Help, advice please!

Many expats live in East Pattaya, which is nicknamed "The Darkside", is has many nice housing villages where you can rent nice houses at very affordable prices. Typically a good village would have 24 hour security, possible CCTV, a swimming pool, maybe a gym and a park area for recreation.

These Sois (roads) are all in East Pattaya. 1) Soi Siam Country Club. 2) Soi Nernplabwan. 3) Soi Khao Noi. 4) Soi Khao Talo. 5) Soi Chaiyapruek & many more. If you look on a map you will get the idea.

I live in East Pattaya and can comment that there are many good restaurants, some decent pubs including an Irish Pub, live music venues, convenience stores such as 7-11, proper supermarkets such as Tops, lots of markets for fresh food, banks, doctors, dentists, in fact everything an expat could wish for. The best thing is that unlike living in Jomtien (and I have previously), you don't pay tourist prices for everything, nor is the seedier side to things so noticeable!

As for clubs, you name it there's a club for people interested in it. I have three kids and the choice of things they can do within a ten minute drive is amazing. There's a football academy, archery, horse riding, golf, fishing, dancing (Latin, Hip Hop etc), scuba diving, rock climbing, tennis, cooking classes, language classes. etc...

Thanks so much tuenchai, she has to make a final decision on whether to go or not today so I've passed your advice and info in, it was very kind of you to take time to reply! I hope they go for it as I love Thailand and will be visiting g lots!!

Hello again,

It is my pleasure to be of assistance!

I just noticed that you are from Bristol which is a massive coincidence because I lived & worked in the UK for around five years, and two of my kids were born in the maternity hospital near to the BRI. I loved Bristol, the Ashton Court Festival, the Balloon Festival, and the diversity of people and cultures. I still have lots of friends from the UK.

From my experience I would say that there are parts of Bristol that could definitely compete with Pattaya when it comes to being on the rough side. When in Bristol I was shown around certain parts of Easton, St.Pauls & Lawrence Hill, which seemed quite dangerous & seedy.

The seedy areas of Pattaya are namely Walking Street, Soi LK Metro and Pattaya Beach Road Soi 6. Unless you want to see what goes on there, you definitely don't have to. My children have never been exposed to it, just like if I was living in Bristol I wouldn't let them go to Stapleton Road in Easton.

You could compare East Pattaya to the suburbs, some of the high end villages have houses worth up to a Million pounds,  that's the type of places where Embassy Staff, rich Thai people & rich expats live. In an average nice village the houses cost from around 60,000 pounds - 120,000 pounds to buy. They rent from around 300 pounds - 700 pound per month. For around 500 pounds per month you could get a 3 bedroom house, with at least two bathrooms (some ensuite), lounge, kitchen, garden, swimming pool, off street parking, and the village would have 24 hour security, a park, swimming pool, maybe a gym.

Many middle class people here have maids, a maid would cost around 200 pounds per month. If I had to compare Pattaya to Bristol, the biggest negative difference would be infrastructure like pavements (ours aren't the best), power lines (ours are overhead), and driving (our roads are a bit chaotic). The biggest positive difference is lifestyle, here you are spoiled and can have a very high standard of living, eat out all the time, pamper yourself with spas and massages, swim in your own pool etc.

Hope this further info is helpful for your sister, I enjoy trying to promote the better side of Pattaya.

Best wishes and good luck!
Tuenchai