer a bit nicer living space and if you are comparing like for like, Bangkok isn't that much cheaper than where I live in Canada and most times, the fittings in Thailand aren't anywhere as nice as a comparably priced apartment in Canada are........

Dining out.........I enjoy nice western meals and they aren't any cheaper and many times more expensive than back home

Raising a kid.........his day to day expenses weren't that far off as they would be in Canada

I think you can do Thailand cheaper and be quite happy doing so, but I find a lot of the costs are just as high in Thailand, if I am not actively trying to lower my costs

Weather wise I like the spring and summer and most of the autumn,as soon as winter arrives I want out of northern Europe.One thing would be different if I lived in Thailand,that's having  year round summer clothes.Ive just got a pair of sheepskin UGGs for wearing around the house.I have got clothes for 3 seasons.One of the joys of staying in Thailand is wearing shorts every day.

 

 

[Soidog]

6 hours ago, Pinetree said:

Haha, how long have you got.  For me:

Plenty of time! I did expect we were going to debate important things such as Access to quality health care, education, corruption, road safety, equality in society, freedom of expression, civil rights and employment opportunity.

50% of your comments are all about things being cheaper not better. Cheap doesn’t always equal better. Of course services which require labour will be cheaper. People are paid lower in Thailand and as visitors we ride in the coattails of those poorly paid worker. That’s not better, it’s just a fortunate side effect of you are lucky enough to have loved most of your life in a wealthier country. So I will ignore the comments in cheap as to me, cheap doesn’t equal best.

6 hours ago, Pinetree said:

The internet - faster, more reliable and a lot cheaper

leaving aside the cheaper comment, although it’s not that much cheaper in Thailand. I’m not sure when you were last in the U.K. but internet speeds have increased significantly in the last 5 years, with major companies like BT, Virgin Media and many others such as City Fibre all ramping up fast fibre broadband. It is a fact that the U.K. now has 95% fibre broadband coverage. This compares to around 52% for Thailand. So if you live in one of the places that has it then you are lucky. Not so the rural poor in Thailand.

As for reliability! Please, don’t make me laugh. You may have no knowledge of telecoms networks, but look around you at the tangled mess of cables. That all leads to very poor relatability.

6 hours ago, Pinetree said:

The major road system - excellent

The road network around Bangkok and a few major towns are acceptable but outside of that the roads in Thailand are terrible compared to the U.K.  potholes, poor road surfaces, poor lighting, no lane markings etc etc. The U.K. road network is far superior to Thailand. It may be busier and more congested (except for Bangkok), that’s because the U.K. is more prosperous than Thailand.

6 hours ago, Pinetree said:

Airports - excellent, not at all like all UK ones

Again, not sure when you last visited the U.K. and seen the money spent on Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle, Doncaster etc. In addition the U.K. has twice as many international airports and if you strip out tourist international airports in Thailand  then the U.K. has five times as many. Land prices are also a lot cheaper in Thailand and planning laws more lax, hence they can afford and implement second runways more easily. Forget the impact on local people or the environment.  I don’t call that better.

7 hours ago, Pinetree said:

The natural environment - stunning.

Sorry but I have to disagree. Thailand is no more naturally beautiful than the U.K.  it is less varied and less dramatic. 

7 hours ago, Pinetree said:

The people - enough said, UK, miserable and unfriendly

Speak for yourself. I certainly don’t find people in the U.K. miserable or unfriendly. Certainly not compared to Thailand. Maybe you are confusing people who are paid or have a vested interest to give you a Thai smile? Rarely have a taxi refuse to take me in London for example.

7 hours ago, Pinetree said:

The weather - naturally

Again, I disagree. Thailand is either too hot or too wet. I love all of the seasons in the U.K. compared to the baking hot of Thailand. 

7 hours ago, Pinetree said:

this will get you - politicians, more competent 

Yes this does get me. Do you mean politicians or military generals? Did you mean more competent or more corrupt? 

 

 

[Soidog]

9 hours ago, Marc26 said:

But just overall, things work just fine

I know you have joined the negative brigade, but things just work fine in Thailand

They may not do it the way you think it should be done, but people move to a developing country and expect it to work like it does at home

I never said things don’t work. I challenged @Pinetree assertion that things were better in Thailand than the U.K..
 

I haven’t joined any brigade, negative or positive. I simply point out the things I disagree with or wrong.  
 

There are many things the Thais do differently which I believe and many other countries demonstrate can be done better. I don’t expect it to work like it does back home. It’s also not just expats that may expect it to work like back home. The vast majority of Thais would love things to work like it does in developed countries including the government. That’s what development is all about.
 

I think many times Marc you confuse people who make comments about things that they are negative and complaining. What else are people supposed to say about many of the articles presented to us? Simply go along with the utter nonsense presented by the Thai media and Thai authorities? Simply accept the high road fatalities, corruption, poor educations standards, dual pricing and negativity towards progressive actions as somehow part of the romance of Thailand ? All well and good if you are a foreigner living abroad or an expat living off a fat western pension in the country. Not so good if you are a Thai who saves all they can to put their kids through a 5th rate education system only to find the dice is always loaded against them and they remain in the poverty trap. In time you too will peek behind the curtain of the real Thailand. Not such a pretty sight my friend. 

[Pinetree]

52 minutes ago, Soidog said:

Access to quality health care,

Good point.  The UK NHS is broken and has been for years, same with dentists and social care.  Again, for me, I would rather pay for treatment here in an international hospital,  than sit in a 3 million long queue for the NHS to get to me.

[Pinetree]

56 minutes ago, Soidog said:

Plenty of time! I did expect we were going to debate important things such as Access to quality health care, education, corruption, road safety, equality in society, freedom of expression, civil rights and employment opportunity.

50% of your comments are all about things being cheaper not better. Cheap doesn’t always equal better. Of course services which require labour will be cheaper. People are paid lower in Thailand and as visitors we ride in the coattails of those poorly paid worker. That’s not better, it’s just a fortunate side effect of you are lucky enough to have loved most of your life in a wealthier country. So I will ignore the comments in cheap as to me, cheap doesn’t equal best.

leaving aside the cheaper comment, although it’s not that much cheaper in Thailand. I’m not sure when you were last in the U.K. but internet speeds have increased significantly in the last 5 years, with major companies like BT, Virgin Media and many others such as City Fibre all ramping up fast fibre broadband. It is a fact that the U.K. now has 95% fibre broadband coverage. This compares to around 52% for Thailand. So if you live in one of the places that has it then you are lucky. Not so the rural poor in Thailand.

As for reliability! Please, don’t make me laugh. You may have no knowledge of telecoms networks, but look around you at the tangled mess of cables. That all leads to very poor relatability.

The road network around Bangkok and a few major towns are acceptable but outside of that the roads in Thailand are terrible compared to the U.K.  potholes, poor road surfaces, poor lighting, no lane markings etc etc. The U.K. road network is far superior to Thailand. It may be busier and more congested (except for Bangkok), that’s because the U.K. is more prosperous than Thailand.

Again, not sure when you last visited the U.K. and seen the money spent on Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle, Doncaster etc. In addition the U.K. has twice as many international airports and if you strip out tourist international airports in Thailand  then the U.K. has five times as many. Land prices are also a lot cheaper in Thailand and planning laws more lax, hence they can afford and implement second runways more easily. Forget the impact on local people or the environment.  I don’t call that better.

Sorry but I have to disagree. Thailand is no more naturally beautiful than the U.K.  it is less varied and less dramatic. 

Speak for yourself. I certainly don’t find people in the U.K. miserable or unfriendly. Certainly not compared to Thailand. Maybe you are confusing people who are paid or have a vested interest to give you a Thai smile? Rarely have a taxi refuse to take me in London for example.

Again, I disagree. Thailand is either too hot or too wet. I love all of the seasons in the U.K. compared to the baking hot of Thailand. 

Yes this does get me. Do you mean politicians or military generals? Did you mean more competent or more corrupt? 

Okay, fair enough and it is a very personal thing.  I live  some 40km from Pattaya, in a nice quiet countryside environment. 1km from an Expressway intersection that leads me anywhere in the country on great roads. For example, from my house to Issan is 640km , all on dueled roads, lots of it lit and usually no traffic jams.  My bills here are considerably cheaper and better than in the UK, electricity at less than I was paying on the UK 8 years ago.  Internet at a third of the price. 

I shop western style for food and I am paying just under what my food bill was in UK 8 years ago.   Even my daily visits to the local coffee shop are a third of the price.  Yes I like cheaper, who doesn't, but I find that the standard of living , for me and mine, is also higher than it was in both UK and Taiwan. where I lived before.  I must be honest, despite being British (English), I have no love of the people.  I do indeed find them self absorbed, mostly miserable and indeed not at all welcoming. Maybe its the weather, it certainly made me grumpy.  Maybe its the state of the roads, the many strikes, the cost of living and economic crisis, the next to useless NHS or maybe its just that whenever I am there , I want to get out as soon as i can, so I guess that I am as unwelcoming as they are.

As a last shot, yes I know UK airports and the air traffic situation over there.  In my airline there was always a  resigned sense if a crew was ever assigned to the LHR route.  The airports are not a patch on Asia's airports, with the obvious exception of Manila.

Its all a very personal thing.  I don't see the point in living somewhere that you do not like, or that has important aspects of life that irritate you, or that you do not have a level of  affinity for. Hence I do not like the UK and I do like Thailand.   Nothing more to say really. 

[Pinetree]

1 hour ago, Soidog said:

Simply accept the high road fatalities, corruption, poor educations standards, dual pricing and negativity towards progressive actions as somehow part of the romance of Thailand ? All well and good if you are a foreigner living abroad or an expat living off a fat western pension in the country. Not so good if you are a Thai who saves all they can to put their kids through a 5th rate education system only to find the dice is always loaded against them and they remain in the poverty trap. In time you too will peek behind the curtain of the real Thailand. Not such a pretty sight my friend. 

I've just read this.  I am not sure that I can think of one destination for expats with money, in an exotic location, that doesnt have all these issues.  Exotic type locations that attract we expats almost universally have a dramatic difference between those that have and those that do not. There is always a degree of discrimination between expats and locals that we all acknowledge and have to deal with, after all, its their country, we are just visitors.  I know that places like Barbados, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Bali, Hong Kong, Penang, and of course Cambodia, Philippines  and Vietnam, all suffer in the same way. Harsh to say, but if a person can't deal with social inequality and with whatever type of government is in power,  and rationalise their own position in a foreign location  to these things that they find are too distracting, then the expat life is not for that person. 

[Soidog]

3 hours ago, Pinetree said:

I've just read this.  I am not sure that I can think of one destination for expats with money, in an exotic location, that doesnt have all these issues.  Exotic type locations that attract we expats almost universally have a dramatic difference between those that have and those that do not. There is always a degree of discrimination between expats and locals that we all acknowledge and have to deal with, after all, its their country, we are just visitors.  I know that places like Barbados, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Bali, Hong Kong, Penang, and of course Cambodia, Philippines  and Vietnam, all suffer in the same way. Harsh to say, but if a person can't deal with social inequality and with whatever type of government is in power,  and rationalise their own position in a foreign location  to these things that they find are too distracting, then the expat life is not for that person. 

I totally agree. I can rationalise and accept it, that doesn’t mean to say I can ignore it and run down my own country in a way to justify the inequality. Like many expats, I enjoy the cheaper prices. I enjoy the lax laws that allow me to get away with stuff I can’t back home. Doesn’t make it right or better. Just a different way of living. I thank my good fortune for having been born in a developed country, acquiring sufficient funds to move half way round the world and live a good life. I still feel sorry and can not ignore the struggles of the locals though. 

[Soidog]

3 hours ago, Pinetree said:

Its all a very personal thing.  I don't see the point in living somewhere that you do not like, or that has important aspects of life that irritate you, or that you do not have a level of  affinity for. Hence I do not like the UK and I do like Thailand.   Nothing more to say really. 

Yes it is a personal choice and I personally choose to live the majority of my time in Thailand. As I have said in a related comment, that doesn’t mean I don’t see things that are clearly wrong, unfair or unequal with Thailand. There seems to be this overwhelming attitude by some people that if you don’t like it why are you here. This simply serves to miss the point. I don’t see it as a black and white choice. There are things I enjoy here in Thailand and things I don’t, just as anywhere you would choose to live including the U.K.. When people comment on the things that are wrong, you shouldn’t have to caveat your comments with some balancing statement of your home country. I save my gripes and complaints about the U.K. for U.K. forums and emails to my Council and local MP. 
 

However, the suggestion that Thailand is better at everything than the U.K. is where this debate started. I think that is just plain misleading at best and utterly wrong at worst. 
 

I always ask myself this question. Would I have preferred to be born a Thai from a low income family and face the challenges of life in Thailand, or born in a low income family in the U.K? I don’t have to think about it long before I thank my good fortune at being born in the U.K.  That holds true for today also. I would never have had the education or career or private pension I have access to today had I been born in Thailand. I think many Thais wonder what the hell we are doing here in Thailand when we have such an amazing country back home. There again they haven’t faced the stresses of western life. The nanny state and the high taxes that come with it. 
 

[Pinetree]

14 minutes ago, Soidog said:

Yes it is a personal choice and I personally choose to live the majority of my time in Thailand. As I have said in a related comment, that doesn’t mean I don’t see things that are clearly wrong, unfair or unequal with Thailand. There seems to be this overwhelming attitude by some people that if you don’t like it why are you here. This simply serves to miss the point. I don’t see it as a black and white choice. There are things I enjoy here in Thailand and things I don’t, just as anywhere you would choose to live including the U.K.. When people comment on the things that are wrong, you shouldn’t have to caveat your comments with some balancing statement of your home country. I save my gripes and complaints about the U.K. for U.K. forums and emails to my Council and local MP. 
 

However, the suggestion that Thailand is better at everything than the U.K. is where this debate started. I think that is just plain misleading at best and utterly wrong at worst. 
 

I always ask myself this question. Would I have preferred to be born a Thai from a low income family and face the challenges of life in Thailand, or born in a low income family in the U.K? I don’t have to think about it long before I thank my good fortune at being born in the U.K.  That holds true for today also. I would never have had the education or career or private pension I have access to today had I been born in Thailand. I think many Thais wonder what the hell we are doing here in Thailand when we have such an amazing country back home. There again they haven’t faced the stresses of western life. The nanny state and the high taxes that come with it. 
 

The UK that I was born into, raised  and educated in and served in its RAF for 24 years, is not the UK of today. Almost all aspects of the life I lived in the 1960s to the late 1988s seems to have degenerated, broken, or just disappeared from view. I have no residual affection for the place and I feel little to no connection with what it has now become.  I will never go back to live there and I only hope my kids see the light and leave themselves at some point in the future.   Certainly, I can be grateful to whatever/whomever dictates fate, that I was born into a western democracy, but that was just blind luck. Had I been born here, I like to think, but I obviously don't know, that my burning ambition means that I would have made the most of any opportunities that would have arisen.   

[Soidog]

1 minute ago, Pinetree said:

The UK that I was born into, raised  and educated in and served in its RAF for 24 years, is not the UK of today. Almost all aspects of the life I lived in the 1960s to the late 1988s seems to have degenerated, broken, or just disappeared from view. I have no residual affection for the place and I feel little to no connection with what it has now become.  I will never go back to live there and I only hope my kids see the light and leave themselves at some point in the future.   Certainly, I can be grateful to whatever/whomever dictates fate, that I was born into a western democracy, but that was just blind luck. Had I been born here, I like to think, but I obviously don't know, that my burning ambition means that I would have made the most of any opportunities that would have arisen.   

Well I can’t disagree that everything has changed since I grew up in the U.K., but doesn’t every generation say that? I certainly recall my father shaking his head at images of David Bowie wearing eye shadow and punk rockers swearing on live television. What is seen as progress to the youth is often seen as unwelcome change to an older generation. I still regard the U.K. as home. I have a house there (I can’t own one in Thailand) and much of my family live there. I hold a U.K. passport and have little to no chance of ever having a Thai passport. If I get a serious illness I won’t be able to afford multiple treatments in a Thai private hospital and would be on a plane back to access the NHS. If I was unfortunate enough to get in to a scrape with the law then I know which county I’d prefer that to be in. If I was to start a family in Thailand (no chance!) then I’d be looking to get my kids educated in the U.K. 

[mason45]

19 hours ago, Soidog said:

Don’t be silly Pinetree. Name one thing that runs better in Thailand than in the U.K. 

I've lived in Thailand and married to a Thai lady for near on 30 years. I will never change on the basics that my my parents taught me from my very early years. That's where Thais are abject failures on many things caused by the lack of responsibility of their parents. PS : I know first hand as my wife has 5 grand kids and they run riot and no one cares until the motor bike crash etc.

[HiuMak]

On 11/15/2022 at 12:10 PM, Marc26 said:

You say it's a joke(it is)

But you chose to live or frequently visit a developing country

People move to a developing country and expect it to run like back home 

It is the easy money that they can get that keeps this industry alive. 

[Skip]

On 11/15/2022 at 11:10 AM, Marc26 said:

You say it's a joke(it is)

But you chose to live or frequently visit a developing country

People move to a developing country and expect it to run like back home 

Not really, but they do expect to see some progress especially when the "developing" country professes to be a leader in the age of technology