(Editor’s note: The following is a reader submission from a local Pattaya Expat, along with some edits and photo additions from The Pattaya Unplugged team. The opinions in this article are their own. Your own submissions can be sent to Pattayaunplugged@gmail.com or send us a Facebook message.)
There are so many articles coming out about how quiet Pattaya is at the moment due to the Coronavirus. Clearly, the people saying this are deaf, blind or stupid, or possibly all three. All one has to do is take a break from being a keyboard warrior and get outside to see it.
Last night a mate took my missus and I out to Beefeater steakhouse, luckily for us he had made a reservation because the place was full to the tits. As I sat down and began taking in the surroundings, I also noted that every table in Patrick’s steakhouse and Longhorn steakhouse were full as well. We aren’t talking about the cheapest meals in Pattaya at these places, but they are all quality establishments with products people are clearly willing to pay for.
Following dinner, we made our way to LK Metro to have a couple of drinks. You literally could have compared LK Metro to a can of sardines last night. It was hard to walk through without bumping into people.
Kink Agogo, who always has a large number of hostesses downstairs, was standing room only at one point. Every seat in the house was taken and we ended up letting another group that came in share our booth. After all, nobody wants to stand up and watch the show, it makes it much harder to hide your erection.
After a few drinks and a good time at Kink, we moved on to Paradise Agogo. Paradise was the busiest that I have ever seen it and had a lineup of hostesses that puts some of the Walking Street gogo bars to shame. Though it was hard to find a seat, the girls were on their game when it came to service, attitude and overall morale of the swathes of customers.
We decided to call it an early night last night because, after a steak dinner, a couple of beers is enough to make you slip into a food coma. That being said, there are plans to go back out again tonight. I’ve lived here for the better part of 7 years now and can honestly say, last night was like re-living my first trip to Pattaya all those years ago and was the most fun I’ve had in this city in a long time.
It seems to me that the departure of many of the tourists has also brought the expats that generally don’t come out anymore because of the way that Pattaya has changed over the years to start emerging from their hermit holes and exploring the city once again.
One thing is for certain, strong businesses offering quality goods and services (regardless of price) will survive. The businesses that really need to worry are all of those businesses who catered only to the Chinese tourists and tour groups, their days appear to be numbered, who knows when the Chinese tourists will return?
The businesses who don’t have a strong brand, quality services to draw in customers, or a following of local expats that they call “regulars”, will probably not come out the other end of this thing.
There are so many bullshit artists out there that have a stick in their craw about Pattaya from bad experiences falling in love with bar girls, running out of money, feeling offended at everything etc… Don’t pay the doomsday people any mind. They would seriously find something to bitch about even if everything was free. After all, what kind of advice can you expect from people that get upset if their breakfast costs more than 99 baht?
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