There’s a lot to love about Pattaya, with some of the best things being its year-round warm weather, lively nightlife, comparatively low cost of living, excellent shopping, and, of course, its chilled vibe. While I would not change anything if it were on the condition that I had to leave, the city does have some bad points.
Although I don’t wish to come across as a whinging farang in Pattaya, here are what I consider some of the worst things about Pattaya:
Everything on footpaths: There’s a distinct lack of footpaths where they are most needed, places such as Soi Buakhao, and where a footpath exists, it’s often a handy place to park food carts and motorcycles, plant trees, and position utility poles, almost as though they are not really for pedestrian use at all.
Soi dogs: In all my years living in Pattaya, I’ve never been bitten by a dog. But the number of times I’ve been confronted, startled, come very close to being bitten, and had to carefully consider when and where to walk without encountering them makes them well worth a mention.
Pushy girls: Some bar girls in Pattaya will ask you to buy them a drink before properly introducing themselves or even asking your name. It’s easy enough to decline, but the thought of it happening again and again in bar after bar makes you both wary and weary of where you can go without being pestered for drinks.
New developments: Perhaps I’m being selfish, or overcome with nostalgia. For me, the building of new shopping malls, condos, and hotels equates to more traffic on the already congested roads. What’s more, they’re often built in place of old bar complexes and markets that once gave Pattaya its character and identity, transforming it into just another city full of characterless concrete towers.
Flooding: Pattaya quickly floods when it rains heavily, ultimately causing damage to homes, businesses, and vehicles. If you’re a tourist in the city, you might find it either an inconvenience or a highly watchable spectacle as many roads and streets take on the appearance of rivers and canals. For me or anyone else living in a village or area prone to flooding, the onset of heavy rain is at least worrying, and often disruptive and expensive.
What’s The Worst Thing About Pattaya?
Call me a sentimentalist, a hypocrite too if you like, but my top worst thing is overdevelopment. That includes modern new condos, malls, and hotels, burying cables underground, the removal of overhead bar signs on Walking Street, and the disappearance of the rickety-rackety places that brought Pattaya to life and gave it its charm.